We're back. Can I get a motion to reconvene? Motion. Second. Second. Okay. Are you Did you start the We're back in session. Okay. Uh recognition. Oath of office, Department of Public Works.
Well, we don't have that yet, right? Okay. Okay. Uh, Department of Public Works, uh, week May 18th to 24th, right? There's there's nothing else to No, just that. Okay. So, that's in there. Um,
initial public comments, listen to anything on the listed limited to anything on the agenda. Would anyone like to speak tonight on the agenda? Seeing nobody uh no correspondents, let's go to the professional monthly reports. Uh police chief uh to be Woods.
Good evening. Uh so monthly report for April 2025. So our community policing, uh we had a trip for George White Middle School fifth grade. We took the fifth graders to medieval times. Um seems like it went over very well. Um,
HPD recognized our dispatchers for telecommunicators week up in Premis and in Mawa. Uh, PBA 207 purchased a bicycle for a juvenile. He had his bike stolen in town while he was fishing. Uh, we were able to replace that bike for him. Very proud to do so. Uh, we're
preparing for a national night out. That's going to be August 5th. For anyone, um, we're going to be hanging flyers. It's going to be on our website, social media, etc. our youth youth leadership academy. It's going to be at Pascal Valley High School in June and we're preparing for a 5K run that
Sergeant Sers and Community Policing is going to be putting on. Uh it's going to be at Demer's Farms on June 8th. As far as policing goes, our traffic and patrol in April answered 640 calls for service, 84 property checks, 76 motor vehicle
stops, responded 22 motor vehicle accidents, 14 and for 14 parking enforcement uh spe special selected details, and four selective enforcement details. Detective Bureau uh took on 46 cases. They were able to successfully
close uh 29 of them and our firearms unit uh processed eight different uh firearms permits uh total investigations for for April. That'll be it. Anybody have any questions of uh I do have a question. So um as you know you've
talked a little bit about this. There was a resident last week that brought up the concern with the boys on bikes y that are uh terrorizing the neighborhoods. Um, can you provide an update because it seems like there's still a ton of chatter all over social media, hundreds of comments, things happening all week long. If maybe if you
could just provide an update for the public so they know what police department is doing. Absolutely. So, I met with uh the chief of police in Westwood and the chief of police in Washington Township. Um, we're we're maintaining communication with it because the problem is also in all all those other
towns as well. Um, so we're all putting out the same message on our social media platforms, uh, reminding these children what exactly the the laws are, uh, for driving their bike. Now, I know that the helmet might not be a direct concern as to what's going on. I know it's more of a traffic hazard. You know, whether or
not they're directly causing motor vehicle accidents or not, it's still a uh it's a apparent issue. Um, as far as Hillsdale goes, uh, we made a big presence at the carnival on this was, uh, I believe it was Wednesday night. Sergeant Sers went out there
specifically to, uh, kind of corral these juveniles and speak with them. So, we put out a blatant message as to here's the warning. This, please do as you need, but moving forward, uh, we have a no tolerance policy for what they're doing.
Um the message went over to those juveniles that night uh successfully. I haven't heard of anything specific like we have heard of earlier in the week since then. So hopefully the message is you know made its way to back to the parents and um and you know if anything
else comes up please obviously just let me know. Okay. And we're directing and at least on social media we're directing people to just call police department right away. Is it is it um technically legal for people to be taking photos of these children because it seems like there are photos being posted as well?
Like is it something that can Yeah. So we can't um we can as the police department post photos of juveniles, faces, etc. Um you can always provide those photos to us. They they don't leave our they don't leave out, you know, our computer systems in our databases. Um there strict laws that
apply to juveniles, but the that's actually very, you know, and thank you for pointing that out. The only way for us to proactively get ahead of this is to be called in real time. So, the social media platforms getting alerted and and calls going elsewhere. I understand it
and I understand why it's happening, but I just ask the public to please call our desk. Don't call any officers that you know. Call our direct uh desk for dispatch so they can dispatch the officers working that day um to target those areas. Great. And and Travis, we had a
conversation about ebikes in general, right? Yep. And and there was something that came out from the state. Yes. They put out a um a pan essentially a pamphlet um today that I got emailed to me this morning. Uh Sergeant Buser is combing through it. Um it pretty much
outlines what bike is allowed where, speed limits, size of the bikes, where they can go in public transportation, etc. Um and it kind of gives us a uh a route to to enforce. And you know, it's tough. Those e ebikes are tough. There
hasn't been a lot of guidance on it, but something did just come out. So, I don't want to speak too uh in depth on it because I haven't had a chance to really comb through it yet, but it should assist us moving forward with the uh ebike problem. And what types of bikes may need to be registered if they go a certain speed. Exactly. Yeah. Certain speed, certain size, certain electric
engine registration, helmets, insurance, the whole nine. So, the law isn't clear on how ebikes or It wasn't very clear. Um the it was very broad as to how fast these bikes go. Who is it who is actually the person saying whether these bikes go a certain speed limit or not?
Is it the manufacturers? Is it the police? Are we catching them on radar? Um the age limit to driving these bikes on the roadway. They don't need licenses, do they? To drive certain certain sizes. Yeah. Certain sizes and certain speeds. You know, some of them are considered just like street bikes. might see people driving their road
bikes on the road and you know sometimes they're stopping a red light, sometimes going on the sidewalk. It's a you know it's an issue, right? Because you can ride those ebikes on sidewalks right now, right? Certain it it all depends on how Yeah, it depends on the size and if it's insured, registered, the whole
Yeah. Yep. So, are you saying that people that are having these encounters whether it's with ebike? I personally haven't had it with an ebike. I've had it with regular bicycles on the roadway where I'm
driving and people are zigzagging like one inch next to my car in and out in front of me like making me crazy, you know. Um, we're supposed to call 911. You can I mean if it's if it's an e scenario do you think someone's going to
get I mean like you said to call so you're saying call a yes the telephone number the whatever 21664 42000 is our non-emergent line you'll go directly to our dispatchers if it's an emergency 100% don't worry about that call 911 right that's diff right so they should
be calling the desk yep okay say that again 2011 664 42000 42 Okay 24-hour dispatch line it's direct communications to our officers that are working. Okay, any other questions?
Thank you for your report. Interim Superintendent Peterson. Good evening. So, we've got uh seasonal plantings uh down in the parks and around the buildings. That's going to start this week. Heavy uh weather
pending. Beachwood softball shade covers been installed. Centennial Soccer Field had its uh fifth and final cut this week. The DPW, we're going to maintain cutting that grass until we can get a
maintenance agreement in place with the uh landscaper. DPW's also been assisting Collars with the work going on at the new uh complex area, Memorial Field, getting the uh test pits and test
borings all groomed and ready for play that evening by the kids and coaches. The band shell, we took the old roof off. Uh there were some pieces falling and when we really got into it, the steel cables up there, a couple of
them were actually broken. The storage shed in the back here on the patio is uh in a temporary location. Downs trees, we had them in town a few times. They removed seven.
One is on a waiting list and one other is set to be uh safety pruned. Park mobile. All the signs and spaces have been uh painted. Signs have been put up. The nature trail barricades for the
section that's in need of replacement have been resecured and new signage has been put up. Assisted the car fire department with the carnival with barricades, lighting, garbage, cleaning,
etc. Memorial Day preparations have begun with the installation of the banners and flags downtown on the street lights. We also assisted the garden club with uh tables over this past weekend for their plant sale. Street sweeping
will begin Monday, May 18th. And as I've been saying every council meeting, my my staff, they continue to impress me with the way they're constantly adapting to the changing consistent changes and additions to
their daily work uh load. And I really cannot be prouder of them. So I hope next week uh during public works week they get some uh waves and honks and some thank yous. That's all I have.
Okay. Any questions? This may be more of a question for recreation, but has the American Legion put out their agenda or their their schedule for Memorial Day? Yes, Dan has the entire itinerary. Okay.
And uh Doug Frank has given me a list of normal items that the DPW helps them out with, podiums, bleachers, chairs. The Legion has done what it has done. Barry, I have a question with regards to sprinklers. A lot of the fields have sprinkler systems, right? Correct. I
know Beachwood has it, Memorial, right? Um, those sprinklers, are they scheduled to run at night? Yes, they run overnight. Controls them. They run overnight. Um, I was finally able to get the president sprinkler uh guy to to come to
town to turn everything on. Uh, so everything should be on and operating as normal. Yeah, because what we were experiencing on the the clay portion of the fields is that they were getting very dry um because of the lack of rain that we were getting and I have
a feeling that that's going to happen again um you know in the the drier months, right? Yes. But if those sprinklers could be pivoted in a way that they would be hitting the clay areas for a certain time, not the whole night obviously, that it would relieve some of that issue. Again, I don't know
if that's that's a possibility that you could extend them or point them in various directions or we could absolutely take a look at that. Yeah. And then is is Centennial open right now? Is soccer field? Soccer field is still closed. That will not open until
Memorial Day. Memorial Day. Okay. Any other questions? I just have a comment. Um, I just want to let you know that the other day I drove by in the morning, early morning, and downtown looks beautiful. So, thank you guys for just keeping it so nice and clean and and put together with flowers and everything. So, thank you. Thank you.
And how's your headquarters doing? Um, it's still standing on working on it. We're doing a daily check in. It's a work in progress. Uh, we're just waiting to get the plans in. Okay. Um, seeing that, let's uh, if
that's the end of it, let's move on to committee reports. Uh, start at the far end. Councilman, I didn't get talking to me. Councilman Kvy. Thank you, mayor. Uh, environmental commission, the next meeting will be on
Monday, May 19th. the Pasak Valley Board of Education, regional board of education next meeting will be on Monday, May 19th as well. Regarding the fire department, uh, April had 26 calls. Year-to- date, April, there were 106 first 83 calls in the same period in the
prior year. Um, there really is no rhyme or reason to why the there's an increase. something that I think is is is very good to report on here. We've been working with Chief Farrell and Deputy Chief Kelly and our CFO David Young in
reviewing the unspent previous year capital ordinance funds coupled with analysis of their 2025 capital funds request. And we're working on a plan to return a meaningful portion of the prior year's unspent capital funds to the town, which can then be released for new
purposes via new ordinance, which the mayor and council would have to vote on, of course. Uh the focus of the analysis has been on deferring the purchase of the cascade system because we concurrently leverage other towns as we've been doing uh for that functionality and investing now in our
SCBA which is a self-contained breathing apparatus and components that come with that. Uh currently we only have enough masks to outfit our members and there are older masks that need to be replaced and the plan includes purchasing new
masks now plus extra masks plus building an inventory of specific parts to that equipment which we currently lack. And and specifically the regulators uh the regulators on
those they hang off of the air packs and they break from time to time as they're exposed. So they're vulnerable. So the outcome will be sufficient supply of necessary equipment plus spare parts for safety continuity plus returning unspent capital funds to the town and a more
strategic approach that the fire department has taken to their capital funds management. So I commend Chief Farrell and Deputy Chief Kelly for their efforts and eagerness uh really to put safety first while being fiscally responsible and being strategic in their planning.
Thank you, Councilman Fox. Uh we had a DPW committee meeting earlier this week. Uh we just went over the uh recent motor vehicle crash uh with the garbage truck into the building. Uh was uh temporarily condemned, but they were able to go back into the building. We're right now
discussing uh future renovations. Um other than that, nothing. Council President Oso. Nothing to report. Councilwoman Bazach. Yes. Okay. So there was a local board of ed meeting yesterday. I have some updates. Um, last weekend, Blanch Smith School fourth
graders put on a really well-received production of The Wizard of Oz, featuring a record number of 43 student performers. Uh, an update on George White. The George White graduation ceremony will be held on Friday, June 20th at 5:00 PM at Pasak Valley. Um,
also, the construction of the modular campus at George White Middle School is expected to begin uh mid to late June and be completed by late July in prep for the 2025 2026 school year. Um and lastly, the board of ed proudly celebrated the exceptional contributions
of three teachers of the year. Uh Fawn Kennedy from Metobrook, Jenna Santana of Smith School, and Katie Ericson representing George White. Each teacher was recognized for their commitment and dedication, innovative teaching methods, and profound impact on their students. The board also took a moment to
recognize and express a deep gratitude for the professionals uh that were retiring this year. That's it. Okay, Councilwoman Timu planning board meeting was cancelled and library meeting is next week. So we'll be expecting well we
don't meet again till June, right? June. Yes, Council Monro. Uh the finance committee met on May 7th really just to go over some smaller out outstanding items. Nothing worthy to report tonight and previously I have reported on the access for all as well as the board of
health. Nothing else to report. Okay. Vier Gazali. Thank you, Mayor. Uh we are working on our affordable housing plan to meet the deadlines. The next uh deadline is June 30th uh for us to submit a housing plan showing how we are going to meet our obligation. Uh tonight
you have a resolution to approve uh a new chief of police and the mayor will also be asking for a motion to approve the contract tonight as well. After the meeting, if all approved, uh the new chief will be sworn in by the mayor inside the clerk's
office so he can assume his duty tomorrow as the new chief. And he will then begin to work on filling the rest of the vacancies to to be ready for the next meeting. And the plan is to have all new officers sworn in at our July meeting. And that's all I have, Mr.
Mayor. Okay, great. Um, we're going to move on to ordinances. 25/19 for introduction. An ordinance amending chapter 220 parks and recreation area of the burough code to modify section 220-3 unlawful acts to modify
220-3J prohibiting leashed or unleashed dogs on municipal fields. Be it resolved that ordinance 2519 does now pass a first reading and that said ordinance be further considered for final passage at a meeting of the mayor and council in the municipal building 380 Hillsdale
Avenue, Hillsdale, New Jersey on June 17, 2025 at 7 p.m. or as soon as thereafter and at said time and place. All persons interested will be given an opportunity to be heard concerning the same. And the clerk is hereby authorized and directed to publish set ordinance in
the Rididgewood News once at least one week prior to said hearing with a notice of its introduction and of the time and place when and where said ordinance would be considered for final passage. Can I have a motion? Motion. Second. Second.
Clerk, please read the role. Council member Mazachan. Yes. Council President Oso, yes. Council member Rico, yes. Council member Chimuk, yes. Council member Kleti, yes. Council member Fox, yes, is now introduced. We're going to go to introduction of 25-20, an ordinance by the mayor and council
amending the burrow of Hillsdale code of ordinances to repeal chapter 154 sections 1 to 20 to adopt a new chapter 154 sections 1 to 88 to adopt flood hazard maps to designate a flood plan administrator and providing for
severability and an effective date. Be it resolved that ordinance 2520 does now pass a first read reading and that said ordinance be further considered for final passage uh at a meeting of the mayor and council in the municipal building 380 Hillsdale Avenue Hillsdale
New Jersey on June 17th 2025 at 7 p.m. or as soon as thereafter and it's said time and place, all persons interested will be given an opportunity to be heard concerning the same. And the clerk is hereby authorized and directed to publish said that ordinance in the Ridgewood News once at least one week prior to said hearing with a notice of
its introduction and of time and place when and where said ordinance would be considered for final passage. Can I get a motion? Motion. Second. Second. Please discussion. Just more of a question. I I'm presuming that this ordinance is
being was suggested to us by our engineer in an effort to comply with changes that the state is requiring the state. It was the state, right? Okay. All the towns have to do this. Yeah. Yep. All right. Thank you. Okay. We've got a motion in the second. Will the
clerk please read the role? Council President Roso, yes. Council member Rico, yes. Council member Chimu, yes. Council member Kleti, yes. Council member Fox, yes. Council member Mazich Chong, yes. and uh it is considered now introduced. We're now going through the
consent agenda 25150 through 251 153. Is there a motion? Motion. Is there a second? Second. Would anybody like to pull anything off of the consent
agenda? Seeing nobody wanted to do that, will the clerk please read the role? Council member Rico, yes. Council member Choim, yes. Council member Kleti, yes. Council member Fox, yes. Council member Mazich, yes. Council President Oso, yes. The consent agenda has passed and we have a new chief of police.
Congratulations. Yeah. Well, but it's but it's it's not Oh, but it's not on. No, you can just ask for a motion to approve the contract. Yeah. Well, but but there's nothing on on consent. Okay. So, is that a separate number or is it just a contract? Just a contract. Just approve
the contract. Um, can we get a We're going to on off consent we're going to approve the actual contract here. Um, it's it's usual to have a separate resolution that does that. I would I would look to the council to make a ruling on this. You can you can
certainly incorporate the terms by reference. You're correct. It's usual to have a separate resolution. If you vote on this here, the clerk will assign a resolution number to that um approving the contract. But I I leave it to you as to whether you want to do that now or if you're
It it I think that the purpose of the resolution is to authorize the mayor and or the mayor I guess has to sign that contract. Correct. And and you can do that by motion now. I have a motion to second authorize the mayor to do that. Would assign a resolution to that after.
But the contract is a legal document, is it not? It is. and we we received a draft of it uh a few days ago and we discussed it in the oh I I would feel more at ease to see the final document. That's the way it's typically been
handled in the past. But my my understanding is there are no changes from the copy you have other than a clarification of rather than listing federal holidays, we're going to list out the holidays. So there are no substantive changes from the document that was provided to you. Okay. Yeah.
Um, you guys want to move around a bit so you can get the lights back on? Do a dance. Yeah, we're paying it. Jerry, move. There you go. Um, so are you proposing that we hold off? That's my preference, but if I I I understand what the counselor has has said. So, so, so
we have one proposal to hold off. Does anybody else wish to hold off? If not, then I would propose that we take a vote on the contract with the provision modification that was not substantive. Correct. Just a clarification that the
holiday federal holidays were going to list out each of the holidays and then add in the day after those two holidays we designated. That would be the only substantive change if you want to call that substantive more of a clarification. Clarification for um if that's the case, let's do this by an
actual vote. A motion. Yeah. Did we I thought we had a motion. No. No. Oh. Motion. Motion. Second. Second. Uh, will the clerk please read the role? Council member Choimuk. Yes. Council member Kleti. Yes. Council member Fox. Yes. Council member Mazatan? Yes. Council
President Oso? Yes. Council member Rico? Yes. It's unanimous. Your co your contract has been good as well now. Okay. Uh, that takes care of that. We're going to go to um the public comment portion. three minutes on any topic. Uh,
come on up, Jerry. 64 Westdale. Come say hi. Where who are you? Hi, Jerry Bey. 64 Westdale Avenue, Hillsdale. Um, uh, I was the chair of the Hillsdale 125th anniversary committee. I want to remind you all again that Saturday, uh, this
Saturday the 17th at 1:30, rain or shine, we'll be having a dedication and a blessing of the 125th pathway that we put in. There are 531 bricks that were added to the original um centennial one from 25 years ago. So, we hope you'll
join us to for that celebration. We have local clergy joining us to bless the pathway. Um I'd like to thank the DPW in advance for the assistance that um Barry said that they would give us in um getting the park ready for that event.
Um I'd also like to give a big shout out to the DPW for cleaning the playground equipment at Beachwood Park today. the slides are sparkling clean and we really appreciate it. I also want to thank them for filling the holes by the swing sets that were becoming actually a hazard and
um my granddaughters already went there. They saw them working on it and after dance today we had to go and try it out. So kudos to you. Nice job. We appreciate it. You know, you have to give those kids priority on those slides. You can't you can't just just because it's looking clean learning. It's the swings. It was
the swings was the biggest give them first crack at it. So, thank you very much. Okay. Um, Miss Martin, would you like to come up and speak about uh parking perhaps? Sure. Okay. Come on. More importantly though, I want I want to thank you. Okay. For constantly going
above and beyond you especially, but your whole crew and I will definitely be giving some honks May 18th to the 24th. Thank you as always. Um, but yes, as we've spoken in the past, I'm here to request consideration for overnight
parking so we don't have to keep bothering the police department every third night. We appreciate you guys taking that call every third night. Uh, well, okay. So, look, normally three minutes we just talked to us, but but this is something I've been reading. We've been working on. I'm going to ask the BA to give you an update on where
things stand and hopefully you will not be making calls every 3 days. Oh, we love our They are so pleasant. They are really so nice about it because I'm like here we are again. I'm like Sid my husband can you make a call tonight? I don't want to do it again. So we have uh we have it in draft. It's a big ship to
turn. Uh as a matter of fact by 4:00 or so we got you know the mayor and I got the first you know draft from the attorney. We're going to go through it with the council and um we will have it on the agenda on June 17. How is that? I appreciate you guys very much. Thank you so much for your consideration. Great.
Okay. Uh, it's time for council commentaries. I start. Um, we had a great time at that carnival. I wanted to thank everybody, the DPW, the police, especially the fire department, um, who really banded together and made it an
unbelievable event. Speaking of the fire department, last Friday, we had a fire at the high school. Yeah. The fire department was unbelievable. First of all, I worked the night before with these guys at the carnival and we stayed till after 10:00 at night and sometime
around 4 in the morning, this thing began for something. These guys were all out there. God only knows I was I was groggy just from standing in a in a in an amusement booth for however many hours. I don't know how they do it. Um, they
contained it so quickly. what could have been a true disaster was really contained to 20 square ft. You know, you're going to have water in there, but they identified the problem. They took care of it right away. I am so impressed with what they did. We should all be
very thankful. Uh that could have been a disaster. If that had been a weekend and no one was paying attention and there weren't regular checks, we could have been in real trouble. So, thank you again to the department. Um let's move on. commentary since I ended there.
Let's start here. Thank you, Mayor. I wanted to congratulate Travis Woods as he assumes the position of police chief. Mayor and council were impressed with his candidacy and thought it best to fill the position quickly. Uh the primary reason for government's existence is the protection of its
citizens. And because of that, the role of the police chief is incredibly important to any municipality. and it's in the best interest of the community for the candidate to have the governing body's unanimous support which was demonstrated this evening. Uh as a member of the governing body as one member I look forward to working with
you Travis uh to ensure the safety of our residents in a prudent and effective manner. Uh the other thing I want to say is Memorial Day is less than two weeks away. Um and I encourage everyone to participate in honoring all those men and women who died while serving our
nation in the armed forces. We should remember that the parade that we have, and I guess soon we're having a parade again. I haven't seen the schedule, um, is is icing on the cake, but the cake itself is actually the memorial service um that our local chapter, the Legion,
arranges to honor our war dead. Um, and I'd like to, as an Eagle Scout, make a shameless plug uh for the breakfast that one of our local scout troops has. I don't know if it's 108 or 109. I get them confused. You know, 109. 109. Um
it's the troop that that's at the Episcopal. Exactly. Pancakes at 7:30 in the morning. 7 a.m. they will have their regular pancake breakfast. It's a it's a um the breakfast items are many. The food is always tasty. Service is impeccable. As you're served by 12 and
13 year olds who inevitably get something wrong, but they apologize profusely for it. They clear our tables so fast. I feel like I'm done with it. It's gone. uh you know the the service is impeccable but the servers are young uh and it's an opportunity for all of us
to uh get to know our neighbors. It's really a good time. So that's all I have to say. Okay, great. Councilwoman Trimeia, no comment for me. I also want to congratulate Chief Woods and um also happy National Police Week. So we just want to thank all law
enforcement for uh keeping us safe and your commitment to our communities. So thank you. Okay, council president also again I want to congratulate Travis again having worked with you the last few weeks I have nothing but great confidence in your ability to lead the
department and I look forward to working with you council I also wanted to extend my congratulations I wanted to extend my heartfelt congratulations to Chief Woods on his well-deserved appointment as a chief new chief of police chief woods unwavering dedication to public safety his commitment to building trust within
our and proven leadership makes him an outstanding choice for this critical role. HPD officers and our residents deserve leadership that listens, leads by example, and works collectively to build a safer, stronger community. I'm confident that with Chief Woods at the helm, we are taking a major step towards
maintaining the culture and credibility of the Hillsville Police Department. So, congratulations, Council Ky. Thank you. Uh, simple congratulations to Chief Woods. All the best. Okay. Uh, with that, can I get a motion to adjurnn? Motion. Second. Second. All
those in favor? See you all June 17th. We are