with the sunshine law NJSA 104-10 10. This meeting is being held in accordance with the open public meetings act and adequate notice of this meeting has been provided as required by the law. Specifically, the annual notice was emailed to the West Tribune and the Star Ledger or NJ.com on January 5th, 2026.
The agenda and resolutions for this meeting are available on livingstonj.org. Certain portions of this meeting may be closed to the public for the purposes of personnel and/or matters as outlined in the Sunshine Law. Decisions made and or discussed in close session will be made known to the public at a later time.
Notice to members of the governing body and township staff. Any use of electronic devices during this meeting shall be used solely for the purposes of township business and any communications are subject to the open public records act. To the extent possible, this evening's township of Livingston uh Livingston Council meeting will be live
streamed on Facebook at https ww.fas.com/livingston township. Question or comments will also be accepted by emailing live comments at limmysonj.org by 4 pm on the day of the meeting and shared with the council before the meeting. Each speaker should
follow the rules of order in Livingston code 2-15.3. Madame clerk roll. >> Council member Minhardt is absent. Council member Anthony >> here. >> Council member Vieira is absent. Deputy mayor Baptani >> here. >> Mayor Klein >> here. If everyone could please uh stand
for a moment of silence. Um, since we were last here, uh, Lieutenant Brian Rabbit, who's a longtime police officer with LPD, was laid to rest a couple weeks back. We keep his family and his loved ones in our hearts. Our community also lost uh,
Thjo uh, Tjo Chandi at the young age of 41. He leaves behind his wife and two young daughters. Troop 12, can you please present the colors? And lead us in the pledge. Everyone face the flag. If you want to go in class A, salute. If not, place
your hand over your heart. I p To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you.
Thank you very much. True 12. Is Eileen Fisherman present today? Couldn't make it. Okay. So, Eileen is our representative from the Essis County Executive Office of uh Jod Danchenzo. Not here tonight. So, we will move along. I do want to uh express uh thanks
uh on behalf of the council and the town uh to the county for all their coordination with snow removal and plowing. Um I think that especially after this very large storm uh there there was not a lot of places to put the snow and they really I think did a good job. The roads look pretty darn good after uh after their effort. Um and the
towns also the DPW as well of course in town. Um tonight we have uh several proclamations uh and a presentation. Um the first is from Girl Scout Troop 2015 um with a shady tree proposal uh that
they wanted to share with the council which we would love to uh go through with you. Uh Deputy Mayor Bhutani, I know that uh you wanted to give a few words of introduction. >> Sure. Thank you, Mayor, and thank you for adding this to the agenda. Uh this is uh something that really became uh
from a small little thought to an extremely intent project for the girls that are sitting here. And what I hear from different moms and dads, okay, girls, that you guys really drove this and said, "This is our project. We going
to not only think about it, visualize it, put it on a piece of paper, and present it." Is that right? Then that's what that's what this is about. So you come here, we would love to hear your proposal. We'll go through, we will have a conversation after what we can do and
we'll find out the right way to go about it. Okay? Would be love would be great to have you here and uh start talking about it. Come on in. Mindy and Joe, if you want to coordinate, you want to introduce something, if you want to start, up to you.
We are all Livingston fourth graders and juniors and Girl Scouts. Our troop has 20 girls from Collins Elementary School. Some of our favorite activities we have done as a troop have been hand crocheting, selling Girl Scout cookies, visiting Liberty Hall, meeting a judge,
snow tubing, and horseback riding. Nine girls from our troop wanted to do a project to give back to our community and the township of Livingston. We thought about our wonderful community and ways we could make it even better
for the people who live in Livingston. The Oval is a popular spot where people like to walk and hang out. However, the problem is that the oval barely has trees surrounding it. This makes summer days brutal with little shade. Now, imagine the oval covered with beautiful
trees around the border. Let's make it happen. Our idea is to first study the oval for shade benefits for sports and community events to after that to present to the town council our idea for planting trees
around the oval to then raise money to support the project. Then finally spread the awareness about how trees can help the environment. Our why trees are good. Good for the environment. It helps you breathe. Good
for our town and the o could make people want to come to Livingston to see the beautiful park and then spend money in Livingston businesses. Give shade for people walking practically in community events and people watching sports games
at the over. How our idea will start. Fundraisers. We're going to get donations from businesses like RWJ Barnabas and local companies. We're also going to reach out to hospitals, a big
organization in town that does a lot to support Livingston. Also, we're going to contact plastic companies in town. This is a chance for them to show how they care about the environment by donating money to plant trees.
If the town council likes this idea and approves it, we would like to ask you some questions. We have a list of questions that we would like to discuss. Would you prefer to do it today or after the project is approved? >> Heads you win, tails I lose. Is that the uh
um we will uh talk about questions another time just because we have a lot to do today for the meeting. But we I think that we can discuss this further. Maybe uh we have other chambers when we have more of a discussion and that might be a good place for us to do that. >> All right. Thank you. >> Okay. >> We appreciate you hearing our
presentation and considering our idea and we hope we can all work together to bring your vision to life. >> Thank you. >> So I think if I could just make some comments. This was a beautiful idea and beautifully presented. uh we're going to
have to talk about what's possible. Um I will say this, there's two things I would say. The first is I'm sure everyone here up on this day and I'm sure in the audience too love the idea of squeezing the plastics companies for uh for some tree money. That's fantastic. Uh but besides that and more seriously
um even just this meeting uh when the council was meeting in the other chambers we were talking about our tree fund and we were talking about how we need to incentivize people in the township who are building to plant more trees when they do that and hopefully avoid taking down trees when they are building. Um and we just had a
discussion about that and we're also talking about money that we have in our tree fund and where we can put trees and what's the best use of that money. So um we are all on the same page here. Thank you so much for coming up here. >> I think I I'll say I'll say one thing,
girls, as you as you go along. >> We'll take a picture with you. >> Oh, yeah. Yeah, we'll we'll take a picture. Thank you, Mayor. So, I what I heard also, did I did I hear it right? You guys visited a jail. You guys visited um you know, a fire department, a fire fire truck. You saw the whole
thing. You wanted to just get a hands-on on your experiences, right? How how civil uh responsibilities are and how the government works. Is that right? >> Yeah. So, continue doing that. This is the place where you can think about, you know, creating more ideas and then
proposing it. So, never be afraid of proposing ideas. All right. Keep doing good good work. Thank you for doing this. >> We're going to come down take Yeah, why don't we go down? Also, while they're coming down, I just I'm sure you're all aware of this, but if your parents can get you on Facebook, you'll be able to
see yourselves on TV because this is on Facebook live stream. You guys are beautiful. >> Yes. Yeah. All right, ladies. Way to go. Okay, >> so we got through that. It's over. That was
fun. Our next presentation uh we've had a little preview of uh is uh for Livingston Troop 12. This is uh the 100th anniversary for the troop. Um the deputy mayor and I uh
went to a hugely packed and large room filled with people for this wonderful celebration for their 100th anniversary to witness all the promotions of the of the scouts. Uh and there were alumni and I don't even know if you become an alumni or you're just always part of the troop, right? I mean there were just
people of every of every age um uh who had uh gone through the system and were there to celebrate with the with the current members. Um, what I said that night was that this 100th anniversary was not only an important milestone for the troop, but also for this whole township as well. So, we wanted you to
come to an official meeting so we could properly recognize it as a township. As long as acting uh as as long acting council members that we are up here who come to your events through through the years, we have seen your members grow up and accomplish great things. Also, many
of us on this day felt close to the wonderful Bill Brady. I I know I did. Um and it was great to see him being recognized with a new named award uh for the scouts. Um Rich uh Waxman, can you can you bring the troop up and we'd like you to say a few words and uh we have a plaque to commemorate the 100th
anniversary, but we're just so proud to have you here and thank you so much for uh having us at your at your celebration. mayor's back. >> We're going to have our senior uh patrol leaders speak. part of Marabelli
Life Scout on behalf of say nice things. >> Do you have a microphone? >> Yes, there's one right there. >> Megaphone. >> Perfect. >> It works. >> All right. Um, my name is Paravelli. I am You screw this.
>> It's not working. >> Is it working? >> My name is Parli. >> No, so they can hear you on TV at home. You want to use the mic? Oh, does it work on TV? All right. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> My fault, guys. >> Take two. My name is Profi and I'm Troop
12. I'm SPL of troop 12 links, New Jersey. Uh this past February, we celebrated 100 years of our existence. were founded back in 1926 and it is a really great honor for me to be a part of uh for me to first of all
be a part of this wonderful community but also now have the opportunity to lead it. I remember when I first joined a troop um I was what was it sixth grade fifth grade co just hit and troop 12 really did its best to try helping out
its commu its communities the scouts um not any organized no organized like troop 12 event was created but the members of the troop did go out and help families and volunteer in hospitals and do all this sort of stuff that really made this
community Great. And on top of that, just throughout the years, Troop 12 has done so much for this community and the community has done so much for Troop 12 as well. Um, we it's not just a one-sided relationship. So, I just want to say thank you to the troop. Thank you
to the council. Thank you to my fellow scouts who are here today and whoever couldn't come as well. Uh, this troop has done so much and I wish to keep it going. Thank you. So, the uh the township has a uh a
plaque that we're going to present. I'll come down and give it to you. Uh the mayors and members of Livingston Township Council are pleased to recognize Troop 17 of Livingston for their completion of 100 years of >> 12. What did I say? >> 17. >> Just kidding. It says 12. They got it right. Carol Carolyn got it right. Sorry
about that. That does not diminish the accomplishment. Um um Troop 12 of Livingston for their completion of 100 years of scouting excellence. Since 1926, Troop 12 has been a constant presence in the community, fostering the qualities of service, leadership, and strong values, and preparing young
people to make ethical and moral choices over their lifetime. Congratulations. Fantastic. Well, all right. Thank you very much. Hallelujah. So last uh last meeting uh council members were presenting ed with copies
of Tom Cooney's Magnum Opus, History Earned. Um, I took it home and I, you know, I put peeled off the cellophane. Tom, I I was blown away by it, uh, when I when I got home and and looked through the pages. This is genuine scholarship.
Um, it's it's a a history not only of the Livingston Fire Department, but of, you know, of Livingston as a town. um taking us from the first housing structures in the 1700s through the list of the Civil War dead to to to present times through the history of True 12
included in that 100 years there. Um I have to say uh I I was proud to read it. It made me feel pride in this town. And I think that we you know when we talk about what makes Livingston special, I think that people are proud to live here. And you
know, it's it's efforts like this and a book like that that really makes you sort of swell up inside. And I I have to say uh I'm sure the rest of the council would agree with me on this. I was proud to have a picture even though I had a co mask on. I was proud to be in that book. And I'm sure a lot of the people in this room are are in that book as well
because it really is an incredibly uh comprehensive uh history uh right up through present times. Um Tom, so uh could you could you please come on up and just talk about um about the book, why you wrote it, how you wrote uh this great history of the township. Um and uh
it's a book that everyone here is going to want to get a copy of. I can tell you that compared to the book. >> So here's the book. You guys got copies already? This is it. It weighs 5 lb 2 oz. Post office told me that.
Um so my reasoning for starting the project initially um back in 2001, the department had published a another book, an 80th anniversary book. But back then things
weren't digitized and a lot of the materials that are now available digitally in the libraries including our library were still in boxes in the basement. So I knew I missed a whole bunch. Um so as we approached our 100th
anniversary in 2021, I started research several years prior to that. spent countless days in the library and being a history buff, every time I came across pictures and information that were really, really cool, I scanned them all and I took
notes, figuring maybe someday I'll do something else in addition to the fire department stuff. But then COVID hit and the libraries, museums, historical societies, and firehouses that I had to visit were
closed for months at a time. Every time there was a spike, they were closed again. So I went online. Most of the historical texts in the library are on their website. So I read and I took
notes. And then after I think the third or fourth spike, when it became absolutely clear we weren't making our 100th anniversary, I decided why not make a book about >> regulations are. You have to keep the door open. But thank you.
So, I decided to make a history book covering the 1600s to the present, tying the fire department in and covering all of township history, which is really easy to do since most of you have taken a look at it already. If you look at our early firemen in in the 20s, 30s, and
40s, they're the same last names in chapter 1 in the 17 and 1800s. It really is. Their families, some of them are still around. Uh, so it was an easy it was an easy decision since time didn't matter and I wasn't going to make the
100th anniversary. So I just kept going and it took a long time, 7 years to be exact. Uh, we hired the Tribune to do the layout and design for us. And uh, our members have been
serving the community for over a century. every call, every all kinds of weather, any time of day or night. Fact, a whole bunch of them are here. Um, but I I wanted really to solidify and
thoroughly document the legacy of the volunteer fire department. We all know that communities are changing all over the place and someday it could change here. I don't know when that's going to be. People ask
me all the time. I have no idea. But if that does happen, our legacy had to be recorded and now it is. So, I'm thrilled. There is no one happier that it's finished than me.
Thank you all very, very much for recognizing it. >> Thank you, Tom. Beautiful stuff. Really? >> Oh, uh, we are going to have a second printing. Um, this will be >> tell people how they can get the book. >> Yeah. So, we're going to do second
printing. Uh, I have some um some of the flyers here. It has a QR code that takes you to a Google doc. You can uh order a book on Venmo, credit card, or sending a checkin. Um,
so we'll order as many as people want. Uh, there's no limit. It's just we we couldn't we couldn't purchase the books outright and then hope to sell them because if we didn't and we would be expending our funds as a volunteer department. So if people are interested
uh we've had a tremendous amount of interest so far. Um if you're interested I have a book here. I'll leave it here for people to look at in the back and I'll leave these in the back and when they come in we'll get them out to everybody. Thank you very much. Tom, on on behalf
of Livingston, thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Why don't we get a picture? Uh why don't we all go down and take a picture so we can show the book and uh Yeah, we want to promote We want to promote the book. Whatever you want. Good.
Whatever you want. You got it. >> Good. >> It's finished. >> It's done. >> Thank god. Mike, why aren't you in this picture? >> Exactly. That's what he always says. >> All right.
>> Take a long time to read that book. Thank you. >> We're going to move along uh to the approval of minutes pending. Any corrections? >> Oh, I'm sorry. What am I talking about? We're Yes. We vision 2020.
My vision is not 2020 right now. Um Andy, come on up. Who's presenting with you guys? Is it Oh, just you >> Allan and Ron. No. Okay. All right. >> No problem. Listen, this is so uh right now we're having our 2020 committee come
up and uh go through their survey results. uh they the 2020 committee uh periodically every four or five years we do that right every four or five years. Um what's incredible about the results here is the quality. It's almost like a
like it's genuinely a professional level uh look and evaluation of what the town's people feel regarding um the state of the town. So uh please take it away. Thank you. >> Can I make a can I make a very simple light comment? Our mayor is a doctor, an
eye doctor. So, you forgot the word vision. It's a vision 2020. Sorry. >> I I I operated for eight hours earlier today. My head's not on. Cor straight. >> Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Dep Thank you, Deputy Mayor, Councilman Anthony, members of the town hall staff. We're
excited to be here and present um the surveys. As you mentioned, this is a quadrrenial survey. So, we've last done did this four years ago. Um want to also thank the members of the vision and encourage them to stand the vision members of the vision 2020 committee including um our the co-chairs Alan
Carpass, Ron Valentine, myself. So thank you all for coming. Uh the purpose of the committee as you mentioned um is to create long-term vision for the township that will impose that will improve the quality of life for the community, its residents and businesses. Um
the briefing is to update the council and the community on our findings, outline our next steps and also to seek your insights. So we've done 11 surveys so far uh 11 subjects explored since September of 2024. Uh ranging we did a general
survey, we've done volunteerism, uh parks and wreck, communications, civility, public safety, infrastructure, sort of every major area within the um the township.
We did this by distributing the survey through the town website. It was promoted on social media through the West Essex Tribune, which we appreciate. As well as other town uh other local media um establishments. We do want to emphasize the surveys are not statistically significant. Um we did
we um did only one survey received more than 1% um of the town's population. um something we hope to improve in the future. We hope that more citizens get involved, more residents get involved in these surveys as we do more. Um but they
are directional. Um we did use a weighted scale on some questions though you'll see numbers 10, seven, five, four and one. It's more we did that just more for waiting and for comparison purposes. And then we did use AI to help us
decipher some of and analyze some of the comments. So moving to our general the general survey and this is where we asked what are the areas of improvement what are the best aspects of town what are the worst aspects of town
top three areas um shopping zoning and planning and road roads are the areas needing for improve improvement I think some of that was even talked about during the pre preconsil meeting um the best aspects of town the schools the
community and safety Uh in terms of the worst aspects of town, there were various topics um in terms of unatategorized um infrastructure, overdevelopment and housing density and the schools in terms of overcrowding.
Moving to infrastructure, what was being talked about there um specifically is the roads. Uh we asked people to rate the um roads on a star system. 2 point Let me see if this works.
Road quality was rated 2.4 out of five stars. Um >> and when was the infrastructure survey done? Do you remember? >> That was done that was one of the middle surveys. So it may have been done early to mid 25.
Okay, thank you. >> Um, what's what was let me just the other key point. 75% of the respondents felt a town forum about the basics of land use and zoning would help their
understanding of building development comes down to communication which will be a theme you'll which will be a theme that's comes up throughout all the surveys and I'll be concluding with that we also asked about civility uh 80 88%
of respondents felt that they agreed that they feel welcome in town. 85% of the respondents said that various groups, communities, um wh
communities, everyone were working to meet the needs. Uh they did single out community volunteers and organizers at a 7.87 out of 10. Um they did the town council was identified at 6.55 out of 10.
Um people did feel that they could express their beliefs and they would be um treated with respect um 62% of the respondent but the weighted score was a uh 5.9 out of 10. Um groups treating respondents with civility and respect.
You can see who where the highest rated are here. Highest rated and the lowest rated. And even the lowest lowest rated it's on a this 10point scale it's still good. is still rated at a seven. So, still on the on the good scale.
Um, in terms of the least level of civility in town, um, the online community forums and driving around town, looking to volunteerism, um, 30% of the respondents for this particular survey and each survey was
done individually. It was not one big bulk survey. It was done over a series of period of time. um 30% of the respondents currently serve on a town committee. And for those who didn't, the top two reasons they didn't join or they weren't aware of the
opportunities or they didn't know who to contact. So again, it gets back to communication. Looking to parks and recreation. Um again, hearkening back to the meeting we had the premeating. Um we we did get
Wait, where'd it go? Sorry, Andy, can you help me here on this? Uh um thank you. Well, parks and recreation. Uh there
were many comments on the pool and the pool complex, what to do with Northland. We had 116 different comments um on ideas ranging from sports, sports and fitness facilities, recreation areas, a new pool, uh community and arts center. Uh more than half the respondents were
not aware of enhancements at the community center. Um more than threequarters of the respondents agree that the parks and fields are well-maintained and accessible. And the respondents were split 50/50 on whether there was enough programming for all
ages. Moving to the arts, um Riker Hill Art Park and the library have the highest name recognition amongst the various choices in terms of facilities dealing with the arts. Um and then there was very high agreement on whether the town
should support the arts and the arts council of Livingston with the in um its efforts to develop an arts p arts hub and 85% think that the arts and cultural organizations should have a permanent location in town. So the word should
Yes. So the word should should be in in the word should should be there. Um, in terms of the environmental commission, just over half of the respondents didn't know of the committee and 60% of the respondents were in the middle or neutral as to whether the
committee is fulfilling its mission. Um the top three environmental initiatives that they'd like to see focused on is the drinking water quality, increase and utilize open space and the reduce the negative impacts for most negative environmental impacts from oceans open
space. Um looking at public safety um across the board there was wide respect. Uh, all the town public safety organizations scored above a seven weighted average on all questions related to trust, confidence, and making
decisions that are right for the community. Um, more than 90% of the respondents said that Livingston is a safe town and they rated it as out of 100, they rated at 78 out of 100. um top areas of
um that they want in terms of public safety focus on property crime, traffic offenses and violent crime should be the focus of the police department. And with LFD and the first and the first aid squad, they also got high marks and there was a clear need for volunteerism
in terms of business development. Um apart from we we found out that from the respondents 50% of residents shop in town at least once a week besides groceries. Um 63% said that it's important or extremely important to support local businesses
and they go on friends recommendations and um it's easy, it's convenient and but selection prevents people from shopping locally. Um in terms of the business owner response said people said that the bid has a
neutral impact on their on their business and that's 69%. Um the bid services by business owners were ranked between three and four um on a I think it was on five point sc that was on a fivepoint scale and the business
feedback um it helps businesses versus driving away. It diversifies the type of businesses. It's what they want to see what they want to see. So there's some opportunities it seems like from the business owners. >> Have you guys shared that with uh you know Beth and uh Litman? Oh I mean Allan
you would definitely >> we will that's that's that's the next step. >> Okay. Pretty guys pretty sure you guys are uh probably talk sometimes. >> Um we did we did do a special survey on Boxcar. Those results were shared with Boxcar. Um this is 18% of the
respondents commute to New York five days half uh commuted three to four days. Um and you can see if the service is 100% reliable c but cost 25% more you can see how often um riders respondents
would take um the service. Just just by way of background, Boxcar is a company that has been evaluating Livingston as a uh as a a hub for their um for a service to drive a bus into into the city. What was
their reaction to to the data that you gave them? Did you >> We got no we we didn't get anything feedback from them. >> So, we didn't hear back from them at all. And we had we had facilitated meetings here, the box car meetings here uh with the town manager Barry Lewis and
his staff to talk to the residents and present and you know talk about the routes and everything else. So I hope that was informative for the viewers who actually came in and and answered the question. >> We don't we don't know we didn't get any feedback from Boxcar. We sent them here
are the results. Um we don't know what happened to it since then. >> Great. As I said, communications is a thread throughout the whole basically all 11 surveys. Um, the top three sources for town news, West Essex
Tribune was 15%. The Eltown Lowdown Facebook group 14 and Town Os owned social media was 11%. Um, 87% of the town respond of respondents use the town website in the last year. Um the tech and in terms of
responding how accessible and how easy it is to use is a weighted score of 7.12. Um and then we asked about whether people whether the town posts too much too little and you can see the let me see if I can do this without uh
you can see the responses there. 50% 53% said they post too little while 46% said it was the right amount. depends whether you like social media or it depends on who you are and um how you get how you receive your news. >> It's a critical feedback. Uh I know
you're going through this this slide, but >> yeah, >> we'll we'll talk after. I don't want to interrupt you. >> Um in terms of communic This is an interesting slide in the sense the town the town does a good job in getting the information out in a clear and understandable manner. The weighted
score was a 6.45 out of 10. Um, in this slide, it doesn't show numbers, but you can see from the colors, red meaning no one. These are top issues in town. So, we have we're looking at the mall, the pool, water remediation, town budget,
development, sidewalk and road repairs, property tax allocations. So, red indicates no understanding, the gold is basic understanding, green is somewhat understand, and blue is fully understand. There is a wide array and I
think some we think some opportunities and we're going to be talking about that within the committee from some recommendation standpoints to address that. And it says up as it says up here um 86% of respondents would like regular
news from the town and 63% would like it in email format. Um there was also a question um asking I think we had a question and Alan remind me if I'm regarding town forums about
about those same subjects and there was there was uh agreement that there there would be more information could be more information provided. Um >> still is that the final slide? >> Um no it's I was just going to say thank
thank you for I was just going to say thank you. We look forward to your questions. Our next what our next steps are is we're going to be meeting uh our next meeting is March 19th. Um we're going to be taking these taking these topics more in depth and analyzing the
each survey. So we're going to be talking about communications and public safety on March 19th and developing recommendations. We'd also like to know what's of interest to the council. So we from a directional standpoint where you want us to focus so that way we can if
we need to prioritize So, let me first say thank you so much uh Andy and you know Ron and and Allan are not standing up here, but we know that they're also heavily involved with this stuff and so is all the 2020 committee that stood up and and got recognized earlier on. So, thank you wholeheartedly from from the council and
from the town for all this great work and feedback. Um I have two things that I thought of when I I was watching this and I I read the slides so you had you know you guys were great to give us the slides before even today. Um the first is that uh Mike Isizo, who is formerly
of the of the Tribune, um has become the communications director in town. How long has he been Barry? Six monthsish. Okay. I wonder um I think he's been doing an incredible job. I've heard people tell me that they think that he's been doing a great job. And I wonder if
the next time you you you know you you talk to people about how the communications are from the town if if those numbers don't get better. I I would bet that they do. >> We we did talk with Mike before um this we actually coordinated the survey. It was just after he started >> just after Right.
>> Um that we coordinated and it's went out I believe in the September October time frame. And so it went out right after he started. So >> I think now that people maybe have seen the great work that he's doing that hopefully those numbers would go up. That's that that was my reaction to
that. And then >> and work with us as well. >> Thank you. Yeah. Um and then the other my other thought was, you know, what do what do people love about the town? It's great to see safety up there as a top three item. Okay. Now, we're I was smiling at our police officers in the
back when when we heard that. Um what what what what's happened the last uh 2 years or so uh with our technology upgrades and with Chief Marshoots helping to get more patrols out on the streets, we have had house breakins and
car thefts dropped by 75 to 80%. So it is wonderful to see on the surveys that people actually really feel the difference because you know three years ago uh at the height of you know especially when COVID was uh at the height of COVID um it seemed like the
front page of the paper every every day was someone breaking into a house to find keys to steal a car and and I think that the police have done such a great job and it just I think it's great that we have police here watching this presentation because you now see uh from
from the hundreds of people that fill out these surveys that people really feel the difference and uh I think that's something for the whole township to be really proud of. A lot of things tonight to be proud of as a township I have to say. Uh but great thank you so much for the presentation. I don't know if uh Al or or Kaden if you wanted to comment. >> Y
>> uh Andrew Andy could you go back to the slide environmental commission or do you have it there? I just didn't understand the um the top three environmental initiatives to focus on. The last one to reduce the negative environ environmental impacts from open space.
>> I would think open space >> is a benefit. Yeah. >> Yeah. Um we were using the wording from the environment. We worked with the the environmental committee. This is the wording they gave us. I'd have to go back and I can get I can get an answer for you in terms of where that is. I'm liazison to the environmental
commercial. I could ask over there. So, >> I just didn't I I didn't know if that negative was supposed to be in there. >> Thank you. >> Good. So, I'll just add a couple of quick things. Uh, of course, what mayor said, thank you. It's great work and it
takes a lot of lot of effort to do this work. So, can't thank you guys enough, the entire committee and for for you guys to lead it and and come here and present it. Couple of things uh came to mind just to add to what what mayor said about safety. One other safety aspect is road safety as well. So this council has
started looking into road safeties. The vision zero how do we make safe routes to school and all of that and we just as part of this year itself we passed the ebike ordinance and these are the kinds of uh things that are going in getting ahead of what could be uh an area of
improvement. the new vehicles are coming in. That'll increase the unsafe environments for youngsters to really ride those ebikes and before anything happens, how do we educate ourselves, make our police more more aware of it and help them make everybody aware of
it. So, there's a lot of things going on as well. So, I would I would imagine those those numbers will go even even higher up. You mentioned something about parks and recreation. I think those are the ideas always bubble in. I think those uh first couple of bullets you mentioned about the northland pool and
other areas where we can literally do a lot of things as town. So you you heard you know in the in the in the conference meetings where we it's an open door meeting but it is the area where we kind of bring in all the baseline analysis work and this is the work that goes in.
So this work is incredible because that will be an input to what we put together over there. Uh and the last thing I would note is on your communication slide those numbers are fabulously important. I think Barry uh when we see that 87% of respondents uses town's
website per year that's incredibly high. So I think that's an opportunity I see. Whatever is the feedback, I think that's where I think the biggest bang for the buck is if we kind of redesign or arrange it in such a way and make it more feasible or more more seamless to
the user experience. I think that will be an amazing win. So this will be a great >> and these are the and these are the topline results. Correct. >> I mean there's more detail that we can talk with Barry and Mike Gizo, >> right? you talked about the that a lot of people were searching were seeking an email like you know periodically from
the town with with some information bullet points and I don't know you know I don't know um they put um Mike is uses a lot of of um social media uh and post a lot of stuff on on our town website but you know an email might be you know an email blast on certain topics is
probably a very good idea so that would that would come out you know that would be a wonderful thing to add on I I um I really appreciated uh deputy mayor's comments just now um I I wanted to add to them uh On the safety issue, um we're going to be having a lot of new sidewalks uh that are going to be uh put
into town. So, um the state is coming in uh it's not going to happen so fast, but um around the circle um they're going to be it's going to be walkable in a in a you know, in a in a couple years. Um and Route 10 is going to be walkable. And
so, um we're going to have sidewalks on both sides all the way around the all the way around the circle. We we when the state originally came in and told us that they wanted to renovate the circle uh you know we said well we want sidewalks and uh and we want them to extend down Route 10 and we held up the
process a little bit so they could evaluate it but they agree that it was necessary especially as we have some of our affordable housing obligations that are along Route 10. We want people to be able to walk to places. We don't want them getting in a car every time they have to go somewhere. So that I think that's something that's going to really make the town feel better. Um and then
of course along the we had the uh other sidewalks that are coming in along our these safe routes to school program. Um and that's going to be along uh Northfield and and uh um uh Hillside um and by Heritage. So that's that's going to be you know that's going to be an
enhancement as well. So you know we're great it's great to see safety numbers that people feel safe. We don't we don't sit on our laurels. We're moving forward. >> Great. And and like like we requested, if there's any any of the topics that you want us to prioritize more than
another based based on what the town is dealing with, please let us know. Um so that way we can prioritize what we're meeting with in terms of recommendations and how soon you need them. >> Great work. Thank you. >> Great work. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Okay, that brings us to um
approval of uh we are now at our approval for minutes. Uh just give me one second please to catch up where I am. Okay. Um so we are at approval of minutes pending any corrections. We have regular and and conference and close session meetings from February 9th to
2026 as well as close session minutes from February 9th, 2026 as well. Can I have a motion to approve the meeting minutes pending corrections? >> Motion second. >> Okay. Um all in favor? >> Okay. Any opposed? Okay. This brings us to public comment on agenda items only.
A 4m minute time limit on agenda items only. Um can I have a motion to open the public portion on agenda items? >> So moved. >> Second. All in favor? I. Okay. Any opposed? No. Okay. At this time, the meeting is now open for agenda items only. There's a 4mm time limit per
person. Residents may come to the phone for four minutes. Uh if you come up, please say your name and whether you live in town. Micro. Um okay. Hearing uh um hearing no more comments. Uh can I have a motion to
close the the public portion? >> Motion to close the public portion. Seconded. >> Okay. All in favor? >> I. >> Okay. Opposed. >> All right. This brings us to passage of ordinances. We have two final ordinances for uh second reading tonight. Uh madame clerk,
can you read ordinance 4-2026 by title? >> Actually, ordinance 4 and ordinance 5 are being carried to the 16th. They're only being listed because they were noticed for the 24th meeting that got cancelled. So we are just listing them here to let everybody know if you came for the final reading on ordinance 4
which 2026 which is amending and supplementing chapter 29 traffic and parking stop signs that is being carried to the March 16th uh 2026 regular meeting that was actually introduced on the 9th and um because of the cancellation of the last meeting we just
are announcing it here and it will also be noticed as such on our new legal notices page on the website. Um, and the same goes for ordinance 5-2026 amending chapter 306 trees that will also be carried uh to have its public hearing on
March 16th. >> Thank you, Carol. Um, there are six ordinances for introduction this evening. >> Ordinance 6-2026 authorizing the discharge of mortgage for 78 Hillside Terrace. Can I have a motion to amend and
reintroduce ordinance? Uh we were right uh Jared last at the last meeting we there was we were supposed to amend it right at this meeting would that still hold? >> I don't have >> right we were going to reintro uh for 626 we were going to All right. Okay. So
I thought at the last meeting we had to amend that somehow but >> No, I think at one meeting it was envisioned that it could be a resolution and the correction was to make it an ordinance. >> Yeah. >> So we'll just um Okay. Can I have a a motion? uh 620 uh 26 for introduction and a date for a second reading of public hearing.
>> Motion to introduce. >> Second. >> Okay. Um is there any discussion? >> Okay. >> Um Madame Clerk, please uh call the role. >> Council member Minhardt is absent. Council member Anthony, >> yes. >> Council member Vieira is absent. Deputy Maruptani.
>> Yes. >> And Mayor Klein, >> yes. Uh yep. Ordinance 7-2026 an ordinance to amend chapter 170 land use article 15 development fees. >> I'll move it on first reading.
>> Second. >> Is there any discussion? >> Madam clerk, please call the role. >> Council member Anthony. >> Uh yes. >> Council uh Deputy Mayor Batani. >> Yes. >> And Mayor Klein. >> Yes. Ordinance 8-2026,
an ordinance to amend chapter 170, land use article 14, affordable housing regulations. >> I have a motion. >> I'll move it. >> Second. >> Okay. Any discussion? >> Okay. Madame clerk, please call the role. >> Council member Anthony, >> yes.
>> Deputy Mayor Baptani, >> yes. >> Mayor Klein, >> yes. Ordinance 9-2026, Ordinance of the Township of Livingston, repealing and replacing chapter 170-105 R-6, Senior Citizen Housing District of
the Code of the Township of Livingston. >> Can I have a motion? >> Motion. >> Second. >> Any discussion? >> Madam Clerk, let's call the RO. >> Council member Anthony, >> yes. >> Deputy Mayor Banani, >> yes. >> Mayor Klene, >> yes. Ordinance 10-2026
authorizing the township to enter into a rightsof way agreement. >> Motion second. >> Any discussion? >> Okay. >> Council member Anthony. >> Yes. >> Um Deputy Mayor Banani. >> Yes. >> And Mayor Klene.
>> Yes. And lastly, and I neglected to mention, but they're all going to have their public hearing on March 16, 2026, including this last one, which is ordinance 11-2026 authorizing the dissolution of the swimming pool utility.
>> Motion second. >> Any discussion? >> Uh, mayor, if I could, I just wanted to make a quick comment to avoid any confusion by the public. Uh this is purely an accounting mechanism whereby we are dissolving a statutory self-liquidating public utility and
rolling all the pool operations into the current fund budget. It's not to be interpreted as closing the pool, dissolving the pool or otherwise the pool will open and operate. It's purely an accounting uh maneuver. Thank you. >> Thank you, Barry. >> Thank you for those comments.
>> Thank you, Barry. >> Um any member comments? All right. Uh Carolyn, >> uh council member Anthony. Yes. >> Deputy Mayor Baptani. >> Yes. >> And Mayor Klene. >> Yes. >> That brings us to the consent agenda. All matters listed with an asterisk are considered to be routine and
non-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 requests 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.
Do any members of the council wish to have any items removed from the consent agenda for separate discussion and voting? Okay. Madame clerk, please read all the resolutions on the consent agenda by title and resolution number. >> Yes, mayor. Uh resolution 26-121, appointing member to township committee.
Resolution 26-122 authorizing the award of a contract to the Land Conservancy of New Jersey. Resolution 26-123 authorizing an emergency contract with Cecir Mechanical LLC. Resolution 26-124
authorizing the award of a contract to Eagle Point Gun TJ Morrison Suns. Resolution 26-125 authorizing the award of a contract to Jessco Inc. Resolution 26-126 is left blank intentionally. Resolution 26-127
requesting permission for the deducation by Ryder for donations for the Townshipville Livingston's Healthy Communities Committee HCHY as required by NJSA 4A5-29. And last, no, I'm sorry. Resolution
26-128 requesting permission for the education by Ryder for donations for the township of Livingston's environmental commission as required by NGSA4A5-29. And lastly, resolution 26-129, safe and secure grant. >> I have a motion to approve the
resolutions. >> I'll move over the resolutions. >> Second. >> Okay, please call the role. >> Council member Anthony, >> yes. >> Deputy Mayor Bani, >> yes. >> Mayor Klene, >> yes. This brings us to the public portion on any subject with a time limit of three minutes on any subject. Can I
have a motion to open the public portion on any subject? >> Motion to open. >> Second. >> Second. >> Thank you. Um, this is uh all in favor of opening. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Any opposed? No. Okay. Meetings
now opened on any subject with a threeminut time limit. Residents may come to the microphone. Uh, please state your name and whether you live in town. Good evening everybody. Tim Foley. I live in town almost 50 years, fourth generation.
Um, last meeting we had close to a dozen people come up here and say nice things about Adam. Uh there was I believe there was a discussion in close session about his position here and I was just
wondering if there was an outcome that can be discussed for the public to know. >> Uh we're not going to discuss any personnel matters in public at this time but the ordinance that was the ordinance isn't on the agenda tonight. >> I understand that but it just you know
again I just feel Adam does a lot for this town and we we need to try to find >> I just if you can I don't want to take your time. So I I said a personnel but it's also a financial and a budgetary concern that the council's all looking
at. Um and it was discussed and closed so we're not we're not open. >> I understand I don't think you were here when when we all >> I was >> you were here. Okay. But anyway, you know, the the whole thing about being, you know, salaries are high in in this one
subject, but there's also high salaries in all the departments. And we as a township really need to look at every department here. And losing Adam,
I think, is is is or his position is is wrong, especially because, you know, there are some people that really do need to retire and that could be saving his job. And I
just feel that um again myself and almost a dozen other people were here last meeting praising Adam and every every time that I've come to a town council meeting and I I do come to to some Adam gets appraised on what he just
did, you know, what what project he's working on. And I just think that's a it's a bad move to lose somebody like Adam. And that's just my personal opinion. And like the other 10 or so people that were here speaking, guarantee there's other people that feel
the same way, but they're they don't want to come here to voice their opinion on on on how well Adam does his job. And the couple people that complained about Adam that ran to the town council, they should be really looked at because
they jumped, you know, first person they should have talked to was Barry, not run to the council and try to get this guy job eliminated. So again, I really think you should really think about it. Maybe some
of the people that need to retire, give him packages or whatever. But, you know, that's it. I just feel like Adam's a good guy and we shouldn't lose him. >> Thanks, Tim. Appreciate your comments. >> Okay. Uh,
seeing no other speakers, can I have a motion to close public portion on any subject? >> Motion to close. >> Second. >> Okay. All in favor? I. Okay. Um, we're now to reports of township officials and professionals. Uh, town manager Barry Lewis, please.
>> Thank you, Mayor. Um, couple since, uh, our last meeting was cancelled because of the second blizzard, I want to give a a shout out as we always do to DPW. They did another outstanding job on another big storm. And again, as somebody who drives through a number of towns every day, uh, Livingston is always among the
best. The roads are cleared. And uh so just another great job by uh director Southworth and and his entire team. Um also uh looking at the survey, I noticed one of the questions was uh the environmental questions was concerns about water quality. Um it was mentioned
before, but I'll reiterate it again because we just had another meeting. Um in the PFAS uh water treatment projects, phase A is completed. And what's really important I think for the public to know about phase A is that phase addressed
80% of the overall uh water produ production capacity that had limits. So uh which was not even 100% of our water to begin with but that that was contaminated 80% as so we're now down to a very very small portion of the water uh that still has levels in exance and
that project is underway and should be done this summer. I would also point out that Barry, that we are light years ahead of many other towns. >> Absolutely. >> Um the the um the speed and uh the quality of the work on on the on the on the water system has
been phenomenal. Um it's something that none of us wanted to have to deal with. Um certainly um you know it's expensive and we by law have to send quarterly letters to the residents telling them about the
problem. Uh and um we work very hard and as and fast uh and we're going to be one of the first towns to really remediate uh the problem. So I'm really proud of the effort. Barry, thank you. >> Uh uh Deputy Township Manager Russ Jones. Uh, nothing for tonight, mayor.
Thank you. >> Okay. Adam is not here because why, Barry? >> On vacation. Actually got engaged while he was on vacation. So, congratulations. >> Congratulations. >> Assistant Township Manager Adam Lerner. Not here. He's engaged. Okay. Congratulations. Um, that brings us to
township clerk Carolyn Mazuko. >> Nothing for me tonight. Mayor, thank you. >> CFO Ankuchi. >> Yes. Thank you, Mayor. I just want to make a comment about the 2020 committee. I thought that was excellent presentation and I'm going to reach out to them >> vision
>> whatever vision committees whatever >> um thank you um but they had a comment about the budget not understanding so I I'd like to reach out to them to see how we can better do that I think you know I'm so in it and Barry as Barry is and
and sometimes we just haven't figured out how to reach the the the talent >> you guys always do a more accessible version of the budget that's released. There's a very detailed version and then there's sort of a userfriendly version and maybe we just have to, you know, maybe even an email blast out to
everyone with that budget. Uh, you know, because budget's obviously a concern for everyone that lives here and >> we've just heard that people want to be communicated with by email and maybe that's that would be a good thing to do. >> Yeah, that's what I'm thinking. And, um, we're having that public presentation by um, all the department heads. We may
want to put that out a little bit so they can talk to the department heads maybe when we have our big meeting on the 23rd when everyone comes in and discusses their intimate budget everything. So maybe we'll put that out. Um also we are going to close on the um
PAS first loan in in uh June. We have loan forgiveness. We work very hard at that and everybody should be very proud of that. Way ahead of the game. So thank you mayor. Thanks an so let's why don't according to an suggestion why don't we plug that meeting on the 23rd at 4:00
we're going to start it uh there's going to be the large budget meeting where all the department heads come in and explain uh what they what they are requesting as their budget for the coming year or explaining what their budget's going to be. Uh and that's something that's very informative for anyone in town who's
interested uh can come. That's an open meeting and everyone's welcome to come and and hear what they have to say. Uh, that brings us to Township Attorney Jared Caner. >> Uh, no report tonight, mayor. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Um, if that's no one else has
anything, uh, >> oh, I'm sorry. Right. Uh, we have council comments. Thank you from, uh, Deputy Mayor Kaitton. Uh, Bhutani is going to share, uh, comments on behalf of the council. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mayor. Uh yeah, I'll go through uh a few items or the events
that we went as a council. Uh so troop 12, we talked about troop 12. Uh on March 12, they had celebrated the 100 years of their anniversary. Exemplary uh organization of our township. Um
tremendous amount of service and great projects. Every uh Eagle Scout brings a lot of value to to the town through their projects. uh and of course the troop as a whole uh was great to celebrate with the mayor over there and uh it was at at Hanover Manor. Uh we
also had the Muslim community uh celebrate two different events and beautiful ceremonies. Ramadan crescent moon lighting and ifar dinner. Um it was great to be part of that. Uh uh the other uh two items that the mayor
mentioned, uh Brian Rabbit memorial, he was honored and it was honored uh we were honored to be there um and to to really uh see see him off and it was great service by the LPD as well. Um Read Across America Council presented to
lot of youngsters across uh different schools in town. Uh we also had a 100th century birthday celebrated of Doris Cox and um and Kellen thanks for presenting that plaque uh on behalf of the council. That's that was uh that's always
wonderful. Uh upcoming few items or few events we are we are really looking forward to Harlem Wizards versus Livingston Allstar fundraiser. That's on March 7th and that's that's that's exciting. Um and it's immediately followed by that on March 7th is a
Taiwanese celebration. Uh that's I think at Tanover Manor. Um one uh organization that is really uh a staple of our town originated from town. Um it is cycle for survival. They have a big event and lots
of organization in town. They go and participate. A lot of residents from town go and participate in there. Uh I'll be participating as well. Cycle for survival will have their their event in summit though um it's at the equinox and summit on March 15th and on the same day
we're going to have young men's service league where um a couple of our uh couple of members from the from the town council uh will be presenting to the young men um and talking about the civic responsibilities. One uh note of
reminder, daylight savings ends uh on the 8th and I think we're going to roll the clock back. So that's I think is all for >> Thank you, Deputy Mayor. >> Spring forward is it? Right. But we lose back. Yeah. Spring forward.
>> All right. I am going to adjourn this meeting. Thanks everyone. Have a great night. >> Thank you.