welcome everyone to the township council Monday April 14th 2025 this meeting is now called to order all please rise to salute to the flag councilman Venturi please lead us in a salute pledge 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 thank you Madam Clerk please read the statement of public notice take notice that adequate notice of this meeting has been provided in accordance with NJSA
104-8 and NJSA 104-10 as follows a 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 14th 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 found on the township website at littlefallsenj.gov electronic provisions have been established for the public to participate during the public comment
portion of the meeting thank you Madam Clerk at this time please call the role council member Patel present council member Murphy present council member Habits present council member Van Sherry present council President Scoba present mayor Damiano the floor is yours
thank you Council President this evening we have a number of individuals here that we need to recognize including two of our local free throw champions that won here locally and then made it on to other areas of the state to compete at even higher levels Braden and Vincenzo
and before we bring them up and before we bring up our fifth and sixth grade girls recreation basketball championship team we have a couple proclamations that we're going to read and then we're going to bring Olly up here and hand out some medals and we're going to have a little fun we'll take some photos and uh and we'll get you on your way so to start
this evening we have a proclamation recognizing National Donate Life Month and it reads "Whereas realizing the urgent need for organ and tissue donors across the country the National Donate Life Month observance promotes a greater understanding about the life-saving benefits of donation and transplantation
moreover the need is increasing and whereas the transplantation of organs and tissue is a miracle of modern medicine made possible through the compassion of organ and tissue donors enabling surgeons to save thousands of lives every year one organ donor can save eight lives and one tissue donor
can restore health to over 75 others people of all ages ethnic backgrounds and religions are touched by donation and the serious shortage of organ donors that exists according to the New Jersey Sharing Network currently there are nearly 4,000 New Jersey residents and more than 100,000 Americans awaiting
life-saving transplant operations and whereas every capable person should support this vital effort by registering as an organ and tissue donor making their family aware of their wishes and being willing to give the precious gift of health sight and life to people in need and whereas the New Jersey Sharing
Network is spearheading an awareness effort in order to educate the general public about the importance of organ donations and its life-saving mission and now therefore be it resolved that during April 2025 as National Donate Life Month each of us will become better
educated about organ and tissue donation and be it further resolved that I Mayor James Belelfford Damiano do hereby recognize April 2025 as National Donate Life Month in the Township of Little Falls we have three more proclamations for the month of April it's a busy month here in Little Falls and around the
entire state and we have next an Earth Day proclamation and reads "Whereas Earth Day originated in the US in 1970 to increase awareness of environmental problems and was renamed by the UN as International Mother Earth Day and whereas scientists estimate dozens of plants and animals will go extinct each
day due to human activity and whereas humans generate 4.5 pounds of trash per day and according to Recycle Now nearly 80% of all plastic waste ever created by humans is still in the environment today and whereas there are many small things we can do each day that will make a huge difference for our planet such as to
recycle carpool use fuel efficient cars and stop littering and whereas every year on April 22nd two uh April 22nd Earth Day demonstrates environmental support and how we can protect our planet from further harm and now therefore be it resolved that I Mayor James Belelfford Damiano on behalf of
the township of township of Little Falls Council do hereby proclaim April 22nd 2005 2025 as Earth Day in the Township of Little Falls so I have to ask of all of the girls sitting in our front two rows how many of you bring a reusable
reusable bottle to school every day that you fill up i can tell you of the nine of you here that's nine more than ever used to when I went to school so you guys are all doing your part to save this uh this earth good job girls the next proclamation is National
Child Abuse Prevention Month it reads "Whereas children are vital to our community's future success prosperity and quality of life as well as being our most vulnerable assets and whereas all children deserve to have safe stable nurturing homes and communities that they need to foster their health growth
and development and whereas child abusion and neglect is commu is a community responsibility affecting both the current and future quality of life of a community and whereas communities that provide parents with the social support knowledge of parenting and child development and concrete resources they
need to cope with the stress and nature and nurture their children to ensure all children grow up to their full potential and whereas effective child abuse prevention strategies succeed because of partnerships created among citizens human service agencies schools faith
agencies and the business community now therefore I Mayor James Belelfford Demiano do hereby proclaim April 2025 as National Child Abuse Prevention Month in the Township of Little Falls and call upon all citizens community agencies faith groups medical facilities elected
leaders and businesses to increase their participation in our efforts to support families thereby preventing child abuse and strengthening the communities in which we live and the final proclamation we have this evening is the Autism Awareness Month Proclamation and reads "Whereas
autism is a pervasive developmental disorder affecting the social communication and behavioral skills of those affected by it and whereas as more health professionals become proficient in diagnosing autism more children are being diagnosed on the autism spectrum resulting in rates as high as 1 in 54
children nationally and one in 32 in New Jersey and whereas while there's no cure for autism it is well documented that if individuals with autism receive early and intensive treatment throughout their lives they lead significantly improved lives and whereas individuals with
autism often often require a lifetime of specialized and community support services to ensure their health and safety and to support families resilience as they manage the psychological and financial burdens autism can present and whereas Autism New Jersey is spearheading an awareness effort in order to educate parents
professionals and the general public about autism and its effects and now therefore be it resolved that during April 2025 as National Autism Awareness Month each of us will become better educated about autism and create a better community for individuals with autism and be it further resolved that I
Mayor James Belelfford Damiano do hereby recognize April 2025 as autism awareness month in the township of Little Falls and now it's time to embarrass a couple of individuals by calling them up here and saying a few words about all of them
and this evening we're going to start with two individuals but we're going to call them up here one at a time so they're particularly embarrassed as they stand up here with me and the first person I'm going to call up here is Braden Mareno stand right here as I read a few words
about how great of a free throw shooter you were and how bad you made Shaquille O'Neal look with his statistics so on December 7th 2025 Braden won the Pake Valley Elks Lodge basketball hoop shoot for the 12 to 13 age group he then went on to
complete at to compete at the district level at Park Ridge High School on January 5th 2025 and advanced once again to the state level at the state level in South Planefield High School he placed fourth in his age group after a tight third round overtime battle for third place raiden also competed in the
Knights of Columbus free throw challenge this winter winning the local level at the 12-year-old age group and advancing to the district level at the Paul High School on March 22nd congratulations bud let's go come
up good all right the next individual we're going to call up here this evening is Vincenzo Castaldo rocking the pink Miami jersey tonight i love it all right on January 18th 2025
Venenzo competed in the Knights of Columbus free throw basketball contest for the 10-year-old age group he won the contest with seven out of 10 shots which allowed him to advance to the district level on March 22nd 2025 Venenzo competed in the district level at the
Paul High School where he where he won with 18 out of 25 shots moving him to moving him to compete at the state level on April 5th at the Our Lady of Victories Parish Gym in Seerville Venenzo competed for the New Jersey State Free Throw Championship after an
overtime shootout Venenzo came in second place making 21 out of 25 shots in the regular shootout and four out of five shots in overtime pretty incredible statistic shooting over 80% congratulations bud
and before I call up our head coach Dan and our assistant coach Ron I have a few words to say about our fifth and sixth grade girls basketball team who had an unforgettable season finishing with an impressive 9 and1 record in clinching
the P Valley Youth Basketball League Championship this past winter of 2025 with teamwork dedication and relentless effort the girls showcased their skills on both offense and defense earning them the top spot in the league their one loss only fueled their drive to work
harder and they ended the season on a high note proudly holding the championship trophy as a testament to their hard work and determination congratulations girls and now coaches if you'll join me up here to call out all the girls and present them with a
medal before we start we just want to say thank you to the mayor the council and and everyone who invited us here and this is for the girls this isn't really for us we just helped them play as a team um all the credit goals to you girls you guys busted your butts this
this season you did well uh Kayla Finley Caitlyn Stella Pomei Sophia Locanti Jenna Hazen Lyanna Amina Spa
Spahil and Marina Marina Spahrina mans and aras tight can I get over here wow thank you a great season all right and this is the part in the show where everyone's welcome to stay
for the rest of the meeting if you're looking to get out of here perfect time to do so here's one good yeah just Perfect perfect
okay can I have a motion to open the meeting to the public for general matters so move moved by Councilman Venturi second by Councilman Habitz this is a voice v vote all those in favor i all those opposed and this is for agenda items as well madame clerk 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 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 reactions icon and then the raise hand icon once the process is complete we will return to the regular order of business the floor is now open you could just state your name you don't need to state your address if my name is Patul Zan i've been a resident of Little
Falls for 45 years and this is the first time that I'm actually addressing the council that's how upset I am um I am my neighborhood has become um a party a street uh due to an Airbnb that is now
you know it's listed on Airbnb and every weekend and actually today there's tons of people in the house we don't know you know they're causing a lot of noise um I have a sick husband who goes to kidney dialysis multiple times a week and he
wakes up early and we're getting woken up at 2:30 in the morning with loud noises and our quite once quiet neighborhood is becoming a party party street with you know cars all you know out of state plates people coming in and
out weddings i mean it's a residential area this is not a uh a commercial area and I don't know what the rules are for Little Falls with respect to short-term rentals um and I'm requesting that the
council consider some kind of ordinance against this type of activity for the record can you state that address 49 Ridge Avenue thank you does the council members have any questions or comments
councilman Venturi to the floor so is it they're renting it out as an Airbnb yes yes it's And how often is a turnover with It's every weekend and um we we're going to just take it from the podium you're welcome to come up and speak i am
I am representing many people on the block and I can at the next council meeting uh definitely give you signatures from residents that are also upset and they were not able to the ones that were there are some that are here but a lot of them were not able to make
it so we are all um you know I am voicing my my concerns are mirroring every most of the people on the block so and it happens every weekend um I can just tell you there was a wedding with
loud drums um partying um I could smell the marijuana coming from the backyard um again and and then the garbage the garbage situation i mean they they have it's an eyesore they the garbage it piles up in front of the house and with
all the wind that's we we've had recently I'm picking up garbage i'm picking up their garbage and I'm I'm the neighborhood I'm the person that actually keeps the neighborhood clean because I'm always with the blower and I like to keep the neighborhood clean and
now it's a big mess you know they the garbage I I find a lot of garbage now around around the street so anyhow it's it was a once quiet neighborhood and now every weekend it's a party it's a party place and I don't think that's fair to
the residents uh were waking up to loud noises and no it's certainly not fair currently the council's under review of a uh new ordinance to um prevent this type of activity in homes where council has provided a ordinance to the count uh
to the council for review uh we received a draft of that about 4 days ago and we're reviewing it we hope to bring that before council for a vote to um give the authority to our staff to the police to our building department to uh make sure
that people don't have uh don't abuse the homes don't don't overcapacitate the homes um mayor I know we've uh have the building department has gone out to this site that's correct and I believe there may have been a violation even issued i
know it doesn't necessarily give enough teeth immediately there's notices and times to cure issues such as this that's why we have been presented through council uh a new ordinance for the council to consider so that we can hopefully have additional teeth and enforcement and prohibiting and
preventing things such as this yeah i guess my question to the council is do we have an ordinance against short-term rentals and I and I thought I heard someone say that there was something that we're not you're not allowed to rent uh have rent rental for less than
six months um because when you do get attend I'm I'm a I'm an owner of two properties and they're next to this pro my own primary resident and I have another resident right next to it so um I I maintain them and when I when I need
a when a tenant comes in you have to have a CO i mean you're this is constant turnover of people that you don't know who's coming into your neighborhood so that's that's my concern all right thank you you're welcome certainly a valid concern and one that we hope to address
with more teeth in the very near future you're welcome to come up and speak hi everyone uh my name is Jessica i actually live I'm sorry you have to give her last name oh Lopez thank you um I live next door to the Airbnb and I'm not
complaining about like daytime people in the backyard you know there's always going to be people in your backyard enjoying your home but I'm talking about a Sunday night 2:30 in the morning consistently being woken up to bass from the music cars outside beeping
honking hanging out um so I'm really just reiterating what Patul is saying and just letting you know the extent of it that this is consistent and I we actually know the Airbnb listing and we check it and the the Airbnb is booked
basically until the end of summer now so and today we just had we just saw that there's maybe like 15 to 20 younger adults that just booked the Airbnb and who knows if they're here for spring break and I mean we're all working people i have to be at work 8 a.m monday
through Friday being woken up at 2:30 in the morning on a Sunday is not really ideal and again I'm not complaining about someone just having a barbecue on a Saturday during the day no this is in the middle of the night and we need to go to work so I just I know you said
that there's something in place for the councilman to review and approve but in the meantime is like is there something else that we should be doing when this occurs because it's going to keep occurring until something is done if you feel like this uh uh this home is uh
disturbing the peace you're welcome to call the police you're welcome to call the building department if the litter is out front and whatever uh resources they have to use they will use okay all right so just I guess until something if something gets approved for now we just
have to keep contacting the police well I can tell you it's going to come before council and something will be approved um we have many rental uh homes in this town two families um and also multiple families so the ordinance has to be
really vented so that uh I think what's occurring and this is my opinion that this is more of a single family use issue uh it seems that it also stems because we're located in a town that has a college so that seems to be driving um some of these issues gotcha okay i
confirm I can confirm that on uh April 1st code enforcement issued a court summons to them the issue is with this process as everyone's aware just because you're issued a court summon on April 1st doesn't mean your court date is for several weeks and then the owner will need to appear uh and unfortunately
that's why a new ordinance may be necessary sometimes individuals find and feel that paying fines may be worth what the current summons or cost may be and it may be worthwhile to continue that that's why having a stronger ordinance on the books as the council is being
urged to consider here is considering uh is is one of those things that has become necessary as a result of this and one or two other similar issues in town so it's certainly something that we're we're taking serious we're trying to address unfortunately the short term short oh my goodness shortterm recourse
is to call the police anytime you notice a noise violation or something of this sort okay and I I just want to make it clear we're not abusing this we don't want to call the police department but again a Sunday 2:30 in the morning consistently I got to call you have every right to you have every right to
complain about that uh as a resident absolutely and it's something that if you call the police at that time they can assist in addressing uh we will continue to do everything we can from our perspective to address that um but you have the right to stand there and complain right now for sure thank you thank you
everyone would anyone else like to come up you're welcome we're very easy here come on you You're very We're very easy you You come up to the podium and tell us he wants you officially do it on record because you're You
sure you sure is there anyone in the chat that'd like to speak to us this evening thank you see no one else I'd like to come before us can I have a motion to close the public moved by Councilwoman um Patel
and second by Councilman Cherry all those in favor I all those opposed motion pass mayor one two and three please all right council first is a tax refund resolution that resolution uh has to do with a veteran who did not receive his
exempt status timely has paid a couple quarters worth of taxes and is entitled to a refund of approximately $35 $3,600 off the top of my head so that is the first again we see this from time to time as exempt statuses uh become available to individuals in town uh the
second is a any well any questions on the first pretty self-explanatory i know we see that from time to time the second is a resolution allowing the consumption of alcohol products on municipal property uh and currently our ordinances do not permit uh alcohol to be consumed on municipal properties throughout the
entire municipality from time to time exceptions or exemptions are asked to be made this is one uh from the the Montlair library from the through the library for the Montlair uh art um
Montlair art project that is looking to serve uh champagne on premises at the library uh they are asking for a one-day exemption to be permitted to do so through this council and by resolution this council can permit them to do so uh this is an event where they're just
looking to attract a large number of people uh who can enjoy themselves uh looking at the art exhibit while sipping on some champagne again from time to time these requests are made i don't think this is one for individuals to stay up till 2:30 a.m with loud base throwing a rager in any location in fact
it'll be in our municipal library where we'll have some additional control uh so this is one that I find to be reasonable and is the council is being asked to consider any questions on item number two all right moving on to item number three
uh this is an ordinance that is looking to establish restricted areas in municipal buildings as this council is familiar there are some portions of the building that access to the public can and should be restricted because there may be personal and confidential
information in areas uh or areas that are unsafe to the public for storage and other such uses uh I do have one recommendation or suggestion in reviewing this ordinance one additional time and that is one of the sentences
under 180-1 restricted area that currently reads bear with me here as I I circled it and of course Okay don't know what I did with my phone other side of the basket other side of the basket thank you and I circled it on
my phone and it currently reads I'm sorry it's under 180-2 and it currently reads that it indicates how signs should be uh signed throughout the town where we are looking to prohibit or prevent individuals from having access and it says any variation of the above
well I'll read the whole thing the township of Little Falls shall be required to post signs outside of offices which read the following but not limited to the following wording restricted area authorized employees only recording or photography is strictly prohibited violators are
subject to criminal prosecution any variation of the above language shall include shall all include violators are subject to criminal prosecution the concern currently is that there are a number of signs throughout the municipality that read something similar
to the above but don't necessarily also state violators are subject to criminal prosecution and the concern is that if a sign does not state that it may not then be a violation of our ordinance and I'm asking that this council consider language there that reads uh the above
language may include violators are subject to criminal prosecution uh so that in the event that language is absent it does not obiate the ordinance or a violation of the ordinance if somebody were to access that area so on
that verbiage may what's the issue right so um the mayor did make me aware of it i made a note for the uh clerk to make uh that change when the ordinance gets posted that that shell language gets replaced with a may and also with regard
to the first sentence mayor where it talks about imperative or uh the township of Little Falls shall be required to post signs i felt that that imperative was probably um over over broad so what we're going to amend that
to is Township Below Falls has the authority to post signs once again um just so everyone's aware and I'm sure that the mayor covered this that the real point of this is to protect your employees uh and to provide barriers we had a very
serious issue at one of the other towns I represent with a gentleman that felt it was okay to truly severely and dangerously invade the space of a municipal employee uh as she was coming
and going from uh town hall that he basically would lie and wait so to speak for this municipal employee to come out and we didn't have signs because look this is a poorest operation right you want the public to come in it's their
building they're paying the taxes uh the employees are getting paid by the taxpayers you don't want to close out the public but on the on the other side you do have sensitive records you do have people who have uh you know unfortunately we saw over the weekend uh
people who have uh ill intent so this is really a means by which you double up with signs and the uh protections that you already provide to your offices any questions on that thank you mayor have a motion to approve
resolutions A through C so moved by Councilman Venturi second second by Councilwoman Habits is a roll call madam clerk call the role please council member Patel yes council member Murphy yes council member Habits council member Vaneri yes council President Scoba yes have a motion uh to approve the
following correspondence so move moved by Councilman Ven Cherry second by Councilman Murphy this is a roll call please call the role council member Patel yes council member Murphy yes council member Hav council member Vaner yes council President Scoba yes madame Clerk please read ordinance 1515
second reading and public hearing of ordinance number 1515 an ordinance entitled an ordinance of the township council of the township of Little Falls in the county of Pay state of New Jersey to amend chapter 33 cannabis of the code of the township of Little Falls thank you the public hearing on ordinance 1515
is now open does anyone wish to speak on 1515 seeing no one to come forward to speak on 1515 the uh hearing is now closed have a motion to adopt 15:15 so moved moved by Councilwoman Havitz second second by Councilman Venturi
please call the role to adopt 1515 council member Patel yes council member Murphy yes council member Havtz council member Venterry yes council President Scoba yes madame Clerk please read ordinance 1516 second reading and public hearing of ordinance number 1516 an
ordinance entitled an ordinance of the township council of the township of Little Falls in the county of Pay State of New Jersey to amend chapter 280 zoning of the code of the township of Little Falls thank you the public hearing on 1516 is now open does anyone wish to speak on 1516 seeing no one come forward to speak
on 1516 the public hearing is now closed have a motion to adopt 1516 so moved moved by Councilwoman Patel second second by Councilman Venturi please call the role for 1516 council member Patel yes council member Murphy yes council member Hlettz yes council member Vaneri
yes council President Scoba yes all right um um Madame Clerk please read uh ordinance 1517 and can you read it with the amendments is that possible or no or no as amended i'm sorry we we'll do it as amended i'm sorry introduction
of ordinance number 1517 an ordinance entitled an ordinance to establish a new chapter in the code of the township of Little Falls chapter 180 entitled restricted areas in the municipal building with a second reading and public hearing scheduled for May 12th 2025 thank you have a motion to
introduce 1517 so move moved by Councilman as amended as amended as amended as amended councilman Murphy are you okay with that as amended 15 yes i'm good with that moved by Council Murphy second by Councilman Venturi roll call on 1517 to
introduce council member Patel yes council member Murphy yes council member Habits yes council member Vaneri yes council President Scoba yes counciloman Patel thank you Council President just a few things um the 2025 spring rabies clinics for dogs and cats um is going to
take place in Little Falls on Wednesday April 30th from 5 to 7:00 p.m that's going to be at the DPW um the P the public health committee has been working with P County hope one van and essentially they're a mobile
outreach program where they have professionals on board to help with mental health questions um resources things of that nature so when I get more dates and they're confirmed I will let everyone know um our health officer John
Beagle and his team will be at our next meeting to present the annual health report and finally my next public health committee meeting is going to take place on Wednesday May 14th at 6:30 and that's right here in town hall that's all I
have council President X thank you Councilwoman Patel councilwoman Habits thank you Council President uh first I'd like to say to all of our residents um a blessed Passover and happy Easter to all those who celebrate um some library updates uh the garden club from the
library will have a presentation a natural journey uh planting herbs on Monday the 28th at 6:30 p.m at the library uh they're also this Wednesday is a chess club uh with Mr campbell at 3:30 at the library and as always you
can check out their social media pages and their website for the latest updates um also our spring shred event will take place on Saturday April 26th uh right here at Town Hall from 9 to 1:00 p.m um it is open to little falls residents only and it is a paper and electronics
recycling event uh so do your spring cleanup and bring it down here to our municipal building that's all I have thank you Councilman Venturi thanks Council President uh first I do want to acknowledge you know last week a longtime resident member of the Little
Falls Fire Department um Lenny Shark aka Sharky passed away you know yesterday was the wake and today he was laid to rest i just you know want to share my condolences to his wife and his entire family of course the members of the fire department if you knew him he was such a nice guy and will be missed uh some
other updates on my end just want to say thanks for you know the recent autism awareness uh flag raising that we had at town hall thanks my colleagues for being there as well as the residents that showed up it's always good when you know we're able to have the community come out to raise the flag for autism awareness month and tonight thanks mayor
for the proclamation uh just a couple other updates still working on the details around the May 23rd concert in the park on that Friday night right before the parade which takes place the next day on May 24th that's also coming along just um working with a lot of the vendors that are going to be involved in
both nights and hopefully by the end of this month if not early May I'm going to look to plan some time just to kind of coordinate with uh fire department DBW and Little Falls PD on all the details for both nights um I do want to also mention too hopefully you know I reached
out to the LFAC as well as our rec director um this past weekend unfortunately the opening day ceremonies and parade were cancelled due to the weather for baseball and softball so hopefully now since that's not going to be made up the the kids that are in softball and baseball want to be a part of Memorial Day parade so hoping to have
those kids back in because typically in the past they've skipped it since they've had their parade in April um I do want to mention one thing too that's been driving me nuts as you guys know for a long time and that is the bane of our existence the traffic light on uh Francisco and Cedar Grove Road um to say
it's been a wonderful experience is a lie between the poor communications from public service as well as our engineer we are consistently asking the question over and over again what is going on and we don't get concrete updates because neither one of the parties understand
how to communicate uh especially when you call them or ask them via email and we've seen a number of accidents of course happening lately mayor I was going to ask if you wouldn't mind because our engineer is not good at communicating and we reach out to him this week to ask for an update on timing
because there's always an excuse of five days 10 days 15 days before you know it it's been four and a half months so it's very upsetting I think to a lot of people and every time there's an accident I'm not going to lie to you my phone rings get a text message I get yelled at by people or someone that's almost got hit it's very frustrating at
the lack of communication from the parties that are involved and you know we see it too with the Stevens AB parking lot again same situation where it's been over a year we're waiting for PSCG to communicate there has to be a better way and I'm hoping that this light is addressed and then maybe
afterwards another conversation is warranted with PSCG to fix the parking lot on Stevens because a lot of things are being held up there and we get complaints about it as well because it's not finished the way it should be but I would just encourage you if you wouldn't mind reaching out to the engineer because I know we've tried a few times
myself Mr a drone um but we're just not getting the communication that we deserve and it's pretty frustrating so that's it for me thank you Councilman Ventur councilman Murphy thank you Council President uh just want to mirror the words of uh Councilman Venturi too for Lenny Shark
uh knew him very well and he he was definitely an asset to this township and just a tremendous tremendous guy and uh for those that don't know he was probably one of the most active members down at Singak Fire Company and uh one of the regular drivers for engine 3 and so and there was a call in town who was on almost every call so definitely going
to be an asset and uh and a person that we're going to miss dearly in the in township and uh in the department as well uh just want to uh go over some of the details of our last domestic violence uh awareness committee meeting we had a busy meeting because we have a lot coming up um we set a couple dates
of events that we'll either be hosting or attending one of the biggest being uh at the for the seniors of Pake Valley High School on June 5th uh we were able to facilitate an event so I want to thank um principal Vorhees as well as county prosecutor's office for helping
facilitate that uh we had a really really good turnout last year for the senior class this year we're able to put it even earlier in the year um so I want to thank them for their help on that we're looking forward to it um we're also looking to potentially open that up to the public that same day maybe later in the day we haven't fully put that um
forward yet but I'll let everybody know if we are able to open up to the public um it was a really really good presentation and I think it'd be good for even parents to come at some point so we're trying to get uh a date or if possible that same day later that day uh open up to the public so I'll keep everyone posted on that um we also have
the parade that we'll be attending and hopefully some farmers markets i'll be working with Councilman Vincent as well as Councilwoman Hitz to uh set that up so a lot of good things coming for the committee uh this year that's all I have counc thank you thank you may 2nd's going to be our spring fling uh the
flyer went out an email blast went out uh the contact information is on the flyer you could contact direct uh it's going to be held at the civic center there will be no alcohol at that event um $20 a
non-residents councilwoman Patel i know your committee came up with verbiage for the COVID memorial kind of been on hold with that memorial but I think the way we should go about that is to try to solicitate uh solic solicit a few businesses to uh to pay for it and do it
as a donation versus uh the township doing it and going through all the bidding process and etc um and maybe what we could do is uh try to find a few of those businesses that would be willing to do that find a location get the okay from the mayor for that
location and then move move accordingly i I can work on that counc um Chief anything for us tonight like to uh echo the same comments from the uh council uh I knew Shark was a fireman
with shark 30 years ago you know I grew up in Singak he you know lived on Belle my whole life i think he's been there since the 50s if I'm not mistaken my house was built uh but the family's great uh he is he is he was the last you know of the three to five club at the
Singite Firehouse you know we lost some great great men great volunteers for this community uh and it's just a testament really of of the um the heart of the volunteers and how it's so strong in this community and I just wanted to take the time to recognize not only
Lenny but everybody that really passed before him it seems like a lot of the uh the old-timers are you know not sticking around like they used to and uh and he was a he was a veteran he was a VFW guy so that's always important so I want to you know give my condolences to the
Shark family thank you Chief i have a motion to open the meeting to the public for agenda items only so moved by Councilman Ventur second by Councilman Murphy all those in favor all those opposed motion carries madam Clerk please anyone wishing to address the township council may do so through the
council president it is perverted 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 and the sole discretion of the council president members of a 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 now open see no one in the chat and I see no one coming before us have a motion to close the public so moved moved by Councilwoman Hav second by Councilman
Ventur all those in favor while those opposed I want to thank Melissa for helping uh set up for the insurance meeting this evening for getting the food and getting us organized thank you to uh our madame clerk and to Vince for helping me put this meeting together
have a motion to uh to close moved by Councilman Van Cherry second by Councilman Mattel all those in favor I all those opposed this meeting is now closed