h [Music] ready Work Ready stand up for the Pledge of Allegiance okay I pledge aliance to the flag of the United States of America
indivisible andice this is meeting turn my microphone here sure I'm good okay this is a meeting of the Hillsville burough Council on this 11th day of March 2025 notice of the time and place 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 all cell phones which I will do now if I haven't please wait to be recognized by the mayor during the public hearing and the public comment
part of the meeting you will need to state your name and town of residence for the record I'm silenced okay will the clerk please read the role council president Oso here council member klei here council member Fox council member ma Chong here council member ruko here
council member chuk here mayor Steinfeld here uh okay we're going to start with the initial public comment section it's limited to 3 minutes items on the agenda only one topic for speaker again state your name and town of residence for the
record would anybody like to speak on an item on the agenda tonight okay see none oh we do have oh okay please come on up you're hiding back there I
was uh my name is Craig Cardell five Grove Street I am the current president of the football and cheer Association um so uh good evening thank you very much for having us uh I would just like to say I'm here on behalf of the Hawks
football and cheer Association and we want to express our full support for the memorial field project regardless of whether it includes the lights while the lights will be a tremendous benefit to the athletes in the community our priori is ensuring that this project moves forward the
Memorial Field is an essential space for our young athletes and we are grateful for the investment being made to improve it we look forward to seeing this project come to life and continuing to provide a great experience for our players and families and we thank you for your time and commitment to our
community so in all honesty thank you very much for we're back in this for sure thank you thank you appreciate it would anybody else like to be recognized I promise if I see your hands I will call you please please come up come up and state
your name for the record La fman Liberty Avenue hill Ste uh right now I'm about two blocks away from Memorial Fields I think think there's a little too much planned for that area you want to put pickle ball in
pickle ball is noising it's going to disturb all the residents in the area you want to put uh new basketball basketball we already have five basketball hoops at the middle
school very rarely used I travel that street all the time it's not used that much the other thing you want to do do is put together besides the baseball there you want soccer you want football
you want a walking path around it it's a lot for a small area and the residents are going to get hurt by it we have Beachwood park across the street which has a playground already if you
need to expand it for ADA Compliant you have the room there you already have a baseball field there they play football in that area and they do have lighting there people use Beachwood Park the nature trails you have people that walk
around Beachwood Park you have people that jog Beachwood Park the track team trains around Beachwood Park up Liberty and down Hillsdale Avenue so you have a lot of use there as far as pickle
ball I don't see why the high school tennis courts can't be striped for both the tennis and pickle ball you also have pickle ball down by Wooddale Park so there are other areas for people who
would like pickle ball that won't disturb the neighborhood and that's all I can say thank for your com who else would like to speak anybody we go one more time good evening uh Dave Williams 15 C Lane I have a couple things first and
foremost I want to thank the mayor and counsel uh for my wife's Mary's nice retirement get together thank you Denise uh secondly regarding Memorial uh I am a volunteer football coach at the high school I've been involved in that program for about 20
years now and I will tell you that I have seen a lot more injuries because of turf than when we had grass um so I would if whatever is going to be done in Memorial I think it should be
grass uh I think we can hire some good people for the DPW that can take care of our Fields we're spending a lot of money already this year on Centennial um Stony Brookfield used to be used for soccer and Lacrosse how come that's not being used anymore
um I just think it's overboard for Memorial I can see leveling the field make it in a nice grass field keep the ball field the way they are keep it the way it is and I think all the residents in the area would be happy with that and I think it'll service the town well thank you
appreciate come on Mrs Martin let's Kristen Martin 219 Washington a um first and foremost I want to thank everyone because I feel like you have definitely been listening to everybody and trying to find some sort of resolution that will make it everybody happy and I think that that speaks
volumes to you put in the community first um and I also want to thank Mike for all of your hard work yesterday dealing with that very thank you potentially tragic car acent or bus accent um I just wanted
to bring up two quick points and in light of that I know this is all little stuff I do want to make sure we keep in mind the men's softball teams um because that's a big thing in our town and that's primarily on that field so whatever we do I want to make sure that
those are the people those are the adults that are paying the taxes I want to make sure that the field is still going to be especially with the Middle School field probably not being available for several years I do want that to be um a focus whenever decisions are made and the other thing that I've
spoken to in the past is I do want a real kind of Deep dive into the dangers of turf because I the more I research the more it makes me nervous and the more I'm concerned about us potentially putting ourselves in a situation where we can be sued for injuries um or
long-term toxic and also trying to get rid of this in 7 to 10 years um when we're still paying it off probably doesn't make much sense so just the whole Turf thing I don't know how well that sits with me but thank you again for all you're doing and I appreciate all your time thank
you I'll get you next bre hi I'm Robin Carter I live at 74 Washington Avenue um so yeah the same concerns I think that people have been saying about the turf um you know I think I worry about also the turf in the waterways as well as the turf in terms
of kids getting hurt you know we have a lot of water that comes through our town certain and especially in this new climate that we live in um you know I I worry about the the plastic the microplastics getting into the waterways you know I know there's also no
definitive proof that um you know childhood illnesses are related to AstroTurf but um there has been correlation and conversation on that I don't know that we know the answers to that but um those are some of the concerns as about putting more kind of plastic that's into the environment that we get in our waterways and and you know
things like that thank you great Rick Savino 64 Westdale Avenue I was going to wait till the second round but after a few people spoke I want to thank everyone for all the work but the engineers have delivered a plan that has
a lot of options and I think that leaves a lot of room for the council to compromise put in some elements omit other elements but come to a final project for this park that does need to be it needs a new Surface all our Parks
need a new Surface but to and to come to a plan that we could do all the parks um so I just you know I want to encourage you to compromise this plan don't listen to everyone on one side or the other and think about the the parks the ad Ada
accessible playground that people are asking for the community center that's going to have to be furnished within a year or two um that's I'm sure that's a significant expense putting all the everything in there so let's you know
find that compromise and do it for for the entire Community not two leagues you know of a of a handful of kids thank you hi guys um Gary grosero 69 Crosley Terrace um my concern is about uh the
expenditure of that kind of money uh when I don't really feel it's needed um I had four kids uh they all used played every sport imaginable I played softball there played football baseball lacrosse as you know everything could
imagine my kids played and we used and enjoyed and the biggest problem at the time was the unplay ability of Centennial which you guys have already addressing I think that will go a long way towards addressing any field shortages um especially with the money
that uh we need to spend on George White um I think that uh we really don't need to spend that kind of money on this kind of a project now if you wanted to make some improvements I'd be in favor of that maybe do a little regrading fix fix the grand stand that's been closed for 3 4 years um clean up the basketball
courts maybe some new Hoops one of them is bent but um I would be in favor of that but a project like that I don't think is really necessary for us to uh keep our kids active and to make you know maximum use uh for anybody who wants to play that can do so so uh
thanks for your consideration thank you anybody else like to be heard you got it good evening Mary Ward 47 hold it w 47 East Liberty Avenue I'm call my question is I know you folks are going to tell me you have nothing to do with the schools we just spent 60
million on a school system on a new school that we all know is going to cost more than $60 million there's tariffs every day on something now we're talking $10 million for a field we're all getting out of the same pocket everybody you know you can say you're not
responsible for the schools but everybody here is paying for everything so there has to be some some pullback somewhere or else there's going to be nothing left I mean it just came out in the papers the other day that towns around us are most Hackenberg and County
Rivervale Westwood do we want to make that list too I I think the keep bills they we did make the list just a little further down a little further down okay well I I missed that part but my point is mention it then my point is that uh
is somebody has to stop start saving somewhere you know once we know what's going to happen in a couple years this project makes plenty of sense but right now it's not the right act you know if you own the house are you going to start rebuilding a house today I don't think so you know we got to rebuild California
West Virginia and we can't get anything from from Canada because going to put a TI up on so I really think you got to rethink this whole project at this point I love sports in my day I did play but one of the best parts of playing was coming home
dirty so I'd just like to leave it at that and one other thing that I don't think I've seen it dressed anywhere is the soft shoulders on Hillsdale Avenue on either side of the park when people even though the sign say no parking people do park there and they it's all
rded up so if you are going to Contin this park project you've got to think of some way to either pave that all over or put rocks so people can't park their cars on it and drive away with big holes in it it's it's something that happens if you go down if you leave here and go
down Hillsdale Avenue today and look on the left side there's at least six or seven Tire ruts when people making u-turns or God knows what the hell they do right that's all thank you thank youor thank you somebody else like to be heard
yeah okay I'm going to start tonight by highlighting a viable alternative to the environmental and health and safety issues of the artificial tur and microplastics there is an expert in Mass who has effectively developed a natural
grass field that is more durable testified and plastic free and requires less rest time and dri out easily he maintains 13 to 15 busy Sports Fields with himself and a staff of
one in the busy season he is willing to share his knowledge and techniques to help other communities no different than big tobacco back in the day being forced to own to their harmful aspects of their product and coming out with natural
cigarettes or light version it didn't change the fact that their product was a health hazard Turf companies today are being forced to own up to the harmful aspects of their product so they are making some modest changes it doesn't change the fact that their product is a
potential health hazard and having that position is at best premature and the question we should really be asking our elv is do we want our young children to be the proof and test studies for the future arguments at
a town home I think we tend to All We tend to agree there's been a lot of young parents speaking to the need for a turf field but I know if I share the content about the dangers our children were exposed to there would be at least twice the number of parents that would
be standing here to say we never want another CH field added to our neighborhood in closing my son is now past the age of choice of Turk affecting his health but as a resident and a mother I would have
done anything to have had a mother ahead of me willing to do the research advocate for the Children's Health that poses even the slightest chance to the exposure of microplastics and PS also known as the forever chemicals and all
those that may be forever impacted I can provide any of the supporting articles and videos of time request and that's the update to what we've talked about last week thank you appreciate it wel is there anybody else would like to be
heard doy I think it's my turn to speak uh Dewey BR in Harrington Street most of you know me I was chairman of planning board I was chairman of uh marks and Rec we looked at a plan like this uh six years ago uh without spending money for the
engineer just a couple notes back and forth uh we decided that uh Memorial Field was a park with fields and our Real Sports Complex was up at Centennial and that's where our money should go uh though we want a level field uh I'm not
anti-t Turf even though we still have turf toe from you know 40 years ago uh I believe baseball is best played on grass these are some statements I am happy to see us spend money right I've been a Champion I have arrows in my back from 5 six years ago trying to spend 2.5
million my real concern with this project is I don't want to put all our eggs in a basket we have a lot of other things to do up at Centennial we have to fix the parking we have to uh do a lot of work around to make it better uh and I just don't want to lose that money um
my real concern here is lights when we looked at this 6 years ago all Rec people positive uh youth football lights do not belong in this residential Community it it doesn't you're going to affect everybody and I think it'll come
before the planning board you're going to take value out of these people's houses the problem I have with that is the design without lights doesn't work so well we were looking at a design where both men's softball and baseball could play at the same time with an 80 yard field I don't think that was
explored enough that's where we're at I said no lights but then with no lights this is not a good design and that's up to you thank you for your thank [Applause] you anyone
else okay seeing once twice gone okay uh we have no correspondence okay so we're going to move on to the uh professional monthly report the Hillsdale Police Department Department uh Lieutenant Travis Woods
test all right we're good Travis words of Lieutenant Mill Police just go over uh January and February combined uh first and foremost our community policing unit uh we had a snow trooping with a cop event that that took place up in Mawa that was police officer
Bruce that headed that we conducted multiple Girl Scout tour us officer Alfieri uh takes the lead on those we had a police department Quin sauce at a kids soccer game in Pas high school officer Bruce Mar and Kim helped out
there uh Hills police took took part in the P their part down in Seaside ran by P gamsky uh we kicked off our dare season at the schools and we're we're teaching there uh pretty much weekly officer s I'm sorry sergeant sers and officer
Alfieri will be in the schools doing that um some things on the horizon we're preparing for National Night Out in August First Tuesday of August um we're preparing for the youth youth leadership academy if anyone has uh kids within the age range we'll be sending out notification for that it's going to be
in June and we're going to be doing a 5k at the F event that's going to be up at the up on the F that's going to be in June in the beginning of it I don't have the exact date yet as far as traffic goes we conducted in January February 181 motor vehicle stops responded 46
motor vehicle accidents 25 parking enforcement details and 13 selective enforcement details the detective Bureau uh 69 cases investigated 41 investigations closed and 12 charges uh as a result and our fire last not least
a Firearms unit conducted 25 25 uh investigations pertaining to Firearms carry concealed uh pistol permits and so forth that's it does anyone have uh any questions of the lieutenant no thank you for your report
thank you interm superintendent DPW Barry Peterson okay so for March uh month of February and beginning of March uh the parks and Fields they're still closed as we uh
tend to the baseball uh preseason uh put some shelving in Memorial Fieldhouse for recreation uh since they were moved from vpw the second floor when we made the switch to
mechanics um just waiting ground is thore now we were waiting on the ground to Thor to install some new signage on either end of beach park for the environmental commission uh seasonal meters are going
in next week for the field houses which uh after that will be Che running for their practicing and not next week I'm expecting 25 tons of ball field clay and another 25 tons of
the warning track material for our Fields uh burough Hall we fixed some uh heating issues with the uh heating for the council chambers the New Jersey urban community forestry conference report was filed we
are still on that list for Grant uh Grant monies last Friday was a big one it was a busy day for us we removed a for tree that came down prior to the end of
school day a highly trafficked area by kids walking and parents driving and uh believe there's a article I saw in the paper we did save the borrow about $7,000
um on an emergency cleanup for a trip you're taken away from my comments I was going to thank you for it so so thank you you want uh we replaced two street lights uh one was over by quick shop I think it is quick check
was the other oh there was one that was broken there we replaced that we fixed one on uh Broadway by the butcher uh We've replaced some faded signs and broken signs due to uh motor vehicle
crashes uh the big one is the flashing crosswalk sign by the library over it I'm just waiting on the delivery of some parts for that once they come in that will be re uh repaired did you have a temporary one up there with no flashing right now there's a temporary with no
flashing one one side flashes the other side doesn't okay um but once those parts come in everything will be working as it was the Veterans Park was decorated for the Ramadan season which was the first and I was uh
very excited to uh to do that for for the rest of our community Pooles have been filled and continuing to be filled uh we just replaced two sewer Rings one uh sewer cover one was on Windham one was on
Willowbrook we had three snow and ice events that we took care of we began cleaning basins and repairing storm water basins the big one Centennial Field just received 100 tons of the ball field clay
today and I have four pallets of the turfus sitting on our garage inside so as soon as they're ready to start working uh we can bring that up and that project will uh commence that's all I have
thank you any questions for the interim superintendent no okay I'm sure that Nick can give us the update on our field at some point not to a second for when they're going to start going because um we're going to go back now to our business administrator or borrow
administrator to discuss what's up on the screen here Memorial Field so take it away it's all you thank you uh Mr Mayor uh Mr Mayor council members um the staff and the professionals and the volunteers have
been working on Memorial Field plan for over a year now with numerous Town Hall meetings committee meetings uh uh presentations to uh to the public and feedback from the public we've spent already about
$50,000 uh to date on this plan just as a concept as your business administrator it's my responsibility to run the day-to-day operations and the finances of the town in an effective and responsible manner I've directed our staff and our professionals
to stop making any changes or work on the Memorial Field plan with all the different options until the governing body you makes a decision on what you want to do turf or no Turf lights or no lights we don't want to spend time and
money uh on changes to a plan that you may you know not approve or you know that you don't want this uh presentation will give you all the options to choose what you want me and the staff to spend our time on so we can perfect it and take it to the next
steps tonight you are not committing to spending anything once your decision is made we will have to take it take out a a bond we will have to pass a bond ordinance to allow to spend the money those are done in public hearings
with voting on it and feedback from the public we do not have to spend the entire amount of the bond for example if we take out a $5 million Bond during the course of the planning and the bid process the bids may come lower than 5
million just like in Centennial where we planned 600,000 and the bid came at at 374 that's how much we took out that's how much money we would we would take out if if the bids come lower if the bids come higher than we planned
then we just don't accept the bid and we go to re bid with a different plan so there's no the commitment to spend anything tonight you are committing to moving with this project in a specific way that's there that's all there is to
it for tonight we will have a resolution for uh the different options with and without the presentation you'll see we will have it uh available to the public on the website uh tomorrow and uh
there is uh a calendar that we have to follow uh based on what we want to do so if you say you go forward with whatever options you choose we have to do a bond ordinance in April introduction we have to approve it in
May those two uh are in public the public can talk about that uh and give your opinion as well as the council members of course then we do a cap um a capital an ordinance in April introduce
it this takes us to may maybe June uh we are looking to also bundle uh the fire truck uh some more capital projects into one Bond so we get the best rate so in 2021 you raised your taxes uh
by $500,000 to spend on the fields the idea was to put that money into a fund and use the fund to fix all the field s that money was spread out into the general fund in
2024 is when we when we bought everything into one fund so in 2024 there was $1.8 million2 200,000 of that was spent 200 of the 2 million was spent on Centennial prior to
2024 115,000 spent to date on environmental testing and engineering and uh we we have $90,000 encumbered to be spent this year also on environmental engineering and supplies so the current funds available the
current amount of money in the bank right now in cash is the 16842 297 we have access to the cash anytime we want we don't need uh a bond Al loan that's it 500,000 will be put into the fund this year in 2025 brings
us to $2.18 four million available at the end of this year once the budget passes and the font is completed so without that uh a tax increase we have access to 2.84 at Centennial we will be taking out
$450,000 374 for the work uh and then there is also the engineering and there's more work that we have to put into it that brings it to 450 we're fixing Kora and nicobar er uh for 40,000 That's What U Barry was talking about
100 tons of clay and the infields uh environmental we have to do four times a year the testing we have to by D rules for 50,000 and then 75,000 as an estimate for an annual maintenance plan that
could be less than 75 uh for Centennial only so that's 615 for Beachwood we're putting aside $300,000 for Fe build Improvement we may do it this year if we have time if not we will have access to
$300,000 to do the Improvement there and $110,000 for maintenance plan so 925,000 is what is going to go into the fields this year that leaves us with 1.25 n million
uh in the fund after we fix Centennial the Beachwood and and the maintenance plan for both Fields what can we afford and how we going to finance all this based on zero tax increase using the current fund that's
the point uh the 1.2 million and to continue to put $500,000 into the fund every single year until you decide that you want to stop assuming a 3.5% interest a down payment on 1.2 million a 15-year Bond a 4.6 loan
a bond and leave $100,000 for the annual maintenance we can afford $5.8 million on the Improvement this what would go to make it clear that so the 5.8 is what can be spent without any additional
taxes not based upon the budget we're going introduced but based upon the $500,000 that we generate we don't have to add any income any additional taxes to do this without raising taxes that's the amount so the 5. million we would we would put down 1.2 million borrow 4.6
million and that will give us $400,000 a year for 15 years that leaves us with 100,000 for the maintenance and and anything else that we want do okay if you want to spend more we have to raise taxes this is this is your ceiling $5.8 million
okay make so what can we get for $5.8 million that means no lights that's $1.4 million less no playground equipment that's 500,000 we can do a grant and we
can go for donations and no and no taches box for $200,000 that's about $6 million of year to calculate uh so we're off by about2 200,000 the uh that 3.5% interest rate
is on the high side so at 5.8 we we feel very comfortable that we can deliver what you see on the screen everything in that uh we're not showing the exact prices next to this because we may go to bed and we don't want uh to jeopardize the bidding process now the field that
you see on the right is what you have seen in the last few times we we have taken out uh the parking from the streets so there's almost 90 Park par spots on here so all the parking will be contained in inside the field you will get uh the two basketball courts you'll
get the platform for the playground but not the actual equipment and then the field itself the field house we would have to spend additional money uh to fix it there's no money in it to fix the field house right now uh there there's uh two ways in and
out we have to get the approval of the counties there are cameras for uh security and there are walkway around the entire perimeter now there are sharp Corners there are different colors this is just a concept that's where the rest of the
work will be done once you decide that yes you do want that now if you want to have lights and if you want to have the playground and the coach's box and you want the the whole thing in that will cost you 7.9 million which will which
will be approximately $50 more more per year per average household for the life of the bond it's the same exact uh what you want on here but it has everything uh
included now there was a question uh request to compare natural grass and the turf field this is based on uh a sample of 100,000 squ foot footprint in a sample with uh without any ameni so this
is just the turf this is just uh the you know the drainage below it uh just to make it operational the turf field uh would cost $2.8 million the natural grass is $2.35 million we still need the drainage that's where the cost is over
the 10year life cycle the maintenance cost of the turf is 3.47 and of the natural grass is 3.35 the turf that we're using here the model is field Turf Classic HD it's not
the Ferrari it's not the Yugo you remember the yugos it's in the middle it's in the middle so this is with an infill it it has Rubber and uh it's what they use in high schools all over the United States what's the infill rubber
the crushed rubber he this this has this is the Classic HD that's the crumb Crum but I have one last slide before we go to uh questions from the council our next step with and what I really would like uh to come out you know from this meeting
without having to go back in circles again uh is to make a decision on where you want to go with this so what I'm looking for for the staff and for the professionals is a go no good decision uh if it's without lights without the playground uh with turf if you don't
want Turf and You Want U the natural grass um so with the no tax increase you'll get what's in uh the orange color with everything included and $50 additional per year uh you get the lights and everything
else now as far as the type of turfs there are different turfs different costs it's really not for this meaning right now to talk about which Turf you want to use you have to make a decision you want turf or you don't want turf you want lights at $1.4 million or you don't
want lights that's that's where we at at this point and I really need a direction I know the public uh I mean you you've been you've been coming to all these meetings you want some some closure on this where where we want to end up and
it's up to the council to decide on where you want to be we have two um the attorney prepared two resolutions we can make a high we can make a combination but I'm going to turn it over to you Mr Mayor uh and you can pull the council if
you wish but I we need to get some sort of enclosure on where we going with this okay that's all I have okay um I have several questions but before I do I want to open it up because I'm sure that my colleagues here are going to have some
questions as well we've got Nick here and you can ask as well um questions nobody have any questions want to clarify something that you Mr Mayor I think tried to clarify I want to make sure I understood it when this
presentation talks about in slide three funding plan without any tax increase we're recognizing already that we have a tax increase for 2025 of 4.91% regardless of which plan we adopt
we have that that's that's the municipal right if we adopt either one of these plans we're not we're not forting we we know we can figure out through a bond amortization table what it's going to cost
us that may trigger additional tax increases down the road out year probably probably not this year our assumption has been all wrong that the revenue from the Redevelopment project
would cover that we would be basically what I'm saying is R CFO has tried to project out and has come to a conclusion that 5.8 is about the limit of our credential experience so why are we even
talking about the more expensive one because it's up it's up to this governing body to determine if they want to exceed that Ah that's democracy yeah no no I the right to disregard your
cfo's well Rec uh recommendation is not questioned here I'm just saying why would one want to do that his recommendation was to go one with no lights his recommendation was to stop at 5.8 that was what he reasonably told us
no we could no I'm sorry go ahead your ceiling is 5.8 without any tax increase you can spend if you want $10 million there'll be increase with the lights and the additional it will go to 7.9 which will be a tax
increase he give you the ceiling at 5.8 with $500,000 going in every year that's your ceiling that's your limit that's how much you can spend without any tax increase right and he because of other things in our budget and his forecast
felt that that was The Prudent approach I think I think it was more along the lines of he was instructed to give us a revenue neutral y proposal and then from there it becomes we could spend 5.2 5.1 we could spend six whatever that's why
we're here tonight we can spend whatever we like that's right right I'm just pointing out that we have a tax increase already in the budget for 2025 we have a forecast of what we should probably what we might be facing down the road with
increased costs of uh health insurance and and a variety of other things and what our CFO has recommended to US based on those functions based on those functions not to go over the F stay within I understand I guess we're kind
of in a bit of semantics here because he was instructed to come up with a plan to spend the money without exceeding without requiring an additional tax increase so as a baseline because I talked to him about that and then if we want to go
beyond that that's what this governing body is here for so I I'm not okay presuming one way or the other you something you wanted well I just wanted to comment on that I think you're using the word recommendation is is the issue that he's not giving a recommendation
he's giving a fact he's saying based on this amount of money that was raised um that is raised from the 20121 tax increase for the fields we will produce that $500,000 factually if you stick with that then
this is what you can afford $5.2 million he's not recommending or not recommending because first that's not even his uh role to do that but um so he's just taking these numbers and presenting facts to us and then you can
take that and now you can add to it subtract from it do whatever the governing board would like to do to that fact that's what I think is the issue of saying the word recommendation he he's not making a recommendation he's just
telling you a fact I have a slightly different understanding as the chair of the finance committee and meeting with him so I'll leave it at that okay Mr you probably if you pull the council maybe one item at a time a turf or no Turf lights or no we have more question that
we'll get to that Mike we we talked about this earlier uh in within the presentation have identified uh slightly over $200,000 worth of Maintenance uh we have the 50 to 75,000 to get to 1225 if there's any work that's done at
Beachwood it'll get us to 135 plus the pay your Runway of implementing an artificial tur field would bring you another 65,000 when once you uh cancel out the year One cost right um you've identified $100,000 within the financing that we
would have available to spend on maintenance right uh that extra $100,000 would that be taken out of the op the operating plan going forward so these numbers no so so right now we do some maintenance and we use
our own DPW folks uh we buy supplies and equipment from the operational budget MH they're not taken out of the fund so that's that's that's a whole different calculation but I'm showing you in here 75,000 annual maintenance and 10,000 for Beachwood is 995,000 U
85,000 for the maintenance of the two Fields uh plus the 50 for the DP right which hopefully goes away in three four five years right yes so that is four times a year right now next year we're shooting for two times a year and
we're hoping the third year will be once a year right depending uh on the methane reading uh they've been getting low numbers uh so we're on on the right track so that may go away by the second or third year right now I'm just curious if if we re to for how we going to pay
for that incremental 100,000 plus and whether or not that's going to be captured in what we're spending today currently on those fields because also on slide number seven you have if you go to slide number seven can't see the numbers help me understand this you have the turf field
Turf classic which I don't think it's the middle of the road I think it's the bottom of the road in terms of what you're going to get so I think that it's important to evaluate the other options for artificial turf and what the infield is going to be whether it's going to be organic or no uh info product I think
that there's better options out there for the kids in the field so that may have additional additional incremental cost but also you have the 2.8 million which I believe is a year one sub cost that you're going to have to experience I think you have to 10e life cycle maintenance cost 3 47 million the way I
did this calculation was I took the 3.47 million subtracted from it the 2.8 I got 670,000 I divide it by 10 which gives me a $667,000 maintenance cost for that right and is that what we could expect for the
facility uh is 6 I'm just so that's that's the value of of of the maintenance so we could do that ourselves okay there are machines that we can either rent borrow or as buy and uh they have to brush up every few months so that maintenance we can do
that ourselves but the value of that is what the mainten is what that 600,000 over the 10 years is we can hire someone from the outside and pay it our plan is to actually use our own folks and our own machine right and that's where the value
is okay okay another questions anyone down have questions I have some questions just one really quick actually on this slide so that 10-year life cycle maintenance costs on the natural grass right this is relatively a small field
that's not going to get much rest does that take into account that the care to keep a field that won't a grass field natural grass field that won't get much rest right normally that's substantially more on
cost what is the Assumption there you asking the I I assume so you're looking my I can answer the question um so yes it's it's assumed with normal wear that
cost um so obviously if you were to overuse that field that cost would increase because you'd be looking at potential s Replacements in certain areas which cost additional money it takes down the Feld abuse for a period of time and one last question with with the
rest of the overall value of the turf if you spend a million two hour um over the 10e Lifey or if it's 12 years if we use a different type of product how do you how do you reserve for the money for the replacement of that field in this position do you reserve their money on
an annual basis uh from year 1 to year 10 or 12 or do you and you have the budget for that or do you go ahead and assume that you're going to borrow that money while we still haven't paid off the year note the Le so you would You' assume uh so you'd either if you have
the money by then you spend it or you borrow to replace it this is just to give you the field with with maintenance not after the 10 yeah I just I just want to understand how we're going to handle it from a financial perspective over the next few years
right question the 100,000 square foot sample what is Memorial's size 120,000 ft all right so it's pretty close Mike can you tell me what's the age of the turf field at the high school now do you know does anybody know high
school here yeah Valley's got to turn field on I don't know Valley but I can tell you Field Stone is 15 years old and there's no plans to replace it for the at least in the next two years okay do we know at the high school what the fill
is and here I do not know 6 years so it's been six years old it's the second field it's the second field but and and do we know what what's the infill for it I believe it's the crush rubber from okay my kids would play they had
also that's the most common so um as far as chemicals on Turk field versus natural grass um people are obviously concerned about going home with little pellets here um is there a downside chemical
exposure to natural grass and it's so so how does that balance out with tur the natural grass has uh so if you wonder why the fields look so Lush and green and our backyards don't look the same it's all the extra pesticides and all
the extra chemicals going into the natural grass uh the turf you know it's been used everywhere and if your kids play soccer play sports they have played on inter field somewhere over over the years uh we do
have we we did send you all few links and copies of studies from both sides if you ask the field folks the field is okay if you ask the natural grass natural grass it's okay so we sent you uh from uh so you have copies of the
reports from the environmental commission uh their statements and their links to the studies we have links from the engineers uh on both sides and I believe we also sent you link from the manufacturers which probably bias I
don't know but uh no matter who you ask there's always one side or the other um moving off from that for a second we've got an ABA space for for a playground yes the idea is that we would
be seeking matching grants of some sort in the county to do open space and that would be financed over one or two or several years to get the necessary funding and figure out how we minimize our match there put that up there there is
an opportunity for a donation uh and then or sponsorships uh in addition to the Grant and but we don't so is that a plug number or we're not even no we're just giving you the platform right now so you'll you'll have the platform ready
for the equipment okay I got one more go ahead Mike in the event that uh when we go to bid we find that we we achieve a great deal of favorability with regards to the biders and this comes in 15 20% less uh
whatever option that is selected does that give us room to go ahead and add at that point um or we precluded into doing what we say uh that we're you so the bid specs will be very
specific and the contractor so it's very specific to the edge and the colors and that's how the contractors are going to do their analysis and come up with a number MH if now we can have an alternate bit we would have a bid and
would say this is what we want if we get less there's an alternate bid a second bid and say okay how about this bit now um that's very common so yes we can add in a separate bit mhm so we going to add on to it a separate bit
yes there's for questions Mike one of my questions is regarding the lights regarding the lights are there any internal departments in the municipality that have pushed for the
lights internal like the Recreation Commission direct Department anyone no one from the commissions or the boards have recommended collectively to say we recommend lights or no lights
uh the only suggestions and feedback have been from the public and I give you Kudos folks I mean you've been uh you know very consistent on this on both sides but as far as internal uh no we have no Direction internally from any of the boards or the Committees not even
the fields committee okay so you need to decide if you want natural or ter before we get to that can I assume that we're we're up here to with the idea that everybody wants to do something here right I mean that's what we're we're talking about here right is
everybody in favor of moving forward with something yes yes yes yes okay so I think we might as well hit the first two big items because that's going to dictate everything else that we do I'll do them separately first no obviously do
separately so we've got the choice between turf and natural grass and can I get by a show of hands who is in favor of natural grass one natural grass and who is in favor of doing a Turf product of some
sort 2 what is there a discussion we could certainly have a discussion on a sure um so certainly certainly in favor of of turf given again we're trying to get the most we can out of this very large investment we
speaking to the put your not on however I think we should have the ability to push for one of the more right we know that there's studies on both sides right depending on who we're getting studies and
information from they're on completely different ends of the Spectrum which is probably the most frustrating part of this process however we know there are alternatives out there including this new product pivot that that we've been studying uh which has no infill right
which has the shop pad underneath um yeah there might be past in the turf itself but there's no added P right there's no rubber inlay um I believe we should have the option though to push for that type of a Turf in our decision
here agreed wide open agreed if you if you decide on a Turf and you want the best Turf that we can get for the money that we want that you that we have 100% so so that's obviously going to be a variable and it's going to impact the cost at that point we'd have to come
back and figure out because we may not be able to do the Cadillac the Mercedes the Ferrari level of infill or just and still come within a 5.8 million correct number so that's so that's work on us to
start working on to get that that product that you want uh you don't want rubber you don't want the infill I mean there's coconut there's Olive there's cheese there's all kind of stuff uh I'm getting hungry so we still have work to do but the direction you you are
going to give us at the end of this is look for Turf that's what I'm hearing yes okay okay I think that that's next so the next question is going to be the lights um we'll just poll um who is in favor of
doing lights they show hands one two 3 and those who are opposed doing lights one two three we just have a moment for discussion of course um I'm supportive of of fi project with Memorial I think
it's uh fuding that we cap this thing at uh $6 million there's a there's a lot of stuff that we have to absorb in town there's uh inflationary pressures there's uh health insurance costs there's 4.9% increase in taxes that
we're going to have uh coming down with this budget uh we have the school tax levy that we're going to get hit with in August and then again in February um so I think that I'm all for spending money um I'm all for you know
alternative fill product for artificial turf to make sure we get the best of what we can uh but I think it's uh in my opinion it's fiscally responsible to cap this thing at a certain number um that's the way I feel I I think other Council
people have thoroughly uh researched this and evaluated this and I expect them to make the decision that they feel best one concession we can make Mr Mayor is if you choose no lights we can still put the conduits uh we can still install
it for future use if when we change the turf or does does that require the digging of the pylons at that point no no no no we can have it ready to when by surface do that add to the cost of the project Nick there's two parts of that right you
could you could pour the bases which is the cement or you could just run the conduits as opposed to adding the bases right the bases would add a significant cost but the conduits would that's correct yeah the the foundations are fairly expensive it's quite a bit of
concrete and reinforcement steel so be 20 ft deep and 10 ft up it it needs to be designed uh it's heavily dependent on the types of soils that you have so it's it's really hard to say say but those those could be in the say like $500,000
cost range just for the foundations um that that number could vary but that's just like a a ballpark order of magnitude um the the conduit is not necessarily a substantial cost increase especially if
we're choosing to do um different types of lighting throughout the site if we for example want to put in balled lights around the pathways you know surrounding the perimeter just some small decorative lighting we would need to install electrical for that anyway so just having the conduit in place to put in
future lights would not be too big of a li for the for the contractor but but to to be clear though by putting in the conduits now right for a you know fairly small expense we're setting up the potential of the future
for Success if Administration and Community wants the lights you don't have have to tear up that field to put in the lights at that point setting up the future for Success if that's the r it's fairly difficult to do afterward if you haven't done it during the initial
construction yeah um I have a question actually for councilman kti if um you're thinking or are interested in the lights um is a song
doesn't um if you're interested in the lights in the future um then am I assuming that you don't want the lights now because of the cost of the lights is that is that the reasoning or because um I have some thoughts or ideas on the
concept of the cost so I'm just curious why you're thinking in that way well I'm curious as to why you want that I can't hear you why would you justify the lights why would I want the lights um I would want the lights because um I think
that the um um well I have a whole written thing here that I thought we were going to kind of get to say and so I guess I could sort of say it right now and that'll justify my position on on what council commentary that much shorter
it's it's okay yes actually but I think it's more important to say it now because may may make someone think differently about something so um as I said that um before that the taxes for this project were raised in 2021
right resulting in a certain amount of Revenue that's coming in every year uh and that's that $500,000 figure that you keep hearing um in addition the P patteron Street development is expected
to come online at some point in late 26 probably expected to be bringing in approximately a million dollar of tax revenue in 2027 but we can't in addition in
addition so many expenses hold on on in addition we have a storage facility that is also being uh put in and that's supposed to be coming that that should be producing about $234,000 of additional revenues to the
town so looking at these numbers that are to be coming in and yes surely knowing that there other expenses in the town that will increase over the years whether it's health insurance whether it's police costs whether it's you a
slew of other operating costs that continue to grow continuously in any Town um surely out of this increased revenue of the million plus you know say the 234 expected over the next two three
years we could carve out a $50 per household grab a piece of that to put towards this field um and why do I want why do I think the field should have lights is because I think
that just as we have the pool in this town that everyone has referred to as a gem everyone says oh my God the pool is such a gem in this town the same way I think that this field will also be a gem in this town another gem to add in this
town and I I think the way that it will become a gem is by having this beautiful facility that we've envisioned for years um as is depicted in this in this picture that we want the lights the The
Walking path the diamonds for playing the uh softball the baseball the football people being able to play on it so I think this is just another asset another gem in addition is saying the George White what is being done to
George White that's that's just another gem that's being added to the town um I think and then the downtown Rehabilitation that we want to do is even more of a gem that we want to add and so my point is all of these gems
that we want to keep adding to the town is in fact making this town more attractive and more desirable to young families that are moving in and so and they're looking for amenities they're looking for this type of stuff when they're they're looking at the school
system they're looking at the parts they want to see what your sports programs are do you have um you know the swimming pool what do you have in this town so I think by by increasing the desire um it will increase ultimately
the real estate value of the homes in this town and it will make people want to come here it'll be a destination town so that's my perspective on why I think this project is important to the whole town of Hillsdale and what it's bringing
to the table and so to me to keep pushing things off that maybe next year maybe in two years when we can afford it because we're so poor and we can't have 50 extra dollars to pay for this is is
is is just mindblowing to me and practically offensive really at this point because this has been a topic of discussion for years and I think that this is what should be built for this town and that's that's my opinion that's
just my opinion can I add to that P back off of her so I was also going to save this for the closing remarks but I guess this is the right time so you know just have some notes and don't forget what I'm going to say but first I just want to acknowledge the passion and dedication
from both sides of this conversation I mean we've heard residents concerned about how this will affect our quality of life you know the lighting the sound the traffic I understand we also heard from the sports families who really you know strongly support this field because it's a necessity right for our kids for our community um while I understand the
concerns about change I also recognize that this isn't a new discussion um we've had our residents come in who've who've said this has been ongoing for 30 years which makes me ask myself like why why haven't we progressed why are we still talking about this 30 years later
and why don't we have a town to fall behind like just reliable modern space for you know our kids to play um so you know the reality is our town struggles it it really does it playful feels I have two kids that are that get rained out and they don't have that ability to
play so I really think a Turf multi-purpose field with proper extends usable hours allows teams to practice safely and ensures that we could support you know all sports equally um and while recognize there's no perfect solution I do believe that this project does balance the needs of
our athletes we're also being mindful of everyone else I'd like to present a little bit of a contrary view if I okay of course and nephew please let me finish I don't find the case for the
proposal to be compelling um it's no doubt that our Fields emplo GRS need to be significantly improved and I would vote for spending a good part of that 5.8 maybe all of it to improve all of our Fields so it's not the money that I focus on so
much but among our sports leagues the Hillsdale football organization has been the most vocal in the support of an artificial turf installation in Memorial Field arguing that it would give them far greater opportunities to practice and play games under lights but I
believe it is a problem having lights at Memorial Field due to their cost and their intrusiveness uh to the residential neighborhood that surrounds the site now up until tonight the football coaches have said continually
that if it wasn't with lights it was wasn't worth doing um I agree furthermore I understand that there are fields in the area where football can run their practices and play home games and I've talked to a
number of people who have made that clear to me I'm not sure whether on the issue of artificial versus natural that artificial turf is safe for our children I've spent Untold hours over the last four weekends reading about the
different links and Etc uh that were sent to the council arguing for it arguing against it I read about the heat differential the pfas uh contamination the turf burs harmful microplastic stress on lower extremities molden feces
on the field recyclability and non recyclability the acceptance of artificial turf fields among many New Jersey municipalities they they've gone big time for it the acceptance of artificial tur Fields among them and the growing realization that there's a trend
now discovering that some of these fields may be harmful to the surrounding neighborhood uh and to the children and the longterm with long-term environmental and health risk I've read about the advantages for allowing it allows more games to be played more intensively and how it allegedly
requires less maintenance than grass although the numbers don't seem to bear that out it may be cheaper in the long run I don't know um but I'm not willing personally as a grandfather to roll the dice on on children's safety my position
is best captured and I've researched this it's best captured by the icon school of medicine at Mount Sinai which was issued last year so it's not an old um number Medical School recommended against the use of artificial turf due to the C uncertainties surrounding its
safety and the potential for Dangerous heat and chemical exposure having spent approximately 850,000 to improve the drainage at Centennial Field it can be used more frequently for soccer lacrosse and baseball but I don't I don't believe
lacrosse has a dog in this fight at this moment I I say take the Lion Share of the 5.8 million that would have been set spent solely on Memorial Field and use it to enhance resod level improve and maintain all of our Fields uh and
consult very closely with the Recreation Commission before we do that get their get their input in terms of what need needs to be done I think the 5.8 can certainly handle that we would go out to bond for that for that uh money if we
have to um or if the recommission comes back and says we don't need it we might be able to do it simply with the addition of the 500,000 every year into the field Improvement fund um and we have to add an accessible playground for our handicapped children which seems to
be mentioned here but I don't see any progress in terms of um the barrel actually moving ahead with that I realize it's it's part it could be part of a grant um but we're still looking for it so I want to make sure that that's included in the in the program and that's how I feel about
it want to make a comment yeah I want to apologize to jenda for interrupting I shouldn't have done that okay um I also I also want to say I just uh know when she started mentioning future revenues I just don't like to make assumptions about what we uh are able to anticipate
into the future until it actually gets realized there are things on a docket there obviously in 2027 with regards to expected revenues from the pison street development and a storage facility that hasn't been built yet but there's a lot of expenses that will go along with that
in future years so you know I think I believe the town need financial flexibility into the future and I wouldn't want to constrain us financially uh in any way so that we are able to do things um you know liberally
right um is there an appetite in the Middle Ground here for laying the conduits without doing the lights yeah so that's that's the concession is if you say no lights right
now we can lay down the conduit we can have the wires down uh we can't put uh the foundation that's as you said 20 ft or so deep and for so that's so much money uh and as councilman said uh in 10 years if the community wants to have
lights uh the conduit out there already or wouldn't have to that's an arbitrary number but just a future date with a future Council so right now you have three for lights and three against lights still the same does is that still the same if if we said we would do
conduits and not or or does does that change the equation no no I think the people who want lights now it does change anything for people who are voting against lights probably agree that it's the wisest thing to do at this point because it gives you a ton of flexibility down the road and believe
you have to put the wires in the conduit you really just got to lay the conduits what is the difference in laying the conduit versus not lay the kind of financially well it's it's not it's not a big difference and like I said we probably would end up doing um decorative lighting around the site
anyway so you would need electrical so what does not a big difference mean not not even a number what we talking about I I don't think you're even talking a six fig number I think it's under $100,000 but more than 50 you're not willing you're not willing
to give a number yeah but what would it cost down the road to tear up the field to put the conduits in that is that is expensive because now you're talking about that's a large large 6 fig we to
$100,000 is your HED that's what I'm trying to get oh there's no doubt if you think that you're going to put lights in or you could if you could but I think is point down the road since half the council wants the lights anyway it
probably captures the sensitivity of the council to add the conduits I think personally conveys the wrong message to the existing residents because it says you know it it's going to happen it's going to lights are going we're modifying you now
but we want to prepare for the lights so we have may may I think we're still in discussion right yes all may I is that okay it's what can I no you yeah I didn't get a chance to respond that's all okay that's okay um okay so so first
of all just to answer this this a specific question I was asked as we all know 2020 5 was a very very difficult budget year for this town 2026 right now is going to be even more difficult okay we do not know the timing
of when these Redevelopment projects are going to come in so that revenue is not guaranteed and if we the more expenses we commit to now we incre increase the risk for the town right if those revenues do not come in okay but to give you an idea of the numbers that we're
talking about four years from now between contracts we're committed to right between police between waste between we're looking at over a million doll incremental cost increase from where we are today Mike what is the expected revenues from the Redevelopment project as of as of now that we know is
it around a million about a million dollars about a million dollars so that million dollars is pretty much almost appropriated already St okay so that has a lot to do with my decision here now in terms of you know I agree with the majority of what everyone on this day
has said already right but now let put know what making the best decision for the town um couple comments here because I I think it's important uh we really don't to my knowledge we don't have options in terms of the other fields in
terms of significant investment uh we know the issues at Centennial right Beachwood you know Wetlands around it not much we can do Stony Brook floods so this is the only option we have to to give something to the residents in terms of a viable and prideful fee
okay so I am all for this project okay I am voting yes for 5.8 million I believe this is long overdue right and I'm and I'm proud to vote Yes for and I'll stand behind it um it's it's I do think we need to push for the most
environmentally safe Turf we can right there's a cost benefit to everything and we'll have to go through that that project but that's why we have an Administration the CFO Etc um and achieving this field without raising taxes which we've been working on for months right now is Quite a feat
and I think this field is exactly what this this and I'll call it a great town needs in regards to the lights the financial cost all in with interest is $2 million roughly right unless we find a way to bring that down of course okay so $2 million for lights which we have
not had an internal Department pushed for yet so when I look at the residence and please turn off excuse me can you please turn off the light you're it's going into people's faces there's enough light around you that you don't have to do that well okay well okay so that's fine
but you're putting it right in our hold on this is not for either a show or for public dialogue I believe councilman kti the mayor are trying to make point the counil considering a difficult problem
that I think you've all waited months for years okay can we get to it then yes thank you so good so personally right I feel right now that lights is not in the plan at $2 million however we can set
the future up for success by putting in the conduits you might have a different temperature in the community you might have a different temperature on the council maybe it comes to fruition maybe it doesn't I don't know but at lease we set them up for Success at a small
price um you know the benefit of pushing this project through without the lights impacts football the most right now everyone in this room knows right I'm I'm I've coached I'm all for the sports Recreation is my number one priority
okay um so we got to weigh the benefits that come out of this so with this field football still gets a home field for its games potentially right you have weekend practices walkthroughs Etc soccer lacrosse will now have another option in
their Arsenal to be able to choose from baseball and softwall will have an extremely reliable and stable infrastructure which they've never had before right so this is a game changer right I wish we I wish I I hate to be cliche but I wish that every war was won
in a battle this one's not so we got to take this win right here which is a very very big win and push it through and I think I've Justified why I'm not voting for the lights tonight that's it so we have a three and
three Mr Mayor it's up to you well mine is one of of Economics I've said that to as I've spoken to um my colleagues up here on this day is in that in 2021 we made a commitment when and I was not on the board at the time that we were going to create a revenue stream we're going
to you'll be back you'll be back sorry officer you get your just trying to go through this um that as councilman klei said we have uh made a commitment through referendum to the average household it's going to be
over $800 a year in those taxes we're going to go up 4.7% in taxes next year 4.9 well but I mean we take out the library and take it down a little bit cuz that's a that's a set C so we're
going to be raising that not only and the school will also be raing right taxes in there um so mine is one of an economic consideration and not necessarily to say well you know lights or no lights at that I just think that it's a big burden to put on people I
would be in favor of putting in the conduit so that if we are finding ourselves in a different situation down the road I would be in favor of doing that I'd be in favor of putting that into the proposal for that reason U but if it has to be lights or no lights I would have
to vote no lights based on that so we have move not but that does not mean I'm still very much in favor of the turf I'm of all the leveling and all the grading that we're going to do and to spend the money that we have to get the best field
that we can do for the money okay so to move this along Mr Mayor we have a a resolution U I'll get the number from Denise in a second now therefore be it resolved by the mayor and Council of the border of Hillsdale as follows the governing body hereby authorizes Bo
professionals and personel to proceed with the Memorial Park Improvement plan as prepared by K's engineering at the complex subject to the following a the proposed field lighting shall not be included in the plan but will uh install
the conduits B the playing surface on the field shall be a Synthetic Turf product C the plan shall include a coach box with an alternate bid exclude include
include with an alternate bid include as an alternate bid meaning it doesn't necessarily have to be constructed that way but as the job is Bid if we have more an alternate and if it's something
if the overall bit you know comes below the actual number the resolution you or you've changed it I'm we are amending this on the fly yes I'm reading it for so back to see the plan shall uh uh
shall include a coach box with an alternate bid D the plan shall include playground equipment funded by grants and donations the May that would not be part of the 5.8 million correct correct so that would be on us the professionals um
the public uh the staff uh to go for Grants and for donations shall omit playground equipment she'll included with the grants and donations Mike would that mean we would not put a accessible playground in
Beachwood Beachwood well that was the that was on let me because the focus was on Beachwood for the accessible playround because it's bigger um we spoke to the director so if you put what
you're proposing in here would that mean that we would rule off the table any effort to try to put we can have both you can have both yeah if we can getk you a for Ada we'll have both that's good uh the mayor and clerk
are hereby authorized to execute the contract annual documents pursuant to the directions set for here end so just to be clear it would be Turf it would be under it there would no be we would not bid lights no lights coach box coach's
box coach's box and a playground equipment a footprint for a playground but not the actual we wouldn't have them be bidding on equipment correct okay so with that anybody understand what that is this is all subject to change this could be altered as far as the different
items that can be taken in taken out6 this is what we will ask for Bond and then B so this is just capping us at what 6 million 5 but what this is saying is you're giving me direction to proceed with more work on the type of turf on the different
grants the design and the 5.86 because you're adding the 200 for the co box you 5.8 that's an optional Al alternate that's an alternate if we get a bid below 5.8 and we have more money you consider it's not including we
want to give you as much as we can 5 for 5.8 so uh if you can ask for a motion Mr Mayor in second then we can have a vote okay so does first of all does anybody have any questions before we do this um regarding what the VA has
outlined so the infill and everything else is still for discussion yes that's going to be based upon whatever the bid comes in it and it's obviously going to have to be a very specific bid did do just say I'm putting down a piece of rubber on top of concrete I mean you know it's going to have to be a
real but as far as specifying what fil we want we have to do an evaluation of what works best by that by that point we're really giving my authorization to do if you choose to do so is to move
forward on something have Nick continue to do the work have the necessary research continue to be done interface with whoever we have to speak to learn more about the process but we're in a broad sense yes or knowing whether we're
going to continue to talk about this forever okay so this is you know where the rubber meets the road pardon the p and it appears that there is a resolution um okay so if that's where we
are 25 just reread eight just reread eight sure so this is a resolution 25102 determination to move forward with Park Improvement plan block 1301 Lot 1
and block 1801 Lots 55 and 56 uh the governing body hereby authorizes both professionals and Personnel to proceed with the Memorial Park Improvement plan as prepared by Kier engineering at the complex subject to the following a the
proposed field lighting shall not be included in the plan but installing the conduits underneath the turf B de playing surface shall be Synthetic Turf product and see the plan shall include
the coach's box as an alternate bid and D shall include playing equipment funded by grants and donations so but I think that that's kind of ambiguous I would rather have it say we're omitting the playground equipment and then it's responsibility of the municipality so we
can change whatever whatever whatever it is somebody in the room want to give us a playground so the plan shall so D the plan shall not include playground equipment shall not okay okay so back
shall not include so that's that's 25 101 1022 the motion okay so can I get a motion on what we have described here is anybody interested in doing this motion there's a motion is there a
second second the second okay will the clerk is there is there no more discussion on this we've had a lot of it okay will the clerk please read the role council member ketti yes council member Fox yes council
member maachan yes council president Oso yes council member ruko no council member trenu no good we got 4 to2 4 to2 it moves forward and we'll be working with Mr engineer we will be working with
with uh no lights uh a tough uh product coach's box as alternate and no playground equipment okay thank you very much before we take I think we're going to take a 5 minute break before we do that the PBA would like to come up to make a statement uh is there anyone specific that has been designated as
your representative please come forward and thank your statement thank you Mr Mayor I apologize I'm someone that has to read off paper so it's okay uh good evening Mr mayor council members and Administration my name is Joseph mesner and I'm a police
officer in the burough of Hillsdale I'm currently assigned to pasac Valley High School as a school resource officer and serve as the president of Hillsdale PBA local 207 along with many members of the PBA I'm here this evening to show support for the following statement it is no secret that the police department
has been operating without a chief of police for an extended period during this time of uncertainty two members of the department have stepped up providing stability demonstrating exceptional leadership and addressing new numerous challenges that have Arisen over the past several months these individuals
are Lieutenant Travis Woods and Lieutenant Mike cerelli and Lieutenant Woods is here with us this evening each member of the department here this evening has made the effort to attend this meeting in support of our lieutenants Lieutenant woods and Lieutenant Camp R have earned the
respect of every officer through the years of working alongside us including many of us before their promotions despite the uncertain future of our department the situation that could cause this disruption in any organization all officers of the Hillsdale Police Department remain United this Unity is largely due to the
dedication knowledge and mentorship that both Lieutenant woods and Lieutenant Camp rally provide to each each and every officer in the department this brings me to my second Point councilman ruko despite your campaign claims of being an ally to the police department
your accidents have shown otherwise this is not the first time this local has addressed damaging public comments you have made about the department this evening I'm here to publicly address a comment you made to the pasak Press which is published on January 17th and again on February
22nd I also have an email you sent to Michael Ohan excuse me Alan a journalist with the pascap press in this email you question the future Effectiveness and management of the Hillsdale Police Department most concerning is your suggestion to begin an external search
for candidates if and when a new Chief is appointed it appears that you are specifically referring ing to the possibility of the bur of Hillsdale considering a Police director implying that you do not believe the Hillsdale Police Department Curly has the
Personnel to manage itself as PBA president I have the opportunity to meet with other leaders in the buau and I I do not believe they share this view this PV will oppose any consideration of an outside administrator especially when individuals have been employed here for over the decade that are extremely
qualified for the position it is it is disgraceful that c gr would send an email to the pra press expressing such an unqualified and damaging opinion about the potential future leadership of our department in conclusion Council ruko it is the
opinion of the PBA that you are not an Aly of the department and your comments unjustifiably tarnish the reputation of an organization that we take imense pride in I would like to end on a positive note every officer in the Hillsdale Police Department remains committed to serving the residents of
Hillsdale at the highest level over the past several months I've if our department has come together in ways that have strengthened our community spirit and morale we have proven that despite the challenges we can function effectively as a unified group morale is at an all-time high and we continue to
serve our community selfishly and without hesitation I encourage the governing body of this bir to speak with residents who uh the residents we are proud to serve residents who continue to support us every day I appreciate everyone's time this evening and I look forward to the continued dedication
service that this department provides to the B ofil still can I ask the can I ask your off to well I I mean I I I would say I I'm certainly going to allow the councilman to respond I would just please we have a
lot of work to do tonight and I I and didn't know you were coming I'm certainly glad to hear from every department and have people come in um but this can't go on all night I'm simply going to ask the officer to read the email that he claims I sent to the
press in full the entire email here read the entire email in the context of of the the pointment discussion it's clear from the resolution that this laring charges have initiated versus Chief Smith none of which are characterized as criminal the resolution doesn't say who initiated the
charges but it has been publicly reported in the P press that he was being investigated by the Bergen County prosecutor's office the Press also reported that bur officials in December confirmed that the chief had been placed on administrative leave Public Safety is the primary duty of all governments it's why governments are created in the first
place therefore those who initiate and conduct any investigation of senior Public Safety officers need to do so carefully and swiftly weighing the evidence with the proper perspective and with recommendations that are appropriate to the alleged offense the investigation has produced an outcome which I am not at Liberty to describe
pending litigation but which conceivably could lead to a situation that might affect the management of the Hillsdale police force and the effectiveness of law enforcement in the burough for years to come now the matter rests without Chief Smith's hearing goes Hillsdale has been without an active chief of police for far too long if after the hearing
process and any appeals are complete Chief Smith chooses not to return or is not permitted to return by the mayor and councel it is vital that we promptly commence an external search for candidates okay including including anyone else who would want to apply or
but uh thank you thank you for reading the full full email all uh we could but uh I'm not interested in wasting everybody's time here I know there's other topics to discuss uh We've made our statement and uh any followup is more than willing to be sent my way
let's I I prefer not to do it in this form but I thank you for coming and make the statement I thank all the officers for coming and those who are have things to do I know you took me to L you to show up in unison so I thank you for and thank you for everybody else
being here as well and it wasn't that's all thank [Applause] you we're going to move on to committee reports uh you know what let's let's take a couple of minutes we've been through a lot here let's take a couple of minute break um can we can can I get
a motion to give break for five minutes motion please break for where where for 5 minutes get the lights we get the uh green light from the cler no lights no lights everybody please turn off the
light had enough of that okay I know I just like to say we're going to do committee reports this we're back in session all those in favor I okay we're back in session um we're going to do committee reports we're going to have to
go to close afterwards so I want to get can we get through this we got the ordinances coming up including budget so um I asked the members of council and their committee report reports to be as brief as possible by but still
being comprehensive if they can if there is such a middle ground to reach I I would ask that let's start with uh council president Clement deos yeah I I provided my committee reports last week and uh I will have a followup next Mo
okay great uh councilman kti sure um we're going alphabetical uh just regarding the fire departments of January February four more than were in the same period prior year one and two which are
the votes purchas can I can I interrupt you for one second Lieutenant could you could you ask them to please Take It Outside got work to do sorry councilman I just want to sure just my M my mic was
off so January there were 31 calls February 21 that's four more calls in the same period in the prior year Marine one and two those are our rescue boats uh those were purchased in August of 2023 uh we're having an issue with the air pressure in them uh Raymond de our
Emergency Management deputy and and B mechanic has found the leaks and where uh because they were located on valves uh they're working with midatlantic to try to see if they can get that covered under warranty uh they're also starting their
bloodborne pathogen and CPR testing for certification and pre-certification that's begun and we occur over the next couple months uh and Chief farell and Deputy uh Chief Kelly are working with the ba on the Firehouse Subs Public Safety Foundation grant that um and
that's an entity that provides life- saving equipment and prevention education tools to First Responders and Public Safety organizations general rule of thumb there is $15 to $220,000 uh and however they say anything over 45,000 will be denied uh
and then we will soon be scheduling our council member uh fire department committee meeting for the next quarter we we'll schedule that shortly thank you coun fox want be very brief have nothing to report that's you don't get much briefer than that councilwoman maacha
okay I'll go real fast um okay at last night's Board of Education meeting several students were recognized for their outstanding achievements of Robotics backal and writing uh the first Lego League robotics team was honored for their Innovative work a project that aims to help marine biologist study fish
species and competing in the regional tournament the team played six out of 21 teams in the robot game their hard work earned them a spot among the five te advancing to the state finals great achievement um the boys best basketball team they celebrated an incredible
finishing uh undefeated so their hard work really really uh played the part in true sportsmanship all long uh and several students were also recognized for their writing achievements in the Young Writers spright Club contest a the participants were challenged to craft
100 word or less mini Saga and nine of them were selected for a publication uh called Frank Tales from the USA so these accomp accomplishments highlight the talent and dedication and the of our students um that's all have I'm going
alphabetical so councilman Ro nothing I made my reest I okay you're fa with that yep Council woman TR you so short um our um esteemed director of our library would like me to again reiterate and
point out that the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times are both available to West to to residents on the website with your library card starting today and I said that last
meeting but I'm reiterating it again okay thank you you uh burrow administrator gasali uh we have one business Town new business David C Tel and Associates it's a marketing company moving to 100-101 West Street sweet 10
we welcome them to Hillsdale that's what happens wow that's very nice okay we're going to move on to ordinances and we have first one is the budget ordinance uh 2508 introduction this is the first read the borrow of Hillsdale
calendar year 2025 ordinance to exceed the municipal budget appropriation limits and to establish a cap Bank be be it resolved that ordinance 2508 does now pass a first reading and that set 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 April 1st 2025 and that 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 Ridgewood news once at least one week prior to set hearing with a notice of its introduction and of the time and place when and where set ordinance would be considered for final passage may I have a motion motion motion second
second second okay um we'll have an opportunity to speak to the next one um will the clerk please read the role council member ketti yes council member Fox yes council member m yes council president Oso yes council
member ruko yes council member tro yes okay uh it is introduced thank you all we're on track uh and I thank you for it um we have budget introduction we have uh the let's go right through um well only got
29 budget instruction for Resolutions 2592 through 25094 uh I guess we got to do them one at a time do we'll do we'll do them individually 2592 uh it's a resolution waiver of reading in full the 2025 budget I don't
think anyone here wants to hear us read the whole budget at least not me I don't want to do it can I get a motion motion second second clerk please read the role council member Fox yes council member m Chan yes council president oo yes
council member ruko yes council member Chim yes council member kle yes and that is adopted resolution 25093 resolution authorizing the extension of statutory budget deadlines extending the 2025 budget introduction and adoption dates
can I get a motion motion second second the CL please read the role council member Mion yes council president oo yes council member ruko yes council member Chim yes council member kti yes council member Fox yes okay
we've got the 25094 introduction of the budget the 2025 budget can I get a motion motion second second will clerk please read the role council president Oso yes council
member ruko yes council member trenu yes council member ketti yes council member Fox yes council member m CH yes 2594 passes we're moving on to ordinance 2509 introduction an ordinance establishing Recreation Department
programs and summer camp fees in the burrow of Hillsdale updated to ordinance 253 um be it resolved that ordinance 2509 does now pass a first reading and that set ordinance be further considered for final passage at a meeting of the mayor and councel in the municipal
building 380 Hillsdale Avenue Hillsdale New Jersey on April 1st 2025 at 7:00 p.m. or as soon 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 that ordinance in the Ridgewood news once at least one week prior to set hearing with a notice of its instruction and of the time and place when and where set ordinance would be considered for final passage uh can I get a
motion motion motion second second second uh will the clerk please read the role council member ruko um I just wanted to say one thing could we since this is an introduction can we consider just dropping the language about the
covid 10% possible sech charge it's not an issue anymore huh just one it's in here we can amend the ordinance between now and the and the adoption would you consider removing it thank you I think we did that last year councilman again
that you're prompting as well but it lives on lives on sure so that would be the instructions then we would remove the 10% yeah I'll vote for it yes since you just start the roll call yes so so is everyone clear on that okay that's what you're voting on clerk please
continue to read the RO council member chuk yes council member kti yes council member Fox yes council member MAA yes council president OA yes is now introduced and so we are moving on to the
2510 ordinance establishing salaries for the recreation department it's an update to ordinance 2504 be it resolved that ordinance 2510 does now pass a first reading and that set ordinance be further considered for final passage at a meeting of the mayor and councel in the municipal building
380 Hillsdale Avenue Hillsdale New Jersey on April 1st 2025 at 7:00 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 said ordinance in the Ridgewood news once at least one week prior to said hearing with a notice of its introduction and of the time and place where when and where said ordinance would be considered for final passage can I get a motion motion second second
will the clerk please read the role council member Troy Muk yes council member kle yes council member Fox yes council member maachan yes council president Oso yes council member ruko yes okay it's so introduced uh now 2511 for introduction a capital ordinance of
the B of Hillsdale in the county of Bergen New Jersey Jersey author authorizing the acquisition of a new pickup truck for the use of the police department in by and for the burrow appropriating therefore the sum of $55,000 and providing that such sum so
appropriated shall be raised from the United States Department of Justice Equitable sharing fund be it resolved that ordinance 2511 does now pass a first reading and that set ordinance be further considered for final passage at a meeting of the mayor and councel in the municipal building
380 Hillsdale Avenue Hillsdale New Jersey on April 1st 2025 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 that ordinance in the Ridgewood 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 may I get a motion motion second second will the clerk please read the role council member ketti yes
council member Fox yes council member ma Chong yes council president Oso yes council member ruko yes council member choim yes it's introduced 2512 for introduction an ordinance amending chapter 292 vehicles and traffic Article 4 Municipal parking lots of the burrow
code be it ol that ordinance 2512 does now pass a first reading and that set ordinance be further considered for final passage at a meeting of the mayor and councel in the municipal building 380 Hillsdale Avenue Hillsdale New Jersey on April 1st 2025 and it 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 that ordinance in the Ridgewood news once at least one week prior to set hearing with a notice of its introduction and of the time and place when and where set ordinance would be
considered for final passage can I get a motion motion second second will the clerk please read the role council member Fox yes council member ma CH council president Oso yes council member ruko yes council member choim yes
council member kti yes okay we are now done with the ordinance section and moving on to the resolutions uh it's 25 the consent agenda is 25095 25100 does anybody have uh a resolution that they would like to take off
consent seeing none uh we'll can I get a motion motion second second will the clerk please read the role council member Matan yes council president Oso yes council member ruko yes council member chimu yes council member kti yes council member Fox yes the consent
agenda now passes there is nothing on the offc consent agenda is that correct we will move on to the public comment section in which um public comment at this time you can comment on anything doesn't have to be on the
agenda uh everybody John you're ready thank we're ready go ahead all right good evening please state your name and Council uh and your honor it's John coring I'm on Broadway in in Hillsdale for the past I guess
about 15 years I've been running the 18 and over soft go that was needless to say a much younger man at the at the time Jimmy Campbell who is still here he runs the 35 and over softball we love any improvements you make to the field
whether you decide to do turf or uh grass and and dirt we're okay with that what we're concerned about is the need and and councilman alsoo and I have been talking a lot about this the need to be able to play a men's softball game and a
boys baseball game concurrently at Memorial Field the the last what we had up on the screen I know that I know it's a work in progress I know that the gentlemen from kers the engineers are are always working on it we certainly need a design that will be similar to
what the the the current dirt and grass design is so that a games can be played concurrently the um there are a lot of guys you saw a lot of folks from softball who are here tonight currently even the youth and with the some of the guys who were only 18 A couple of years
ago are now in their their early 20s are are here it's a huge program there are I would say 350 uh men young men and older men in involved in the program it is a huge social thing for us it is something it
was the one and only wreck program during the the dark days of covid that that the town that we did and I was in charge of of keeping social distancing and it was it was not an easy task but but I succeeded and and everybody was was grateful for that it is a most of
the guys that I see the young kids and the older guys who come up through the softball ranks tend to volunteer in town quite a bit we play a pickup game every Sunday morning from around Easter through through Labor Day at Memorial which would go the way of the etel if
with the current design um but all the guys are guys who coaching town we all a lot of us volunteer to umpire in town I myself umpire in in the ladies League which which I hope Al will also have field
space when Memorial is is done but we it's not just softball we do we we do a fundraiser every year for the for uh the the late John and Sarah who was big into softball back in back in the day who who tragically passed away and we we do a great fundraiser a great tournament
every every year in in August to to raise money for that it's all and it's all done at Memorial we have we have a great time there um I think I thinkk Chris Martin for bringing up the softball earlier um uh and which she didn't have to because she doesn't play
in the league but I I I always appreciate that I hope that when the final design comes grass or dirt Turf that we do something with rotating the softball moving it back a little bit sir I'm sorry to inform you your three
minutes is complete so take that into consideration folks thank you burrow attorney appreciate it thank you folks [Music] hi Eric vanon um I live at 123 Washington Avenue um I want to also want
to you know I lived down the street from memorial for 27 years and uh I've seen the men's league they use it the most out of you know just about everyone and the fact that they wouldn't be able to
play on it or you couldn't have two games going at the same time cuts the usage in half um that seems illogical to me um the way I see it now we're paying $6 million for a football field
um just because it's been in the works for however many years doesn't mean it has to happen maybe maybe that's the Universe telling us that it shouldn't happen um I've watched in 27 years my
taxes go from $6,000 a year to $18,000 a year 300% in 27 years seems a bit excessive we're bleeding it seems we've
got the school now coming up and uh you know the money we can't spend money that we don't even have yet that we think we're going to get in in uh a year and a half and expenses just go up
um I have colleagues I'm a teacher uh young colleagues who are looking to buy houses now I have uh you know one I work with every day she can't even look in Hillsdale taxes are just too high you know um I don't have any problem with
you know making the fields great uh as good as they can be but um you know sometimes we have to say no I know that's not going to happen I feels like this was kind of a foregone conclusion um going in but um it's disappointing to
me that um where we don't it seems we we just keep spend spend spend spend and uh it's killing some of us and uh thank goodness the lights aren't there but uh I think
we really need to make sure that the men's league is is taken care of they do a lot I I don't see anyone there more than them and uh I would hate to see them you know the baseball players not to be able to play at the same time uh
like I said I think it would be um we would lose we're losing utility instead of gaining utility there um so uh that's all I got to say thank you thank [Applause]
you please please yeah um Carter 74 Washington Avenue um I want to agree with what we've heard about the men's um leagues and even though my husband doesn't play and I don't play any softball but um I do walk around lots and lots um especially in the nicer
weather although now in the cold weather too and um you know and I do see the men out there playing I think it's a nice thing that we have in our town and we talked about making the town you all the town gems I think having Recreation for the men feels like um one of the Town gems um you know I I just wanted to
address two other things um one is that when you did the resolution um about how about bidding on the you know on the field um it didn't include two of the things that you mentioned one was um looking for the safest alternative for the turf and I I feel like that's an
important piece and I don't want that to kind of be like something we talked about but goes away because we're going to make a coach box or some other tradeoff that's important I think for everyone we heard a lot about that um and the other is for the playground that um it would be nice to hear if somebody is going to take on the responsibility
of um you know sourcing however we're going to fund that I know it's not going to be out of the taxpayers money but just to see that as part of like yes we're going to pursue that rather than we agree that's something that we're not going to bid on okay than I just want to
just just so you know um we're going to get back bids on the field uh what's going to be the infill and what the proposals are and it's then up to the members of council to determine what that infill will be and
they will take into consideration cost safety Etc and we I expect if we get multiple bids that we will get more than one proposal and then enter into a discussion to determine what works for coel the best okay and how that sounds okay thank you appreciate
it please come on forward wait that we'll get you next come on up I just you know obviously I'm disappointed about the Turk situation please just your name get the record oh
aanda um h resident um but within that there I've done a lot of research and one of the things I just want if Turf is going to be there of course I'm looking for the safest version of it um and I
think you know again I would go with her on you know that versus coach box I'd rather my kids have some additional um safety um the one thing I whoever is responsible for this sort of stuff in the research there's two areas of um
communities that thought they were buying um P free Turf um and they had like in Philly because you know baseball players have died and it seems to be connected to um Turf in the professional
field and stuff so they did do their homework and in the end it was independently tested after it was laid down even though they were assured it was P safe originally in the end it wasn't and that happened also in New Hampshire so I just ask you to be
cautious and just make sure we're getting the um in as much information we can on Independent testing before and on fields that exist of theirs that gets tested after it's to confirm it may have some
of these things and obviously I'm against the um you know the INF feeli that's of the crumbled because I you know I share the experience of um that being all over our players all the time um the second thing I want to just
mention one I'm happy um lights wasn't approved for the people like we're close but we're not close to be affected by the lights but that there's a lot of people truly affect um I have mentioned it before the number
of Lights is very much a consideration when you do consider lights in the future the amount of them is something that I think could be relooked at um and the last thing would be softball again we do see those softball players I know
it's for the youth programs um but if we do it properly we don't it's not intrusive of that it's inclusion of them um and I think that's just best for our community and everybody of all age brackets on what they like Recreation
for all ages and of course I love the fact that a play will happen possibly in thankk [Applause] you ol fman Liberty Avenue in Hillsdale welcome again uh
just um mine's a little off topic it isn't it has to do with the safety in town okay okay uh I work in town I see a lot in town we have a safety issue at the stop sign at the
intersection of Washington and Broadway that's by the train station that's when they come out of the uh King supermarket Shopping Center people constantly run the stop sign it's
a joke it really is if they slow down a little it's a miracle they do run the stop sign there is a lot of foot traffic in that area we have children Crossing that street pedestrians Crossing that
street commuters crossing the street and also on that side of the street is a cow paath from Westwood over people don't use the sidewalk I Won't Say Never but people don't use the sidewalk on the
east side of boadway they use the cow path so you have that little intersection there that they're always running that stop sign we've had a patrol car that's been parked in the train station but I haven't seen them go
after anyone that has run the stop sign and I think they think by their presence their people will stop if they're not you have the other part that is also in a very uh active area of the Town
Patterson and Hillsdale Avenue by the TD Bank that is a stop on red before you proceed well that's another joke if they slow down fine if not it's
just a cruise right through the light I have an another issue that is Liberty Avenue Liberty Avenue in Hillsdale between K the kak and Cottage Place okay it's used as a cut through
for students uh driving to them from the high school and their parents it's not only the students it's the parents who are in issue exceeding the speed limit a lot now it's dangerous for the
people in the area that street is used a lot the track team uses it for training uh we also have pedestrians that use that people like to walk around the park that's Beachwood Park we have
doogers that use it we have the students going to from the high to and from the high school walking that street and also the middle school students walk that street and they're walking the street and I'm sorry to say your time is
concluded ex you reached three minutes it's a 3 minute limit so I just wanted you to be aware that something has to be done to protect the people of the Town certainly thank you okay appreciate [Applause]
it I'm how are you um my name is Jake Lutz 787 Scott Drive um my I'm a college student my professor is going to be angry at me but I'm going to read off my phone for this um unlike some of my teammates who may or may or may be here
or were here I am significantly younger than some of the guys in my opion sorry Mr Cory um wow significantly he didn't just say younger he he hit you I consider it halfway a little bit okay um I haven't I haven't been in the men's s
League too long I think this might be my fourth year playing but my couple years here I've had so much fun and made a lot of new friends in the community um saying so it may be a bit corny but that shows that there is a very good history of adult sports in this town which I
believe is very essential for a positive and friendly Community um specifically the softball league is only getting better and growing and in my opinion I'm sorry it is growing and getting better in my opinion and I want to be around for a long time playing here in Hill Hill with
my friends whether it's with or against um I just want to make sure that with all the new plans that uh Recreational Sports um Youth and adult are all being taken into consideration when designing and coming to a decision um thank you so
much for my for your time youate how are you rich Lam 203 Washington Avenue U my my wife and I have been here quite a few times uh we have a lot of in this project we live right across the street we have young kids that hopefully will benefit from the plants so I just want to you know
thank you for your dedication and all the things that you've taken in consideration um with safety like with all the plants turf grass whatever you're going to do just make sure the safety stay in this conation um softball I'm involved in softball um opening day is going to be across the street so I'm
excited for that just you know want to make sure that everybody's voice is taken consideration and thank you for every that you've doing for us thank you anybody else hello M Martin Kristen Martin 219 Washington
what your name again Kristen Martin okay you want me to spell it we got I am um I I'm first off requesting a resolution for Resident overnight parking um so I know that that's in the work be an ordinance but okay ordinance whatever it needs I don't know uh that's up to you
put um I also wanted to comment we did move in 1999 um similar plans have been as you said presented over the years and shot down for very good reasons um the lights obviously people have respected the community around that area and
identified as a residential area not an area where a um Sports Complex really belongs um our taxes have gone up from $4,800 we moved in to it's probably going to be over 20,000 now after the Middle School um I do think that we're getting oursel in a situation where if
we keep raising these taxes we are not going to be attracting young families I know I joke with my kids all the time they could never live in Hillsdale um they would never be able I couldn't buy a house now in Hillsdale um so for people like Jake and Mr coring and all
the people who um have these wonderful um Adult Sports in our town that keep our community together I want to make sure that we keep that first when we take a look at what whatever we do with this complex we have to keep them in mind uh there's plenty of places for these kids I know we want to pretend
that this is like the end or be all that they have to have this field we really have to make sure we maintain something for our adults the women's softball and the men's sports it's very important in this community that we have that commanderie thank you thank you would anybody else like to be
heard seeing nobody else I'm going to close uh the public commentary and we're going to move on to Council commentaries I get to go first um I just want to say thank you again to the DPW they're gone for really just doing an amazing job of
addressing an emergency you know yes they saved us some money but um there so many other things with with traffic with safety uh that they they just jumped out and took care of it chopped that tree
down up got it off the off the ground uh got rid of a really potentially not only dangerous situation but would have been bothersome I don't know what the word is that just you know I mean we deflected a little bit we have
to go around and go to Washington Avenue a bit while they're taking it down but they were quitting so I'm very appreciative of that um thank you to everyone in the community that came out pro and con for whatever the situation was with the fields um your input was
greatly appreciated we've learned a lot in this process it is far from over there is a long way to go we're going to learn a lot more as we go along here and we'll do it together so I thank you all for that and now let's go Council
commentary down to council M kti will'll start you and remember we're going to close next so please keep that in mind yeah no no commentary no commentary uh I just wanted to commend the residents on both sides uh for their passion for this
project it really brings us motivation up here in the days uh we have a unique opportunity to create a gem as councilwoman tro and Muk said earlier today it's been long overdue uh since the PD was here I just wanted to uh thank them for their service and expressed my full faith in the
department thank you yeah it's fun to thank my uh fellow council members uh for the thought and consideration that went into uh tonight's meeting uh I think that everybody thoroughly uh reviewed all the information that they had uh I for one spent weeks uh thinking
about this multiple conversations across all stakeholders um lost some sleep over it um and uh you know unfortunately you're never going to get it 100% right you try to make the best decision possible and I think that my fellow C
council members spent the time RBA and our mayor um unfortunately I may how to break uh the the tie here but um okay this this is a dark report right you're right those are the two that I'm record well I just want to know show fans how many people have heard from councilman
kelei at least five times in the last couple of weeks on this so you've been very active on it very I think I sorry sorry my mind you know who you me know the at the
end of the name St um but I see you I think pizza that's right that's right um but I I I you think we have an opportunity here to create a gem like Council Tron had said said earlier and uh you know it's important for us to consider our
finances into the future there's a lot of challenges that lie ahead uh we do have to maintain fiscal responsibility as well mayor uh could I just I'm sorry I'd be remiss if I didn't actually thank Nick from kers and uh bian G Sali for their endless amount of hours of work on
this I think that goes unnoticed um and I want to just really show our appreciation for them thank you how next no comment surprised in the effort to get cwom Chim no comment councilwoman maach Chong no
comment well seeing that um I'd like to get a motion to adjourn to close session before that to provide uh for a meeting not open to the public in accordance with the provision of New Jersey State open public meetings act the subject is
police Personnel and affordable housing can I get a motion motion second second all those in favor signify by saying I I we are in closed I can't tell you when we're going to come back if you've got nothing better to do you certainly won
wait more bodies in here okay uh motion to reconvene motion second those in favor thank you motion to adjourn motion second all those in favor we are adjourned the next meeting is Tuesday
April 1 in this chamber beginning at 7:00 p.m. thank you everyone you guys