##VIDEO ID:e7G5HueeucQ## [Music] [Music] good evening everyone evening notice of this meeting St the day place and time has been December ated as required under the open public meetings act chapter 231 pl1 1975 copies of the agenda are also posted on the city's website in Lynden TV for the public this meeting is now called to order Mr clerk can you please conduct prayer of flag salute god of the universe look thou with favor upon these here assembled and bestow thy guidance upon the members of the governing body in their deliberations this we ask ask in thy name amen amen I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the repblic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all in the event of an emergency the proper method of exiting the council chambers is through the three doors in the rear of the room occupant should proceed down the staircase out the front door and move away from The Bu front steps any member of the public wishing to speak during the public comment session at the end of the meeting please sign in on the white sheets provided in the front of the room with your name and address in addition there are sign in sheets for the public hearing on the Green Acres funding applications Dorothy Ford par turfield conversion that's the green form George El mowy Park Jak CL playground accessibility Improvement project that is the pink form if you'd like to speak it's in the front of the room here Wilson P Park pond dredging and ation project that's on the lime green paper there are also packets on the front table containing information on each of the Projects please feel free to take one and review it further information on the projects had been posted posted on the city's website please turn off all cell phones or place them on vibrate if you must take a call please leave the council chamber to do so Mr clerk can you please call the role Mrs oron here javic present Caldwell present Mohammad present Rivas here Strano here Armstead here Rodriguez here Hudak here Mrs yikes here can we have approval of the public session minutes of December 17 2024 please I move for approval of the minutes of Janu December 17th 2024 and ask for a second I second Mrs Orman yes javic yes Caldwell yes Mohammed yes revas yes Strano yes Armstead yes Rodriguez yes Hudak yes m Yus yes okay councilman John Francis Roman has officially resigned as councilman of the Sixth Ward the Lyon City Democratic committee met on January 14th 2025 and has recommended three individuals to fill the Council seat as per state statute the individuals are Eloy Delgado agneska chowa and Rosario MOS okay can we um is there a motion for an individual please Madam president I nominate Eloy Delgado for the Sixth Ward Council seat and I ask for a second second Mrs Orman yes javic yes Caldwell yes Mohammed yes revas yes Strano yes Armstead yes Rodriguez yes yes Hudak absolutely Mrs yamus yes at this time I'd like to call uh Eloy Delgado to come forward to be sworn in okay um I'd like to call Eloy Delgado Senor to hold Bal also Robert deona Selena Edwards le le I hope I'm pronouncing these correctly aatan Aurora cops copsy okay and I'm GNA ask mayor Armstead to please come down and uh wear them in you can administer this oath of office Mayor I and state your name I do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the the state of New Jersey that it will bear true faith and allegiance to the same that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and to the governments established in the United States and to the governments established in the United States and in this state and in this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people and that I will faithfully and I will faithfully impartially and partially and justly and justly perform the duties of the office of six board council person perform the duties of the office of six W council person according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability so help me God so help me God [Applause] congratulations uh oh he's got it fourth grade hey councilman Delgado I'd like to ask you to come join us here on the [Applause] Das you get a seat right next to me and councilman Str okay and at this time I'd like to ask you if you like to say a few words that could be a dangerous thing only a few words okay well woo good evening everyone good evening good evening mayor Derek Armstead members of the council residents and to my friends and family first off I am truly honored and humbled to have been chosen as a ward council person I thank all of you council members mayor Armstead and my dear squad for showing such support and confidence in me I promise and vow that I will do everything in my power to live up to that faith of confidence I also want to acknowledge the two other residents who put their names forth to serve the Public Public Service isn't easy and anyone who is willing to serve others deserves to be commended I promise and vow that I want to work with you and learn from from you because even though I may have this title it takes all of us working together in order to truly represent the people I also want to take a moment and acknowledge the service of councilman John Roman I thank him for his contributions to the ward and to the city the residents of the six War truly valued him cherished him and respected and respected him due to his incredible work ethic as the mayor said last month he was a good councilman and I know he has left big shoes for me to fill but I promise to do my absolute best to represent the residents of the war to the best of my ability and live up to the standard of service that has been established my journey in Lyndon began over a decade ago when I got hired as an ESL teacher at Lyndon High School I was brand new I didn't know anything about anything but Lyndon took a a shot on me and I thrive at the high school and like many of you could probably relate when you do good work your supervisor gives you more work so I got transferred partially to school number six and let me tell you I was deadly afraid of the little ones I was very happy and comfortable with the high school but the little ones absolutely frightened me but I got paired up with amazing Educators one who is in the audience today Miss Cynthia aalin who taught me the ropes of elementary school and how to really reach our kids our little ones School 6 also holds a dear place in my heart because two of my nephews are love I of school Civ and my baby nephew is currently attending school 6 as my role expanded Beyond School 6 I was also elected to serve the educators of the Lynden Education Association and served as their president for nearly five years and I am honored and truly humbled that many of the Lea members are here tonight and if you guys don't know councilwoman Hudak is also an Lea m so in addition to my work there I you know as president I made sure to make sure that we were a positive influence in our community we sponsored over 20 events every single year pride and fast events in order to really reach out to our parents and be an intrical part of this town the Sixth Ward is a beautiful and vibrant diverse Community it is a home it is a home of beautiful neighborhoods and long lifelong residents and newcomers alike and it doesn't matter whether you live in a single family home or you are a renter every single person of the Sixth Ward needs to be valued and cherished and I promise to do everything in my power to ensure that everyone feels represented and specifically I want to address the residents of the Sixth Ward who may some of them may know me some of them may not I know I am not entitled to your support just because I have received this title tonight I intend to earn your support every single day by working hard on your behalf within the next few months I intend to door knock on everyone's door I know it's a little cold and you may not want to answer but I'm going to try in order to say how can I help you what issues need to be addressed and I know that working together we're going to continue to make the six Ward a great place to live work and Thrive lynon is a beautiful and diverse Community we are an amazing City and I look forward to working together with everyone here we're working with the residents in order to make sure that Lyndon is the best city in the state of New Jersey going forward so thank you everyone God bless you God bless this city and I'm truly humbled and honored to serve all of you and let's get this journey started thank you congratulations councilman thank you thank you okay this is the time and place for the public hearing on a Green Acres application for the Dorothy Ford Park Turf conversion project at this time i' like to call upon our Recreation director Keith pressy to present the concept of findings good evening Lyndon my name is Keith prey I serve you as your director of recreation I'm here to inform you that the city is is applying for funds Grant funds to improve our Park systems there are three grants that we will apply for each we have to talk about individually so that you can understand the scope of service scope of the work that we intend to do the first one is located at the for Park Ford Park to many of you you may know it as St Marks St Marks the doy for Park is a very very active Park we host our uh Pop Warner football there and also there it was once a base a baseball field there currently there has been some Renovations there we redid the picnic area we redid the uh basketball and also put in a a um tennis court and as well as we we we did the handball court and the U the the uh small building that's there the second phase of the project is we would like to install tur we like to install Atif therefore we can increase the utilization of this particular area here you will see that the turf will be a multi-purpose field we have little league baseball and and uh softball there as well as the field is not a 100% or 100 uh yard field however it is a field that our football teams can practice on so this is the first project and again it will help us to increase our uh Recreation services to the city okay all right um do we have anyone from the public that's on speak on this okay all right can we have a motion then to close the public hearing Madam president I make a motion we close the public hearing second Mrs Orman yes jav yes calwell yes Mohamed yes Reas yes Delgado yes Strano yes Armstead yes Rodriguez yes buak yes Mrs y yes okay the next uh public hearing on a Green Acres applications is for the George El milowski Park Jake law playground accessibility Improvement project Heath I turn it over to you thank you council president again as you heard mention J is one of the grants that is available for all municipalities in the state of New Jersey that particular Grant allows every state to build a fully inclusive a compliant playground for their residen however it's not just a playground that must be fully compliant we must have a facility of which we do that is adjacent to the location of where we're going to build the playground it will allow our residents to the the field house where there will be uh bathrooms also uh it's comfor station there's also a resting area some of the other uh traits or some of the other characteristics of a jake law playground is the Shaving you must have a certain percent of Shaving to cover and to protect our kids you must have a fencing around the playground as well as the entire playground must be a rubber surface that will allow everyone to navigate and mobilize throughout and navigate and have fun throughout the uh the entire uh playground system so this particular program again it's 88 compliant it will be a great addition to the macowski park theow park is located on be Street and Park Avenue uh currently there there's an open grass field there with with a swing set and a simple exercise equipment um at the park the proposed project will work to install a fully inclusive fully inclusive this is what you see right here this Blue Area this will be one of the larger ones this is a larger grant that we are are applying for and this will allow us to do some some very good things for our okay did did anyone sign in on the pig sheet okay then can we have a motion please to close the public [Music] hearing second Mrs oron yes javic yes Caldwell yes Mohammed yes revas yes Delgado yes Strano yes Armstead yes Rodriguez yes Hudak yes Mrs Yus yes okay our last uh public hearing for this evening is on the Green Acres application for the Wilson Park pond dredging and Iration project okay Keith this grant here for Wilson P Wilson there has been some Renovations there currently with the tennis courts basketball courts but however we're going into another phase and this grant stewardship Grant will allow us to dredge our pond our pond we have one of the best ponds in the state of New Jersey according to New Jersey uh fish and wildlife we have one of the better ponds however we can make it better we can make it better with the drudging with uh better irration of it as well as firming up the embankment of the pond with natural plants uh that will be positioned strategically located around the entire pond so that it will still allow for fishing uh some of the other things that we will do if needed is to firm up the fishing docks and just make a very very nice um attraction for all to enjoy again we have a fishing derby there we have fishing classes so this will be a great uh a great Improvement to our Park system okay all right then we have anyone sign in on the line sheet okay so we have a motion then to close the public hearing council president I make a motion to close the public hearing and ask for a second please second Mrs oron yes javic yes Caldwell Mohamed yes revas yes elado yes Strano yes Armstead yes Rodriguez yes Hudak yes Mrs yamus yes okay now we have a special surprise thank you thank you Keith this is the 100th anniversary of the creation of the city of Lyon um where we emerged to incorporate from a burrow and a Township in 1925 you're going to see a year full of many events we have a Lo logo that uh we're we have that you'll see around town but this is a very special year for the city of lynon so I promised our council members at our reorg that they will have a surprise um thanks to our clerk's office Mr Joe bodak uh we brainstormed and we went to the mayor with the idea how can we do this we have our first council meeting as the city of Lyndon what he said go see how we're Whitmore from he's the guy for the job so we sat him down he uh we presented him with minutes a lot of other factual information and he came up with I can get my drama club to work on this so we have our students from the drama club at Lynden High School have worked to prepare this little presentation of our first ever council meeting from 1925 okay I ask everyone to please pay attention at that time we did not have 10 Wards okay we had no women sitting on the DI I'm not sure if Mr Whitmore used any female we did actresses but at that time there were no females up here okay yes Monique there were no females and I'd like to ask pay attention to all the little facts salaries and things like that it's very interesting so it's not a dry meeting of just reading it he had the kids and you know I have a lot of characters up here sitting alongside me so you're going to see some of that this evening so I'm going to ask our council members and our department heads to please come down to the floor to view the little film that was prepared spe all here we go [Music] [Music] gentlemen we stand on the edge of something great lynon has grown too large to remain as a separate Township in burrow we've built schools we've paved roads we've grown in population now is the time to take the next step and formalize our future we have a bustling downtown with an industry a developing Waterfront and most importantly a promise of prosperity it is time to elevate lyen into a city our streets our schools and our economy they all demand it the people demand it but George does this change mean more taxes more noise and disturbance we're stepping into unfamiliar territory without knowing what this can mean it means more power more control over our own future we have the chance to become a city and it's cheaper to run one government than two with a Township and a burrow a city huh that sounds prestigious that has never been fancy but I'll admit the industries are thriving and our community is growing a new Railroad Station the oil refinery and the rise of factories they're bringing in more people from the outside maybe it's time we take that step exactly it's time to declare that we are a city place where our children can grow where industry can flourish where the dreams of all who live here can take root all right let's take a v do we all L into be a city then it settled lynon will become a city the people will soon know that lynon is destined for [Music] greatness good morning everyone it is my honor today here at school number 1 at 11:00 a.m. on the 1st of January in the year 1925 to swear on the first mayor council at large and the members of the common Council for the city of London this is a moment this occasion and we are here to lay the foundation for the future of this great City if you will all repeat after me I mayor George mcgil Thomas a Archer play of the First Ward William nicolov for the second ward Charles Casper for the third W John J vanderwal for the fourth ward Steven Bard for the Fifth Ward goodward M Wallace for a Sixth Ward Harry McDaniel for the James bery for the eth war Leon a Watson councilman alarge do solemly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey that I will bear a cheat faith and allegiance to the same and to the governments established in the United States since in which state under the authority of the people and that I will Faithfully impartially and justly perform all the duties of my office according to the best of my ability so help me God I call this inaugural meeting of the common Council of the city of Lyon's order first I want to thank all of you for your trust in me as your mayor lynon is now a city and with that comes responsibility we will ensure that our streets are clean our schools are strong and our industry is supported the city belongs to all of us today we have several matters to discuss the most important being the appointments of temporary chairman a Clerk and other critical positions and we need the right people to ensure that our finances and records are properly managed I move that Mr Watson being appointed temporary chairman seconded I already then I accept and propose Tom and Chase Solin first city clerk any objections seeing none congratulations Tom on being your first city clerk at salary of $2,700 per [Music] year wow well now gentlemen we need to elect a permanent president I nominate Mr Watson president of the council seconded I nominate Mr vanderwal President of the council seconded gentlemen I do not like to see the action that is being taken furthermore I have no intention of seeking the presidency of this Council so how do you vote no Mr Watson having received a majority vote is hereby declared our first cter president long hours later we finally adjourned that first meeting having just begin to partk out the new ordinances and the partly make the city of living work made official but there is so much more to do now the real work begins and generations will see the city grow and change our children and their children's children will continue to SP to us your community thriving on diversity and embracing the progress we have something Lon has a future to build and a legacy to lead a city that is big enough to lead or still small enough to care [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] okay Howard I'd like to thank you for all your efforts in doing that it was very nice we thank you thank you know we'll I'll send something a note over to the students and thank them I'm hoping we'll show it maybe in the school system as well thank you thank you for all your efforts okay and as you saw our first mayor was mayor mcgilvery okay many of you know mcgilvery place I live on mcgilvery place we have Park but the eighth Ward was one of the original Wards in the city the oldest one of the oldest areas along with Trine the 7th Ward but we have someone here tonight that's related to Mayor mcgilvery okay granddaughter correct great niece okay great niece of Mayor mcgilvery Cynthia ainy Okay so as you can see S as uh councilman Delgado mentioned she's an educator in our city Our Roots Run Deep in this city so again Howard thank you so much you know we appreciate all very interesting the salaries and how the whole to U City was formed so we thank you doing it too I'm glad they did they learned a lot that they didn't know about town that most of them have lived in their whole life it's interesting that's what's that's what's important about this centennial celebration so thank you okay um there are no ordinances on hearing this evening so we'll move on to the centage the items all items listed with asterisk are considered to be routined by the city council and will be enacted with one motion okay can we have a motion please on items number one through six yes thank you council president I'd like to make a motion to accept consent agenda items 1 through six and ask for a second please second Mrs zman yes javic yes Caldwell yes Mohammad yes Rivas yes Delgado obain Strano yes Armstead yes Rodriguez yes Hudak yes Mrs Yus yes okay we'll now move on to governing body reports beginning with councilwoman oron and the first word please okay my first report council president will be the budget review and finance committee report approval is requested for the following Finance actions the payments of bills totaling $1,600,000 treasurer for the month of December at the rate of 3.96% I move for approval and ask for a second please second Mrs ormont yes javic yes Caldwell yes Mohammed yes revas yes Delgado abstain Strano abstein Armstead yes Rodriguez yes pudak yes Mrs Yus yes okay continue councilwoman the division of Transportation properties I hereby submit the monthly financial report from the division of transportation and parking for the month of December 2004 this report includes a collection of on and off street parking meters railroad parking lots railroad parking permits and Merchant parking permits the Trent side collections $158 New York side collections $1,322 Railroad Credit Card transactions $2,828 186 Railroad permits $768 railroad Mobile payment parking $1,976 online railroad permits $1,142 parking meter collections $4,450 Merchant permits $5,250 for a grand total of $61,800 uh a little Ward report um it is the New Year and happy New Year to everyone this is my guess my first official report I'd like to start off by telling everyone thank you for taking very good care of our property during the first snowstorm with the snow removal traditionally we have a lot of people that will shovel the snow back onto the streets but this year not not in our award it was it was pretty good so thank you for not throwing the snow back in the streets and just remember that we do have certain sides of the streets in the ward expressly dit that you're not allowed to park on when there's any type of snow removal we also have our new sanitation schedules that come out it hasn't changed but I do want to make note for all the new people that have moved into the neighborhood that there are certain days which certain cans go out we have sanitation which is the green can that goes out once a week and every other week we alternate with the cardboard and the recycle cans we have three bulk pickup days a month and you will get one extra free bulk bulk day if you do need it so I'm kindly asking to Let's maintain the quality of life in our community do not pull Furniture beds or any large item out to the curb because you would like to get rid of it a simple phone call to me I will be more than glad to call our Department of Public Works to have him come and remove it off the curb site with that in mind also just be respectful of our neighbors noise your pets your dogs everything we're off to a great start so far for the year 2025 and I'd like to keep it that way I'd like to let you know that I'm going to continue to serve you as your council person I'm approachable reachable my telephone number is 90837 6482 once again 90837 6482 and I can also be reached at l r m o n Linden nj. thank you thank you councilwoman councilman jav yes council president thank you uh as chairman of the fire committee the fire prevention Bureau collected the following monies during the month of December 2024 a total of $521 18 regarding our lyen fire department ambulance billing the amount of$ 9,837 38 for December 2024 have been added to the total deposits for 2024 totaling 1,12 368,000 $3 36852 regarding our construction Code Department this department has issued 250 permits and processed 34 certificates and has issued 77 summonses for the month of December 2024 monthly revenue is as follows building CCO permits and additional permit fees $172,300 zoning $1,975 Court settlements for the month $ 33,8 $ the reflective total being $28,155 regarding an update here from our Board of Health over the last month there has been uh steep increases in emergency department visits and hospitalizations for covid-19 influenza predominantly ah1n1 and RSV in addition highly pathogenic AV influenza hpai also known as h5n1 virus also known as bird flu is a virus that has been circulating in wild birds worldwide it is causing outbreaks in poultry and more recently in dairy cows in the United States it is suspected to have caused the deaths of multiple wild birds across several States including New Jersey while h5n1 can infect humans CDC has declared that the ongoing outbreak is primarily an animal health issue that poses low risk uh to the health of general public at this time to date in New Jersey cases have only been identified in birds with no cases detected in any dairy cattle and no human cases h5n1 also poses a risk to cats uh that have exposure to Raw unpasteurized milk dairy products or raw undercooked Meats cats are highly susceptible to hpa1 resulting in severe illness or death fine deaths to date include a domestic cat in Oregon after consuming raw commercial frozen turkey pet food 20 big cats including cougars and a Bengal tiger uh in a in a Washington animal sanctuary and several domestic cats in California after consuming recalled raw milk the Board of Health shared this information with Friends of Linden animals fola because of their work uh their work primarily involves mainly with cats and their facility is located next to the Autobon haulk rise bir Shanks Sanctuary for more information the state has a comprehensive website with the latest information on h5n1 that's HTTP uh what's it SL slash backlash backs slash backs slashback slash www new jersey.gov h5n1 also Al the Board of Health will be doing again a free rabes vaccination clinic uh the first one will be Saturday May 3rd uh 10 to 2: p.m. at Firehouse number two which is on 302 West St George Avenue Thursday May 8th 4 to8 p.m. at Firehouse number 3 102 East Elizabeth Avenue and Monday May 12th 4 to8 Firehouse number 1 302 Southwood Avenue for safety all dogs must be leashed and all must be in carriers any other questions on that call the Lynden Health Department 908 47484 n good evening everyone so uh in my w speeding has become an obsession in the second word we have had several more accidents from Cars exiting style Street uh to get to Wood Avenue and uh the other way around I'm going to ask our Police Department to check into the possibility of installing more stop streets and rumble strips in these speeding corridors to stem the flow of speeders on our streets also uh in our Ward I'd like to congratulate the teira family from milonia Street who were the winners of our annual holiday house decorating contest we appreciate them for lighting up Lyndon and making our town more festive for the holidays I am planning also on having a uh second and third ward community meeting on March 26th at the Lynden library 25th okay March 25th at the Lyon Library Colombian room at 6:30 p.m. so I'm looking forward to seeing everyone there wishing all many bless blessings in the uh New Year and may God bless America I can be reached at 98494 4608 or email me at B javic Linden newjersey.gov on Facebook second W councilman Barry javic as always additional information can be found on our city of Lyon website council president and Report okay thank you councilman okay councilwoman cwell thank you council president dear dear neighbors I hope this message find you finds you in good health and great spirits as we welcome a new year filled with hope and promise I am pleased to inform you that the ongoing street sweeping issue has been addressed and an action plan plan is now in place to rectify the situation this is the progress is thanks to the collaborative efforts of councilman Strano and council president yamakas and our dedicated Department of Public Works your patience and understanding during the time have been greatly appreciated we are confident that the action plan will ensure our streets are clean and wellmaintained enhancing the quality of life in our community I am excited to announce that we have a community meeting scheduled schedu for March 25th 2025 at 6:30 p.m. it will be held at the Lyndon public library and the Columbia room on the third floor the library is located at 31 East Henry Street Lyndon New Jersey I encourage encourage you all to attend as we come together to discuss our community's progress and future initiatives as we step into the new year let's focus on the positive and to continue to build a supportive and comp passionate Community a simple act of kindness can go a long way be kind to your neighbors lend a helping hand and let's make 2025 a year of unity and Improvement I would like to extend my gratitude to the Department of Public Works for their Swift response and assistance with a recent dumpster issue their hard work and dedication to our community does not go unnoticed our Collective goal remains to ensure the highest quality of life for all of our residents as your councilwoman I am committed to being a part of the solution I am here to listen to support and to take action on issues that matter most to you please remember you can always reach out to me at 98531 0676 or email me at mwell Linden New Jersey D I'm sorry Linden new- newjersey.gov I'm here to serve and work with you and make sure that that Third Ward the Third Ward is a better place for everyone together we can achieve great things let's make this year even better than last remember councilwoman cwell always follows up and follows through and I will be seeing all of you soon and I want to congratulate councilman Eloy Delgado and just know my number is there for you to if you have any questions um and I want to thank my neighbor hoe who I grew up with down the street had that lived in fourth ward I we grew up in fourth ward but we live in Third Ward and that was an excellent presentation and thank you all for all your support that concludes my report council president thank you councilwoman councilman Muhammad good evening council president and audience citizens of Lindon I first and foremost want to congratulate the president of the United States Donald John Trump this is not a political statement this is a statement of patriotism to the United States of America we heard the uh city clerk reading the prayer and we are a nation under God and let's pray that it stays that way and it that we adhere to the Constitution with respect to the ward we recently had an incident a mental health incident and I'm very thankful that Lyon police department has an excellent mental health unit you know me mental health uh is no longer just a epidemic it has become a pandemic I am recently uh started training in psychoanalytic therapy in in New York at the Blandon Field Institute and next year I'll be able to see patient but I want to thank the Police Department chief you get a salute for the creating that mental health unit one of the residents had a very difficult time and some of you I don't know whether you have ever dealt with family members that are mentally ill it is very difficult to have them committed or to get them to go to the hospital and unfortunately sometimes the police department is not trained but we have a special unit and and and Lyon to deal with that so we should congratulate we thank God for that kind of effort because as I said mental health is a pandemic situation moving along to the ward that's closer to home and the fourth ward we have had a phenomenal workload fulfilled by the Department of Public Works we have had you know snow and the streets were salted sanitized I mean whatever they put on the streets but it was a great great uh we were able to get through it with no difficulty I can be reached at 98463 4843 call me for your concerns and may God bless America God bless the city of London thank you that concludes my report thank you councilman Mohamed councilman revas thank you Madame President uh good evening citizens of Lyndon uh nebor M of the fifth W I'd like to start my report saying that I wish that we have received this new year a fill of a good prosperous intentions and best hopes for all of us to have a great uh uh year uh coming up on all of us I also want to inform our residents that we also going to have uh some public hearing Acres funding for our parks that is something that department of recreation is is working for all the wars in the city of London so I was happy to be part of the presentation the community presentation that happened at our Ward and I am pleased with the work that uh is being performed uh in all these uh Renovations of our Parks I would like to ask to please continue to look out for each other we have a beautiful city we have a beautiful neighborhood in the fit work and i' like to say that throughout the time that I go and drive around the city I see the same thing in our city I came to this city 20 years ago and from the moment that I arrived to this city City I felt proud to be in the city that provide me with safety and provide me with the quality of life that we all of us strive to drive in order to provide to our constituents I'd like to continue to say that this city could not move forward without the great work of every one of our employees I'd like to thank them continue to thank them for everything that that they do every day to a public service um work to our public works department great work with this particular uh snow weather uh circumstances that we had out there and I love to see our teachers out there I love to see that you well you are here tonight and not only uh supporting Eloy welcome to uh to our city council I had the opportunity to also work together with you when I was representing the city in the Board of Education it was a sincere pleasure for me to have served the city in that in that c in that in that term as well as at the time when I met your ly and and we had some many of discussions and conversations on how we can continue to move the city forward we are committed we're committed to continue to keep lynon moving forward and only with your help only with each one of you holding us accountable that everything that we do we can fulfill that goal you can reach me at 201 85765 to or at C Reas at Linden nj.gov thank you and that concludes my report Madam president thank you councilman councilman I know I took up a lot of time before but thank you again everyone uh before I forget this part any Resident could reach me at 908 377 6620 uh email will be setting up and look out for ways on social media as well to also be able to reach me uh I would be neglectful if I didn't give a giant shout out to the Lyndon Education Association and to the Educators in the house today I would not be here today if it weren't for all of you uh you taught me how to serve you truly taught me how to serve I am looking forward to taking all the skills I learned there and helping and serving and representing the residents of the Sixth Ward uh like I stated before I know I am not entitled to anything I must earn it every single day and I'm going to work very hard to earn the trust and support of the residents of the Sixth Ward by representing them to the best of my ability uh I look forward to serving all of you uh thank you to our Police Department our fire department all our Municipal Employees as well your work does not go unnoticed DPW thank you so much and that's it God bless everyone and thank you again thank you okay councilman Strano uh thank you council president I uh have the Personnel report for this month um number one the police department is approving the appointment of Daniel estaria uh please recruit full-time effect of January 2nd 2025 at the annual salary of $4,525 B is approving the posting for one truck driver tier two full-time at the salary range of 22 23637 per hour see is approv Ming the posting for three laborers tier two full-time at the salary range of $19.32 to $34.39 per hour D is approving the posting for one mechanic tier two full-time at the salary range of $18 to $49 an hour in the division of engineering approving the posting of for two assistant Engineers full-time at the salary range between 54,000 and $92,400 B is approving the seasonal list that is on file with the in the clerk's office Office three is a new office of our construction code approving the separation of employment for unal weeks clerk one following the end of her working test period effective January 3rd of 20225 and B is approving the posting for a clerk one full-time at that annual salary range of $3 37298 to $64,800 for as a new office of the mayor approving the voluntary resignation of Alex lososa as Chief of Staff effected February 1st of 202 5 b is approving the designation of Tyra Chapman as the VCS administrator with a yearly statement of $5,000 which will be pro-rated and its effect of February 1st of 2025 five in the fire department approving the amended start dat for Kimberly sass act clerk 2 to January 6th of 2025 six in the recreation division approving of the seasonal list it's on file with the city clerk's office and seven is approving the FMLA njfla leaves that are on file in the division of personnel and B is approving the amendment to the city policy manual and C is approving the minimum wage increase to $15 and 49 cents per hour um move for approval and I request a second second Mrs zman yes javic yes calwell yes Mohammed yes Rivas yes do all no on 7B which one sir 7B um Delgado abstain Strano yes Armstead yes Rodriguez yes Hudak yes Mrs yamus yes continue councilman Strano thank you council president at this time I'd like to um send a shout out to all our employees in our DPW uh for what I consider to be an outstanding job uh we did not have a uh major snowstorm it was uh probably on the low side of what they had predicted but in all cases I think our roads were in pretty good shape considering the conditions and the type of storm when those overnighters are just they're just a bear to deal with um and um you know and that this Department of Community Services includes our Departments of uh or divisions of um public properties you know as well as our mechanics garages and even our engineering department they all play a part you know in making sure that you know our Emergency Services can get through when we have these kind of conditions and I just want to acknowledge them for that um and outside of that um I don't have anything else to add um my information is available on on the city website I don't give out my personal cell phone number but you can reach me at my home at 908 862-5997 I am retired I'm home most of the time I would be able to get those calls live but in the case I don't you can uh leave a message and we will get back to you thank you thank you councilman councilman Armstead yes thank you council president um very brief today I just wanted to also uh give major kudos to DPW these guys work so hard in the community you wouldn't even realize how hard they work you know there has not been one time since I've uh came on this Council that I've made a call and said said hey we have a problem here we have a problem there that they didn't jump right up and get the problem solved um softwood we have some extra IC roads before the snowstorm all it took was a phone call DPW is out there to take care of it if there's trash in your streets or junk or any kind of garbage you give a call DPW is there so we should really appreciate the hard work that they do for us because they definitely do a lot of work for us as far as uh eighth W I would just like to let everybody know from the Street Bachelor Avenue meum Greer in that area there are parking permits applications that are coming out to your homes everybody doesn't have them yet but some of the people are getting them I just also wanted to say uh this is a solution to the problem but it's not going to happen immediately the the solution is not going to work immediately like tomorrow it's going to take some time for everybody to get their permits get them on their cars and park them and then we can go to the next step and make sure that the proper cars are parked on these streets um other than that I have nothing else I just want to let you know I can be reached at 908 463 I almost forgot my number there for a second 8986 I do prefer phone calls instead of emails and I do return everybody's phone call that calls me that's all I have for today hey thank you councilman hey councilman Rodriguez yes thank you council president good evening all as winter settles in it's important for us all to ensure our community remains safe and accessible please make it a priority to keep sidewalks clear of ice and snow the simple act helps prevent slips and Falls ensuring that everyone including our elderly neighbors and those with Mobility challenged can move around safely additionally I additionally I urge everyone to avoid walking or skating on Wilson Pond while the May peer silid it is currently unsafe and poses a significant risk your safety is our top your safety is our top priority and we want to prevent any accident during this cold month lastly I want to congratulate congratulate our six War councilman Mr dogado I have no doubt in my mind that you will do great and make positive impacts in our community let's work together to make this winter safe and enjoyable enjoyable season for everyone in our community thank you for Co operating and commit and your commitment to keeping lynon a safe place to live stay warm and safe that concludes my report council president thank you councilman councilwoman Hudak thank you so recently there has been some sightings of the wildlife in the 10th Ward and the associated Humane Society of Newark has been contacted unless there is an attack or an incident of wildlife they will not respond and there are more incidents of dogs than there are wildlife and also I'm going to ask everyone to keep our lynen police officers in your thoughts and prayers we've had recently several of them deployed so they can continue projecting our freedoms and as we all know our freedom is not free so please always keep them in our thoughts and prayers and if you have any concerns or if there's any infraction in your life please call me or email me because I am the 10th word councilwoman thank you that concludes my report thank you councilwoman okay I just have a few little notes I want to welcome and congratulate our new councilman councilman Delgado please reach out to me anything you need I will be setting up a meeting with you to go over some of the council 101 okay um also I want to make mention we have a blood drive sponsored by our Linda fire department on February 6th from 1 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at uh the tremley point Recreation air uh building which is on tremley Point Road so please please consider going and donating blood many of my colleagues here mentioned Public Works and the recent snowstorm I just want to add they did a great job but I also want to add this was basically Deb in voyage for a lot of them we have not had any snow in I believe two three years so we had many new truck drivers employees that this was their first time out so they did a great job so thanks again public works all right mayor yes thank you council president uh first um I'd like to make some announcements about some of the uh projects that we have going on in town here um 620 North style Street U my my office had received several calls about what's going on at the property and it's adjacent from the Superfresh I'm happy to announce that we have a BBQ Korean chicken that will be coming to this this location weather pending of course the owner hopes to start Full Construction by late winter early spring and perhaps opening in the summer fall this the property has been vacant for almost a decade I'm happy to finally see some progress here next to caner property on one in9 in Styles the city is thankful that the trucks are finally going at this property our economic development director Alex lospinoso has been in contact with the owner of these properties and we're excited to see what site plans may come to the planning board in the upcoming months the property has been a vital property on my Redevelopment agenda since day one of taken office as your mayor and the city is grateful uh that we did not have to go and utilize condemnation powers to get something going at this property at Legacy Square we have a holiday and Express on one9 right next to the caner property that we just I just mentioned the developer has some delays in reference to the the developer has some delays as a as a result of uh some electrical supplies and getting power to the location however we plan to have a ribbon cutting ceremony in the late winter so as a reminder this project has been delayed since since the pandemic however the developers stuck with the city during those dark days and will continue and and will hopefully have this business open within the next couple of months Legacy Square which is also the holiday end right next to Legacy Square um developer has signed a three has has signed three new tenants this um this year uh the three new tenants are ducks Donuts Blaze Pizza and Dave's Hot Chicken as of now uh we continue to occupy or almost me full full occupancy at this particular location um I think Legacy square is a testament of to lynon's thrival local economy and um I'm happy to be a part of course and as the mayor we will continue with our Redevelopment efforts there and last but certainly not least uh I'd like to congratulate Eloy Delgado this is a win-win for the city this is this is a great choice um this guy is full of energy uh and I can tell you I am so confident he's going to do a good job you know this was not a hard decision I want you to know uh from from second that we started talking about uh having a the new six SP councilman your name surfaced um and um it wasn't difficult because I've seen you in action I've seen some of your work before I've see how the enthusiasm that you put into everything that you do uh so I am confident that you're going to be not just a good counsel person you're going be a great counsel person uh and again whether you uh addressing residents who live in their homes or whether you address those residents who live in those apartments I know you're going to be responsive you're going to do a great job uh because that's just who you are you just you just got you're bundle of energy man you're welcome addition to this Council and you understand government and you understand what it takes to get things done so God bless you and I wish I wish you the best okay thank you mayor and many of you might have noticed we have our new addition to the DI here our business administrator after many years of you know waiting for it we finally have uh Miss Clark is here this evening our new VA so we welcome you thank you so much and you'll have to forgive me because I did announce her at the last meeting um but uh she is a she's lynon Bourn you know and we love our Lyon residents and she knows the town uh her family is still in town here and uh we we're very confident that she's going to do a great job she's going to take a little pressure off of me I've been as most of you know uh I have been the mayor this is my 11th year and I've gone without a ba uh for 10 years and it's been very difficult but we somehow managed to get things done maybe I like the micromanage a little bit I don't know but um I I just think that now having a little bit of help in the office um a lot a lot of help in the office a lot more help in the office uh it will give me a little time maybe to spend some time with my family uh and and and enjoy some of the things that normal people people do okay so God bless you and good luck I know she's going to do a great job thank you okay well now move on to resolutions uh we have uh resolutions um we have an additional resolution which our clerk is going to read in a minute but I want to make note on resolution 20258 the council met in caucus this evening and uh they decided uh on councilman Barry javic to be the member of the governing body for the planning board uh for 20259 appointed councilman Mark Armstead as a member of the governing body for the Linden District Management Corporation or Sid and 20 2521 for our cultural and Heritage commission councilwoman Lisa ormont okay and we have an additional walk on resolution this evening which our clerk will read do the other ones first I we'll do the other ones first okay so we'll start with um number 18 to um 112 can I have a motion please yes council president I move for approval of consent items 20258 to 2025 112 and request a second second Mrs oron yes javic yes Caldwell yes Mohammed yes revas yes Delgado obain yes Armstead yes Rodriguez yes Hudak yes Mrs yices I abstain on number 80 and yes to the rest okay council president point of order I I have to um abstain on 46 [Applause] Okay resolution authorizing agreement between the city of Lyon and selective benefit group to provide retirement planning specialist services for Mass Mutual Empower Deferred Compensation Plan whereas the city of lyen the city of Linden offers deferred compensation plans for its employees in an attempt to attract and retain qualified employees by providing them with an opportunity to enhance their Financial Security at retirement through Savings of compensation on a deferred basis as provided by section 457 of the Internal Revenue code of 1986 at has amended the code and whereas there is no Financial um direct Financial cost to the city of Lyon to adopt and Implement an employee Deferred Compensation Plan and service agreement and whereas a request for qualifications for a retirement planning specialist services for was prepared and made available to vendors the made written request for proposal from selective benefit group and whereas the following contractors submitted written proposals selective benefit group whereas after reviewing the proposals it was determined that selective benefit group has the ability to one maintain complete records of accounts two manage accounts with absolute Fidelity three provide advice concerning various categories of Investments and four provide continuing consultant to parti consultation to participants and whereas there have been no collusion or evidence of appearance of collusion between any local official and a representative of the contractor in the selection of a contractor fourth the administration of a service agreement pursuant to njac 5 37- 5.7 be it further resolved that the D that that the Derek armad mayor of Lyndon is hereby authorized to enter into a service agreement with Selective benefit groups to provide retirement planning services and it is hereby acknowledged that the Deferred Compensation Plan is substantially similar to one on which a favorable private letter ruling has been previously obtained from the federal Internal Revenue Service except for Provisions added by reason of the small business job protection Act of 1996 and the economic growth and tax relief reconciliation Act of 2001 and all such Provisions are stated in the plan in terms substantially similar to the text of those Provisions in the Internal Revenue Service Code section 457 the use of the ruling is for guidance only and acknowledges that for the Internal Revenue Service purposes the ruling of another employer is not to be considered precedent be it further resolved that pursuant to njac 5 col 37- 5.4 executive director is hereby designated as the local plan administrator for the administration of the Mass Mutual Empower plan be it further resolved that a certified copy of this resolution and all necessary required documents shall be submitted to the director of the division of local government services within the State Department of Community Affairs for approval okay can we have a motion please yes council president I move for approval of consent item 2025 113 every request a second second Mrs Orman yes javic yes Caldwell yes Mohammed yes revas Delgado abstain Strano yes Armstead yes Rodriguez yes Hudak yes yiis yes we'll now move on to ordinances on first reading um beginning with Ordinance 69- one an ordinance to amend and supplement chapter 7 traffic of an ordinance entitled an ordinance adopting and enacting the revised General ordinances of the city of London 1999 pass November 23rd 1999 and approved November 24th 1999 and as amended and supplemented be it ordained by the Council of the city of Lyndon section one that chapter 7 traffic shall be and the same is hereby amended as follows 7-33 handicap parking regulations 7- 33.1 a handicap parking on street add 631 East Henry Street one space 2139 D Avenue one space and 2512 Summit Terrace one space okay can we have a motion for introduction of Ordinance 69- one please council president like to make a motion to introduce Ordinance 69- one and ask for a second please second yes javic yes Caldwell yes Mohammad yes Rivas Delgado yes up Strano yes Armstead yes Rodriguez yes Hudak yes Mrs yakes yes ordinance 69- two please an ordinance to amend and supplement chapter 26 flood damage prevention of an ordinance entitled an ordinance adopting and enacting the revised General ordinances of the city of Lyon 1999 pass November 23rd 1999 and approved November 24th 1999 and as amended and supplemented be it ordained by the Council of the city of Lindon section one that chapter 26 flood damage prevention shall be in the same is hereby amended as follows chapter 26 flood damage prevention article one FL flood plane management regulations Section 102.2 establishment of flood Hazard areas okay can we have a motion please to introduce ordinance 69- two council president I mooved ordinance 69- two for introduction request a second second hormon yes javic yes Caldwell yes Mohammad yes Rivas Delgado obain Strano yes Armstead yes Rodriguez yes buak yes Mrs yamakas yes okay we'll now move on to ments from members of the public in attendance on City business only no personal political or derogatory comments not to exceed three minutes okay we'll start with Craig howerin Craig H20 Donaldson place first of all happy New Year to everybody uh I would like to s my thank you to the fire department and the police department to responding to my call to a house that had a broken pipe and water was coming out of it on my street I believe 117 Donaldson so please thank your Crews that came out they did a nice job shut the water off and now we have a house that's probably full of mold okay so before any building permits for this thing this house gets done I would suggest that a good inspection by our construction code people might be in order because from what I understand I didn't go on the property there was a lot of water in there one of our one of my neighbors across the street that lives next to this house came to my house to report that she heard a lot of water in the basement so there has to be a major problem with the pipes and a lot of water in this house so please uh let's get it inspected because the person that owns it from what I understand they just wanted to rehab the inside and flip the house and make some money uh so again thank you to the police department and the fire department uh I also would like to welcome all the new people in our city government I'm looking forward to working with everybody and I believe that's all I have and thank you council president for forwarding the requests from other people and again happy New Year thank you okay Daryl Sadler please just state your name and address for the record yes ma'am uh good evening uh Daryl Sadler 104 East Elizabeth Avenue Park line Condominiums um good good evening again uh to the Council congratulations to the new councilman don't want to mispronounce people's names I got a problem I'm still working on yours um but basically I'm just here to say thank you I was here last month and um and I mentioned the issue with um recycling pickup uh immediately my councilman woman U Carwell she got on it that night and back and forth but DPW responded immediately um we have a good working relationship I just want to say thank you and I just want to um ech what some of you guys already said of how quickly they responded and everything was taken care of so I just basically came out I wouldn't have came tonight because of the cold but I had to come to let you guys know thank you so much and I appreciate everything thank you so much thank you welcome hey Ed Kaminsky Ed Kaminsky uh Maple Avenue good evening everybody um you know obviously a lot of news yesterday holiday but as I think back over the last couple weeks obviously what's taken over the headlines has been that tragic story out in California the fires so I always Ponder obviously lifelong lynen resident like are we prepared maybe not there's different issues different circumstances but just going back to covid and really the really horrible response that unfortunately lynen had and what we've done especially compared to neighboring towns I wish we'd spend more time on that in preparing for these different emergencies I mean even to this day covid really if we got hit by another situation like that we're still ill prepared and have no place for our businesses to go um I've talked to some of the business owners and some of their stories are just heartbreaking and dealing with some on the dayis and just getting basic and Common Sense stuff done so please um development again take the train every day you know and with the backdrop that we spent $3 million okay plus um on the sidewalks widening going to the train station from here um and that it's getting all eaten up again um and and it was done all in the name of safety so that building is literally going to the edge of Wood Avenue it's dangerous for people to walk there I don't know what that monstrosity is going to look like when it's done but obviously the whole Spirit of spending millions of taxpayer dollars to to uh redo uh the sidewalks wasn't met uh and I also hope and and I'm kind of bummed out although it's not done yet uh to see you know take this opportunity for that development we keep giving things away to the developers could they build a bridge so people can can get off the the pl train platform safely so um you know I doubt it but interested in the answers um and then lastly you know I brought this up last time um I got a lot of blank stairs back nobody said anything nobody knew about it like this apartment fee I did conflate two things there were two different things I was talking about my comments it was the fee that some taxpayers um got hit with last year a very expensive one uh which was the lead pipe fee which is separate from this apartment fee for lack of a better term um it just brought was just brought up last week again Mr Armstead knows um in the rent leveling meeting the secretary there is getting a lot of calls and nobody knows anything none of the council people know anything I talk to people in the city they don't know anything but yet these notices are going out I didn't get one myself that there's going to be that unfortunately our taxpayers once again are getting whacked which just boggles my mind but you know government works like that unfortunately sometimes so looking for any kind of explanation what this is you know who's subject to it um of course I'm assuming that for both these uh that the um new new uh uh developments are of course exempt as they normally are but interested to really get some feedback thank you Amy would you be able to give a little bit of feedback thank you so to answer some of your questions and and feel free to come down to the Board of Health and and speak to us we've inherited this this program my understanding is this is an ordinance that's been on the book since 2018 and it was noticed that it wasn't being enforced it's uh a program that it supposed to only apply to rental properties that have fewer than five units Under One Roof the DCA does cyclical 5-year inspections of uh buildings that have more units than that above that but there's uh properties with less than that that don't get inspected at all and I think that was the goal of that ordinance at that time to try to fill in that Gap so this is a program that I I can't say I'm an expert in it but um again uh we're going to be doing the best that we can to try to get communication out we're working on an online module that people can just register and pay the fee and then schedule an inspection through our department but it is not applicable to every single rental unit throughout the city at this time it is only applicable to less than five units Under One Roof and it does not apply to any owner occupied dwelling units under that roof as well it's going to be a very basic inspection that is very similar to a certificate of occupancy inspection just for basic safety and health purposes so we'll be looking at things like does the smoke detector work do the doors and the windows open and close and lock does the water run does it have electricity um it is it safe to be in there and that's that's the nuts and bolts of it again if you have any questions feel free to give the Board of Health a call 908 47484 n and I'll try to answer any questions that you have okay thank you Amy sure thank you thank you okay Virginia M good evening I just have a couple of questions pertaining to this memo that came out to taxpayers last year and it was regarding to registering the occupants of the buildings or of that residence and the first question that I have here does everyone really know what I'm referring [Music] to yeah it's a same program that the rental the the rental okay so the first question that I have is um how is this going to be re uh enforced if someone owns a house but they are not living in there and they turned over management of the house to to a property manager if the person is not directly you know doing things directly with that property management or with that property how are we going to re you know reinforce having another person or company that's doing this that's the first question you know to reinforce uh the registration of all the tenants and then the second question I have the wrong glasses on the second question is you're talking about you must um also renew your registration with each change in occupancy so when you talk about occupancy if let's say person XYZ rents the house is that the person for occupancy that you're really talking about or if there are other people that are not actually on the lease are they have do they have to be accounted for in this registration and then the the third item is kind of related to the second item provide each occupant or tenant with a copy of the registration again you may have one person's name on the lease but you may have quite a few other people living in there so can someone address this for me okay um or they can take it offline you know if someone can give me a name who I could address this to I know you and I Amy Palo from the Board of Health you can well does she have any comments that she can make right now if you could take your seat sure I'll have her council president yes if I may I I just just want to give you the Genesis of this uh ordinance uh and why it's been enforced right now what we've seen happening over the last year or so is that we have people who are buying property in Lyon uh and they are uh having multiple families living in one family units and what that does it it actually overburdens the school system uh and and then people are moving out and they're putting trash outside and so who when you put trash outside you know you got to call DPW and DPW has to go we have to put our manow out there to to retrieve that garbage so what we're trying to do is is is is is curtail uh what we think is is is happening in town right now and that is the overcrowding of the schools and people just abusing uh the rental system in town so it and far beer for me every everybody knows that I I'm the last person on Earth who wants to tax uh residents in this town I think we we've got a pretty solid record with regards to holding back on raising taxes in this town uh but this is something that we have to do because if we don't it's going to get out of control and uh I'm hope I'm I'm I'm hopeful that maybe you know after we start employing some of these things that maybe we can we could roll it back one day but as for now there's just too much going on there's too many people who are three and four families in a one family unit they're overcrowding the schools they they they constantly calling the city U to U come pick up the trash and again this is costing us money so the dollars that we're receiving here will hopefully we'll be able to hire people uh to better uh Patrol and and and and make sure that people aren't abusing uh their rights as landlords and and that's exactly what's Happening Here a enforcement uh yeah so as to enforcement we are developing the inventory of the houses that this ordinance applies to we're in the process of doing that um in addition to that I know you have a concern about the number of people who are living Under One Roof and people who are not on the actual lease living Under One Roof one part of that ordinance does address the code enforcement official developing the maximum occupancy of these units as well so that is something to be addressed um and I'm sorry what was the first question I'm not sure I quite understood change of occupancy someone builds Andes okay so so finding out about it um again we're developing the inventory of the houses that we believe that this applies to and I think you know I don't have a crystal ball but I think it's going to probably evolve much like a lot of our other programs where it's on a complaint basis as well so we would would go and and have our enforcement as we normally do and then if we get a call from somebody reporting something then we would look into that as well okay it's Malik also a question the registration change for occupancy I'm sorry registration change for occupancy if somebody moves out right so if we have a change in who is occupying that and and that wouldn't mean just individual people moving in and out for instance if I am renting a two-bedroom apartment and I have a roommate my roommate leaves and I take in another roommate they're not on the lease I'm the person on the lease it's the people on the lease that would be consider the change in occupancy so when talk about the OCC of house that includes all that are currently living there it's not just person on that as far as the maximum number of people who can be in there that applies to that but as far as a change of occupancy it only applies to the people that are on that lease that's who has responsibility that who that is who has entered into that legal agreement to dwell within that space for in exchange for uh you know however much money they are being charged for that that is who is legally responsible for that space and so if if that lease ends and a new lease begins and that new lease is in somebody else's name that and and I think Dan could probably speak to that what the legal definition of a change of occupancy is I'm not a lawyer I don't want to try to to take over Dan's job he does a good job of it uh but my understanding is that is the legal definition of a change in occupancy it's it's when the people who are actually entered into that illegal agreement leave and somebody else signs a new legal agreement and moves in it doesn't pertain to additional people that may be there also Virginia question the copy of the registration for the tenant who's going to just what saying people are in is Malik I would suggest maybe you meet with Amy sure we can talk offline about that for any additional questions that that you have or if anybody else has their give a call sure the last one you question was the copy of the registration for the tant how would they receive that that would be given at the time of the inspection okay all right thank you uh ay I'm sure miss Malik will be in touch with you okay all right right uh John Kor John ker 23 West monel Avenue good evening Lyndon happy New Year 100 years wow that's awesome uh scary that I'm almost half as old as a city uh so I'm I had I had a lot of uh comments I'm going to scrap them though because I always come up here and I say that we the rules now are that there are no rules this is public comment there's not supposed to be questions but since there are since you're asking answering questions I have one that I've been meaning to ask the mayor has has not been at the meetings when I when I've been uh at the same ones with him um so and a lot of you are going to be spared I had some tea in here um anyway so back in October all right the governor this is a question about uh housing the governor released uh the list of uh affordable housing okay it's a big issue in in the state right uh right now we're we're looking at the the the 24-hour laundry mat the Kesler rehab center all that over there in St George that's going next and they're and they're putting housing over there all right so the uh a lot of a lot of municipalities push back against the state right they they were going to sue the state I forget how many I don't know if Lyndon was looking into that probably not um so they put a list out of how many affordable units uh per City per municipality each one has to put up in x amount of years whatever so Lyndon had a prospective need of 787 units okay my question is why are the ne did the neighboring cities of Elizabeth Rosel and raway have a combined need of zero what did they do in the past what have they done to address the affordable housing issue that Lyndon has not um so whoever's uh ready to answer that I'm I'm here for it what what are we doing finish yourish I guess that's it I mean I I still got more comments if you want finish your comments then please I I can tell you this uh May let's have him finish his comments please then I'll give you no that's okay we're we're here I I'll just I'll just uh hear the answers for this thank you I I can tell you this prior to me becoming mayor um the low Dem moderate income housing issue was never addressed okay um so um we were always mindful of the fact that we needed to address it and so uh we are addressing it now and uh and I'm sure I'm confident I'm confident this governing body uh and my planning board and my um uh officials who are responsible for this will come up with a solution that will be adequate and the state will accept it okay 787 in that's that's a that's a crazy number 787 in Lyon those three other cities combined zero what did they do that we didn't listen the 787 number is they they base the number on on land open space land and unfortunately some of the land that they're basing that that number on is is Refinery and space that you can't build housing on so there's an equation that they use and and a lot of it has to do with with open land that's in your municipality and lynon has a lot of open land but it's un unfortunately it's uninhabitable so we go back to the state and we show them the land that we cannot build on and that number shall be adjusted and we're working on that right now with um with our engineers and our planning officials and we'll we'll we we'll come up with a number that the state will be will find acceptable and we will and we will address it so how many units is being addressed at the um at the launder match well I can't give you that number right now because we haven't we really have don't have a real plan for that for that location right now we've declared uh areas of St George Avenue those areas that we we refer to as an area of need of Redevelopment and we're going to we we we want to put our low-income housing there in our units there uh and I'm certain that we will uh but right now we're just working with the state and we're working with our planners on how we could achieve um what what the state will deem acceptable okay thank you on a serious note though an area of need and redel sir your your property on East St George a 812 East St George a that's an area in need of Redevelopment it it it hurts my heart that I'm feeding I'm feeding a a homeless man that's living in front of the mayor anybody that wants to go there go to a12 Mike I know you know Mike let me respond let me respond it's seven degrees out right now let me respond okay you got rid of Barbara you got you took the bus stop out of out of City Hall to get rid of Barbara okay let let me just let me just talk a few minutes okay that gentleman um I've called several times various agencies to try to get him help he just keeps coming back okay you know I I know you can't force people to do stuff you can't I can't force them I try you know I haven't given food sometime because I feel bad for him his name is he's a yansy I've known his family all my life okay but um we're going to try to do everything when we can to help die out there I hope not you know what I mean he's A's he's a victim of a of a horrific crime many years ago he was assaulted uh and he was hitting the head with a pipe and so he hasn't been quite right since and uh and I feel bad for him but in the same the same breath you know I don't have housing for him I understand yeah you know what put put put some heat in there put some beds and and there you go put used to the to your property me and my family that's a bad look it's a bad look sir I know it is me and my family we're going to get around to developing that property and and speaking of the 100y year anniversary uh my my grandfather was the original owner of that building um and uh just like the city was here for 100 years my grandfather got here in 1927 so we'll be here for 100 years in 1927 and we have every intention year batter that we have every intention on re redoing that building uh I bought that building for my sons and and and they're going to do a great job with it I'm glad I was able to hold on to it this long and they're they're grown boys now grown men now and they have a nice building a nice place that they can establish themselves and do something with so don't worry I'm we're not going anywhere and we're going to make sure I'm worried about none of that I'm worried about a a homeless man sleeping out in five degree weather right now I'm worried about him too so let's call social services instead of coming to the council meeting you should have been on the phone with Social Services I should I have been to try to get him some help thank you mayor okay right all right can we have a motion to close the public comment session please I make a motion to close the public comments and ask for a second please quickly oron yes javic yes Caldwell yes Mohammad yes rivis Delgado yes Strano yes Armstead yes Rodriguez yes Huda yes Mrs yakes yes okay we'll now move on to comments from members of the governing body okay councilman uh mam [Music] I thank you councilman javic I just want to say congratulations to our six work councilman I'm it's a pleasure working with you and uh I'm going to enjoy it thank you councilwoman Orman I'm G to uh say that in duplicate councilman ELO delado your personality your enthusiasm is infectious I mean I am excited to have someone on this council with that type of Personality Live Wire the second comment that I'd like to make is to the gentleman who's putting his coat on yes you great smile but I want to personally say thank you because in a world where we have such ungrateful people who really just can't even imagine what we do here as a council the thanklessness that we often get you came in today with an attitude of gratitude and you gave me a little bit of Hope for 2025 one of the models that I have always done through my years of customer service I never call a manager I never call a store and complain about the employ employee that's the absolute worst because everybody does but I always call and acknowledge that person that has given outstanding service because they're the ones that always get overlooked so today sir I thank you for acknowledging your councilwoman for what she did for you there should be more people like you instead of all the complainers God bless you and please come next month with something good to say there's a song Tell Me Something Good come next month and tell me something good all right anyone else yeah okay councilman Strano yeah I'd be remiss if I did not congratul my new neighbor and welcome aboard and look forward to working with you as well and also I would like to acknowledge our new business administrator natia Clark thank you and uh look forward to working with you in the future as well too thank you okay anyone else mayor okay it's all about services and um and being responsive to your constituents um and Mo'Nique uh she's very responsive to her councilman cwell should I say not Monique she's very responsive um and and and I encourage all my council members uh to be responsive if somebody needs something you you return the phone call and you try to address their concerns that's what this is all about you know and and and and also trying to keep taxes stable while we do it exactly okay councilman Delgado I just want to say um thank you to my dad who's in the audience um he's the hardest working man that I know and it's where I get my work ethic from um my brother um he's been my Champion supporter uh since day one my better half thank you for dealing with me the last few days and my craziness um and to all of my cherished friends family whether I know you from college Lyndon Lea theater all of you being here uh you know me the best uh mean truly means the world to me since you can validate that um I'm going to do my best I'm going to do my absolute best to make sure that the residents of the Sixth Ward are well represented and I also just want to say um Mommy couldn't be here tonight um but I pray and hope that at future events she will be able to attend um and anyone that knows me knows that my mom is my heart and soul and she gave me my strong ethical core so thank you very much Mommy and you could also see me at St John's the Episcopal Church which has censored me that down by mcmanis I'm there every Sunday thank you everyone and God bless congratulations again Mark okay all right um the next Council meetings will be as follows there is no Monday night conference meeting due to President's Day holiday Council conference meeting prior to the council meeting Tuesday February 18th 2025 at 5:00 p.m. in the council conference room City Hall call council meeting Tuesday February 18th at 700 p.m. in the council chambers these meetings will be held in person can we have a motion to adjourn please I make a motion to adjourn council president and ask for a second second second Orman yes javic yes calwell Mohammed Rivas Delgado yes Strano yes Armstead yes Rodriguez yes Hudak yes Mrs yakes yes [Music] [Music]