This is This is so wonderful. I've never seen so many people so excited to hear the budget presentation tonight. This is really I I I we didn't even we never get a crowd like this for their budget. Barry, are you nervous for this? All right. Um so, uh welcome everybody. Um
let me just get to our point here. Okay. So, this is our regular meeting for uh for our town council on June 8th, 2026. Uh, I'm going to read our Sunshine Statement, which says, "The statement of compliance with the Sunshine Law, NJSA 104-10. This meeting is being held in
accordance with the Open Public Meetings Act. An adequate notice of this meeting has been provided as required by law. Specifically, the annual notice was emailed to the West Essics Tribune and the Star Ledger on January 5th, 2026. The agenda and resolutions for the meeting are available at www.livj.org.
Certain portions of this meeting may be closed to the public for the purposes of personnel and/or other matters as outlined in the sunshine law. Decisions made and or discussed in close session will be 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 directors act. To the extent possible this evening, township of Livingston council meeting will be livereamed via Facebook at https www.fas.com. Livingston Township NJ questions or comments will
be also be accepted by emailing live comments at livingenj.org by 4 p.m. on the day of the meeting and shared with township council before the meeting. Each speaker should follow the rules of order limson code 2-15.3. >> Madam clerk, roll call, please. >> Council member Minhart >> here. >> Anthony >> here. >> Vieira
>> present. >> Deputy Mayor Baptani >> here. >> And Mayor Klein >> here. If everyone please rise uh for a moment of silence. Um, officer Steven Mcpirit, who is a police officer in Livingston for 34 years, uh, has passed on. He retired as a sergeant. And if we can keep his
family in mind, please join us in the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, liberty, justice
for all. >> She texted you. Okay, fine. Okay, the next uh the next item on our agenda is Exis County updates. Uh the the representative from Exus County is not here uh today, so we'll skip past that. We're going to move to our presentations
tonight. Um we have three. Did one of them get uh Barry? One of them got next or no? >> Number two got next. Okay. So we are uh we have two tonight. Um the first is the boys lacrosse exis county champions. >> Wow. You you guys are almost as excited
for that as the budget. That's fantastic. All right. Um, so, uh, why don't we go down then and, um, we'll, uh, I want, well, I want to give, uh, our our town attorney, Jared Caner, uh, wanted to have a moment just to, uh, address the crowd, so to speak.
>> Thank you. I'm very excited for tonight. Um, and and I I promise to keep it brief because I'm aware that there's a very important basketball game tonight that everybody wants to get home for. And while the Knicks may be up 2 in the finals, tonight really belongs to this Livingston boys lacrosse team. a
remarkable group of young men who accomplished something no Livingston boys lacrosse team has ever accomplished before, winning the Essex County Tournament of CH championship. As many of you know, I served as a township at return for the last seven years. During that time, I've had the privilege of presenting proclamations
recognizing incredible accomplishments by residents, businesses, first responders, students, and community organizations. But I can honestly say this is my favorite presentation to date. is my favorite presentation in part because of my pride as a Livingston parent who had two children go through
the Livingston school system and what this championship means to the township and our high school's athletic reputation. And of course, in part because my son Gavin is fortunate enough to be a member of this team. And personally, I was at every Essex
County Tournament game and almost every game this season cheering this team on. What made this team special wasn't just a championship, it was how they earned it. This group accomplished something no Livingston boys lacrosse team had ever accomplished before. They brought home the first Essex County Tournament Championship in program history and
became the first public school in many years to win the title. This is an achievement that will forever be part of Livingston sports history. The captains Reed Snow and Will Atkins set the tone for the entire season. They led not only through their play, but through their character, work ethic, and commitment to
their teammates. In addition, the attack put points on the board. The defense was relentless. The mid did the hardest job on the field, running end to end, creating opportunities, winning ground balls, and impacting every phase of the game. And whenever the team needed a big
save, Dylan Lavine seemed to come up with one save after another. And Dylan even scored a goal this season, which was pretty impressive. But more than anything, this was a complete team effort. Every player embrace embraced his role. Whether you were a captain, a starter, a reserve, or
someone who pushed your teammates every day in practice, you contribute to this championship season. Championships become part of school history. Character becomes part of its legacy. This team represented Livingston with toughness, humility, sportsmanship, and pride. And
all of us as community should be proud of what this team accomplished. Congratulations on an extraordinary season, a a historic championship, and a legacy that will be remembered for years to come. that that was the first thing our town attorney has ever said that made
everybody happy. Okay, so we're going to come down and we want to uh award everyone with um a plaque and uh some certificates. Uh we're going to announce your name. Please come up when we call your name. Feel free to
record. Just for this I can't no longer just jump in. So we said uh >> I'm just curious. I'm just curious like why did this I was just kind of curious from a logistical standpoint. Okay. Okay. All
right. I mean it's okay. I guess I guess I have the honor of doing uh I have the honor of doing the first five and I'm just going to I'm sorry to take a little precedent, but some of you boys it's only fitting that we're doing a lacrosse presentation. My
dear friend Eric Rosenson started this, you know, was a big member of this lacrosse club and maybe some of you boys played for him. Uh I know some I see some of the parents shaking their heads. Um, when I was uh very involved with the soccer club, Eric and I worked very closely together to make sure everybody had the fields. And I just want to to
say 30 seconds and give Eric a little shout out in his memory as well because it wasn't for him, a lot of you boys and this team wouldn't be up here. So, I just wanted to say that as well. Thank you. Thank you. with that. Uh, the seniors Will Atkinson. Oh, no. You can give it to him. You can
give it to him. You You can give it to him. >> I'll do an extraction. >> Congratulations. >> Uh, Scott Constants, stay here, >> everybody. Stay here. When you get the plaque, just sit out here. Thanks. All
right. Uh, Dylan Lavine. >> Austin Shreen. I >> No. Noah Shin. >> No. Two more. Seven. He said five. He said >> five. >> He said John B. You said no one, right?
>> I said no. So, you're up to Mitchell. >> All right. Next is Mitchell Snow. >> Congratulations. >> Congratulations. >> Reads now. That's wrong. Congratulations,
>> R.J. Crawford. >> RJ, congratulations. >> Congratulations. >> Will Davis And next is Alex Goldstein. >> Congratulations. >> Congratulations. Where do we lead off? Alex was
>> so we have um Sam Canick >> Eli Kushner Thank you. >> Get it. >> Peterman M. >> Not here. We have uh Santino Aero. I got it. I got it.
Congratulations, >> Anthony Petrillo. Congratulations, >> Nick Santanasio. Close enough. Here you go. >> We're up to
Congratulations. Congratulations. >> You got it. Yep. Hey, congratulations. You want to give one of the >> Here. Here. >> Congratulations. Isaac Horn, >> Gavin Caner, >> Asher Kaplan,
>> congratulations. >> Congratulations. >> All right. >> Drew Kipnis. Josh Linsky. Josh go. Congratulations, Richard Montisio.
I screwed it up. >> I don't know. I think you got it right. >> Hershel Rack Rackalor. >> You got it right. Oh, yeah. All right. >> Jordan Rothenberg. Congratulations,
>> Jason Simon. >> No, Jason Simon. >> Grady Tobin. >> Tuben. >> No. >> Uh, Evan Welling. Oh,
>> I know. >> Max Analone. >> No takers. All right. Sebastian Dant Dente. >> Congratulations. >> Congratulations, man. All right. >> Chase Xeen.
It's a big team. The uh the Knicks are waiting for us. Jaden Griffin, >> Connor Kogan. not here. All right. >> Saul Liieber. >> Thank you. >> Y
congratulations go and Griffin Rubenstein. No, we have the coaches. >> All right. All right. What? And we're going to call up the coaches. Uh, so Brad Zama. >> No,
I'm I'll give them the plaque. Pat Nan. Oh, we got the cup. All right, Kevin Meanie. All right. Absolutely. Matt Diosi. >> Hey, where to go, man? All right. All
right. Love that. Double duty tonight. Love it. All right. And uh and Dave Con. Is Dave here? I didn't see him. Okay. This is So, um, I'm gonna hand the mic over to to to Brad >> just to, uh, talk about the team and and
how the season went and, uh, just to congratulate you guys. >> All right. >> All right. Well, thank you very much. Thank you. >> I did prepare. >> No, no, I kept it quick. I'm a teacher. Keep it quick.
Uh thank you to town Livingston Town Council uh for the invitation to recognize the team tonight uh for their incredible accomplishment. Uh to our incredible players, our dedicated parents, uh assistant coaches, 2026 was
a phenomenal journey. Looking back to day one, we had high hopes. As the season went on, we didn't just win games. Our tremendous senior class built a culture of excellence, resilience, and one of family. Today we stand here as champions of Essex County
to talk about overcoming odds after a tough midappril game versus Newark Academy. We use that loss as motivation, winning two of our next four regular season games. Then heading into the Essex County tournament as a seven seed, many counted us out early. And although
we may have shocked the county with our accomplishment, we didn't shock ourselves. We set ourselves on winning one game at a time and we never looked back. We proved our championship heart in a first round victory over rival Milbour 10 to4. Then in the quarterfinals, we earned a our revenge
from a loss the previous week and defeated number two Glenidge in double overtime 8 to7. Noah Shin. >> Noah Shin with the winner. Next in the semi-finals, we again earned a previous loss uh to Caldwell and turn around and
defeated number three Caldwell 8 to7. Then in the finals, we overwhelmed number four seed and previously undefeated Verona Hillbillies from start to finish, winning by a score of 8 to three.
Any chance I have to say Verona Hillbillies, I say it. That's just hysterical to me. This trophy belongs to your sacrifice and unwavering belief in each other. And I as your head coach, I am so very proud of you. And now the lasting legacy of
the Livingston Lancer boys lacrosse team. That is we are now and forever and will always will be the 2026 Essex County Champions. Well, this this team made the whole town excited and proud. Everyone was everyone
was following your progress every round. Um, so excited to be here and have you guys finally come in. We worked on this for a little while to just find a time we get everyone here, especially before the seniors uh took off. So, it's just great that you guys were able to come in. We're we're so proud of you. So, we're going to we'll jump up on the on the counter right here. We'll take a picture of the group and uh up on the
deis. We're not going to stand on the counter. That's it's a fair point. All right. So, we'll run up jump on that. Somebodyow. All right. Go, Lancers. All right, Lancers. All right.
Yeah. >> All right, we're going to keep moving on. I don't the lacrosse team. I don't know how long you guys want to stay for the rest of this. I'll give you a moment if you guys wanted to go. >> Thank everyone for Thanks everyone for coming in.
>> We're going to move on to uh men's health week and the recognition. Um I'm going to read a couple of the paragraphs here. So uh June 15th to 21st is men's health week. Um whereas men's health month is
part of an ongoing international effort to educate men, boys and their families about the importance of preventive health screenings, early detection, health, health healthy lifestyles. And whereas national nationwide men have a life expectancy approximately six years shorter than that of women. Boo, right? That's terrible. Um and experience
higher rate of chronic disease including diabetes, obesity, cancer, heart disease, and premature mortality. Uh it goes on and we will say now therefore it be resolved that I Sean Klein mayor of township of Livingston County of Essex state of New Jersey do hereby proclaim June 15 through 21st as men's health
week here in the township of Livingston. Okay. Thanks everyone. Is anyone here to uh to receive this? >> I say you did such a nice plaque for for Okay. All right. Now we're going to move on um to approval of uh the the
>> I'm sorry the sorry the other presentation. Yes, I don't have it on my thing. That's right. I'm sorry. Um, we are now going to bring up um the I I'm actually not sure what is the you'll come up and please introduce yourself and the name of your group, but this is a group that's coming in to advocate for lowering the voting age from 18 down to
16, especially for board of ed uh elections. >> Vote 16. >> Vote 16. They're called vote 16. So, do you guys want to come forward and uh we'll hand the microphone to you and and we're uh eager to hear your presentation. Thanks, Chris. You can sit down now. You can sit down.
>> I'm good right here. >> Perfect. You can sit down again. >> Okay. Please introduce yourself, please, and uh and let us know how come you're here tonight. >> Yes. All right. Good evening, everyone. My name is Myra Dhavan and I'm a 16-year-old sophomore at Livingston High
School and I'm also the founding leader of the Civic Creation Circle, a 40 member club at LHS providing a nonpartisan space for youth to discuss and make civic change. Now, tonight I'm really proud to stand before you alongside fellow Livingston students,
the League of Women Voters, the New Jersey Institute of Social Justice, and other teachers and student and parent supporters. Now, we're here today to ask for something simple. Give Livingston students a seat at the table with a vote in our local elections. Now, this
principle is at the core of CCC's work. All of which is captured in the one-pager at the very top of your folders. Now, at the beginning of the school year, we had all our members vote on the civic issue they wish to solve this year. And an overwhelming majority voted to lower the voting age to 16 in
municipal elections, including town council and board of ed. We then took this topic and went on to have a research-based roundt discussion with our entire membership on the issue where we planned on what we would do to make this happen. Throughout the year, we also ran monthly schoolwide civic
current newsletter to increase student awareness which reaches over 2,000 students and staff at LHS with monthly news summaries, student opeds, and civic updates. Now, the CCC does not stand behind the youth's right to vote in local elections alone with state,
national, and international partners behind us. Now, this year, we've hosted three speaking events with the NJ Institute for Social Justice, the League of Women Voters, and independent civic leaders. We've energized students who are ready to vote. Nationally, we've been recognized by Civics Unplugged, and
supported by members of the Vote 16 campaign themselves. Internationally, the CCC has encouraged support for grassroots youth initiatives like ours at the United Nations Echos Youth Forum, where I delivered an intervention on our organization's behalf. Yet, the reason
so many leaders stand behind this issue is because the numbers are behind it locally and nationally. This year, the CCC collected election data from the Student Government Association, which manages class officer and executive board elections, and the turnout results
were shocking. Across the board, juniors and sophomores, which have the majority of 16 and 17year-old students, had the highest turnout percentages. In 2025, 80% of the junior class voted in executive board elections, just beating
their 78% turnout in 2024. The sophomore class turnout also remains well over 60% from 2023 to 2025. Altogether, out of a school of 2,000 students, over 1,000 voted in class officer elections. Yet, in the general
election of 2023, Essex County had an average voter turnout of just 17% of registered voters, the lowest across the state. But here lies a group of engaged, informed voters that remain unable to vote even in our local elections. Yet
somehow still, young people are the ones viewed as apathetic to civic change. But the data says otherwise. According to a 2024 survey of 6,600 young people by the Spring Tide Research Institute, the vast majority of young Americans ages 13 to
18 care deeply about issues like education, the economy, and their communities. Yet, fewer than one in three trust the political institutions making decisions about their lives. This is not apathy, but the result of being voiceless and voteless where it's most important. What you will hear tonight is
the beginning of a movement and a chance for Livingston to make history with its youth. The students standing before you are debating, analyzing data, writing newsletters, and traveling to the UN to make their voices heard. In other words, many of us are already behaving as voters. All we are asking is that
Livingston recognize that and let us have that voice in our community through a vote. Thank you, Myra. Uh, good evening, Mayor Klein, Deputy Mayor Mutani, and members of the Livingston Township Council. Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you this evening alongside Livingston High School Civic Creation
Circle about how we can engage young voters in the democratic process, lowering the voting age and municipal and schoolboard elections. My name is Heather Rickner. I'm an associate counsel with the Democracy and Justice Program at the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice. Through my work with the civic creation circle and the students
of Livingston, I can see just how passionate and engaged they are. They're speaking out on pressing issues across the country and in New Jersey and their communities. Many of them have jobs and other adult responsibilities. Yet, they have no power to elect people to represent their interests. Young people are directly affected by policies
enacted by local government. from public safety to the environment, from racial justice to reproductive health and what they learn in schools. They deserve to have a voice that um in the matters that impact them. And we want them engaged in the democratic process now so that they will, as studies show, continue to be
civically engaged throughout their entire lives. Let me address a threshold issue. Livingston, like any other New Jersey municipality, has the authority to lower the voting age to 16 for municipal and schoolboard elections. After a thorough legal analysis, we have concluded that an ordinance or charter
amendment to lower the voting age to 16 would not conflict with New Jersey Constitution or New Jerseys election laws in Title 19. Passing such an ordinance is fully in compliance with the law. While the New Jersey Constitution grants an affirmative right to vote at age 18, it does not
explicitly prohibit those under 18 from voting. This opens a possibility for municipalities to lower the voting age for local elections. Municipalities have the authority to adjust local election laws, including the voting age, through ordinances or charter amendments based on the desired
outcome and legal considerations. The New Jersey Supreme Court has been willing to permit expansions of that power that are not expressly prohibited by the state constitution. And this is expanded upon the materials that I provided you with today. Not only is it permissible to expand the right to vote beyond what's expressly required by the
state constitution, but it's already been done before. You may have heard that on January 10th, 2024, Newark successfully passed an ordinance to lower the voting age in schoolboard elections. This was implemented in 2025 after an update to the statewide voter registration system. In doing so, Newark
paved the way for other towns like Livingston uh that will benefit from the structures already in place. This was made possible by many youth advocates and partnerships like those standing before you today. Lowering the voting age is not unique to New Jersey. Three states have lowered the voting age,
including Maryland, Vermont, and California. In Maryland specifically, the voting age has been lowered for all local elections in nine different cities. Internationally, countries around the world have lowered the voting age starting as early as in 2008 when Austria did so. To support this effort,
the institute has drafted ordinances for lowering the voting age in schoolboard elections, municipal elections, or both. These ordinances have been reviewed and signed off by several attorneys at our office, outside election attorney, and the New Jersey Office of Attorney General's election attorneys. I would be
happy to share these with you some date. Uh allowing 16 and 17 year olds will not only give young people a voice, but it will also strengthen our democracy, making it more inclusive, representative, and dynamic. Livingston Township has an opportunity to be among the first few New Jersey municipalities
to lower the voting age to 16, and we hope to work with you to make it happen. Thank you. >> Thanks, Heather. I'm Alan Yar, a junior at LHS and a member of the CCC's leadership board. My role in this project has been to collect and analyze
four years of Student Government Association election data with Myra. What we found showed us that as students grow, they become more likely to vote. Let's examine the pattern. Freshman executive board turnout ranges from 35% to 50%. But by sophomore and junior
year, when students are 16 and 17, the number climbs to between 63% and 80%. Every single year, as students get older, turnout goes up. Civic engagement here isn't stagnant. It grows with age. And when you look across all four years,
the consistency of this engagement is undeniable. Freshmen have cast nearly 900 ballots, sophomores have cast over 1,200, and juniors have cast over 1,300. Together, these numbers prove that civic engagement in Livingston isn't
hypothetical. It's measurable and it's growing. What we're asking for tonight is simply the opportunity to build on the momentum and to give young people who are already acting like voters the ability to be voters in their community. Thank you.
>> Thanks, Alan. I'm Naja Petresky, a sophomore on the CCC's leadership board. I was born in Ukraine and have lived in France, Russia, Japan, and as of this year, the United States. Growing up across the world, one thing has stayed
the same everywhere. Teenagers care. No matter where I've lived, young people have discussed elections, debated current issues, and cared deeply about the future that they would inherit. The research confirms what I've seen firsthand. According to Tufts University, Gen Z voted at a higher rate
in the 2022 midterms than any previous generation did at their first midterm election. And that's just with 18 as the floor. UNICEF surveys also found that when Austria lowered its voting age to 16, as Heather mentioned, 16 and 17 year olds were just as well informed about
political issues as 18 to 21 year olds. Youth can and will be engaged. My experiences across the world have taught me that stronger communities are built when more voices are heard. The question before you tonight is simple. Will
Livingston choose to hear ours? Thank you. Thank you, Naja, and thank you to the town council to be here this evening. I know we're all waiting for a Nick's game. Um, my name is Anukica Raj. I'm 16 and I serve on the CCC's leadership
board. Right now, school boards across this country are making urgent decisions about how AI is used in our classrooms, what's permitted, what's monitored, what's flagged. As of late 2024, only 31% of public schools had a written
policy governing students use of AI. The policies being written today will shape how our generation learns, is evaluated, and is treated for years to come. The youth here are most immersed in this technology. As 61% of Gen Z uses AI for
learning in school. We understand its possibilities and town council. We understand its harms. We already live under the decisions this council and the board of education make, including how our schools use this new technology. That is why our experience should count
at the ballot box. When the people most affected by a decision have no say in who makes it, the decision itself loses its legitimacy. Letting students vote would give the people living through these changes a real voice in the community that now decides our future.
The choice is yours. Thank you. And now just in this room today stood students, teachers, parents, and organizations who showed up on a Monday night when yes, there was a NYX game everyone was waiting to get to because
they believe the voice of youth is worth it. Now, all of us are beyond lucky to live in a town where the council cares for its youth's voices. In fact, I've experienced this firsthand in my work with Mr. Pupani on this issue and on many other issues where he and other
council members have been very willing to support and hear what we have to say. So this is just the beginning of a movement. It is the first step. This summer the Civic Creation Circle will be circulating a community petition to build more grassroots support for
lowering the voting age across Livingston. We will continue developing our media literacy resources to prepare these potential new voters. And we are asking tonight to keep meeting with this council and the town attorney to begin the formal process of drafting an
ordinance. New York did it. Nine Maryland cities did it. Austria had it since 2008. The legal pathway is clear. The draft ordinance exists and the students are ready. All that's left is for Livingston to lead and we hope that you will. Thank you for your time and
attention and we welcome any questions. >> Thank you very much for coming and presenting you guys. did a wonderful job. Um, does anyone on the council have any questions at this point? >> Um, I would just like to make a quick comment. Um, I have seen the the thought
process, the progress of the thought process. I know Mara, you have reached out a while ago and for the entire social justices team, I know Lori, you have been a mentor and and the teachers who are really guiding the whole whole thought process and all the students who
are standing up. It's important that that you deliberate. It's important that you you come up with the ideas and the freshness of it. Starting something like this creation circle. Uh it in itself is shows that that there is a need and there is a desire to kind of present and
and come forth with what you think is right. Uh it's it's also as you said there's a proof in the pudding. Uh it sounds like uh I see Maryland has four. I'm looking at your page number five of the handout. Um, so at least Maryland
and Vermont and California has it and some some of the towns and I think Newark is the only one in in New Jersey. Um so look at the at the end of the day it is about the process about the legality and everything else but the fact that you have come up here the fact
that you have thought thought about it the fact that you have gathered data and most importantly 40 members active members might I hear 40 active members of the group to really take part in the process of coming up and really you know
presenting it all here commendable so I congratulate you on all of that. So, thank you very much for being here. >> Thank you so much. >> Okay, if there's no other further Yeah. >> So, first of all, it was a great presentation. I guess my question I had earlier is that has the board of education received this uh presentation
yet? >> So, that's actually what we were discussing prior as well with our partners. So I've been in contact and I've worked with the board education on youth facing issues in the past um and spoken to individual members but this specific policy we haven't taken to them
yet. So what we were hoping is that tonight we get that process started by speaking with all of you and by scheduling those follow-up meetings and conferencing about you know the potential of this being passed and then including the board in that decision along the way as well.
>> Thank you. Okay, thank you very much and we'll uh keep the conversation going. >> Yes, thank you. >> Okay, >> have a good night. >> So, we're going to move now to the approval of minutes uh pending any corrections. We have the regular and conference meeting minutes from May 26,
2026 and close session meetings. >> Make a motion to approve the regular and conference and the close of May 26, 2026. >> Second, sorry. >> Um all in favor? I >> I >> opposed. >> Okay. Uh so we'll move forward now to
the continued public hearing on the 2026 municipal budget. >> Um get my sheet. >> Mayor, this is the time for the public hearing on the municipal budget amendment for 2026. The amendment was advertised as required on May 27th, 2026
together with notice of hearing for this time. Printed copies have been made available to the public during the past week. >> Uh before opening this hearing, I wish to outline the procedure. Each person desired to be heard will rise and give his or her name before speaking. I will
recognize one speaker at a time in order of rising as nearly as I can determine. Address all questions to the chair where necessary. They will be referred to individual members of the township council, municipal officials, or our adviserss. Questions must be confined solely to the municipal budget amendment
before us. The introduced budget, school or county matters are not proper subjects of this hearing and will not be discussed or answered here tonight. >> Mayor, I move that the hearing be open on the 2026 municipal budget amendment. >> I second the motion.
>> Observing no further questions or so. Okay. So, we're going to open it up to public hearing right now. >> Not yet. You got to vote. >> Yeah. >> You have to vote. >> We have to vote. Okay. Can we have a uh Carolyn, can you please uh call the role? >> Council member Minhart? >> Yes. >> Anthony? Yes. >> Verier? Yes. >> Deputy Mayor Bani? Yes. >> And Mayor Klein.
>> Yes. So, if anyone has any questions on the budget, they should please come to the microphone. Uh what's the time limit, uh Jared? >> Four minutes. >> Four minutes. Okay. Okay. Um >> seeing none. >> Yeah. Seeing none, I will observe a motion to close the hearing.
>> May I move the uh hearing be closed? >> Second motion. >> Yep. Mayor, I request the clerk read section two, the adopting of resolution. >> Okay. >> Later now. >> Yeah. The clerk will read the
resolution. Uh >> I'm going to do a roll call for the closing the hearing. Council member Minhardt. >> Yes. >> Anthony, yes. >> Vieira, >> yes. >> Deputy Mayor Bhutani, >> yes. >> Mayor Klein, >> yes. >> Can you now read the res? Thank you. >> Uh
Township of Livingston resolution to amend bud amend the budget. Resolution 26-194. Whereas the local municipal budget for the year 2026 was approved on the 6th day of April 2026 and whereas the public hearing on said budget has been held as advertised and whereas it is desired to
amend set approved budget now. Therefore, it be resolved by the governing body of the township of Livingston County of Essex that the following amendments to the appro approved budget of 2026 be made for the general revenue revenues from sheet 10n
consent of director of local government services. other special items. It went from $4,363,91452 to $4,252,74843. Sheet 11. Total general revenues went from 68,94,850 $850 even to $68,995,6569.
Under item eight, general appropriations on sheet 19, H1, general appropriations for mun municipal purposes within caps went from 49 million 40, excuse me, 46,96,648.65 to 46,876,648.65.
sheet 28 there was a deferred charges for pool fifth year of special emergency it was zero and now it is 23,000 on sheet 29 section O total general appropriation excluded from caps went
from $18,541,2254 to $18,564,2654 on sheet 30 total general ederal appropriations went from 68,994,850 to $68,995,6569. Under the dedicated water utility budget sheet 31, reserve for payment of debt
PAS settlement, it went from zero to $262,17.33. On sheet 32B, the debt service went from 100,000 to $262,17.33. Sheet 33, total water utility appropriation went from 10,213,188
to 10,428,994.93. >> Thank you. Uh, member two, >> I offer the foregoing resolution and move its adoption. >> I'll second a motion. The clerk will call the role, please. >> Council member Minhart, >> yes. >> Anthony, yes. >> Vieira, >> yes.
>> Deputy Mayor Vani, >> yes. >> Mayor Klein, >> yes. The resolution on the 2026 municipal budget amendment is adopted. Um, I will now uh ask uh township manager Barry Lewis to uh put forward our b our budget presentation for 2026.
>> Thank you, Mayor. Um, so as we embark, I I try and go through uh just an overall assessment of where our budget is, our overall fiscal condition and how we're doing, including sort of comparing us uh to our neighboring communities. So, the first question is uh everybody
gets a tax bill. They pay it here at town hall. Uh but it's important for everyone to realize that of that every dollar that you give 61.4% of that goes to the school 18 you know 8% of that goes to the county uh the municipality
for our municipal purposes uh keeps 16.4% library gets 1.8% and the last 1.6% 6% is called the reserve for uncollected taxes, which is technically within our budget, but it's basically a cushion uh to cover the full budget and all the
taxes for all the entities to cover the fact that not everybody pays their taxes. Um so where does your tax dollar go? Again, the board of education approves the school taxes 61.4%. The Essex County Board of Commissioners approves the
county taxes 18.8%. Li library taxes are set by a statutory formula. Um it's 3.5% of the total or total mills 033% sorry. Um representing 1.8% of the total. Again the reserve for uncollected taxes is a
mathematical formula that takes the total of all the taxes to be levied by all entities multiplies it by the percentage of the prior year's collections to determine how much we should realistically expect to collect and then adds that cushion. And then so finally the uh township council approves
and controls uh only the municipal taxes representing 16.4% of the total tax bill. Next question is how are we doing with that 16.4%. Once again the council only approves the municipal taxes. Uh in Livingston in
2025 the average assessed home was $729,72711. Uh our tax rate was 0.452. um average taxes on the average assessed home for municipal purposes only. So if your bill is 15, 16, 18, $20,000, the town's only getting $3,200.
Um proud to say that we continue to have the second lowest uh municipal tax rate in all of Essex County. And the overall tax rate, including the school and the county and the library, is the sixth lowest in the county. Um, another point that uh I think we should
all be very proud of and is certainly a credit to the mayor and council in their uh guidance and and foresight and and fiscal uh responsibility is as a percentage of your total taxes. So those percentages that I gave out as to what uh how much of your tax dollar goes to
the municipal budget. Livingston's is the lowest of all the municipalities in Essex County. Uh and then as I'll touch on later in these slides, uh our municipal tax rate this year, uh while challenging is among the lowest uh of all Essex County communities and other
comparable communities. So the first slide just lists all the municipal tax rates um of all the towns in Essex County. As you can see, we are second only behind North Caldwell, a relatively small community that I don't think offers the full range of services
that we do. Um, and this chart then shows um, if you had the same assessed value home paying the municipal rate in any of these other towns, this is how much more you would be paying in municipal taxes uh, for the same house in those towns.
Um, this is the one I talked about where the percentage we're the lowest percentage and this includes the reserve for uncollected taxes that I separated out earlier because I I would have to go back and look up every other town's reserve for uncollected and make that adjustment. Uh, but again, we we have
the smallest percentage of your tax dollar going to municipal taxes of any town in the county within municipal tax rate increases. It's been a very challenging year. Uh I'm sure you've all heard about it, not only for schools, but for municipalities as well. Some of the major drivers are
health cost increases. I'll touch upon that a little later. Um but I'm proud to say of all the ones that have reported, some towns have yet to adopt their budgets, so we don't know theirs. Um, this chart focused on all any Essex County towns that had their tax increase
rate available as well as any towns in sort of north in our area, what I'll call northeast New Jersey, um, in excess of 20,000 in population that I thought were most comparable. And what you'll see is as far as the percentage of tax increase, our our percentage increase is the fourth, but you'll notice that the
increase on the average home is the lowest. And that's in part because the towns above us have significantly higher rates to begin with. So when you have if your rates twice what ours is, then your 3% is effectively a 6% increase in hours in terms of dollars. Um so again, the
lowest increase on the average assessed home. Um so where does our money come from? This is a breakdown of um the total of our budget and where do we get all our revenues from? As you can see, obviously the leading is 65.4. 5% from taxes and
there's a number of other categories that we get money from. Uh but what I'm proud to say and I think we should all and the mayor and council should be proud of. When I started in 2018, the tax number was 79%. So we we have become significantly less dependent on taxes
and that's that's a product of exploring other revenue sources, becoming more efficient and generating more revenues. Uh but again so we are our overall operations are funded by 65% uh by taxes where it used to be 79%. Um how do we spend your money? This
gives a breakdown on on general categories. Um not going to go through every single number but what's important if you notice public safety which is police and fire is roughly a third of the overall uh budget. um debt and capital improvement projects which
includes roads, parks, sewers, everything that we do is 16%. Uh public works, which covers maintaining all our properties, our buildings, our parks, uh plowing the roads, cutting the grass, all the great work that they do, is 12%. So you'll see that those three items
alone are 60% uh of our overall budget, which I think is reflective of that being sort of the core um government operation and obligation. Um the the remaining 40% is spread across trash and recycling, the utilities, the library, um all the municipal offices, um
everything listed there. I won't go through them all, but I think it's indicative of the fact that we try and run a very lean and efficient operation in in every department. Um summary just real quickly, this budget um despite the low increase
manages to maintain the current levels and in many instances enhances service levels and maintain staffing levels. Uh addresses all our agreed union contracts. Um it absorbs a significant increase in health insurance costs, almost $800,000. Um, I would say and and
again it's a credit to um the mayor and council and um certainly Anne Coochie our CFO who has been such a great partner throughout all this uh history that I've talked about um getting ahead of we all knew that there was giant healthcare increases coming and
beginning back in the finance committee with Deputy Mayor Batani and Councilman Minhardt uh we got ahead of this and the mayor and council approved a program to fund uh health savings accounts as an incentive to employees to take lower premium, higher deductible plans. Uh
that allowed us to mitigate and and limit our health insurance cost increase to around 15% whereas many towns were dealing with 30 and 35%. Um this budget also absorbs additional debt service and capital improvements to address some of the infrastructure.
Again, the the uh increase is is among the lowest and certainly the lowest uh increase on the average home in the entire county and surrounding towns that I could find. overall our fiscal condition. I again I think this is a great credit to the
entire team um not only an Cuchi our CFO our financial adviserss our bond council our auditors and and importantly the entire mayor and council who supported all these efforts and initiatives and certainly gave the direction to be fiscally sound and and to adopt sound
practices. um our surplus or fund balance which is really a gauge of you know essentially your savings account um year end balance at the end of 25 was over $17 million. It's the highest fund balance that in the at least the last 15 years that I was able to readily access.
Uh but I'm quite certain it's probably the highest in the history of the community. Um fund balance increased 338% since 2018 uh and increased 16fold in the past 12 years. So, we are on incredibly sound footing and and very fiscally solvent. Um, as a res direct
result of that and all our other practices, um, our refinancing and bond rating increased to double A1 and we're really knocking on the door of the AAA bond rating, which again is a credit to the entire community. Um, and as I mentioned in the earlier slide, uh,
property taxes, a percentage of our overall revenues dropped from 79% in 2018 now to the all-time low of 65.5%. Um the budget, the capital budget uh continues to uh fund improvements to public facilities, buildings, heater
replacement, boiler replacement, streets and roads, uh important vehicles and equipment for DPW, the police department, and other uh departments, um storm drainage improvements, network improvements and enhancements. uh water um continues to uh proceed with the PFAS
but also all the day-to-day improvements um to the water system and main installation repairs replacing outdated and leaking mains and and production well improvements. Um similarly sewer capital and again a credit to this uh governing body. Um really in the last uh
I would say seven eight years we've come such a long way in in what had been very neglected infrastructure in getting everything up to speed. Um the water and sewer and pool uh previously the pool used to be a dedicated separate utility. This year it
does not have its own separate bud budget. It's have been dissolved and rolled into the current fund budget. Um but both the water and sewer utilities maintain um all um uh operational upgrades, enhancements. Um the water capital is fully funded. The PFAS
remediation and treatment uh the majority of those complet have already been completed. So that 95% of all our water is is below uh regulatory standards. Um and we'll we should hit 100% in 2027. And again, a credit to um
the mayor and council, our utility engineer, Nathan Kurikoff, the entire team for being way ahead of this on the PFAS. Um I would note that um even the 5% that is not yet currently remediated that will be. We are in a blended system. So nobody's getting all that
water, any water anyone's getting is blended with the other 95%. So, uh, everybody should be in, you know, I think take, uh, some comfort in in the level of remediation that we've completed. Um, the budget funds all the needed capital improvements. Um, the
operating budgets for both water and sewer are fully addressed and and very on good sound footing based on the rate adjustments that we undertook in the last couple of years. And I touched on the uh, pool utility being so been dissolved. That was it.
Thank you very much, Barry. Um, I just want to we're going to go through some, uh, comments from our, uh, council. Um, we can start, please, with, um, uh, Councilman Minhardt. >> Sure. >> Thank you very much. Uh, Barry, thank
you very much. And to CFO Anuchi, thank you very much for all your hard work getting this budget put together and coming out on time. Um, very much appreciate it. Just a couple of highlights which I was writing down and which we've known. It's interesting how uh this council controls 16.5 cents of
every dollar of taxes that you pay. Uh that that number has gone down significantly since we started on this council. It was at 20 cents at one point. Now it's 16.5 cents. We stretch our dollar we stretch our 16 1.5 cents uh a long way to take care of everything that we do. The county is up to
currently 18.8 cents 19 cents. This town collectively sends $40 million a year to the county. $40 million collectively. Um I personally I'm not sure what we get back for our $40 million. And I intend to look forward to starting in January
uh trying to talk to the county and see if we can keep some of that money here in town to use some of it to go to the board of education to keep their school uh going as well to make sure their deficits don't keep rising and also to help us with our infrastructure as well. But again, I hate to say it, but I'm going to keep saying it. $40 million a
year collectively this town sends to the county of Essex. Um, just something everybody should should think about when you talk about the taxes. Um, you know, our municipal tax rates obviously very low. Barry, you made something about you you made a comment about keeping our services the same. Um, you know, I'm proud to say that one of the things that
we've done, we have kept funding at these high rates the police officers. We keep adding to our police force. We make sure that safety is our number one priority that we can control on this t on this side of Livingston Avenue because we don't control the board of ed but safety is very important and I'm
proud to say I think we're up to a maximum now even more than we've 75 police officers more than we've ever had in the last 12 years that we've been on this as well. That's number one. The other thing that I have to give a shout out because he's here as well. I was going to wait till the end of the meeting but to uh Chris Southworth who is our head of our DPW. Our DPW guys
work and work and work. Um, they're out there. Exactly. Right. They deserve a big round of applause. Um, this past Saturday night during the storm, I had a tree that fell down on my driveway. They came at, I don't know, 11, 12:00 and and cleaned up my
driveway. I ran into the same group. >> Let's be clear, it was a town tree. >> It was a town tree. They were They're all town trees. They're all town trees. But thank you. There was a town tree. But but that's not the story. The story was is that um at 12:00 that next afternoon when we gathered to raise uh
the flag, the pride flag here at town hall and we had the picnic afterwards, the uh the shipster eye picnic, these gentlemen were still working. They told me they worked 20 hours straight that weekend. Um and so like I always say, they're more reliable than the mailman. No matter what weather, they deliver and
they come through. So Chris, to you and your to you and your group, thank you guys very much for everything that you do. You deserve it. So again, it goes back it well, you know, it goes back to what we do. We keep funding. We make sure that our people that that the folks that work for us have the proper tools and they can go out there and they can
work and we thank them for everything that they do. They make us, you know, kind of they make us look good. And finally, the last number that I thought was interesting was uh our tax increase on the average household of close to $800,000 is $1143 a month. Divide that by 30, it's actually less than a dollar a day. Way
less than a dollar a day. Less than 50 cents a day. So again, by increasing our fund balance, by raising our bond rating, all the things that we've done fiscally well, thanks to our CFO's uh office and thanks to our town manager office, Barry Lewis, and this council as well who's worked very hard um to work
together as a group to making sure these numbers look as good as they do. I just want to thank everybody and I'll be proudly to vote yes for this budget. >> Thank you. >> I still >> I proudly voted yes. >> Okay. Um, let's go to uh, Councilman
Anthony. >> Sure. Uh, I, uh, echo much of what, uh, Councilman Minhartt said, but first of all, I have to, uh, congratulate and thank so much uh, Anne Coochie and and Barry Lewis for what just another amazing job. Um, how you do it is uh,
always astounds all of us up here with rising health costs and rising everything it seems. Um, and what uh, Councilman Minhardt had mentioned, Barry, I know we always say, "All right, is it as much as a cup of Starbucks every year? Uh, for the average
homeowner, what they have to pay extra a month." This year it's $11. Maybe with inflation, uh, Starbucks is up to that right now. Uh, maybe a venty or something like that. But it's just amazing how you do that. And you also, you know, just some of the things that
were up there, the bond rating being raised, uh, tackling the PAS issue, um, again, our DPW always doing tremendous year in year out. Um, our police force with crime, uh, being lower and us up
here helping you, help them with, um, any any tools they need. We always appreciate you keeping us informed. So, we could say, of course, yes to that. And of course you you you keep it low even when we we say yes to all that. I find it I I thought it was interesting
the 79 money coming in from taxes has dropped from 79% to 65. I think that shows creativity of finding new sources uh to bring in to try to keep everyone's tax low. And uh you got to look at comparatively speaking the tax rate is
second lowest in Essex and the tax levy is the the lowest in Essex which is the you know comparative to getting the whole pie what we spend on running this town and and a and a big town at that. Um real quick I just wanted to say uh I
think that may be it. Oh, the um the ending balance of 17 million. Uh that is just I think you said in the last 50 years and maybe further. I mean that could be the the highest we've ever >> history of the town. >> What's that? >> I'm sure it's the history of the town. I
only could go back so far. >> So with with that said, I think uh our our town is in strong shape thanks to uh you and an so uh I am going to vote yes on this. Thanks so much. Okay, Michael. >> Thank you, Mayor. Uh, first I want to
thank uh Barry and his entire staff uh for such a a a great budget. Uh Ann and your entire staff, thank you very much. I know that uh for the past couple of months, you've been working really really hard uh trying to get these numbers in order. um can't repeat much of what everybody else has has repeated,
but you know, I I made it a point um when I first got on this council is to educate um the residents of this town because when you open your bill, you know, a lot of people want to say, "Oh, look at the council. Look at they raised our taxes." And quite honestly, the magic number
here for us and this is all that we can control is 16.4 cents on every dollar. And 16.4 cents. And also, um you know what? I got to give Ann congratulations on um uh double A1 bond rating too. You
know what? We're we're we're we're second from the highest and uh it's wonderful. But that 16.4 we get out of that more police. Our health benefits uh where other towns are uh spending 33% of their their budgets,
we're we're down to about 15% or something. We really and that and and that was because of a lot of work that uh Barry, his staff, Ann and her staff did was to convince our our employees to change their health benefits. You know, we take great care of our senior citizens. Our DPW um are superstars as
uh as Councilman Minhardt had had mentioned. You know, our water is getting clean. That wasn't overnight. That took a lot of time and and effort and uh money to to make sure that we cleaned up something that we were not responsible for, but we wanted to make sure that we had clean water. Our our
recreation department and our all of our activities are superior, you know, and we have great great division directors, uh department directors, and we have a lot of great staff that work really hard for all of our towns people. So, I'm definitely going to approve this budget.
And remember, it's 16 16.4 4 cents on every dollar. That's what we can control and that's all that we can control and that's an amazing amount considering everything that this town has to offer. Thank you, Mayor. >> Deputy Mayor Buptani. Thank you, Mayor.
Um, I think first like everybody said, uh, congratulations to Barry yourself and your office who is looking into the numbers and and budget and an for all your hard work. uh as Barry you mentioned it's been uh great working
with you in the finance subcommittee with uh with Ed uh on deep diving this this items let me harp on to and I think most of it has been said already I won't repeat one thing to draw attention on and that is uh across the board in the
state of New Jersey um I would say large vast majority of school boards vast majority of townships budgets are facing are talking about the insuranceances, the rising cost of the insurance and in
fact it's taking millions away uh from the tax revenues uh municipality or board of education gets and what we did was to really step ahead of it. In fact, about 50% of our staff is already into
some something that's more efficient, more corporate-like where win-win on both sides, employees as well as town. And for that reason, we have saved hundreds of thousands of dollars if not more and more coming. Um, I think these are the kinds of savings we do and these
are the kinds of efficiencies we bring in uh to our to our municipality. uh one additional number I would I would like to draw and Barry if you don't mind putting the capital budget slide on I want to draw some attention there but if we look at the property taxes as a
percentage of overall municipal revenues has dropped down from 79% meaning whatever property taxes um what's whatever municipal revenues we have a slide uh yeah first is last bullet right
there uh it was 80% in 29 2018 to 65 and a half. That's cut in about 15% of the overall share of what we give as a property tax to the overall revenues. Meaning we have increased revenues other
than property taxes uh as we become efficient as we become a more uh sort of uh innovative uh body of governing uh you know of of governing body. The next slide is really where the highlight comes in the general capital. Look at
the amount of um uh equipment and everything else that we like to spend on. Uh everybody talked about all of the great departments. 100% agree. DPW marvelous job. Police excellent job. Uh and all of the other areas, water,
sewer, uh there is there is just phenomenal amount of work that goes in and we are proud to uh to fund all of that. So with that, um I think uh mayor most of has been said. Um I just added some more that was probably required a
little bit more stressing, but thank you and thank you for all all your hard work. >> Thank you, Deputy Mayor. Um I'm not going to repeat what everyone else has said. I'll highlight a couple of quick things. Um, I I just think, you know, when you're on this council and you work in municipal government, um, on the
council, our job is to get the best people that we can in position to to do great work for the for our township and and and we and I think as a council, we've done that. Um, I never hear Anne Coochie complain and I have to say like she was she's been talking the last couple weeks about there's been personnel changes down at the state
level who have been making her just jump through hoop after hoop and I think the hoops have been on fire as I understand that you know like a um and and she gets it done and uh and we're all the better for it and Barry you too. Um and so um you know that that's that's the most important decision the most important
decisions we make are making sure we have the right people in place and and uh and we really can all say we you know that we know that we we have done that. Um I think that one of the points I I I enjoy pointing out about the increase in our bond rating of double A1 is it's it I mean it shows to everyone in this
township that we have been fiscally responsible but it's more important than that. It also ensures the future of this town because it makes it cheaper for us to borrow money into the future. So, not only does it show you've done such a great job for us, but it also shows that moving forward we're going to be able to sustain a high level, right? And so,
everyone here um in this community expects a high level of services with with from, you know, from terrific professionals and that's what we that's what this municipality has been able to provide year in and year out. So, it's just something it's very easy to be very proud of that and and we and we thank you so much. Um the one other thing I'm
going to say is that um we really should uh just mention I think the ingenuity that you guys had with the health insurance problem. So you know last year most um municipalities went up. It was the biggest problem for it's a problem for the school district. It's a problem for municipalities that you know these
costs are going 30% year-over-year the last couple of years. And we have we we expect to have that this year and that is putting us in very good position moving forward. Um and that was a a a tremendous amount of hard work almost persontoperson discussions with all the
people that work for for the uh for the township to explain to them the advantages of uh of using the health savings accounts. And you know that that that heavy lift really has paid off. And you know, even from talking to you earlier today about this, um Barry, you indicated that the employees are happy
with it and uh they and and we don't think anyone's going to drop off of that or or very few people would drop off of it and and we expect to add more people which is going to be a benefit to the town. So um you know, just terrific work with the with the single biggest issue and then know the capital budget. Listen, safety well on the regular
budget, safety is always the police department's always our top uh number one uh budget item with good reason. And you know it gives us um a lot of uh satisfaction that you know three or four years ago the front page of the of the
Tribune was had stories every single week about houses getting broken into and car thefts and people didn't feel safe and we knew as a council we had to address that. We gave our police new technology. we got more police out on the street and you know we just had a big survey from the 2020 uh committee that and the second favorite thing that
people felt that was their favorite thing about Livingston was safety was number two on that list and I think that's just a huge turnaround that we can again something we something that it shows us that we're providing good government in this township and uh it's really easy to trumpet that so I'm not going to keep going on I could go on for
a long time um but I just want to say thanks for everyone that's sitting up here on this day for all their hard work uh leading up to this and uh we can move forward Now, uh, onto the agenda. We've already taken our vote on this, so thank you everyone. Okay, we're going to move now to public comment on agenda
items only. >> Motion to open the meeting to public comments on agenda items. >> Second. >> All in favor, >> mayor. I I think just for reasonable purpose, you should, somebody should make the motion, second, and take the formal vote. You all kind of said, I'm voting yes. >> Okay. I thought we did. We >> was on the amendment. You have to you
have to vote on the the full budget as amended. >> Yes. I was advised by our legal counsel that we did. >> We voted on the amendment. >> Okay. But not the >> You have to vote on the full budget as amended. >> Why don't we budget? >> Why don't we vote on the amendment separately? >> Let's let's vote on it just so there's no doubt about it.
>> Carolyn, do you want to call the role, please? >> I will. Council member Minhart, >> yes. >> Anthony, yes. >> Vieira, >> yes. >> Deputy Mayor Banani, >> yes. May >> Mayor Klein, >> yes. Okay. Okay. There's actually two separate resolutions that she's gonna have to certify you voted on. >> So, are we good? Are we good to go on
it? Yeah. >> Can I go on out or no? Can we Can we open the meeting? All right. So, can we open the meeting now? >> You said the separate resolutions need to be voted on as well. >> No, I'm just saying that's why we needed two separate votes. Two separate resolutions. >> So, I can make a motion. They each have separate votes. >> Open the meeting to public comment
agenda items only. >> I'll second it. >> Okay. Uh, all in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? Okay. At this time, the meeting is now open for agenda items only. These are four-minute time limit per person. If you uh come to the microphone, please have uh state your name for the record and whether you live
in town. >> Wait, before I'm sorry, we can we just go back to the budget real quick. So, we only have one resolution on the agenda. >> I don't know what was listed on the agenda. The the original budget that was introduced, there's a resolution built into the state budget document
>> that she has to record the vote on which was the second vote they just took. >> Okay. Do we have the resolution number for that? It's not a number. It's part of the budget. >> Budget process. Okay. >> It's Yeah. >> Already got that, Madam Clerk. >> Okay. >> Okay.
>> All right. Hello, mayor and council members. My name is Epha Eua Joseph. I'm a 16-year-old president for the Monontlair NAACP Youth Council and third vice president of the NAACP's New Jersey State Youth and College Division. I'm here today to speak about lowering the
voter age. As we see threats coming from the House on voting rights for all, I find it detrimental that we give and defend young people's rights to vote before it's taken from them. Often times, youth lives are described as other to the real world. I would like to
dispel this myth. Our lives are well intertwined with it and daily politics impact us greatly. Board of Education policies affect us. Healthcare policies affect us. Township budgets affect us. The policies that determine whether or not a child can be ripped from their
families affect us. Politics affect us. I urge you today to take action to address this issue because there are many young people that are passionate about voting and deserve to have their voices heard. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. >> Motion going to close public on agenda
items only. Second. >> All in favor? I. >> Any opposed? Okay, we're now going to move on to uh passage of ordinances. Tonight, there are two ordinances for second reading. Um, madame clerk, please read ordinance 21-2026 uh by title.
>> Yes. Uh, mayor, ordinance 21-2026, amending and supplementing chapter 29, traffic and parking signs. >> Motion open the public comment. I'll second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? Okay. Okay, the public hearing on ordinance 21-2026
is now open. There's a 4minut time limit per person. If you come to the microphone, please again state your name and whether you live in town for the record. >> Motion to close public comment. >> Second. >> Second. >> Okay. And uh all in favor? >> I
>> opposed. Okay. Can I motion to adopt? >> Motion to move. >> I'll second it. >> Do any council members have comments on ordinance 21-2026? Madame clerk, please uh proceed with the role. >> Council member Minhartt, yes. >> Anthony, yes. >> Vieiraa, yes. >> Deputy Mayor Banani, >> yes. >> Mayor Klein,
>> yes. >> Madame Clerk, please read ordinance 22-2026 by title. >> Ordinance 22-2026 establishing requirements for project labor agreements on certain public construction projects. >> Can I have a motion to open the public hearing? >> Motion second.
>> All in favor? >> I. >> Opposed? Public hearing at ordinance 22-2026 is now open. There's a four limited time limit per person. If you come to the microphone, may you please have your name and whether you live in town for the record. >> Motion to close. >> Second.
>> Second. >> All in favor? >> I >> opposed. >> Motion to move ordinance 22-2026. I'll >> second. >> Do any council members have any comments on 22-2026? >> I I do, mayor. I just want to say this is uh this is wonderful. um the project
labor agreements. Um not not only does it um help with the town and some some of our building, you know, um the you know, we met with the carpenters uh union and they will actually go into the public schools and do projects in the
schools that will help um our students actually progress in life if that's the um the path that they want to travel. So, it was just wonderful to hear that and uh I am definitely on board with this. I I've been pushing this and um uh since uh we met with them. So I think this is a wonderful
>> Okay. I would just add on that um it also shows uh that that this township is uh pro union uh that we understand uh the importance of labor and uh and unions and I think this is shows proper difference to the work that they can do
and uh you know the good that they can bring to the town. Um Madam Clerk, can you please proceed with the roll call? Council member Minhardt, >> yes. >> Anthony, yes. Vieira, >> yes. >> Deputy Mayor Banani, >> yes. >> And Mayor Klein, >> yes. There are there is one ordinance for introduction this evening. Madam
clerk, can you please read ordinance 23-2026 by title? >> Ordinance 23-2026, chapter 29, parking prohibited, certain times, dead end of Shadelon Drive. >> I'll make a motion to approve ordinance for introduction. >> Second. >> Is there any discussion?
>> Please call the role. >> Council member Minhartt. >> Yes. Anthony, yes. >> Vieira, >> yes. >> Deputy Mayor Banani, >> yes. >> And Mayor Klein, >> yes. This brings us to our consent agenda. >> Uh, madam clerk, when will the public hearing be on that ordinance? >> Yes. Uh, this will be at the next meeting on Monday, June 22nd.
>> Thank you. >> Thank you, Jared. Uh, brings us to 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 governor embodies so 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. >> Mayor, I think we're pulling 26-20-205. >> Yeah, pulling it from the agenda, not >> from the agenda, right? Not not for not for a separate vote. Yep.
>> Okay. Thank you. >> Okay, madam clerk, please read all the resolutions on the consent agenda by title and number. >> Uh thank you, mayor. Resolution 26-196 authorizing a one-year extension of existing contract with Corin Main LP. Resolution 26-197
authorizing a one-year extension of existing contract with Ferguson Waterworks. Resolution 26-198 authorizing a contract to Pumping Services, Inc. Resolution 26-199 authorizing the award of a contract to
Exemplus. Resolution 26-200 authorizing the award of a contract to Global Industries, Inc. Resolution 26-201, authorizing the award of a contract to a Lambo Car and Truck Heavy Collision, Inc. Resolution 26-202
authorizing the award of a contract to Onyx Networking Corp. Resolution 26-203 authorizing the boiler replacement at the water pollution control facility. and resolution 26-204 authorizing the sale of surplus solar
renewable energy certificates. >> I have a motion to uh approve all the resolutions. >> Second. >> Okay. Madam clerk, please call the role. >> Council member Minhart, >> yes. >> Anthony, yes. >> Vieiera, >> yes. >> Deputy Mayor Bani, >> yes. >> And Mayor Klein, >> this brings us to Yes. This brings us to public portion on any subject with a
time limit of three minutes. >> Motion to open the meeting to public portion on anything. >> Second. >> Second. Second. >> Okay. This is uh all in favor >> I >> opposed. Okay. The meeting is now open on any subject with a three minute 3minut time limit. Residents can come to the phone. Please state your name and
whether you live in town. Joyce Armando, Greenwood Court, here to discuss the Express Auto Spa car wash operating behind my house. On May 6th, the township declared this car wash operation a nuisance. The township
issued a violation and a formal demand letter threatening immediate enforcement action. Residents were led to believe meaningful action was finally coming. Instead, the residents living behind this operation are now being told to continue to endure non-stop commercial
noise while the car wash hires a sound engineer, monitors itself for sound compliance, and continues operating day after day as if nothing happened. And after all this time, we are now going to
end up with a fence. That is outrageous. The people causing the nuisance are now being trusted to police themselves, while the residents who have suffered through this for almost 10 months now are expected to simply keep living with it.
That is ridiculous. If the township believes this operation constitutes an ongoing nuisance, then residents deserve an explanation as to why the nuisance is being allowed to continue in full operation. full operation with with no
restrictions. So why are we expected to endure this nuisance while the business gets to continue and operate exactly as it has been? If the vacuums, if the vacuum operations, the air hoses and the alarms and all the related activities
creating this nuisance, why why weren't temporary restrictions imposed until the permanent solution is being pursued? Why wasn't this business required to suspend even one of the activities, let alone
all of them, creating the nuisance until the problem is corrected? Instead, the burden continues to fall entirely on the residents while the business continues operating and generating revenue. On what basis was this a reasonable
solution? I can tell you that since your meeting with the car wash a few weeks ago with the with the principles and the attorneys of that car wash, there has been no change in the sound that we hear. So,
the fact that they say they'll self-monitor and turn down operations when they're in violation is a bunch of nonsense. It's laughable. I have no confidence in this township's approach. In this township's approach is is
focused on protecting the residents affected by this nuisance. It feels like every effort made is to minimize the disruption to the business while residents continue to suffer the consequences. So why why
>> so I'm going to let uh our attorney just address it because obviously there's a lot of legal issues here. But I will say this that when we originally when we saw you the last time there was a understanding that they were going to try to mitigate their own noise and we had not heard any I'm not saying they did that successfully but what I will
say is we never we didn't hear from anyone that there was an ongoing problem >> but the fact that you guys allowed the people that you did a nuisance we did not we did not hear from you so from where we were sitting we we were wondering >> so I have to keep you there some order
to this meeting I have to keep You have to let it if the noise is ongoing. We have to know that you guys are that it's happening. Otherwise, we wouldn't know. >> So, am I going to >> We should be told if it keeps happening. >> We should be told. Yes, we want to know. But, um, what can you add to that, please? >> So, I'll call and nobody will respond. I
will leave messages for you, for you, for you. I'll send emails and not one of you will respond. >> You You've never sent me an email or a call that I have not responded to. >> Listen, this is ridicul. It's laughable. Okay. I'm just saying we we did not understand the problem was ongoing because no one
had told us it was >> ongoing. Her three minutes is up. She's >> You all heard You all heard the operations. Everybody's three minutes is up. Mayor heard the operations.
You all know that Essex County violated them. You violated them. What do you think was going to change by them holding up their own sound meter meter? When when were they going to do that? They're going to tell on themselves. >> We were told that they were going to be
monitoring themselves and making sure that they like I don't know if that meant taking hoses offline. I didn't know what they were going to do, but we hadn't heard from you, so we didn't know. It was an ongoing problem. >> So, you're allowing them to just make the decision if and when they decide to monitor. >> I'm happy to respond, but I'm not going to talk over her or through her.
>> All right. Can we just let let's let uh Jerry's been involved with this on a more detailed >> level? I'm not going to have a debate with a resident. I mean, is she is there public comment over? >> Her three minutes are up. >> I'm not going to have a debate with her. I mean, if she wants >> You're not going to debate because you don't have an answer. >> Let me go. Let me go. >> And the town's 100% responsible for
this. 100. >> Okay. Michelle, >> did you want a response, mayor, before you let the next person go up? >> Do you want Why don't we at least hear from Jared, so that we can understand, you know, where >> I I think it's all connected. So then >> it's connected, but you might benefit from hearing his response before you before you talk. You you're welcome to do what you want. If you want to speak
first, it's okay. It's up to you. >> I I'd like to if that's fine. No, no disrespect to you, sir. >> Okay. One of the most pervasive environmental threats today. >> Just your name, please. >> I said Michelle Florio camp. >> Okay. I didn't hear you. Thank you. >> One of the most pervasive environmental
threats today is noise pollution. Globally, noise pollution has been considered a health hazard, linking noise to various health effects. learning, hypertension, heart disease, mental health, and an acute type of
heart failure related to chronic stress. You can look it up. I did. It's called HPA. More recently, re researchers have identified noise as a leading cause of environmental health risk, second only
to air pollution. So here we are again and nothing was done to alleviate the noise which has drastically affected the quality of these people's lives and their property values. Secondhand commercial noise is this neighborhood's
secondhand smoke. The car wash owners submitted a deceptive application. They own and operate 18 of these businesses and knew that 38 dB was not the level of noise
that they would create. But that's the number this township approved. That's the number this township should demand. That's compliance. Anything over that number is unacceptable.
Full stop. You don't want this in your backyard. I don't want it in mine. If you ignore this gross violation, then you create a record that other businesses can rely on. They too can knowingly enter false information on
their applications or change their businesses without repercussions. That's what's coming. Along with all the overbuilding, you've created a scenario in which we lose control of environmental factors
that affect quality of life for everyone in our once buolic community. Your words are empty. Your inaction and wholly absurd plan to have known liars self police speaks volumes about your lack of
care for Livingston citizens. Don't talk to us about the county. They didn't create this monster. You did. If you don't protect this neighborhood, why should we believe you will protect any other? The longer this goes on, the
greater the negligence. And so I repeat, shame on you. Jared, you want to uh address? >> Okay. >> I'm Anthony Armando. >> You guys, I heard you all talking about
all your success stories, all your your act, your great things you do. We're talking about one thing that you did was completely bad, horrible. All right. The town created this problem 100%.
Two things, one of two things happened here. Either they made a big mistake in the building department where they overlooked this once again, the 38 dB, or somebody's playing games. I think it's that I don't think they're that
stupid in the building department. I think I think there's shenanigans going on here. Once again, all balloon juice, you guys. Every one of you. That's all we heard tonight. The room's full of hot air right now. Talk about talk about your success
stories. Talk about your failures. This is a big one and nothing's been done. It's in writing. They're a nuisance. This you deem them a nuisance. When you're a nuisance, you have to cease and desist. Stop. You're a nuisance. You've
done nothing. Done absolutely nothing. It's still matter of fact, there was a couple of days that was even louder than what than I remember. Nothing. Zero. You've done nothing. Your word means nothing. Hi, my name is Ellie Aga and I'm a
student at Livingston High School. Um, and I'm here to talk about uh lowering the voting age in local elections to 16. Uh, starting off, voting is the most accessible way of interacting with democracy. Now, I don't think I need to tell you this, but just a quick refresher on US history. Since the
beginning of um since the beginning of the United States as an entity, voting has always been super super important to this country, which is why I think that this is a super important issue plaguing our country today. Um and secondly, young people care. And especially I want to stress young people in Livingston care
about politics and about our community. I don't think I need to say that Livingston is one of the most rigorous schools in the entire state of New Jersey. The students here are rigorous, intelligent, and committed to education, learning about things like the environment, as Anukica talked about
earlier, AI, or other civic issues like what Myra does every single day. Um, and because of our experience with these really complicated subjects, both in school and out of it, in our pursuit of academic rigor, uh, we've learned a lot about why it's so important to be
voting, which is why I think that you guys should really strongly consider, um, lowering the vocal lowering the voting age in some of our local elections. Um, thank you so much for listening to me. >> Thank you. Motion to close. >> Motion to close. Public comment.
>> Second. >> Okay. All in favor? >> I opposed. Jared, do you want to uh please uh address? >> Sure. Mayor, I think surely I think I had addressed this at a public meeting prior. So, um, following the violation
by the township and the county, um, there was a meeting, uh, which representatives of the township met with the principles of Express Autopot and their attorneys, uh, to discuss both interim and long-term remediation measures. Um, we had a meeting with
Express Car Wash. Um, they understood the issues. Um and they offered at their own cost and expense to engage an acoustical engineer to design a sound attenuation fence along the rear of the property uh to replace the current deteriorated fence. Um this recommendation was also independently
suggested by Essex County as appropriate means of addressing the situation. Um, I think there's some agreement uh by the county, the township, and express auto spa that this uh sound attenuation fence should um should fix the problem um if
done properly. Um you know, there's, you know, I I know that um Councilman Minhardt points out that along 280 there's there's those uh fences that have completely eliminated all the traffic noise. Um there are fences designed to eliminate the noise and um
express autopilot though was not part of their planning board application or their or their permit. They are willing to do that. Excuse me. Excuse me. Excuse me. Excuse me. Excuse me. >> Where's that? >> Excuse me. Um so that's the long-term
remediation measure which I think the township and the county believe uh will solve the problem. Um >> when >> so for the the short-term remediation um they have bought their own moni they have bought their own decibel readers um they were going to take readings um and
lower the pressure um below below the state limit in the interim um the county which has exclusive jurisdiction over noise I know everybody's talking about noise the township doesn't have any jurisdiction over noise um we would have to we would have to prosecute under our
nuisance ordinance Um, we're going to take it under advisement. Um, now that we've heard I sent you an email, Joyce, on May 26th, I haven't heard back from you that it was a continued problem. We're unaware that we had hoped following that meeting that they were taking the measurements and reducing um,
their air hoses to fall under the gauge as the mayor pointed out. Um, we're not out there every day. Um, >> so >> so the 38 dB the 38 dB isn't on the permit. Um, it was a testimony that the
manufacturer had a 38 decel reading. Uh, it's not part of their approval. Despite the fact that it's not part of their approval, they're they're attempting to get below that number with the atte um for the interim that wasn't proposed. They're going to try they're going to
try to limit as much as possible. Um, this council is still formulating a plan as to whether or not to move forward with its nuisance violation. Um, with the risk being that if we fail on our nuisance violation, it's possible that they will walk away from building this fence, which is likely.
>> This is an important point. This is a very important point that >> whether or not the law >> from a strategy point of view, >> if we if we go ahead and we uh >> get them for nuisance and they win because they'll say that they're below the state level, they might win a case and then they can just say we're in
compliance with the state law, >> but they weren't >> Hold on one second. Let me please let me hold down one second. We're in compliance. They can say that we a judge could tell us they're in compliance with the state law. They don't need to build defense. they were over that they they may be able to come in just under that at some base. I'm just saying to you if
the fence if we go and say that they're a nuisance, which we may do, we may decide to do that based on now that we understand that it's an ongoing problem, which we did not understand these last couple of weeks because nobody told us. >> Yes. Really, no one. If anyone can show us a phone call or an email explaining that that we that we heard that the town
may have not I have not heard anything from anybody that this was an ongoing problem right now. What am I supposed to do? Am I supposed to call? Am I supposed to call Jared? Am I supposed to call you? What am I supposed to do? >> You can call any of us at any time to tell us that there's a problem. We want
to hear from you. >> So, so we we were we were not Okay, I'm not going to sit here and fight with you about it. There's a there's a strategic point of view. There's a there is a problem. We are there are many people on this council who would like to see the
nuisance uh point being used there but it could in the end hurt you. So there is like a balance. We have to actually and we would discuss this with you. If if we if we go if a judge tells us that they're in compliance they may walk away from any noise mitigation and then you guys are stuck where it is right now.
>> So the planning board >> so this is the planning board went through this but we're okay. >> Okay. So we want a a good outcome for you. There's a there are we have to make strategic decisions about what's the best way to do that. >> We are penned in to some extent, right?
We can't just go in there and just >> All right. >> Um >> knowing everything that I have, >> I've come here Monday. >> But Joyce, after you came here, we met with easy. We I I I wrote you an email on May 26. interim and long-term solution
>> said on the record in the town paper that he believes by shutting down the vacuum stations that is going to solve the problem. >> Why wasn't it shut down? >> We don't have the legal authority to do that. We would need a judge to issue that order. >> Yeah. >> Why is it up to her to check up on them
and not up to all of you? >> Why do I have to do a mistake you guys made? Why is it my elderly? >> We need to we need to move forward with the meeting. um we are reachable in in every circumstance. Please reach out to us, okay? We we understand now that the
problem is still there and and we'll move forward. >> Don't want to address it. >> The body that approved it was not this body. Just to be very clear, we were not involved with the approval. We were not involved with the approval. We did not approve it. We were not the ones We were not the ones who voted on that approval. So, it's just important to be that
clear. >> Okay. All right. just ridiculous. >> Okay, we are now going to move on to um reports of uh reports from township officials. >> Uh Barry Lewis.
>> Okay, Russ. >> Okay, Adam. >> Nothing for tonight. >> Nothing. Carolyn, >> nothing for me, Mayor. >> Okay. And >> just thank you very much for everything you said about the budget and all your support. If it wasn't for you and your
planning and all the work that we did together, this would have never happened. So, thank you very much. >> We will now move on to uh to Jared. Yeah. Any >> uh nothing further, Mayor. Thank you. >> Um Ed will be giving uh the council report tonight, please. >> Yes. Just before Caroline, can you just
comment um I think we all received uh something that uh the comments that we do receive before 4:00 do not get read anymore. Is that correct? >> Yes, that is correct. But it is shared with the mayor and council. >> Correct. I think we all got we all we all received a copy from one of the residents uh today, but we don't read those. We haven't read those now for how
long for I think almost uh for about seven eight nine months now. At least >> at least a year. We we don't read the comments by 4:00. Thank you very much. I just want to put that on the record. Thank you. Um just going back to where we were since the last meeting that we met, uh May 28th, the uh county
commissioners were here in this very body uh celebrating Jewish Heritage Month. That same day, Sesan had a fundraiser as well on uh 61. Um the uh Israel bonds and the temples at Livingston together sponsored the Poland
family whose son Harsh was killed uh during his captivity in uh Gaza. It was a really riveting, unbelievable speech in front of 2200 people that these parents uh go around the country and they talk about their son. Um on 62 the elections took place and a big shout out
to Carolyn, our town clerk and her staff for making sure that everything ran as well as they always do. So Caroline, we we applaud you and we thank you for everything that you do. Um on June 3rd, Temple Best Shalom sponsored a safety and anti-semitism uh evening which was
very uh interesting. On 67, we had um the Shiv's third eye picnic. We raised the uh pride flag as well here at town hall. And that afternoon, we also have the Chinese health fair at St. Barnabas Ambulatory Care. Uh coming up in the next two weeks on June 10th, we have our
Wednesday in the arts and we are featuring Adam, I'm sorry, the Asian I'm sorry, say it again. The the Asian cultural >> cultural showcase on 610. Um on 611 there will be a Zoom kicking off our compost um program that we have put
together. On 6:12 the women's veteran celebration will take place at the War Memorial across street at 5:30. At 7 o'clock, we are having a watch party for the USA first game of the USA World Cup game. On 6:14, uh, Summerfest will take place. On 6:15, um, town resident Barry
Farber will be reading his book Little Billy that he came and spoke to us about as well. on 6:18 we have a chance to honor all of our employees at the employee appreciation lunch to take place at Northland. And finally, uh before we meet again, we will be celebrating Father's Day, wishing
everybody in Livingston and my fellow councilmen as well a very happy Father's Day and everybody who's on this stage and all the residents as well. Happy Father's Day. >> Thank you. All right, Council Minhardt. Um that brings us to the mayor's report. Um I don't have anything to add to my
comments before on the budget. Um I think uh we can move to adjourn. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I oppose. Nay. Okay.