I'm sorrys I'm dismantling it pursuant to chap Section 5 chapter 231 Public Law 1975 this is to State for the record that adequate notice of this meeting has been provided to the public by posting and maintaining the annual notice of regular meetings on the bulletin board of the municipal building by a mailing the annual notice of regular meetings for 2024 to the news record and Star Ledger in December 2023 and by filing said notice in the office of the Township Clerk right here Mr daffis here Luca here ble here mayor Adams yes here thank you where chapter 231 public La 1975 commonly known as the open public meetings act requires that all meetings of public audience be open to the public and where section 7A provides that the governing body has a discretion to permit prohibit or regulate the active participation in the public in any meeting and whereas desire of the governing body to comply with the provision this act same time to conduct this business in an orderly and expeditious manner now therefore be resolved by the township committee Township mwood do hereby prohibit except to set forth in the formal agenda active participation in the deliberations of the governing body by the public acceptance otherwise prescribed by law does limit the public to the observations of the actions and discussions of the governing body at all of its Reg regular and special meetings so moved second M K yes daffis yesca yes angle yes mayor Adams yes thank you please stand for the salute to the flag I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all right welome welcome to the July 2nd meeting of the Maplewood Township committee um we have uh couple of to run through a quick agenda we have a youth advisory committee reappointment uh for a term that was ending um we have public comment for boards uh for agenda items only we have our Board of Health meeting and then we have ordinance um no ordinance is on Final passage we have an introduction of an ordinance regarding uh seacs and the zones that'll be led by Mr daffis then we have reports from departments and we have none of those so then we move to administrative reports Administration Township attorney and Township Clerk we have reports from elected officials Committee Member Duca Deputy Mayor kpe Committee Member daffis Committee Member Engle and then IO discussion items we have three discussion items the first is cancelling the the Tuesday August 20th 2024 Township committee meeting the second is New Jersey Transit service that's um for by Deputy Mayor kpe and the third is National Night Out and that's my discussion item then we have a consent agenda um much of which is um renewing liquor licenses for establishments in the township then we have public comment on any subject matter and then we will adjourn so with that um we go to the no proclamations number on the agenda we'll go to the youth advisory committee um reappointment Miss angle did you want to take that sure so we just appointed um Miss Kesler to our youth advisory committee but because of the way our ordinance is written we just need to go through this motion of reappointing her so I um move to reaort Violet Kesler to the youth advisory committee second that I'll second that okay right yes D yes Luca yes Sangle yes mayor Adams yes thank you we come to the first public comment session of the agenda and this is preferably for agenda items only um is there anybody in the in the meeting who would like to see on public comment for agenda items Mr where you want to do a head start on looking on Zoom yeah any members of the the public joining us on Zoom would like to speak in public portion on agenda items only please raise your hand now I see no hands mayor okay thank you then we'll move on to the Board of Health meeting and I'll turn it over to Committee Member Ang go sorry I had yeah um pursuant to section 5 chapter 231 PL 1975 this is to State for the record that adequate notice of this meeting has been provided to the public by posting and maintaining the annual notice of regular meetings on the bulletin board of the municipal building by mailing the annual notice of regular meetings for 2024 to the news record and Star Ledger in December 2023 and by filing said notice in the office of the Township Clerk here daffis here Luca here mayor Adams here here where chapter 231 public La 1975 Comm as the open public meeting s requires R meeting public bodies be open to the public and whereas section 7A provides that the Board of Health has a discretion to permit prohibit or regulate the active participation of the public at any meeting and where is desire the Maplewood Board of Health to comply with the provision this act same time to conduct its business in an orderly and exped expeditious manner now therefore be resolved by the mwood Board of Health in the township of mwood that it does hereby prohibit except is set forth in the formal agenda active participation in deliberations of the Board of Health by the public and acceptance otherwise described by law does limit public to the observations of the actions and discussions of the Board of Health at all its regular and special meetings so moved second yes D yes Luka yes mayor Adams yes yes now I move to the approve approve the Board of Health meeting minutes from June 5th 2024 move them yeah I'll move second C yes Mr daffis yes mrca yes mayor Adams yes M angle yes now I turn it over to our health officer Candace dport good evening everyone and we will put up the presentation I thought I would change it up a bit and uh start off with our highlight of our collaborative support programs of New Jersey or CSP andj partner there they go of interest to everyone since they are our new partner um they started about two months ago on May 1 in the in the mic they started about May on May 1st so they've been with us for two months now and uh next slide yep and here are some updates for everyone just so you know their hours of operation are from Tuesday to Saturday uh their hours are Flex uh because we wanted to get to uh the unhoused individuals at the times when they would be available able and because it's summer months we seem to see them out um later on in the day so that would be a good time to make contact these hours may change as uh the seasons uh change as well but we are starting off with this time frame since May 1st to June 30th uh they have encountered a total of 21 individuals uh seven of whom they have not engaged with as of yet uh for any additional services but 14 are chronic cases that they've had three or more encounters with next slide Health off Health officer D import excuse me could we tell for the public who they are oh sure collaborative support programs of New Jersey are um our aies for the homeless Outreach and engagement pilot program uh that we started on May 1 for this year thank you so one of the things that they offer and I I think I've mentioned it before that cspnj comes with a whole lot of um services and resources that we did not realiz and one of those that I'd really like to highlight tonight is the better life services so better life is located um in Newark it is their location where they offer all of these Services if you scroll up a little bit more you'll see that they have a cooling center which they've offered um to us if we ever needed it during the daytime um food assistance and meals serve daily along with a whole bunch of other services including legal and zoom Court assistance and um Social Services application assistance so you can do that over there um and they've been very helpful um with sharing that resource next slide some successes and follow-ups um and next steps some successes are that they've relocated an individual to RIT care and they provided them with transport uh they completed one housing application which means that someone is on their way to um hopefully receiving and being eligible for um affordable housing one Salvation Army transport was assisted three individuals have visited the betterlife center already and taken advantage of that uh two belongings re relocation to The Better Life Center four bus tickets were distributed for transport to Better Life One transported to Social Security and to public assistance um one city ID referral One Employment unemployment connection two 211 referrals where they stayed on the phone call with them to um ensure they had access to a shelter for that night and five food assistance referrals so they're doing a lot of work again um I'm surprised myself at how many people they've actually had contact with um but they're making a difference with the lives of um these people who are um you know H happy to to talk with them next steps are that uh they will CSP andj um they're two staff people they work 20 hours a week their names are taon and Jason they will be at uh the adult library on Saturdays from 12:00 to 2: p.m. to offer online application assistance to Social Services like Wix snap unemployment um and such they will they also have connected us already to attend the city and county coordinated assessment monthly meeting so that that's where we're going to network with a whole bunch of other County services and resources and they're looking uh to find a dedicated shelter bed access for um Maplewood in the event that we needed at the local Newark YMCA so a dedic bed has been one of the issues that we've had um where we've called shelters in the past and they've already been full but if they can get one dedicated bed for us that could help out one individual who might want to get out of the street for the night and I will keep moving on so this is um the uh flyer that was created by Jo and beckerich in the library I want to thank the library services for that uh they created this flyer that they're Distributing out through their uh social media about the services of Cs p&j and what they offer um again that's from 12 to 2 so if you're in the area please do stop by or make a referral to them and all these Services as as usual are free next slide so moving on to uh some highlights I just want to highlight that the City Health dashboard data that we have uh they have um recognized us and interviewed our department for their most recent impact story on visualizing local level data to strengthen um the health department and Health Services so um the article um link is there and I hope you'll share it with everyone it's just shows what local Health departments can do with localized data and improving neighborhoods next slide speaking of improving neighborhoods we had our annual health fair on June 15th where we provided um screenings of blood pressure Hepatitis B and C and mammograms as well as future mammogram appointments for uh women who are insured or uninsured the mobile drop drug Dropbox with the police department um handled six pounds of unused or expired medication next slide and we are still offering Health screenings every Monday every first Monday of the month um at our farmers market so we do hope that people will attend the clinics uh the next one will be August 5th at our mwood Farmers Market next slide and just to give you some highlight again all this information will be available through the weekly uh eblast that'll go through the township and also on our Township website uh for the health department but just to highlight some reportable diseases that our nurses have um investigated and covid is still around uh so these cases I just want people to know are associated with an outbreak or with hospitalization so they are more severe cases but cases nonetheless that I want you be aware of and next slide um let me see here one of the things that we will highlight is vaccines for children where people can get free vaccines through the county um this is especially important as people are getting ready for school I know it's summer but it's always good to get these vaccinations early so that uh children are eligible and it doesn't stop them from going into school starting in September next slide and Animal Control this is our last report from Bloomfield so I just want to give a thank you to the township of Bloomfield for assisting us with animal control um as you can see we had 22 phone calls uh for animal control but most of those were sick and injured Wildlife next slide and our environmental health for June just wanted to give you a synopsis of what our services are and all the inspections that we have done and the complaints we responded to next slide and Essex Regional Health commission I always want to highlight them because they we do have a contract with them and um they addressed one noise complaint with a violation issued and to idling car complaints so that's something that they do for us next slide thank you so for our crisis intervention social workers just to give you a highlight from January to June and a total for um the first half of the Year our crisis social workers have intervened and had um interactions with 80 total cases uh with co-response of 32 cases and clinical cases of um 16 cases and then we just want to highlight that the M mwood Farmers Market is highlighted in the Essex County New Jersey Farmers Market notification and that people can apply for who have Wick can apply for the farmers market program where they can get discounts at our farmers market and of course our phone numbers for emergency services and social services that we hope people will take advantage of and that is the end of my presentation thank you thank thank you um are there any questions from my colleagues for Miss Davenport um Miss Davenport few month few weeks ago I had gone to the family connect event um to listen to um sorry Tammy Murphy in regards to the women's health program and I don't know if there is any been any information shared from that for the community I don't know if folks are aware of it and the fact that that with the number of people having children that they've got two weeks of postpartum care for free yes that they can disapply for yes we we've talked about that before so thank you so much for attending that um event and I do think we have to uh do a better job of of communicating that that is available through the uh partnership for Maternal Child Health and in Essex County any woman insured or uninsured is eligible for two within two weeks of postpartum to get a visit from a uh home Visiting Nurse to give them assistance and services with their new baby and healing for themselves and adjusting to a new family right so so I can uh send out that flyer again yeah and and also could you do the secondary one in regards to looking for um people train to become certified to be the providers for that because they had mentioned that with the numbers of people being born they don't have enough duelas and and uh nurse practitioners signed in the program it's job opportunities if they have an un um unemployment sheet that they or that they send if you could send that to me I'll attach it that's great okay thank you yes we need more people working and doing this good work any other questions I have two question okay I have two questions um the first is regarding animal control with a change over is there anything residents need to know like do they just still call the same number listed on the website or Is there any change over and how people contact that control yes they would still follow the same procedure uh which is to call the non-emergency number for the police department and they will be rerouted to animal control Solutions and they have their phone number okay great and my second question is can you share that um graphic about the social services on Saturday at the library with Mr wary so we can post that on our um Township social media yes thank you anything else from my colleagues we open it up to the public is there anybody here in this room that would be interested in speaking to our public our asking questions for our health officer I have one more thing um at the event this weekend that we were doing the food distribution at the community fridge we found that actually of the many Flyers that we had in English and creole and stuff like that we needed in French because our West African population actually speaks traditional French the creel doesn't quite cut it yes so we could add that to it and I reached out to youthnet there's a high school student that is fluent that's considering being that person so great oh good if if I could get their contact information then we need to do translation that would be super helpful yeah Mr wary is there anyone online um who would be interested in speaking any members of the public joining us on Zoom would like to speak in public portion for the Board of Health meeting please raise your hand now I see no hands great so that I move that we adjourn until our next scheduled meeting on Tuesday August 6 may have a second second thank you right yes baffis yes Luca yes mayor Adams yes Z yes back to you mayor thank you all right we mve to uh introduction of ordinances we have one ordinance on for in uction M fritson yes mayor uh we do I know item 10A ordinance number 3126 d24 is an ordinance to amend chapter 271 of the Cod of town mwood entitled zoning and development regulations with respect to R15 and R17 zones this ordinance will amend Article Five zoning provisions of chapter 271 one of the township code to amend setbacks setbacks and stepb backs in R15 and R17 zones mayor I move this ordinance I move the passage of this ordinance on first reading its publication according to law in the Maplewood South Orange News Record in a hearing to be held on July 16th I'll second M CR yes Mr daffis yes Mr DeLuca yes M Engel yes mayor Adams yes thank you and that goes to the planning board for review um and it says right in there that it's in accordance with the master plan so they better find that way it does yeah that's right that's right okay so we go from that to administrative reports Mr we anything from the administration that we should know about yes thank you mayor just three items on the agenda that I'd like to highlight uh first we have two appointments uh on the agenda tonight Andrew Hill is being hired as the technical assistant to the construction official in our community development office and Anthony bian is being hired as the fire inspector also in our community development office we're excited to have them on board and lastly uh resolution number 24224 was a unique one for us this is a resolution accepting a donation we received a very nice letter from uh Temple Beth and their students each week uh bring in money and then the class as a whole get to decide where they want to donate that money to so this was a sixth grade class they collected $25 and they donated to the community fridge so that's accept those are rockstars right that's great and we'll be sure to send them a thank you note yes I love that happy to sign it very good the time that's all mayor thank you thank you any questions for our administrator tonight y we go to still make me laugh um go to our Township attorney Miss cidia there you go ziming right along any questions for Miss cidia okay we'll go to our clerk miss priton things mayor okay uh just to highlight one of the resolutions on the consent agenda which I had explained to the township committee was uh one renewal tonight for one um plenary retail consumption liquor license that uh you you could not address at the last meeting due to the fact that they did not have tax clearance so that'll be um hopefully approved tonight but they did not lose any time in any way um being open and uh secondly just to uh you know once again indicate the number of event planning meetings we conduct weekly due to the number of events that we have in the township and um to make sure that everything go smooth we conduct the meetings and um they seem to be every week thank you that's it they're important though so any questions for our clerk tonight nope all right we move on to elected official reports Committee Member Duca thank you mayor I have four four items the first is uh I guess it was last week or so on June 20th we held a session here in this room for home sharing and it was uh we got over 30 people joined us either in person or on zoom and it was well received it was a good presentation people learned a lot about either being a home provider that's if you have a house that you may be overhouse you have empty space and you're willing to take on a home Seeker that's someone who's looking to move in who could use some affordable housing and is willing to pay some towards the upkeep of the house or the bills of the house and maybe do some other work so we will continue to promote this um through the Department of community services and then yesterday on July 1st we had two sessions with OG's and J this is the Cannabis manufacturing operation that's moving to 220 ruer Street and um we had an afternoon session and evening session both of them were around 40 minutes and um they each had 14 participants and we had Township committee people um our uh director of the Department of Community Development of course the OG rep OG's reps and then a total of 13 members of the public and there was a presentation and they uh folks asked questions and I think it was uh again something that people appreciated learning more about and I think there were some concerns out there that were resolved by the presentation Mr J can you go into a little more detail what the manufacturing is so people so they're they're manufacturing cannabis gummies and they're not using any um cannabis leaves uh they're not bringing it in it's just oil it comes in it's a process that they use to convert the cannabis oil into gummies it is not a retail operation they manufacture it there and then sell to retail providers and I understand that they will be selling or hope to sell to the Distributors we have here in Maplewood um and so it will be a limited operation as far as deliveries um again there won't be customers coming there there won't be S signage up so it's uh and and they're they actually operate in Arizona so they have a track record and OG's NJ is owned locally by F and managed locally by folks here in Maplewood and they're going to be providing upwards of about 20 jobs new jobs yeah um and paying taxes just just the reflect uh um this year's budget we we plugged in $610,000 in the Cannabis tax so that's new money that we didn't have a couple years ago significant um so and we'll be getting more of course with this and once the fourth distributor uh this uh dispensary comes online um just a quick update the affordable housing board um they did a ranking process of the submission that we received when we put out the request for expressions of interest in developing affordable housing I think I reported before we uh received 10 um submissions from different firms and um the next stage now is that the board will be interviewing uh the top firms through that ranking and then we'll be bringing recommendations back to the township committee hopefully and probably September likely September uh and then lastly this Thursday we have the 4th of July believe it or not and I'm just going to run through our activities for the day at 8:00 a. there's a 5K race and um that is being sponsored by the Columbia High School track and field Group and we want to thank them um and then at 10 o00 over in rickleton square we will be having our bike paray which is always a fun thing and we on the township committee who walk in front of all these bikers and they run us over yes and halfway through the kids don't listen to us and just take off and that's great so all right uh and it we'll end up in Memorial Park we where we will have refreshments and then at 11 a.m. we have relay races and that's sponsored by the S fox running club and that'll be over in the North Field across from town hall and that'll be again where we end up with the refreshment so the kids will be there and they'll be able to join in the races at 12:30 we're moving over to the community center at deart and we're going to have senior Bingo uh there was a specific request for um an age specific activity for seniors and so um I will be running Bingo there and and um if you're a senior please join us what qualifies a senior you determine your self-identification no no no at 3M not getting into no that's not I'm not answering that question right tell you this I have not had a problem passing as a senior for a while it's 55 it's 55 is it whatever you want whatever you decide if you want to come and say you're a senior Bingo um 5 3M 3 pm we have our ice cream eating contest and that's sponsored by the Rotary Club and that is they put a dish of ice cream in front of you and you have no utensils and you have to munch down that ice cream oh my I will pass and that be again the rotary club's doing that and that will be age specific adults are welcome I wish they and then at 4M we have our pet parade and um again we'll be meeting in front of the community Center we'll be walking around um the area there we have judges lined up so U I thought we were judging h no no because I'm in it I want to win it no no no we got some ringer judges uh we're gonna cry you can bring your dogs um I hope somebody bring we already have three judges so guinea pig from the then um and then uh Bill Tomlin uh who is a manager at PetSmart M yeah well he's a trainer trainer at petm and and a long time uh Maplewood um right photographer photographer and activist in different clubs and used to run the pet parades he is going to come back and be our Master of Ceremonies that's right cool shiver trained and then in the evening we're back in Memorial Park we have um 7:30 we're going to have music and we're going to have some um ice cream vendors we'll have a DJ there um and then at 9:00 we'll have fireworks oh come on out it's a long day but a fun day what just to clarify it's all free it's all free and the only thing you need to pre-register for is the pep parade at this point just show up yeah just show up show up show up with your pets we don't want you to not come so if you didn't have a chance to show up we have about 20 people that are already registered but if you just want to come just come with your animals but again we say no bitters or biters that goes for the animal owners as well for the bik parade yeah I'm sensing a little aggression on the you know shers and I are gonna competitive and bring bring leashes for your pets no matter even if baggies oh okay that's it that's my report full day how do you put a leash on a fish that's like how do you determine a senior I am not g to touch that 10 foot all right we'll move on to oh any questions for Mr Duca okay we're done with you all right on with you all right thank you mayor um just a few things uh I wanted to shout give a big shout out to zakiya Williams our manager of arts and culture who crushed juneth it was brilliant um and thank everybody in the community who came out because it started off slow but it built up into a nice end of night and I will say that that was probably the best fireworks display I've seen and we've seen a lot around here um so I'm looking forward to our July 4th fireworks too um a reminder to people to slow down if there are kids out play now outside on bikes schools out and there have been a few instance where we've had some close calls in certain neighborhoods and we've gotten emails about it we understand that you're hot and got to commute to get to but at the same time kids need to write to be able to play free and safely so please slow down um were you going to report on Maplewood stock or do you want me to I don't care you can okay I just want to let folks know Maplewood stock is July 13th and 14th so it's coming up um if you haven't known that the canopy Lottery is open right now and it's only going to be open for a few days and this year they have something out there called the ultimate Maplewood stock experience where you can actually bid for two special tents one on Saturday one on Sunday that I have the The Works priority parking Village track gift card water and cooler with beverage in it all kinds of fun stuff so please come out there and do that um and join us for that and then finally um the Maplewood seniors advisory committee is in need of a new member we've had so many members that just kind of came on organically but we are now actively searching for preferably a older gentleman so if there are any older gentlemen in the community who would like to be involved in the senior's advisory committee please visit the Maplewood Township website and apply Vic will do it Vic is doing everything he does all the things Vic needs a day off yes and that is my report mayor any questions for Deputy Mayor kpe thank you no is actually looking at you of course you don't have a question okay Mr daff thank you mayor I just have one item uh pleased to announce that we have a new manager for Maplewood Village Aaron Rose baldry who has been administering the uh neighborhood preservation grant for South Orange along the Irvington quarter is going to join us as our new manager and she is uh on board already she's meeting with Merchants this week and she will be reaching out to you mayor and to the rest of us on the township committee to uh get to know us as well so we uh welcome her we're really excited to have her very cool that's it that's it any questions for Mr daff all right um it's summer so I just want to give a shout out to all of our um staff our director of community services all of our counselors all of our lifeguards everybody who's working so hard to launch our um summer season this year um we have it was nearly 300 um swim lessons that we will be providing this year and there were still some slots open for anybody who's interested in swim lessons and um and the makos are 3 and 0 and there's a meet tomorrow night at 6: p.m. at the Maplewood pool um so come on out and that is my report go makos all right any questions for Miss Ango no fing through this meeting tonight huh sh oh Jesus okay I um just have a brief report we're uh revamping doing business with the township um we met with the director of the Chamber of Commerce the Som Chamber of Commerce and we're going to do something a little bit more effective probably in conjunction with them probably in September we're looking at Thursday September 19th but a lot more to come on that um we had have um a maple Woodstock as you just said the 13th and 14th I'm just looking at my notes and I just want to thank Committee Member um deffis and deputy mayor kpe for all your work on juneth it was really great lots of good stuff and good good speeches and stuff and I want to thank Committee Member Engle and Committee Member uh Duca for all their work on the fourth of July so and that's my report any questions for me great okay first discussion item is um Miss fritzen ah yes mayor it's been the custom that you uh cancel the second meeting in August I make a motion we cancel the second meeting in August I'll second that motion any discussion no do we look yes Mr daff yes DeLuca yes single yes may item yes thank you very much um Deputy Mayor C you have the next item at New Jersey Transit service yes um earlier in the week well earlier last week we had a com a community Forum hosted by South Orange in regards to the atrocious service that we've been getting provided probably for the last five years from New Jersey Transit and then after all of the all of the increases and various Fair things and everything it's come to a ahead to where our community is not being served the way we deserve to be served for the amount of money that we are putting into the transit system it affects people's ability to earn it's going to start affecting people's willingness to move into this town I'm positive if this Midtown direct doesn't Midtown directly get you back into the city so we need to think about ways of of influencing the decisions made over there um and I understand that as an agency we can't as a state agency we only have so much pull they have to really make their decisions but we really need to make our voices loudly heard that this is unacceptable and has been unacceptable for a very long time and it's just become that's just how it is and that's not how it should be and we need to really um think of some ways in which we can actually let them know how dissatisfied most people who live in New Jersey are with New Jersey Transit and I know that there was a resolution or at least something that we're trying to craft from Maplewood possibly for other Mayors in the community to sign on to so it won't just be one town it will be all the towns on maybe the Midtown Direct um that's how I'm feeling I didn't know if there was any other speak on this I was going to read I'll just add that I want to just thank all the community members who attended the New Jersey Transit board meeting I listened to some of that meeting and there were a lot of people from this area that we um sharing and speaking up and also banding together to start collecting data um so they can continue to go to those meetings and I think it's really important for us to show up at those New Jersey Transit board meetings you can go in person but there's also a phone number you can dial in and it's one way for them to actually hear from the ridership and understand that this is a problem because it doesn't really feel like they realize it's as big of a problem or that they care yeah Mr D yeah I I think uh as Deputy Mayor K said this has been a long-term problem when I was mayor I worked with uh mayor colum South Orange on when it was the summer of hell when they were doing the construction there and they diverted trains and closed down trains it was a mess but we were prepared and um one of the things we learned then that um you know this this joint Arrangement where Amtrak owns the tracks and the lines and is responsible for the upkeep and Transit rents from them is just not working well and it hasn't worked well for a very long time and it just allows them to point fingers at one another but um you know when you when you do the Emergency Management training they teach you how to deal with this stuff it's not that hard you know you you have to be prepared you have to be ready to um intervene when there's a breakdown U and then you have to work on mitigation so that it doesn't continue and they just haven't been able to do that and it's it's an old infrastructure line and it's much different than the Subways in New York or even the Long Island Railroad which runs on a third rail and so you don't have the problem of the the lines above which which tend to Sag when it gets warm I mean you can even see when it gets hot some of our lines in the street sag it's just the way electricity works and what happens is these trains rip these lines and it just stops everything because if you don't have the connection you're just not going to get electric and you can't move trains and and so there there needs to be and I know they've done amtr has done some work between New Brunswick and Trent there needs to be a continuation of that there's um Federal money the the Biden infrastructure money should have been used for this ahead of time um this happens both in the lines and in the tunnels these lines these electric lines rip and so they they just need to do this and and we can't wait any longer and they also I think um and we was it was suggested to us by one of the writers need to rethink the Hoboken I mean to be honest our line is to have direct access to Hoboken is both the blessing and a curse because um we have the ability to flick a switch out there in caucus to send all these lines all these trains here to Hoboken but the problem is when they get to Hoboken there's no additional capacity right and I've I've done that many times where you get diverted to Hoboken and it is just horrible there because they can't take the normal crowd and then all these other thousands of people so there's there's other thoughts I think there's there there may be bus service there may be diverting people through buses from Newark pen um Newark abroad to Harrison to get some other use but there has to be something there has to be something else done than just putting all the M uh people into hobok and it's just a sardine it doesn't work it is not the way to to do business and so I'm hoping the resolution is uh you know encompasses all this and really puts the responsibility both on Transit the state and Amtrak and our federal and local our federal and state officials to really resolve this once and for all yeah agreed I know Mikey Cheryl last week put out a press release calling for um New Jersey transit to pause the rate hike and increase improvements and also calling on um federal dollars to have Amtrak improve their things and that because when Amtrak has work to do New Jersey Transit has no ability to help with that work or do that work or anything Mr de did you have anything I just wanted to add that I thought the meeting um earlier in the week or last week I forget when it was uh was really productive you know it wasn't just a rant session there were some really good ideas from the commuters themselves who were directly affected daily at this point uh and very regularly and I I think our job as elected representatives is to keep pushing for contingency plants we we know that this situation is not going to get fixed overnight we know the infrastructure issues that committee Duca mentioned are long-term in planning many of them uh so there needs to be a contingent Merc plan to get us through the summer right now and there needs to be better Communications from njt so that people know what's going on and even when folks are diverted to Hoboken even though that's you know not a great thing considering the volume that gets diverted there at least people are prepared people can plan accordingly um and as you said committee man member Duca and as mayor Adams is now experiencing I mean this has been going on for a really long time every single mayor is dealing with this you dealt with this I dealt with it last year when uh we went to them and said we need buses and they did it for a little bit and then they stopped and then we went to box car and brought them to Maplewood now you're dealing with it mayor Adams I mean this this is not going to go away we need to pressure njt through our Liaisons for immediate contingency planning and better Communications and we have to continue working with all our Representatives at all levels um to make sure that this you know remains a top priority for everyone thank you um so we have a draft resolution um that a couple of us uh worked on um I'm hoping that South Orange um will adopt a similar resolution um this is not final we'll finalize it um uh I'll read it because not everyone in the township committee has seen it and that way you can all decide whether or not it it encompasses all of our feelings on this and we can put it Forward um uh and pass it with um Miss cdio finalizing it and then we can I will happily send it to all the other Mayors on the Morris essic line to get them to also ask them to also have their governing bodies um prepare a similar res resolution if not the same uh so this is a resolution requesting state and federal representatives to improve New Jersey Transit and Amtrak Services whereas public transportation is a vital component of our community's infrastructure providing essential services to thousands of residents daily and whereas New Jersey Transit plays a crucial role in The Daily commutes and travel plans of our citizens connecting them to employment Education Health Care and recreational opportuni ities and whereas in June there have been significant delays in service issues with New Jersey transit services due to problems with overhead lines providing electrical power to both New Jersey Transit and Amtrak trains and breakdowns of New Jersey Transit equipment which have caused undue hardship inconvenience and financial burden on passengers and whereas reliable and efficient public transportation is essential for the economic Vitality environmental sustain stability and quality of life of our region and whereas improving the quality of public transportation services will enhance the overall connectivity reduce traffic congestion lower emissions and promote greater use of public transit now therefore be it resolved that we the governing body of the township of M Maplewood respectfully request our state and federal representatives to take immediate and effective actions to improve Services provided by newe Transit and Amtrak and call upon our representatives to develop reliable contingency plans that would provide sufficient on call staffing equipment and supplies to respond quickly to problems with the overhead lines and New Jersey Transit equipment failures to provide passenger safety at Hoboken immediately review and assessment of immediate review and assessment of safety and efficiency of diverting thousands of rail passengers to Hoboken without any increase in capacity of the PATH trains and evaluation of Alternatives in the Hoboken terminal increase funding and oversight of spending immediate use of infrastructure and other funding to increase track and train resiliency and advocate for increased state and federal funding dedicating dedicated to upgrading infrastructure maintaining equipment and improving the overall quality of services provided by New Jersey Transit and Amtrak making sure that they are directing funds to the critical issues that would most quickly improve service to enhance accountability Implement stringent performance standards and accountability measures to ensure that New Jersey Transit and Amtrak deliver consistent timely and reliable Services invest in long-term infrastructure projects prioritizing investments in critical infrastructure projects including but not limited to rail line upgrades signal system improvements and station renovations to enhance safety and efficiency and improve communication ensure transparent And Timely communication with passengers regarding delays service changes and improvements and establish robust customer service systems to address concerns and feedback effectively and then we have it being further resolved that copies of this resolution will be sent to the governor of New Jersey the New Jersey state legislature United States senators from New Jersey all New Jersey members of the United States House of Representatives and the executive director and board of directors of New Jersey Transit Ur urging them to take Swift and decisive action to address these pressing issues We Stand United as a community in our commitment to advocating for better public transportation services recognizing their critical importance to our Collective well-being and future Prosperity how's that I think it sounds good sounds good to me too I have a couple of question well I need to read it really to be able to understand it because audio is not great but um in the weara section I think we need to call attention to the cost that it's um the high cost because people are having Child Care issues they're losing Revenue they're having to pay for ubber so I just there's a financial implication that's happening because the train public trains aren't working so I think that might did have a financial burden on passengers okay um but I can elaborate on it if you like and the other thing was just in the action section um somebody had mentioned on that Community call that um cross honoring is not at all stations so I think that's something that we should ask New Jersey to to provide cross-honoring everywhere so that people don't have to from downtown have to go to Penn just to get the pet or whatever you know the situation is absolutely that's a good good call thank you for putting that together thank you is Deputy Mayor kpe going to move it since it's her I mayor kpe would you like to move I would love to move it the moved a second I'm gonna I'm sorry I'm just gonna I can't I need to read it and like I you read it fast and I get like I'm I'm for the principal but I'm I don't want to move I think that's that's what we're doing move it to get a draft Yeah but the idea is the principal doesn't capture it and then there's going to be I guess you're going to send the draft around and people can did some M CIA will send a draft are you able to do that Rel like quickly the um we do this a lot though with other when we all agree in concept and then our attorney drafts a resolution and we vote I just didn't know what we were voting on because then it's comes on the agenda for us to vote so then we'll vote on it next meeting yeah no no no no we have to do it we have to we have to get it out yeah it's timely it's no I hear you but I was I okay right let's just let's just vote okay SC yes daff yes yes single AB mayor Adams yes thank you and thank you everyone um Miss cdio I will send you an email with this but I'd also like you to take this because I have a couple notes so I'll give it to you after the meeting uh National Night Out oh that's me is our next discussion item so National Night Out is August 6th thank you um which is also night of our Township committee meeting typically we start our Township committee meeting a little late um I'd like to make it a little less late since National Night Out starts at 6 um for us to come in at 7:30 for Clos session instead of 7 if we have close session and start our Township committee meeting at 8 I think that's one of the reasons is um one of the committee members has um difficulty making it too much later um so I'd ask that we I think that gives us plenty of time to be at National Night Out for a little while so I'd discussion on it if everybody's okay with that I agree with that I agree with that yeah yeah I'm okay okay good so our uh August 6 Township meeting will begin it was advertised at 8 so should we officially vote to change it so that we have a record I would say okay then I'll move that we change the August 6 meeting of the township committee from a 7:30 start to an 8:00 pm start second great yes yes yes SLE yes yes thank you and Miss fritzen you'll advertise according yes I will thank you uh we have the consent agenda any second yes stff yes Luca yes SLE yes mayor Adams yes thank you now we move to our public comment for the second time this evening um is there anyone in the room who would like to speak good and I live on open Terrace in new way ahead of and um two weeks ago um for three days in a row we had criminal activity at our home was very scary so the first two were simple car break-ins and we don't leave our keys in the car or any of the other things that you see online unsafe we're very safe and then third I did report it to the police the second time and then two days later our um window was opened with a um a device of some sort and broken and the people came into our house and um robbed us and then they proceeded to steal our car which I understand is very common around here these days and according to police all over the state of New Jersey and other neighboring towns so I wanted to bring it up I know I haven't been here before to previous meetings and maybe you have discussed criminal issues around town um um it both all of these events happened at 6:00 a.m. one at 5:00 a and one at 6:15 so it was in broad daylight and in lots of video cameras and we have surveillance footage from all of our neighbors and our ourselves we have an alarm we do lock all of our doors even when I'm home during the day working if I'm home and not trying to get to work with New Jersey Transit I I'm home I do lock the door alone women tend to be safer um but we are safe in the household uh we don't leave our keys out we don't leave our keys in the car we don't do any of the things that are obvious we've lived in urban centers like San Francisco Philadelphia and New York City all of our Lives we've been here for six years um and this was disturbing to us uh we were in the home when they broke in and the Damage that they caused is costing our family thousands of dollars um and insurance doesn't really cover things nor are we going going to report certain things to Insurance because it we might be dropped and we can't risk that right so I did um I'm a television um producer and I've worked in news in my background but I don't anymore I work as an executive in television so I did a little interviewing of police around town over the last two weeks whenever I saw what somebody as well as speaking to the people who work at the police department and the chief of police um and um I did get lots of different answers or information from them and and I do feel like everybody's trying do the best job that they can um but I do think I think me and my neighbors um on Oakland Road and Oakland haris would appreciate more night patrols um and just a few days after we our house was broken into while we were inside the house and we were robbed and the car was stolen waking up my 14-year-old boy to investigate which I wasn't very interested in him going downstairs to see what was happening he thought I was maybe having insomnia and going out to get some bagels which was not the case um there a week later someone on Oakland Road had their air conditioning removed from their home and someone the the unit taken out of the window and someone went into their house and they were robbed as well and I found that out through a mutual front um because they were warning others about this and it reminded me of living in Philadelphia when um is my time up yeah but yeah but you're the only one here no I know giving me name and address that I didn't get to give you the three minutes any I lived in Philadelphia I was not a very very underemployed in Philadelphia and in the the neighborhoods where I lived there were bars on the Windows bars over air conditioners second floors had bars and that was just the way we were used to living we left our cars unlocked so people could go inside instead of breaking Windows like I've lived in criminal crime ridden areas before but I didn't realize that I'm now also living in a crime riddled area and it's freaking me out I'm not interested it's costing us a lot of money we have to get a new car and now we're thinking about like what's the least expensive or flashy car to get even though we're at the point in our lives where we'd like to have a car that's comfortable um for all the reasons that we have a vehicle so my questions are you know should we get some T statistics of different neighborhoods what could we do to help get more night patrols or even early morning Patrol since all of my crime happened at 5:45 500 a.m. and 6:15 in the morning the video that we saw had this person with the tool that broke the window just walking down the street on the on the sidewalk they're not even really worried about hiding things um so that tells me that they feel very comfortable in the area um and I just wonder what what I can do as a person who lives in the community well appreciate you coming um and talking to us about it I did receive an email from one of your neighbors um a little while like a couple weeks ago actually so and I know the chief has um been informed me that he's was going to put more patrols and he's the one who told me about the early morning aspect of it so there should be more Patrols in the early morning but of course we'll follow up with him and Deputy Mayor AB who chair of public service Safety I don't know if you have anything to add no actually what you just did is exactly what needs to be done speak up and let us know the antidotes that I heard from the different people I ran into and asked questions just conversationally um one person told me there wasn't enough night patrols but not to tell anybody that I said that they told me that and then that what the the chief of police I asked him if there was an issue with resources or money to have the patrols or the shifts that he needs and he said there was not and he really wanted me to be sure he knew that there that there was enough money for it I said okay so like let's and he said there was something in the works and I think I've been hearing about these break-ins for for like a couple years now the same type of thing and we were aware and we were as safe as we could possibly be um but now we're putting thousands of dollars back into house to fix it more alarms and more cameras the cameras really don't do any good and putting lights out doesn't really deter anyone since these people were working just in daylight doing whatever they wanted um and I understand there's like a state trend of cars being stolen I think there is break into the home is is even more I wish they had just stolen the car actually and stayed outside of my house but coming in violating your private so I wanted to just come here and and just talk about more patrols I don't know what they could maybe pretend to be dog walkers they could I don't know what they need to do but you know when two of the other anodot anotal stories from the policeman I talked to where it was like there's nothing we can do because we're not allowed to have highp speed chase in this town or other towns nearby I un I remembered what he was talking about from reading about it in the past um but I think if there's a show of force which seems to be a very basic police activity a show of force will keep people just going somewhere else and not here right now I'm sorry that you actually were given any of those comments because they horrifying yeah that any of our professional and not in a not in a like a suggestion it wasn't condescending was you know maybe I should get a dog um but we don't we can't have a dog right now you know that's just not in the cards it's not about you you've done all the things correctly like I see why towns have steel bars on first and second floor windows and steel bars around air conditioning units that's why it happens is that you just can't stop people from breaking into your windows so we will we will speak to the chief we will Circle back between the deputy mayor and and I will speak to to the chief about it I know that there was following up and they in some of the instances they have fingerprints and they they have suspects and they have um things like that so they are following up but I will reiterate your concerns and make sure that they're doing it to the extemp but keep us informed if you know I well free getting a new car so we could like have someone out front just to wait for them to steal that one I have a couple questions if you don't mind service um first of all thank you for coming here and I'm sorry to you and your family I think you guys probably get it has yeah uh but um still we're very sorry that's very alarming when someone invades your home it's very alarming in particular um how long ago did this happen again it's about two two and a half weeks ago that were two days beforehand and someone even did mention to me like oh they're going to come back yeah they were testing back because they want the car sure and I said that night I said and my husband thought I will bring the keys up to the bedroom with me and then he said no I don't actually want that because I want to leave them if they're going to come in I'd rather them find them than come to find the keys or explore the other parts of the home right so two and a half weeks ago about two and a half weeks ago yes and um since then have you noticed increased Patrols in your neighbor we had the investigator with a he has a like undercover car hanging out in front once but it alarmed me because I didn't know what the car was and then I emailed him and he said yes that was me and I said great I thought it could be but I just hadn't I didn't know the car and then I've made it my business to look for policemen to talk to because I've been collecting this antidotal information but you haven't in your neighborhood seen one other than that one time with the unmarked car is that correct I think I've seen the one person I talked to just the other day when I was out on a walk he was around on the other okay yeah but that's a conversation I'd rather have the chief talk to you about my house as much as just like every I know there's all these right like just drive around because I feel like just be seen right and I mean understand that there's you know 40 plus miles of roadway so they they are being seen but we will have definitely have the chief talked to by us and then we'll also ask him to reach out to you directly I've already spoken to him okay you know I I I don't I think he was very polite and said all the yeah but I wonder I just I do know this is I it's not you know BS that it's happening all over the state it's happening in neighboring communities because it is I know it's happening in Summit where I happen to work I know it's happening in mbour and it's it's something that we are trying to address best that we can but we need to do well enough to address it in your neighborhood as well as keeping an eye on the rest of the Town funny is that someone is just going to be moving in and have spent so much home and I just I know I'm not I'm probably not going to speak to them about it but like that's not what we want to hear no they've probably already done the research they probably already saw it and they're you know have people just break their house I have one last question um have you found that when you have sought information from the police department that you have received it that you're that there's open lines of communication I was the detective and I did leave a message for the chief and he called me back um a few people there are pretty loose with with sharing their points of view on how many pats there are night or not currently yes yeah we've also just thank you so much for your time this happened to you administrator warry this is on you you're the appropriate Authority yeah we know any members of the public online if any members of the public joining us on Zoom would like like to speak in public portion please raise your hand now and you will be moved over to panelist I am now moving over Joan Crystal [Music] panelist M Crystal welcome to public portion you may unmute yourself and have three minutes to address the committee thank you I'd like to thank the tant committee for addressing issues with New Jersey Transit however in your proposed uh resolution there's one important element that you forgot about and that is the fact that our train station is not accessible for people who have mobility issues for these people in our community many of whom are seniors it doesn't matter whether the trains are running on time or not because they can't use them and and I really hope you can include in the communication to New Jersey Transit the importance of having accessibility at our train station or public transportation that will take us to an accessible station at the moment we have neither thank you thank you Miss Crystal we will add that to the resolution I made a note thank you you're welcome anyone else Mr wry if any other members of the public joining us on Zoom would like to speak in public portion please raise your hand now I see no hands mayor okay thank you so much um we um look for a motion to adjourn for our next meeting July 16 I move we adjourn second right yes daffis yes Luca yes SLE yes