Same thing. Welcome everyone to the township council workshop today for Monday, July 14th. At this time, I'm going to ask that the Little Falls Blaze, our team that's being honored tonight, please rise and lead us into the pledge of allegiance. So, please go right ahead.
Ready, girls? Yes. stands indivisible with liberty and justice for all. All right, Coach Joe. You got to get them next time, huh? Thanks, girls.
Appreciate that. Madame Clerk, can you read the statement of public notice, please? Take notice that adequate notice of this meeting has been provided in accordance with NJSA 104-8 and NJSA104-10 as follows. Notice of the meeting was prominently posted on the bulletin board
at the municipal building located at 225 Main Street, Little Falls, New Jersey on January 7th, 2025. A copy of notice was sent to the North Jersey Herald and News and the record on the same date. Additionally, a copy of the notice was filed in the office of the township clerk on said date. A link and a telephone number to join the meeting
virtually can be accessed on the township website at littlefallsnj.gov. Electronic provisions have been established for the public to participate during the public comment portion of the meeting. Madame clerk, could you ask for roll call, please? Council member Patel, present. Council member Murphy,
present. Council member Havitz. Council member Vaneri, present. Council President Scoba, thank you. Mayor, at this time I know we were going to start off with Officer Yunusi, but his family is running a little late. So, I'm going to turn it over to you if you wouldn't mind recognize the young team, the Little
Falls Blaze that's here right now. Thank you, Councilman. This evening, we have team Surfella's fifth and sixth grade championship team who went 10 and0 on their way to become Pake Valley
softball league champions this year. And I see they brought with them their trophy. And I'm going to ask coach to join me up here, introduce all the girls so we can give them a medal and maybe we can get a photo with that giant trophy right here in the front of the room.
No, I'll get all right. Thank you everyone for coming out. Thank you, Mr. Mayor and the town council for hosting these girls and recognizing their incredible achievement. did a great job representing the town and really worked hard. So, let's get started. Um, first
up, Selena Suarez, Emma Purcell, Alina Cena, Laney Sha, Valentina Rodriguez, Ella Forier, Angelina Trap, Talia Abdala, Leila Zanka,
Valentina Charfella, and the rest of the coaching staff. Paul Rodriguez, Brian Zankus, Sorry. Good. Very good. Hey, do this. Carry it. Girls, if you don't mind, we're going to
have two more presentations that I'm hoping you guys can stick around for. Then you're more than welcome to leave. You don't have to stay for this meeting and go take some pictures. Everybody usually take pictures on the steps, you know, afterwards. We have two special presentations that we want to get through. Yeah. So this past Saturday, myself,
Councilwoman Patel, and Councilwoman Hablitz attended the holiday parade barbecue as we get ready for the three town parade. And each of the towns were presented with a beautiful American flag with our township's logos on it, a wood
frame. So, what we wanted to do right now is because the mayor unfortunately couldn't be there as well as Councilman Murphy is just um recognize and thank the fire departments from Little Falls, Wooden Park, as well as Totawa for, you know, giving us this great honor because
I think everyone enjoys seeing the holiday parade come through Little Falls now every year. So, it's a great event. And I know Counciloman Murphy's on the committee and Councilwoman Patel serers as a judge as well to make sure it's just something that you know we're proud to be a part of and we're looking forward to this year's parade. But what
we wanted to do is if the the mayor could hold it up to show everyone this beautiful um gift we were given and we're going to find a spot for it here at town hall as well. Yeah. Yeah. defle. Sure. All right. I'm glad we have a little bit
of a young audience in here for for this one this evening. Uh, every single year, State New Jersey gives out awards to police officers who are very active in pulling over impaired drivers. And the group that leads it is known as MAD,
MAD, Mothers Against Drunk Drivers. And we have a patrolman here in Little Falls, Officer Yanuzi, who has led the way in DWI arrests for year after year after year. And we are proud to have Hey, a little bit more about Officer
Yanuzi's here. Oh, we need to do this all over again. We're missing mom. We're missing his mom. We need to start again. And here's Officer Yanuzi's mom. Very proud of her son. And to tell you a little about officer
Yanuzi's past year, I'm going to invite Chief Brawl up here to say a little bit about the Matt Award. Good evening everybody. Uh, as the mayor uh briefly introduced, um, every year Mothers Against Drunk Driving bestows upon those officers that distinguish
themselves for either drunk or drug driving. So, a little bit about MAD. MAD was founded in 1980 by a mother whose daughter was killed by a drunk driver. Mothers Against Drunk Driving is the nation's largest nonprofit working to end drunk driving, helps
fight drug driving, and supports the victim of these violent crimes and prevents underage drinking. Matt has helped to save more than 400,000 lives, reduce drunk driving deaths by more than 50%, and it promotes the designation of
a non-drinking driver. MAD's campaign to eliminate drunk driving calls for law enforcement support, ignition interlocks for all offenders and advanced vehicle technology. So, some of the statistics um are actually staggering if you look into them. So, we look towards the Nitsa
Standard or the NA uh the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration. More than 13,000 people are are killed on the nation's roadways due to impaired drive uh drug or drunk driving. We call them impaired drivers. In New Jersey, some of those statistics,
uh last year we had 643 fatalities and Matt is contributing about a third of those fatalities to drunk driving. So, it's very important uh the push nationally, even statewide, and myself at the local level is for increased enforcement, increased visibility, and
we can help curb and curtail some of these needless casualties. And fortunately, um we have officers like Matt Yunuzi that work here. Uh Matt has answered that call and um you know his contribution to lessen the people that
are out there causing um hazards to the rest of us law abiding citizens right is uh noteworthy and we're here to recognize Matthew. Um just you know as a personal note anytime that I have an officer here that distinguishes themselves like Matt has
done I think it's important for the community to see his face. I think it's important for the mayor to recognize him and also for this council because um that's what we expect of our law enforcement officers and uh Matt has done an impeccable job in that regard. Uh and without further ado, I'd like to
call up Matt. Matt was the recipient of the P County Top Gun Award. So, not only Matt um um arrested a lot of drunk drivers, Matt arrested the most drunk drivers in uh all of P County as a police officer. And we're happy to have him. We're proud to call him one of us.
Congratulations. I will say we are very proud of Matt to have the top dog here in Safe County right here in Little Falls, keeping our streets safe. Matt, thank you for everything that you do to keep Little Falls safe. Uh you are a tremendous asset to this Little Falls Police Department and we really appreciate you
being here in town with us. You want to take a break? Yeah. So, this is the time where we say parents and the kids, if you want to head out, you're more than welcome to do so. Like I said, take advantage of taking some photos on the steps like we normally do. Thank you for coming out
and congratulations again. Well, thanks. No, mayor does get to keep that open. be a cherry. I'll give him a minute. We'll close his words. Okay. All right. Can I have a motion and
a second to open the meeting to the public for general matters and agenda items? So moved. Moved by Councilwoman Habitz, seconded by Councilwoman Patel. All those in favor say I. I. Okay. Um, Madame Clerk, please uh read
the comment. Anyone wishing to address the township council may do so to the council president. It is preferred if you give your name and address for the record. Comments are to be limited to three minutes. However, if appropriate, you may be granted additional time in the sole discretion of the council president. Members of the public who have joined the meeting virtually and
desire to provide comment shall raise their virtual hand in the Zoom application. The meeting moderator will cue the members of the public that wish to provide comment and the council president will recognize them in order. Members of the public who have joined the meeting by calling in must press star six to mute and unmute themselves and star 9 to raise their hand. Members
of the public who have joined the meeting via the Zoom application must click the reactions icon and then the raise hand icon. Once the process is complete, we will return to the regular order of business. Thank you. The floor is open if anyone want wishes to speak in front of the chambers.
Seeing no one uh inside the chambers as well as on the uh Zoom, can I have a motion in a second to close the public comment? So move. U moved by Councilman Murphy, second by Councilman Patel. All those in favor I. I. I. Okay. All right. So now we are going
to move on to we're going to call on Mayor Damiano to discuss the following items under mayor and administrator's report. I know mayor there is one we're going to remove and table for the next meeting, but I'll allow you to go through them and then we can discuss it. Great. Thank you, Councilman. Um some of
these are very standard. I'm going to move fairly quickly through them unless there's questions such as items one and two, the tax refunds. Item number three, and again, these are standard ones that we see on a regular monthly basis or annual basis. I'm going to move through those a little bit quicker tonight. Uh
the resolution renewing the plenary retail consumption license. That is for a sale of Park West Diner and a transfer of that license. Uh fairly simple. Item number four, the resolution approving the transfer of the plenary retail consumption license. Again, uh the same the bottom item number 16 on this list
on the agenda is the same thing but for Chelas and the sale to occur there. That's why we see this on the agenda multiple times this evening. We have uh two separate ones being addressed. Any questions so far on those? Any questions from uh council members?
No. All right. Item number five is the chapter chapter 159 resolutions and throughout the course of the year as we receive grants which we have received a number of uh recently we need to add them into our budget. So that is what items E through N will be as far as the
resolutions. Uh any questions on that? Any questions? No. Item number six is one we see frequently. Item number seven, the resolution authorizing the change order for Stevens A improvements. This is a 28,000 approximately $28,000 change order uh in relation to the Stevens A
streetscape uh for some additional work that occurred in that area. Um again, 8 9 and 10 are fairly uh I'd say uh normal and we ongoing and annual uh issues. So, we don't need to go discuss those unless
there's any questions. Yeah, mayor. All right. Item number 11 is the resolution creating and implementing the longrange plan to address drainage issues. Uh this is uh an issue here in town as uh basically everyone knows. And
what a night to talk about drainage issues here in Little Falls as we were monsooned on uh over the course of the uh the night walking into this building. uh of course that that is something that we need to address and take serious. So we are uh going to have a resolution
creating and implementing a long-range plan to address drainage issues through municipality uh in problem areas. Any questions on that? All right. Items 12 and 13 are fairly standard resolution acknowledging receipt and review the 2024 annual report of audit and the resolution
approving the corrective action plan for 2024 annual audit. Those are things that we do annually. Uh item number 14 on the list is the one that councilman you just referred to. Uh one that I believe W through Y we are looking to table this
meeting to get some further information uh before having on the following agenda. Any questions on any of those so far? Yeah, counor on uh 11 and I'm sorry 12 and 13 and this is more per our CFO and I have to give him a little bit of applause because he has been doing a
great job and he's and putting his head down but just on some of the uh recommendations on the audit. Um you know maybe in like 6 months maybe we'll try to set a meeting or 3 months from now to see how we're coming along with some of these items just to know that they're being tackled and that we're you know making some progress on them this way for next year we don't really have
any comments and that you know we could have a much smoother year. But yeah, just a comment on that. Thank you. Anybody else have any comments? No. Go ahead, Mayor. All right. And uh the last item on the list as I uh that I haven't addressed, item number 15, is the resolution approving the contract award for panic
buttons and camera service systems. And we have done some homework and research. And we have determined that it is best to opt to exceed or to to move to a different vendor uh for our panic button and camera systems here in the municipality. Any other questions on any
of these? No. All right, that's uh that's my list of items this evening. Thank you, mayor. Can I have a motion and a second to approve the correspondence items? So moved. Moved by Councilman Murphy, second by Councilwoman Habitz. All those in favor
say I. I. I. Okay. Next up, uh Madame Clerk, so we are going to remove W to Y. So are we also removing X, W, WX, and Y? WX and Y. Yes. Correct. So, how do you
want me to So, if if everybody wants if you want to take a vote, do you want to remove Wel, we can move. So, WX and Y are currently on your agenda.
So, you would take a motion on A through V and Z. Okay. Oh, and it goes on, Joe. Yeah. Oh yes, very important. BB make sure you go a and Yeah. All right. So we'll do that and then do
we councelor do we need to then do anything other for wx. Okay. These are resolutions. Okay. They're being pulled from the floor every there's no question from the council uh as to why the administration is pulling them from the floor and it's up to the administration to put them back
on at the next meeting. So there would just have to be a motion, a second on A through V plus Z and BB through BB. Okay, perfect. Thank you. Okay, can I have a motion and a second to approve
resolutions for A through D uh V as well as Z and BB. So moved. Moved by Councilwoman Patel. Second by Councilwoman Habitz. Um Madame Clerk, a roll call, please. Council member Patel. Yes. Council member Murphy. Yes. Council member
Habits. Council member Venterry. Yes. Yes. You're good. Okay. So, now we're going to move on to uh council member reports. Councilman Murphy, you want to start us off? Uh, sure. Councilman, thank you. Uh, just a little update. Uh, I've been
doing a lot of work on the uh domestic violence awareness committee ever since the Bay County uh center shutdown. Uh I've been going back and forth with Mr. Silva uh from the prosecutor's office and uh she just finally got some updates for me and and we're going to update the
web as well, but um we had the shelter in Bet County which was located I believe in in Hawthorne which has also shut. Um and so I just wanted to make note that other counties are kind of stepping up for us uh namely Morris County as well as Essex County. So, those are the counties now that
we're going to be utilizing. Should somebody need a shelter or need assistance, uh we're going to be utilizing their um programs and shelters to kind of step up as well as the state services. Um but we really haven't found the permanent solution just yet. So, this is going to be one that takes a little bit of time. Um but I just want
to let everybody know that we are updating all the numbers. We're going to update all the addresses, all the contacts because that has to all be changed and then probably changed again once that we come up with the permanent solution. Um but that's uh pretty much all I have. Uh, Councilman, just want to update everybody on that. Thank you, Councilman. Uh, Councilwoman Hlettz.
Uh, thank you. Um, just a library update. Um, they are having a special presentation um for the president and uh, Julia Grant at the White House. Uh, that's a special historical presentation
uh, by their great great grandson um, on Thursday, July 25th. Uh, you can register at the website of the library. Uh, also you should stop at the library and see the display of Joan Crawford's, uh, personal articles, uh, which is the
July exhibit, um, and it was supplied by her grandson. Um, the market's going very well as far as the farmers market. Uh, this week we're celebrating National Ice Cream Day, so stop down, have some ice cream, visit our vendors. Thank you, Councilwoman Habitz.
Councilwoman Patel. Thank you, Council Member Cherry. Um, just a few events. So, the following events are going to be taking place at the Clifton at Clifton Satellite Office, which is located at 207 Parker Avenue. Um, they're doing free blood fresh blood
pressure checks on July 24th from 2 to 3:30 p.m. You don't need to register. You could just step uh stop by. And then they're doing free glucose and blood pressure screenings on July 17th as well
between 1 and 300 p.m. So again, just stop by, you know, make sure everything is proper and everyone's healthy. Um, I want to thank the uh the Clifton Health Department. They were at the Fourth of July street fair. Um, they said they got so many of the residents stopping by
getting information. So that was great to hear. We did have a public health committee meeting last week and so in lie of doing a survey which we had initially been floating around to get a better understanding of what residents are looking for um with the help of the Clifton Health Department, we're going
to do um an limited uh township health assessment. So that's going to include interviews with key uh players within the township in addition to focus groups. So they're looking to do that uh in September. I'll keep everyone posted
on that. And then we're also going to be working with Scott because we do want to update the health department page on the township website. Um we're really focused on disseminating educational materials and we thought one of best ways to start was to kind of put that up
on the website, get the word out. So anything there's a lot going on. Um we want to make sure residents are informed. So once we complete the first phase of that, I'll let everyone know so they could check it out. And that's all I have. Thank you, Councilwoman. Um, just some updates from me. I do want to acknowledge earlier tonight before the
start of this meeting, um, Officer Anthony was officially sworn in as a member of the Little Falls Police Department. Congratulations to Anthony and his family. He's had a long journey, you know, from the fire department to dispatch to, you know, class 2 to now to police officer. So, it's been great to see that. And he's right here in Little
Falls and, you know, his family was here. So, congratulations to him. Also want to congratulate Officer Yanuzi. you know, um, Officer Yunesi does great work and to see him recognized again, you know, it's like it's like the chief said, you know, you want to acknowledge this and to do it in front of us and also the residents of the, uh, Little
Falls. So, it was nice to see that as well. Um, do want to remind everyone Thursday um, is the concerts in the park. So hopefully the weather holds up again this week where you can have the band outside at Wilmore Road Park. So if anyone's around on Thursday, you know, please stop by. Um, also want to remind
people the July 26th water fest is coming up um at the Little Falls Recreation Center at 2:00. It's a fun day with the kids diving in the slides, having the water guns. I don't know with this boot. I don't think I'm diving this year. I think I'll just be standing there throwing water at kids. I don't know. But um if anybody's around, it's
hopefully the weather holds up as well. It should be a fun event. Um I also do want to acknowledge the Little Falls uh PBA local 346. Um, as Councilwoman Patel said, the um July 4th street fair took place recently and it was a great event. It was well attended. The weather was
not that bad and it's just great work and uh that they do and to see, you know, everybody from the community stop in and enjoy it as well is always refreshing. So again, you know, kudos to them. Um, that's it for me. Can I have a motion in a second to open the meeting
to the public for agenda items only? Moved. Moved by Councilman Murphy. Second by Councilwoman Patel. All those in favor? I. Thank you. Um, madame clerk, do you want to read the comment? Anyone wishing to address the township council may do so through the council president. It is preferred if you give
your name and address for the record. Comments are to be limited to to three minutes. However, if appropriate, you may be granted additional time and the sole discretion of the council president. Members of the public who have joined the meeting virtually and desire to provide comment shall raise their virtual hand in the Zoom application. The meeting moderator will
cue the members of the public that wish to provide comment and the council president will recognize them in order. Members of the public who have joined the meeting by calling in must press star six to mute and unmute themselves and star 9 to raise their hand. Members of the public who have joined the meeting via the Zoom application must click the reactions icon and then the
raise hand icon. Once the process is complete, we'll return to the regular order of business. Thank you. Can I have a motion in a second to um I'm sorry if there's anyone on the chat that wishes to count. There's nobody in the room. So, anybody on the chat wishes to comment, please
let us know. Seeing no one on the chat and no one here in the DES, can I have a motion in a second to close the public comment? So moved. Moved by Councilwoman Patel, second by Councilwoman Habitz. All those in favor? I I So next part. Can I have a motion, a
second to adjurnn this meeting? So moved. Moved by Councilwoman Murphy. A second by Councilwoman Habitz. All those in favor? I thank you. Uh this meeting is adjourned. Thank you.