specifically theual was emailed to the West S6 tribute in Star Ledger on January 3rd 2025 the agenda and resolutions for this meeting are available on www. Livingston nj.org certain portions of this meeting may be closed to the public for the purpose of
personnel and their other matters as outline in the Sunshine Law decisions made Andor discussed in Clos sessions will be made known to the public at later time notice to the members of the governing body and Township staff any use of electronic device during this meeting shall be used solely for the purpose of Township business and any
communication are subject to the open Public's record act to the extent possible this evening's Township this Township of Livingston council meeting will be live streamed via Facebook at facebook.com Livingston Township NJ questions or comments will be accepted by emailing live comments at Livingston
nj.org by 4M on that day of the meeting and shared with the Town Council Members before each meeting each speaker should follow the rules of order in Livingston code 2-15 roll call please council member Anthony here bani here present Deputy Mayor Klein here mayor
mhart here we're going to rise for a moment of silence followed by the Pledge of Allegiance um I ask all of you to keep in mind all of the victims of um terrible atrocities that have taken place throughout the country especially
in the Middle East this past week when uh one family uh was reunited with uh two of their very very young sons and their mother who were killed as results of the October 7th Act the United States of America the stands
Nation God indivisible and justice for all all right couple of housekeeping uh items um Essex County update eileene Fishman it will not be here this week she has a uh
meeting of her own to attend to uh for those of you who are here for the following um one introduction resolution which is 08-20 25 that will not be read will not be introduced this evening it will be
pulled for a later date as well as consent agenda item resolution 25-11 will not be part of the voting uh group as well so now that we've taken care of that I will turn oh um I will turn the meeting over to Chief
marshs many year you're like you're like our six councilman I want to welcome everybody to Livingston tonight we have a lot of visitors from outside of town this is always an exciting night for us um and you'll understand why when
I start reading what these uh young officers have been through so uh my name is Gary marut and I have the privilege of serving as a police chief here in Livingston I think the microphone is it on you you want to hear me got put up
okay I want to thank the council and the manager for inviting us here and giving us the time in our meeting a successful Police Department is humble well- trained proactive engaged with the community I believe we have that here
and I think the Govern governing body shares in that success since March 1st is manager Lewis's 7th anniversary in Livingston I think it is important note he has now hired or promoted two-thirds of the Department in the last seven years so happy anniversary to you
manager Lewis uh we are here for a ceremonial swearing in to introduce our new officers to the council to the public and to the other employees of the township uh we're one big family here in Livingston and um certainly we're a family in the police department what but we're part of a larger family with 300
300 plus employees I believe at this point um and to give their families a chance to celebrate with us so I know we have a lot of family members here and uh certainly they sacrifice as well so they they earn this tonight as well um also
we want to recognize the achievements of so many officers internally who helped in the hiring process uh we hired a lot of officers in Livingston over the last 14 months last couple years um Everybody helps uh from the top to the bottom internally in the police department they
take a lot of pride in selecting the young officers that they're going to train and go on calls with and that's going to be a part of their lives for the next 30 years um so I certainly want to give a shout out to all the officers involved in the process um and actually let me stop there I'm going to tell you
what they've been through uh the officer the officers for the process for these officers started over a year ago by submitting a lengthy application uh competing in a written examination uh passing a difficult physical
examination and that was just to get them to the first interview after several rounds of interviews and writing samples the successful candidates were invited to a final interview with the two new captains this is the first time we had our two new captains participate uh the chief of police and Al also the
township manager only then do they get to be called a recruit and then they start the rigorous process of 22 weeks in the police academy so they certainly been through a lot and it takes us about a year to get an officer fully trained and up and running in the township um
again I just I would be remiss if I didn't mention uh Lieutenant Collins who was actually our administrative Sergeant at the time and he put a lot of time and effort into this process this hiring process also off of this hiring process we have three in the police academy right now in Mars County Police Academy
so we've been busy just want to give you a couple quick numbers uh when we started the process over a year ago we had 250 applicants that applied for the job um 190 took the written exam on March 25th the top 75 test scores are allowed to
advance to the PT examination um at the physical uh we had no shows we had disqualifications and then the rest of our candidates had to submit to a written interview uh writing interview uh we again all along through this whole
process we have no shows if people decide it's it's not for them it's too rigorous for them um and then we had 15 candidates that uh went to the final interview they also had to go through psychological testing medical testing and a bunch of stuff that they had to do for the police academy as well so if
you're not proud of them if you weren't proud of them you should be now if hearing that um all right I'm going to start we always like to include our council members um we again we have a great town from the uh top this is a great place to work in Livingston nobody
leaves us they get hired here you stay here for 30 years and some case you stay a little longer than 30 years but um we we we like the fact that we have a lot of dialogue with our our governing body and our council members so we'd like to include them in the process so I'm going
to call up officer Ryan LaVine badge uh 291 for the manager and uh mayor Minard I would like mayor mehard to come down and Ryan can you bring up your family as well I have the Bible and who's going to who has the Bible I do
I read a little bio I read bio Ryan just turn around face the crab don't face me face face the crap um I get to see you every day now they they want to see you so I'm going to read a short bio on all the officers as I call them up with your family your family's
going to participate in swearing in it's a ceremonial swearing in they're already police officers and then we're going to give people a chance to take a photo of the families and then uh we're gonna continue to do that and at the end we'll call up all of the U officers to take a group photo at the end then we'll get
out of here because they actually do have business to do tonight but uh officer Ryan LaVine attended rabo Ramapo College of New Jersey graduating with a bachelor's degree in Psychology officer LaVine was PR has preious previously served with the New York City Police
Department um in the 110th Precinct from 2021 to 2024 officer LaVine graduated from on the Mars County Police Academy class 103 in November of 2024 and will be assigned to the Patrol Division upon his completion of the field training
program officer LaVine would like to thank his fiance Julia D Lorenzo she up here hi Julia uh and his family for the years of love and support so you ready all right we're going to have you put your hand up on the Bible who up there's
the mayor mayor Minard's going to help we usually have a family member hold the Bible and then uh you want this mic is that okay yeah I get a break it's okay if I take the mic out of your hands for two minutes I know it's I know that's tough for you I know it's tough for you but I'll figure it
out all right all right we ready okay I Ryan LaVine I Ryan do solemnly swear to Solly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of statey and that I will bear true faith and that I will bear
true faith and allegiance to the same ALG to the same and to the governments established and to the governments established in the united states in the United States and in this state and in the state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people I do further solemnly swear I do further solemnly swear that I will Faithfully
that I will faithfully impartially impartially and justly perform and justly perform all the duties of police officer all the duties of police officer in the township of Livingston in the township of Livingston according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability so help me God so help me
God congratulations stay up here we're gonna take a photo for family hold on I forgot to let all right our tradition of Livingston is if they have a a family member that's a police officer they pin them but in this case tonight it's going to
be me all night been which is good for us it's showing that there's young people that uh want to be police officers that it's not just a Legacy Legacy micr congratulations you know Uncle Jessie do the voice over
okay next I'm going to call up officer Matthew rer badge 292 and bring up your family Matthew with you face out everybody all right Officer oh wait I yelled at if I'm not on the microphone all right Officer Matthew
rard attended the College of New Jersey and graduated with a bachelor's degree in history officer riger graduated from the Mars County Police Academy class 103 in November of 2024 and will be assigned to the Patrol Division upon his completion of his field training program
officer rer would like to thank his wife Cecilia rert is she here and uh and his family for the years of of love and support now I oh I'm sorry I got to call down Deputy Mayor F right
okay I Matthew riger I Matthew rer do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and that I will bear true
faith and Allegiance and that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same to the same and to the governments established in the United States and to the governments established in the United States and in this state and in this state under the authority of the
people under the authority of the people I do further solemnly swear I do further solemnly swear that I will faithfully impartially and justly perform that I will faithfully impartially and justly perform all the duties of police officer
all the duties of police officer in the township of Livingston in the township of Livingston according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability so help me God so help me God congratulations don't go you have to sign too
yeah badge on out so they can see your face they don't want to see my face want to see congratulations congratulations officer congratulations welcome okay congratulations thank you man
okay next we're going to call up officer Conor morston bring up your family yeah all right so uh Conor Connor's badge is 293 uh my badge is 193 so it's kind of bittersweet because a hundred
officers have have walked through the door between me and you so we're going to forever be connected there so and you know what they're all heroes just remember that they're all heroes to me so uh officer of Conor morston attended
mberg the Berg all right uh college and graduated a bachelor of Bachelor of Arts degree in finance officer Maron graduated from the Mars County Police Academy class 103 in November of 202 4 and will be assigned to the Patrol Division upon his completion of his
field training program officer morston would like to thank his girlfriend Renee Monaco and his family me and his family for the years of love and support we're going to call down uh council member Al Anthony
um it's be hard for him to hold it so you just got to go back you just to go back and we have a time limit I state your name I Conor Marston do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the
Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and that I will bear true faith and that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and allegiance to the same and to the governments established in the United States and to the governments
established in the United States and in this state and in this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people I do further solemnly swear I do further solemnly swear that I will Faithfully that I will Faithfully impartially impartially and justly perform all the duties and justly
perform all the duties of police officer in the township of Livingston of police officer in the township of Livingston according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability so help me God so help me God congratulations give that Chief yeah
hey congratulations hey congratulations got put your actually he know he knows what he knows what's important hold on I think think I like his priorities you T him well he walked away I trying to he knows
his priorities he got too excited he ran away from you all right way to go congratulations thank you thank you on to page two all right I'm going to next call up officer uh Christian pimental and bring up your family
Christian I'm still practicing with your name so do I get it right or I get some you know some bad information from the officers Gary's very white you have to read him you smart I think I think they set you up
yeah I think you got no doubt no doubt I'm sure of that I'm your okay Officer uh P Matel 294 um attended Ruckers University and graduated with a bachelor's degree in criminal justice and political science
officer pel graduated from the Mars County Police Academy class 103 in November of 2024 and will be assigned to the Patrol Division upon his completion of the field training program officer Pim minel would like to thank his girlfriend uh
Joselyn Chavez yep I got that right okay and his family for the years of love and support you ready to do this sir all right oh I'd like to call down uh council member Michael Vieira to help us ik
I Christian pel do solemnly swear I Christian pel do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and that I will bear true faith and
allegiance to the same and to the governments established in the United States and to the governments established in the United States and in this state under the authority of the people and in this state under the authority of the people I do further solemnly swear I do further solemnly swear that I will faithfully impartially
and justly that I will faithfully impartially and justly perform all the duties of police officer in the township of Livingston perform all the duties of police officer in the township of Livingston according to the best of my ability according to the best of my
ability so help me God so help me God see again on board congratulations conratulations you're welcome thank smile than all right our last swar in tonight is Ryan Shepard officer Ryan Shepard can you come forward badge
295 and I'm G to ask council member bhutani to come down and spend some time with us all right I'm just going to read his bio real quick and then I'll let council member bhutani take over we didn't forget anybody right
okay okay Officer Ryan Shepard attended seatan Hall University and graduated with a bachelor's degree in criminal justice officer Shephard graduated from the Mars County Police Academy class 103 in November of 2024 he would be assigned to the Patrol Division upon his
completion of his field training program officer Shepard would like to thank his girlfriend Natalia alada alota okay I'll I promise I'll I'll practice I knew I didn't have that right I knew that one that one I knew I
didn't have right thank you for calling me out on it though I appreciate and his family for all the and families included uh he wants to thank his family for all the years of love and support and I just got to share one thing and I know the captains don't like when I go off script but I remember
in his interview he came to the final interview two captains Town manager and the chief in the room and we had a great conversation and he talked about how how much he learned from all the different coaches playing uh uh baseball at Sean Hall University and we had a great conversation about winning and losing
and being part of a team and he just really knocked it out of the park in the interview and then at the end he's walking out we're shaking his hand and I just haven't asked a question what was your batting average right and I will not share it with you what his batting average is but I'm going to let you know
that he won as far as I'm concerned the number one quality in a police officer is honesty so so I always I always appreciate that quality honesty right
s you you got you got great Kudos right you AC the interview and everything so so ready sir so yeah left hand and right all right so I state your name I Ryan
Shephard do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I'll support the Constitution that I will support the Constitution of the United States and Constitution of the state of New Jersey of the United States and the constitution of New Jersey and that I will bear true faith and that I will bear true faith and
allegiance to the same and allegiance to the same and to the governments established and to the governments established in the united states in the United States and in this state and in this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people I do further solemnly swear I do further
solemnly swear that I will Faithfully that I will faithfully impartially and partially and justly and justly perform all the duties of the police officer perform all the duties of a police officer in the township of Livingston in the township of Livingston according to the best of my ability according to the
best of my ability so help me God so help me God congratulations congratulations congratulations congratulations he's like guys are like badge number 194 I wonder if like Russ has 194 pictures the exact same
I'm gonna ask the two captains to come forward real quick I have a very brief closing remark and we're just going to take a group photo with our two uh captains we have Russell Muller and Joseph Deandrea all
right we all learned again this weekend that policing is a dangerous job yes even in Livingston in our region this last weekend we lost two officers in Virginia Beach and one in York Pennsylvania officers are thrown into uh dangerous situations including domestic
disputes arrests car crashes bodily fluid exposures chemical exposures and the list goes on and on they are all heroes and I know I speak on behalf of the governing body the captains and myself when I say we will do whatever we
can to keep them safe safe and get them home to you thank you very much for coming tonight we're back here the same picture somewhere that no one's ever seen so this is so wait before everybody files out
can I just get I'm I'll take the mayor's prerogative for two minutes if you don't mind and and just uh speak one minute speak um on behalf of the entire Council and on behalf of the entire Livingston Community First I'd like to welcome the five of you uh we thank you for serving
we thank you for I know the protection that you will give all the residents and we look forward to many many years of service so thank you to the current officers to the captains and to officers who are not here this evening um the town cannot thank you enough I say it at every event that I go to that we go to I
should say we are so fortunate to have all of you protecting us not today not yesterday but every day throughout the year I said it yesterday at the event that we had the rally um for the state of Israel I thank the officers who were there and I thankk all of you for
protecting all the houses of worship in this town all the residents the students of this town and all the schools um we cannot thank you enough and we are so proud to Stand By Your Side and we thank you all very much okay dismissed good how you doing cap Che the
see thank you guys thank you guys very much all right this is what they raise question so it's interesting answer so I got inter question an interesting answer on the question
talking I'm just asking John told me his thoughts but I just asked if he could just ask his brother but there may be something more to it than just like yeah but we yeah but at 7,000 oh but that's not even that
absolutely you talking about the idea about getting throwing out for out people yes addressing your important question my I you me the other I'm sorry I think you meant the other question about the actual repayment of the no no no I mean the other important thing men I would like to hear that answer well this is part of the answer but I asked him to just to you the email for I meant
to cop I'm sorry I sent a very nice thank you email to Michael told me you were going to yeah yeah and I did I forgot to I'll forward it I'm sorry about that um I'll read a second yeah all right so we will move on to the business portion of the meeting
um can I have um uh a motion to approve the minutes of the February 10th 2025 and the 2025 close session meetings so moved second all those in favor I I okay thank you um before I open the meeting to the
public comment section on agenda items only I'm going to ask uh our attorney caner our attorney J caner to say a few words on one of the one of the resolutions thank you mayor um tonight we have ordinance 07 2025 on for
introduction uh this is an ordinance adopting the Livingston Mall Redevelopment plan and the governing body asked me to give a brief overview of how we got here uh there will be a public hearing on this ordinance um that will be scheduled well there'll be a more full discussion if anybody wants to
discuss but how we got here was um the township of Livingston settled its third round uh fair share housing obligations uh by a settlement agreement uh dated October 30th 2020 as part of that agreement there was a paragraph in there it's at 9C
um that described that the township was required to put overlay zoning on the Livingston Mall if there were certain conditions present um we got into a dispute with fair share housing Corporation around that paragraph um fair share housing Corporation filed the
motion in which they wanted the township compelling the township to Zone the entire Mall um the mall is 60 Acres um the township doesn't believe that all 60 Acres um should be for residential or affordable housing um so we went into negotiations um as part of that motion
practice and the result of that those negotiations um was an amended was an amended settlement agreement that was dated July 22nd 2023 um it was through a lot of hard work not only for myself but from Mr Lewis and the entire governing body and
we really kind of we we set a press in New Jersey that no other Township was able to do um and there's two major benefits to the settle agreement that we entered into one is we limited development on the all pursuant to what we have to do what's out of the
Township's control um the development as part of the third round obligation is limited to the 376 units which are on the agenda for tonight and to the sear transform coite it's was basically the sear site um in our agreement it states that fair share housing and no other
developer can force us to develop the rest of them all for residential in the fourth round um which is a huge win uh uh for the Township in addition it provided us with Surplus credits um and our agreement provided that those Surplus credits could be used um in the
fourth round um which is also something I haven't seen other mpal so the idea was the settlement allowed us to um what fairshare housing got was some residential zoning on the property what the township got was we said we already fulfilled our third round obligation um so these units should count towards the
next round and fair housing agree with that and we also were able to um negotiate that the rest of them all was completely under the Township's control so that was considered you know a victory for the township so we entered into an amended settlement agreement um
on August 8th um 2024 we had a fairness and compliance hearing uh in Superior Court at that time um pursuant to the fairness hearing the court found our agreement to be fair um so this agreement is binding on the township and fair share housing Corporation um as
part of our compliance um the township is fully compliant with its surround obligations but for the ordinance that's before this governing body tonight um so we're mandated to do this pursuant to a settlement agreement but I want to be clear we're not doing this because we're being forced to do it we're doing this because it was part of a settlement that
was beneficial to the township and we want to do this this allows the township to maintain control of the mall and limit residential to the sear site as far as what we're being forced to do and that's what's on tonight I also want to point out some highlights um and some negotiated points again through the
governing body's hard work and Mr Lewis's hard work um we negotiated with fa housing um and this Redevelopment uh provides uh for 376 units um 75 of them uh being affordable out of the 301
Market rates um 45% of them uh must be a minimum of 45% must be one bedroom uh a maximum of uh 55% maybe two bedrooms and only 50% of those will have DS so I think the governing body along with Mr
Lewis did uh a good job in uh keeping you know we we're trying to keep obviously the impact to the schools at a minimum um and we think you know this is the best way to accomplish that obviously the affordable housing will have impacts on the schools and we limited that to the 75 units that were
part of the settlement agreement which we're getting credit for in the fourth round obligation um so that's what's before the governing body uh tonight for introduction again there'll be a public hearing if there's any more information needed so when the Public's invited to come out and participate at public
hearing thank you very much councelor and thank you for all your hard work as well uh in getting the settlement to where it was you and know you spent many hours negotiating as well with the rest of us and so we thank you for getting to this point as well as with Barry Lewis as well so Barry we thank you as well for everything to get us
here uh now can I have a motion to open the public comments for agenda items only motion to open the public comments for agenda items only all those in favor I I okay the meeting is now open to public comments on agenda items only hi Mr Mayor Justin Albert a resident of
this community um with respect to consent agenda uh item 4 25908 contract with Spartan fire for that ladder truck uh thank you for the conversation in the back room about looking at uh tax policy and impact fee
and seeing what changes laws we need to make uh to put that assessment the cost of that on all of these institutions that are building up multi story uh buildings in our community and by the way uh you know having suffered for
seven years under absolute power of the Democrats the Republicans believe that tax policy is going to be a fundamental thing to reclaiming drum flacket and if we can make a change to how we apply the taxes to residential vers commercial
it's going to be a game Cher item 15 25109 uh temporary emergency appro Appropriations please pull that off so we can have an conversation don't really understand what's going on there uh item
16 25110 rejecting all design build proposal B bids it seems Mr Mayor that this design build program has been an absolute disaster having taken years and years and years this seems to cement it
please pull this from the agenda so we can discuss it and find out uh the thoughts of this Council um item number two for introduction 06 2025 to exceed the municipal budget
appropriation limits and establish a cap Bank not really clear what this is about or why it's needed uh welcome a conversation about that uh and lastly item uh three ordinance 07 2025 adopting Livingston Mall Redevelopment plan this
has now been a year behind closed doors this is really the first time we're hearing it we don't understand whether this plan being presented is a Fed comp or whether you're genuinely looking for input from the public and if so on what what do they actually have input for
what is the status of the condemnation are we moving forward with that because if the developers are going to get the upside here their returns are going to approach Infinity over the course of time 376 homes um you know how did we get to
this number and is there a master plan to deal with the rest of the property uh at the re at a recent 2 on2 have you discussed with the schools the addition of s 376 homes um but basically with respect to this when we come in next
week is this just a presentation to tell us what you all have done behind closed doors under attorney client privilege because it had something to do with litigation uh we have to hear from the attorney rather than the mayor and um it
feels like we've lost control and it feels like there's an opportunity to regain control on this absolutely trophy property in Livingston so if you could let us know what is it that you would like to hear from the public when you present this next week because um we can
certainly come back with any one of a number of items but you spent so much time behind closed doors and you may be so committed to this plan that we don't want to be antagonistic to you but we want to be helpful and a and what is it that we're doing
here and uh perhaps most seriously what is the status of the condemnation thank you Mr Mayor thank Justin so I will tell you that we are going to be having um it's called a shet process but in other words it's really called some Town Hall meetings that is going to be run by
professionals where the entire entire Livingston residents will be invited uh over a course of five days there'll be there will be sessions during the day during the midday during the evening so everybody can participate and everybody can give their opinions on what they would like to see at the mall it's very
important I agree with you by the way that you're 100% correct that it's important to get the Buy in from the residents and that's exactly what we're doing it we're going to have a financial gentleman working for us as well who's going to be to understand to the residents that 60 Acres of the mall whoever is going to purchase the mall
whatever it's going to be worth may not be able just to do 60 Acres of open space and Fields because that's not going to pay for it that's not going to pay for the cost of 60 Acres healthy construction is helpful exactly but you have to follow the money in the appreciated value of the real property and if that's being taken over by
elements outside of this community we are again at a loss we don't have much control over who takes over so because we don't own them all I don't think I don't where are we on the consummation I don't think that I am would be in favor
of voting for um um what is the proper terminology um what we did with the um what we did at um not condemnation no the um a a domain to take over the mall at 70 at a cost of 6070 million I don't think that's probably proper the way to do it okay
can we talk with Arbitrage Council about that because we have investment gr credit ratings we can Arbitrage the position against the infinite returns that are going to go to the developers bring it in house and lower our taxes we are hoping to have uh this uh Town Hall process for the week of March 17th
there'll be a lot of um notification out to the whole town whether it be on social media websites as well and we certainly look forward to your participation there look forward to a new Administration in drum flacket that will return control to the localities any other comments on agenda
items only Hello all Tim Foley resident of the town I just got one question who who or what's the process of changing a commercial piece of property into a residential slash commercial property
because that's what all these places are turning into there there were all commercial properties and now they're being changed over to commercial/residential so who has the authority to do that is this the Town Council or so there's there's several different
ways but when it comes to affordable housing um you could overlay zone or in this case they they went through the Redevelopment process the mall was an area in need in Redevelopment and we did a Redevelopment plan uh for them all okay you know but we have but we but we
have seven properties that were commercial and now there's residential going those prop those properties actually wound up in the in the uh third round for they were in the third round so the developers went to fair share to put those pieces of property in the third the the third round where they had
the right to do so outside outside people basically made these choices for us as as as the council and and the resident so none of you had anything to do with we we did not vote on so there was a third and fourth round of fair share housing all everything that you're
talking about is all related to fair share housing the third and fourth round of fair share housing was voted on by the assembly and the Senate down in Trenton okay those rules then come back to us and because of those rules passed the people who own those other properties that you are talking about
had the right to then take it from a commercial property to a residential property Tim spent a lot of time and energy fighting this no I I I I I understand so I just want to be yeah my time so I just want you to know yeah it was it was this was you're asking I'm trying to be educated right now asking a
very important why I'm asking why and you're saying it's within the town council's purview of deciding this but this was decided uh in an extra legal process not an EXT legal a legal process that was something that we were contending and we we weren't excited about the results so I mean I just you know that's that's what that was again
that's why I'm up here because you know all of a sudden from commerci now it's commercial and resal I the fourth round is different uh the third round was mainly litigious it was mainly negotiations with fair share housing there was mainly um Clos held negotiations the fourth round is a totally different process it's an open
process the planning board is going to be uh of the planning board is going to take a lead on it U we're probably going to have our planner our planners going to introduce properties so it's a different process it's going to be upfront the township is going to put its plan forward rather than a settlement agreement between us and fair share housing Corporation okay that the fourth
round excuse me one second so I don't mean to I don't mean to say go against the our attorney but the fourth round itself is we're being we we were actually asked two weeks ago here two weeks ago I think it was to vote on a number of amount of fair share
Apartments fair share housing that we decided to vote for we didn't want to do that we were told that we had to do that by what something that was passed in Tren well I you know I'm not going to speak on policy if the governor body is for or against having affordable housing in the township but but it's legal mandate that we have affordable housing
and in the third round is too much too much I mean I mean seriously I mean majority of us up here I know you grew up in town I grew up in town you guys moved into town I understand all that and it's all great that you guys are doing a great job I understand that but when is too much too much I'm I'm I've
been here since I was four years old my again I'm the fourth generation here there won't be a fifth no one can none of my none of my kids none of my nephews or nieces your kids are not going to be able to afford this town so Tim I don't know if
you saw our planner's presentation last week but it was very interesting that if we had zero land available we would still owe 388 units to fair share housing and that's just the that's just the affordable units they have a market component to them so you're right Livingston is not being treated fairly in the process but it's being mandated by our legislature so mayor may I say
something so we were forced to have literally a f minute meeting to uh we voted on the Westminster hotel and we said no we didn't want that okay and that was done um amongst ourselves okay fair share housing literally made us
wanted wanted us to reconsider we reconsidered we had a f- minute meeting and we all voted that down okay literally except for councilman bhutani we all voted it down okay well they came back and said you know what you don't have he wasn't on the council he wasn't on the councel yeah I I I I knew I knew
that I I knew that you see what so so the state comes back and says n you don't have a choice and now you see that it's a pile of rubble we didn't want that we were forced to have that and uh we all voted against it so that that that's how powerful that that fair share housing Corporation was
unfortunately it's ruining New Jersey it really is we all agree it really is ruining New Jersey so but thank you for educating because that's why I came up here just I I wanted to be educated a little bit because I didn't have enough time to do my homework so one other minut if I can
so I'll I'll just add one thing to this um I think we discussed we you heard that that this council is really againsted trying to you know make sure it is it is in the best interest possible one of the things in Silver Lining out of this I try to see the some some hopeful part of it is what the
council touched upon is the third round the feedback of third round somewhat that is started to becoming somewhat transparent we able to push back that's how if you if you saw last last time's uh you know conversation from 467 to 407 we're trying to do as much as possible
within those limits that are set on us to reduce it to make sure we give the feedback we draw lines we we we provide models no land available but still right exactly those are the types of developers to help with infrastructure because it just seems
like nothing's I mean the S plant the S plants already at its level I know I'm I'm I'm I'm it's specifically in the law that infrastructure is not a consideration the third round it was no consideration in the fourth round There's a constraint if you have water or sewer constraints but other than that
roads schools police fire is not a consideration for Shing if I'm not mistaken our sord our sore plant is almost at capacity so how how are we adding all these new new apartments that is a that you can reduce your number based on sewer capacity and water capacity which is new for the fourth
round but not roads not schools not police not fire it's part of the statute and that's ridiculous because our fire department is saving this town $15 million a year by being volunteer we we could not agree with you more and we're happy to give you if you're ear interested happy to
hand you the I'm happy to email you the email addresses of of of the leaders of the 27th District the assembly two assemblies and one state senator who they're the ones the they're the votes that voted so please do I app I'm happy happy do I just on your note your very
important note on when you said about the fire department but that was also why this Council like felt really strongly about the new stiens that we're that we're uh to show the appreciation uh that we have we want people who work and who volunteer in this town to understand that we we we see you right right and we care and I'm not here for the fire department no I'm I know you're
not but I just want we we agree we just we fully and completely agree with your point and we have acted on that okay no I know and Tim we know you're not here for the fire department but also uh you could tell the members of the fire department the Quint is on this uh uh agenda tonight everybody knows already
good and and they're happy yes you are good any other any other comments uh on public agenda items only motion to close second all those in favor I all those
against uh just one second since we close just one more thing on the agenda item since we talked about it I would like to thank um publicly um Mike ISO and the Tribune especially Mike for the editorial that you wrote a few weeks ago uh thanking I like on behalf of everybody Thanking us what you what you
said about taking trying to take control of our fourth round and getting ahead of that so we certainly appreciate that um we have been working hard on that um you right we were behind on the third round significantly due to Prior leaderships and prior uh uh um councils that we had
prior to that but now we are certainly getting ahead of it and getting and you saw what we did a few weeks ago so thank you for those nice words we are up now to passages of ordinance final hearing um carollyn will you please read ordinance 03225 for second reading yes mayor this
is ordinance 3-22 amending and supplementing chapter 29 traffic and parking can I have a motion to open the public meeting I'll make a I'll second it sorry all those in favor I okay uh the uh meeting is now open for comments
on ordinance 03225 I'll make a motion to close the hearing I'll second it all in favor I all against okay a motion to move I'll move second okay council member Anthony
yes bani yes Viera yes Deputy Mayor Klein yes mayor mhart yes going down to the um introductions ordinance 05-22 please ordinance 5-22 amending
chapter 135 filming I'll move it on first reading a second any comments comments mayor I would just say that um I this was something that I had uh read about uh becoming a a a film friendly town and I was very excited about this idea and
then I I I talked to uh some of the members of uh the staff including uh Adam and they were already on it it was already something that was in motion so I think that um if you know Livingston's a beautiful place and it's uh you know making it a film ready town it's
something to help promote it and uh show everybody what a special place uh that we live in it's a way to make a little a little change in our pockets uh by having people film here so it's also fun and exciting and uh I think this is a great ordinance thanks mayor mayor may I say something sure so I I think this is
um just something that we needed to do because clearly it looks like New Jersey is going to become a a film State especially with the uh construction of a giant uh Netflix Studio down uh down in Mammoth County I think New Jersey is gonna become um really a almost like a
uh a Hollywood California based on the size of the Netflix and uh I think we're just taking Smart Steps to uh to get us ready for that thank you any other comments or okay council member Anthony yes bani
yes viea yes deuty mayor Klein yes mayor mhart yes ordinance 6 d225 we oh I'm sorry public hearing is March 12th 2025 March 12 thank you pleas please read 06 2025 ordinance
6-22 to exceed the municipal budget appropriation limits and to establish a c bank I'll make a motion to approve the ordinance on introduction first reading I'll second okay discussion and you want to any
comments just briefly we decided to the based on the auditor's recommendation this is normal every time we do budgets that we have normally we go to 2.5% % by law but they allow us to go to 3.5% only
an appropriation increase has nothing to do with tax increases but it just allows us to go up and we do that every year so it's just standard we're doing it early this year thank you very much any other
discussion please council member Anthony yes bani yes Viera yes Deputy Mayor Klein yes mayor mhart yes and mayor the final reading on this will be March 12th 2025 all right thank you 07 2025 please ordinance 07 2025 adopting Livingston
Mall Redevelopment plan I'll move the ordinance for introduction I'll second discussion or we had we've had enough or any other comments an I'm sorry um carollyn please read the roll call uh council member
Anthony uh yes bani yes via yes Deputy Mayor Klein yes mayor mhart yes and mayor the public hearing will be March 24th 2025 so not the next meeting but the one after thank you uh 08225 is being pulled so can you please read 09
2025 ordinance 9-22 appropriation of 2, 35,000 bonds for various improvements mov it discussion council member Anthony um just one second sorry sorry I thought I
um and would you be able to describe this one a little bit any comments will be good here please well briefly um we have a we have to purchase a loader and it's for DPW it
it totally broke and in order to fix it it's $80,000 so we decided that we would do a capital ordinance and purchase a new one it will take four months and that's 50,000 and then on top of that I asked the department heads what what needed to
be done before the budget which we're going to introduce on time this year um and some of it was also some of the engineering projects that she wants to do drainage so I included that in in this ordinance thank you thank
you any other comments okay please read roll call council member Anthony yes bani yes Viera yes Deputy Mayor Klein yes mayor mhart yes and mayor of the public hearing will be Mar March 24th 2025 thank you very much uh all matters
listed with an asri are considered to be routine and not controversial by the council and will be approved by one motion there will be no separate discussion of these items unless a member of the governing body so requests in which case the item will be removed from the consent agenda and considering its normal sequence on the agenda as
part of the general orders as mentioned earlier we will not be reading uh the last one 25-11 does anybody on the council want to pull out any of the other ones for separate uh hearings or readings I have a question on um I think
we got to wait till uh we have to wait for the discussion until after we uh until after we move it or all right go ah uh just on 25 105 for uh just for um for Barry uh the on the on the truck that we're getting I know
we're buying that through a um a collective personal so does that guarantee a best price for us I mean um is there do we do we in other words if if we know a truck we want do we go to different Ford dealerships and try to price it out or do we um or yeah I mean the any of the co-ops competitively bid
we do check multiple co-ops if they offer the same vehicle um so it does it guarantee that if you went out to bid you might get one cheaper you might but you'd also spend a bunch more time and Personnel staff and advertising and things associated with bids so generally
speaking uh the person cooperatives provide I think very good value and again we check multiple Co OBS thank you I will say councilman that in most towns when they put Vehicles out for bid dealerships don't bid because it's just they're not used to doing it and the public bidding process is so cumbersome
that you typically will not get bids if you put it out for vehicles I mean just for my education do you have to put out for bid or can you actually just you know go to different dealerships and price out you have to buy for bid for that okay thank you if you want to buy for dealership put it out you put out a couple times and if nobody responds then you can go out to the dealership but
Co-op is typically the way to go cuz you you typically do not get responses to bids or vehicles thank you councilman batani thank you mayor um so I want to just uh talk about 25102 maybe Barry or Adam uh the underlying part here is go
pilot um and I think the go pilot is is really something that should be known to our residents it's a fantastic Service uh I personally used it and it's uh it's something to be seen maybe this is the opportunity to just quickly talk about
that what is this about and just describe it please yeah C pilot is in a um workflow system that resents are able to interact with specific departments on a variety of different um levels so everything
from report to concern uh gov pilot has an application called um I think it's gov alert that you can use your cell phone click a pothole it'll geotag your location and send it to the appropriate department to get fixed uh you can do everything from property Main
to any non-emergency item you could put out there uh this also has a lot of the forms that you'll start seeing online more and more we're going to start seeing these online forms these forms all have a backend workflow uh what it's
enabling the township to do is as all this information comes in it's going to create a workflow create a tracking we're going to be able to see everything uh departments instead of in the past unfortunately has been very siloed with government we're kind of bringing everyone together
uh different departments are going to be able to see different things and all that information is going to be brought together so we can work better together uh the other thing that this program and software has is a fantastic mapping capability so if you go to our Livingston website there's a community
map uh on that map if you click on a property you can find out a lot of information so instead of having to come in to town hall to get a tax map you can now just go online click on the property click on tax map and it will be right there uh there's also a wealth of information about that property if
you're also looking for information on that um uh the other part is you know we receive a lot of O requests uh specifically from Realtors who you know are just doing their due diligence on a property to make sure that construction
things are closed out and you know information about the property now uh reers are able to go onto this mapping system click on a property and see uh some of the construction things that are on there uh we are still working on the software it's very new so we're throwing
a lot of information into it we're getting more departments uh involved with it and so it is a kind of a growing process so uh you know stay tuned more more will be coming out with that we're going to have every almost every department on it and um hopefully it'll
be so far has been a great addition to what we're doing so thank you very much I think that's that's an important part and and and I know it is 10 two is about service contract for the go alert but I would really really uh underscore the importance of having smart government
that can be utilized using something that's on your phone almost every every time throughout the day which is the app go alert download it you know enable the location services walk up to let's say I get a lot of service requests or or or information saying how do I get rid of a
dead tree right in front of my yard you take your phone go up there click on it and the and Report gets done it's that simple and I I'm not trying to simplify it oversimplify it at the workflow that Adam menion that has underlying mapping to it so it does work and I think just
want to use this opportunity to underscore that so thank you any other um you good K are we good okay any other um questions on any other agenda or the consent agenda items or anything you want to pull anything out before we read them all
that being said an carollyn will you please read 25 everything but 25-11 resolution 25- 095 authorizing the award of a contract to Porta fillers LLC resolution 25- 096 sale of surplus
vehicle resolution 2597 authorizing the award of contract to Beacon planning and Consulting Services LLC resolution 2598 authorizing a contract with Spartan fire l C resolution 25- 099 authorizing
the award of a contract to Gibbons PC resolution 25-100 authorizing the award of a contract to Edmonds govtech resolution 25-11 authorizing the award of a contract to Primo LLC resolution
25-12 authorizing a contract with yorktel Corporation resolution 25-13 authorizing purchases under the educational services Commission of New Jersey purchasing program resolution 25-14 authorizing purchases under Union
County cooperative pricing system resolution 25-105 authorizing a contract with paramis Ford resolution 25-16 authorizing the award of contract to Colliers engineering resolution 25-17 authorizing the award of a
contract to Capa Services Inc resolution 24-18 authorizing the award of a contract to Stan Al Construction LLC resolution 25-19 authorizing 2025 temporary emergency Appropriations and resolution
25-10 rejecting all design build proposal bids for the construction of a new Department of Public Works building mayor I'll make a motion to approve the resolution is remaining on the consent agenda second okay um roll call please council member Anthony yes
bani yes via yes Deputy Maric Klein yes mayor Reinhard yes all right can I have a motion please to open the meeting to the public portion on any subject motion to open the meeting to the public comment second okay the meeting is now
open I'm sorry all in favor okay sorry the meeting is now open for the public portion on any items you'd like to speak about hello everybody hello how are you good nice to see you again hi nice to see you you speak into the mic please
just just speak good okay hi um Mr Mayor Edward minart and council members how are you my name is Laura Tamayo and Caroline Puma uh we're members of sason Livingstone um nonprofit organization
and we also part of the lcdi and uh we want to invite uh to participate in one of the activities we have planned for Saturday March 8th which which is the international day and we're going to have a
fundraising event um this a special day which is the international women day on uh Sugar Tree Cafe from 5:30 to 9:00 p.m. and well we want to invite you to
participate and to the entire community of Livington to participate with us on this important day and like I said we are um doing this fundraising event for the activity we have planned for Sunday um September 28th which is a
Hispanic heritage festival here in Livingston um and this is going to be our third year so we're so excited and planning a lot of activities for that day for the entire town of Livingston yes we will also like to ask for the permission to see if we can post
our flyer in the city hall and any other property cities maybe the senior citizen um um and um as we say is we are a nonprofit organization and we appreciate everyone's support that we want to put at the city of Livingston to expose to
the Latin Community as well since we are a minority here but we want to let you know about our culture as well so thank you very much I know we all have and more important we are supporting the local business all our events were trying to do it to support the small business also in Livingstone
so um I I don't see any reason why to say no I know we can post stuff in town hall I'm not really sure what our rules are maybe can we get a copy of the flyer and we'll get and one of somebody will email you back tomorrow they myself Mr leou or mayor that's all sure I I I got your I just want from a personal standpoint first of all welcome it's great to see you we all had a great time
at the last couple events I think we've already approved the date in September I think it came up in front of the council a while ago through the lcdi so we're all excited we already approved that date in September for you um I just I just from a personal standpoint I got your email which you sent um I'm going to send a contribution and support it I
will not be uh in town that weekend so I won't be able to attend but I promise to send uh and help help send a donation to make sure that it gets supported as well thank you so much so there are spaces in the community center like when you walk in there are racks for the like on upcoming events and stuff so you will be able to put I think the question was
here no I know but they also mentioned the community center so you won't have trouble finding places there for sure thank you any other comments Micha mayor I just want to just say the that you guys are doing a fantastic job trying to make raise money for suon I I know that's not a a a very cheap uh event that you put on but you guys I
think this is I was at the two of them already I think this is may be your third one and thank you for um sugar tree with liliana's uh business uh just uh representing that that that's great but keep up the good work thank you so much I appreciate it thank you thank you
very much any other comments on anything that anybody would like to talk about we know you are you don't have to introduce yourself again I know you guys know me uh thank you the last time I was here uh a
police officer did catch the garbage truck at 3:30 in the morning and my mother-in-law says there hasn't been anything picked up that early so thank you for you know getting the police involved and you know and hopefully you
know these guys are ticketed if they come back you know that's that's what I'm hoping for so um I just sent you guys pictures it's still the same property but the dumpsters we need to figure out something it's not even that this lot I
have a bone with with with with with them doing what they're doing right now with with the dumpsters they're blocking the driveway you can't get into the one side of the driveway we need to think about some sort of ordinance that dumpsters need to be put back in the places that
that they're supposed to or get them fenced in because not for nothing I don't want to be looking at dumpsters uh especially in next to a residential area you know so it's something that you I'm I'm
asking the Town Council to to to look into maybe some sort of fencing around uh the dumpsters on all the commercial properties and Barry is that a is that something we could maybe discuss with uh zoning officer Marty we into it
certainly any new development applications we require that and I think when we looked at this before the this situ because the property's been there so long right but we can look into whether we could amend it to sort of take away any because those two those two dumpsters again they're not even on
their prop the proper property now you know and it's it's like the garbage I mean I know it's the garbage company's fault for not putting them back but the property owner or business owner should really be putting their dumpsters back where they belong not
just wherever they the garbage men want to just dump these dumpsters you know and again we that parking lot is like a Minefield so I think we need somebody to get get there for the properties because one of the
pictures you can see there's two craters right there and it's not not easy for I mean I'm surprised the the comp the businesses that are in those few buildings aren't complaining he Barry I have a question do site plans expire I know that these businesses have been there a long time but there's got to be
some sort of site plan on file where it specifically says where the dumpsters should be those buildings been there that long they may not have had a site plan okay could be plan but those two dumpsters used to belong to Harry's Hardware which used to be next to the
building now they're can we check though bar in the other check and talk to code enforcement as well and look at whether there's an opportunity to mend the code to take you know to get past any grandfathering status but that brings up a good question for those businesses that don't have site plans or uh they
were there before site plans they have car blanch or is there something that the council can do uh well that's that's what I was suggesting we can look into what we can do in terms of The Grandfather's status all right and that's not the only piece of property that you see dumpsters all over the place too so but if possible if you know
let's look into an ordinance that we have to at least Corral them in certain places and and then if if the businesses don't do it then we have to go after the the you know the gar garbage carriers you know put the stuff back where it belongs and not just dump and run you
know or pick up and run I should say not dump did you send me the pictures as well or can you I think I sent pictures I don't think I have your cell number so all right again thank you for hopefully the garbage people don't come at 3:30 in the morning anymore we're
trying you're you're you're a you're a prime example of what happens and I tell people all the time that if you don't come and tell us the issues how could we ever correct it so I tell people all the time who come they complain but we never know so thank you for letting us know
because that's why that's why the mic is open to talk so thank you absolutely thank you guys oh yeah hi Mr Mayor Justin Albert 56 am I'm sorry a residents of this community uh one holding closed session uh without
notice uh prior to the public Hearing in the conference meeting it's inconsiderate of the public that's the Public's time there was no notice sure emergencies happened this did not seem to be the case uh there was concern when we adopted originally I think it was
during the Vie Administration holding uh closed before uh that this would be a problem it's obvious a a problem as a matter of consideration of the public whom you invite to those meetings would appreciate if you could hold your closed sessions afterwards two uh we if we are
if we are inducting the best of the best into our police force if we had a community banking facility we would be offering for them to move in to one of the homes that we're building here in Livingston uh to live here make a life
here build the local culture here uh we don't have that banking facility unfortunately you know the governor was looking at that preco when uh mayor uh when Council Deputy Mayor Klein and I uh went to go visit uh the mayor's speech in Maplewood right before covid he
talked about a state bank but ultimately that went nowhere uh hopefully during the next Administration we can look at a local bank because we will find that paying skilled and educated people real living household incomes to do the work that responsibly needs to be done will
only cost a fraction of what we think if they're banking locally and their interest is secured by the value of real property three um has there been a two on two recently in the last two weeks uh we actually we actually met we actually met with some of the we met with some of
the Board of Ed and we had some very good discussions on updating them on all the housing um apartments that are coming out and so they're now up to date on everything now that they weren't before are they prepared to plan for the new housing that's going in at the mall well it's interesting you said that because I asked for an update on the um
what they call their long-term range facility plan um and I'm not sure exactly um when that's coming out but I did ask for that because I would like to read as well let me cut you off there uh thank you sir uh lastly um when uh
Council maniera was running for office for the first time he spoke very fondly of the weak form of local governments governance and then today spoke about how many things were pushed over our heads and enforced over us um we should
move to a nonpartisan government that's easy we should move to a broader de perhaps have three people at large and five members uh regionally where we can actually begin to take control over the real property in our regions um but we should really explore a stronger form of
government and welcome you to direct the township attorney to report back to us about our different government options because we may very well appreciate having a stronger form of governance thank you very much Mr Mayor thank you very much J any other uh comments um
have a motion to close so second all in favor I before we move on to the I we did rece just make one comment on that Justin sure um I I just wanted to say Justin you talked about a weak form of government it's the government is not weak it is a statement
about what the power is of the mayor relative to the rest of the council but the government is strong it's just a question of what the what the relative power is between the mayor and and the rest of the thing get up to Jared pushed over your heads so does no one takes a
stand you don't take a public every municipality in the state has had to deal with fair share no matter what their form of government is and they've all had so so your idea that there's a weak government that wasn't able to you know push back against it's just nonsense it's not true it's literally true Mr Al he's not having a
conversation he's responding I'm sorry I didn't mean to interrupt your time the problem with with Mr Alpert is he's bringing he always brings politics into this room no no Justin you don't have the microphone no more okay you don't have your three minutes Justus you are the only person that ever
comes into this this chamber and talks politics you are the only person okay none of us up here bring our politics into this chamber except for you because you're happy with the way things are getting things pushed and you're not happy J all right justtin I thank you
um just one more comment for for the tri we do we do allow some some some live comments back and forth here unlike other unlike other educations um so just real quick I want to read a letter that we received because we always we hear some not great things sometimes some
okay but we we receive something very nice I really wanted to read and um let everybody know some of the great work that's done by some of our town uh Town employees uh this comes from uh the Eastman Management Corporation it says your mayor mehard I'm writing to commend their professionalism and courteous
demonstrated by the employees of the Livingston water department our building located at 290 West Mount Pleasant Avenue recently experiened a major water may break we immediately contacted Ralph Ray for assistance and he promptly arrived on site along with Michael
Salerno and Andrew J Andrew J gista there sorry I'm sorry shista sorry I butchered that name their Swift response and teamwork ensured that the situation was quickly brought under control preventing what could have been become a much larger issue thanks to to
their efforts the water main was repaired our building has since resumed normal operations we Seely appreciate the quick and efficient response of Ralph Michael and Andrew and to please be sure we recognize these gentlemen that we recognize these gentlemen for the outstanding service and dedication
letters like that um that we receive and comments like that and emails certainly makes me and I know the rest of this Council very very proud to sit up here and have dedicated employees of this town so thank you so thank you for sending that in we are now going to we are now going
to move on to the reports of Township officials and council members uh an yes thank you mayor a few things um we have scheduled the budget hearings with with each of the head department heads for March 11th and that's a public meeting
and that will be notified that be the the notify will be going out to everybody uh if it has not gone out already today no it will go out by tomorrow 48 hour notice also I wanted to mention that um thank you to the council for increasing the budget for the Aid to the first aid and our volunteers we were
able to um distribute $35,000 to our volunteers and also to hsala $115,000 everybody was so thrilled it makes a big difference and also the volunteers the fire volunteers were also going to be Distributing almost
$100,000 so thank you for that I I think everybody's just thrilled thank you good stuff no update tonight uh Barry uh nothing other than just sort of join I didn't have an opportunity and they're gone now
but uh to recognize the chief the captains and all the officers that showed up uh I think uh they collectively they take very seriously recruiting and and really have built a tremendous department and it was kind of eye openening to for the chief to mention how much turnover we've had
since I've been here but U that that's all I thank you Russ uh nothing tonight mayor thank you okay councelor uh nothing tonight mayor thank you carollyn nothing for me mayor thank you okay I think this week's uh this meeting gets Kon gets to speak on behalf of the council thank you mayor right you knew
about this right uh yes okay thank you well this one this one I was not yeah so so I'm going to start with and I think this uh as as mayor said I'm going to be on behalf of the council uh let me first say um Tim what you did and what
you brought up to the microphone and have the conversation about the education is what we really need and and truly appreciate that I didn't have that on my comment but after having the seeing that exchange and the exchange of a strong government is what make all
this possible right it's not a weak form of government um and I think on all of this uh it's important that that the residents engagement is continuous and thank you for that uh another great note is that tonight uh an outstanding win by
our our Lancers hockey team 10 nothing I think they they they they they deserve a an awesome uh this a state tournament and they they really crushed it it's a first round you know why it's a first round but it is it is still a state
state tournament uh no no no I think I think all of us can be there and still they will still win I I think they're that good they're that good um but on the flip side right I mean on the flip side a couple of things uh noticing and then all of us were part of it um
there were pains in our community I mean um mayor talked about uh when we when we when he asked for us to pray um uh the the parading of of the bodies of the hostages by Hamas and and and and
anything that goes something like that um outrageous inhumane there are number of words being floated around um but then when it comes down to our residents you see that pain in their eyes when we were there at the rally all of us we saw that pain uh come true um
and these are our our brothers and sisters right our neighbors you know so we We join in their pains and I think um uh you know it's it's I will stop there but I think that was that was one moving rally and and congratulations to the organizers uh arranging that in a short
amount of time and still had an impactful uh Gathering of of residents um in past couple of weeks since we met last time we had a few events other than the the the rally for support for Israel I talked about that was on uh February
23rd we had a good meet and greed with sanskriti it was a very Lively conversation of U that sanskriti Community um just this uh evening we had a fantastic uh art show uh that AP students perspective fantastic music
uh so anybody in the township who are who are watching listening or or will get to know about this please come on down in the town halls uh and and check out those those art art effects it's fantastic uh some of the council members and the mayor uh uh where at the read
Across America so in the Colin school there were there were good reading that went in I think that's that's an important uh event um before I go to the next set of events that we all going to be I'm going to put a uh put a plug here uh this week's west6 Tribune um I would
I would recommend the residents to pick up a copy and and see uh personally I love history but look at the section B and look at what we have and what we and Tim you talked about it uh four years old and further right I mean that's the
history we are all proud of so so I would say just just take a look it's just amazing uh piece of uh journalism there um and uh wishing uh folks who are who are celebrating mahashivratri and
Ramadan speaking of which um we will be having a crescent Mo lighting uh on 27th uh many of us will be at the at the uh another charity event uh which is grown from Livingston cycle for survival
on March second we have an Arts mural competition um at the Heidi gallery on 7 of March um judging the judging of it thank you mayor um and then there is a an athletic event uh Livingston oval is
actually going to be a a running uh you know track uh so it's the second annual running event on 8th of March and we heard about San fundraising uh and I think the next council meeting is not Monday so is
Wednesday uh but before that we will have a change in the clock right so I think that pretty much uh covers it from my side I learned something new every day I did not know that the when the clock changed so thank you very much for that so Kane thank you very much for
those I think uh you had an all of them I you know I'm I did say it at the very beginning uh I'll just reiterate the one more time about um the rally that was yesterday I was so proud of all the councilmen um being there supporting the state of Israel I thank them all for
their time to come um and you know what we saw this past week with the return of the bodies uh the buses that were deliberately tried to be blown up and thankfully they were blown up at 4 in the morning and not 8 in the morning uh in a bus depot and not on the crowded day during the rush hour um we continue
to pray for peace in the Middle East so thank you at this point we are going to go back into Open Session into the conference room and as Kon did say the next meeting will be on the 12th of March not the 10th thank you thing