Everybody ready? >> Okay, let's go to work. Everybody, please rise for the pledge of allegiance. Is called to order the standy. Thank you. This is a hill. This is a meeting of the Hillsdale Burough Council on this 9th
day of December, 2025. Notice of the time and place of this meeting has been provided to the Ridgewood News and the Bergen Record. A copy was posted on the bulletin board outside of this meeting room and provided to any interested parties. Please silence your cell phones and please wait to be recognized by the
mayor. During the public hearing and the public comment part of this meeting, you'll need to state your name and town of residence for the record. Will the clerk please read the role? >> Mayor Shinfield >> here. >> Council President Oso. >> Council member Kleti >> here. >> Council member Fox >> here. >> Council member Masich Chong
>> here. Council member Rico >> here. >> Council member Troy >> here. >> Okay, we're going to move on to the uh approval of the minutes. 1st November 12th, 2025. Can I get a motion? >> Motion. >> Second. >> Second. >> Clerk, please read the role. Council member Kleti, >> yes.
>> Council member Fox, yes. >> Council member Mazachan, yes. >> Council President Oso, yes. Council member Ruko, yes. >> Council member Troy, >> yes. >> Close session minutes from December 2nd, 2025. Can I get a motion? >> Motion. >> Second. >> Second. >> Second. Will the clerk please read the
role? >> Council member Fox. >> Abstain. >> Council member Mazuchan. >> Yes. >> Council President Oo, >> yes. >> Council member Rico, >> yes. >> Council member Troy, >> yes. >> Council member Kleti, >> yes. >> Those passed. Um the council minutes from December 2nd, 2025. Can I get a
motion? >> Motion. >> Second. >> Second. >> Will the clerk please read the role? >> Council member Mazatan. >> Yes. >> Council President Oso. >> Yes. >> Council member Rico. >> Yes. >> Council member Trohim. >> Yes. >> Council member Kleti. >> Yes. >> Council member Fox.
>> Get your phone up. Okay. So, we're going to move on to the initial public comment section. This is limited to three item three minutes per person on the uh agenda only. One topic per person. And again, please state your name and town of residence for the record. Anybody
like to be heard? >> You get to be first. >> Okay. So, my name is Megan Garin. I am a Hillsdale resident. I'm definitely not used to public speaking. So, uh thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak tonight. I want to begin by saying I understand and truly appreciate the
need for strong cell service in our community. Reliable communication keeps us safe, connected, and informed. I'm not here to argue against progress. I'm here to ask that we move forward in a way that protects the people who live here and their homes they've worked so hard for. The proposed placement of the
tower is so close to residential neighborhoods, schools, and senior living buildings that has created deep worry among most of us. There are conflicting studies on health effects as towers are placed in close proximity, but the emotional and financial impact on families cannot be ignored.
Perception alone can lower property values. And for many homeowners, their home is their greatest investment, the foundation of their financial security. A decrease in value is not just a number. It's a real burden on families, especially those that are already
stretched thin. Parents worry what their children are exposed to. Seniors worry about losing the peace and stability they've earned. Families worry about watching the value of their homes drop simply because of a decision they had no control over. These concerns deserve to
be heard, acknowledged, and thoughtfully addressed. And they can be because there is reasonable solutions. Many residents have expressed support for placing a tower in the back parking lot area of the high school. I'm not talking about Sapienza Gardens. The location would
still provide the improved coverage our town needs, but it would do so without placing the burden directly on homeowners living just feet away. It creates distance from homes, schools, and senior buildings while still giving the service providers the height and
access they require. It is a compromise that strengthens our infrastructure and protects our neighborhoods. We want to work with you. We don't want to work against you. We want progress that lifts our community, not decisions that divide it.
I respectfully ask the mayor and council to reconsider the proposed placement. Explore alternatives like the high school site solutions that meet our technological needs while honoring the well-being, peace of mind, and financial security of your residents. You all
speak on the need for this tower for public safety. I've dedicated the last 28 years of my life as a nurse. This is what I do. They are that is at the forefront of my mind. The townhouse community I live in has 44 units. Many
of those are seniors, our most sensitive population, and many are physically unable to attend these meetings. Therefore, we had a petition in hopes you would see the signatures of our residents and recognize this location is in a very densely populated area. I ask
all of you do your due diligence. Explore every possible location, ones that are less populated. It might create and that would create less of an invasion into your constituents lives. >> I'm very sorry. I'm sorry, but one of my
jobs is to count three minutes. >> Okay. >> And unfortunately yours is >> Okay. >> Thank you. Thank you, MATE. >> Anybody else want to be recognized? Not feeling well. Sorry. Marne Valerano. I'm a Hillsdale resident.
>> Good evening. Let me begin by saying something we can all agree on. Communication and technology are essential parts of modern life. We depend on strong, reliable cell service for safety, education, business, and connection.
This is not a plea to eliminate a cell tower. It's a sincere request to reconsider its placement so that we can support progress without compromising the well-being appearance and long-term value of our community. My first concern
is the potential exposure to radio frequency emissions particularly for our children, pets, and seniors. While research continues and opinions differ, uncertainty alone should give us pause. Children and older adults are more
vulnerable to environmental stressors. Pet owners are increasingly worried about environmental conditions that could affect the health of their animals. Choosing a safer, more remote location doesn't mean rejecting technology. It means acting responsibly
while science continues to evolve. The proposed location poses real hardship for the families who have invested their life savings into their homes. Property value isn't just a number. It represents years of work, planning, and financial security. Studies have shown that homes
near cell towers can experience a noticeable decrease in value. For many of us, that's not simply an inconvenience. It's a threat to our investment and to our ability to build a stable future. We ask that this impact be weighed with seriousness it deserves.
We must also consider the visual impact. A towering structure in the heart of where families gather will undeniably alter the character of our town. This isn't just about residents. Visitors, families from other towns, and students who come here for school and swim events
will see this structure as a defining feature. Instead of showcasing the n natural and welcoming charm of our area, we risk presenting an industrial eyesore that overshadows the very qualities that make our community special. What we're
asking for is simple progress with care. Technology with thoughtfulness, a cell tower, okay, just not here. We urge decision makers to explore alternative locations that provide the same network benefits without placing unnecessary
burdens on families, property owners, and the overall environment of our town. We stand here not against advancement, but for reasonable advancement. Not to say no, but to say please postpone your vote. Let's find a better way. Thank you.
>> Who else would like to be heard? We'll go here first, then I'll go to you next, right? Okay, wherever we go. >> Good evening. Uh, my name is Elena Papova. I live at 23 Shoeacher Avenue in Hillsdale. My property directly borders
the Stony Brook parking lot where the proposed 150 foot tower would be built. My home is about 500 ft away. Like many in our community, I fully support wireless coverage. Reliable service is important for public safety. I appreciate the council's and mayor's
commitment to making this happen. The question isn't whether coverage is needed. It's whether this particular tower in this particular location achieves that goal in the fairest way possible. This proposal places most of the visual and financial burdens on a small group of families nearby. While
the benefits are shared townwide, studies show homes near large towers often sell for less or take longer to sell, especially when the tower is visible from yards or living spaces. One published analysis of 10 years of MLS home sales in Georgia found that houses
near a cell tower sold for almost 8% less on average with the effect strongest within 1500 ft of the tower. Buyers seek discounts or avoid such properties due to aesthetics, perceived health concerns, or stigma. Whether justified or not, these concerns cause
real financial harm. Plus, over 170 neighbors signed our petitions sharing these fairness concerns. For most families, including mine, our home is our largest investment and a source of stability that funds retirement, education, and future moves. Placing this tower so close shifts value out of
our homes into public infrastructure. That's not an even trade. It's private cost for a public benefit. Improved services enhances safety for all, which I support. But fairness requires balancing that with protections for those bearing the heaviest local costs.
I'm not opposing progress or coverage improvements. I ask the council to seek a balanced solution that respects the investments and quality of life of those living closest. Approving this proposal as is would impose an unfair burden on those closest. I urge the council to
consider whether it is ethical and consistent with sound land use policy to reduce home values and the livability of certain families when less intrusive options exist. Uh could the council please share what sites or designs have already been evaluated and why this one was chosen? Transparency on this will
help build confidence that all reasonable options have been fully explored. We remain eager for ongoing dialogue with the council to find solutions that move the town forward, improving service while respecting the rights and concerns of homeowners. I respectfully ask the council to delay
this proposal and to require a thorough analysis of alternatives that reduce impact and help us progress together as a community. Thank you for your time and consideration. Richard Ceino, 64 Westdale Avenue. I'll change the subject for a minute and I'll
be brief. Um, I know at the towards the end of the agenda tonight are off consent for two change orders on memorial field. I just and when we get to those items explain what to give a good explanation because we they haven't
even started outside contractor work and change orders are always the scary thing to me when I've done work on my own house and assisted clients on other properties. Um, so I just ask that they be and with regard to the cell tower, I
would just go I've been watching this. I know it's been a subject in the council elections for several years that we need to address the problem out there. I personally view this as the le the least bad alternative. We need to have
connectivity out there and it's maybe there but I don't see a better site. you know, a lot of this the other possible locations are are have really severe restrictions. And I would I would ask when we're after tonight, I don't know
what the Peter's the presentation's going to be, but post the research up onto the town website so we can all see what the studies were, what was looked at. I know a number of sites were looked at over time. So share that with the public. I think it will answer a lot of
the questions that people are raising. Thank you. >> Thank you. No, no, I've got I I called her first behind you. Sorry. Come on up. I'm trying to get them in order. >> Hi, my name is Sarah Costello. I live at
24 Shoemocker. I did not prepare speech. I didn't think about that. I just wanted to talk to you guys about the cell tower. I don't want to toot my own horn, but this probably affects me the most. When I heard we were getting a cell tower, I was like, "Oh, that's awesome." I'm a therapist. I work from home a lot
of the day. I have had to go out into the middle of our street to take a phone call. Think about that. Your therapist in the middle of a street taking a phone call because I don't get service in my house. I don't want it near me, though. I don't want it in my backyard in front
of my house. I have a 2-year-old. I have five, six pets. They're handicapped special needs animals. My daughter is going to be playing in this area. that she's going to be growing up here, going to Pasak Valley here. She's only two. She's going to be
exposed to this for the entirety of her life. We bought with the purpose of living in this amazing town, putting our roots here, and now I don't feel like it's so amazing. If she hadn't come to my house, I would
have had no idea this was happening. I don't I don't live under a rock, but I also don't go on Facebook all the time. So, if it was mentioned in a group, I didn't see it. If it got mailed to my house, I don't know. I'm sorry if I missed it. But I
think a lot of people like me don't know that this is happening. So, I would like you to consider postponing this. And yes, please post the the information. Let people have a say. But I think for a lot of people, one day they were going to wake up and there's just going to be
construction and they had no idea. So, while you think about this, I just want you to think about the few people here that it is going to really affect my 2-year-old daughter, my handicapped animals. It's going to really affect people. So, yes, would I love a cell tower?
Absolutely. I would love to be able to do my job, but consider other places, please. Thank you. Did you want to come up now? Go ahead. Go ahead. Well, all right. Come on up. Whatever the order.
>> Thank you. My name is Anna Zawadski. I live on East Liberty Avenue. Um, my speech is not so nice. I'm sorry. I apologize ahead of time because I wrote this in anger. Um, so good evening.
Um, I'm here tonight because my life is going to be directly altered by this proposal. I own two homes on East Liberty Avenue that are less than one block away from Stony Brook Swim Club property. Um, I heard that the tower is going to
be 50 ft. Correct me if I'm wrong. Despite being within less than a half mile from the proposed site, I was never notified. And if it wasn't for my immediate neighbors, I would have not known at all. The
I'm concerned because my immediate neighbors and our health, our property values are directly at stake. I'm upset at the lack of transparency.
I'm believe that it's unacceptable. A tower of this size, 150 ft, the height of a 15story building, does not belong in the middle of a residential neighborhood. And certainly not without full disclosure, community outreach, or
honest discussion. We have learned that there was only one bidder and still no explanation of why alternative sites or technologies have not been explored or told us told about it. This not only warrants a pause but more
discussion. I need to make clear the real impact this tower will have within a 100 with a 150 ft structure looming in my backyard. The value of the my properties will drop
immediately. It is not speculation that what happens when industrial infrastructure is placed besides homes. I have invested everything into these properties and this is single decision can strip away the significant part of
my financial stability and beyond the financial loss I honestly don't feel comfortable living there anymore. If a tower of this size is built feet from my property line I will have to really reconsider moving from a place
that I love. It's not just the homeowners who should be concerned, but this tower sits directly next to Mebrook Elementary School where young children spend hours every day. It's also the tower looms over Stony Brook Swim Club where families gather, children play, and
community comes together. These are places meant for safety, recreation, and childhood, and should not be overshadowed by a 150 foot structure with heavy equipment, fencing, and constant maintenance activity. Even with the perception of risk, it matters.
Parents don't want a tower next to a school. Families don't want one next to the pool. >> I'm sorry to say that you're three minutes. >> That's okay. Thank you so much for your time. >> Thank you. >> Who wants to go next? There's a hand over here. I I'll get
you. I'll I'll Nobody's going to be ignored. You'll all get >> a chance here. >> Hi My name is Bessa Valade Demi. Um I'm a resident of Hillsdale. I live on Kent Road. Um before I start the speech, I'm I wrote I wrote it uh this morning like
a lot of people have said. Um I was aware fairly recently about this uh this new construction and um unfortunately I wasn't aware of the meetings or anything like that and so I didn't have a lot of time to really prepare the speech the way I would have. Um so that I'll start.
Um, I'm here as a parent to urge you to choose an alternative location for the cell tower and to exercise caution when it comes to our children and other vulnerable members of our community. Um, children's bodies are still developing
and they would be expected to spend 7 to n hours a day, 5 days a week for years just feet away from this tower. The truth is that long-term research, whatever research we were referencing earlier, which I've also seen myself on
the continuous exposure in children is still limited with FCC guidelines dating from 1996, which if you want to put it into perspective, is 30 years ago. When the science is uncertain, we should never be taking a chance or
experimenting on children. The right thing to do is to choose a more cautious option, especially when safer alternative sites exist. You shouldn't be in a position where we're relying on uncertain science and years down the line, the same little kids that grow into adults might face miscellaneous and
unexplainable health issues, which like we see this in a lot of different states where sometimes like there's a cluster of different health issues amongst the community. Many major um public health cancer groups say that the evidence for the harm associated with the RF exposure is
inconclusive which you know means again it's uncertain and uh we would just have to wait and see what the future complications um that could happen because of the proximal and constant daily exposure. What's clear though to me and to the based on the studies is that uh
children's skull tissues are thinner and their brains are still developing which allows for deeper absorption of the RF exposure. There are many studies out there that show chemical body changes, radio frequency sickness, increased cancer risk amongst many other things.
Um, I wanted to highlight examples in the United States that I've seen that have successfully opposed the cell tower locations near children's schools and have actually uh successfully relocated them. So like they've actually pulled them out, put them somewhere else. Um, one of these examples is Ripen,
California. Um, similarly in Terrytown, New York and Prince, Prince George County, Maryland. Um, and a lot of these communities have further adapt adopted setback policies of 1500 to 2,000 feet from schools for cell towers or
considered or even implemented alternative locations in more commercial zones or public worky yards. Um, my children don't own an iPad or an iPhone. They don't use any Bluetooth devices because I know they're going to be exposed to that for the rest of their life. >> I'm sorry to say your three minutes is so quick.
>> Thank you. >> Thank you. Just raise your hand if you want. I'm not trying to exclude anybody. I just want to get the hands up. Okay. >> Just gentlemen first mayor, members of council. Um I'm Harold Schill. I live at seven Bradshaw Court
in Hillsdale here and I've been a resident there for 13 years. I'd like to just briefly within my threeminut allocation address uh two topics. First would be uh the possible impact on the membership of Stonybrook pool. I can
imagine that some parents would probably have some concerns about this. I'm 81 so I obviously don't have children who are going to be affected uh by this but I wonder since the membership has been a concern at Stonyiebrook pool and with the pool commission for some time
whether there would be any impact and that might be a factor to be taken into consideration. Secondly uh we've talked a bit about property values and I decided that the best way to address this would be to get some empirical evidence about it. So the best place to
go rapidly seemed to me to be the National Association Realtors website and indeed I did find a study on self cell tower sighting and uh and its impact on property values. They dismissed some of the anecdotal evidence
which is some uh scare tactics and people saying perhaps 20% but they did find uh consistently that the properties closer to it had a property value loss on the average of 9.78%
and those within a half mile closer to half mile away lost about 2.6%. So the actual impact on property values is real there. If you want to look at this a little further, I would just encourage the mayor and the members of
council to perhaps take a look at the National Association of Realtors website and judge for yourself whether you think the evidence supports a reduction in property values and to what extent that would occur. I thank you for your time and appreciate your consideration and I
hope you will look into some alternative sites. Thank you. Thank you. Please raise your hand so I don't miss out on hands up first. Okay, come on up. >> My name is Jay Weinstein. I live in Hillsdale. I'm a special education
attorney. I worked as an assistant attorney general with the New York State Attorney General's office in the9s. I proudly served on the board of the Hillsdale Baseball and Softball Association baseball player development for 10 years. My family has been Hillsdale residents for about 12 years.
I live in the Stony Brook condo community of 40 units right behind the the Stony Brook pool club a couple football fields away from the proposed placement of 150 foot cell tower. As a civil rights attorney, I can tell you one of the hallmarks of our constitution
and our very democracy is our right to due process. as embodied by the fifth and 14th amendments. Those provisions provide for the right to notice an opportunity to be heard and that has been interpreted to be a
meaningful opportunity to be heard by our courts. Democracy dies in darkness, which is the official slogan of the Washington Post. It means that democracy fails when critical facts and opinions are suppressed and that presentation of an
array of views sheds new light on issues, optimizes decisionm and enables constituencies to have their say. It's inclusive. It's collaborative. It's democratic.
Without the full expression of the rights of due process, our very democracy fails. That's what's happening here. This is a simple matter of allowing all of the various stakeholders to have their say and present their facts and opinions to
allow decision makers to make a well-informed decision. Is that really too much to ask? Our homes, our lifelong investments are anticipated to diminish in value by approximately 10% due to their close proximity to the cell tower,
according to the National Association of Realtors. Don't we have a right to a meaningful opportunity to be heard as guaranteed by our constitution? You should never be afraid of the facts and you should be very suspicious of a
politician who suppresses evidence rather than allow for a free flow of ideas. Our approach, one approach is the very lifeblood of democracy. The other is the way of dictatorship.
We all want better self-service at Metobrook and PV, but as dutiful council people, wouldn't you want to hear all of the evidence, all of the opinions, and allow the very constituencies you represent to have their say? I commend each of you for your service to our
community. It's something to be proud of. But with that service comes the moral responsibility to stand up for what's right. Otherwise, our democracy fails in darkness. I ask that the vote on the cell tower be delayed for 30 days so my
condo association can present alternative approaches by its own expert and advocate in the field of cell towers for consideration by this council. Thank you. >> Anybody else like to be heard? >> Adam Hampton, thank you for your service
to our town, sir. >> Thank you, sir. Appreciate it. So, I didn't prepare any remarks. I do apologize. I was actually reviewing the agenda and I saw that this had come up. But what I want to say is as a resident of Hillsdale and a retired public safety
officer, I think that we do need to consider what the public safety ramifications of the cell tower would be. And that would be to improve self cell phone communications in both schools and also to improve the quality of life for all the residents in the area that are affected by having no cell
service. We all know that many houses no longer have landlines nor possess them and as such a cell phone can be one of the only ways that somebody could communicate. So that's number one. Number two, being a resident that lives mere feet about 400 feet I think from a
cell tower and 600 feet from the second cell tower in Hillsdale, I am sympathetic to what these residents are feeling. However, based on my living and living next to a middle school where kids have been going and having dealt with that cell tower basically for the
last 20 years, if there had been anything dangerous with that cell tower, I think we would have actually seen some data here right in Hillsdale due to the fact that there were there's one cell tower 75 ft from here. And having worked in this building for 25 plus years, I
never experienced anything. And we all know that nonionizing radiation is often attenuated a lot by building construction of which our schools are built of solid block and so are our buildings. So I am going to be the lone person here to speak tonight and say I think that the Burough Hillsdale's done
their due diligence and should move forward with the cell tower. Otherwise, we're going to end up with micro 5G cell towers all over town because that was a prior company had come in and wanted to build 20 or 30 small 5G towers on everybody's block. So, I I understand
and I'm very sympathetic and I love grassroots movements. I really do. I just can't support this one and I oppose this. Please build the tower. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Sure. >> Ian Weinstein, Hills resident. The job of a leader is not only to
represent the majority while making decisions, but also to take into consideration minorities that are disproportionately affected by those decisions. Many of the greatest leaders like Abraham Lincoln and Ruth Bader Ginsburg are famous not for being quote one of the people, having the most popular idea of their time, but for
sticking up for the people who suffer negative impacts from decisions. It is not unreasonable for people to want better sell service, but it is unreasonable to make a lasting decision without fully considering all options, weighing how all stakeholders will be affected. It is imperative that all that decisions that cannot be easily reversed
are held up to the highest level of scrutiny. In addition, some of the rationale for the cell tower can more easily be solved with with less harmful solutions. One of the main issues that has been brought up is service during the school day at Metobrook and Pasc Valley. The obvious solution is to work with the schools to have them make the
Wi-Fi that is already paid for available to all students during the day in case of an emergency. This is not already done and I do not know why it has not already been addressed. Also, it is evident that some of the proposed benefits of the cell tower are clearly overstated. A positive financial
component has been mentioned based on the $48,000 a year that the cell tower would generate for the town. On the other hand, many sources reveal that the cell towers significantly diminish the prices of homes within close proximity to it. In the long term, this would not only affect home values themselves, but
also the tax revenue generated by the town, which could easily more than offset $48,000. In addition, people are also talking about how there are no other options to sell service when most people have Wi-Fi, both Wi-Fi and are able to have personal hotspots. These are additional
options which everybody has an option to. And the reality is that you're taking away the rights of the people to not live near a cell tower when everyone already has an existing option for a hot spot. When people say that no one wants to live in an area without cell service, I say that no one wants to live in a
town where decisions that significantly affect their lives are made without their consent. Pushing this through does not show a quote willingness to get things done, but an undermining of the concerns of your fellow towns people who will be most affected by your decision. Thank you.
>> Anybody else? Anybody else wish to be heard? See a hand here. >> Hi everyone. Thank you for um for this evening. Um my name is Eric Landy. I live at 20 Bradshaw Court Hillsdale. Uh and I think really the key takeaway from tonight is about transparency. So I I
wouldn't have known about this if not being on the board of Stony Brook Manor. Um, a lot of work has been done and it's 100% appreciated, but what we're talk and and especially what we're talking about with cell service is absolutely necessary, especially for the reasons that are being done for, which is school safety. But we really believe that there
alternative locations are paramount or at least need to be explored or if there are alternative ways to get the job done without such a large structure. Uh, people have spoken about cost and home values and visual aesthetics. So, I don't need to beat that down. It's super important to everyone here. And I'll be honest, when I work from home, it gets
frustrating when your calls are dropping constantly. But it's not as important to me than my kids. My main concern is from a health aspect. There's there's enough things around us nowadays that affect us from a technology standpoint, and I would just hate to add to that. It's just some it's something adding to the load. I have four kids at home, two
13-year-olds, a six-year-old, and a three-year-old. One of those children has developed seizures in the past two years, which is awful to see your kid happen to your kid. and we've been working tirelessly to address the problem for her and doing everything in our power to create the best environment for her. And part of that is limiting
exposure to anything, especially something like EMF on the nervous system. So again, I think it's more about exposure load and the tower worries me mostly for my daughter who who's experienced that. So I really in the whole scheme of things, I just request that you table this vote tonight. uh instead wait 30 days, have a
town hall that is effectively publicized so that everyone in town is fully aware of the cell tower and has the opportunity to have their concerns addressed and really be sure that all avenues have been explored. So, I just want to thank you all for your time, your service, and then your willingness to listen to us as as our community. So,
thank you all. >> Anybody else wishes to be heard? >> Come up. My name is Isabella Garren and I live at Stony Brook Manor and I'm 13 years old. Believe me, I would like better cell service. Honestly, as a teenager, my cell phone is an important part of my
life. I'm speaking today because the thought of a cell tower being built so close to my home honestly scares me. This place is where I am growing up, where my friends play outside and where my family is supposed to feel safe. But now it feels like the safety is being taken away. I know say the radiation is
low, but nobody can promise it might what it might do to us years from now. It's frightening to think that something so powerful could be right outside our bedrooms every single day. I shouldn't have to worry about getting sick just because of where I live. It also makes
me sad to think about our neighborhood changing. I love looking out at the trees and the sky and imagine a giant 150 ft cell tower there feels heavy and unfair like our feelings don't matter. You speak of the need for public safety,
but aren't I part of the public? Shouldn't my physical, emotional, and mental safety be considered? Thank you for listening to me today, and I hope you and the council members will cons reconsider this location so close to where I live and sleep every day.
>> Thank you. Would anybody else like to be heard? >> No. One more. >> Hello. >> This makes three from your family. >> Three from my family. Robin Nearoth, Hillsdale resident. Um, by now I think
you all know who I am. Thanks to all of you who've taken the time to have individual conversations with me about this cell tower proposal. Last night, I emailed you 15 questions related to the proposal, and I do hope that they will be addressed before the council moves ahead with a vote to approve it. Since
you already know my specific concerns about the cell tower proposal, I want to share my thoughts about the process. Hillsdale's a small town and we are a tight community. Our kids play baseball together, they go to school together, we eat together, we have histories
together, and hopefully we have futures together. Building and maintaining that sense of community is important and you all know that. I think that's one of the reasons we all choose to live here. Part of maintaining a strong sense of community is transparency. Transparency
gives community members confidence in the government process that allows residents to trust our elected officials and know their decisions are the result of an open dialogue, due process, due diligence, and a careful weighing of options. I can see the Stony Brook parking lot from the windows of my home
and all of the town houses in my condo association are right near the pool. However, no one in our condo association was notified by the town about plans to build a 150 ft cell tower right next to our homes, even though we've been told this was under consideration for two years. Why is that? How is that in the
interest of transparency? How is that in the interest of community building? And how is that in the interest of an open dialogue and a willingness to discuss and evaluate options? The failure to notify stakeholders about a project like this is not an approach that generates good faith within the
community. When I knocked on some of my neighbors doors this past Saturday, half the people I spoke to had no idea about the proposal to put a cell tower in the parking lot of Stony Brook Pool, despite the fact that they all would be able to see it from their property, and some of them even share a property line with the
pool parking lot. Most of the people who were aware of the cell tower proposal only learned about it because they saw the petition my husband posted on a Facebook site for Hillsdale. And this is not right. I'm respectfully requesting that the town notify the residents of Hillsdale who live in close proximity to
the pool as well as our neighbors right across the street in Rivervale about this proposal. And I would like to request that you table the vote to approve this proposal until there's been an opportunity for people to voice their opinions at a town hall. The people who will be most significantly impacted by the proposed cell tower should be
informed and have the opportunity to voice their concerns. Please allow us to give feedback about the proposed options and if needed generate alternate solutions that might be better for the town as a whole. Please give us the time to bring in an independent consultant and expert who can identify approaches
to improving self-service in the area without negatively impacting people who live in close proximity to the pool. Our voices and concerns are important for you to consider as we are all part of the Hillsdale community. So what is the harm in tableabling the vote until stakeholders are informed and considered
so that this feels like a more transparent and due process? Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Is there anybody else that has not uh been heard from that would like to speak? Seeing nobody, we'll close the public comments section and we're going to move
on to our discussion we had um for uh for the cell tower. Um Peter, you want to come on up and if you want to bring your associate. Great. Got you a couple of seats if you want to take the microphone off so you can be heard for the record and pass it between
you as you find necessary. Just lift it up. Okay. if you'd start by giving us your name and your sort of your credentials and your background, how much how many deals or towers you put together and sort of give everybody a sense of >> Peter Peter Loop Hoplight
Communications. I'm an attorney 28 Valley Road, Montlair, New Jersey. Um I have a number of qualifications. I've been a telecommunications attorney spe specializing in telecommunications law for the last 20 years. I also am an adjunct professor at Johns Hopkins University. I teach uh law there,
housing and telecommunications and I lecture about telecommunications law frequently for the state bar uh for continuing legal education purposes. Um and my um associate here is Paul Row. He works also with Hop Communications. He's a qualified RF technician. Uh he's been
qualified in is it six municipalities now? Six municipalities now. Uh I'm here to offer um I've read all of uh Dr. Neofroof's uh questions, 15 questions. Uh, so I have u, you know, I'm prepared to respond and answer any questions. >> I'm sure the members of the council will
relay those questions. If they don't, I will. Um, did you have opening remarks you'd like to make as well? >> Oh, no. Just Peter pretty much introduced me. Paul Row, radio frequency technician. I've been qualified across many places in New Jersey. It's a term of art um, radio frequency expertise and
it developed it over time and uh, willing to answer any questions about safety or signal propagation that come up tonight. >> Okay. And the thing is I represent two uh counties, Middle Sex County and Bergen County uh as telecommunications special consultant and about 40 other
municipalities across the state. >> Okay. Did you have any other opening statement or you just want to just field questions that I you heard a lot of questions? A lot of statements. Is there anything you'd like to say on that before we get to the questioning? >> No, I think I'll let allow you. >> Let's start. I'm sure we go ahead. So I
think the common thread here is have other areas been explored and u if you can answer that and if if so where were those areas and why weren't they feasible? >> The again it's a small town most of it is residential purposes. Uh the pool uh
presents an area that is one of the few permitted uh places in order to really operate it in. There's really never really any perfect solution. You're either going to be near a school, you're going to be near a swimming pool, community swimming pool. There is a very limited uh amount of areas. If there was some remote area that would also address
this big coverage gap in the area that would certainly be considered but given the very limited relatively densely populated town very few areas that it's a permitted use. Uh so there was very very limited uh purpose and choices that were available for the for the town. J
>> just to follow up on that and if you don't know the answer maybe someone else does. um the um location of the high school has been brought up several times that there is some sort of field or area behind the high school and so can you
speak to or can someone else speak to um why wasn't that area chosen? There are a number of uh issues with that. One uh there's heavily wooded area sort of environment environmental concerns about that would have to involve quite a bit of felling of trees for access roads for
the for the premise itself to tower safer. >> Hey hey hey hey hey hey hey no no we're keeping order >> we're keeping order sir we're keeping order >> I'm sorry. >> Everybody gets an opportunity to speak. Everybody gets an opportunity to speak.
>> That is not how it works. That is not how a town meeting works. >> You know better than that, sir. >> You know better than that. >> Excuse me. >> You know better than that, sir. Don't
>> apologize. >> Stop talking. >> Go ahead. The community pool uh already offers improved areas, easy access uh in order to construct it and also maintain the tower and is a much more ideal location versus the um school which would involve again felling lots of
trees, environmental concerns. It's also owned by um the county itself at least portions of it owned by Bergen County. Uh so that would be another kind of concern. So there are a number of things. Again, no perfect solutions uh with any locations. You're always going to have concerns. Also, it's closer to high school if you're worried about
health and safety. That would also be closer to uh schools. So, again, um no real perfect solution to address this uh very gaping coverage gap that we find in town. >> But sir, do you not in your own um answer to the questions, you also said that because you're in a school
building, you're protected. You just said, well, it's not good to put the cell tower next to the high school. >> Oh, I didn't say it was that good. I was thinking some of the people here were objecting uh cited concern safety concerns about bean nerous. Well, I'm not saying it's I'm saying that um if if I am going to make a statement there the
um that the um the FCC governs health and safety and also the town uh code um also requires that any applicant that comes in has to prove that it meets the FCC continuous human exposure um rules. So, I understand that, but I was just
curious about your comment about how it was a disadvantage to put the cell tower close to Pasc Valley High School when in your own answers you say because of the building, the construction of Pasc Valley High School, the children there are protected from the RF.
>> I I don't think I said that. I think one of the the gentlemen who was there earlier said about that they're protected. I don't think I've said >> Oh, may I just chime in? Yeah. basically the the materials when a when a new cell tower is constructed the uh the carrier
does an analysis a thorough analysis of coverage in open areas vehicular and in buildings and one of the things that Verizon will demonstrate during the planning board application portion is that there will resolve the coverage gaps and they will give analysis as to the penetration into the building like
the the school is a stronger material than most houses but that that's something that that will be a technical like radio frequency the issue that their uh experts and professionals will attempt to address to the best of their ability and if they don't address that adequately then the planning board would
have the discretion to uh say it wasn't demonstrated to our reasonable satisfaction and you know deny the application. So this tonight is like a placeholder but the planning board is going to really have much more involvement. They mentioned the 200 foot list that all is with the planning board
application. There's going to be an opportunity to demonstrate there were no other adequate. It's all right in the burough ordinance. No other adequate locations that you exhaust small cells, nearby existing structures, towers, everything else like that. The planning board is written right into the site plan review. And there's also going to
be bulk variances because it's not going to meet the setback requirements. there's going to be like essentially loads of opportunity for the public and everyone else to to press these issues with more with more uh um force at the planning board
application was that that that was all. Thank you. >> Hold on. If I could members of the public, when witnesses testify, they're on tape. It's important for us and for you that that tape picks up what they
say and not what the audience is mumbling. So it is critical that we remain quiet and it's also the right thing. I note that no one interrupted any of you when
you got up and spoke. No one corrected you, altered the facts you presented, tried to explain something you said in a different way. Everyone just politely listen.
There is no process where people shout out. That does not exist in a traditional public meeting. Now perhaps the meeting will be reopened. Perhaps people will have a chance to explain, question, discuss,
but certainly shouting out in the middle because you think what you would like to say is very important. I'm sure it is, but that's not how this format works. >> Okay. Thank you. >> I know we all represent Hillsdale here.
Let's look like it. Okay. Thank you. >> Yeah. I had a question about how the planning board works in all this. This is a land use versus a capital project, right? So is the does the authority of the planning board change because it's a capital project versus so like what authority do they have to actually stop
this once it's once the the bid is assigned to the >> well if it doesn't meet the the requirements. So there's going to be two different variances. It's going to be a site plan approval with the planning board. Uh the fir next thing is they have to do a C variance. So they have to have the to prove the criteria of a C
variance. Also a D6. So the C variance is going to be for this setbacks. Um Dr. Nimro pointed out that um that the height has to be the greater 50 ft or the height of the tower. So this is 150 ft. Um Verizon doesn't meet that right now. So they have to prove that under
the the criteria of the C variance. Also the height um it is also too too uh tall. 130 ft is what the town allows. This is going to be 150 ft uh potentially you know could be expanded future. So they also have to do a D6 or for height which is a very high um bar
to pass. So for has to come come in and prove those standards and criteria. >> So So what would happen if the planning board could deny the obligation? >> Then this would then then the bid award would be uh potentially voided >> because they they won't satisfy the I >> well if they don't if they don't satisfy
the requirements under the under the uh planning board u then uh you wouldn't meet the that requirement just be part of the resolution uh that be passed. You have to first pass through the planning board. If uh the planning board denied it then ultimately then we would have to void the the bid. >> So your position is that the planning
board actually has site plan and variance review over this not just capital improved. >> Correct. Correct. >> Fair enough. I'll defer to that opinion. >> Thank you. >> Um you were actually mentioning Gohead. >> No just one point of clarification on
that though I and I apologize if I missed it but how about use? >> Uh no this is a permitted use. So the location it's going to be puted by the pool is in a permitted use area. So there is no no issue about the variance for use. >> And how would the planning board uh
decide on safety issues with regards to RF uh how many feet away uh certain residences may be or houses uh the pool because this this stuff this u magnetic field if you will diminishes as you get further away from the intent.
>> It attenuates as a gentleman here said that. So it's >> right >> it does. So the further away you get from the more and the construction building material and the like it attenuates with distance and construction material. Um so um Verizon is going to be um required to come in.
They do have a a um regulation in town. They have to prove that it's operating within FCC health and safety limits. So they have to come in. They have to have an RF engineer come in and we'll challenge them as well. Make sure that they're being accurate about and that they're fully addressing all the requirements about safety. Um so it also
be a part of our resolution that they have to comply with uh FCC continuous health and safety standards that are being um offered um from them. So that's a requirement of the zoning code. So they would have to come in and prove that. >> And who controls the activity on these towers like the amount of volume or
connections if you will >> uh Verizon. So they'll come in and they always have to make sure how many radios are used, the uh power that's applied, how many antennas, they're all licensed to um to have that and that they're operating within the health and safety uh standard. So that is all something that Verizon would monitor would would
be required to do. We could include something for example every year that they have to provide or we could have independent, you know, make sure that they're complying with their health and safety requirements under FCC. We've often done that on an annual basis that have to do an annual reertification. Does it can a town limit them as to how
much activity is on there or >> um as long as they're operating under their spectrum allocated to them and they're operating within the FCC limits, there's really not much we could do. It's once it's licensed and they're operating under their >> Yep. Um, yeah, basically from a planning and land use standpoint, the FCC is the
is the general guide for radio frequency safety. But from a proprietary owner of the property standpoint, the bureau could put reasonable conditions that don't really have to do with the FCC because they own the property. You could be like, hey, we don't want you operating at more than 100 watts or something like that. And if it's
reasonable and Verizon says, well, our network can work with that, then that's a compromise that can be achieved. >> So, so have you seen that in >> Oh, yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. There there are instances where um I can't think of a particular one off the top of my head, but they you know you don't a stealth tower for instance, the ones that look
like large chimneys, they only have three antennas inside them and they're operating probably at about a 12th of the of the power levels of one of the full macro size where you see the big antenna arrays and the and the T-boom arms and everything else. So it happens frequently particularly with the the
concealed towers, but it can be just a condition. It's contractual. So if the burough wanted to say hey uh you know in due consideration if you can function your network effectively at such and such a power level which would satisfy the concerns of uh residents nearby then
that could be worked in you own the property. It it's nothing to do with the FCC. It would just be a contractual thing. >> But how does that align with what they actually bid on? >> Oh can you say that again? >> How does that align with what they actually bid on that was in the bid and that they responded to? Well, they bid
basically that the the mention of the signal level of propagation was not part of the bid. It was just the tower, the location, the number of antennas, 12, and uh the general location of the parking lot, which could be fine-tuned and the actual that that's something that could be discussed. It's it's a
it's silent on at the bid. So, it's open to discussion. And Verizon, you know, is a very typically, you know, a very reasonable carrier in that regard. And if the the request is reasonable, like an annual safety report, they could even put a spectrometer out and be like, you
know, you put like a little thing like next to a traffic signal and say, here's what the signal level is, or anything like they usually work with that because they they want to be good good neighbors and if the conditions are reasonable and it doesn't hamper their ability to function at all, then that would uh that
would be doable. question. Does the height of the tower, the higher it goes, does that make ameliate the effect of RF in the surrounding neighborhood or >> Oh, yeah. Absolutely. Basically, when you're the higher the tower is, tower ch
the antennas usually have a down tilt of anywhere from 2 to 8 degrees. So, if you're like right under it, you you and for those who want improved coverage, if you're right under a tower, you'll be disappointed because you won't get improved coverage. But if you're like usually the sweet spot of about 100 to
150 feet away, then you start you start getting the the coverage from the actual tower. So yes, the higher the tower and the higher the less the down tilt, the further out the the signal travels before it touches the ground. >> But from a safety perspective, does it
matter whether the tower is high or low? Uh yeah, generally the the tower is over 60 feet tall. The the typical report for radio frequency safety places it at like 10% of the allotted limits. These things like like an expanding beach ball, like
the surface area of a >> when it's low, it's 10%. >> Yeah, it can go. Yeah, but when you're up like 150 ft, you're literally I haven't there hasn't been we're not at the stage of the game where Verizon has produced an RF report, but I'm guessing it's going to be like 1% of the of this
acceptable limit. That's going to be my estimation. >> So, from a safety perspective, the higher they go, the better the better I should feel from a safe perspective. >> Generally, yeah, that's the trade-off. It's like it's higher. It looks more imposing. But then again from an RF standpoint if one is truly concerned
about the electromagnetic radiation from cell towers uh being immersed in that then a higher tower would >> and this is something that the planning board could force Verizon or say this is a condition >> that you have to go higher because we
we're concerned about safety. Well, that the the uh the height requirement would probably be better better. Um Verizon, it's 130 foot limitation in the in the zoning ordinance. And if you're going to go at 150 ft, they would have
to demonstrate that it meets the public good and doesn't cause a substantial detriment. And there's a significant amount of discretion for the planning board to determine that level of detriment. It can't be specifically the FCC safety levels. That's typically the
purview of the FCC. And as long as the carrier demonstrates that it meets it, then what do you call then then that can't be challenged. But things like like making it higher, they have they have to demonstrate their case for why it has to be 150 ft. And that that could
be part of it. But it sounds like if they were to to to if they wanted the planning board to improve the safety aspect of it and they would say well we're willing to go to 160 or 170 ft. The planning boards let
you they're looking at it or they they would look at it as well we put it in the code for 130 because we didn't want tall towers around the town. Now you're asking us the planning board to make it higher in order to minimize the safety impact. Councilman, the other two towers
in town are 150 ft, just so you know. >> I'm aware. Okay. >> Exactly. Yeah. So, basically that's that's the trade-off. Yeah. Essentially, the the planning board's dealing often with the uh the use of land, the visual impacts, you know, minimizing it. But if the if they say you're approved for this
tower, but make it 160 170 feet, I'm thinking Verizon, you know, there is cost involved in making a larger tower, but I'm guessing they're going to be like, okay, you know, because it's going to probably improve their ability to to cover a broader area if they're at the top of the tower. >> Thank you. >> Thank you.
>> Um, I have a question. >> I want to make sure everybody gets at least one shot question first before >> Oh, go ahead. You go. You can go. It's okay. So, so the idea came up of of possibly um entertaining the small cell antennas
and six signal boosters. Can you explain why that wouldn't work in our area? >> It could potentially work. Um >> but there were some I think there were some concerns, right? >> I heard one of the gentlemen I was unaware with a gentleman who worked in safety here for 25 years. He testified >> police officer
>> a police officer >> um was that um you know that there was that that the town was approached about putting in 28 or 30 small cells. um one that would uh mean that you have um the RF signal coming up much lower. They're going to put them at 38 feet and that would be uh you know at street level
sometimes in front of people's homes and the like and they're still operating within uh the FCC safe limits but you're talking about much more invasive. You're talking about putting in you know dozens and dozens of sites to do the same that one 150 foot tower would be able to potentially cover.
I have a I wanted um so um this resolution tonight is to authorize the award of a lease for real property owned by the burrow for the construction and operation and
maintenance of a wireless telecommunication facility. That's what it says. Um a if this resolution passes tonight, it must go in front of the planning board. >> Correct. >> Verizon is seeking uh certain variances.
So therefore, in front of the planning board, which is made up of engineers, architects, environmental specialists, um and there's regular residents on the planning board as well. And it happens in this room just like this. I'm happen
to be on the I'm the uh liaison of the council to the planning board. So, I've been attending all the planning board meetings all year and it is where specialists come in um witnesses and and
so Verizon has to present their case to the planning board uh asking and seeking permission for whatever it is, you know, all the little details are of the of of what you want to build. And so um that
is the place. I just want to put this out there that where the public can come for sure and the planning board and you will speak to the planning board and make all your concerns about height,
about setback, about um you know the uh magnetic field uh just anything that you want and they as I said are all technical experts uh that are on this count on that board will hear that and then there
is a there could be negotiations with Verizon as to well don't do this but do that instead like I'm not able to of course say what that would be but I just know that there are negotiations that happen during the process and so and it
comes to maybe it looks different at the end than than what it started out as. So, I just want to say that that, >> you know, it passing here, if it passes here tonight, that's not the end of the
story. It's just really the beginning of the next step. And the next step is to go in front of the planning board and then they're going to hear all the details and then again, as I said, there will be negotiation. >> Is there a question in this though? >> No, mine I'm making a comment to I'm
trying to I'm trying to get the questions out here. Well, the question was about the planning board, the role of the planning board. Councilman Clemente asked us so many questions about, well, what is the planning board going to do? What are they going to say? How are they going to do it? I mean,
there you you can't answer that right now. You have to go in front of the planning board to find out what they're going to say. And so, that's what I just want to put that out there. >> That's accurate. I'd like to ask my first question here. Could you explain the difference?
Nonionizing RF waves. Give us some sort of understanding of what we're talking about here. >> Danger, harmful, does it mutate? You know, whatever. Let's let's hear about it. You know, >> well, nonionizing radiation is like uh stuff, visible light, radio waves, uh
cell phone radiation, stuff like that. And the idea of it being nonionizing is that when the photons strike the atoms in your body, they're not kicking off electrons. They're not turning them into ions essentially. So basically below ah
I forget the exact frequency at ultraviolet. When you hit a certain level ultraviolet going into gamma rays, then they're ionizing from a certain higher frequency. At that point when x-rays hit you those things are going through you and they are bashing they're knocking your electrons apart.
These cell towers are >> nonionized. >> So they don't go up into that range. Not even close. >> Oh yeah. Because you got radio waves here. You got cell phone waves here. You got visible light all the way up here, which is way higher frequency than radio waves. And then you have the ionizing waves.
>> Okay. So where's where's the cell tower stuff in in your list of of >> hierarchy? >> It's usually it's generally speaking um it's it's there's there it's the minimal minimal level. It's nonionizing. And I know there's a lot of information out
there, a lot of conflicting research, but the general consensus is that it's nonionizing and the effects on human health are are inconclusive and and in many say there are no effects on human health at very low levels at the permitted levels like
>> there and there are other items that we use, right? That >> Oh, yeah. Like if you're sitting in like in this room right here, there's more you're probably getting more electromagnetic radiation from everyone's devices than you would be getting from a cell tower fluorescent lights. Everyone like if you're in like
a conference room, you have 10 people on their tablets. Every one of those tablets is giving out a very small signal and it adds to the cumulative amount. And it's almost certain if you had a spectrometer in that conference room and then you went outside in front of a cell tower 100 you would have it
would be >> that's all tablets of it. That's nonionizing as well. I just phones use your >> They're communicating at the same frequency. Okay. 1500 megahertz, 2 gigahertz, like right around there is is the typical range of uh cell phones
these days. >> Next question. I want to just >> That was one of the questions that I was going to ask. when you compare this to and I think I guess you answered it but th this is the same um stuff that whe whether you have a microwave, whether
you have your cell phone, your computer, your iPad, I mean as you said fluorescent lighting, this is all I mean this is we because you know we were using the word magnetic field so we're throwing around some terms here ionized
>> protons electrons I just want to sort of understand what is it that is being measured exactly like what is everyone concerned about? What have they read and what is their fear that is happening to them? What is it?
>> Well, generally electromagnetism is one of the four fundamental forces of the universe and you know it goes all the way down from like one hertz like which is outrageously slow all the way up to as we mentioned X-rays and so on. And the general thing for human health purposes are frequencies that are
somewhere above radio waves and substantially below visible light. Like if you look at a microwave oven at a very high power, it actually vibrates, resonates. It phases with the water molecules and causes and that increases the temperature. So at some level there's no doubt there there is some
there is some effect but the level inside a microwave oven is probably like a million times more than than you're going to get standing on a street corner like a block away from a cell phone. And what people is concerned about the the micro effects on human health like the the macro effects it's probably not
causing cancer. There's nothing to say that whatsoever. But the sense like people have ear airpods on thinking these micro frequencies may be stirring around your your cells. just like having these kind of like slight heating effects that that's a lot of the current
concern about uh 5G and radio frequency emissions has to do with these like uh micro effects like these like very small effects which aren't apparent at first but may have some sort of cumulative effect over over time. That's my general understanding.
>> Thank you. >> Next question. >> Justin, do you have a question? You you haven't asked one yet. >> Not yet. >> Not yet. Okay. Question for Mr. Lubo. You want to go over the bid process? Uh, you know, I was curious as to why there was one bidder. Does that typically happen in a process like this where you
only get one person to bid? Also, the the deadline that's required to award a bid after a bid was open. Uh, and um because I got some information today that I was confused about. Um, and you know, go ahead. You can answer that. >> Yeah. So the first question is that
you're required by law the LLBL that once you release a bid you have to uh award it after the second um hearing. So we just uh this is our second meeting. So you're required to um to award today. Uh in terms of why there was only one bidder. Every carrier has its own um
they have their own budget for each year. So um you know it's going to be very expensive. It's going to be a big capital outlay for Verizon. Uh my I suspect that Verizon will take the lead on building the tower um and that other carriers will come in afterwards. there's a big coverage gap in the area. So I would expect that if Verizon is looking to they must have the greater
need. They're going to undertake the cost that could cost about 300,000 $400,000 to build to construct this tower and the other carriers will want to colllocate on there um after it's being after it's constructed. So it's uh kind of typical. >> Yeah. What happens to the bid if the it's not awarded tonight?
>> If it's not awarded tonight, then uh then it gets thrown out then uh it would have to be awarded. But I think the point is that um that awarding it tonight doesn't mean it goes to construction. There's a lot as the council woman just pointed out, there's quite a bit that still has to happen. Still has to go through a full uh planning board hearing. You have, you
know, experts and everyone in this room has got concerns. I'll have um you know, the ability to come and voice your concerns. You know, I've listened to some of the residents here, they asked for 30 days to shel it. One thing, you know, I might potentially, you know, throw out to the mayor and to the council is potentially having an information hearing, maybe a town hall
type of thing. Um you still have to negotiate the lease. There's still plenty of things that could be included in there. Paul mentioned before about, you know, limiting the, you know, the amount of watts that's being operated on. All that could be included in there. Um, I know uh, Professor Nimurov also put in about the potential to have the
tower extended in the future. We could also limit that as well in the lease. That would be contractual. So, that would supervene um, the FCC. There's much that we can include in the lease to kind of limit height, um, the the amount of wattage that's being used. There's a lot still that could be done with public input. And the other thing I was going
to mention too is uh everything was done and noticed properly. LLBL, MLUL, everything was properly noticed. When we go to the planning board, we'll have a 200 foot rule. So that be everyone in Allenale and any other towns that are contiguous that are also impacted by that will be properly noticed. So they'll have the constitutional right to
be properly noticed and have the due process via um the the planning board uh meeting. >> Right. I I don't I don't think like uh you mentioned town hall and I think that's a great idea and I think you know high times 2020 should have been done earlier. I'm not a big fan of doing a town hall after something gets awarded.
I understand there's there's also things that happen subsequent to you know a contract being awarded, right? Do you get extensions on these things? Had we asked for them like because there's always two people involved and it's kind of like a you know relationship between the two people. Would they have given us
an extension? Have we asked for one? You you mean for the biders extending out the timeline in which to respond to the bid? >> We could have amended that. Yes, we could have at the time if we decided to we could have amended the bid to extend the the due date. >> We could have >> at the time. Yes. >> At the time.
>> Yes. Correct. But not >> but that's not done. That wasn't >> correct. It was not done. So >> we can't do that. >> Before the bid date, we could have done that. We could have um asked did an amendment and posted and and noticed it and asked for an and and extended the due date for the bid. That's something. right now that the ship is passed,
right? Correct. >> We can't go to the to Verizon at this point and say give us 30 days, right? Even though it's one vendor, one >> at this point, we have two um two um public hearings in which to uh approve at this point. So, I think that that is
not an option right now. >> Mr. Lupo, I think Councilman Asso asked a question which I didn't think that you answered fully. If we deny the resolution, turn it down, then what's and then later on in 30 days or 60 days,
we feel far more comfortable with it. Can what do we have to do? >> We would renotice it. We would renotice. >> We would renotice. >> We'd have to send out a new RFQ. >> Correct. It would be a whole new package. >> We start we'd start over from ground zero to do a new bid. That's >> that's correct. Yeah. >> So So we'd just go out and reid. Verizon
would likely answer again. They've demonstrated an interest right now. I I can't guarantee they would come back and do it, but but yes, I mean they've already uh expressed interest and yeah, I guess it's could assume that they would come back again. If we did a if we cancelled this, did not award it
and then reapid it and did another RFQ. It's it's you know, it's there's a likelihood they would come back. I can't speak for them. I don't know what Verizon's thinking is. >> And and if Verizon does come back at the same time, T-Mobile or AT&T, another carrier to come forward and also say they're interested. It's open open to anyone who's a FCC licensed carrier.
Yes. >> Another question. Out of ignorance. Supposing we approve it. Planning board gets it. They approve it in some manner, shape, or form. Verizon then is on the tower. Who how does the addition of a T-Mobile or an AT&T work? Does Verizon have have
veto power over that or is that totally a burrow a burrow uh concern? >> So, it would be a burrow concern. Have to go through site plan approval again. So we go through the same process and depending on who owns the tower would have then and no one's going to turn it down. Verizon would never in a million years you know if they had an interest
in that turn down collocation they would probably seek to have um a collocation sorry a a capital contribution for any subsequent carrier went on there. So in the waters you never hear a tower owner saying no to any subsequent collocation on that tower >> because it helps them. >> It helps them the cost.
>> Yep. And it'll be extra revenue for the for the B for us as well for any additional carry went on there. >> Questions question. >> Well, just one follow up on that really quick. So, if we were to have to go through the RFP process again, bidding
process again, what would that timeline look like? >> Well, we would have to if if you decide not to vote on this resolution, uh we would just go through the same process that we did before. I think it's what 30 days >> 30 days of a bid but we'd have to put together a package. >> We'll have to put a whole package but hopefully thing be together. Yeah. And
then once we bid what how much time is the minimum time to fit 45 days >> it was probably like that >> because the last one looks like the pub notice was sent on 21st of September >> and there's a fee right we'd have to pay for Yeah. >> What does that cost
>> some cost? So um my comment or question is that um what would be the point of that? In other words, if our intention is to pursue um putting up a cell tower,
what would delaying it for 30 days, putting out another request of proposal, how would that change anything than what is happening already here today? I I don't see much, but we we are still giving time if we do if we have a town hall to discuss a lease. There's still
much to take into potential consideration. There's the planning board. So, there's a lot of different uh avenues to still discuss. I don't see real truthfully a benefit of uh not adopting it and then canceling it and then rebidding it again RFQ again.
>> Right. But my my my question was I mean or comment would be that if we didn't um approve the resolution tonight and then you know you have a meeting the public comes and then we say oh but we do want
to put up a a cell tower then we are going to go through this process again. So wouldn't the public have a better opportunity in controlling the details of what happens surrounding the cell tower through the planning board
mechanism rather than through us because from my perspective we're we're saying yes we would like to have a cell tower or no we don't want to have a cell tower. I don't think that we are in the position and discussing right now all
these little detail finite details of how tall it should be and how many carriers should be loaded onto it and how wide the you know uh array of of whatever should be that's not what we
are discussing am I correct >> we're not >> so Peter along these lines Are there things that you could recommend to add to this resolution that would um maybe stand between tableabling
something and giving the public an opportunity to have more input? So, some of the things I was thinking about is a public information uh meeting. Again, another town hall um to make sure before we surrounding the lease itself, you're going to still have the the land use. So
you still have a um planning board uh you know hearing um that um that execution of the final lease will not occur until the conclusion of public information session. That's one of the things I was thinking about. Um that there would be no construction or site activity um until the lease agreement is
fully executed and all applicable land use hearings uh are being conducted and finalized. some of the things um and um that we still have the right to um make reservations and revisions to the final site plan pending public input. Those are some of the things I could think
that could potentially being added to take some of the concerns from the public. >> Council, do you have any any objection to any of the modifications that he would impose? Have you have you had discussion? >> I I've seen the list of the modifications. Um
again Peter is counsel for this. They do add extra issues >> to be addressed >> um to be addressed in the process. How that would happen or whether that would be um delay anything or be meaningful
like I defer. >> Oh, it's going to add more time. >> It will add more time and it will meaningfully allow the public to have >> That's correct. That's the idea. So it's adding it's adding additional time to the process but it does give more opportunity for meaningful time for the public. >> So let me ask you something. If we
approve it tonight >> and we have the meeting of the public and we have the planning board else we still obviously have to sign a contract. >> Correct. >> Right. Um if we don't like what we find and we decide we're not going to sign the contract
>> we could just void it. void. We could avoid avoid the bill either the planning board or if we're not happy with the lease and including some provisions from the public, we could simply void uh this resolution adopting uh um adopting the award. >> Adopting the award. Yes. Correct. >> Okay. >> Okay.
>> Question and the carrier would have if we just voided >> if we decide we're not doing the project, we decide we're not doing the project. Is that the is that the idea? >> Right. >> Oh yeah. the in the bid specifications the borrow has the sole and absolute
discretion to move forward or not. So if they adopt the resolution tonight the lease becomes the next in addition to the planning board now that we mentioned it the actual signing of the lease would given so adopt the resolution tonight is like a placeholder essentially and then
town hall consider consider all this the stuff that's meant in all the all the requests. So these are so the the the addition would then be caveats to get to a decision point >> exactly to the point where the borrow feels comfortable to sign the lease itself which would be the actual next
>> and we could and we'll we can put in the town hall as part of this agreement absolutely put in public right so so what is the point of no return is it the signing of the lease >> no then the planning board would be after that it would basically be the the lease and then the construction permits after that showing someone mentioned in
one of the comments I believe the professor about the structural stability, wind loading, you know, snow covered, all that stuff. That would be the UCCC aspect. So, you'd have the tonight's adoption kind of setting it off, signing of the lease, planning board application, and then finally UCCC
permitting like from the building department. >> And when would we, Mayor, when would we schedule the signing of the lease? After the town hall? Yeah, but we can put that as a stipulation in that we would have a town hall meeting and would not proceed to a lease until
>> we that and discuss further. But I I >> But you're proposing that it goes back in front of the council for another vote. >> What? >> You're then proposing that it goes back in front of the >> Well, we'd have to decide whether or not Yeah. >> Well, because this has it this has its written says the bur Verizon entering
into a lease agreement satisfactory to both parties. >> Well, but but it wouldn't be satisfactory to us if we decided If if the in the council now, if we're voting to give you the authority to sign a lease and do that negotiation, you're taking the power out of the council. >> I wouldn't have a problem modifying that. That doesn't that doesn't bother
me at all. >> The the the problem I have is having served on the planning board for six, seven years is that I'm not sure that the pling board has the authority to address the issues that I've heard tonight, which is safety issues. They
will go they will go please they will look at the FCC they will see does Verizon satisfy the FCC requirements now I know there's considerable argumentation I've gone to the FCC's website I've read that their report is
generally you know is in inconclusive we don't find any any problems and it goes through the level of you know if you're um you know close to the to the tower and low you you're not going to suffer anything, you know, add if you're high
to the tower. I don't know how you can get that way, but you know, they will suffer. But, um, I I'm a little worried about us opening the gate, letting it through and then having it go to THE
>> DISCUSSION. Go ahead. >> Oh, no. I I that's I just wanted to express that view. And the the the other view I have is that what I'm hearing from the from the public that that are here tonight is they don't believe that
this mayor and council were transparent enough. >> Well, no, let me finish. Um they were they were not transparent enough. Now, that is an issue that I have been hammering away when I was mayor, before I was mayor, and now after I'm mayor.
And I agree that I think there should be uh a little more discussion about the matter. Um and I have no problem voting that way and saying um let's let's vote it down and then if necessary rebid it.
>> Please people do you want to um talk about something here >> our VA? So we have a you know for the benefit of the council we have three cell towers today. Two in the center of
town. One is 100 ft from here directly on top of where uh Mr. Bey works at the Emeralds building and where we have the employees in here and where you come in. Uh and it's within 1,000 ft of the George Whites school. The same distance
where this proposed tower is from the other school. We also have one cell tower 150 foot high on top of the DPW building where hundreds of residents come in every week, you know, through there. Uh when we presented this in September, you voted unanimously
>> to go out to bid. >> Where were you then? Why did you say we don't want a cell tower? >> You should have said no, we don't want it. So, we went through the expense, we went through the time, we went through the whole process, we hired professionals, and uh it it cost the
town several thousand dollars. I want to say maybe between 20 to $30,000 to prepare, get the bid out. And now the bid came in and the agreement was within 60 days of when we go out to bid 60 days which was December 2nd we open the bid
and then within 30 days we have to award the bid which makes tonight and you know for the new stat you know the statue it has to be by the second meeting which is tonight. Now no one wants to look outside their window and see it hour but like you know
Peter said and you all said this is the second step to move it to the planning board. There's a lot more to do here than just to approve it. This will not be built in the next week or two. This has to go to the next step and and for you to move it to the next step, you
already approved going out to bid. You already took the first step. Now you're taking the second step and now you if you back down and then we come back in 30 60 days, we start all over again. >> We we lost you that time. So, >> so if this all goes, let's just say goes
to the planning board. What is the timing? >> Depends on the planning board. And we we have the best of the of the professionals. They'll be testifying on the board's behalf against Verizon. >> Um I mean, this is best of the talent
that we that we have. Uh >> and I'm very proud that we have, you know, Peter and his associates here uh to defend us when we go to when they go to the planning board. of you approve it. >> I I I I want to make a statement here because people have been saying there's been some sort of lack of transparency. Even on this council, they've said
there's been a lack of transparency. We've been talking about this for two years. It's been on social media. It's been on our website. We've It's been in the Pascac press. It's been in all ways that we can communicate this to the residents. I'm I'm sorry you didn't hear about it and you're coming in now and
you're saying, "We never knew." I get that. I don't I don't deny that you didn't know, but it's not because we were trying to hide something from anybody. We've been put No, this is not the time for public comment. It's not the time for public comment. >> So, I'm just telling you that we have we have gone out and and told people what
this plan was for as long as we had it in the works. We have not been hiding this from anybody at any time. And the people that come to these meetings have said so that this is this is we're as open as we can possibly be to let people know what our intentions have been the
entire time. And we did the public notice. and it's been on our website since September and we have it's been on social media. If there's another way to do this by, you know, carrier pigeon, we would do it. I mean, I'm not being facitious about this. And as far as saying, well, we only live 200, you
know, we live you you're the the the town houses mostly are 700 feet from the tower. So, technically, the planning board requires 200 feet to be noticed. So I would also recommend that we say let's extend the courtesy out to every resident there to be
noticed when it comes before the planning board and and in a similar proximity. >> This isn't an attempt to hide from anybody. This has been we've been following the course and and the entire process. So that's I just want to get that off my chest. And were there other
questions? Can I make a comment on that too? Because I also want to address that because um on April 1st of 2025, this board approved a resolution to go out and hire an engineering firm to prepare
the bid. Um on June 17th, we advertised for the bids. On uh September 17th, public notice went out to the biders. So we are following whatever is required to
make this uh publicly known. the fact that people don't know about it. I would just tell people there's a Hillsdale website that says everything that we're doing here and that, you know, you
should maybe spend some more time going to look at the Hillsdale website to get the information of what it is we do on council. Uh we have meetings twice a month and I will tell you zero people
come to those meetings. The only time we see people is the one minute before we have to make a vote on something which you know you you you use the word fair. How is that fair to this government that has been operating for two years on this
topic? And so I just want to make that comment that we are transparent but you also need to kind of look and see what's going on in your town. Okay. >> I just question Justin hasn't had a chance to ask a question.
>> Let Clemente do all the >> I know he's done all your talking. >> Just to confirm uh Basali, there was a unanimous vote to approve to for the cell tower to go out to bid. >> Yes, sir. >> From the entire council. >> Okay. Pete, um when you're assessing the site plan for the construction of the
tower, do you do you take into account the surrounding residents and what impact that may have on them? So normally we look at >> we look at 123 Smith Street and say this tower may affect them. >> Well, we look at a number of things
about where it's permitted use and limited areas that it's available. So we looked you know there's the high school there's just a very very few uh limited places that are there. Um we you know we try to you know recess as much as possible. We we take into consideration existing site conditions. Again um the
the parking lot where this is going to be located is already improved area. So it really meets the impervious uh spa um impervious coverage and the like. Um and it really is from the standpoint of the carrier needs and the and the gap and the coverage gap that's available really what in a small town like this one of
the more ideal locations to put it. >> But I'm not I'm not talking about coverage. I'm talking about >> impact on the surrounding communities >> houses or or any structures surrounding the tower. >> Yeah. Well, >> you assess that? >> We we do. Well, we really look at from the zoning standpoint. I don't really,
you know, as a RF and as your telecommunications attorney really get involved with that standpoint of really taking a look at uh, you know, but we do look at it from the zoning standpoint and from the the planning board will look into that further. Correct. >> That's that's
>> that'll be the planning board plan board's job. >> Is there is there people are saying that they're concerned about their their their home values? I mean, I can make an argument saying that way. I could also make an argument saying home is less valuable without coverage, but I mean whatever. Um, is there anything beyond
sort of the anecdotal that someone can say here's here's empirical data on this? >> I mean, we heard someone present tonight a position to it. I think um we just uh heard from one gentleman who said goes down to eat 99%. It's inconclusive. You
find both both ways. Uh I have a councilman in Fort Lee who is very upset. He lives uh right there. He has no coverage at all. He's at looking at 1990s uh data loads. So he want to take business calls. he's got to go outside uh and he's actually covered by Manhattan. So, totally different problem, but these are types of things
are issues uh for towns um and for people not to have proper coverage uh and the like. So, it could cut both ways. I think you were kind of implying that both ways. >> Peter, when Peter, when was the location of the proposed cell tower first made known publicly?
>> This is when it was actually put out for bid. Um actually, when we actually I think Councilwoman, you just you just uh laid it out. >> When was that? 17th June 17th >> and the location was lo located in >> we went out for bids we authorized borrow clerk to advertise for bids regarding entering the lease
>> in June >> so June was the lo can you pull up the resolution since you have it open was the location specified >> yes 183 Cedar Lane Hillsdale New Jersey >> so it was all since like like uh council councilman said this has been going on
it's public you go to the website it might be a little hard to navigate but if you go to the search and Birch P. >> It is difficult, but you would go, you type in cell tower >> and you'll be >> council corrected. >> Go to the meetings, right?
>> Go to the meetings. Government meetings. >> Council corrected me. We're actually it's 200 feet from the from the entire property, not just from the tower. So, we'll be notifying everybody who's 200 feet from the m from the block and lot.
Right. >> They you they will be notified when we get when we get >> No, >> the planning board >> before when the planning board issues it, right? Yes. >> We're not recognizing people from the
audience. I know you got a you had your your chance to speak. This is from the discussion. >> This is we're still in this part. >> I don't know. But right now we don't interrupt this part anymore than people
interrupted you, doctor. We don't do it. >> We didn't. >> That's not how it works. >> Are there more more questions here? Uh >> is this is this just questions? Um >> we're we're acting asking our
>> later on we can have more discussion if we need. >> We can now I sent you the questions that the doctor sent you. Is there anything on that list that we've admitted that you think that you need that you should address? I want to make sure she sent us
15 questions. I know that several have been addressed. Is there other are there other items that you think still require either clarification or whatever? >> No, I think um that the between the council members pretty much covered uh
the questions more or less from her list. >> Okay. >> So, an an impact study is inherent in the planning board review process. an impact study will have to be presented to the planning board. >> That would be some of the negative and
positive criteria that would be addressed in there. So, um you know impacts potentially as members of public can make their case that there is a detrimental impact to the property value by having a cellular tower next next to them 700 feet away. That's something that could be presented to the the plane
board as a as a negative uh component of their of the burden by the by the carrier. Oh, and I just wanted to throw in one question that was in Professor Nimro's um question list and that was
the 20 foot height extension. The idea that once you put up 150 foot tower, the spectrum act which was adopted in 2012 and its eligible facilities request standards would allow carriers to keep increasing the height by 20 feet. From a
land use perspective, maybe. From a property owner perspective, not at all. The lease can easily contain a condition that says 150 ft is the height limit. Yeah. And there's there's no going beyond. It's a contractual thing, >> right? So that would be contractual. Okay. >> Is there anything else that wasn't covered? >> Yeah. I got a quick question for Peter.
Peter, uh, so you're an attorney and this is what you do for a living, right? >> Yes. >> I'm sure you've seen situations like this in other towns, >> right? What is when when masses oppose things like this, right? like what typically happens what what do I mean
it's it's unique obviously um but what are you seeing out there in terms of you know like towns and burrows are they they going forward with these towers depending on the situation um you know are you know carriers taking towers down
because people are complaining about them or they're identifying certain risks I don't want to get into health and safety because we touched upon that but like from a legal perspective like what are you seeing you know, out there. >> I mean, you see obviously public objection. I mean, this is pretty
common. So, I've done this many times. So, having members of the public come in and express concerns about health and safety, about depreciating property values, all things I've heard. Obviously, this is something that you hear all the time at every meeting. But, generally speaking, every every town's different and every mayor council, you
know, you weigh at the risks. I mean, you have poor coverage. You know, that's E911 calls that people making. You're on the road. Hotspots don't really address that. So there's a lot of public safety and there's also business personal business. I know one person here is I think she said she was a she's a
counselor or she's a you know she's in a profession that relies on having um you know cell phone coverage. I think one of the um people members of the public mentioned that uh that no one has landlines anymore which is true. I haven't had a landline in 15 years or maybe longer. Um cell phone coverage really does that. So really it's it's a
a sight by sight um town by town. I've never seen an instance where a cell phone tower was taken apart except by the um cell phone carrier themselves where they no longer have an interest anymore uh and they no longer have a coverage interest but never at the behest of a town. >> Right. I just had your your tech expert.
One more question. Uh with regards to technology, right? Um you know with 911 calls, you say that there's certain hardware out there that connects to satellite, right? They can't pinpoint your location, but you can connect I believe, right? >> Well, exactly. GPS satellite. The
basically your mobile phones had an array of antennas. It's GPS antennas. It has the communication antennas and blue Bluetooth antennas and Wi-Fi ant. And the GPS one. Yes, you could conceivably have your location precisely
indicated by GPS lock, but then be unable to communicate it to anyone because of the cellular lack of cellular coverage or Wi-Fi coverage. But but could you make a call if you have the hardware that could connect to satellite? >> Oh, yes. Yeah. Yeah. T I think T-Mobile has that now as part of their their
basic voice plan. You can do basic calls and data over the satellite network. I think it's Starlink. I think they're connecting with Starlink. >> Yeah. And where is that? I don't think AT&T Verizon have that set up yet, but it's probably going to be in the post and in the not so dist but in the
foreseeable future we're still utilizing cell phone towers. >> Oh yeah. They're just bunch more. Basically, cell satellites are like there was this like promise to satellites were going to replace like landline land service for a while. It's just it's not going to happen for 10 to 20 years minimum because the capacity
issues of these satellites which are just essentially like bus size things up in space. It's just not going to come close to all these like >> to the land the land network. Yeah. Not going to approach them at any in any point in the near future. >> But you may be able to get a 911 call. >> Yes. Exactly.
>> Question. Uh real estate agents have told me that it's very difficult to sell homes where there's a cell tower invis in in you know visible um and the drop could be anywhere from 5% you know to
20%. That's the number that got thrown out I think. And the agents have said when a prospective buyer comes to them they say we don't want to be near. It's just a requirement that the buyer puts forward to the agent we don't want to be near. Is this an issue that the planning board
would consider in its decision? >> Well, yeah, that's the general the general consider I believe. Yes, I I think that um it has to be it has to have evidence that basically the evidence on property value correlation the cell towers is anecdotal. There are
some studies as we're mentioned tonight that say there is there is a correlation and there are many that don't. So if the public or the planning board or anyone interested comes up with something reliable, statistically supported by an
expert witness and it's corroborated testimony, then yeah, that would that would be but otherwise it would be hearsay. >> But how did how then would the planning board address that? >> What would be one of the criteria they would factor in when you're thinking of the overall the good versus the bad, the
positive and the negative? Could it deny the whole application before >> if every if it would it could be a determining it couldn't we couldn't do it solely based on that because there are other factors to consider like emergency service and uh >> and and suitability of the site. There's
a whole bunch of positive criteria and then negative criteria and that could conceivably be a negative criteria if there's strong enough evidence. But in and of itself, I don't it' be up to the planning board to decide whether that was sufficient in and of itself to deny an application.
>> Thank you. >> Are there other questions? >> You have >> Well, looking over this pensively. >> Yeah, just because I I think I need a point of clarification. It's in regards to one of the answers here. >> Go ahead. >> Okay. Um it says under the municipal
land use law the bureau and the planning board are not permitted to base land use decisions on speculative impacts to property values. Experts also sharply disagree nationally and regionally as to whether wireless facilities have any effect on market values. I guess is the
key word in there speculative. It would need to be def if there was someone to make it doesn't it's very ineffective most of the time but if someone came up you know that there's always the possibility someone comes up with an undeniable statistical study that's like validated and has like the
expertise that satisfies the planning board's uh to the planning board's reasonable satisfaction. Okay, you've demonstrated beyond all doubt. Then that that would be something considered. Otherwise, it would be speculative and the planning board may or may not may or may not consider it.
>> I believe the determination of the of the planning board would be in this aggregate. It would be a whole bunch of different factors weighing positive negative reasonable determination. I mean, how do you really define reasonable? But I would say that in this aggregate, you know, you would look at the positive and negative criteria to
decide whether or not reasonable was met for the plan board purposes. >> Okay, more questions? I see one. No, two. No more questions. Nothing down here. Be you have anything else you want to add? >> Okay, great. Well, thank you very much
for your time and greatly appreciate it. >> Thank you. Okay, >> we are going to move on now to the professionals monthly reports. >> No, it's >> you can talk to him privately, but you can't. But if he wants to talk to you privately outside or whatever, but that
that portion of the program is over. >> Thank you. >> We're moving on to the professional month. At the end, we're opening it up again for public comment after we there's there's an agenda and we're following the agenda. Next is the professional report. We're following the agenda. This is not
We're gonna coming on to the EMS. John, thank you very much for being so patient as we give go through all this. You're a Riverdale resident, but Hillsdale, I know with your heart. >> Yes. Yes. River's been my heart for a long time.
Hillsdale's been there. >> Please take Can we Can we close that door or >> Can you please We have business to conduct. The clerk is going to close the door. Hold on a second. Thank you, clerk. >> Okay.
>> Hi, good evening. >> Good evening everybody. John, the chief of the ambulance department. Um, so I just wanted to come here tonight to first kind of give some details on our November call reports and give some data to continue to show how the uh
combination department has been working very successfully. So there were 102 total emergency calls handled by Bergen County Dispatch for November. Hillsdale EMS answered 91 of the dispatches, which is an 89% response rate. 49 of those 102
of the 91 were handled by volunteers, 42 by uh we did have 11 dropped calls. However, of those 11 dropped, four were while our volunteers were already on another call, so we only have an ambulance, so we can't do much about that. Two were while our prediums were
on another call. Um, three occurred while we had no volunteer crew scheduled. And two occurred while our ambulance was down house service or vehicle maintenance. When you're saying there's no volunteers available, does that mean Hillsdale and Riverdale or is >> So yeah, it mean it means just for Hillsdale, we didn't have a scheduled
crew for two nights for the entire month of November. Two single nights. >> Okay. >> Um so those two nights. >> So what happens if that when 911 is called and we don't have >> Yeah. So ultimately when 911 is called and we don't have a scheduled crew, um it will go to first our protocol
basically go to the next neighboring municipality if there is one. Um, so of the 11 calls, six of them were handled by volunteers, usually five were handled by my commulences from either Burton County or the hospitals.
>> So if you get Burton County, they're not uh balance billing. They're going to bill your insurance, but they're not going to seek the rest of the >> um hospital based unfortunately can choose the balance bill. So we have no control over that. >> And the balance bill is just your deductible. So, your balance bill might
be, you know, they build $2,000 for the service. You send it in for your insurance. Insurance says, "Here's $500." And they send that to the insurance company. The insurance, the hospital could then come to you and say, "You owe us $1,500. >> You owe us $1,500." >> Um, so that's part of why when we
instituted our plan in 2023 was really to help prevent that for Hillsdale residents. Yeah. Um because at this point in time we do not bill. So we have answered 96% of the calls in Hillsdale all year where no one is seeing a bill
from the the ambulance that's coming. >> You might be getting a bill still because we interact with paramedics from the local hospitals. They can still bill even though we're the transport company, >> but you won't get a transport bill. >> But you won't get a transport bill. Exactly. >> Okay. >> Yeah. So so we have no prevention over
that aspect if you're receiving paramedic services. um with us, but ultimately for the DLS aspect, the transport part, um you're not going to see it from us. >> Okay. >> Um so, >> sorry. >> No, you're good. Um so, and then I just want to point out two of those calls
were while our ambulance was down for maintenance. So, um we had an oil change that was done during the day at one point. We missed a call and another was a technician came out to repair something on the ambulance. We were down for I think 35 minutes. Unfortunately,
in those 35 minutes, we got >> phone rings when you go to the bathroom. >> Yeah. Of the 91 calls that we did answer, we went mutually 27 times, which was about 30% of our calls. Uh 16 of them were permium daytime crews
responding to Riverbell. Um which was 38% of our daytime volume. >> So, not too bad. In most months, it's been anywhere from 20 to 30%. So, I will say it was a little bit higher. >> Yeah. Um we did respond another five
times to Rura with our volunteer crews and another six times to Washington Township with our volunteers. Uh we have a total we in the month of November had a total of 19 volunteers uh cover 98 assigned shifts for a total of 1,044 man
hours uh or woman hours and we had 13M members work 42 shifts for 490 hours. So, just to give some clarity to where we are this year. >> Yeah. >> Um, as of today, uh, we have been
dispatched to 1,3 calls. >> That's crazy. >> For this year, and only missed 44. So, that was a 96% response rate. Um, which has been pretty consistent. Again, I pointed out earlier, we were at 89 for the month of November, but for the most
part, we've been pretty high up there. >> Are you comparing Are you comparing our response? Obviously, you're doing ours month over month, year to year. Are you con comparing to let's say Triber or somebody else to try to get an idea of how we fall? >> So, in the past, um, prior like this is
my first year back in as chief of the department again. >> Um, in prior years, what I did at the end of the year, usually January is I reach out to every agency and say, "Send me your year end data for the previous year." Um, so I will be doing that for January, basically saying, "Give me all
of your data." Um, one of the things that I find to be most telling, um, is social media, right? So, our agency has been very vocal in pointing out what our stand our response rate is, what our standard of calls are, um, our staffing
rates, etc. Um, no one else in the Pacific Valley is doing that. >> Okay. >> They are, it's under lock and key. you know, they, you know, one of our neighboring agencies pointed out, I think it was around May 1st, celebrating their 100th fall of the year. At that
point, we were at over 500. >> So, you know, when when we had those details, you know, one of the other towns for a couple months was posting how they had, you know, 100% response rate for their calls. They posted that for about two or three months and now
those don't get posted anymore. >> Right. The numbers being gone down. >> Yeah. Exactly. Those numbers most likely are no longer where they were. So they've no longer put them out there. >> Do we have excess capacity? How often are we are are are we sitting idle? I mean, you know, obviously we've done,3
calls is a lot of calls, but even so, 3 dispatches, we've responded to 969 calls. >> Um, which compared to last year, we are at 183% of our call volume last year. >> Is that because we picked up Rivervale?
Honestly, it's it's not it's it's Yes, Rail has definitely brought on more calls. >> Okay. >> Um our volunteer side has significantly increased our staffing rates. So >> So we're not getting we're not getting the third party coming in to correct pick up. We're able to pick them up
ourselves. >> Exactly. So we we are basically covering a lot more calls than we used to. Um, I will say I forget I think it was August, maybe it was July, somewhere in there, we had 100% of all shifts, every hour of
the month covered between the volunteers and the PDM side, which I've been a member of the department for 17 years, that had never happened before, right? So, for that to be able to be accomplishable is tremendous thing. Um, for the month of December, I
can tell you wholeheartedly there's two Friday nights where we are currently without a crew. >> One of them I have one member for us to again be down two crews is I can show you my schedules from from 20
where we were down you know 40% of the month. >> Now we end up with a lot of the volunteers as young and then they go on to school and they move out of town. Exactly. >> We're sort of chasing our tail to fill those gaps. >> Yes. So, that is part of why um we're trying our best to kind of re increase
our recruitment program um to bring in more of the the homeowners, the people that are going to be here for a long time. Um you know, I am luckily here for a long time. I technically grew up in Hillsdale. I moved a half mile from the
house I grew up in. I'm technically a Rurbell resident, but this is where my allegiance has been. So, that's why I'm still here. Um, but we over the years have had a few that have turned into, you know, the long-term members. Right now, we one of our members came back
from college. Uh, she's been great, but she was just accepted to med medical school. So, come September, she's gone, you know. So our our thing that we've consistently been trying to figure out is how do we get the people who are not leaving for school again, you know, who
are not heading off to PA school or something else. So I think um part of that is we're really working on getting the knowledge out to the community as to how to get certified. I mean technically, yes, I got certified in college. If I right now with two kids
and a full-time job said to my wife, I want to go do this. she would look at me like I was crazy, >> right? >> Um, but you know, ideally we're looking for people who, you know, maybe are the empty neester looking for something new to kind of fill their day-to-day life or
um, a lot of people don't realize that the EMT program in Bergen County, they do offer, yes, they have nighttime courses, but they actually do offer a daytime course that's from 9:30 to 1:00. So, like a a potential stay at home
parent who drops their kids off at school because they're now at school age could go to EMT class two days a week, get that certification while their kids are out of the house and and being cared for in another capacity. >> You want to give that phone number out to anybody that's going out on >> if you know it. Feel free. We'll we'll
provide that information. >> Well, actually, a townwide email went. >> Yes. So, I'm going to thank you guys for sending out the townwide blast today basically with some of the details. I know we actually already received an email from it. Um, somebody saying it says you have to be 16 or older. Like, is this only for kids? And I was like,
no, like it's it's anybody, you know. Um, and the other thing that's not on that flyer, but it's because the the class that's coming up uh for enrollment on this Thursday, yes, it opens on Thursday. It's then the course is from
February till June. Um, it is ideally built around a school schedule, right? They have a a fall course, a spring course, and a summer course. So, that is why I think we too tend to get a lot of high school students like they do their sport in the fall and they're now available in the spring and they go
ahead and do the do the class. Um, but the thing that's really big and important is there are alternative ways to get an EMT certification, especially for those that have already gone through life and gotten a certification such as a nurse or a doctor. Um, believe it or
not, New Jersey doesn't allow um PA yet to challenge, >> but a nurse or a doctor who is a higher medical authority can choose to take what's considered the 24hour reertification class that I have to take every 3 years and then you take the
national exam and if you pass above 70, you're done. Like you're an EMT. >> So instead of taking your over 200 hour class two nights a week, >> you're 24 hours. you're doing 24 hours and then challenging the test and then you're ready to get out >> waving in. >> So that's one thing that I'm trying to
also get a lot of knowledge out to the community on is that that option exists and you know I know we all tend to have two income households where everyone's working and it's hard to find that time. Um but you know the volunteer and that's why we went to the predium model in
Hillsdale which has been life changing literally. Um, so what we have our volunteers working nights, you know, 6P to 6A and accommodations around schedule. So like I have nurses that are on the department who they might ride at night but go off at 4:00 a.m. instead of
6:00 a.m. because they have to be at work at 6:30. So they they can't wait up for like call and not get to work on time. So I as a teacher, you know, I write I'm every Tuesday night 4 a.m. >> So, you know, every Tuesday night I go
to sleep. But, you know, from 6:00 p.m. till 4:00 a.m. I'm on call and then occasionally I'll get that, you know, 3:30 call and get home at 5. >> The the fire call that we had in town about 2 months ago. You know, that wasn't my duty night, but I responded and was there for two and a half hours
and I went to work the next day. you know, we do it, but it's because this is a calling to serve the community in different capacity. So, you know, we have a lot of people as coaches and other ways, but you know, we are really looking for people who maybe haven't found their niche that want to figure
out a different way. So, if you know anybody, please push it out. You know, we did it on social media. Thank you to the burrow for sending it out. Um, there are also more accelerated courses. So, you could potentially do like a two-month section of class instead of, you know, five months with the Burton
County program. Um, so they do offer a two-month program in other locations. So, >> can I ask a question? >> I have >> Go ahead. >> With regards to shared service, right? >> Yes. How would you absorb another town
um with the call volume that you have today? Because we always talk about, you know, doing this >> the expansion, >> right? Um I mean ultimately the hardest part right now for us would probably be the fact that we have one ambulance, right? So our one ambulance if we're on
a call there's no way to ultimately backfill. You know, Triber ambulance has three ambulances, but they are remaining fully volunteer right now. They're covered in three towns. So they could at least backfill if another call came in one of the other burrows um and try to
get another crew out there. Right now we don't have those that capabilities. Um I will say in terms of call volume we probably on a regular basis had like I think the other day we had two calls one call one day one call one
day we had six. You know, there's definitely the days where it easily would fit and then there's the days where the system would be strained a little bit more, but I would say it's probably feasible. Um, and the benefit we have right now is like we haven't fully taken on rural, right? We're not
covering rural Monday to Friday. >> Volunteers, they volunteer. >> They have their volunteers sprinkled here and there. Um, so they're covering about two days a week, uh, give or take. Mhm. >> We, you know, on the other three are pretty much their entire coverage. So if
there was another town that was one day a week or two days a week with their volunteers, I definitely think sprinkling in, you know, that coverage could easily be done. >> Okay. >> Questions out here. >> My question was, is the ambulance driver also an EMT? Well, that's a separate
role. >> So, it's a it's a misnomer. Everyone likes to call us ambulance drivers. I drive, but I'm all into. >> Um, so we we do have on our department only one member who is a driver only.
>> Everybody else on the department in our in Hillsdale is an EMT. Um, so our agency, it's either like EMT or bus is kind of the way when people come in. That's our main goal. So, our bylaws um of the agency do allow for driver only
members to exist, but they pretty much have to fit certain criteria. So, they have to be um a police or firefighter who is either in the burrow or another municipality and therefore has emergency vehicle training.
>> Um they could be a DPW employee of the burrow and therefore they kind of meet criteria. We built that in several years ago because unfortunately sometimes people hear like I get to come in and play with lights and sirens and drive fast, right? >> Sign me up, you know. Um, so we wanted
to build in some criteria. We do have the ability to wave that those rules, but it has to be a a full vote of our board of trustees to basically weave them for somebody to come in. But our department, one of the things that's made us be more successful is that we do push people to get the ENC certification
as their first thing that when they join. Um because you know some neighboring squads will say we'll let you drive and you can take this 40-hour class called first responder to give you some of the basics. You learn CPR, here's how to move patients and do those
things, but the state of New Jersey doesn't recognize first responder as a filling crew member for an ambulance. So where we have, you know, an EMT and I need coverage, I can go to any one of my
department to cover me. Uh well, as long as they've got enough seniority. A lot of these other agencies, they're boasting, hey, we've got 42 members, but if you actually look at it, they've got >> 12 14 EMTs and a bunch of other people who just like to walk around with clothes on that say EMS,
>> right? Um, so we've unfor we've been able to kind of build that in. So it's if you want to do it, this is how you do it. This is how you become part of the squad because that's, you know, like we said, when when the pipeline goes off to college, we need to fill you with another EMT, not >> somebody who just hung out for a little
bit. So >> thank you. >> Do you have any more of the presentation? You want to answer questions? We have anybody? >> No, that was pretty much it. You know, so right now the the big push is that this Thursday at 10 a.m. the course opens up to be signing up for Burton County's course, but there are those
alternative options. You know, the two-month course. Right now, the closest location is in Sko Grove, um, which is, you know, 25 minutes. The other thing actually I just want to point out for anybody in the audience or on the council, the training, um, is about $15
to $1,600 a person. Luckily, about a dollar off of every speeding ticket in the state of New Jersey goes to pink for EMS training. >> Um, so I guess keep speeding us, right? Um, but ultimately
>> that's not an endorsement to speak. >> Strike that from the record. Um, ultimately though, we at our department as the the volunteer side, that's how we have eligibility to get people trained because we still have the volunteer
aspects for the state. Um, so if you come in to join our department, we just fill out paperwork for you that covers that $1,600. You are just basically signing up for a I guess kind of like the Army of the National Guard. You're signing up for a three-year term. You have to you have to
give them time. >> If they leave, do they owe you $1,600? >> They owe it to the state. Um or the state will revoke your EMT certification. >> Oh, okay. >> So, as far as we know, we don't know if they're going to prorrate it. So, like you do a year and a half and then you
decide this isn't for me anymore. If I don't pass. >> Yeah. >> Um >> we asked at length to the state, you know, how does this work? and they basically said when they leave you let us know and then we'll figure it out. So they don't really have anything in place
yet. Um >> but it's not Hillsdale. It's not your issue. >> Correct. It's not our issue >> between them and the state. >> Yeah. The only out-ofpocket cost right now for a prospective new member is the textbook for the class which is $265 for Bern County and then we pay that
back to you after you pass the class. Okay. So we used to as an agency we rely a lot on donations from the the residents to survive on the volunteer aspect and pay for all the equipment and everything else. >> Um we used to pay that upfront. So I remember vividly one year I was so
excited we had 10 prospective members going to the how many books? >> All 10. >> All 10 dropped out. >> I'm buying my raffle tickets. Spent $3,000 to send them to school. >> That went nowhere. >> I'm buying my raffle tickets for you. I swear. So we we changed it and now they
pay we give the reimbursement and our pass rate has skyrocketed because you have a little skin in the game and therefore you want to make it happen. >> Great. >> So >> Okay. Anything else? >> No. >> No. >> Thank you for your patience and thank you for your report. We really
appreciate it. >> Sorry if anybody I was reading students really want their grades tomorrow. >> Okay. Uh we're going to go on to committee reports. Let's start with uh Councilman Oso. >> Yes. Uh wanted to first uh say thank you
to Dan Ki who was uh he's the director and it was his first full year on the job. I think he's done some great things uh in 2025. Just want to give you some of the highlights. Uh egg hunt, movie night, October Fest, Halloween event, square dancing, and tree lighting all
grew in numbers. Uh the fall festival was a huge success. There was a pumpkin patch added to the event and we had about 1500 participants throughout the day. Uh we released uh four seasonal brochures throughout the year. Um
that that within those within that brochures get classes like uh cookie decorating, STEM, um cooking, architectural, sports, first aid, and uh and quite a bit more. Summer camp had a fantastic year. Hillsdale residents this
year were given first priority. Uh it went over quite well with the community, so nobody from Hillsdale was left out. Um sport uh summer concerts were a huge success. There were three concerts uh that were very well attended. Uh and in 2026, there may be a plan to have one
downtown. Some of the things to look out for in 2026, we have a memorial field complex uh which there'll be a groundbreaking in the late spring, early summer. uh in the community center uh which hope >> it's not a groundbreaking, it's an opening, isn't it? >> It's an opening. >> We already broke ground.
>> We broke the shovel. >> I remember I remember something to the shovel. >> Yeah. And then the and then the community center. Um you know, we all look forward to opening that as well. >> And that's it. >> Okay, great. >> Councilman Fox, nothing to report. Nothing to report. Councilman Kleti.
>> Thank you, Mayor. Uh I provided uh really all of my committee and commission updates during last week's council meeting and there have been no meetings or developments since. So this will be very brief. Our next fire department meeting is Monday, December 15th. And in terms of environmental commission, our next meeting is also
Monday, December 15th. The environmental commission would like to advise to mayor councel and mayor g uh ba gazali in terms of maybe communicating to the departments that the uh as of Friday excuse me as of Friday December 5th the
status of water supplies in New Jersey changed from drought status uh to drought uh excuse me from drought watch to drought warning. So according to the NJD uh the three systems that service Bergen County consisting of three reservoirs have dropped about 50% as compared to
normal capacity of 63%. So extra water conservation measures are needed. >> Okay. Anything else? That's your report. >> Thank you, Councilman Ruko. >> Thank you, mayor. Uh the 50 plus club
had their holiday Christmas lunch at this Italian restaurant last Thursday. They're going to hold their final regular meeting this coming Thursday at Cornerstone at 11:30. The Hillsdale Seniors will hold their last monthly lunch at St. John Baptist Church at December 17th at noon. Doors open at
11:30. Board of Health will hold its final public 2025 meeting. not Board of Health will have its final public 2025 meeting on Tuesday, December 16th at Burough Hall at 7 p.m. Um, Access for All held their last regular meeting of
the year yesterday at 7 p.m. in the library and they'll hold their holiday dinner at Damonti's restaurant at 6:30 uh next Monday. They held a holiday card writing for service members event last Sunday at the library. It was a moderate success, I'd say. Uh, they will be
contacting you, Mr. mayor regarding expiring seats on their committee and looking for renominations. I want to remind the mayor and the council that they have not had representatives from the police, the rec committee, the fire department or the EMS all year >> and they have continually made that point very clear to me and I've made it
clear to all of you. >> Right. >> Um they have a remaining budget of $750. They wish to spend it on purchasing a device that will enhance the ability of those with hearing aids to amplify and clarify sound via Wi-Fi in our new community center. I have a a little list
a chart which shows what it what it does. It supports a 100 listeners. Um and they're asking can the DA and the rec director authorize this in the next few days. So I'll leave that to you. Uh there may be an issue maybe with our CFO in terms of allowing them to spend the money versus but that's a technicality,
>> right? >> They also plan on discussing other ways with the mayor's community center, which I think Melissa you're on. um to enhance assistance for people having disabilities who wish to attend events at the new community center. So, we're going to be reaching out to me. They asked who was on the committee, I said,
"Okay, >> call you." Um this this morning I attended the Bergen County League of Municipalities mayor's breakfast. Um it was my last attendance there as my role as mayor ceased two years ago and my term as a board member on the group had expired uh this month. And u it was
appropriate to give my seat to the mayor of Leona. will replace me as the treasurer. However, if you, Mr. Mayor, want me to attend in your absence, um, I'd be pleased to do so and report from the Hillsdale Council. That's >> um, >> they gave a presentation, there was a
presentation from the Executive Office of the Northern New Jersey Girl Scout Council, which is the 11th largest in the United States, about their efforts to make Girl Scouting more relevant here in Bergen County. And they also talked up their $3 million uh renovation of their property, which I didn't even know
existed at 300 Forest Avenue. >> Yeah. >> Um >> it's right next to the gas station. You have to kind of look for >> the fuel for building. >> Yeah. >> I need a compass. >> I've gone in there to sell Girl Scout cookies. >> Mayor Al Kirkpus from Saddle River was a
guest speaker. Uh he talked about the history of the town's efforts to deal with the explosion of the deer population there. Uh the numbers of deer in his community are staggering and they have u they're having detrimental health consequences to both humans and to other wildlife. >> They do bow hunting.
>> Yeah. Well, they Yeah. He explained the whole process up in the trees. They have to shoot down. >> Um unfortunately, because of the plethora of deer, coyote packs now have increased and they're threatening animals, uh dogs and cats.
>> And you also can't just do one town and think you're going to have >> Yeah. Exactly. So the conclusion that the that the group came to was that the towns need to band together to approach the county to develop regional approaches. And the league is going to be putting together a letter for towns to endorse asking for the cooperation of
county executive Tedesco who has reportedly up to this point shown little interest in taking any action. >> He doesn't allow it on on any county property and has said the rest of it is home. the the le the league is going to be writing to him to to try to get him to to to encourage the municipalities to
come together on this issue. Um, and this was voted at today's meeting and it was unanimous with a vote. That's all. >> Okay. I hate to say this is the last I'm going to offer you this, but council commentary. >> Yes. um the library uh uh board met last
night. Um and um they would definitely like me to let everyone know that they're very proud that 43% of the households of Hillsdale use the library. And so that's apparently a very
high number that they're very proud of. Um their new roof has been completed. Um they have uh raised gardens that these garden beds that they build those have been completed. Um the golf fundraiser
that they had last month was very successful. >> Um in response to a survey, a community survey that was done last year, they've added a Sunday. So now the library is open on Sundays. So, you have to check
the website to see the exact hours. Um, the Pasc Valley Environmental Club is currently collecting gently used toys for those in need. There's a bin at the library for anyone that would like to
donate. Um, and they're also looking to have teens that are interested in getting involved in an advisory capacity at the library. So, they're looking to
to get input from young people. Uh, and so if you know of any teens that are interested, uh, go see Dave FS. And then, you know, they they're they're putting together, as I said, an advisory
group. Um, and um, also on u March 21st of 2026, there's going to be uh uh it's a New Jersey uh makers day. Now last year they had this but last year it was
more like a competition where people were making things because I don't know if you know this but the library has so much equipment in making wood making uh engraving steel engraving
metal um embroidery I mean it has so many pieces of equipment and so last year was more of a competition. This year it is not a competition but it's a showcase that uh of innovation,
creativity and craft. And so they're seeking artists, crafters, all kinds of makers in the local community to come and display uh their talent uh for this one day exhibition. And again, if you go
online, which I always say at every meeting, the library has so much activity, so many events happening. So, please go online and and check it out because it's a fabulous place.
>> Thank you, >> Councilwoman Mach. >> Okay. I don't have so much tonight, but I do want to thank Chief Bey for being here and reporting all that impressive um information. So, we just want to, you know, tell you guys you're doing a great job. Just keep up the good work and
thank you for an very impressive year. Um, and then as for the board of ed, the next meeting is not until the 15th, so I won't have an update until next year. >> Great. >> As far as the community center, maybe you can give like a quick update. >> Okay. >> V Gali.
>> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. In the month of November, the zoning department reviewed uh 35 applications uh for living trees, removal, eight fences, additions, decks, sheds, patio. I also want to remind the public that we
do issue violations. So, if you need to make a a change to your to your property to add a patio, add a deck, please come in and get a permit. Um we don't want you to be in a situation where we have to go back and issue a violation. The
deer thermal thermal survey done with a drone will be conducted in the next two weeks. I was notified this morning. As soon as I have the actual date, I will let everyone know these are drones that will be up in the air at night. Uh surveying
>> heat sensors, right? >> Heat sensors. Yes. >> Surveying the the number of deer we have in town and where the concentration is. Uh we're hoping to use this information with surrounding towns as Councilman Ruko said maybe we can come up with a
regional solution. Uh Memorial Field uh the heavy clearing work is going to start on Thursday removing trees to prepare for the uh retaining walls and also to finish the clearing of the site. Uh we do appreciate the surrounding homes
patience during this time as a heavy machinery will begin uh moving heavy concrete and hauling soil around the property. Uh there has been several change orders and there are three resolutions on the agenda for tonight
for your approval. Uh uh before you get to them, uh uh resolution 25301 is to authorize uh 31,500 uh for a logo to be at the center of the field. It will be the letter H uh in
very large size right at the 50ard line. Resolution 25302 would authorize 66,400 to complete the demolition work. Although we have been working with the DPW to uh to clear the site, uh we are
hitting very hard concrete requiring different resources and it's actually uh damaging our equipment. >> Um so we are going to go back and finish it with a professional polar. And then lastly, resolution 25303. It's a new
coach box which will reduce the cost by almost $80,000. Uh it is it will still be a two-story coaches box with a fully enclosed second floor and an open first floor. Uh and the plan is in the future we can always
enclose the first floor for storage. Uh there are also four resolutions uh for the community center 2594 95 96 and 97 to per to purchase the furniture from four different vendors which is why we
have to have four different resolutions using a DCA grant for 75,000. This this grant was marked for the Stonybrook Community Center and we were able uh to transfer it to this new center. We do have to spend it by end of
this year, right? >> So we have three weeks or so to go to uh >> we have to take delivery. We just have to have it allocated. >> So uh this so today while phone calls were working uh we were submitting about 40 pages of information uh to the DCA
Sage website so we can get this on time. uh they they wanted a copy of the cash check which we don't have. Uh so we actually have an extension until April of uh 2026, but we still have to put the orders in this year. So we're in good
shape with that. We will be applying for more grants to continue uh to add more furnishing later on. Uh, and this being the last meeting of the year, I do want to thank Councilwoman Janetta and Justin Fox for their service to the community of Hillsdale. Uh, they've committed much
of their personal time to serve the town, and that's in my opinion a very noble civic duty, and we're thankful to them. I also want to wish everyone a happy holiday, happy Hanukkah, merry Christmas, and happy new year. >> Um, I have a couple questions for you as
followup. You I get to go first. There's more >> I get. Okay. Um I know that NJ Transit was talking about finally putting something through on this roof of the train station. Is there any update other than they are hopefully moving forward with part of their plan? >> I think the best news I can give you is
that we are in communication with them. Many other towns they can't even talk to anyone. >> Okay. >> So >> go Richmond. >> Yes. So so we are in in uh in communication. They are responding. I don't have a timeline. >> Okay. Um any news from PSE and G? We
passed a resolution for Jack and Forest study. >> Yes, we actually talked this morning with the library. They're waiting to see if uh they're still doing their studies. Uh this is to get the gas line on Hillsdale Avenue to connect uh but St. John the Baptist not allow the pipe to
go on the bridge. So now they have to go through the libraries parking lot under the brook and come back to Avenue. They're doing the assessment. I they don't have any reports yet. >> PSG is right. So they're still as long as they're in the works with it. Okay. The last thing is I guess I I feel
somewhat negligent that I've got a call into the uh cleanup crew for the D with respect to the dry cleaners. The dry cleaners, they have been out there. You may have noticed the old Alexander's dry cleaner site has been fenced for years. >> Um they the D sent their contractors out
to clean up. >> Yes. >> Um is that work completed now? >> No, not yet. They're still working. >> They're still working on that. So So much for one week in getting it done. >> Okay. because >> see if we can get a date. >> Okay, if we can get a date certain on that, that'd be great.
>> Janetta has Janetta goes first. She was there on the off consent. Uh two of the resolutions are to increase the price for uh the field and the third one is to decrease. Are they offsetting each other? >> So is the net increase?
>> Yes. >> Zero. >> Look, it's zero. Yes. Small, by the way. So this is work in progress. >> We're looking at some of the options at the field. >> Yes. >> Where we we can maybe get, you know, a cheaper prices. >> Yeah.
>> So this is this will continue. >> We're not trying to increase the cost of the whole project. >> We still want to get a good product, >> but the best price. Yes. >> But even the fencing, we're looking at a different fence style. Maybe it's cheaper,
>> right? So you have >> Yes. >> Okay. That's just checking. question on this side of the VA. >> Yeah. Um, so you mentioned the third party caller >> to take away the asphalt. >> We tal we had talked about using
somebody other than um apply. >> Yep. >> Were they able to get back to us? >> So our superintendent was looking to get a serpent quote. Uh it's very specialized only because so so we have to actually take out the basketball court. So that's all concrete
and asphalt. And then the parking lot uh on the left side of uh the fieldhouse that's deep concrete. And then there's also a retaining wall that's full concrete. >> Uh so the 66,000 is what the contractor
gave us. We're still looking to see if we can get a cheaper one and do the exact same thing. >> Right. So we're approving the 66. >> But still, >> but there could be a potential person. Okay. >> Correct. We don't want to delay it and this so this being the last meeting
there's really not not much option you know that we have if we can get you cheaper one uh we'll work with it >> right okay >> question for you um the ebike situation I know a number of council people here are quite concerned about the
developments number of public have voiced their concern at the last meeting you implied you might be able to give us some update >> yeah so I'm actually meeting with our attorney Mark and we're looking at audiences from surrounding towns that passed. They're different styles.
>> Right. Right. >> When they allow us, >> he sent us floor and then he sent us >> Ridgewood. >> Yep. Hackinac, Ridgewood, Ramsey, seven different counties. I think Morris County. >> We'll take the com. So, we'll take the best of the combination and hopefully in
the winter there's lesser >> ebikes out there. I'm hoping. So, uh, hopefully in January we can show you a draft. >> There might be more in the spring after Santa Claus brings them. >> Yeah, Santa Claus. >> Unfortunately, the state has not been
>> nothing >> offering the proper guidance with respect to licensing, CC's, helmet requirements, and giving our police an effective set of skills. So, we have to do it and hope that we come within the law.
>> Yeah. Yeah. And the law, Title 39, is a pieced together type of of statute that I'm sure was influenced by the manufacturers and importers of Ebs. >> You probably know, >> Rob. >> Probably not.
>> Um, anybody else have questions for the BA? >> Okay, seeing none, thank you very much. We have no ordinances, we're going on to the consent agenda, which is 25 291 through 25300. Would anybody like to take something from the consent agenda
and take it off consent agenda? >> I would I'd like to take 25299 and 25300. One deals with the uh Collier's uh study on the amending the affordable housing and the other is the uh uh wireless uh telecommunications
facility. >> Uh anybody else have anything else they'd like to take off? Okay. Okay. So for the consent agenda, this is 25 291 through 25 298. Can I get a motion? >> Motion. >> Second. >> Second.
>> All those uh will the clerk read the role for consent agenda. >> Council member Fox. >> Yes. >> Council member Mazich. >> Yes. >> Council President Oso. >> Yes. >> Council member Ruko. >> Yes. >> Council member Troy. >> Yes. >> Council member Klay. >> Yes. >> Okay. The consent agenda 25291 through
25298 passes. Let's take these up individually for discussion. 25 299. Can I get a motion? >> Motion. >> Second. >> Is there a second for discussion? >> Oh, this is the go-to discussion. >> Yeah, it's been
>> second. >> Okay. Yeah, >> let's have discussion. >> Yeah, I uh I asked that it be pulled. Um, you know, this is a resolution that proposes to hire colleagues to amend the Patterson Street redevelopment plan to reflect agreements that we made the immediation with an objector to our fair
share housing affordable housing plan, which was namely the fair share housing corporation. Um the resolution doesn't do anything to explain to the public the substance of what Caesars will be focused on, namely bringing the redevelopment plan into conformance with
the outcome of a mediation process that was engaged in by us and fair share housing after they objected to our affordable housing plan. >> However, the Kier's letter that the clerk sent around to us dated December 5th does do that effectively. uh but the
public hasn't been given access to that document and therefore has no idea uh what cyers will focus on or what we're voting on tonight. If we are as some say the most transparent bureau in the Pasag Valley, then I think we need to demonstrate that by our actions to our residents. Um indeed, I see Mr. Camp
here who volunt who ran on greater transparency for the council. Um and I'm sure he would support this effort. Uh so I make a motion to amend the resolution to insert at the end of the very first whereas clause two points that came out of the mediation session with the fair
share housing corporation. I can read the exact language for my fellow council members if they or the clerk wishes, but they're clearly spelled out in the document that you all received on page one of that of that December 5th letter. Um, so, uh, with that, I'd like to I'd
like to motion for an amendment to add those two bullet points. Uh, I can read them for the record if Madame Cork prefers that. I think that's actually the proper. >> Yeah. Okay. I would add uh at the very end of the agreement, the first whereas
clause where it ends with the word agreement and say to include at least the following. One, any proposed residential development up to 32 units per acre shall require a 20% set aside for affordable housing regardless of tenure. And two, to qualify for a
density bonus for any proposed residential development project above 32 units per acre up to and inclusive of a 40 units per acre project. The proposed project shall include a community benefit as defined by the redevelopment plan with a set aside of 15% for
affordable housing regardless of tenure. I can give this language to to Denise. >> That's right, Councilman. I would just point out that that resolution th those those facts were what we have negotiated for for at the moment, but it is not yet
part of our fourth round obligation. That hasn't been done by Judge Bavano. So, we haven't we haven't gotten there yet. >> Yeah. Agreed. Agreed. Uh, but it's the CEO's letter that says that's what they're going to focus on and it's the resolution to approve CERS to do that that I think the that the resolution should specify what we're asking CEOs to
do. >> Council, what do you think on that? It's kind of a >> I mean, I don't even know that I don't even know that that was discussed um in open. No,
>> those are the terms of a settlement that hasn't >> that was a closed session. >> So, I don't know that I've seen I don't have that letter in my head. John, I apologize. This was rather I think intentionally
drafted broadly. Um, but the so far that mediation session, we're meeting with Darlene tomorrow to go over the settlement memo >> because we're not there yet. >> But it, you know, it's been discussed
now. It's out there. If you want to include those bullet points, fine. But I'll be honest with you, that settlement agreement is not signed yet. Um, but the doesn't the letter of December 5th from Cers state to us, the mayor and council, that that's what
they're doing? It's in the >> I don't know that. Again, I don't know that that was um intended to be public, but I don't know that it was
negotiation. >> Yeah, I think Darlene was intentionally I think we were intentional. I didn't draft this, but we were intentionally being rather broad that Darlene was being retained to effectuate the planning. Uh, I'm sorry, to uh undertake
the planning that affectuates the settlement. I have no problem with it being in there because we're talking about it now. >> Well, now that we're talking about it, >> throw it in there. But, uh, Mark, that letter from Collier is on the public agenda. It's back.
>> Oh, well then it's public. throw it in there. >> Well, it's not public now. It was sent to us as support mechanism. The December 5th letter, Bob, you're talking about >> I'm talking about the council agenda back support, >> right? But the >> back that's not that's not publicly disclosed.
>> It's not on the public. >> We're not from you guys. We're just in the middle of a negotiation on round four of affordable housing still. And until everything is set, if we disclose too much, we could have the state, we could have the fair share housing come back to us and go, "Not so fast." And
then try to right >> get something else out. That's why we did >> I think Darlene was we were looking to get Darlene moving ahead of the curve. >> We were not I don't think looking
to specifically itemize settlement points on a settlement that's not yet signed. It's not a settlement yet. >> But again, those two points I don't think harm anything. Throw them in there and my suggestion is let's move on
already. >> Well, yeah, but the the only the only thing is that we come back before the judge and those numbers are amended in some way. We're now >> then throw it in there. will do an amended resolution, but only, >> you know, and I'm not sure that Darlene's services are limited to that
because quite frankly, >> we rely on we're going to do a conference call with her for two hours tomorrow. That's the over the settlement. >> And in fact, Mark, what what that letter says is that this is at least what this going to cover. And you're exactly right
because she she mentions she might amend it or focus it on other things, but Right. But I >> how much do we want to be labor this public John? >> Exactly. So >> So the truth is it was written broadly because >> we weren't putting settlement deal
points in that don't exist yet. But if it is imperative for transparency that we actually put settlement deal points in resolutions, then I guess we just did. Uh but they're
out there now. So vote it and let's move on. >> Well, he's just proposing, >> right? We don't have to. >> It doesn't matter. We're talking about Right. Right. I'm just >> So it's out there. Throw it in there. >> I don't cast a vote on this unless there's a tie on this. But I would just say that I would >> mark They haven't been agreed to.
>> No, they have not been agreed to. >> No, we've not agreed to this. >> There would be subject to change, right? >> They might be. >> They might be, but I don't want to I don't want to be in a position where we're aggravating anybody by stating something that >> isn't right yet. fair share come back to us and go >> we're not happy with this now we're
going to change it >> listen I don't think any harm is done >> no >> but I do >> I see your point if we generally listen do anything you want but I I will tell you we haven't even met as a team
yet to go over the settlement agreement much less accept it sign it and give it to the judge >> I think it would be important to wait But I do think we should hire I do think we should hire Darlene. She is going to do it anyway. She's I mean >> but this was to hire Darene
>> to do all the services necessary to effectuate the settle the settlement of Ron for whatever that is in a broad sense without >> and I apologize because maybe I mis misread too much into but it says as part of the burrow's mediation agreement with fair housing he has agreed blah blah blah
>> yes we've agreed with the judge we've we agreed with the adjudicator we've agreed with fair share housing but that doesn't mean anything aside >> no no one was limiting transparency >> we Just we're not discussing a settlement that doesn't exist yet. >> Guys, just remember this. >> Well, let's move on.
>> This is the last meeting of the year and the settlement has to be agreed on by end of this year. So, there's no other meetings for us to do anything. >> Yeah, we have to pass we have to pass this. >> But, but it's a matter of what we're going to say within >> as you can say since it's out there. >> At this point, it doesn't matter what you say.
>> It may change. >> It may change, but it certainly doesn't matter. If anybody wants to put deal points in it, go ahead. But the key is we got to hire Darlene. She is absolutely the crutch we rely on every step of the way through this process.
>> And I was I was speaking with the rest of the deals. >> Okay. Okay. So, we know what's out there now. And the question is, do we want to accept um the councilman's additions or do we say we want to pass it as is? So, let's let's let's say do we want to
accept the adjustments and we'll take a vote on that. If there's no second, we just move on. >> Yeah. Well, right. Okay. Is there a second to accept it? >> Let's vote it as. >> All right. Not seeing it. Um, can we
just get a vote on 259 25299 as written? >> Um, let's have the clerk read. We've already done the motion. We've already done the second. Will the clerk please read the role? >> Council member Mazach. >> Yes. >> Council President Oso. Yes. >> Council member Rugo. >> Yes. >> Council member Chinyu. >> Yes.
>> Council member Kleti. >> Yes. Council member Fox. >> Yes. 25299 passes as introduced. >> Uh we'll move on to the next item that is taken off consent. 25300. Can I get a motion? >> Motion.
>> Can I get a second? >> Second. >> We are now open to discussion. No, we're open to discussion among the DAS. >> Is there an opportunity to to >> No, >> my questions were not answered. >> Well, that's >> we can do it offline. >> You can do it offline. We would do it offline.
>> All right. What are we doing here? >> No, no, no. Guys, this is the process. The process is we bring it up. The council is now going to effectuate any change if they want. They're going to cast a vote, not cast, whatever it's going to be. But this is this is where we're at.
>> Incorrect information. Can we correct that? >> No, you cannot. You cannot. >> Okay, let me let me proceed then. >> Go ahead. I can talk and and um >> what's there? >> Yeah, we we motioned and second. >> We motion and second.
>> Yeah, we we're in a discussion discussion. >> You know, I I guess my my feeling is it's a very difficult thing to to decide on. Um it's it's not an easy decision. I'm uncertain about the safety aspects of it. I know the official documentation
FCC and and you know the American Cancer Society they'll say it's rather inconclusive that or they say that it's really not harmful being exposed to these RF uh waves. Um I I
you know the the thing that that grabbed me and when I think the residents were sending around information was this Harvard study which was done not so long ago. I think it was about nine years ago which talked about regulatory capture. Um I'm familiar with it having worked
with a regulatory body in Washington. Um and how the FCC tends to minimize issues that you know the industry uh wants to put forward uh and wants its way and the FCC the FCC oftenimes accommodates it.
I've seen it happen with the FAA. I've seen it happen with Federal Reserve. Um so I And the other aspect that bothers me about it is the decrease in the value of the homes, which is something that I don't think that the planning board is even going to think about. Uh I don't
think they have the power to think about it. So I don't have a problem in delaying this to have a town hall meeting um in early January when the new council takes takes hold um and
discussing it in more depth. Uh, I know some of my associates up here say, "Well, what's what's the the use of that if we're going to approve it?" I think it's premature to assume that we are, but at least it shows that this council is respectful of a of a a process that
goes beyond the legal requirements and actually shows some uh concern and sensitivity to the fact that some of our residents may see a large cell tower. And um you know I I just think it's the fair thing to do. I think we did this back in 2015 when we talked about the
Garden State Parkway >> cell tower. >> Did we do this with the cell towers that are currently here? >> I don't know. Those were put up before I even got on council. >> I don't know. >> So yeah, >> I can't I can't speak to that. Um >> what what happened in 2015? In 2015,
there was a an issue to move I think there was a cell tower, a small cell tower on the bridge to cross the Garden State Parkway. Um, >> yes. >> And Mark, you may have a better recollection. >> You recall that there was some opposition.
>> It was opposition. We went ahead with it. Uh, and I think we placed it. >> We didn't place it. We We turned it down and they >> We turned it down. They put it in the Parkway >> median. They put it there anyway >> because we have no jurisdiction over that property. >> Yeah. They didn't they didn't put it on
the bridge where I think they originally wanted >> where we objected further away the same effect >> and we objected because our residents objected and we felt that there might be issues that we were not made aware of in
terms of RF exposure uh safety. Um, so my feeling is I would just as well postpone this, uh, table it, but I don't want to make the official table notice because then >> Well, if you are you making a motion to table it?
>> No, I I I just want to express my views and I'm going to probably vote no on this. >> Okay, that's fine. Anybody have comments on it? >> Yeah. Well, uh, just to start with, um, we had to discuss this anyway because we haven't finalized the ulations
that would go into the resolution. >> Yeah. Well, I I actually list you want if you want I can read off which would be number six because it goes up to five. So I have up to number six that I can read into the record and then provide to the clerk and you can decide if you want to add that on.
>> Well, yeah, we need to see what those are because there were some other ones that we had talked about that aren't on that list. I have right I have four parts which would be six coming after any and all comments and recommendations the attorney >> and well that that hasn't been distributed to everyone officially.
>> No but it but but we could certainly read it into the record and you can make an assessment. >> Agreed. Agreed. And John this is though going off your point because I agree with you. um in terms of compromise and potentially not disrupting processes. I felt that by
virtue of you know changing that language on the first point in the resolution uh excuse me where it says the burrow and Verizon entering into a lease agreement satisfactory to both parties >> by virtue of that being changed to you
know we spoke about it earlier you said you wouldn't mind it allows it to come back to the council >> right >> which allows everything else we spoke about planning board public hearing to take place. >> Well, and actually I I don't know. I
don't know the order of operations, and I wish Peter were still here. Is he out there? >> Because I'd like to find out. Wait, I'd like to find out. Yeah. To see if we're going to if we're going to >> I I want to make sure that we're not putting something into a resolution that isn't realistic
>> from from the timing perspective. >> I want to ask Mark to go through the order operations if he understood better than I do what Peter was explaining. >> He's gone. >> He's gone. Okay. So what what order of operation? >> Well, no, just so whether or not he's saying whether we sign the contract
before it goes to the planning board or they they're not going to go to the pl without a contract with >> I I think that I I I mean he expressed it. I don't remember what Mike does your records reflect what he the order he said. He
explained that first we award the bid, >> right? >> Second we >> the town hall, right? Well, we could we could we could add into things. >> Then there was >> um >> the lease lease sign >> the lease signing then it goes to the
planning board. Planning board does whatever they do and uh ultimately if the planning board approves it it's done. >> But but he said that the lease >> no it comes back to the >> he said that the lease was very important and very critical.
Well, so part of his part of his items that he sent to me was a four-part criteria before we would sign a lease agreement. But I I I may be wrong, but I'm pretty sure it's lease agreement then planning board.
>> Okay. So, so if we're passing this resolution, it wouldn't be to say wouldn't be to say after it goes to the planning board, it comes back because I know based upon the uh what we did with the self- storage facility that it never came back to us again because the planning board
>> approval ends it ends it, right? So, we would have to before we would sign it, we would have to hit the four stipulations we had in here and then determine we wanted to approve it to send it on to the planning board and then it goes on the course again. So you'd be adding the step that the governing body wants to have another
bite of the apple before we say sign the sign the agreement >> and then we can avoid it if they don't meet the >> you you would have you would you would have the ability to go over the lease agreement before it was before it was
executed like like he said also if uh if whatever reason we decided we wanted to void the deal in its entirety we would have the right to do that had we wanted to do it again. We would then be in a position where we would have to set sub submit for an RFQ again and hope that we would get
>> in an effort to be transparent. We could schedule the town hall meeting before we sign the lease. >> Oh, that what what I'm saying is part of this resolution would require that >> before we sign before we sign the lease. >> So, why don't I can I everybody indulge
me for two minutes and I'll read what he gave us. Okay. The following shall also apply. This is six. After 0.5 um in everybody's program, a public information hearing town hall shall be conducted by the borrow prior to the execution of the final lease agreement
for the purpose of receiving public comment to presenting information concerning the project. So that would have to happen before we could consider a lease. Okay. Execution of the final lease shall not occur until after the conclusion of the public information meeting and the governing body's
consideration of any comments received at such meeting. So we would come back here, consider it before again we could go to uh moving on to the next step. No construction or site activity related to the project shall commence until one the
lease agreement is fully executed and two all applicable land use approvals from the burough planning board and any other requirement reviewing authority are obtained. >> And may where are you reading from again? This is what No, this is what he
said to to myself and to council. So, I just want to read it into the public record so that we all know what we're talking about here. >> D. The borrow reserves the right to require such reasonable revisions to the proposed site layout or leaseold area as may be recommended by the burough
professionals or reviewing agencies following the public information meeting or land use review process. provided such revisions are consistent with the bid specifications and do not materially alter the essential terms of the bid. Now those are the four terms he
suggested that we add into this resolution after number five which reads any and all comments and recommendations made by Peter Loop or Equire special counsel and telecommunications for the burough and other department agency of the board. So that would that would
allow for these these preconditions to have to be met and then we'd come back and sign sign off on it by the council before we could go to lease and then we go out to the next >> mind reading number four again. I apologize. >> Number the fourth one D. The burough
reserves the right to require such reasonable revisions to the proposed site layout or leaseold area as may be recommended by burough professionals or reviewing agencies following the publicformational meeting or land use review process provided such revisions
are consistent with the bid specs and do not materially alter the essential terms of the bid. >> Does does that uh and I'll ask that for my fellow council members. Does that um mean that if we in the intervening time decide
that another location is more preferable that can we make that change? >> No, you cannot. >> I didn't think so. >> It has to be consistent with the bid specification. >> The bid specs can move slightly within
there especially considering C variances and what has to happen with that. >> Yeah. But but then the alternative is to say nuts. >> So So you go through the process and say no, this takes you to the next step. Otherwise, we've wasted $20,000.
>> So Meredith case, >> excuse me, that's not what's going on here. >> So that's that's the alternative to it. >> So So Mark, I have a question for you. Help me understand the mic. What are
>> the mic? We can't hear you. >> Speak into it. >> Yeah. >> What are the parameters in which we could void this contract if it comes back to us with regards >> again? Silence. >> I apologize. You have special counsel
for >> I understand. But there's a reason I'm not your antenna counsel. >> Okay. This is like, you know, when you did redevelop and you hired Joe Bman >> and he was great and I stepped aside,
you've hired the best guy on earth from what I understand. That's the guy who answers our questions. If I was going to do it, then, you know, I don't know why he was here. I I do know that
>> his he explained that we could void the agreement just for changing our minds. >> Yes. >> Yeah. I want to confirm that. >> Now, I don't know if that's true or not. >> He that is information, >> but that was what Peter said. I marked those words very carefully.
>> He said that. >> Now, is that true? Not true. I don't I defer to him. we sign a contract. I am certain >> that for a reason that we decide we do not want to move forward. We are not
opening ourselves up to litigation from the the awardee. Um we have the ability to say we don't want to move forward. If we decided that there was something else we wanted to do or not do, that's our prerogative. This
takes us to the next step. These additions, councilman, these additions make the, you know, the mayor not sign anything until we have the public hearing. We get the comments back. We sit down again in January or February,
whenever after today, and then go through the comments and until you're satisfied, and then you tell them, "Yes, you can sign is when you can sign." So if we So there's two choices. If we don't do it tonight, then we have to go out to rebid next year. Today is the
last day. If we do it today, it's under these conditions. We have to have a town hall meeting. And there's no date specified here. We do it whenever. >> It wouldn't matter when it was because it would have to be before we signed it anyway. >> Right. So, it's still right. There's nothing to sign until then. >> Right.
So, so it it it sounds like the need for more time to think about this issue can be satisfied with the conditions that get that he's recommended and based on what we
>> Yeah. >> And you still have the right to say no. >> Yeah. I I just want to understand this again. This is a 20-year deal here, right? So, you know, um, so we we have the ability to avoid this, right?
Basically, just because, >> right? >> Is that what we're saying? >> Yeah. >> That's what he said. >> That's what he That's what you're >> up until. Right. >> Right. >> That's what we're saying. >> Until we enter into contract, we're not in contract. >> Right.
>> So, that's it. And and what's added in here is is basically the provision le that people want to have which is the public town hall and all the other items that we're that we read into. >> Right. So basically what we're doing we're hedging ourselves from having to
go to RFQ again >> in the event that we decide to go forward. >> Right. you're giving yourself another option because you rather than vote no, >> you can vote yes, >> but >> with the assurance that >> if you still have problems with the
whole proposal, >> it's legislative. >> You you you can >> you can tell the mayor you're not authorized to sign it, >> right, >> without having to do everything all over again. >> Right. Right. Yeah. I mean, it is disturbing to know that if we voted no,
then you have to tonight and then we decided to go ahead with it, you're gonna have to rebid and you're gonna you're going to go over ground that has already been >> right. You're going money spent and time spent >> as well for you don't know how long it's
going to be. So that's um so in the form of uh you you were the one that asked to take this off and said um you know you expressed sort of where you are on this. Um can we can we add this this language in
to be the language that we consider to determine whether or not we want to move forward because this this expands public participation and prevents us from doing anything until we meet that criteria. I think that's a wise comment.
>> Okay. So, um I'm going to hand this over to the clerk and this so we're going to handle 25300 with this addition which is part six. Okay. So, um that's what I what I would say. I mean, you took it off. Do you
want to make a a motion that we we add amended to that? >> Right. I I I'll make the motion that we amend the resolution 25300 >> to incorporate the language that the mayor read from
>> Hamilton >> from from our council Peter Rubo >> and incorporate that language into the resolution and the purpose thereof is to give us more freedom latitude of >> it extends
our obligations to the community >> to before we move into anything and gives council more say as to the final disposition of what we're going to do. >> I'll make that motion. >> Okay. Whatever. >> Is there a second to that? >> Second to that. Okay. Will the clerk please read the role?
>> Council President Oso? >> Yes. >> Council member Rico? >> Yes. >> Council member Trophy? >> Yes. >> Council member Kleti? >> Yes. >> Council member Fox. >> Yes. >> Council member Mazich. Yes. >> Now, now that is the we've approved the motion to amend. >> To amend it. Now we better approve them the resolution itself.
>> Now now we're going to approve. >> No that No, I I I said we stipulated. So that's what it was. >> So we we've now awarded the contract and now we have to live up to >> everything plus the additions that we made.
>> We are now required to have a town hall meeting. >> We're required to have the town hall meeting. If we don't do that, we can't move on. >> Correct. >> Okay. Um, we have other items that are off consent agenda 25. Just quick question.
Does the town hall town hall meeting get noticed? Like it will be communicated out to >> it will be sent out to everyone. >> Well, if we're all going to be here, it's going to have to be a public meeting, right? >> So then we're going to have to notice it and we'll have to put it in the in the in our papers of record and we'll have to, you know, go through the process
like we would any other public meeting. And for the field, we actually sent out uh mail, right, to the res >> to the residents that lived in that area. >> Can we do that as well? >> We can. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> We have to we then have to sort of
figure out what the criteria is because it's not going to be from where the attending lot and distance. >> Okay. Okay. Um we still have two more items consent. Do I see a third? 3.
Okay. Well, I was you were a page ahead of me. >> 25301 off consent resolution increasing the price >> for applied landscaping technologies for Memorial Park improvements change order one. >> Can I get a motion? >> Motion. Can I get a second?
>> Second. >> Is there discussion on this? >> Yeah, I'd like to. >> Please. >> Okay. Um, you know, if the field were going to be used by a high school or a college, I could see this. I could see spending $32,000 for a logo, but you
know, we're a town fielding teams at the elementary school level. To me, it's a frivolous expenditure um that can be removed at no detriment to the players, the coaches or the residents um or the parents who sought,
you know, to to bring this field into existence. Um, you know, they wanted to they wanted a field so they could play on despite bad weather. They wanted a field that would require less than natural turf would
require. They're going to get it, but I don't see why a logo at the cost of 32,000 is necessary. The burrow is not flush at the moment with funds. We have a difficult 2026 coming up and those of us on the finance committee understand that. Um, we're trying to take steps to
avoid a 14% increase in our municipal taxes. >> Guys, this is this all being recorded. So, we're trying to be able to >> we're trying to, you know, take these steps to reduce what would otherwise be a 14% increase in the municipal side and not even mentioning what the unspecified school property tax is going to be for
George White. The burrows are look the residents are looking at a possibly a very large tax increase for for 2026uc. I can't see spending 32,000 per logo. Um, you know, we're dealing with structural imbalances here in our in our
budget. Um, that threaten the burrow in terms of benefits we possibly the benefits we provide to our employees. Uh, and in worst case maybe even employment contracts. Um, so to me
32,000 is just not a wise use of our funds. I >> would you like Open for discussion please. >> I would like to ask who um where did that poll concept come from? Who who wants to do that? >> This was the rec committee right fields committee.
>> Field field director field. Okay. >> So the field committee talked about branding it so that it is our field and we have the opportunity to bring some branding to it and bring our logo and >> um and it was part of in the initial
we're not upcharging anything. It's still part of our budget. >> Right. as as we're doing it, we're adding it as just a visual branding, >> right? So, it's not an additional cost because I asked that before when you
went over it. It's we've reduced the cost of areas and whatever. So, it's >> you're still spending 32,000 spending 32,000 that's already been >> digging into the specs already and tried to remove one of the >> well to to say there's a change on it.
They didn't they didn't they didn't actually incorporate it into the original expenditure, >> right? But the original expenditure was approved, let's just say for around it was $6 million and it's still going to be $6 million. You're just shifting pieces around within it. So to me, it's
part of the original cost. You you got rid of something and you're adding something in its place. So it's it's a net net zero more or less, you know, >> but when you have the opportunity to save the 32,000. >> But I don't think that would be the case. You're assuming that.
>> Well, what if this is a change order? >> Well, yes, but you're >> and if you and if you vote for it, you're spending 32,000 that you would otherwise have had to have spent. So, as the chair of the finance committee, knowing what the situation is with our budget, I I can't support it. But >> Okay.
>> Okay. So, we have we have uh a no vote with discussion. So, any other any other comments? >> No. Okay. Um will the clerk please read the role? >> Council member Mesich, >> yes. >> Council President Oso, >> yes. >> Council member Rio, >> no. >> Council member Troyu,
>> yes. >> Council member Kleti, >> yes. >> Council member Fox, >> yes. >> Uh the resolution passes 5 to one. Right. Okay. We're next up is 25302, a resolution increasing the price for applied landscaping technologies for
Memorial Park improvements change order number two. Can I get a motion to consider? >> Second. >> Second. >> Discussion. >> It's worthwhile in this case. >> Well, here we go. Let's let's uh let's
talk. >> No, it's not worthwhile. >> Oh, no. No. It's it's your it's open for discussion. Yeah, I think it's worthwhile. >> Okay. >> As opposed to the first one. >> Yeah, I think the BA should pursue the the opportunity third party that save us some money.
>> Okay. >> Okay. So, that's what this is. So, okay. We have to take it off consent. Um, it doesn't seem like anybody else wants to discuss it. Will the clerk please read the role? >> Council President Oso, >> yes. >> Council member Rico, >> yes. >> Council member Choyu, >> yes.
>> Council member Kleti, >> yes. Council member Fox, >> yes. >> Council member Mazuchin, >> yes. >> It passes unanimously. Now we're going to consider 25303, a resolution decreasing the price for applied landscaping technologies for Memorial Park improvements. Change order
>> number three. Can I get a motion? >> Motion. >> Second. >> Second. >> Discussion. >> I think everyone would like that. >> Is there discussion? >> No. >> There's no discussion. Okay. Will the clerk please read the role? >> Council member Ruko. >> Yes. >> Council member Choku.
>> Yes. Yes. Council member Kleti. >> Yes. >> Council member Fox. >> Yes. >> Council member Mazong. >> Yes. >> Council President Oso. >> Yes. >> It passes unanimously. It is now time for public comment. Um it is on any topic you choose to discuss. Three
minutes. Um can uh anybody who would like to be heard come on up. Take your name and time of record and let us know what you got. You may want to tip that down. It's >> just just pull. Yeah, there you go.
>> My name's Amy Kovale Sheaggllets and I'm not a Hillsdale resident. I'm a Riverdale resident. >> Okay. >> Um the reason why I'm here is for a couple different reasons. first is I live on the border of um Cedar Avenue and it impacts me because I'm close to
Sony Brook and so close that all of us residents that live in a certain neighborhood I think it brings down the value and the reason why I say that is because I'm a full-time real estate agent and I can speak highly on behalf of a lot of people that are here and a
lot of people that left. I've been involved with transactions where you could be within about a block to a block and a half. And I don't mean 200 feet. Everyone's discussing 200 feet. I mean beyond 500 feet. You're like about a block and a half to two blocks away from
where a cell tower is located. And I've been in a transaction in the last couple years where a house did not appraise for that reason. and it did not appraise where the value of the house was significantly reduced by $27,000.
Okay. The sale almost fell through and the buyer had to come to the closing table with the additional funds because the value of the house was decreased because of a sale tower within about a block and a half to two blocks from this particular property. So me personally, I
was involved in a transaction. I know a lot of the people have left already, but um this comes into play with um maybe not just a cell tower, but a certain um area of land that depreciates the value of a particular property, whether you're
listing or whether you're buying. And it's a concern for me because I live in the jurisdiction of an area not in Hillsdale, but I live close enough to the border of where Stony Brook um swim club is. And it's going to affect the value of my house as long as all the
other people that live on my street. I live on Brook, but on Brook Avenue as well as on Cedar. And a lot of the people that live in a community, which is a condo, which is a newer development that has appreciated over time, is now going to depreciate their value. And I'm
not going to say that because I'm like the ruler of real estate. It's just a known fact that if you're near a cell phone tower, it will depreciate the value of a home. And that's kind of all I want to say. But lastly is I know you're saying only within 200 feet, you're going to notify those residents.
the people on Brook Avenue, there's like six of us that were not able to attend tonight. I'm here on behalf of a lot of people on my street. >> Well, I was actually >> So, so I just want to make known, please put on the record that us on Brook Avenue and our neighbors that live on Cedar should also be notified what is
going on because it truly affects us too. And we live in a ha in a neighborhood where I pay $21,000 in taxes and the average price of the house on our street is $1.5 million. the average price on our street and it will
significantly reduce the value of the new construction, the value of the people putting additions on all the neighbors that have pets on our street on all the people like we're concerned. We're we're really concerned. >> Sorry, but in the ditches. >> Okay. I'm just glad I got my point across. >> Appreciate it.
>> And I tried earlier, but a lot of people left. So, it's okay. It's okay. You're gonna the BA will make sure it's in the record. We will notify the people on the other side as well as a courtesy and also make sure that >> I actually just >> Cedar and Brooke.
>> Okay. I actually sent an email to the mayor of Riverale and the BA with the resolution and the change uh the amendment to >> and then we'll make sure that we get Mark and Jiro >> and it should be added to Facebook in our town too because we neighbor that area. >> Okay. >> I only found out at 5:00 today just so
you know and then I showed up. >> Thank you. >> Just to make you aware. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Come on up. >> Hi. >> Hi. Thanks for staying through it. >> Yeah. Yeah. Um I appreciate all of you listening to us. Oh, Megan Karen. I live in Hillsdale. Um I just want to say I'm
incredibly proud of my 13-year-old for coming. >> It was very hard for her to speak, but I'm going to tell you, I'm really disappointed in all of you. I'm incredibly disappointed. I think that you did not do your due diligence. I think you still are not. I think that
there are multiple ways that you could make everyone fully understand and be um translucent. And one of them is on a daily basis. I feel like I get all of these things from Hillsdale Burrow Hall telling me about the picnic that's going
on, but not about something as important as this. And saying that, oh, go on our website. It's super easy. It is not. you go on that website, you have to specifically figure out what word or what you're looking for. And if you don't know that there's a cell tower,
why would I think to even consider searching cell tower? You talk about how two years you've spoken about this. That is not true. You have not told us. You have not in involved your community. I am so offended by nine of you sitting
here. >> Thank you. Would anybody else like to make a comment? Come on up. Sure. >> 23 Shanker Avenue. I I urge you to seriously consider what your own invited expert just said here today on the
record for everyone to hear that homes within the immediate vicinity of this tower that you're proposing to build will not benefit from any amilarated signal. He said this here today. So in fact, you propose that we bear the brunt financially on this. What did he say?
>> He saidund. Hold on. >> First off, no one >> All right. Sorry. >> No one interrupts the person's speech. >> Go ahead. Sorry. >> Please, ma'am. >> This is what we heard. And if we go back to listen to the video recordings or whatever you're doing taping this, this
is what you will see he said, which means that we will pay for this, but we will not be included in its benefit in any way. Moreover, as the realtor, the professional, the expert that you wanted to hear just confirmed from studies that we already saw and knew, uh we will have
uh depreciated home values and trouble selling these homes. So, we don't get to participate in the advantages and the benefits, but we have to pay for the cost of that. And I want you to seriously consider the ethical implications of what you're doing here by just deciding that we're not
important and our investments don't matter and our concerns are invalid and not worth hearing. >> Thank you. >> Who else would like to be heard from? >> Hello, my name is Alexander Tishanka. resident of 21st Shrimaka Avenue 200 ft
from less than 200 ft from proposed space. First of all, I would like for the record that we will not be notified and you may have been told that you notified and the expert thought that we had to notify the people living around.
We we've been not we've been notified. It's the first thing. Second things I would like to bring to attention to the council that all existing tower it city stays on non-residential area and we associated with non-residential area and
the uh department of public works uh EMT specifically yeah and this is for reason as well but uh I'd like also to mention that uh we putting uh one of the reason to improve the uh cell coverage in that
particular part of the town to have the high school to get uh better coverage if I'm recalling correct. Yeah. But the specific tower was close to the uh elementary school who's not allowed the font last time I checked. Yeah. But not
closer to the high school which the point of improvement of that area. So, and I seriously don't know will the current motion with amendment will allow to change the place or go for the other route maybe to
several cell towers to improve the coverage because we talking about how it can improve the coverage for the whole but all the health consideration and especially with FCC ruling being 30
years old I I don't think that any of council member would like to be in the same position like we've been many many years ago with DDT or with lead in our paint or the asbestas in because it was considered safe we know there is status there is no concerned
it's better not to put our uh residential area closer to the town towers and I think this consideration it's not fully and also for the record I would like to say that uh professor neov here uh send the list of 15 question
that you may see will be answered by the experts and I don't recall that 15 questions was voiced which exactly questions and answered it wasn't made public and I think professor neighbors were very frustrated she left because her question wasn't answered like it was
expected that's it thank you very much >> thank you sir >> anybody else like to be heard >> seeing nobody else like to be heard we're going to close it He just stood up. I thought he was walking out. >> I wouldn't be that rude. Anthony D.
Roza, 280 Cambridge, Hillsdale. Uh this being the last uh meeting for Councilwoman uh treat I was going to pronounce it right after three years. I still have it right. Janetta and Justin Fox. Uh having served with you, I just want to thank you for your three-year
tenure. Uh as you know, all know there's a lot of work that goes um behi behind this besides the two meetings a month. So appreciate you uh you doing your your work and just also want to recognize the passing of James Feifer. Um he battled
uh ALS. Um his tie to the community was he was the custodian at George White School. So every Saturday when the the courts got um when cafeteria got set up for basketball, he was the guy who did it. and he was also uh Jim uh Jim and
the Gems was his band and he played at a lot of uh Stonybrook um events for the town. So, he'll be missed. Thank you. >> I'm sorry, Anthony. I didn't mean to. I thought you >> I got to take you back. >> Okay, that's going out. >> Chris, do you want to walk out the door
before you leave? No. Anybody else like to comment? Okay, we're gonna now move on to council commentaries and I get to go first. Um, and when I when I first got elected, I said to myself, "Oh my god, how am I going to be able to pronounce Janetta's last name?" And I
practiced it and I practiced it and and you got it gave me good marks for Heimuk that I >> That's good. >> Worked on it and worked on it. And so that was my my first uh test. Um, both Justin and Janetta, you have become
friends. It is not just that you sit on on council. It is not political parties. your friends. Um, I cannot even begin to thank you for what you guys have done for this town. Um, it requires a lot to be up here. Forget
about the slings and arrows. The work that you have to put in, the stuff that nobody knows that you guys are doing on a regular basis. Uh, the DPW is going to sorely miss their meals, Justin. Um, >> that is good for something. >> Yeah. But beyond that, um, the
departments will miss you both. I personally will miss you both. And, um, don't think that just because you're off here that you're not going to get a phone call from me saying, "Would you like to serve on committee? Would you please like to be involved?" Um, because I don't want to lose you at all. And you
really mean so much. And I I I I could go on talking forever on it. That also being said, I'm excited to welcome our new members of of council that are going to be coming on at a reorganization meeting in January. Uh, and more
information will go out as far as that goes, but there are some openings for people on some of these committees. So, don't don't feel like you're running too far away. Um um as far as what happened here tonight, um
I'm always appreciative when people come in, whether we all agree on what's happening or not. Um it's important that everybody be part of the process and come into this. Um it's frustrating for me. I don't want to speak for anybody else. Uh we try to get the information
out. Um it doesn't always work the way we want it to work. Um, you know, I mean, I I submit letters to the Pasc Press. Sometimes they run them, sometimes they don't, but a lot of times they just wait until they get wet on somebody's yard front drive where they throw them out. I understand that. I
don't fault anybody for it. Uh, I'm one of the few geeks that wait for it to come out on Thursday and go online to see what people are saying. But that's not the majority of people, and I understand it. They got a lot of stuff to do, and that's that's perfectly reasonable. Um, we what we did tonight I
think was I don't know probably people who are still here are not going to agree but I think that we made a compromise in allowing the town hall to move forward before we move forward which is what you asked for in in its entirety and if we
find uh a deficiency or several deficiencies within there we do have the mechanism to stop this. Um but we are we are basically covering ourselves in the situation that we do decide to go forward with it. So I think that that
was a compromise. I know that many people here will probably feel that we didn't compromise. Um I think that language will reflect that and I thank everybody for all the work that they did on this and I think it was fitting that we made sure that Justin and Janetta had to stay long tonight and participate in
that. So, I thank you all and I thank everybody for showing up and since this is the last meeting, happy holidays to everybody. Happy New Year and um look forward to seeing and working with you all in the new year. Council Menni,
>> I'm not sure of the protocol here, but I just want to make sure that we did not make an error on that resolution. How how would we address that right now? >> Well, we're kind of >> But I have to mo motion to discuss. I would second to reopen discussion
depending on when the mayor wants to entertain that. >> We're still in the meeting. >> Yeah. Well, let's do that after we do the commentaries. >> You want to do commentary? >> I think it's simple simple fix. >> Okay. Well, we'll we'll get to it. Just let's let's council for your
commentaries. >> What was that? You think it's going to be long? >> No, this is easy. Um, yeah. So, start by wishing uh the great community of Hillsdale very happy holidays, wonderful, happy, healthy,
prosperous new year. Uh, to Janetta and Justin, uh, so thank you both for your service, and that's exactly what it is. It's community service. Uh, this job isn't isn't easy. Uh, and it's not always recognized. Uh, but your commitment to the community has made a
real impact over your years of service. I wish you the very very best and hope you continue your involvement because I think you both should. Thank you. >> I'm going to call on the two retiring members last so you get your last legs in here. >> Councilman also wanted to wish the
residents of Hillsdale happy holidays. I also wanted to thank Justin and J for their service. Uh Justin, my neighbor who I've known quite a bit and Janetta as well had many conversations with you. I appreciate all your hard work. Um, and
uh, yeah, that's it. >> Okay, great. Um, Councilman Ruka, >> I too want to thank Janetta and Justin for their years of service on the on the council. Um, I think in Janetta's case, it was what, at least six years and probably Justin as well.
>> Six years. Any municipal officer official who was chosen, you know, in an election to represent the residents um, of their town deserves our respect. and will have hopefully will have learned a lot uh you know by being on this body.
Um I wish them success in the continuation of their own respective professional careers and I hope that they will apply their talents and their skills in other ways that that benefit our community. I think you've heard that you know from a variety of other people here and I wish you the best of luck.
>> Thank you. >> Very two two other things. Sure. um holiday celebration last night. I thought it was a great event. Um I want to thank the rec director Dan Ki and the assistant director Jill Con. Um the members of the rec committee for their
their planning the event and then the actual efforts of the DPW, the Hills Police, the fire department and the I believe the EMS was there. I don't know how much they participated in the planning of it, but um they helped to pull off pull it off flawlessly despite the cold weather. Uh, and finally, I
want to wish all our residents a happy Hanukkah, a merry Christmas, and happy new year. >> And I think it was Jim Clark's first time back in in uniform, right? >> Yeah. Yeah. Jim, uh, he's not fully cleared for duty, but he said he couldn't miss the event. >> And it's great to see him out there. I was very excited to see him there.
Councilwoman Mazuchan. >> Okay. So, thank you to our rec department, fire department, DBW, ambulance, uh, for making last night's tree and Monora Lighting such a fun, memorable event for kids and residents of Hillsdale. I like the addition of the hot chocolate truck. That was awesome.
Line was too long though, but it's okay. Um, happy holidays to all our residents. Um, and special, I'm not going to pronounce your name, so I'm just going to say a heartfelt thank you to Councilwoman Janetta and Councilman Fox, um, for your service and dedication to this town. We're very lucky to have you
and we wish you all the best. >> Thank you. >> Councilman Fox, your closing remarks. >> What a night to to end. >> Yeah. I just want to say as uh as my term comes to a close, I do so with a full heart and deep appreciation for the burrow of Harvard.
>> I'm sorry, Hillsdale. >> He's a police officer in Harvard is >> maybe I'd like to re reccast my for him. Go ahead. >> Um my appreciation for the burrow of Hillsdale. It has been one of my greatest honors of my life to serve this
incredible community. I'm truly grateful to the residents for placing their trust in me and to my fellow council members, burough staff and volunteers for who work tirelessly to make Hillsdale such a special place. I'm proud of what we have accomplished together and will always remain thankful for this opportunity to
serve. And we always may disagree, but in the end, I know we all care about one thing and that's the Burough of Hillsdale, not Homers. >> There you go. Thank you, sir. Appreciate it. >> I won't say Councilwoman Chin. Councilwoman Trinimo.
Very good. Very good. Yes. Okay. So, when I first joined this council, I could not have imagined how meaningful this experience would become. I've learned so much, not only about government, but about the community and
the people who care so deeply about it. I have been very fortunate to work alongside a dedicated group of individuals on this council. our mayor, our business administrator, our burough attorney, our burough clerk, our police
department, the volunteer fire department, the ambulance service, DPW, and the many, many more professionals and staff members who keep our town running every single day. Local government is at its best a team effort.
Everything that has been accomplished during my time here has been the result of that collective work and I'm truly grateful to have been a part of it. To the residents of Hillsdale, thank you for the trust you placed in me over the
two terms that I have served. It has truly been one of the greatest privileges of my life. And to those who continue to do the good work and to those that will be joining in January, I wish you continued wisdom, strength, and
every success as you lead the bubble forward. I step away from this day with a great gr with great gratitude, pride in what we've achieved together, and a deep appreciation for this community.
Thank you to everyone. Happy Hanukkah, merry Christmas, happy new year, and peace out. >> Before I adjourn, I want the opportunity. I want to give the clerk the opportunity who has suffered us all, >> but to have an opportunity to have some
words if she would choose. >> Um, I just want to say thank you to Justin and Janetta Troyuk. I had to say that name every day, every meeting for your two terms. um you both put your hearts and dedication into this town and it really really showed and I just want
to thank you not only as the burough clerk but also as a resident. So I thank you both and I wish you both well and and enjoy. >> Thank you. >> Okay. So um >> we want to open >> Oh yeah, we've got another item to >> so motion to reopen resolution 25300 for
discussion. >> Motion second. >> Yeah, I just want to read uh B here. Right. Okay. Uh it says execution of the final lease agreement shall not occur till after the conclusion of publicformational meeting and the governing governing body's consideration of any comments received as such
meeting. I I I was assuming that equals vote. >> Yeah. So Mark, it's a question for you. Consideration equals coming back to the council for vote. It just says council's consideration. >> You got you can put anything you want in there.
I don't know what was intended by the guy who wrote it, >> but we can make our intention. >> So, amend it right now. >> Okay. >> Make it clear what your intentions are while Denise is still writing >> and she can put that in there.
>> Um, but I wouldn't leave it be. We'll have a new council next year. >> Everybody will be nice. >> You will do that. So you would like to have it include to say by a vote of the council. >> Yes. >> Okay. So let's let's
so we've already I guess we kind of motioned to open it up. So the clerk read the role on on amending that to make sure it includes it. It has to come back for an actual vote of the council before the approval is given for signature. Hold on.
>> Hold on. >> My tutor Mr. Medo has said often times the passage of a resolution by a council isn't binding the next year.
>> The new council can do whatever the hell it wants. Is that correct, Mark? >> Yes. >> Yes. >> But and they're free to >> change the contract, adopt a resolution voiding the contract, void the bid,
throw out the bid. But they I don't think they can go back and alter the terms upon which a bid is accepted any more than a new council could jump up and say we only want to pay 27,000 per police car.
>> We're entering into a process here and now. I think that is binding as of this time. Now, could the new council resend resolutions? Sure. they can void resolutions etc >> of of any of them right
>> but if this resolution moves forward it moves forward with these terms and conditions unless altered >> this is sort of our best faith effort because >> it can be altered >> we're we're December >> within the bid documents right that's yeah
>> again I feel like >> you you have >> we have outside council that's >> well no I mean that's that's obviously Um but I do feel that you have
bid this and within the confines of that bid you can make amendments and changes and according to your council you can in fact even void the entire bid. Um, I don't think
I would not imagine that you can substantially alter the bid terms and say, "No, for example, the new council can't come in and say the price is not 48,000, it's 88,000." >> That that seems to me like that would
just be contrary to the acceptance of the bid. But under the terms which you're accepting the bid, you are accepting it with these conditions. >> Right. >> Okay. Well, the is everybody in I mean to the best that we can because
unfortunately we're sort of in this period between December and January where we'll have new bodies in here. Um if everybody's comfortable with that with that change, will the clerk please read the role? >> Council member Troy Muke. >> Yes. Council member Kleti,
>> yes. >> Council member Fox, >> yes. >> Council member Mazatan, >> yes. >> Council President Oso, yes. >> Council member Rubo, >> yes. >> It is unanimous. That is a change. >> Um, >> this is Yeah, this is this is the end. So, um, our next meeting is going to be
for the reorganization uh on January 6th, right? What time are we doing that? >> Six o'clock. >> At six o'clock. You are all welcome. Um, I guess I have to say it. Oh, thank you. Um, can I get a motion to adjurnn? >> Motion.
>> Second. >> Second. >> All in favor. >> All those in favor? >> We are adjourned. >> All right. tonight. Can I talk to you in the back?