e e e e e e e e e e
e e e e e e let the record reflect we've reconvened with all members president uh council member Haron pus is absent excused for those who are able please rise for
Pledge of Allegiance and I ask you to remain standing after the pledge I pledge allegiance to the fire United States of America let take a moment to remember over a long time Madison residence we lost over the past few weeks Deana
Teresa Barry mother of five grandmother of 10 passed away at the age of 87 on the 27th was born to Michael and Teresa jro in 1937 she was a lifelong resident of her loved hometown of Madison attending St
Vincent B Ard and St Elizabeth's and I graduated from St Elizabeth College in 58 with a degree in biology he entered the field of biological research at se Hall medical school studying effects of spinal injuries and regeneration of spinal
cells she was always drawn to the excitement and vibrancy of New York City which she passed on to her children she took special Jo Joy driving across the George Washington Bridge and I had to include that because I don't think there anyone would take any Joy I'm driving across the George Washington Bridge but
uh so she is a very unique and she would do that to help furnish her kids apartments and just meeting them for lunch uh later she uh went back to school came to University where she studied and became a master of American Sign Language dedicated newly acquired
talent to serve as the ASL interpreter for students of public school district in Newark and we also remember John Kella one time Madison resident passed away on February 25th age of 91 survived
by his wife of 66 years and Marie two sons Michael and his wife Deborah John and one daughter Linda and her husband Peter and one granddaughter born in 1933 in Patterson raised with three siblings at a young age John was instilled with
devout Catholic faith he attended Mass regularly at St Vincent's uh since moving to Madison 1989 served our country United States Air Force after his service he earned his bachelor's degree in chemistry FR Dickinson he was a chemist with hman L
roach pharmaceutical company he loved Sports especially baseball he was a DieHard New York Yankees fan and proud of the fact that his brother tried out for the Yankees in their youth was also a avid bowler bowling regularly with his brother Tony up to two years
ago and he was a regular investor closely following stock market and proudly would recall his first stock purchase in a Tootsie Roll candy company so let us take a moment to remember de Deanna Barry and John Kella and let us pass our thoughts on to the
families and friends that they leave behind thank you I a motion for the approve the reorganization minutes of January 2nd 2025 second any discussion or any corrections
all in favor I I and a motion for the executive minutes of January 13 2025 second all in favor I I and a motion for the regular minutes of January 13 2025 so moved second any
corrections or change changes all in favor I welcome all I'm sorry we were a little late coming out I forgot to change my clock I appreciate it everyone hopefully you're catching up in your lost hour
sleep but U don't do it now um at our last uh meeting we recognized Vic Schumacher in Our Moment of Silence I just want to fill in some of the blanks in it on his history as a dedicated Madison volunteer and some more background in his his life he
passed away at age of 91 on February 19th after brief illness he was preceded in death by his wife of 63 years Betty and and he is survived by his children Janet and her husband Kevin Thomas and his wife Mary Robert and his wife Elena
four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren born in New York City his family relocated to Cliffside Park where Vic graduated from C cide Park High School class of 51 after graduation he enlisted in US
Navy and served our country during the Korean War and cold war on the Destroyer Destroyer USS mson d79 where he attained the rank of petty officer third class after his discharge from Navy his extensive education
included Monclair State University's Panzer School of physical education and health Teachers College of Columbia University Nova University where his he got his uh PhD and he uh enjoyed a long or fulfilling career in education beginning
as a physical education teacher and all by being a principal and many other administrative positions in many school districts including Summit China bur and South Orange um Maplewood he retired in 2002 but remained active in the education field
with many organizations and if anyone that served on a board with Vic you knew that um if the minutes did did not have proper grammar and punctuation Vic would make sure by the time they were approved it would um he was actively involved in
community service as literally coach scout master in Madison troop 25 the uh oversaw a renovation of Madison Junior School served on the Zoning Board of adjustment from year 2000 and 2002 at that point he was appointed to unexpired
term on the burough Council he served through the end of the year you also served um end of that year you also served in the Downtown Development commission from 2003 to 2010 and patriotic celebrations from 2011 until his death also contributed to uh
Community organizations right up to his passing he was an active member of the Madison ambulance Madison volunteer ambulance Corps and he took shifts as driver into the into 2024 served as vice president of the
board he also served as the president of the Madison chadam Adult School we overlapped a little bit on that board and um VI actually was scheduled to um speak at Rotary on about the um Adult School just last month early last month
he was a 50-year member of the Madison United Methodist Church where he served as president of the Board of Trustees and finally he he maintained his connection with US Navy through uh Navy League as Destroyer squadron commander also New Jersey chapter of the tinan
sailors so we certainly thank Vic for his dedication to make Madison a better place for so many um for those um that knew Vic and want to uh be recogniz his life a celebration of life will be held at the Methodist Church on 11 o'clock on
Saturday April 12th sh years a little bit on February 27th as president of the New Jersey Conference of Mayors I hosted the annual winter Summit at the Park Avenue Club The Summit was represented by 60 Mayors across the state and 90 municipalities
and the highlight of the was a panel on the arrive together program which we've seen a presentation here uh from our Police Department so we had Chief Misha and Captain Longo there so it was great to have them there and great to tell the story of great work that program is
doing and then on March 1st I was joined by members of gy body as we cut the ribbon for the joyful shop on Lincoln place the shop mission is gifts that give back with a portion of proceeds to that go to the support network it supports mental health programs in
addition to its retail operation it connects people through the space and also giv a space just to hang out uh with or programs such as open mic night and this past Saturday I attended the wind of the spirit domestic workers program graduation and that Pro program
prepares participants for a career in important role as domestic workers and um one other thing before we go to another presentation is you know a few minute few meetings ago I share our concerns about some of the actions taken by the current administration of
Washington and is clear that we cannot um be quiet as cuts that implemented by Doge in particular will as these will be directly felt by all of us in Madison um this is not a thoughtful process of reducing size of government
it is a reckless reduction of program so important to all of us so it is our goal to bring the local impact of these cuts to your attention um and we will do this as uh we we learn and uh and start feeling impact I want to than our council
president Rachel Erick for work on this so tonight I want to touch on two very concerning cuts that will be felt by Madison resids the first is layoffs of Noah and the National Weather Service employees along with cancellation of leases our OEM along with Adam Mars
County rely on these departments our planning for weather emergencies will be severely hampered without the accurate forecasting of the National Weather Service so that is certainly concern especially as we're just a couple months away from Hurricane Season the other
program exposed right now is the HUD family self-sufficiency program the Madison uh Housing Authority is deeply concerned about the mass resignation of the entire HUD washing Washington uh FSS staff which is the uh family
self-sufficiency program who opted to take the buyout offer this suggests that the program as a whole could be at risk the FSS program has been vital to Madison uh housing for over 20 years
helping assist families increase their income and reduce their Reliance on federal subsidies last month CL announced a $233,000 grant renewal funding for Mass house housing authorities program which would allow them to expand services and
hire additional case manager however with the potential elimination of the program under the Doge Pro policy M Housing Authority has put their hiring plans on hold if eliminated over 75 participating
families in Madison would be left without this CR critical support this is a program that probably more than definitely more than pays for itself as residents in the program not only improve their earning capacities capabilities but it greatly increases
that that their children will break out of the pro poverty cycle so that's what is going on right now and we just need to be mindful of all that employees for the month of March are Sergeant Julian Morales and
patrolman Austin Nash and patrolman Patrick strafach from the police department these three officers were ex extremely compassionate and professional while responding to a mental health crisis in involving a young burough resident I'm gonna come down below for a
proclamation we have a couple of friends of the Drew Forest here so please come forward so we have the International Day of forests which is March 21st 2025 proclamation to recognize that and um
the importance of recognizing this is somewhat connect to the some of the comments I just made it's not only with an eye towards the valuable Drew Forest which were working so hard to save but also the national forests which may
be opened to greatly expanded logging this will not only devastate the forest but also remove trees that cleanse our air and if we don't protect the forests right here in our country how can how can we ask Brazil and other South American countries to preserve the
Amazon the lungs of the earth so this is a good reminder of the importance of forests a little connection with our barbarous report coming up shortly too whereas United Nation's General Assembly proclaimed March 21st as International
Day of forest in 2012 and whereas the goal of this day is to raise awareness promote sustainable management of conservation of all forests and trees for present and future generations and whereas this year's theme forest and food highlights The crucial role of
forest and food security nutrition and livelihood whereas forests support soil fertility protect our water resources and offer habitats for biodiversity including vital vital pollinators and whereas
forests absorb CO2 which helps mitigate climate change and in turn helps protect our food systems from climate related disasters like droughts and floods and whereas Forest host 80% of terrestrial species supporting ecosystems that sustain health
healthy resent U Food Systems and protecting forests and crucial for maintaining biodiversity preventing land degradation and securing food sources and whereas more than five billion people worldwide depend on Forest and non-timber products for food medicine
income now therefore I Robert H Cony the mayor of burrow Madison on behalf of the Gover body hereby recognize March 21st 2025 is inter International Day of the forest and understand the value of protecting our forest cannot be overstated thank you mayor
um I I work both with the friends of the Drew Forest but also we have a second amazing forest here in Madison which is at the MRC Recreation area and I was thinking about it today we have these two uh
Irreplaceable sections of forest that are both protected by deer fence so if anyone's battled deer in their Gardens you know how important some kind of protection is to let our forests regenerate and to protect native plants the second thing is both these forests
are adjacent to athletic fields and I thought about it and I was like wow these are the forests that are rep in the water system that are keeping the air clean that are doing so much cooling the air for the athletes kids young and old and how important it is so
I'm very thankful for this Proclamation and uh all the support from Volunteers in the town thank you mayor and counil I justed Tok us uh we all treasure It's a Wonderful
educational environmental and research um gem for our for our town and for the region uh F of Drew Forest has been working on this Mission uh advocating for a conservation sale for nearly the last four years and we remain committed
to that mission and will remain acting as a voice of the forest which is um what we think is really really important to give the forest a voice usually when when we come to the council meetings we try to share something that's new whether it's an activity that we're involved in or something that's blooming
in the forest or something that's going on in the forest but tonight we wanted to um actually talk about something else that's all inspiring and that we would like to share with you mayor Conley um in honor of the newest Conley family
member I'd like to present you with this handmade hat which was um donated to us uh with uh uh the yarn was donated to us and the knits provided us with actually three or four
of these hats so we wanted to give one to Phoebe in honor of uh her first visit to the Drew forest and uh hope that you'll accept that there's a card there to thank you so much thank you very much thank you
so this will head off to uh Portland to little Stevie and um and it it reinforces that the work we do locally and globally is not for us it's for the future Generations so thank you so much
and now we go on to reports from committees iance bur clerk council president erck thank you mayor I have two announcements from the bur clerk Governor Murphy signed a new law extending the early voting period from 3 to 7 days before the June 10th primary
election all registered voters in Morris County can vote early in the courtroom of heartley Dodge Memorial beginning Tuesday June 3rd and secondly candidates for municipal office and County committee must file nominating P petitions in the office of
the bur clerk by 4M on March 24th 2025 the 71st day next proceeding the day of the June primary election for the general election if you have any questions please contact the burrow clerk um and then just a very short
reminder we do not have a uh a budget um agenda item tonight but uh you may recall at our last meeting we reviewed and discussed the draft budget for the first time and at our next meeting on March 24th we will have our first formal hearing of the budget a review of our
financial strategic planning guidelines and introduction of the official state budget document that's all mayor thank you thank you very much and now on to um Public Safety and utilities councilman landrian thank you mayor okay first from the police
department on March 7th members of the Madison police department community relations unit attended a law enforcement fair at men and Arena on March 1st members of the police department took part in coffee with a cop at delicitos they enjoyed meeting with all
visitors and discussed important topics on February 28th members of the Madison police department community relations Judit met with residents at Sunrise Assisted Living and participated in a social event at their location and
finally later this month Department Personnel will be taking part in every 15 minutes pres presentation at Madison High School the purpose of this is to teach students about the dangers of driving impaired when I was on the ambulance I uh took part in that and it
is very powerful and I hope all students attend and get something out of it it's a very good presentation okay from the Madison fire department on in the month of February the fire department responded to 64 fire calls and 129 EMS calls for a total
of3 92 patients were transported to the hospital the fire preent prevention Bureau performed 13 home sale inspections 34 fire prevention inspections and two fire investigations last week the fire department responded to two structure
fires one on East Lane and the other on Rose Avenue both fires were quickly extinguished with minor damage okay and finally they have been a number of uh fire fire dryer fires
recently they ass have individuals make sure the lint lint traps are clear and replaced and clean their dryer vents on a regular basis okay um from the court from The Joint Municipal Court When comparing
case loads Madison case load increased approximately 60% in February compared to the same time last year in addition the case load increased 12.5% compared to the previous month the Madison joint Court including all four towns and
police departments had an increase of case load in February 25 compared to the same time last year the case load for the joint Court increased approximately 15% compared to last year and finally Revenue associated with The Joint Court
will be discussed at the next council meeting okay from the electrical department on March 7th the electric Department was called out to 215 Main Street for flickering lights this was due to a burnt secondary cable that was
found and repaired on April 6th the standby wow that's a while back stanberg school was called to Madison Avenue in the area of fdu baseball field for a light pole in wires that were down across the
roadway the electric Department set three poles on Greenville Road and the electric was transferred to them EV fast charges in in lot three which is by the police and fire departments have been installed jcpnl has replaced all six
poral insulators they will need to be still make some further repairs to get it the service fully back and service fully back the electric Department continues to respond to calls complete markouts street light repairs and Delhi sub
substation inspections and readings okay and finally from the water department the SC a control system was repaired at the a b and d treatment plants dug they dug and repaired eight
curb boxes and shut off fouls to enable meter changes they replaced six of the eight chlorinators on odd and even day schedules they're working with subcontractors or contractors rather to get meters set and a new construct and
as new construction proceeds at the affordable housing uh Community Place and the Madison mall apartments on Main Street and they're working through a list of meter replacement programs uh finally dated and hard to
operate hydrants will be replaced and as the weather breaks and spring Sports begin the water department will get fountains and restrooms operational and finally on a lighter note this past weekend I attended play at the Madison High School Sister Act it was phenomenal
the band could have played on Broadway and the actors I'll tell you half of them could be on a Broadway stage right now so congratulations to all of them thank you mayor very much Public Works in engineering Mr range thank you mayor uh from Public Work works this evening
uh new benches and picnic tables have been placed at Dodge field playground uh which was one of the outstanding items uh from the renovation so we're happy to hear that uh parks department is finishing up uh spring C cleanup of
parks and Fields and has started preparing and lining fields for spring Sports mechanics are in the process of doing preventative maintenance and repairs on the plows and Salters before putting them away for the season and
have also started to prepare uh our lawn mowers and other field maintenance equipment for the spring and summer season Seasons ahead uh with the warmer weather also comes uh the road department getting out and patching uh
poth holes throughout uh burrow owned streets and just some final reminders tonight uh curbside yard waste collection started uh last Monday March 3rd so you can now begin to put your uh
yard waste at the curb but remember uh delaying your spring cleanup until a week of full week a 50° weather um can assist in supporting native pollinators and other insects who may have overwintered in your yards and garden beds so while today was warm you might
want to wait a few more weeks to uh get that initial spring cleanup done and uh on a similar note uh reminder that yard waste bags are also available um here at Harley Dodge Memorial in the clerk's office and from the
DPW uh garage and from the environmental commission this evening on Thursday March 13th uh which is I guess this week right yeah um the Mec will hold the first talk in its
nature lovers book series uh which is a partnership with the nature of reading Bookshop Paula Wyman author of the bad naturalist will share stories successful and otherwise about her attempts to rewi a Blue Ridge Mountaintop she will be interviewed by the hosts of the native
plant society's podcast the wild story Paula's book is widely talked about and reviewers have called it humorous and self-deprecating uh come early for refreshments and say hello to Madison's growing community of native plant enthusiasts the event registration link
is on the nature of reading website under the events tab that's all from uh Public Works and Engineering tonight mayor thank you Community Affairs Miss Hanahan thank you mayor uh the Downtown Development commission will hold held it hold its next meeting meeting on March
20th at 7:15 uh just down the hall it's open to the public uh Madison Green and clean will take place on Saturday April 26th it will include an EV Expo a vegan fair and other environmentally friendly
vendors these will take place in the Prospect Street parking lot and there will be a townwide cleanup on that day volunteer and sign up forms are available on the Downtown Development commission page on rosenet the Madison farm and Artisan Market
vendor contracts have been sent out and potential fendors should contact Lisa Ellis with questions Chamber of Commerce um Wanted wants everyone to know the Easter fund Fest is scheduled for April 12 from 11: a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
the Madison Community Arts Center has many things happening uh Vivid stages improv comedy show the flip side is scheduled for Friday March 14th at 8 tickets are available online and on March 15th ma
Madison resident Dave M Murphy will perform with his band to promote his new album the whole calendar for events can be found on rosat site at Madison Community Art Center thank you thank you and Health Mr Forte thank you mayor from
the health department during the month of February the health department investigated 10 complaints inspected 11 retail food food establishments investigated two communicable diseases and one outbreak of norovirus and completed three school immunization audits measles cases continue to
increase in the United States and in the tri state area many of these cases are associated with international travel in unvaccinated individuals CDC recommends that children 6 months to 11 months be given an early dose of MMR vaccine prior to international travel while this dose
does not count towards School requirements it does offer protection against measles the health department recommends that parents discuss vaccine protection with their healthc care provider before travel thank you mayor thank you now move on to Communications and
petitions yes mayor mayor and Council received an email dated March 7th from uh David sty regarding the legal fees for the Drew litigation thank you now we're on to our first of two uh invitations for public comment this is limited to our agenda
discussion items and our resolutions that are part of the agend uh consent agenda uh our agenda discussion today is the burough arborist annual report and the these are the resolutions you may comment on and a reminder if you
want to make other comments that will come up very shortly in the meeting uh but here are the resolutions resolution 96 is awarding preventive maintenance uh and repair HVAC equipment to air systems maintenance of korth and
this is at a rate of 140 an hour uh 210 an hour for overtime and 280 for holidays and weekends and uh the base contract is $3 37,2 25 resolution 97 is authorized a special
event permit to allow use of summerh Hill Park by Boy Scouts uh pack 124 on June 7th and 8th resolutions 98 through 102 are all similar that they are um requesting permission for the dedication
by riter for uh Jacob Henry Perkins or for all these trusts and this is something we have have to do through the uh division of local government services so uh these uh trusts can be set up properly and so resolution 98 is for the
uh Jacob Henry's Perkins trust resolution 99 is for the outside employment of off-duty law enforcement officers resolution 100 is for uh dedication U for the uniform fire safety act penalty
monies resolution 101 is for the um train station parking fees trust fund and resolution 102 is for the Community Development um donations trust fund and there's uh
resolution 103 is uh for our the governor's Council on substance inuse disorder fiscal cycle uh October 2020 through June 2026 and authorizing um strategic plan for
masa for fiscal year 2026 the amount of uh $ 5,845 and Grant a cash patch of $1,461 in kind of $ 4,383 resolution 104 is appointing Maro to position of sidewalk sweeper at the
rate of $22 an hour with no benefits resolution 105 is appointing Martin RIT to the position of recycling monitor um at hourly rate of $22 an hour no benefits resolution 106 is authorizing the special event permit to
allow use of Summer Hill Park by Boy Scout Troop uh 7 on April 25th resolution 107 is awarding contract to weeds Inc for control and removal invasive species at the uh MRC and not to exceed $2,600 and funded
through ordinance 21-29 and resolution 108 is authorized in special event permit to allow use of public parking lot number one by Rotary Club of Madison for public shredding event on May 31st so you may comment on
those resolutions or the arborus report which you haven't heard yet but you can always comment on that later um if you want to comment on those please step to the lect turn state your name and address write the same and then State the uh agenda item you were commenting on and try to keep your comments to
three minutes but we'll give you one minute grace anyone wishing to comment please step forward seeing none I close this part of the meeting and we now move on to our agenda discussions and uh we have our chair of the shade tree management board
Jean kovia and our uh arborist Rich wwit our annual report otherwise known as the state of the union or state my version of the state of the trees yep it is you know they say you could save a
lot of words by just using a picture I look at this picture and I think right away this is the epitome of what the shade Tre management board and what the burrow of Madison try to accomplish they want Treeline streets nice green environments almost like the Drew Forest
it's good for the town it's good for the residents and I'm not going to go through all the environmental positives but this is what we want it's refreshing so looking at the uh year in review our over overview um Madison's Community
forestry encompasses trees on private property and also on public land public uh Tree Service requests they reive the Department Public Works private ones go through are in accordance with Burl code
number 178 and a burl since 2003 has been participated been acted a New Jersey urban community forestry accreditation program which sort of which minimizes the town's exposure to
lius claims that are not merited so it's good you get a benefit out of all that on the private trees in 2024 we had 179 tree removal permits and 398 trees were
removed 258 tree planting obligations and 4088 tree planting recommendations were made at its part of all those site visits and recommendations $772 in permanent fees were received most common con reasons for
removal was construction you notice the construction popped up and that's popped up about 50 because we had an unusual not unusual but something out of the ordinary the project on 28 wmet Street which encompassed an extra 46
trees being removed right there there the other uh most common species removed nor Maple and ash trees but the interesting thing happening here switch is the justification we said
that the construction has trended upward in 24 we said why but finally the ash trees aald ashb impact that number is dropping they've caught up on the ash trees
people have removed them so we're going to have that increased benefit of not having as much some of the other species that had to be removed were Pine spe uh Spruce Peach and Hemlock beach beach in
Hemlock uh we have issues with the woolly delid which has been a long time affecting the hemlock trees and we have beach leaf disase now that's the new thing on the Block but there's a little light at the end of the tunnel they're finding a product that helps control the
nematodes which is in negatively impacting the beach trees so I want to hand up with a good note there and the public trees received 182 service requests 312 trees are inspected out of that 93 were
removed just 183 had to be pruned uh 19 trees are in private property which means people wanted to talk about the trees and nine trees really required no further work that was necessary this was alarming when you
look at it first but there's a reason the burrow wide trend on tree removals we jumped up in 2024 we went up to 491 uh a lot of this was because of the August storm that was centered in this
burrow and it had a major impact on that noticed the past the prior couple of years we've been dropping down I would imagine we're going to go back to that down slump and it'll be good see you later on so with some of
the considerations rment or enhancements to the Tre uh ordinance um we had some of the the that ideas to talk about that were being considered is that the uh we get a lot of phone calls is this tree
being removed move my neighbor's house do they have a permit well we're considering having a a permit application the license posted in the window during that process might minimize the number of phone calls that the Burl gets for no
reason um trying to think about an appeal process or recommending an appeal process which the homeowner doesn't like the decision made um in terms of tree removal U they have a a New Jersey tree
expert track qualified an independent one give an independent report track qualified is tree risk assessment qualification qualified expert so basically it's not just anyone on the street because anyone can get anyone to give any answer you want to give but
this is someone with a professional standard uh total cost for 24 from management cost um was up $6,000 by $6,000 to bring it up to 26,4 64 so for questions that's how to reach
us and uh we have meetings coming up and looking forward to continued being here and working with this town who quite impressive with the tree program thank you Rich and thank you for your your work and Jean again thank you for your uh leadership with the shade tree
management board Bob yeah I just have two questions one of all the trees that were removed and that first number around the 378 kind of sticks out it was on one of your first slides how many have been replaced I see a lot of being removed
but how many actually getting put back let say out of that pile 258 planting obligations had to be made they have a year to do it and then 88 trees were recommended to be removed because some
of the trees were either poor dead disease dying so it wasn't fair to give them hit them twice they had a be the cost of removing the trees but the healthy trees uh 258 had to be rep so that's good I mean they're getting repl that is good yes now I got this this can
be a crazy question let's say I owned a house I don't now but and I went out in my backyard and I said I don't like that tree I got my little chainsaw and I cut it down what would the repercussions be of doing that would there be attorney and
see now I would imagine we we running up the chain if I know about it we'd run it up the chain of command for recommendations from the attorneys and we have had situations like that and um violations have been issued and then it
becomes um kind of like a negotiation okay about what the next steps are we do have in the code um there's penalties for that type of thing thank God for that but I was just curious about that thank you as help any other questions or comments
thank you and we will be um as mentioned there are some recommended up updates to the um shade tree ordinance so we'll be seeing that at a at a coming at a meeting in the future all right there are no ordinances for hearing tonight so we move on to
invitations for public comment this is when you may comment on any topic again uh write your name and address on the clipboard and state state the same try to keep your comments to uh 3 minutes but we give you the one minute grace period anyone wishing to comment please
step forward H hi my name is Kevin flug I live at 33 Elm Street Apartment 3 um I came here tonight to talk about a uh traffic and safety issue but I just first want to um commend you all on the the efforts you made to save the true
Forest I've been following that in the local newspaper and online and um very nice to see you know I used to work for an environmental nonprofit and I know that a lot of times when a developer wants to develop land usually that's what happens so it's nice to see that this one's going to go in the other
direction and I think I speak for a lot of people in the who don't come to these meetings often but have been watching it we watch it and we talk about it and it was really nice to see um everything that was done to save the forest that makes me happy and proud to be a resident in Madison and then um the the traffic safety issue that I want to
speak about I guess the burrow has uh electronic speed limit signs throughout the town that that I guess they have a radar gun in there they flash with people are speeding and they usually have them uh positioned near the schools I've noticed there's two on Green
Village Road um on E on either end of the street up and down from St Vincent Martyr Church and School and they've been broken um or they don't work they don't light up and they've been broken since at least October and I guess someone used the town's uh C click fix
app where you can like report a pothole broken someone reported that in October that it was broken and then I I reported it uh using that app in November on November 18th I think of 2024 that it was broken and uh you know we've gotten various responses from the emplo the
town employees that I think they need an outside contractor to fix it or something like that but it's just been several months and I I thought I would come here to raise that the raise the issue to you all just the hopes that um we fix those signs as soon as possible want to keep everyone safe thank you
thank thank you very much Kevin and those have been discussed by um complete streets and uh um any of the faulty signs are falling two c ories one that need a fairly simple upgrade and they will be upgraded and others that are
really obsolete so we're going to be replacing them um I trying to remember have we did we appropriate y so so we appropriated 50,000 to make that happen so um I apologize it doesn't move as fast as
we'd like uh as the traffic moves too fast but uh hopefully we can get that uh you'll see that happening soon anyone else wish wish anyone else wishing to comment please step forward seeing none I close this part of the meeting and we move on to uh
introduction of ordinances please read the statement ordinances scheduled for first reading have a hearing date set for March the 24th 2025 will be published in the Madison Eagle posted on the bulletin board and made available to members of the public requesting copies I call up ordinances for first read and
ask the burough of clerk to read set ordinances by title ordinance 5-22 ordinance of the burrow of mad and establishing chapter 60 of the Madison burough code entitled batteries to regulate the S and storage of lithium ion
batteries mayor I move ordinance 5-22 second comments um thanks mayor I reached out to uh Chief Wickman of our fire department to talk about the uh or origin of this ordinance and
uh what types of battery and um what kinds of um retail operations it would apply to and he provided a thoughtful explanation that the um this ordinance is really uh
structured to make sure that to prevent the the sale of secondhand or reconditioned um or non- labeled batteries for um Mobility devices like ebikes and scooters so uh the way the ordinance is
constructed it would not place any undue burden on for instance I thought of Hilltop bicycles because they sell ebikes um because they only sell a few e ebikes and they don't stock the batteries in their shop uh this would
not um create any additional uh cost or operational measures that uh would be imposed on Hilltop um and I I thought the the chief's explanation of the way the ordinance was written and how it was intended to be applied was helpful and so um I'm glad that we're moving this
forward thank you any other comments roll call vote please miss erlick yes Mr landrian yes Mr range yes Miss Hanahan yes M for Mr ordinance 6-22 ordinance of the Bureau of Madison
appropriating $500,000 from the general Capital Improvement fund for the 2025 million overlay projects mayor I move ordinance 6-22 second any comment this is part of
our um capital budget that was uh laid out in uh back in December roll call vote Please Mr earlick yes Mr landrian yes Mr range yes M Hanahan yes Mr Forte yes we now move
on cons 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 in full in the minutes mayor I move resolution r96 d225 through r108 d225 second any discussion or any that
need to be pulled roll call vote please sir yes Mr landrian yes Mr range yes M Hanahan yes Mr Forte yes there is no one finished business uh approval of vouchers will the clerk please read the voucher
totals from the current fund 32256 $4 46.77 from the general Capital fund $1,931 30 from the electric operating fund $223,300 from the water operating fund
$15,856 from the water Capital fund $68.95 and from the trust $3 32,9 3291 the total is $53,900 56 mayor I move approval of the vouchers
second any discussion B call vote please M erck yes Mr landrian yes Mr range yes M Hanahan yes Mr for yes there is no new business I have one announcement I'm sorry to interrupt this is a quick one uh I
wasn't sure if it was going to be an Eric's report tonight from DPW um but uh the climate action committee is excited to uh let people know that there's going to be a Chevy Blazer uh police vehicle
that's an EV that the um the manufacturer distributor is bringing to up to Madison uh on Wednesday the 12th at 11 am. for a demo at our Police Department so we thank the police department for checking out this new electric vehicle which would be not a
hybrid but a plugin EV and it's a Chevy Blazer that um I think Westfield in New Jersey currently has a model of these so uh folks are welcome to come down and check out the EV when they take a look at it on Wednesday morning thanks for that I was about to interrupt because I just got the email from Peter fre glad
you good good timing so perfect great to hear thank you for thanks mayor that in there with that mayor I move to adjourn all in favor I I I you