##VIDEO ID:84LNnYAvhDQ## e e e e e e e e e e e e e been out of Cl got I'll be sending your I'll speak I'm only I know that here we go let the record reflect we have reconvened with all members present please note that council members Rachel Erick and Lissa Hanahan are absent excused for those who are able please rise and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance and remain standing after the pledge pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands a nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all I want to remember a couple of madisonian who we lost over the last couple of weeks this first one is truly a part of our Madison family John Blair cherished husband devoted father grandfather and certainly a respected Community figure as he said in his obituary pass away on October 30th age of 87 survived by his wife wife of 63 years Josephine Joe Blair one son John Jr one daughter Mary Joe and her husband Scott uh grandson Connor and one brother William along with sister Maryanne he was predeceased by Sister Ellen and sister-in-law Anette Chio he was born in marown raised in Madison with his three siblings served the United States Army 82nd Airborne Division from 1951 to 53 Don and Joe were born uh married in 1961 and settled Madison to raise her family family was certainly part of John's life always prioritized spending time with children and Grand and Grandson love time at the beach before retiring I had a career over four decades with the Madison Department of Public Works holding several positions ultimately becoming the superintendent of Public Works he was a mentor to many colleagues throughout his career he would also often be sitting right here in this room in Council meetings he never got up to speak he just sat back there and listened making sure that we all did the right for Madison that's what he did he also helped his son John junr a daily basis at CJ's Deli and I remember him often making deliveries of the great CJ's food for many events and John Senior was a familiar face at CJ's enjoying spending time there with his son and many lifelong friends uh Chief Misha pointed out to me that on the day that John past he had lunch with um Don right at CJ's before his sudden death and certainly left us all too soon but he spent his last day doing his favorite thing having lunch with friends at stj's County counter he embodied a spirit of friendship and generosity we also remember Jim cheser passed away November 8th at age of 79 and aside who through complications from Parkinson's B in 45 raised in Orange along with older siblings he graduated from our lady of Valley High School in Orange Providence College and Rod Island where he played basketball including on the undefeated team in 63 and 64 in 1967 you met Carol while both were out with friends at the Jersey Shore they married in 69 and moved to Houston Texas uh as we worked with Foster Wheeler after a few years few years in Houston they moved to New New York and then settled right here in Madison where they raised their three children he remained at Foster Wheeler for his career eventually become a senior vice president for human resources he was very active in our community coaching children's Bas baseball softball basketball served on the served the burrow on the Madison uh On The Board of Trustees for public library from 2017 to 2021 where he chaired the Personnel Committee of course he was involved in St M Vincent martyr haris Council Board of Governors president of the Madison Golf Club Board of Trustees of Madison community pool and co-president along with his wife at St Vincent martyr homman School Association and he Lees behind his wife Carol his children Karen Christine Steven and five grandchildren and we also remember Lewis Lou DiBiasi II life long Madison resident passed away November 1st age of 93 he's behind his wife for 62 years Patricia voted children Lewis III Christopher Darren and Denise four grandchildren and one brother waren in Madison on in 1931 graduated from St Vincent and then oratory prep went on to obtain his undergraduate degree from College of Holy Cross and wer Mass listed in the US Army serving his country honorably at Fort Benning in the Korean War and during his time in the Army he was appointed a medic which led to his interest in medicine andul he opened went to dental school at fry Dickinson in Teck and opened a dental practice year in Madison and met his future wife mutual friend through a mutual friend at the same dental school and they were married toide from Dentistry spending time with family he stayed physically fit at Madison YMCA for those that there on regular Bas you see L there all the time and it mentions in his obituary he loved to sing and he loved music and he was a longtime uh seasoned ticket holder Metropolitan Opera in New York City and Papermill Playhouse and I personally can attest his love of music because during the height of the pandemic when he couldn't go to the Y he would be walking around the track at Dodge field headphones on and I would hear Opera being sung as he did his laps at Dodge field uh he performed himself for many years besides at Dodge field at the orus club men's craw group involved in uh numerous real estate and construction projects locally and did quite a bit of traveling throughout the United States and he served Madison On The Board of Health from 2002 to to 2009 including several years as president president so let us take a moment to remember John Blair Jim schester and L DiBiasi and let us pass our thoughts on to the families and friends that they leave behind thank you all right all right I have a motion for the executive minutes of October 28 2024 I moved all in favor I all right and a motion for the regular minutes of October 28 2024 so moved second any discussion any corrections or changes all in favor I hi hi welcome all we have a nice crowd here tonight as we'll find out why shortly uh before I forget I want to wish a happy birthday to uh Mayor Gary ruckle's house he is in town tonight to uh celebrating his birthday at one of our fine restaurants um I did a quick hello there instead of saw quite a crew celebrating with him um past Sunday night we saw some welcome rain but it was literally just a drop in the bucket to what we need what was what came down was quickly absorbed in the ground what puddles remain evaporated quickly in the wind driven dry air that that returned on Monday and we'll be hearing an update from uh Chief Wickman shortly on the challenges we face right now through this uh severe drought and I'm sure you heard the news last week that Madison and Drew University agreed on a term sheet the term sheet covers the key elements of a contract for the sale of 51 acre Forest along with a 3 Acre parcel along Madison Avenue which will preserve the streetcape and the 1890s era Madison house and also allows for development of two Parcels of the campus I don't have much more to add at this time outside of a big thank you to Drew University Friends of the Drew Forest who I've I know we have some faces in the audience right now and certainly have been uh working so hard our funding partners and along with our team team in the burrow who worked not only our burrow team but uh Team of volunteers that worked to put Drew and Madison uh to put this term sheet together so big step and we're moving forward few other things that happened over the last two weeks uh DPW director Ken O'Brien and uh electric utility superintendent Jim matina had the respective last days on the job as they head in retirement I want to thank both Ken and Jim AKA jet for dedicated dedication to U for their dedication to the residence of Madison of course we're meeting tonight on a Wednesday or this week on a Wednesday instead of uh Monday because the veterans a holiday on Monday and on Monday at the 11th Hour the American Legion Post 43 host a recognition for veterans at World War I Memorial so it was a meanful ceremony for all those who have served our country so that we can enjoy our freedom while it was was a nice turnout the park should have been full and so I ask everyone right now to put 11:00 a.m. 111125 on your calendars so you can come out and show your appreciation for our veterans in big numbers and then later on Veterans Day I visited Sunrise Assisted Living to recognize the veterans in attendance residence there about 21 veterans um While most are all in their 90s all showed great appreciation for the U uh the recognition they re receive that day um many decades after their service and shifting gears if you don't mind I'm going to go on a quick rant you might have thought of as ranting already but uh um as many of you know I walked through town with my little litter Grabber doing my bit to keep Madison clean so the other day I didn't have my Grabber with me but I did see someone toss a cigarette butt out the window of a truck and so I politely asked them to use ashtray next time and not to litter the streets of Madison and he would not so politely responded that the butt was not litter and who the hell are you I think it was his quote but uh uh and I'm glad I didn't have my picker in hand because I might have tried to give him his butt back which would not have been a good thing but uh just as a reminder for those watching home and here and to spread the word that you know every day I am picking up butts in our downtown they are not only litter but they are poisonous cigarett buts can take up to 15 years to break down and even then they only break into smaller pieces that can pollute uh water and soil um also um cigarette butts can release Metals such as lead Arsenic cadium and zinc into our water and soil and of course during a time of drought a cigarette butt can cause far more damage tossed into a pile of leaves or into a very dry field so let us spread the word extinguish and properly dispose of your butts and make 2025 the year you kick the habit thank you for my uh being able to do my rant there um and our employee for the month of November is right here on audience Lisa Ellis our director of Downtown Development [Applause] Lisa she is largely responsible for the enormous task of coordinating botle Hill day which this year including 275 vendors more attendees than ever before she was also responsible for the great weather we had this year so we uh want to recognize her for that uh she also has revitalized the Madison Farmers AR Market that um the word was on Thursdays it was getting a little tired and now with the introduction to Madison farm and Artisan Market on Saturdays it is truly Lively and so you will see her every Saturday uh right there welcoming all the new vendors and Shoppers So Lisa congratulations on being recognized as our employee of the month and I'm going to come down below for uh two uh things Rachel mortensson can come forward John patrki want to come on forward since you're here too Lisa if you you'll probably want to stay back there all right we'll let you stay back but John come on want you come on forward here so we have a special presentation and I will put Rachel on the spot to explain what this is all about and uh then we'll bring out this how fun so I was hoping the fire department would go first because then there'd be far less people anyway um all right my name is Rachel I live over on Myrtle Avenue um I'm just going to read what I wrote Because I'm a little nervous I don't speak in public all that often so uh it is a true honor for me to stand here today on behalf of the chema family to present this check for $25,000 to the Madison Main Street Foundation it's in support of the Madison Community Art Center uh the camers um are my boss they own a house on Woodland Road and he approached me earlier this year and he gave me the opportunity to give a charitable donation to any charity of my choice and uh I've always believed that the Arts are a powerful and uniting communities like Madison from local theater Productions to music festivals to art exhibits and comedy and dance these shared experiences bring us together connecting generations and bonds that transcend individual backgrounds through the Arts we have moments to connect to reflect and to celebrate the voices that make Madison such a vibrant place and the town's commitment to fostering creativity is something that I value deeply as someone that has made Madison my home for over 20 years I cannot express enough what this community has meant to me Madison isn't just where I live it's where I feel a sense of warmth history and to togetherness every day this town is truly special and I feel incredibly fortunate to be a part of it this gift reflects not only the generosity of the chemer family but also our shared commitment to supporting the heart of Madison I am so grateful for the chance to contribute the continued growth and vibrancy of this community that has meant so much to me I hope that this contribution inspires other Madison residents to support the Community Arts Center as well whether it's through donations of money or just volunteering your time our town thrives on the active involvement of those who are passionate about building our community's cultural life so thank you to everyone who worked so tirelessly to make Madison this wonderful place it is the fire department I keep looking over at you guys because you're right there too I mean I can't thank you enough um so I just want to say that um many of you don't even know the Community Art Theater is here and it has so many wonderful programs for people of all ages from children to adults and I would encourage you check it out go to the website and get and uh just participate they always need volunteers they always are looking for talent um so get involved and all government starts local and Community starts with us um see you did very well they did make you that much that nervous you did a great job so John [Applause] and uh John pataski right here is the director of Our Community Arts Center so that's y yeah I put him on as people know I put people on the spot here and Rachel you can grab this on your way out so you can share it with the camera fan John whittenberg please come forward and family on up chief okay you got it you're going to repeat after me I state your name I John Whitney B solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will Faithfully that I will Faithfully partially and partially justly perform and justly perform all the duties of all the duties of probationary firefighter probationary firefighter best of my ability according to the best of my ability I further solemnly swear I further solemnly swear I'll support Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States Constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and bear true faith and Allegiance and I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same to the same and to the governments and to the governments establish the United States established in the United States and in the state and in the state the authority of the people under the authority of the people Help God so help me God [Applause] to your mom I'm be let you sign that first that's it on behalf of the Rose City and on behalf of raising the great son here are some flowers [Applause] all right we will uh not staying for the chief oh while they're uh heading out I was just reminded there's a major event this Sunday it's um Dean Cody's birth oh it's also Ray Cody's birthday on Sunday so uh [Applause] yes all right we'll go from report to reports from committees um for Public Safety and finance and burough clerk council president range thank you mayor from the police department tonight during the past two weeks the Madison School resource officers Officer Tom officer Frank and officer Rob presented safety talks in all Madison Elementary School students uh as part of their School Safety Week the safety talk consisted of stranger danger and Internet safety uh and our sro's conducted presentations on other topics throughout the year in hopes to keep our children safe from harm including most recently Halloween safety last week uh the Madison police Command Staff facilitated a meeting between members of public safety administration at Drew University and the Morris County arrive officials the meeting was held at Madison police headquarters and uh procedure was formulated to provide a unified response and necessarily follow-ups to Drew University students struggling from mental health issues behavioral issues and substance abuse we were satisfied that we could expand the arve program to treat the Drew University community and feel that it will be a tremendous resource for the University and its students moving forward as a reminder the arrive program stands for alternative response to reduce instances of violence and escalation and it seeks to help police provide immediate support to individuals in crisis as uh you may recall Madison is one of the pilot program uh communities for this initiative in Morris County from the fire department tonight for the month of October uh the fire department responded to 237 calls this included 37 General alarms 14 still alarms 37 investigations and 129 EMS calls uh of which 92 people were transported uh by the AMS division to the hospital on November 11th the New Jersey Department of Health officially granted the fire department uh to expand its scope of practice the EMS division will be able to provide better treatment for people experiencing breathing emergencies and the change in practice also helps with identifying diabetic problems on November 1st the Morris County Fire coordinator reached out to Madison seeking assistance with a large brush fire in Rockaway township four firefighters in Engine 2 spent 9 hours on the scene protecting structures uh from the fire they also assisted the state forest fire service uh with a back bur to help control the fire and of course this was shortly after they were dealing with the fire at drew the previous weekend uh we would also like to remind folks that uh we are still in high fire danger despite the little bit of rain we got uh over the week weend uh so please absolutely no outdoor fires um and also a reminder as uh we are conducting leaf pickup uh throughout the burrow not to park any vehicles um or Machinery near or on top of leaf piles that might be in the street as they can easily uh Catch Fire as we saw earlier today with an incident uh in the burrow so please avoid parking or operating Machinery near those leaf piles and tonight from uh finance and burrow clerk from The Tax Department fourth quarter fourth quarter tax grace period has ended and interest is now due on any unpaid taxes please visit or contact the tax collector's office to find out the correct amount you need to pay if you are delinquent the tax collector reports that over 95% of the fourth quarter taxes have been collected as of today and from the finance department tonight this evening we have an important item on the consent agenda regarding budget transfers unlike your family or work budget the state strictly limits transferring a funds or changing the budget State Statute only permits the transfer of funds from one budget line to another during the last two months of the current budget year and for the first three months of the following year there is also a number of statutory uh cap related restrictions on how funds can be transferred our official state budget docum has hundreds of lines in it and the only way to move funds from one line to another is by transferring it by resolution transfers typically occur when there is UN unanticipated issue or there's and these are listed in the resolution also coming up budget season is upon us already I feel like we just did this but uh here we go again uh Administration is suggesting the budget schedule similar to last year's uh with the following dat and topics uh at our next council meeting uh on November 25th we will review the draft 5year Capital plan December 9th open space Recreation and horse historic preservation trust fund capacity cost and the utility dividend on January uh 27th a presentation from Public Works the water utility the electric utility and the Utility Fund balances February 10th the initial Municipal budget review and presentation uh and a presentation from the fire department on February 24th Department had presentations on March 24th the final budget hearing and strategic planning discussion along with the budget introduction and on April 28th the budget hearing and final adoption this year we are under State review so it is possible that the introduction and adoption dates may change and finally from the finance Department this Friday we will be uh wiring oh here Liz I'm going to I feel for you right now 4 million uh 4,677 2467 cents to the Madison Board of Education this amount represents their monthly portion of property taxes collected this quarter that's all tonight mayor thank you thank you very much Public Works and Engineering Mr landan thank you mayor from the Department of Public Works they have made it around town twice with the leaf vacuums that are now on their third trip around residents are reminded not to put sticks or any other debris in with the leaves this clogs up the machines and slows them down the DP DPW assisted the police and DDC with the Halloween and dog parades and now from the sewer department please remember not to flush wipes floss hygiene or floss hygiene products down the toilet uh they cause issues at the pum stations also from the sewer department starting Monday November 18th sewer Jing will take place on the following streets kangon Road Brun Street Magnolia Court cross street Cottage Place and Kings Road from Union Avenue to Brun street from engineering wellb facility improvements the project is being closed out final inspections from the Department is required utility building work ventil ventilation shafts remain to be installed the library interior Architects are reviewing submittals and invoicing construction work construction workers probably 99% complete furnishings and restocking the library materials will take some time anticipate reopening in the fall it's cook Avenue parking lot the project is near a completion the drainage work new curbs aisle Islands underground electric and Landscaping is complete the telecommu communication companies are completing the relocation of their services milling and Paving is anticipated completed by the end of next week weather permitting MRC solar car port the project has been awarded to Bullet electronic of North Arlington in amount of$ 1,998 500 the project is advancing some equipment has been procured a preconstruction meeting will be held this Friday the project is anticipate to commence commen in early December and finally the DPW garage structure roof roof TR trusses at the DPW garage were termin to be compromised to the point of declaring an emergency the roof has been secured with emergency Shoring permanent repairs are underway thank you mayor thank you utilities and Community Affairs Mr pis thank you mayor welcome to everybody from the community uh the report about the water and electric utility uh you know they both uh have routine maintenance work that they do from day to day and they're crital critical to the Burrow's functioning at a stable condition from the water utility um there has been 4,329 water meters replaced and we have approximately 1,000 to go metertech our U approved uh water meter replacement company installs approximately 30 m per day the progress will slow down a little bit as we near the end there are some water pipes owned by remaining residents that are in poor condition and need repair prior to meter installation some other rate payers have denied access and want to keep their old meters but there's really no benefit to that our uh B utility employee Jim Trimble has done an excellent job coordinating the project uh wellb like like councilman landrian said continues it's winding down the automated GPM monitor has been replaced and is now operating with our scatter monitoring system the water main project for Walnut Street and Community Place affordable housing development has been completed all testing and is now operational and connected through our water system winterizing of our fountains around the burrow has been completed the only buildings that remain open now with water service is the MRC bathrooms and Dodge Fieldhouse bathrooms uh the water department has Bid Farewell to Jim matina a great Advocate our superintendent of the water department and assistant for the water department he will be missed and we look forward to Vince Patty isn't that electric yeah it's electric sorry it was mis writ so I know from elri electricity and water should not mixed no so Jim Mina left the electric Department um uh from the electric utility uh the upgrade of relays at the Kings Road substation is in progress this project is part of the interconnection agreement with jcpnl to allow for underfrequency load shedding under frequency load shedding prevents a domino effect in the event of a large scale power outage and uh one comment on the DPW that they have started their third round of leaf pickup throughout town the Administration has authorized overtime for two hours a day and all day Saturday so we can put a dent in the leaf Pils before Thanksgiving and possible inclement weather such as snow progress at the cook Avenue parking lot has been hampered by the lack of response from Verizon and Altis to relocate their poles and service lines but the electric utility is moving forward and they will be installing their historic poles and fixtures in the renovated a lot next week with the paving to follow shortly after from the um the DDC leis reports to me uh lels is the Downtown Development commissioner the Madison farm and Artis Market is open for business every Saturday as we mentioned before through December 14th it's in the Prospect Street parking lot from 9:00 a.m. until 2: p.m. on Saturday please check out all the great vendors live music great food options and the sense of community that you'll feel walking around this great event the next regular meeting of the DDC Downtown Development commission will be held on November 21st at 7:15 in the second floor committee room in the heartley Dodge memorial building the public is invited to attend the Madison holiday Arts Festival sponsored by the DDC and Madison arts and culture Alliance will return on on Friday November 29th and run through December 1st the schedule will be posted on roset please make it a point to visit if you can from the Chamber of Commerce the search for Rosie the Rose City reindeer will begin Friday November 29th and ends Saturday December 14th the winners will be announced live on the I love Madison New Jersey Facebook page on Monday December 16th at 4 p.m. we are talking about the taste of Madison already for for next year tastea Madison 2025 is scheduled for Monday February 24th at 600 p.m. at the Madison Hotel which was a great venue for this year information regarded ticket sales will be released shortly at the Madison Community Art Center over 50 paintings by area artists from the debar studio in Floren Park are being displayed through November 25th Gallery hours are posted on the mcac website and the paintings can be viewed informally before and after the center's events starting November 26th works by Madison resident Dennis McGee will be displayed through the end of January Spotlight kids will present any kids from Thursday November 14th to Sunday November 17th performances are almost sold out so go to the spotlight Kids website to check ticket availability on Sunday November 17th at 4:30 that's this Sunday yeah the Film Society of summit will be screening the cat skills a documentary on the rise and fall of the borch belt there will be a post viewing discussion with director Lex Gillespie the monthly comedy open mic will take place Wednesday November 20th at 7:30 and one more thing the monthly the monthly come or original music showcase will take place on Saturday November 23rd doors open at 7: p.m. m music begins at 8:00 p.m. that's all mayor very much and Health Mr Forte thank you mayor the burough had recently hired Deborah garbiel as the registar and Board of Health secretary Deborah previously worked for the town of bhen where she served as the health and code enforcement administrator regist and Board of Health secretary the transition has been seamless during the month of October the health department staff held nine vaccination clinics for non-insured and underinsured individuals investig at two communicable diseases inspected 41 retail operations investigated nine environmental complaints provided two influenza vaccination clinics one at burough Hall and one at the Rexford Tucker Apartments vaccinating 49 residents the health department is offering covid vaccinations to Children 6 months through 3 years please call the health department at 9735932415 health for specific information thank you very much now move on to Communications and petitions yes mayor the mayor and Council received um two Communications a letter dated November the 6th from Resident Thelma Francis of Station Road regarding the healthy boats program run by the health department and an email uh dated November the 8th from Resident Joe Luciano of East Street regarding parking along East Street Now we move on to our first of uh two invitations for public comment this is limited to items on our agenda discussion list and our resolutions that are part of the consent agenda if you want to comment on any other topic please wait for our second comment period um our agenda discussion today is a presentation from fire chief Wickman um updates including some of the uh fires recently related to the severe drought and these are the resolutions you make comment on these will also be part of the consent agenda at the end of the meeting resolution 305 accepting the irrevocable retirement administrative official Fran Borman effect effective December 1st 20124 Fran has uh been a main stay in our staff here and we wish her well and our farewell Gathering and I really got to know her well during the days after Sandy as she really stepped up as she always has resolution 306 is authorized an execution of documents regarding settlement through University so as I said of the on state of the onset we set sign a term sheet but to keep things moving this authorizes me to sign contracts as things move forward resolution 307 is appointing or designating Michael pleier as a municipal housing liaison resolution 308 is authorized a renewal of rental agreement used with portion of Public Safety complex by um American Automobile Association for defensive driving instructions resolution 309 is requesting um insertion of item of Revenue in the budget for this year 2024 this is uh related to aasa Grant $ 5845 resolution 310 is another insertion of Revenue into the uh budget of $2,000 also related to Masa Grant resolution three 11 is appointing Lucian cook to position of ski program assistant supervisor resolution 312 and that's at $30 an hour resolution 312 is authorizing closure of Prospect Street lot and uh Prospect and main streets for the annual lighting of uh and the annual holiday parade and tree lighting resolution 313 is app pointing uh first class lineman Kevin French to the position of Chief lineman and salary is at the uh collective bargaining agreement level uh resolution 314 is awarding solid waste collection disposal contract to Suburban Disposal for three years that they are current contractors this is through 2027 not to exceed a total of 1.67 million um and it's also pending approval of uh money in the budget for future years resolution 315 is awarding cont track for collection hauling of recyclable materials to Suburban Disposal for amount not to exceed 1.27 n million resolution 316 a Contracting amount of 140,000 to Deon Associates for DPW garage trust repairs on emergency repair basis that was part of Bob Lan's report 317 is approving a raffle license submitted for St Vincent Martyr Church raffle on December 14th resolution 316 yeah I got two 36 that's corrected want sound like deja vu dejon view all over again uh 318 is authorizing the budget transfers which was outlined by uh council president range resolution 319 is authorizing Eagle Scout project of the Madison Recreation Complex resolution resolution 320 is competitive Contracting process for lead based uh inspection services and resolution 321 is approving um confined space rescue agreement with Berkeley Heights Township so you may comment on any of those resolutions or the agenda discussion if you're commenting on any excuse me on any of those please step forward state your name and address and the resolution or agenda item you're commenting on uh Claire witcom 12 Fairwood Road um I have things to say about lot ofor things to say about uh the progress on the Drew farest but I'll save that I wanted to comment on um the eagle spout Scout project uh resolution 319 uh Benjamin angle is a scout from Troop 25 who's working with the Mec to do um a project that is at the conservation part of the um MRC so this name is inaccurate because this is on the passive side it's on the conservation side and it's within the um fenced in Forest that we would like to change the name of um but I've mentioned that previously so Ben is um a pretty smart guy and we're very proud to be working with him he will be making upgrades to there's a boardwalk there that um has a little few issues and and he's going to use reclaimed wood when he can and he and the scouts are going to repair that boardwalk and they are also going to work with us on um signage and this will be permanent signage with a QR code so that it will say like learn more about dead wood or you know uh this is an oak or beach trees have um issues with insect invasive insects or whatever it is that this shakes down to so the QR code will go to a website so it can be consistently up updated and this um is in a forest in need of education and Clarity for people who walk the trails and understand the Ecology of the forest and we're very excited that this is a first step in helping the public understand the this amazing asset that we have thank you thank you very much CLA anyone else wish to comment on any of the resolutions seeing thatone I close this part of the meeting Chief Wickman Jim I didn't write too much stuff down I know you asked me to have a few pages so I I trimmed it down just for you all right thanks for having me um I guess we want to talk I want to talk about a couple fires that we had at Drew University and then the response that we had at Rockaway I'll touch on briefly and then also bring up just a little bit about the the EMS division actually I'll do the EMS division first since the rest of its fire um just want to let you an update that the EMS uh part of the fire department department is doing fantastic as mentioned in the council report before we were um granted by our medical director to expand our scope of practice and he authorized us to apply through the state and the state yesterday gave us U permission to expand that practice we're able to offer more care than ever before and and on top of that I've gotten my second letter from Atlantic Health um congratulating the EMTs for their their quickness in Rec recognizing uh Strokes and they awarded some pens to some of the EMTs for they call it from door to Table in under an hour which has saved several lives already so they're doing fantastic work um just gr growing growing growing every every uh every month and it's busier than ever so back to the the fires that we want to talk about um so on October 26 at 9:47 in the morning as I was pulling up to the UDA ice rink in New York uh my phone I have an app that alerted to me of a brush fire in in New Jersey in Madison at Drew University and of course I knew about the fire danger and I'm like of course I have to be three and a half hours away when this happened and I do have an app on my phone where I can I can listen to radio traffic so I stayed in my car and Listen to As Long As I I can and I am happy that council president range was one of the first people there to to report back to me so I had him him too so interesting enough um there is a fire watch Tower called the Greystone station that is about 7 mil away just behind the auto dealerships in Denville on Route 10 I didn't realize that this was even there it was built in the 30s and believe it or not they were the first ones to spot the fire and the way that they use triangulation and they have all sorts of telescopes or whatnot they pinpointed the fire actually in the Drew Forest it was deep enough in the forest that nobody was going to be able to see it because all the surrounding areas looking up it was just wasn't big enough yet thank God but that no one noticed it but they noticed it so they have the state forest fire service doesn't get enough credit I mean they have been absolute rock stars the past month or so um dealing with this this un unbelievable drought so they they got a whole Battalion of trucks on their way and then they notified our dispatch about the fire so we we responded to Drew University and we couldn't find it so it took a while for them to kind of Drive around campus and around the forest until they finally found the best access was at 100 118 lanica way which is a long driveway which they they kind of got everything down there stag their equipment and stretched their hoses into into the the woods about 6,000 gallons of water was used to extinguish this fire it was about 2 Acres um I can't thank the forest fire service again I can't imagine how bad this would have gotten if they didn't notice this right away are are mutually blade Partners were fantastic when I was up in UA I notified our fire that Morris County has fire coordinators one for each four there's four of them there's actually several of them but there's four quadrants of Morris County and I notified our fire uh coordinator that hey we have a large scale event um I want to make sure Madison's covered and so the coordinators what they do is they move assets around so they when I contacted my coordinator they contact chadam they contact even Summit fire department and just move stuff around so if God forbid something else happens we're still covered um that fire is still under investigation the forest fire service hasn't had a real good chance to come back yet as you know they're kind of busy um but they said that it's going to be so hard now to find the cause and origin of it that it's it's one of those things that we might not ever know um continuing on uh we did set up uh we did check for hot spots overnight I know that Drew we notified Drew and they had had people up there checking in around there but we did send a couple people up just to check for hot spots because the forest fire service did tell us a bit about be about 5 to seven days for a complete extinguishment so we did go up there a couple times for you know like a couple you know a small area of smoking leaves we went back to the same address 118 Lan and walked through the woods with fire extinguishers and made sure the fire was extinguished um continuing on the the 27th which was the next day Sunday night I was home from UDA for this one uh 12:54 at at night um several 911 calls reported a large fire at the at the Drew University Forest again at the Drew Forest again um and it kind of got my attention real fast because there was several 911 calls real fast reporting a very large fire when I arrived on scene approaching the Drew Forum uh there was a a giant Fireball in the sky and I immediately called back to our dispatch and said get the forest fire service here right now um they were notified and as we got to the side we noticed that it wasn't the forest yet it was there is a large storage shed with an observation deck on top of it that was fully involved with in fire um you can see that one is this one down here below these two here um we did there was there was um a lot of problems with this you you can barely see the burned out area for the grass that actually been igniting on three sides and it was rapidly spreading to the Forest so thankfully we're able to uh stretch some lines back there really quickly we worried about the grass burning towards the wood first because the structure was a total loss and again we we made this a since we didn't know how big this was going to get we did call a second alarm to make sure that not not only do we have enough manpower there but also that Madison was covered during this event we had one minor anchor ankle injury to a firefighter due to the sloped ground area but it it was very minor he returned to work the next day um that's the picture of the fire tower that actually is the one up in in Denville it was again I think it was built in 1934 and it's manned um about six months during the year anding high fire danger um the uh as we touched on before about the dry leaves and making sure we don't park on any dry leaves the leaves are the driest that we've seen them in a long time as you can see the wind is blowing them everywhere they're very easy to rake but extremely flammable today the center top picture that was a piece of Machinery that was parked on a large pile of leaves and left running um it it did um quite a bit of damage to its to the to the machine um and you can see it spread to the leaf leaf piles and started making its way um on both directions and we were able to get that get that put out uh immediately so again please stay away don't park any Vehicles we've already talked to several landscapers about not even parking their lawnmowers that aren't they turning off the their their yard equipment and leaving them next to piles of leaves they're super hot just just we've reminded a couple landscapers as we've seen and we've also uh Gone on several calls where uh people are reporting that people are still having outdoor fires people are still having their fire pits and they're banned right now no outdoor fire so you're only supposed to if you have anything they're saying propane and elevated Grill only they don't want any outside fires whatsoever um as also was touched upon that we did go to we were requested by the Morris County uh coordinators again uh they were exhausting a large amount of fire resources in the Rockaway Township area and they were off asking this area of Morris County for help uh Madison's pretty reliable and so yes we did send four firefighters up there that participated in help helping Rockaway Township U we we have not been asked to go anywhere else I think they they knew that they've exhausted us for a while so we haven't had to have a turn up in P County or anywhere else so that's that's what I have for you so far as any questions thank you very much go ahead now just uh no questions just again immense gratitude to you and the team uh for both the incidents at Drew and and headed out to to Rocka away I know it's been um and then even some of the smaller things that have been going on with with the dry weather and and then of course the regular day job stuff that always comes up so um just kudos to you and the entire fire department team who have been uh incredible through through this whole thing um you know being able to see you guys work uh the Drew fire was uh not something I need to repeat but uh was was certainly interesting and uh and you guys did a great job so thank you thank you I got a great crew and I thank you for your support because that it just helps us more and more so it's it's it's them they're doing great and the the update on the EMT service is also great I I reive to copy that letter and just you know we we know time is so important whether it's a stroke or heart heart attack and uh the crew is ready I believe I've gotten three of those so far they're they're they're great they're true professionals Tom wanted to ask your Chief or maybe somebody else can canine how how do we get the message out to the community about not starting any fires right now we we've we've done a pretty good job and believe it or not it it's uh we get a lot of phone calls of neighbors reporting seeing it and saying hey so and so so we actually we we used to just kind of investigate reports of outdoor fire pits or whatnot right now it's it's it's a response because it's it's it's the kindling is unbelievable so we want to make sure that we catch it before it gets out of control right so it's until we get some significant rain this is going to be a challenge for us for for a little bit and that actually reminds me one of the big things that we found and I I never realized how popular the Drew forest was with people and not only that but I live near the woods on Rosedale and there is a ton of people back there and I never realized how much people enjoy it back there in the walking trails back there and it's become kind of an accessibility access problem for us that we're trying to figure out how to deal with that on a fire and an Ms side of it if somebody was injured or there was like a deeper seated fire which we can't get to how would we be able to to fight that fire or attend Aid to a victim that's that's deep in the woods okay thanks so maybe Ray or Jim how do we send the message to the community maybe I'm not on social media doing a pretty good job of sending it out like I know that we kind of hammered them early this morning as we got several phone calls this morning for the smell of smoke and so we we even we asked him to put out some information for yes there's smoke in the area it's from up North you're going to be smelling it's like the Canadian fires all over again from last summer um it's it's going to be with us for for a while and we're just kind of deal and it's not just a Madison problem it's it's all over Central and Northern New Jersey right now certainly part of being pushed out quite a bit from the New York media stations and um and certainly if you check your weather see Red Flag Warning on reg basis now John thanks for coming in Chief um it's always a pleasure to have you here um I think one of the things I'm I'm most proud of uh being a resident of Madison is the fact that we have a paid fire department but not only that we now have the pay dmts and I think you know most people don't realize that the state of New Jersey does not mandate that any town has an ambulance service so there's there's absolutely no uh responsibility to have one but Madison takes the responsibility very seriously uh to not only make sure that we have an ambulance Squad but that we've got the fire department with EMTs 247 uh here for all of our residents and all the people that are living working uh and visiting Madison so I think it's awesome and I think it's great that you've been able to stand that up so quickly so professionally um and with great results and when when I hear the fact that people are getting uh rescued in time to save their lives that's you know of all the things that we can be sitting here talking about that's probably the most important right so I think it's it's fantastic the other thing I'll say is um I happen to be at the farmers market the morning of the fire up at Drew I was with councilwoman uh Hanahan and uh we got a call uh from the police department they knew that we were down there they knew that council president range was at the fire so we were able to go up there and see your department in action and it was really phenomenal uh I would also say I saw the state fire service but also the county and it was interesting because at bottle Hill day we were talking to the county folks who operate the drones and they were talking about this other drone that wasn't there that day and we got to see it in operation and they thought the fire was out it looked like it was out they sent this drone up it had infrared and you could see oh NOP under the leaves the fire was still there so it was cool that we we've got that technology that that you guys you know use uh in coordination to keep everyone safe so thank you thank you comments thank you Chief and uh former Chief Lou is right behind you so Chief Lou thank you for setting the stage for uh just making sure I didn't do anything that's right have a good night now move on to or for hearing will the clerk please read the statement the ordinances scheduled for hearing were introduced by title and passed on first reading at the regular meeting of the council held on October the 16th and October the 28th 2024 they were posted and filed according to law and copies were made available to the general public requesting Saint I call up ordinances for second reading ask the clerk to read set ordinances by title ordinance 31224 ordinance of the burrow of Madison amending and supplementing chapter 1 13 of the burough code entitled housing standards regarding lead-based paint inspections I open hearing anyone wishing to comment on ordinance 31 please step forward seeing none I close the hearing mayor I move ordinance 31-202 24 second any Council discussion V call vote Mr landrian yes Mr range yes Mr Carm pudus yes Mr for yes I declare ordinance 31- 2024 adopted and finally passed and ask the clerk to publish notice there of newspaper and follow the ordinance accordance with the law ordinance 32-22 ordinance of the Bureau of Madison appropriating $160,000 from the general Capital Improvement fund for emergency repairs to the public works roof garage roof I open the hearing on ordinance 32 anyone wishing a comment please step forward seeing none I close the hearing thank mayor I move ordinance 32-22 24 second you heard about this during the Bob's report any other discussion so I have a question there isn't there a resolution for this money this this appropriated the money and the resolution Awards a contract okay so this is a contract to that company this this is the appropriation of the ordinance appropriates money resolution Awards contracts this is not enough money we have other appropriation ordinances that have balances so we're appropriating $160,000 towards the cost of the the project uh we probably will exceed that with the actual repairs when they opened up the the roof system and the trust system they found other damage that wasn't visible upon inspection so uh we are able with that funding and the open balances of some prior Capital ordinances related to DPW improvements to pay for the bill okay thanks Ray any other discussion roll call vote Please Mr landrian yes Mr range yes Mr har and pis yes Mr Forte yes I declare ordinance 32-22 for adopted and finally passed and ask the clerk to publish notice there newspaper and file the ordinance accordance with the law ordinance 33-24 ordinance of the burough of Madison establishing an authorized personnel only policy for restricted areas within the burrow of Madison I open the hearing on ordinance 33 anyone wishing to comment please step forward seeing none I close the hearing mayor I move ordinance 33-22 24 second Council discussion roll call vote Please Mr landrian yes Mr range yes Mr harm pus yes Mr Forte yes ICL ordinance 33- 2024 adopted and finally passed I ask the clerk to publish notice there thereof in the newspaper and follow the ordinance accordance to the law now we're on to our second of uh two invitations for public comment this is when you may comment on any topic um as before please step forward state your name and address and start your comments try to keep your comments to three minutes we do give you one minute grace and stop you at four anyone wishing to comment please step forward yes any any topic yes thank you very much my name is Stuart siden Stricker I live at 34 Ral Avenue and I'm also a member of wind the spirit who has the main office here to Green Village Road Suite 202 so wind the spirit's work is more urgent than ever as the incoming federal government has vowed to start Mass deportation on day one of the new Administration nearly one in four new jerseyans is an immigrant and over 10% of US citizen children live with at least one undocumented member of a family we're here tonight to make sure that Madison government has the resources in the resolve to stand with all Madison's Community the 10th Amendment is clear that fellow government cannot compel state and local governments to enact or administer a function of the federal government which immigration is part of it further state and local governments are free to refuse requests to do so and to prohibit employees from assisting in federal enforcement activities in the mediate term it will be important to facilitate rapid coordinated local response to mass immigration rates our partners in ACLU stand ready with information and resources available soon and we are also uh leaving your information on how the yard town can join cities cities for Action a coalition of nearly 180 us mayors County Executives who advocate for pro-immigrant federal policies including 10 in New Jersey for the very near future we'd also like to leave you information on the New Jersey immigrant trust act which has been introduced in the state legislature and would clarify the distinction between Federal intrusion and state and local laws and values when it comes to protecting the privacy of our immigrant residents and keeping their families together it's important that this law be passed before the new federal Administration takes office and we encourage you to pass resolution supporting it we are happy to help in crafting this and have included sample resolution in a package that we're going to leave with you finally we like to leave you a package of statistics on the economic contribution of family makeup of immigrants in our great state families throughout the state have members of mixed up mixed status that is migration status some born here some n naturalized some undocumented some dreamers and more those with and without status alike abide by the law pay taxes own business employ workers raise families and contribute to our community the only difference is that those without immigration status lack of piece of paper that the federal government has made increasingly difficult to get it they have risk we have risked our lives and a lot of other things losing leaving behind and we are an integral part of this community cannot be left out and we suggest that Madison should support the Immigrant Community thank you for your time we have a package for all of you to digest the lot of information that we're trying to convey yeah we can give it to give it to Liz and she she will just distribute it steart thank you for sharing and certainly uh we greatly appreciate um wind of the of the spirit and the work you do for those that have chosen um New Jersey to be their new home um and it's an honor to have you in in Madison and uh we will certainly look look over this and take appropriate action anyone else wishing to speak please step forward uh Clare whitcom 12 Fairwood Road I'm here to represent Friends of the Drew farest and I want to extend a huge huge huge thank you to everyone in the burough and the leadership at Drew University for this um important step forward in permanently PR um preserving the forest it's been quite a long journey we've been at it for three and a half years there have been two presidents at at different presidents at Drew there's been a lot of um uh um change and and um things to work out and this team on Madison is exemplary um Everybody in the burough Administration um everybody who's applied for a grant everybody who's talked to Mikey Cheryl's office Corey Booker's office the list is long um as part of my environmental commission work I've been working on the environmental resource inventory and the environmental commission was established in 1974 and we're including something in there that says that we stand on the shoulders of everyone who came before us and you too included Tom um the it's late our environmental resource inventory because we've been working on the forest um but there was an interesting tidbit that I thought I would share the Drew forest was officially established in 1956 in response to a joint proposal of the Garden Club of Madison and the Drew botney department now the biology Department before the influx of deer and invasive species two factors that have crippled the New Jersey Woodlands the forest was rich in Native shrubs saplings and wild flowers but by the 1980s tree reproduction had failed even that of the invasive Norway maple reclaiming the forest biodiversity began 15 years ago with a deer fence that enclosed 22 Acres a gift from Dr Christine heurn a board member of friends of the Drew Forest the 10- foot high fence which safeguards of Zuck arborium and what is now the heern woods enabled grants to flow in from numerous groups including us fish and wildlife over the next decade and a half students and local volunteers work slowly and painstakingly to remove invasive species including two acres of Chinese wisteria plant 2,000 trees saplings and water wild flowers with backpack sprayers it's we stand on the shoulders of all these volunteers who have um taken out barberry bushes and and and fixed Trails planted wild flowers and um it's one reason why the forest is so beloved there's just been so much love and care that's gone to it and to save it in perpetuity would just be remarkable thank you all thank you and I as I often say every time we get a report from the friends I learned something new I didn't know that uh the birth of the Drew Forest back in the 1950 so thank you for sharing that and uh thank you for the effort I had someone asked me today about U you know how does the grant Federal grant happen through Corey Booker and uh miky Cheryl and my answer was it happens at the Grassroots level that when you have such a strong effort and the petition with 15,000 signatures you get attention and when you get attention you get grants and when you get grants you get a great result so thank you anyone else wishing to comment please step forward seeing none I close this part of the meeting and we now move on to introduction ordinances will the clerk please read a statement the ordinances scheduled for first reading have a hearing date set for December 2nd 2024 and December 9th 2024 all will be published in the Madison Eagle posted on the bulletin board and made available to members of the public requesting copies all of ordinance first reading ask the bur clerk to read said ordinance by title ordinance of the burrow of Madison estaing establishing chapter 145-11 3H of the burrow code entitled privately private owned salt storage mayor I move ordinance 34-22 24 second Council discussion roll call vote Please Mr landrian yes Mr range yes Mr har cus yes Mr Forte yes and ordinance 35- 2024 ordinance of the burrow of Madison authorizing acquisition of a subdivision portion of real property located at 36 Madison Avenue Madison New Jersey and currently identified as block 3,1 lot one for public purposes mayor I move ordinance 35-22 24 second and just to explain this as as you've gathered things are moving very quick quickly with your University with a term sheet this in order for us to to close to uh do a contract we need to pass this ordinance um this is the one that is tently set for a hearing of December 2nd so we can meet all the headlines any other discussion roll call vote Please Mr land yes Mr range yes Mr haral and pudus yes Mr Forte yes consent agenda resolutions will the clerk please read the statement consent agenda resolutions will be enacted with a single motion any resolution requiring expenditure is supported by a certification of availability of funds any resolution requiring discussion will be removed from the consent agenda all resolutions will be reflected and full in the minutes mayor I move the consent agenda uh resolutions uh 34-22 24 through 321 d224 second discussion or any that need to be pulled John Mayor just one comment on 305202 um I just wanted to say uh I wish Fran Boardman very happy healthy retirement and appreciated working with her uh for 15 years while I was on the planning board saw what she did firsthand and she was a great asset Tom I don't know if this is important but our resolution 312 2024 do we need to put the date that the streets are going to be Clos is it I know you're authorizing anyway but say there it's not in the resolution excuse me it's in the text of the resolution it is it is in the actual the Su packet in the resolution yeah it's just not in the title okay that way we can use the same agenda you're you do for the whole month close off W please uh then go ahead go ahead resolution 315 2024 for our recycling materials to be collected um do we currently get any money back from the recycling program that yes so is that what is that an offset of $100,000 or $200,000 well it depends on the market I mean China is buying paper again so we're doing better there people are doing a better job um not comingling it or contaminating recyclable material so the market is more robust when it's not contaminated and metal has also rebounded I'm going to say probably net $50,000 in a year okay it's not huge dollars but it's it's it's something saves US money that we'd have to pay for tipping fees in the landfill yeah so how does this how does this cost for collecting recycling compared to the cost we have for collecting our waste uh well they're related the parties of the family the the bids actually refreshingly went down for the garbage and the recyclable from the prior contract because in and primarily because of the cost of gasoline and diesel fuel for the vehicles which is a huge part of it dropped so that drop was reflected in the in the bids that were received so we were um encouraged by the results good thanks R for sharing that any comments roll call vote Please Mr landrian yes Mr range yes Mr harm pus yes Mr Forte yes there is no unfinished business approval vouchers with cour please read the totals okay from the current fund $ 22,36 51 from the general Capital fund $479,990 from the electric operating fund $144,400 0,73 even from the water operating fund $876,000 1, 63,9 3338 mayor I move approval of vouchers second discussion roll call vote Mr landran yes Mr range yes Mr Haron pus yes Mr Forte yes right there's no new business so Forte may I move to adjourn all in favor I thank you