held in accordance with the open public's meeting act. An adequate notice of this meeting has been provided as required by the law. Specifically, the annual notice was emailed to the West Sussex tribute and star ledger on January 3rd, 2025. The agenda and resolutions for the meetings are available at livingstonj.org.
Certain portions of this meeting may be closed to the public for the purpose of personnel and/or matters as outlined in the sunshine law. Decisions made and or discussed in closed sessions will be made known to the public at a later time. Notice to the members of the governing body and township staff. Any use of electronic devices during this
meeting shall be used solely for the purpose of township business and any communications are subject to open public's record act. Uh to the extent possible, this evening's Township of Livingston Council meeting will be livereamed via Facebook at www.fas.comlivingston township.
Questions or comments will be accepted by emailing live comments at livingstonj.org by 4pm on the day of the meeting and shared with the township council before the meeting. Each speaker shall follow the rules of order and Livingston code 2-15.3. Roll call, please. Council
member Anthony, here. Bonnie, here. Vieira present. Deputy Mayor Klene here. Mayor Minhart, I'm here. We're going to rise for a moment of silence followed by the pledge of allegiance this evening. We certainly take in uh to our hearts the memories of the 28 innocent people
who were killed last week in India for the purpose of only because of their religion. And so we certainly remember all of them and uh we uh keep them and their families in our hearts tonight. Thank you to the flag of the United States of
America to the stands nation for all. All right. Eileen Fisherman, you are up. Nice to see you, Eileen. Good evening, council and mayor. Good
evening. On um May 3rd, hazardous household waste day, 8:30 to 4, public works building 99 West Bradford Avenue in Cedar Grove. On May 17th, recycling day, 9 to3 for computers and electronics, public works building 99
Bradford A. Essex County Environmental Center is celebrating 20 years this year. Call for a complete list of programs and for spring and summer. They have a lot of good things going on. Um, you know, there's always fun things happening at our zoo. And, um, on June
7th and 8th, 11 to 5, Essex County Riker Hill Art Park has an open house, uh, which is on, you all know already, Buford Avenue in Livingston. And that's it for us. Great. Thank you so much. Always great to see it. Thanks, Ellen. Thank you. All right, proclamations and
presentations. The floor is now open. Livingston Chinese cultural day donation. So, I'm not sure who is taking the lead on this, but please go ahead. We welcome you and uh we look forward we look forward to the next few minutes. I think a lot of other people look forward to it as well, other groups. So, thank
you. Hello mayor and council members. My name is Haan Maggie Hei, president of Livingston Chinese Association. Hello. Hello Mayor and council members. My name is Shukn from uh Livingston
Chinese School. I'm a former principal at the school. We're here today with three other LCCD committee organizations with the support of Livingston Township and the board of education. This year, the 23rd
Livingston Chinese Culture Day was expanded for the first time and hosted at the Fitness and Wellness Center on February 1st, 2025, featuring 50 vendor booths and 44
sponsors and welcoming more than 600 children and 2,000 attendees total. Yeah, this year's event was our largest and most vibrant yet. Thanks to the
support of our township, board of ed, and a Livingston High School, we quadrupled the exhibition area and attendance rate compared with past years. With more than 40 committee
members working closely since September last year, LCCD was a unforgivable day, unforgettable day that celebrated Chinese culture and tradition. It was community pride. We also would like to
sincerely thank the town council for providing us this platform to gather, celebrate and for giving us the opportunity to show our gratitude to the dedicated staff and volunteers
uh in our community. Giving back to our community naturally come to our minds. The five committee organization have decided to donate the proceeds to four community organizations. Tonight we would like to present donation chats tonight to the
Livingston fire department, Livingston Police Department, Livingston First Aid Squad and Livingston Public Library. The donation amounts will be 2,000 each for the volunteer-based Livingston Fire Department and Livingston First Aid
Squad and 1,000 each for the timefunded Livingston Police Department and Livingston Library. To present a chest together, we welcome three other committee organization representatives. Miss Chai from Livingston High [Applause]
School. Wan from Livingston Washa Chinese School. Yaoin from Livingston Livingstone Christian Church. Jen Lie from Livingston Chinese School. Hong Yian from Livingston Chinese
Association and Fang Gon from Livingston Chinese Association. [Applause] Okay. The first checks goes to Libston Police Department home, please. Yeah.
Yeah. Please welcome uh Chief Gary to the front. [Applause] Great. [Applause] The floor is yours. Thank you very much
for taking the rest. We appreciate your generosity. the microphone. I'm about to organize you guys. Come on in, ladies. Well, gonna get this out of the There's a photo. Okay, I'll be back. Take it for us. You
guys stay still. We're moving this way. Everybody Everybody down here has to move uh this way a little bit. [Applause] First of all, it was a wonderful event and um I really we're accepting this tonight, but really the credit goes to
the police officers, the officers that are that are out there every day, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Um, you know, we get to come up here and accept the check and uh be part of the ceremony here, but really we have to give thanks to the officers who uh, you know, we mentor them, but then they go out and
they really build that trust and a partnership with the community and they do it so well and honestly they make us look good, but also the two captains work very hard. We have a lot of events in Livingston. It's a wonderful place. There's always events going on, but behind the scenes there's a lot of work and Carl's here as well. He's our
traffic uh, sergeant as well. So, um, I got to thank them as well. The two captains have been in their positions for just over a year now, and I can't say enough nice things about them. They really are all in for the events and, uh, to keep Livingston safe. So, thank you.
Okay. All right. Don't lose this one. That's a real one. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. I do the second shot. You announce the
name. Okay. We thank you our police department for their hard work. Thank you very much. The second check goes to Livingston Library. [Applause] Please welcome director Emmy and other executive board members.
Yes. Um, on behalf of the library and the board of trustees, I want to say thank you for uh, LCCD and uh, all the work that you do in the community. It has been a pleasure to work with all of your individual
organizations and to work with everyone collaboratively. Uh it's truly in the spirit of Livingston uh your generosity and your commitment to education and culture and so um on behalf of all of us I gratefully accept this. Thank you.
[Applause] We thank you so much for Livingston Library. They've been doing wonderful uh afterchool program and events for bilingual programs you know for the community. The third check goes to Livingston Fire
Department. Uh please welcome Please welcome President uh Tom Cooney and Craig. Craig. Yes.
It's working. Hello. I was That's all right. Yes. Yes. that on behalf of the membership of our volunteer fire department, I want to thank each of your organizations. Uh, and thank you for inviting us to the the
event this year. I have to say it was pretty impressive. The pageantry and the the performances were spectacular. Uh, the crowd was tremendous. So, I'm sure it went very well for you. Um, we look forward to working with all of you in the future. And, uh, we thank you very
much. This is uh without the support of our residents, our business community, and uh organizations like yours, we wouldn't be able to do what we do. And as you know, we're out there 24 hours a day, 365 days a year if you need us. Um
so on behalf of the membership, I'd like to thank all of you. Thank you very much. Thank you for your service. And this is the real Okay. Thank you. Yeah, we thank you so much. Our Leafston
fire departments 247 a year non-stop helping the community. The last check goes to Leafston first a day squad. [Applause]
Please welcome President Stacy and [Laughter] [Applause] So on behalf of all of our volunteer members, Mr. Sonas, um I would like to thank you guys first of all for inviting
us to your wonderful display. I think it was a great chance. Not many people you would think they do, but they still don't always know that a lot of the first responders in town are volunteers and we are. So, we appreciate you helping us get the word out there to your community. We appreciate the funds. We're nonforprofit, so all of that's
going to go to the medical equipment that we and keep servicing our equipment and our ambulances. So, we really appreciate that. This is our 75th year anniversary. Um, yes. So, this is beautiful. Thank you. And um we hope to continue to work with
you in the future, but also on June 1st, we are having a pancake breakfast. It'll the information will be coming out first soon. So I hope to see you guys there. Thank you again for everything. We really appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you so much.
Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. No check for you. Sorry. Mayor, next time. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. So, so before everybody leaves, I just want to So, before everybody uh takes off, I know they have a lot of stuff going on. First of all, I just want to thank the entire uh group that came into the Livingston Chinese cultural day for everything that you did
for these wonderful groups. Um it it this room when you look around this room we talk about the volunteerism that takes place in our town. Um here you go right everybody right here and this is really the core from all the different organizations. We've all been a part of
one or the other. Uh all of us up here have taken part in the events have been part of all these groups and we just wanted to thank you um for giving back. I talk about the two words that are always important to myself and I think all of us up here are giving back and all you folks give back and all the
volunteers who accept it as well. Give back and that's what makes this town as special as it is. And so without all of you it doesn't work this way. And so I just want to thank you all very much for for all that. So thank you. Um also quick thank you to uh to Gary and to Tom Cooney for keeping your speeches uh
short. We appreciate it this evening as well. So um but thank you guys very much. Thank you. [Applause] All right, we now have a proclamation for public service recognition week. I'm
not sure if anyone is sticking around for that one, but uh if not, we're going to read um we're going to read the proclamation. Um Kane, you want to start with in honor of Sure. uh in honor of the millions of public employees at the state at the f federal,
state, county, and municipal levels. Whereas 260 million Americans are served every day by public employees providing a wide range of services. And whereas the township of Livingston and its residents are served by hundreds of
dedicated full and part-time township employees each and every day. And whereas township employees, including police officers and firefighters, embassy employees, military personnel, health care professionals, and others, risk their lives each day in service to the people
of the township of Livingston. And whereas township employees, including customer service representatives to answer questions about public services and assist residents with problems and concerns, nurses to administer vaccines, clerks to process and issue permits and
applications, health officer, health officials to guarantee the safety of neighborhoods and businesses, code enforcement inspectors to ensure safe buildings for families and patrons. Employees to provide financial administration and safeguarding of public funds. public works employees to
collect leaves, plow snow, maintain buildings and fields, engineers to design public improvements, and the laborers to maintain those roads and building improvements. Recreation staff to provide people of all ages with social, cultural, and fitness programs.
computer technicians, social workers, and countless other occu occupant um occupations whose day in and day out to provide the diverse services expected by the residents of their government with efficiency and integrity. Whereas without these valued township
employees working together at every level, the continuous delivery of services would be impossible with regular changes in leaders and elected officials. Therefore, I, Edward Minhart, mayor of the township of Livingston in New Jersey, do announce and proclaim to all the citizens and set seal hereto
that May 4th through May 10th, 2025 is public service recognition week. All citizens are encouraged to recognize the accomplishments and contributions of government employees at all levels of government and particularly the employees of the township of Livingston, Essex County, and state of New Jersey.
Thank you. We we talk about it all the time from up here. Um, in addition to all the volunteers that I just mentioned, our town does not work with all the public service folks who work for this town and make this town as great as they are doing everything that they do day in and day out. No matter what the weather is,
no matter if they're feeling well, not feeling well, we can't thank all of them enough for everything that they do. So, thank you again. All right, moving on to approval. May I have a motion to approve the minutes of the April 7th, 2025 regular
and conference as well as the 2025 close session meeting? I'll make a motion. Second. All those in favor? I. All right. All those opposed? No. All right. We're now open for the public hearing and adoption of the 2025 bid budget. Carolyn, you want to read the resolution? Resolution
25-16A authorizing the bid budget to be read by title. Is there a motion to move it? I'll move. I'll second it. Roll call. Council member Anthony? Yes. Banani? Yes. Viera? Yes. Deputy Mayor Klein?
Yes. Mayor Minhardt? Thank you. So, we now have uh the public hearing. I guess we need a motion to open the meeting for the public hearing. I make a motion. Second. All those in favor? I. Okay. The meeting is now open for the uh uh budget
public hearing on the bid budget. I'll make a motion to close the public hearing. I'll second it. All those in favor? I. Okay. And I now looking for you want to read an adopt. We need a motion to adopt resolution 25-16B. I'll make a motion. Second. Second.
Roll call, please. Council member Anthony, yes. Banani, yes. Vieiraa, yes. Deputy Mayor Klene, yes. Mayor Reinhardt, yes. That is now adopted. Uh there are members of the bid here, Beth who is our person in charge and uh to Pete Chofell and to Lori who handles the
books. Uh thank you for all that you and your committee do. Al has been the layison for many many years of the bid. Um and so we thank him for all that he does as well and for on behalf of all the township um commercial spaces and businesses here in town. We thank you
and uh I am looking forward personally to uh the forum that will be taking place. I think the first Monday in June that we finally settled on as well to hear from the businesses as well. Councilman, anything to say as Lison? No, I get to see them firsthand. I think you covered it. Thank you so much for all you do for the town, for our
businesses. Um Lori, I see your smiling face there, which I always see at all our bid meetings. And thank you, Pete and Beth, uh and everyone on the bid. Um, like I I said, I get to see you work and work and work and and and now with subcommittees and just you work so hard
uh to keep our businesses flourishing in town and I think they're doing great. So, thank you so much. All right, moving on u to our favorite, the 2025 municipal budget. Will you like to read the resolution, please, for introduction? Resolution
25-161A, introduction of the 2025 municipal budget by title. Motion. I'll second it. Roll call. Council member Anthony, yes. Banani, yes. Vieiraa, yes. Deputy Mayor Klein, yes. Mayor Reinhardt, yes.
Resolution 25-161B, establishing 2025 municipal open space tax rate. Motion. Second. Roll call, please. Council member Anthony, yes. Banani, yes. Viera, yes. Deputy Mayor Klein, yes. Mayor Minhardt,
yes. Next one, please. Resolution 25-161C, Computing 2025 reserve for uncollected taxes. I'll move it. Second. Second. Uh, roll call, please. Council member Anthony, yes. Banani? Yes. Viera? Yes. Deputy Mayor Klene? Yep. Mayor
Minhardt? Yes. All right. Uh, should note the uh public hearing on the budget is scheduled for Thank you. Tuesday, May 27th. Thank you, Barry. Um, can I have a motion, please, to open the meeting on public comment on agenda items only?
I'll make it. Second. All in favor? I I. Okay. The meeting is now open to public comments on agenda items only. I'll close. I'll second. All those in favor of closing? I. All right. Thank you. Moving
on. Final hearings. Um, there are two final hearings. So, Carolyn, please read the first one. Ordinance 14-2025 establishing sewer rates. Okay. Do I have a motion to open uh public comment on this? I'll make a motion to open the public hearing. I'll second it.
All those in favor? I. Okay. The meeting is now open for public comment on ordinance 14-2025. I'll make a motion to close the public hearing. Second. All those in favor of closing? I We have a motion, please, to move it.
Motion. Second. Roll call, please. Council member Anthony. Yes. Yes. Vieiraa, yes. Deputy Mayor Klein, yes. Mayor Reinhardt, yes. Ordinance 15-2025, establishing water rates. Uh, motion to open the public comments. I'll
move to open it. I'm sorry. I'll second. All those in favor? I I Okay, the meeting is now open. It's now open for public comments on ordinance 15-2025. I'll make a motion to close. A second. All those in favor? I. Okay. Motion to
move it, please. Move it. Second. Okay. Roll call, please. Council member Anthony, yes. Batani, yes. Vieiera, yes. Deputy Mayor Klein, yes. Mayor Minhardt, yes. Uh, just want to say thank you on both of the uh two that we just passed.
Um, to our CFO and to uh our water guru upstairs, Nathan, who helped us on that. Um, to the little finance committee that was put together, Councilman Batani, thank you for your help as well um on getting these rates under control. Um this has been the first time in four years that we've had to raise these and
we've done them very gradually and um not to hurt as much but uh it's been four years since both of these have have gone up. So thank everybody for their help in making this possible um in in a proper way. Uh introduction please. Ordinance 17-2025. Ordinance
17-2025 authorizing the issuance of 4 million in bonds or notes for phase C1 well remediation. I'll make a motion to approve the ordinance for introduction. I'll second it. Okay. Any discussion? No. First uh roll call. Council member Anthony. Yes.
Banani. Yes. Vier. Yes. Deputy Mayor Klene. Yes. Mayor Minhart. Yes. And Mayor, the uh public hearing for this ordinance will be Tuesday, May 13th. Okay. Next one, please. Ordinance 18-2025 authorizing the execution of a
discharge of mortgage for that certain property known as block 101 lot 27. I'll make a motion to approve the ordinance for introduction. Second. Okay. Roll call, please. Council member Anthony, yes. Pani, yes. Yes. Deputy
Mayor Klein, yes. Mayor Minhart, yes. And mayor, this will also have its public hearing Tuesday, May 13th. Okay. Ordinance 19-2025. Ordinance 19-2025 authorizing the issuance of 3,50,000 bonds or notes for improvements to water
utility system. I'll move it. I'll second it. Okay. Roll call, please. Council member Anthony. Yes. Banani. Yes. Viera. Yes. Deputy Mayor Klein. Yes. Mayor Minhardt. Yes. This will also have a public hearing on Tuesday, May 13th. Okay. 2025, please. Ordinance 2025
authorizing the issuance of 3,565,000 bonds or notes for improvements to sewer utility system. I'll make a motion to approve the ordinance for introduction. Second. Okay. Roll call, please. Council member Anthony, yes. Banani. Vieiera. Yes. Deputy Mayor Klein. Yes. Mayor Minhart.
Yes. And this one will also have its public hearing on Tuesday, May 13th. Okay. Last one, please. Ordinance 21-2025 providing an appropriation of 11,280,000 for various improvements and authorizing the issuance of 6,73,774 bonds or notes. I'll move it.
I'll second it. Okay. Roll call, please. Council member Anthony, yes. Banani, yes. Vier, yes. Deputy Mayor Klein, yes. Mayor Minhardt, yes. And this will be also Tuesday, May 13th. All right. Consent agenda. All matters listed with an asterric are considered to be routine
and non-controversial by the council and will be approved by one motion. There will be no separate discussion on these items unless a member of the governing body so requests in which in which case the item will be removed from the consent agenda and considered in its normal sequence on the agenda as part of the general orders. Does anybody want
any of these pulled out for separate readings hearing? None. Hearing none. No. Okay. Okay. Will you please read all the um resolutions? Uh resolution 25-163 20252026 Livingston municipal grant
resolution to prevent substance use disorder. Resolution 25-164 adopting the 2025 Essex County Hazard Mitigation Plan. Resolution 25-165 authorizing the award of a contract to Gurubowski Construction Inc.
Resolution 25-166 authorizing the award of a contract to DLS Contracting, Inc. Resolution 25-167, resolution of the township council rejecting a bid. Resolution 25-168 authorizing the award of a
contract to Suburban Consulting Engineers, Inc. Resolution 25-169, authorizing the award of a contract to NV5, Inc. Resolution 25-170 authorizing the award of a contract to Watson Furniture Group. Resolution
25-171 authorizing the sale of Surplus Property. Resolution 25-172 authorizing the award of a contract to Rio Supply, Inc. Resolution 25-173 extending the 2025 budget process
dates. Resolution 25-174 authorizing the award of a contract to Jessco, Inc. Resolution 25-175 authorizing the award of a contract to Gold Type Business Machines Inc. for license plate readers. Resolution
25-176 authorizing the award of a contract to Gold Type Business Machines Inc. for e tickets. Resolution 25-177 authorizing the award of a contract to Continental Hardware, Inc. Resolution 25-178 authorizing 2025 temporary
emergency appropriations. Resolution 25-179 authorizing execution of a developers agreement with EAS Livingston LLC. Thank you very much. We have a motion to accept. I'll I'll move the resolution.
Second. Second. Any discussion before? Please read the roll call. Council member Anthony. Yes. Baptani. Yes. Pier. Yes. Deputy Mayor Klein. Yes. Mayor Minhart. Yes. Thank you. Can I have a motion, please, to open the meeting to public portion on any motion? Second.
All in favor? I. Okay. Thank you. So, the meeting is now open for public portion on any subject with a threeminut time limit. Just please just state your name and if you're a resident. Okay. Um, good evening everyone. Uh, my name is Pretty Ma and do I need to state my address or I'm good. Okay. Uh, longtime
resident born and raised in Livingston. Um, so I did not plan that this was going to be on first responder night, but anyway, um, I'm going forward anyway. I didn't realize this, but good evening. I am speaking to you today about a cause that I became that I learned about earlier this year. It's
called the Aliviver Foundation, a nonprofit organization based in Union County. Their mission is to place all-weather, tamper-resistant AEDs in outdoor parks and recreation areas while also providing training and mental health services for individuals
and families affected by heart disease. At a foundation fundraiser for them in January, I learned something that truly stayed with me. While AEDs are becoming more common in schools, businesses, and other indoor facilities, outdoor spaces are still largely without them. Even
when AEDs are available outdoors, most of them are not housed in climate controlled enclosures, leaving them vulnerable to extreme weather and potentially unreliable during an emergency. After the event, I did have the opportunity to approach Councilman
Vieiraa, who is kindly looking into this matter for me. However, I felt it was important to bring it to the full council's attention for a few reasons. As a volunteer for the Kamuso holiday display at the Oval, I have seen firsthand the incredible hard work our volunteer fire, first aid, and police
departments put in each year to welcome visitors from both Livingston and beyond. It struck me how important it would be to have an all-weather AED on site. The Oval hosts not only the Kamuso display, but also events like the Fourth of July fireworks, high school sports, and major community gatherings. It's a
place where our town comes together and truly feels like home. Beyond the beyond the oval, our town's soccer and baseball fields are busy almost year round, attracting both local families and visitors from out of town. These fields, too, would greatly benefit from having
climate controlled AEDs readily accessible. An important detail to note, each all-weather AED unit costs approximately $2,500. These units are specially designed to be tamperresistant and can only be opened after someone calls 911,
ensuring they are secure, properly monitored, and only accessed in true emergencies. Some nearby communities are investing investing in this life-saving equipment. Getting involved now could not only enhance safety in Livingston, but also open doors for future
collaborations with neighboring towns on broader public health and safety initiatives. My family has lived in Livingston for decades and we know firsthand the dedication of our volunteer first aid, fire, and police departments. Their service is something we are deeply proud of. Supporting them
and protecting the public by placing reliable climate controlled AEDs in our outdoor spaces seems not just practical, but necessary. Tonight, I respectfully and sincerely ask that the council consider supporting the placement of outdoor
climate controlled AEDs in our parks, fields, and public spaces. It's a modest investment, but one that could make immeasurable dis. Thank you for your time. Thank you very much for for bringing that to our attention. It was uh obviously very appropriate this evening with the with
the first responders who were here. Yeah, but it was great. Um, I I do know and I I guess they may or may not be weatherproof, but I do know that we made a pitch. We made a a few years ago to put them Sherman came in front of us. Yeah. And we put them on and we know like the fields have them, Pat. I assume
the little league fields you have. Are they weather resistant? So they're weather resistant. So they don't have to be outside. accessible whenever anyone's at but makes a very good point in terms of having them outside and accessible at the oval or
places like that where they may not be readily accessible actually and that's what happened was that the founder of the foundation she was in a public park in Union County and she was having a heart attack and a bystander saw her and you know she she survived but then she
realized that the AED is in her area. So, like this is something that anyone can use. Um, it's not just a first aid professional that needs to be trained on using an AED. It gives you the instructions when you after you call 911 telling you how to use it. Like you get
a code when you call 911 and then um and then the person walks you through how to use it. Mayor Mayor Mayor Barry, I I think the perfect place actually would be at the Kamuso U display that where the building is and just put it
there's an outdoor porch. You could put it just right out there where you know what that's that's a gathering place especially in the summertime you have the concert series over there. In the in the winter time you have the Kamusho display where you get thousands of people. I I I think right by that Kamusho display would be a perfect place for it. Yeah, I was going to take a
little I was gonna take a little broader uh shot at it, but I I was hoping maybe you could maybe forward what you just said to what you said to myself and maybe to Barry Lewis and we can discuss it not only with on the oval, but we could discuss it with Ron Barbella who runs all the fields as well, the little
league people. So then we can really do the purchases if we're going to do it. We really should buy, you know, multiple ones at one time, obviously, for pricing purposes. And I can put you in touch with the uh with the executive director of the foundation. I know where. So, why don't you do that and send us follow up with your email and we can talk to Ron
Barbella who is of our field as well. Pat run Pat right behind you runs our little leagues operations. We can talk about Little League right here. We can talk about what um Councilman Ver just said putting it on there and look at the other sites that also might be in play throughout the town as well. That would make sense. Pat. Yeah. Just uh this
reminds me of a situation that occurred quite a few years ago where several young young soccer players were electrocuted by a lightning strike on a field in West Orange. And that raised the issue with one of our high school
students at that time. Why don't we have lightning detectors? They're readily available. And the township went and put lightning detectors into the various locations in the community. and we have warnings now when a storm is coming people get off the fields and so forth.
We haven't had any problems but this is similar the kind of thing that's proactive the kind of thing that we should have and we should move forward with that and thank you very much for bringing that up. Yeah, Pat Pat actually beat me to my thank you, but I was going to thank you very much for as well because like I say many times uh when
people come, we learn we learn so much when people come and talk to us. And so we really appreciate that what you've said and you know maybe one day I hope not but maybe it will save someone's life you know hopefully it will never need to be needed but if it does you know you'll certainly remember you know this this meeting where where everything
started from. So I my parents are and I were just so grateful to our first aid squad and ambulance and police department. We've had to call you all many times and everyone's always been great. So, we're just very grateful. Like I said earlier, we're very fortunate to have all these first
responders here in Livingston as well. So, so thank you for bringing that to our attention. Please send us an email. Bar and I will certainly follow up and decide what what locations would be best and where they should go. Thank you. And may if I can add just one statement. I always read Pri's name as Kamuso's elf.
Is that right? Yeah. So, thank you for that, too. Actually, it's a whole family affair because her father Kante is a member of the advisory council, too. So, it's a family of volunteers. Thank you, Pretty. Okay. Any other com any other uh
comments on the public portion? Hi, Michelle. Am resident. Um, I first want to say that the last time I was here, I talked about repaving my road. So, thank you to Kaitton for helping move that along. Hopefully, we'll be repaved soon. Um, again, interesting that it's first responders night. I'm
coming to talk about traffic at the high school. I went to BOE. They said, "It's you guys." And the police really, um, kids are getting their license. They're driving like crazy people. There are a lot of almost accidents. Parents are letting their kids out in the middle of the road because they have to get to
school on time. It's a bit of a disaster. So, what I suggest from the couple years that I've been doing the drop off and a lot of you know more because you've been doing you did it historically is um kids are parking on Amherst on each side of the street
depending on the day of the week and the cars are going on either direction. There's not enough space. So, I don't know if maybe the rules of when you're allowed to park on the side streets need to be adjusted to not include the morning drop off hour and then the kids who want to drive to school just need to figure it out better. Um, Berkeley is
wider, so I guess it's a different issue. And then the parking lots, of course, are also a disaster. The cops are there. Security is there. It's not that they're not there. It's that you're trying to get too many people into a small space and everybody's rushing. So, I know we had that issue years ago at
the elementary schools. And I know that you guys were really great um with lines and cops and cones. At the high school, it's a little bit different because we have kids driving and they're not really driving safely. So, we can't expect the police to be there every day because I think it's unrealistic, but maybe there
could be um just additional signage and additional permissions on where they're allowed to park because again on Amherst we can't safely get the kids to school. If I'm going down, a car is going up, kids are crossing and other kids are parking. It's just not wide enough. Thank Thank you very much.
Mayor, can I can I mention something? So I think this sounds very similar to what um Al and I were in a in a subcommittee. We we headed we ended up with having a conversation with the Harrison principal, the residents around it, the
parents. Uh then we had the town support. So we had police and um you know the traffic engineer and it was essentially three meetings and it was a conversation to kind of go through and see you know what can be done better. when you when you put the heads together
I think that's when the solutions come out so great suggestions there could be a little bit more from traffic perspective the experts perspective maybe that can come in as well so something to that line I think we should should probably discuss that Barry maybe we can bring bring the specialist in and
try try see seeing that if needed maybe a focus group might really help because it really solved the problem in three meetings in Harrison schools something along the line I know at the very beginning of the school year, I heard that the principal was having the police come and give
tickets out to the kids that were parking where they weren't supposed to park. It was very effective. Um this it's it's just um at the elementary school it's speaking to the parents and the parents listen. At the high school it's it's just a different element. The kids are in a rush and they want to get
the best parking spot possible. So it's it's tricky. Yeah. Different problems different solution maybe. Yeah. Okay. I just I just want to follow up on the on what you just the last speaker about the uh about the with the AEDs I was just talking. So I I have to tell
you that sometimes Ron Barbella who I was just mentioning he actually I just received a text that we have them at Madonna Oakner Heritage Mount Pleasant Hillside Mammoth Court Harrison Northland and at Hannes Pool. I asked if they were all weather ones like you had asked and there are box it's boxes that
are all weather and he takes them in from November 1st through April 11th when those fields are not being used because they are not they can't be outside in extremed weather and they are serviced every year by the LPD. So I just I just interesting enough and
and and Deputy Mayor Klein remembers that Barbara Sherman Barbara Sherman came with Elliot Sherman came in and talked about this and they're very active on the first aid squad as everyone here knows. So I just so I just so it's just interesting that that we do have some already out but we will certainly keep looking and researching
them as well for Kamusa which is that we don't have. So that one no I'm just saying but that was some of the other stuff. Kamuso 100 agree. Just good to know that we do have them up already in some of the locations where the kids are. I 100% agree with Kamuso and we'll certainly get one of those right away. I think that's a great idea.
Great. Thank you very much. Okay, Tim, I think you were waiting. Sorry. That's great of Ron. Tim Foley, resident for 54 years, fourth generation. Um, I have uh two things. I would like
to thank Livingston PD for uh sitting on Mount Pleasant Parkway and slowing some of the traffic down, but they can't be there all the time. Uh, I'm just wondering if you guys can do a traffic study. Uh, seriously, it's it's Hillside
and 10. That's the issue. and my street. I knew when I bought my house, it was a cutthrough street, but now like the like this young lady over here said that young kids are getting their license and they're doing 90 miles an hour down my street. Um, you know, I don't want bump
uh the bumps in the road or anything, but I think we need some sort of study to see what that what can be done, especially at Hillside and 10 or maybe signs at certain times. No left turn going on to Mount Pleasant Parkway or and no right turns coming down Hillside
Terrace unless you're a resident. I mean, I don't not not sure what you can do about that, but uh it it's getting out of hand, you know, with everybody cutting through and not waiting for the light at Route 10 and and and Hillside. So,
Barry, can you maybe ask the chief to look into that? I mean, that's that's what they do. That's it. But yeah, I did I did mention it two weeks ago or three weeks ago, whenever we were here last, you mentioned it. Yeah, I did bring it up and I did speak. No, they they've been there multiple times a week for the past
few what you said few weeks ago. That's what I want to thank the you know, Livingston Police Department and Gary and and his troops, too. So, uh, my last minute and a half. Barry, any news on the dumpster ordinance? Maybe. Uh, hopefully we'll have something soon.
Okay. And it's a little tricky because a lot of situations are arguably grandfathered and we're trying to figure a way to make it retroactively effective. Okay. Great. Sure. Thanks, guys. Any other uh comments for public
portion? Seeing none, I'll make a motion to uh close public comment. A second. All those in favor of closing public? I Okay. All right. reports of township officials and council members. An thank you very much. I just want to
thank everybody for the cooperation to get the budget done. This is the earliest since I've been here that we've gotten it done. We're only one meeting away from actually being extra early and that that's because we met early this
year I think with the whole council and also we have our finance committee which made a big difference and I just want to thank everybody Adam no updates at this time. Uh Barry. Yeah. Thank you mayor. Um first and foremost just on a personal level I'd like to join the council. The council
did uh recognize public service recognition week. I as as sort of the head of the dayto-day operations, I can't express enough my appreciation for the staff and the great team that we have at dedicated workers and um little shout out to our HR department that also
puts together some activities to recognize our employees. So, uh thank the council for recognizing them and then also joining with my own appreciation for uh the entire staff of the the township. Um like to uh similarly thank the council also
particularly recognize an for all her hard work on the budget. Uh very proud that we're able to do it this early. Again, also a shout out to uh uh Councilman Batani and Mayor Minhardt who serve on the finance committee. That's been I I think a good tool to help us
kind of collaborate and bounce ideas and expedite things. Um so that that's uh good news as well. A couple quick items that were on the consent agenda. just want to call them out because I think um you know it gets passed on the consent agenda and people don't necessarily notice it. One is um thank the council
for their continuing support on the stream cleaning. It's been very important. We did a major project last year. This continues the project for all those people that are affect affected by uh flooding and and the river overflowing its banks. Um the area that we did, we saw very positive results and
reports from residents that it alleviated, but again that just pushes it further downstream. So, this project moves it the cleaning further downstream and will help uh I think provide relief to additional residents as we continue to move down. Uh the other quick one again is a thank you to the council for
approving the contract for the library parking lot. Um this is an expansion as well as resurfacing and and uh redoing the existing parking lot, but also adding a significant number of spaces which will not only benefit the library but also to the um residents uh point.
Uh hopefully if maybe we pull more library patrons into the parking lot and they have more space that'll free up more spaces in the oval and potentially provide more parking for high school students than otherwise. Uh I would also note that we are currently studying ways to provide additional parking in the oval. I think part of it is just a lack
of enough parking as the school population grows and the oval becomes more uh you know attractive and more people go. So we are we're certainly aware of that. And then um finally uh the council did and and again thank you for approving the acquisition of additional license plate readers. Uh
those have proven to be a really invaluable tool for the police department um for them to you know recognize stolen vehicles or vehicles that shouldn't be coming into town. They get notified and are able to immediately dispatch to those particular locations and track them down. And also a good
tool in terms of uh you know wrongdoers leaving the community. So uh just a couple things I wanted to highlight. Um and also thank you to the uh resident for bringing the ads. We'll follow up certainly on uh the kamusu and the oval. Um that was it. Thank you. Great. Thank
you, Bar Councelor. Thank you, mayor. Just a quick update on fair share housing. Um our third round compliance hearing was scheduled for April 21st. Um we had a prior hearing in which we submitted uh 36 exhibits to the court demonstrating that we were um you know
mostly in compliance with our third round with the only uh material outstanding item was our redevelopment plan with the Livingston Mall. Uh we passed that um this week the court the court adjourned didn't adjourn the hearing. The court converted the hearing um and is allowing the uh council just
to submit its uh final judgment of repose uh via a five-day rule. So, uh, we're drafting that order. It's a detailed order should be submitted tomorrow. We believe the judge will sign it and Livingston will have its, uh, its third round compliance completed. Great. Thank you so much and thank you
for all your work, hard work to getting to this where we are with the third round. Carolyn, nothing for me tonight. Mayor, thank you. All right. Uh, report to township council member. I think Kon, you're up this uh, uh, yes, I am, mayor. Thank you. Uh, so it's a long list. uh
going to take a little bit uh I think I'm going to first start with some some somber uh note uh we had uh pope's passing and I want to acknowledge and uh and mention that uh that you know uh it
is it is a wonderful human being that we we lost a leader of a major religion and and I know a lot of our folks were in mourning so I wanted to mention that um one other piece which we had a very moving ceremony. Um, thank you mayor for
mentioning that and then having everybody pray for the victims that were lost. Uh, I mean the number of people that were lost. I'm going to make a quick statement about that. Um, so what we really saw uh on Friday is that we gathered at Gazebo to remember the
innocent lives lost in Kashmir, India. Um, we had Mayor Minhardt, Deputy Mayor Klene, uh, Councilman Anthony and myself were there, uh, along with Assemblywoman Begoli, Assemblywoman Gil, and State
Senator John McCain, uh, as well as, um, Board of Fed members, um, Parul Kempka, uh, Pam Charles, Fangong, and and Ena. Um, and we honored their memory. uh we the the folks who who lost their lives,
the victims really uh uh the horrendous violence, the senseless violence that took them away from us. Um and these were not just victims. These were fathers, sons, husbands, friends, each with dreams, hopes and stories um that were tragically cut short. Um many were
were sole source of income for their families. um they were from various countries and and and it was such a moving ceremony. Um the note here is that this is this horrific and inhumane attack shattered the peace of that
region that was taking hold after decades of unrest. And when you hear that how each victim was meticulously identified and killed after identifying their religion just because of their religion, you sense how inhumane and terrifying this terror attack was. Um
these are exactly the times when we the peace-loving people come to each other's side, stand united, condemn violence uh and the hate that happens in the name of religion. So I I I asked at the vigil uh
to everyone present and say we can remain silent and and and promote peace and advocate peace, but we can always change that one word and let's be vocal for peace. Let's stand up and say no
more. Um the hate uh you know the the the type of violence that we see um the people that were subjugated for for that um they were innocent victims tourists and just because they were belonging to a particular religion there was no
reason for them to lose their lives. Um once again I thank uh our first responders. Uh Pat you were there uh and in a very very short notice uh the first aid Livingston first aid came to ensure
that we were safe. The police department was present again very short notice. Uh about 250 plus members of the community were there. Uh it was a very somber occasion and and again thank you for everyone uh for being there. Um moving
on to a few few items. Um so we attended u all of us in the council. We were at the intergeneration prom. I think it was a fabulous event. Um we had so much fun serving the food to seniors. Um there was Easter egg hunt on um you know held
by Lions. Uh and again always a fun event. I think Michael you attended that. Um Shine a Light. Oh somebody else was there as well. Oh, you were there. Okay. Fantastic. Um, I didn't find any eggs though. Okay. I got snid.
The kids found them faster than me. They beat me. And the nearest one was was too far, is it? Uh, then there was a shine a light autism event. Uh, that was uh that was fabulous and all of us attended that as
well. Um, couple of trips happened. The most fun event I think at the in the back of the school. So it's just straps. I love the the energy of kids. One happened in Hillside. Another Harrison. Fabulous job by the by the team there. Uh and we planted a tree uh the Arbor
Day. Uh and we also checked out the tree that we planted last year. It started flowering. So So that's amazing. That was on Friday. Um there was Pickup Livingston. Um pick it up Livingston rather. That was on Sunday. Uh and I
thank um Abishek and Sean uh for Sean you want to add add so this was the first year I think this is the eighth one we've done of these uh the pick it up Livingston and and just remind everyone there's a couple hundred people out there uh divided on lots of the streets that are the filled with the
most litter and they're just out there cleaning it up for a couple hours on a Sunday morning and we do it once a year and if you haven't done it before come on out. It really feels great to do this with your neighbors. It makes you feel great about the town and and it's a great way to show how much we love this place. Um the torch was passed uh from
uh to to a new leader of the event uh Abhishak uh Gangwal who did a wonderful uh time uh organizing for this. He brought a lot of energy and uh he learned a lot and I think next year is going to be even better. Uh but this year was terrific and um I just wanted
to say thanks so much to everyone who participated and also thank you very much uh to the Livingston Police Department and the DPW who are up early uh on that Sunday to make sure everything is smooth. They control the traffic. Um they make sure that everyone who wants to uh pitch in can do it in a safe way. Thank you. Yeah, thank you
Sean and and yes again thank you to Abhishek. Uh I think one other organization I will thank in that uh Sean is the SA organization. So these are the folks uh that come in. Almost all of the volunteers are from Sava. Uh
and of course my own Rotary Club was there too. So Rotary, thank you SA. Also my Rotary Club and and and I don't know if if if you're Kiwi, but anyway, so other other clubs were there as well. Um no, I'm just kidding. But no, I guess coming back to Sean's point, uh the
first responders always help and that was that was amazing cover there too. Um in terms of um couple other announcements um we have a food pantry that's really low um and that's really low on paper goods. So inviting and uh
you know asking the residents to come and drop in. There's a 24-hour dropbox inside the police department to help out the food pantry. Um and a few items to go over um for what's coming up. Uh, of
course, Cinco de Mayo is on uh May 5th, but prior to that, we have uh a bunch of items uh bunch of places to go to. Loyalty Day, 11:00 a.m. uh at the War Memorial Park on 1st of May at 11:00 a.m. Again, I think I said that. Um
Livingston celebrates Israel. That uh would be a big event. uh last year, if last year was any any uh evidence, I remember going to uh senior center and there was not one car spot left. In fact, cars were on the grass. Not
allowed, but they were on the on the grass. Uh it was fabulous. Uh we'll have a flag hoisting as well here afterwards on the same day. Uh uh we have a kiwanis carnival on uh uh May 13th to 17th. Um
some of us on the day are so inclined to play golf. They are all looking forward to the annual golf outing. That's on May 5th 10:30 to 8 on Cedar Cedar Hill. Uh LCD has a couple of events coming up. Um uh arts and crafts program May 5th and
spring party on May 3rd. Um, Sanskriti has Dakshin Mahuds. That's in Heritage Middle School on 3rd of May. Um, and I think I'm going to I'm going to skip a couple of them, but um uh not really that I'm skipping, but it's it's
really far. Um, but what is going to happen is Mother's Day before we meet again? Uh, yeah, it will be uh May 12th. I think our meeting is after that. So happy mother's day to everybody in advance. Uh and on that same day we have
Sanskrit the holi. Um and we also have uh AAPI picnic on 18th of May. So that's pretty exhaustive list here. Anything I miss gentlemen? Uh if I could just jump in since you mentioned the township golf
outing and since he's here uh shout out to Pat Felo who chairs that committee and puts in a lot of volunteer time to make that a great event and the funds all the funds raised go to to a charity and our own CFO Ankuchi is also on the committee. So thank you both.
I knew my golf outing will strike a nerve. The only thing I was I'm sorry. I was gonna add one more thing. I apologize. I don't think I gave it to you, so I apologize. I didn't follow my own lead. Uh this past yesterday was um the library had a special resource fair. Councilman Anthony joined me for a few
minutes. Um it was a wonderful event. I give Ann and her whole team a lot of credit. The library board was there as well. Some of the folks were there from the library board. Um great event. Nice to see everybody out there. Um, Councilwoman Bego Begoli brought a um, I'm sorry, Assemblywoman Begoli. I made
it confused. She wasn't She was a council woman. Assemblywoman Begoli came along with a uh, thing from the Trent from Trenton making the library a um, uh, disability friends of disability library. So, that was nice for the library as well. So, I had said a couple words. Um, and I want to thank Amy. I
said I want to thank I said Amy. No, I said Ann. I said Amy. I apologize Amy. I think I want to thank Amy for that. You got anything? Yeah, mayor. I'm not sure whether Councilman Batani mentioned this. I I sent it to him, but the arts council had a wonderful event over at the Lari Farm. That's their new home for
their um arts gallery. Uh it was wonderful. Uh it's uh if you get a chance to visit it, it's beautiful grounds over there. Um they had their first uh it was called the originals on Sunday and uh I'm sure they're going to be having a couple more uh openings and um art art
expositions over there. But congratulations to the Livingston Arts Council. Okay, we are uh going to continue the conference meeting. We will be in open um and then we going to go into close afterwards. Afterwards, we were going
into closed again. Okay. The only formal action that will be taken by this council after this will be a resolution going into closed. Thank you all for coming.