[Music] [Music] good evening everyone notice of this meeting stated the day place and time has been disseminated as required under the open public meetings app chapter 231 PL 1975 copies of the agenda are also posted on the city's website and lynon TV for the public this meeting is now called to order Mr clerk could you please conduct a 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 in thy name amen amen I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic 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 re of the room occupants should proceed down a staircase out the front door and move away from the area of the 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 a white shees provided at the front of the room with your name and address please turn off all cell phones or place them on vibrate if you wish to take a call please leave the council chambers to do so Mr clerk could you please call the rooll Mrs oron excused javic present calwell excused Mohammed present revas present Roman here Strano here Armstead here Medina here Hudak here Mrs yakes here can we have approval of the public session minutes of December 19th 2023 please I move for approval of the minutes of December 19th 2023 and request a second second M Mr javic yes Mohammed yes revas yes Roman yes Strano yes Armstead abstain Medina yes Hudak yes Mrs Yus yes there are no ordinances on hearing this ear this evening so we'll move to uh items of communication and consent agenda items all items listed with asteris are considered to be routine by the city and Council and will be enacted with one motion there'll be no separate discussion on these items unless a council member so requests we have items number 1 through five this evening can we have a motion please council president I move for approval of consent items one through five and request a second second Mr javic yes Mohammed yes Rivas yes Roman yes Strano yes Armstead yes Medina yes Hudak yes Mrs yamus yes um I'm staying on number four yes to the rest okay oops okay we'll now move on to report uh reports from the governing body beginning with councilman javic in the second ward [Music] please thank you council president um first off as a chairman of the fire committee the fire prevention Bureau collected the following monies during the month of December 2023 a total of $463 54 regarding the lynen fire department ambulance billing the amount of 97,1 1427 for December 2023 have been added to the total deposits for 2023 totaling 1,13 8,268 and10 this amount represents the most income ever achieved through our ambulance billing as the uh new chairman of the construction code committee uh in the month of December 2023 we issued 228 permits and processed 22 certificates generating $380,500 in fees I would at this time like to acknowledge at this time the individuals who work in the department through their expertise and dedication they have helped our city maintain a steady rate of annual revenue in the $2.2 million range and they should all be commended for that and and also in addition uh as a future reminder mark your calendars uh dates have been set for the 202 four rabes vaccination clinics as follows Saturday May 4th 10: a.m. to 2 p.m. Firehouse number 2 32 West St George Avenue Monday May 6th 400 P p.m. to 800 p.m Firehouse number 3 12:05 East Elizabeth Avenue Wednesday May 15th 400 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Firehouse number 1 at 302 Southwood Avenue these clinics are free and open to all New Jersey residents and we encourage all Lyon residents to take advantage of these clinics to the vital immunizations that protect the health of their pets good evening everyone so first I would like to wish everyone a Happy New Year I look forward to all the hope it brings and a fresh start for everyone in their lives in the second ward uh we'll continue with lots of development uh throughout this year and we will be doing uh more projects that will help with the accelerated growth that we have I know change and growth don't come e easy in this town but in the long run our community and city will be better because of it and I will look forward in helping our residents through it all I can be reached at 98494 4608 or email me at bvic Linden dnew jersey.gov on Facebook second work councilman Barry javic and as always additional information needed can always be found on our city of l in website council president end of report thank you councilman councilman Muhammad council president my dear friends and neighbors first of all I wish all a Happy New Years good to see some of you in the in the gallery our Department of community service Crews handled the snow event absolutely admirable each W storm is unique and requires creative responses this event calls for Mo mostly salting as opposed to plowing salting was continue with temp as temperatures will remain below freezing throughout the week please exercise C while walking or driving Happy New Year's again to you and your family I wish you the very best and I can be reached at 98463 4843 happy New Year again to you thank you councilman mohammd councilman revas Madame President I will start uh on behalf of councilman woman Orman chairwoman of the finance committee with the finance report for this evening um approval is requested for the following Finance actions the payment of bills totaling 1 million 8,588 and88 bills have been signed by the mayor council president and finance chairwoman and a detail regist check register and vouchers are on file in the clerk's office we also like to inform that we are receive of the Investments made by the city treasury for the month of November at the rate of 4.75% our respectfully ask move these items for an approval and respectfully ask for a second second Mr jab yes Mohamed yes yes Roman yes yes Armstead yes Medina yes yes yes thank you uh in regards to the uh New Year years and in regards to my neighbors and constituents at the fifth W I'd like to start saying that this is the beginning of the new year a new year that is going to face to all of us challenges out there but at the same time it's going to it's going to give us the opportunities to uh continue to serve our city uh I ask for the Su Supreme Being out there to give us the uh abilities to do the best uh the best that we can in order to make all the decisions that we are to do for the benefit of our citizens we are here to serve and we're going to continue to be serving uh at the best of our abilities to provide a best quality of life for Citizens I would like to ask the citizens of Lyndon my my neighbors and the constituents of the fifth world to please be careful with the winter uh weather um there are some challenges out there in regards to Winter events so we want everybody to be careful and maintain good health from all my heart and from the bottom of my heart Happy New Year and I would love to continue to thank everyone in the city who uh runs this city day after day for their hard work and for the efforts it is the commitment of this councilman and I believe I speak for all of us as saying that we are working hard to keep the city of Lyon moving forward that's all my report Madam president thank you councilman councilman Roman thank you council president uh I'm going to be brief I I was assigned to the health committee as chair I'm excited to take on that role uh first time I've ever been on that committee also uh assigned to Recreation um try to upgrade the parks and the six board which is something that I've I really want to see done uh so and I'm also going to continue to serve on the fire uh committee so I'm happy to also do that um thankful that uh DPW did a great job this past night um residents also cleared the sidewalks everything seems good out there so I was just out there um shoveling um thankful for DPW and everyone else involved that helped clean the streets um Lynden AB is under an immense amount of construction right now uh through the water company they are completely replacing 36 in main uh from Pleasant Street all the way through uh to Linden a um all the basically the length of West Linden Avenue it's basically keeping the Street closed down every single day uh it's causing traffic Mayhem uh one of our lyen rence is a foreman lynon residents is a foreman on the job he says that they're going to be uping there for another month so once they're done with that you know 36 in Main in the in the concrete ground they should be done for a while so I'm looking forward uh to that being done and after they're done they are responsible uh for completely replacing West lyen Avenue back to it the condition that it was found in uh since we repaved it just two years ago they're going to be on the hook to replace it and and make sure that it's fully paved I know I've gotten a lot of questions about that um from the residents so just rest assured it's bad right now but it will be completely redone uh by the by the water company by the end of it uh other than that um cell phone number is 98494 5784 give me a call or a text uh if you need me thank you council president that concludes my report thank you councilman councilman stro thanks council president I have the uh Personnel report uh for for the month of January jary um number one in the fire department is a to approve the appointment of four firefighters effective February 7th 2024 from the attached list subject to the successful completion of All City pre-employment requirements and at the annual salary of $44,100 and B is approving the appointment of one clerk full-time effective January 29th 2020 supposed to be is that a typo supposed be 2024 right January 2024 from the attached list subject to the successful completion of All City pre-employment requirements at the annual salary in the range of $ 37,2 198 to $ 79,3 70 which is commensurate will be commensurate with education and experience two in the police department is a approving the amendment of the hiring Sal for police recruits item 1 uh a on the January 2nd 2024 Personnel report to the annual salary of $2,981 full-time effect of January 29th of 2024 pending the successful completion of the city of lyndon's pre-employment requirements at the annual salary of $ 37,2 198 C is approving the posting for a parking enforcement officer at a salary range of 37 7,298 to $ 79,3 se9 these is approving the posting Statewide for a public safety telecommunicator trainee at the salary range of 42,000 to 10,400 three constituent Services a is approving the temporary appointment of unqua Amanda weeks cler one full-time effective January 29th 2024 pending the suc successful completion of the city's pre-employment requirements at the annual salary of $ 37,2 198 B is approving the temporary appointment of GHA Bulan bullan clerk 1 part-time not to exceed 19 and a half hours per week effective January 29th 2024 pending the successful completion of the city's pre-employment requirements at the annual rate of $20.83 an hour four tax sucessor a is approving the transfer of Kiara Smith to Clark one full-time effective January 29th 2024 subject to his ability to return to full Duty and successful completion of his working uh test period at the annual salary of $ 37,2 N8 five is in the recreation division a is approving the seasonal list that's on file in the city clerk's office six in community services a is approving the change in compensation method for S sha from temporary to full-time clerk one effective January 17th of 2024 at no change in the salary and B is approval of the seasonal list it's on fil in the city clerk's office seven and Personnel approving the FMLA njfla leaves that are on file on division of personnel be's approving the adjustment in salary for Eliah Bishop to $ 43,2 36 effective January 1st of 2024 CES approving the adjustment of salary of Laura Lee Wade to $4,547.43 effective January 1st of 2024 move for approval and I ask for a second second second Mr javic yes Mohammed yes Rivas yes Roman yes Strano yes Armstead yes Medina yes Hudak yes Mrs Yus yes okay in the department of uh Community Services which encompasses our Public Works division um just the residents should know that this is one of those strange storms that's going to uh have temperatures uh that are dropping well below um 32 degrees it's we're talking about 8 degrees tomorrow so you're going to see a lot of melts and refreezes uh our DPW is out there our Police Department's out there advising where the trouble spots are and um they they will be heading those spots and you know heavily salted them in in the bad bed areas as well as uh most of the main thorough fares but just be careful because it is terribly slippery out there I had an incident myself today going over a bridge and uh when they say Bridge freezes before the road services do believe me they do my antiock brakes were jumping into action and uh it was uh you know got my attention so be careful um in the U same token with our engineering department um we're doing a emergency repair on West 17th Street uh it's a sanitary sewer line there 150 ft approximately of a sanitary line that had to be replaced um these things come up and when they do in situations like this they are considered to be an emergency it does not give the city you know any kind of a lead time in order to uh you know alert the um the residents in some cases they will be you know temporarily inconvenience but this work has to be done uh it's not only your house you know it's your neighbors up the street that are affected as well so just keep that in mind and uh U hopefully that project will be wrapping up uh uh this evening uh because they I was out there and the workers really don't want to be out an 8 degree weather tomorrow uh working on that and uh just remember that surfaces will be a temporary repair or patch there may even be steel plates over the roadway so again be careful in that area that's uh what 7 Street uh where it gets close to Styles um and we're uh I think we're in a Hing pattern on Range Road as well the um work had progressed to where they had one of the head walls in and two the pipes and uh one lane of roadway was able to be crossed to access the uh uh police pistol range and the U Fus um and hawr but um I told that uh the heavy rains we had last week probably washed that out and U that roadway is that project is probably in the holding pattern at this time due to the weather conditions um that concludes my report council president thank you thank you councilman Strano councilman Armstead yes thank you council president okay I will be reporting on the division of transportation and properties um it says um I hereby submit the monthly financial report from the division of transport a and properties for the month of December 2023 this report includes a collection of of on and off street parking meters railroad parking lots railroad parking permits and Merchant permits the Trenton side collections $1,653 New York side collections $1,453 Railroad Credit transactions 23,7 188 $51 railroad permits $858 railroad Mobile Pay meters 2320 parking is $6,295 online railroad permits $1 13,8 parking meter Collections $5,199 and Merchant permits $6,279 which the grand total is5 5 58,209 total funds collected for 2023 were uh they started cutting down some of the trees um on Henry Street there was a um big uh pothole left on the corner of Peter and Henry Street that was been been there for a while and that's been taken care of also if anybody would like to contact me you can contact me at 98463 8986 and that's all I have for today thank you thank you councilman councilman yes thank you council president good evening everyone and of course Happy New Year's as well uh real short report for the ninth ward uh just want to talk about my colleagues already hit on the um snowstorm and the icing condition and whatnot just ask people to just take it easy and be careful out there I also had a little bit of a scare um making my way here to City Hall on the Wiis Street um so just be very careful but we have an amazing crew here in the city of Lyndon and time and time again they always um outperform um just real quick uh we have we definitely have we have some hold over projects from 23 Road and sidewalks um engineering they have that list um going to make sure that we stay on top of them because uh couple things didn't really work out well in 23 we're contractors and whatnot so I really look forward to seeing these RADS finally get taken care of in the spring of this year as well as uh wrapping up our uh sidewalk um projects unfortunately uh with us we have a lot of trees so the sidewalk uh list is constantly growing and uh are constantly being added to uh pool and my colleagues to my left just mentioned pool um I will do a follow up on the poos I I know there a lot of poos in the area on Princeton dwit and whatnot and it's a really really really terrible patch of road when you come off of St George you're going down the hill and the with terrorist I believe that area is going to have to get milled and I believe engineering already have a plan to address that issue when we pave the road um lastly you know with upcoming storms I always remind folks you know help your neighbors if you're shoveling you have a snowblower and whatnot if you're able to help your neighbors especially if they're elderly uh or disabled and whatnot so just be a good neighbor and try to lend a hand what you can this morning myself I probably helped out like two or three neighbors and uh got my wife all shoved out and all that great stuff so got to make sure she's okay first and then I'll take care happy happy life but um but that's uh that's basically it that's all I have you could always contact me I don't have before I give out my number I don't have any new kids for shoveling it's kind of every year it's just uh really hard to find kids but I was sent a screenshot of a kid that's a high school student and I saved his number so anyone needs help um finding someone for shoveling give me a call and my number is 908 98661 you can call text me if I don't pick up and I promise to uh get back to you either by text or phone call and also email me Aina Linden nj.gov that concludes my report council president thank you thank you councilman Medina councilwoman Hudak thank you uh yesterday we honored and celebrated Dr Martin Luther King who was a Visionary leader who believed everybody can be great because everyone can serve and we have a responsibility to serve others and to also promote peace and service is always being provided daily by those who are brave enough to serve in our Armed Forces forces and and to protect our freedom and also our Lynden Police Department have several members who have been called back to serve and who will be shouting out 07036 as they protect us and um I just ask everyone to pray for their safe return back to Lindon 07036 that concludes my report thank you councilwoman yeah I just want to make mention Amazon to senior citizens uh once again this year um my number is 98494 880 I encourage our seniors to look on our website we have some new and exciting programs going on for our seniors if you don't have a computer please reach out to me I'm more than happy to drop off a pamphlet to you uh again my number is 98494 880 if you have any other questions we're lucky enough to have our uh city clerk here is commissioner on the Union County um for the union he's a Union County Commissioner Joe bodc so we have a lot of you know resources there too for our seniors too so please reach out if you need any assistance at this time I'd like to extend uh the sympathy of this Council to the family of stanislaw uh sovich who's the father of our Sergeant Monica aloa at our traffic Bureau he passed away and also uh wish congratulations to Alex lososa for nored economic development he just became a father uh two weeks ago so congratulation Alex okay um and that's not the only celebration we have here this month we have one of our council members just turned 70 years old Believe It or Not councilman Str happy birthday conratulations happy birthday Ral miss a milestone I'm really 75 so happy birthday rfie happy birthday sir okay uh mayor you're up yes real quick I'll be very brief uh first I'd like to uh send my condolences to to Monica Aliva um for the loss of her dad um and again U to repeat what you just you just said uh congratulations to my chief of staff Alex lanosa uh on becoming a new dad Welcome to the the club you know what I mean so uh it's being a father is not an easy task it's a it's a job for it's a job for life we all know it um and certainly last but not least um want to Cong want to say happy birthday to my good friend and colleague on Council uh Ralph Strano who he made the big 70 that's a heck of a number man you don't look at day over 80 no it look it looks good for 70 I got to give it to to him you know uh and certainly last but not least last month uh during the report the third W councilman gave a report uh that she wouldn't be in for a while and she had instructed residents to uh send any correspondence to the six Bo councilman uh that's a break in protocol protocol clearly states that whenever uh you unavailable and you can't be um uh address your constituents uh it is to go to the council president she is the uh representative for the entire city uh any request or any problems the Third Ward should be directed to um the council president who is Michelle yamakas uh and Michelle um I think and your closing remarks um you want to I should have your my number again I should have your number to memorize by now but I don't but would you please would you please give your number and your um and your email address so any anybody who has any problems in the Third Ward can forward those uh requests to you yes thank you that concludes my report okay oh last but certainly not least um want to thank the department of the Public Works they did a great job out there uh in anticipation of the storm I mean it really wasn't a tremendous storm um but any type of storm as uh mentioned earlier is every storm is different and how you manage it will you know show the outcome uh of your streets uh it should be salted or whether you should have plowing but I think the uh DPW did an excellent job uh with regards to this particular storm thank you thank you mayor okay again my email in case any of third W uh constituents need to reach out my um email is mamitis y a m a k AI t s linden.ave it's on the city's website and my telephone number once again is 98494 880 okay that con concludes our reports uh from the governing body this evening we we're going to move on to resolutions okay can we have um a motion on resolutions 20 2417 through 20 24105 council president I move for approval of resolutions 20247 through 2024 105 and request a second second Mr javic yes Mohammed yes Rivas yes Roman yes Strano yes Armstead yes Medina yes Hudak yes Mrs Yus I abstain on number 80 and yes on all the rest okay Mr clerk could you please read um an additional resolution that was added this evening 2024 106 one second Madam chair it's making it an appointment to resolution appointing Sharon Bott a member of the Lyndon Housing Authority be it resolved by the city council of the city of Lyndon that Sharon Bott residing at 845 Lorita Street in the city of Lyndon New Jersey shall be and he and he she is hereby appointed a member of the housing authority of the city of Lyon to serve the unexpired term concluding on June 14 2024 and until his her successor shall have been appointed and shall have been qualified section two this appointment is made pursuant to the Ord orces of the city of Lyndon entitled an ordinance creating the housing authority of the city of Lyon approved May 7th 1995 and the said members shall have and exercise all powers and duties prescribed by said ordinance and the local Housing Authority law njsa 55 colon 14 A-1 at sequence now therefore be it resolved by the mayor and Council of the city of Lyndon that the city of Lyndon hereby appoints Sharon Bott as a member of the housing Housing Authority of the city of Lyon to serve the unexpired term amending on June 14th 2024 and until har successor shall have been appointed and qualified okay can we y all right can we have a motion please on resolution number 20 24106 yes council president I move for approval of resolution 2024 106 and request a second second Mr Mr javic yes Mohammed yes Rivas yes Roman yes Strano yes Armstead yes Medina yes Hudak yes Mrs Yus yes we have another uh resolution additional resolution this evening 2024 107 which is going to be read resolution ratifying a memorandum of understanding with the Lynden police supervisors Association whereas the Council of the city of Lyon has a Collective negotiation negotiation understanding with the Lyon police supervisors Association lpsa and whereas the prior agreement expired on December 31st 2022 and whereas the council and the ls OA have negotiated a successor agreement for their employees now therefore be it resolved that the council approves the LSP lpsa Collective negotiations agreement effective January 1 2024 through December 31st 2028 be it further resolved that the ls LPS OA has agreed to the collective negotiations memorandum of understanding and a collective negotiations agreement be it therefore be it further resolved that the council hereby authorizes the mayor of the city of Lyon to execute the attached Collective negotiations agreement subject to final ratification by the lpsa be a further resolve that this resolution is effective subject to the aforementioned provision okay can we have a motion on resolution 2024 107 please yes council president I move for approval of resolution 2024 107 I request a second second who was this who was the second Mr javic yes Mohammed yes Rivas Roman yes Strano yes Armstead yes Medina yes Hudak yes Mrs Yus yes and uh one last additional resolution this evening 20241 Z8 councilman Muhammad is going to read it resolution recogniz on ail 29 2023 Governor Philip D Murphy sign resolution number six by the sen Senate and the general assembly of State New Jersey designating the month of January each year as Muslim her whereas Muslims and World sex Muslims are the world's second largest religious group practicing the Islamic faith with 1.9 billion followers representing approximately 25% of the world's population there are about 3 3.4 450 million Muslims in the United States from diverse racial and ethnic background the the Muslim Community represent 1.1% of the population in the United States and whereas Muslims first respond arrived in North America along with enslaved Africans when historians extimate 10 30% were Muslims that Islamic beliefs and practices contrib contributed in Num numerous ways to the founded of our nation including courageous and dictated military service in every major war including the American Revolution war whereas there over 300,000 Muslim Americans in New Jersey representing one of the largest Muslim communities in the United States their contributions help fortifi and strengthen the economy and diversity of the people in our state and local community and where as the city of Irvington recognized this Monumental achievement for the Muslim Community and desire to recognize the month of January each year as Muslim Heritage Month whereas the city of lendon recognized appreciate that the Muslim Community has directly contributed to the diversity and positive growth of the city and various Fields including education entrepreneurship government law medicine literature drama sculpture sculpture music food and culture well as all aspects of Life throughout the United States and abroad and continue to influence our beliefs and embed embedded values whereas the city of Lyon is thankful for the significance of the Muslim Community in the fabric of the city of lendon whereas the city of lendon is thank for the numerous people in the Muslim Community who directly contribute towards effective and better government Civic service and public interest work through uh through in the Judiciary the city council the Board of Education City government government and multi nonprofit Endeavors all of which help the city flourish and whereas the city of of of Lyon will continue to keep it doors open to the Muslim Community and whereas the design designation January's Muslim Heritage Month will help highlight the many achievements and access of of L Lyon's Muslim Community and F Inspire young people to contribute toward the prosperity of our beloved City now therefore be resolved by the mayor of the C and the council city of London the month of January of each year be designated as Muslim Heritage Month in the city of London I offer this resolution and ask for a second second Mr javic yes Mohammed yes Rivas yes Roman yes Strano I'm going to preface my vote I'm a very strong proponent of separating church and State and as a representing of a governing body in in the city and I forgive me if I'm wrong but I don't remember ever any of us supporting any religious contingent uh I won't vote against it but I will abstain Armstead yes Medina yes Hudak yes Mrs Yus yes okay um we have three additional resolutions this evening I stand corrected we have um resolution number 109 which is going to be read resolution approving the collective negotiations agreement with the CWA local 1032 whereas the council the city of lynon has a collective negotiations understanding with the CWA local 1032 and whereas the prior agreement expired on December 31st 2019 and whereas the council and the union have negotiated a successor agreement for their employe es now therefore be it resolved that this Council approves the CWA local 1032 Collective negotiations agreement effect of January 1 2020 through December 31st 2023 be it further resolved that the CWA local 1032 has agreed to the collective negotiations agreement be it further resolved that the council hereby authorizes the mayor of the city of Lyon to execute the attached Collective negotiations agreement subject to final ratification by the CWA local 1032 be it further resolved that this resolution is effective subject to the aforementioned Provisions okay can we have a motion please council president I move for approval of resolution 2024 109 and request a second second Mr javic yes Mohammed yes Rivas yes Roman yes Strano yes Armstead yes Medina yes Hudak yes Mrs yiis yes resolution number 110 a resolution confirming the appointment and designation of chief judge of the Municipal Court of the city of Lynden be it resolved by the Council of the city of Lynden that the appointment made by Derek Armstead mayor with the advice and consent of this body as provided by law in accordance with njsa 2B col 12-8 of cassander Corbett to serve as Chief municipal judge of the Municipal Court of the city of Lyon commencing as of the date of this resolution and appointing Cassandra Corbett to serve as municipal judge of the Municipal Court of the city of Lyon for a term of three years commencing February 22nd 2024 and terminating February 21st 2027 and until her successor is appointed and qualified shall be and the same is hereby confirmed the chief judge shall be paid a salary of 95,200 resolution number 110 please council president I move for um approval of resolution 2024 110 I request second second Mr javic yes Mohammed yes Rivas yes Roman yes Strano yes Armstead yes Medina yes Hudak yes Mrs Yus yes resolution 2024 number 111 a resolution confirming the appointment of an associate M missal judge of the Municipal Court of the city of Lyon be it resolved by the Council of the city of Lyndon that the appointment made by Derek Armstead mayor with the advice and consent of this body is provided by law of Susan McMillian to serve as associate municipal judge of the Municipal Court of the city of Lindon for a term of three years commencing January 2024 terminating January 19 2027 and until her successor is appointed and qualify shall be and the same is hereby confirmed and be it further resolved that that due to the qualification requirements for the position and due to the qualific ations and experience of Susan MCM that a residency requirement waiver is hereby granted and be it further resolved that the associate judge shall be paid a salary of $ 86,2 per year subject to annual increases that may be granted to the supervisors Association for three court sessions a week with no benefits okay uh can we have a motion on resolution number 2024 111 please yes council president I move for um approval of resolution number 2024 111 every request a second second Mr javic yes Mohammed yes Rivas yes Roman yes Strano yes Armstead yes Medina yes Hudak yes Mrs yiis yes okay now move on to ordinances for introduction beginning with ordinance 68-1 please ordinance of the city council of the city of lynon authorizing the sale of block 254 lot 9 commonly known as 31 -45 West Elizabeth Avenue to the apartments at Linden station urban renewal LLC for the purchase price of $1,150,000 pursuant to the local Redevelopment and Housing law njsa 4A col2 A-1 at sequence okay can we have a motion to introduce ordinance 68-1 please yes council president I move for introduction of ordinance number 68-1 and request a second second javic yes Mohammad yes Rivas yes Roman no Strano yes Armstead yes Medina yes Hudak yes Mrs yamus yes ordinance 68-20 pass November 23rd 1999 and approved November 4 1999 and as amended and supplemented be it ordained by the Council of the city of Lyndon Section 1 chapter 7 traffic shall be in the same is hereby amended as follows 7-33 handicap parking regulations 7- 33.1 a handicap parking on street add 1513 weens Avenue one space and 315 Lincoln Street one space okay can we have a motion for introduction of ordinance 68-20 number 68 D2 and request a second second javic yes Mohammad yes Rivas yes Roman yes I'm sorry John yes thank you Strano yes Armstead yes Medina yes Hudak yes Mrs yamus yes ordinance 68-3 please 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 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 1 chapter 7 traffic section 7-10 parking prohibited at all times on certain streets shall be in the same as hereby amended as follows 7-10 parking prohibited all times on certain streets add tremle Point Road both sides from the easterly limit of the psng RightWay for a distance of 800 ft southeasterly there from to the New Jersey Turnpike okay can we have a motion for introduction of ordinance 68-3 please yes council president I move for introduction of ordinance number 68-3 and request a second second javic yes Mohammad yes Rivas yes Roman yes Strano yes Armstead yes Medina yes Hudak yes Mrs yamus yes ordinance 68-4 please an ordinance to amend and supplement chapter 7 traffic of an Ord 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 Lynden Section 1 chapter 7 traffic section 7- 22.1 four-way stop intersections shall be in the same is hereby amended as follows add dwit Street and West Curtis Street and East blanky Street and Maple Avenue okay can we have a motion for for introduction of ordinance 68-4 please yes council president I move for introduction of 68-4 and request a second second javic yes Mohammad yes Rivas Roman yes Strano yes Armstead yes Medina yes Hudak yes Mrs yamakas yes okay we're going to now move on to comments from members of the public intendance on City business only again no personal political or derogatory comments please we're going to begin with Craig howerin please state your name and address for the record cig caller 120 Donalds in place uh first of all I wish everybody or hope everybody had a happy and healthy New Year uh my comment is about the development in the city I can understand developing abandon properties I do but then I try to get out of my house and try to go to the stores and stuff like that I see traffic is astronomical or tremendously more traffic on Styles Street Elizabeth Avenue Wood Avenue it takes me three times as long to get to where I used to go when I first moved here now granted that's probably 25 years ago but what is City going to do about the increase in amount of automobile traffic I mean I know these some of these roads are County Roads so the county has to be brought in as far as what can they do I don't know maybe looking into a light rail system of some nature might work better I don't know that but you know cuz it for the way I see it on East County Road style Street Elize Avenue the only way to do anything into traditional Highway planning would say expand the road make it wider but then you're going to take out a bunch of buildings and a bunch of houses that I don't think too too many people would be too happy about doing so uh the other item that I wanted to discuss was has the council looked into looking into needs of the city you know all the different departments due to supply chain issues and all of that have they looked into ordering extra equipment now so that we have it in the future when we need such as fire trucks police cars police equipment equipment for public works even equipment for the council to do their gaps I mean there's certainly issues with supply and demand that need to be addressed and need to be looked at and I like to bring that up to the council to again that it has to be looked at otherwise we may come up short on what we may need and you know the other thing is and the last thing I'm going to bring up is the safety of our students going to the different schools these roads are getting very busy statistically this is going to mean somebody's going to get hurt and God forbid somebody gets killed thank you very much have a a good day thank you Mr howerin okay Brian G am I saying that correctly please state your name and address for the record Brian G 1102 Clark Street okay go ahead sorry uh I hope everyone had a happy New Year uh just have some basic questions about the resolutions that were on the agenda tonight uh this is my first time dealing with local politics so under tax collector for 2022 taxes were zero uh just want to know why that was uh the questions are open to anyone who can answer by the way uh resolution 2024 d171 18 and 20 are blank on the uh agenda I was wondering if those positions are open uh resolution 20124 d34 I wanted this one was odd it's a requisition for brine I believe that's saltwater unless I don't know what's going on with that I was wondering why the city is buying that and why is it buying it from the city of raway and uh resolution 20 24- 90 uh transfer of 2023 Appropriations um what type of Appropriations and who are they being transferred to and as with the previous speaker I have also noticed uh a lot of increased traffic around Lyon I was wondering uh just like is there have the traffic lights been reprogrammed to handle that level of traffic The increased number The increased the level of traffic if that's a possible solution for the problem or some kind of redirection for the traffic uh that's all my questions uh thank you for your time have a good evening thank you okay um m Zach would you be able to speak on uh 90 the transfer Appropriations the transfer of appropriation resolutions is authorized by the state of New Jersey for prior year Appropriations we're allowed to transfer funds in January the two um items that we need to transfer in were our municipal court for language line it's a propr um it's a uh software program that they utilize for translation services and the other item is we had um entered into an agreement for parking sticks the this is a new type of um program that the city had started and we had to appropriate funds to pay those bills for the last quarter of 23 it was a new appropriation so we're transferring funds into that account count president could I just comment in regards to the question about the 2022 on the consent agenda item I know we don't normally comment but on the consent agenda item you had mentioned about 22 2022 taxes for the month of December our tax collector received no taxes for the year 2022 those taxes had been paid already so on the report that's why it's just listed as a zero thank you okay and as far as the resolution 17 um 18 and I believe it's 19 that were blank we voted on that in caucus okay for um the planning board is councilman javic for 17 for number 18 for the uh Sid it would be councilman javic and number 20 was councilwoman or me that was decided in our caucus room door our caucus and as far as um traffic lights the Bri Mr Bishop thank you council president sir um excellent question uh it's a little bit more involved than Brian just being saltwater although it is um there's exact measurements brine is a solution that you pre-treat roads with which I'm sure you know before a storm comes it winds up saving us about four times the amount of calcium chloride that we would treat the snow after it accumulated so Brian is a good thing why do we buy it from the city of raway um first of all we pay 50 cents a gallon and the City of raway went through considerable expense to buy the Machinery that actually Blends it Brian is for for conversation say Brian is 23% salt 77% Water Well it has to be exact because if you have a little bit off your formula it's not going to do the intended job so they bought the tend the uh equipment to do this to mix it properly and we simply pull up with our rig and fill up for example 600 gallons which cost us $300 uh so raway because they made that expenditure and maintain that equipment you can imagine how quickly that equipment rusts out they made the uh expenditure we're glad that they did other municipalities do the same and buy it from raway because they bought that equipment but excellent question okay thank you all right um Mr Kazar please state your name John ker 23 West monel Avenue what's up how's everybody doing Happy New Year um hope everybody's good Mr G thank you for your questions I love seeing new people here um we're going to just have to we H I have questions on the resolutions too if I already asked the questions you know you guys would shut me down because technically we're not supposed to this is you they took away the ability your newstead of giving you a break actually when I when I was running last year one of my one of my um platforms was I would love to bring that back okay we know why we stop uh doing it because the meetings were going till whatever time 11 12:00 you guys were getting tired but now you shortened a lot of the time Miss Malik that was her bread and butter I think you need to let the the uh citizens ask questions about the way you're spending their money um I haven't shaved since the uh election I feel free I feel good uh you remember I came here last year I talked about fake and fraudulent I don't know how some of you guys lied like all the time it's crazy um anyway I'm not going to be mean right now I want to congratulate one of my neighbors I've known since a young girl miss martus Lea she lives uh three doors away from me she defended her uh thesis the other day and she's now a doctor it's awesome so it's always good seeing uh somebody that grw up in the neighborhood doing well um to talk about the resol there's a lot of resolutions it was 105 and and you guys added a few more I think there was 110 if I pick out one if I pick out a random one and ask you about it can you tell me what it is because I know you guys just say yes last year A lot of times something was brought up and you said oh I don't like that and I'm like you voted for it what are you talking about so there's a lot of information in there do you go through them all do you actually know what you're voting on uh taxes are going up this year I think the residents have to get ready for it um I don't know if it's it's going to be 5 6 7% is that a realistic number I don't know you know I know we the mayor said he was a wizard last year I don't know if he could go and borrow from the board of vet again this year um to to keep them uh the way they were stagnant or whatever uh Lyndon started an opiate committee recently um it's near and dear to my heart uh the Sackler family one of the biggest drug dealers in America for so long long Purdue Pharmacy uh I don't know if you guys know the story but they've settled and there's a $6 billion settlement and they're giving money to all the municipalities so lyndon's going to get aund and whatever for the X amount of years I hope we use that um I know there's a program I hope we use it don't waste this money um I know there's a program in one of the elementary schools hopefully we could expand it to more than just one elementary school early Outreach I think is is uh is is huge and big for uh this issue last year there was uh 85 overdoses in lynon and 11 fatal overdoses is very sad um it doesn't discriminate it was uh right down the middle black white um it was a few more males than than females but it doesn't uh discriminate at all so hopefully we use that that money um for a in in a good way thank you thank you okay Mr Kaminsky good morning everybody or good afternoon good evening Jesus long day long day uh and a cold one uh just want to talk about um a program that was really kind of it's mandatory will become mandatory law was passed two years ago and we just kind of glanced over and Lyndon really needs to work better in communicating with the um the citizens and that's the asbest abatement uh or the I'm sorry the lead paint abatement lead program that um you're on a hook for folks um especially if you're a small mom and pop family multigeneration you have a small home renting out an apartment you are on the hook the costs are pretty ridiculous too I started looking into this and you have to register by the way I try to register try to go into things I always try to do the right thing and of course uh in a typical lyen fashion the computer system did not work the two times I went on so um you guys really need to do something do better train station bad weather uh just uh you know passing on the the steps closest to us um you know coming back from New York um they're not iced uh some issues with the train station I've you know I usually don't go into the station itself when I commute every day but uh it's been locked up a lot so I I wouldn't say every day but I don't know what's going on that station needs to be open it needs to be iced we're putting ourselves at risk and when I get off the train today just on even on the platform I did one of these and I was wearing not these I was wearing actually rubber sold boots so again another issue uh that we and it's going to be icy tomorrow so please get somebody there so nobody gets hurt and fix the steps um again I've been talking about this for years but around Christmas time on Christmas Even I went out um to visit family and do some things and just I couldn't tell you how disgusting lynon looked um even in the in the uh the shopping centers just trash all over folks trash doesn't go to sleep people think it's like covid that it goes to bed at 10 o'clock and uh all that kind of stuff you need to get people cleaning up the trash on the weekends because that's when it accumulates a lot of the businesses animals get to it the stuff's picked up Monday by then it it's just a total disaster area everywhere um Mr Strano uh I applaud your uh your courage for actually saying something um there because it is a little it puzzled me too um we have a longstanding and very powerful and active uh Catholic churches Christian churches we didn't do anything for them we have a growing Jewish population always had a strong one in lyen um I don't know the impetus of this but um let's do it wise and let's not insult others too because it is an insult to those that were not honored and then Mr howerin um yeah that's another quality of life right folks that's what I like to talk about another thousand units coming online too so it's not going to get better and we've been talking at least I know myself as well others been talking about what are they going to do unfortunately not much um and I hope you do I hope that changes thank you thank you okay Mr Kaminsky we'll have them looking to see what's going on with the computer system with that lead program and Mr Bishop as he mentioned uh earlier in cus um they staying on this is a different type of storm it's an ice you know with the icing going on with the change in temperature so I'm sure somebody would be at the train station again they have around the they have them there right jar whatever thank you council president uh Mr Kaminsky um there is an agreement uh between New Jersey Transit and the City of Linden whereby we maintain uh everything that's on the ground level New Jersey Transit we're not allowed to the city isn't allowed to touch the platforms uh they provide the salting and so forth on the platforms and the step um with regard to the waiting room uh again New Jersey Transit establishes the hours that that building is open and it's to be open at 6:00 a and we have our employee there at at 6:00 a.m. okay okay uh good information and uh and we'll take care of that and I'll pay a little bit more close attention perhaps he shouldn't pick up litter in the parking lot before he opens that door to the waiting room so thank you for that thank you council president thank you okay can we have a motion to close the public comment portion of the meeting so moved a second second thank you javic yes Mohammad yes Rivas yes Roman yes Strano yes Armstead yes Medina yes Hudak yes Mrs yamus yes okay comments from members of the governing bodies any one from the councilman Roman thank you council president uh might go over a minute or here uh regarding the traffic lights on uh the county roads that you mentioned sir they are County Roads uh style Street and Wood Avenue uh when I came on to council one of the big things was just the ever mounting traffic and honestly before a lot of this development not only in Lyndon but other towns um Rose and that has caused a lot of traffic in lynon because that's just the way we're design designed we don't have left and rights for the most part we're just one straight shot on these two roads uh has caused a lot of traffic problems we retim the lights twice since then which is six years ago we Reed the lights twice on Wood Avenue uh in that amount of time before that hadn't been done in 20 years and we are looking to get New Roads I'm sorry we are looking to get new traffic lights because the traffic lights we currently have there's about 10 of them on W Avenue they're over 20 something years old at this point so we're hoping uh maybe thr throw a grant through the County County funds um somehow or um we can get those replac it's going to cost I mean the number 3 four years ago before Co was was $2 million so for 10 lights basically it's going to cost a lot more than that uh but they'll have GPS uh they'll be timed right they'll be AI Smart City uh and it will help traffic out we've also in the process um created those no parking areas at the corners that's allowed to to allow cars to go around uh and and that's that is also help traffic I'm not going to make an excuse I was late to get here because of the traffic uh coming from my mother's house um and and it's just ever growing not only in the city but uh a bunch of others and as for the train platform Ed um there will certainly be someone there tomorrow and we will make sure that uh it's in a safe environment regardless of what lease that we have with them thank you councilman Roman thank you for letting us know jav uh yes council president um I just want to let you know the Board of Health would like us to know that CDC covid-19 Hospital admissions uh the um levels for the week ending in January 6 2024 is high in four counties Atlantic Cape May Monmouth and ocean uh it's medium in all the other counties categories are determined by the number of hospitalizations per 100,000 of each County population high is 20 or more medium is between 10 and 19.9 and low is less than 10 Union County hospitalizations levels during the same time period were medium uh for the weekending in January 6 2024 Statewide 4.3% of debts were due to covid-19 and 3.5% of emergency department visits were diagnosed as covid-19 in the four weeks um leading up to December 30th the leading variants were hv1 32% n.1 and eg5 29% combined so please uh everyone take the appropriate precautions thank you councilman councilman Muhammad yes just want to take this occasion to welcome uh first of all happy birthday to councilman uh Spano and also to happily invite him to the senior citizen Club at it's just a pleasure and honor to welcome another person 70 years old so you get my hearty congratulations so you're saying welcome to the club just a welcome to the decade that's what you want to say right no it's it's an honor that we have lived this long councilman congratulations happy birthday thank you anyone else councilman Reis go ahead I just want to recognize and acknowledge um everyone of the citizens who came in tonight to provide these comments to us I'm going to continue to say it is your comments the reason why we end up asking extra questions where we end up asking additional research on the job that we do and we're going to continue to look into many many many of the things that you uh provide to us so thank you for coming in and thank you for those comments all right anyone else all right um the next council meeting will be as follows there is no Monday night conference meeting due to the President's Day holiday in February Council conference meeting prior to the council meeting Tuesday February 20th 2024 at 5:00 pm in the council conference room City Hall council meeting Tuesday February 20th at 7 pm in the council chamber City Hall these meetings will be held in person can we have a motion to adjourn please motion to journ Second yes yes yes yes yes yes yes be safe everyone traveling [Music] home [Music]