##VIDEO ID:KjpTwQRS4n8## e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e oh I keep turning this there we go all right Mari you're good okay we're ready to go hello acting administrator pursuant to section five 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 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 right here Mr daffis pres Mr Luca here go here mayor Adams here whereas chapter 231 public laws of 1975 conly knows the open public meeting Z for all meetings of public bodies 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 of the public at any meeting and whereas desire the governing body to comply with the provision of this act same time to conduct its business in an orderly and expeditious manner now therefore be resolved by the township committee Township mwood does hereby prohibit excepted set forth in the formal agenda active participation in deliberations of the governing body by the public and except as otherwise described by law does limit the public to the observations of the actions and discussions of the governing body at all of its regular and special meetings sum of second spr yes Baus yes Luca yes fle yes mayor Adams yes thanks please rise for salute in the flag I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all one thing I know they I know they weren't yeah good evening everybody and uh welcome to the August 6th meeting of the township committee Township of Maplewood um we have no proclamations on for tonight and no presentations we have uh a PO advisory committee um appointment this evening for boards and committees then we will have public comment for agenda items only then we'll move into our Board of Health meeting that'll be run by Committee Member Engel then we have uh two ordinances on Final passage uh one amending the code with regard to setbacks um for in residential zones um the other for um tax exemption with respect to certain properties and then we have an ordinance on introduction um with regard to building construction respect to permit submission requirements then we will have reports from departments our um Patrick weary is on Zoom tonight for uh for the M he's on vacation so it's nice of him to join us also we will hear from uh Anette dep Palma our director of Community Development who is the acting administrator um we have a Township attorney and our Township Clerk elected officials reports will be Committee Member Engle Committee Member DeLuca Committee Member daffis Deputy Mayor kpe and then my report we have two discussion items on for tonight um we have police coverage for the event of porchfest which takes place the Sunday of Labor Day weekend and we have uh that'll be run by uh Mr Duca and Mr dafis ASB put on for discussion rank Choice voting in the state then we have a consent agenda and then we'll have a second public comment and then we will adjourn so um with that I will turn it over to Committee Member angle for pool advisory uh appointment thank you yes I would like to nominate um Charles eelf to join our pool advisory committee and he is here if you want to come up up Mr eel and introduce yourself and tell the committee uh your background and why you'd like to join welcome thank you all righty um my name is Charles zel uh I've lived within 20 miles of here my whole life and I've lived in town for 18 years uh swimming was very important to me as a child and growing up and it has been the happiest place in this community for me and my family my background is I spent eight years as a paratrooper on a special operations team uh in the Army National Guard I have a degrees in both history and philosophy and I have a doctorate in educational leadership um I actually worked at Columbia High School for four years where I did work with the office of civil rights and helping to um comply with the OCR agreement and uh I'm very eager to uh work on the pool committee I I am very proud of this community I I think this is the greatest place in America and um anything I can do to serve it uh it would be a great honor thank you very nice does anyone have any questions for Mr ethal I have none but I really like your um speech oh well thank you no it was really heartwarming so then I move to nominate Charles eel to the pool advisory committee I'll second right yes welcome yes congratulations yes ble yes mayor Adams yes thank you for stepping up thank you very much have a great evening my buddy Aaron sorry okay now we're at public comment for agenda items only is there any member of the public in the room who would like to speak to any items on the agenda yes go ahead yep right up there your name address and um three minutes three minutes to speak I think this is three minutes you uh hello my name is Rebecca Shear I am at 20 I live at 27 tuskin road and I want to start by thanking Township Committee Member um dafis for putting this on the agenda and to put rank Choice voting on the agenda I'm here to ask that the township committee consider passing an ordinance which would T trigger a ballot referendum for Maplewood to use rank Choice voting in our local elections if the municipal and Schoolboard voting options act that's the name of the bill uh passes in Trenton this fall uh rank Choice voting is a form of voting that asks voters to rank candidates in order of prefer reference rather than just vote for their first choice um I want to go back start with um what this bill would mean in New Jersey current state election law does not allow for rank Choice voting and thus even localities that wish to use it are not currently permitted to do so this bill has been introduced in both the state senate and assembly and it would enable rank Choice voting to be used in any towns in New Jersey which want to use it for their local I.E their Municipal and Schoolboard elections to date Jersey City Hoboken have passed trigger ordinances and Redbank has passed a resolution calling for putting this to a referendum vote if um the bill passes and just a few points of clarification for our Township committee races this bill just addresses general election it does has no bearing on how the primary elections are conducted it also doesn't address or change anything about how we elect for offices above our local ones I.E County state or federal races and for Schoolboard races uh the same process the ordinance and then the referendum vote would need to pass in South Orange as well uh just some some more points um rank Choice voting I think it's a good idea because it guarantees the election of the majority winners it uses a series of instant runoffs to find a winner with a majority of votes in the final round it allows voters to vote for their preferences of all candidates rather than perhaps just um forcing them to vote strategically and was maybe waste a vote by Bullet voting in order to increase the chances that their first choice candidate will be elected um so I think I'm at three minutes and I just want to thank you for your time and your consideration of my comments tonight thank you is there anyone else in the house that would like to speak on agenda items only yes come on up introduce yourself name and address you have three minutes to speak sure I'm not from mwood my name is Barry bender and I live in forkid river in Ocean County it was fun getting here tonight oh my that I'm with an organization called voter Choice New Jersey we're promoting the rank Choice voting and I just wanted to point out a couple of of more positives um as as uh was said it guarantees that the winner of the election will have not a plurality but a majority of the votes and to give an example this past election I believe it was last November the mayor of uh Carney was elected with 37% plurality which meant 63% of the people didn't want that person to be their mayor rank Choice voting guarantees that the winner of the election will have a a majority meaning 50% plus one vote of people supporting them to to win that position another positive point about rank Choice voting is that if I'm running for office and I'm running against my the gentleman right here and I want his people to put me down as uh their second choice I'm not going to say nasty things about him so what it does is it adds more civility to the campaigns because you not only have to reach out to your own following but to others so that you they put you down as a second choice which to me is a very positive thing nowadays the way that campaigns go it is a very very positive effect and I thank you for your time thank you thank you would anyone else like to speak sure come on up hi my name is Zach Kars I'm from 723d Street just next door down in South Orange I'm also here to speak in support of rank Choice voting for what the previous two speakers brought up but also really to focus on the the shared benefits for the Schoolboard elections that are shared between both of our municipalities to continue that fun partnership that is part of living in this community and I think it can do a lot to help change the tenor and just the discussion around local elections and hopefully get people more involved and just change the tone thank you for your time excuse me have have you uh spoken to any elected officials in South Orange about this I have not personally but I'm here with voter Choice New Jersey and we have had conversations and we are going to re-engage with them hopefully this can serve as for some momentum to begin that they had their special Charter that they were working on previously and didn't want to get that Tangled up so I know but I know there is interest well thank you anyone else I thought I saw a hand on the left no okay oh yeah come on out you can come on out oh no this is agenda matter it's for agenda items only I'm sorry yeah so you wait till the next thank you um Mr where anybody on Zoom who would like to speak if any members of the public joining us on Zoom would like to speak in public portion on agenda items please raise your hand now and I'm moving over Mary Gallagher to panelist M welcome to public you may unmute yourself and have three minutes to address the commit muting okay now it unmuted hey my name is Mary Gallagher and I've lived at 60 Salter place for over 30 years and I'm here to speak in support of rank Choice voting in the interest of full disclosure I volunteer with New Jersey apple seed which is working with voter Choice New Jersey on this issue there are many reasons to support rank Choice voting but for me the most important is probably the lesser of two Evil's problem where you hold your nose and vote for someone who was just awful but not as bad bad as someone else because the candidate you prefer has no chance of winning and you don't want to throw away your vote I've had to vote the lesser of to eiles far too many times and I am tired of it with rank Choice voting you get to safely vote for the candidate you really want the one who reflects your values and your hopes not your fears even if they are a third party or an independent candidate you know your vote will not be wasted with RCV rank Choice voting you get more candidates running and you get a more diverse and inclusive pool of them not just those chosen by the two major parties and under a rang Choice voting system there tends to be less negative campaigning and greater focus on the issues because candidates can't just attack their opponents when they are vying to be the second choice of each other's supporters voters who have more choices and see more issue oriented campaigns become more engaged and more likely to vote and at the end of the day the candidate who does win with rank Choice voting is the one with the broadest base of support rather than a mere plurality and more voters are satisfied with the outcome which strengthens our democracy rank Choice voting also reduces the spoiler effect which probably changed the outcome in the 2 and 2016 presidential elections and is a big concern again this year I urge you to support rank Choice voting starting at the local level and it will hopefully expand from there to state and federal elections please do it for the good of of democracy and for the voters of Maplewood thank you for your consideration and special thanks to Committee Member daffis for taking the lead on this thank you anyone else Mr worry any other members of the public would like to speak please raise your hand now I see no other answer okay thank you agenda okay we'll now move into the Board of Health meeting dport angle thank you pursuant to section five chapter 231 pl1 1975 this is to State for the record that adquate notice of this meeting has been provided to the public by posting and maintaining the annual notice of regular meetings on the Bulet 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 send notice in the office of the Township Clerk right here Mr daffis present Luca here mayor Adams here miss angle here whereas chapter 231 public laws 1975 commonly known as the open public meeting sacri ring as the 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 as are the map Board of Health to comply with provision this act Sana conduct its business in an orderly and expeditious manner now therefore be resolved by the mwood Board of Health Township of mwood does hereby prohibit accept is set forth in the formal agenda active participation in deliberations of the Board of Health by the public and acceptance otherwise prescribed by law does limit the public to the observations of the actions and discussions of the Board of Health at all of its regular and special meetings so move second spr yes daffis yes delca yes mayor Adams yes angle yes now I move to approve the Board of Health meeting minutes from July 2nd 2024 m c yes Mr daffis yes delca yes mayor Adams yes M angle yes now I will pass to our health officer Miss Candace Davenport good evening everyone good evening Martin you're G do from there okay great if you could Advance CLI at you want me to click it I'll be Clos where's the uh yeah we need it's over here let's do it over here here bring that up here okay or maybe you team effort you can just do it manually right so I think you should just tell them to move Advance the slides that would be the best way um so we'll start off with our nursing update we had two cases that oh let's start with the nursing update with our health screenings that's next slide to let you know um on our first screening at the farmers market we had 10 people screened and on our July 1st screening we had 34 people screened at our farmers market so the word is getting out and we're helping people we gave 33 uh stroke risk assessments and A1C uh screenings for glucose gave four of those so thank you to Robert with Johnson Barnabas for that and the next slide our nurses um investigated two reportable diseases this month so that was a good slow month but they were very busy also with providing uh screenings at our senior apartment where nine seniors uh senior residents were screened for blood pressure glucose as well as cholesterol next slide just as a reminder as it's August and people are getting ready for school we have vaccines for children program through the uh County they're giving out free vaccines for children that are required for school age children to enter school as well as Clinic sites uh for health screenings for summer of 2024 all this information will be posted on our um Health Department website with this entire PowerPoint next slide as you may have seen in the news uh board's head Deli meet had a recall because of um a widespread case of leria uh leria is a bacteria and um food that was produced uh from July 24th uh July 29th to October 17th that had a sell by date have been removed um or have been told to uh for the delies and grocery stores that sell them to have them removed as of July 30th 34 six sick people have been identified in 13 States including 33 hospitalizations and two deaths because of this this leria outbreak two people in um New Jersey out of that 34 have been infected and unfortunately one person has passed away due to the leria outbreak so this is a very serious thing in particular for people who have um low immune systems if you could proceed to the next slide please we're we're very um concerned with those who have a weakened immune system those who are pregnant and of age C5 and older are at highest risk if uh you have any of these products we are advised to throw them away and clean the refrigerator so there's no cross-contamination next slide moving on to environmental health and next slide in July our Environmental Health Inspectors were very busy with our mobile food trucks because we've had a lot of uh outdoor events and addressed 38 complaints we had two c-responses with fire and there was no um ethics County Health commission report for June next slide moving on to Social Services and mental health we have a thank you we have a great program uh through the New Jersey Department of Human Services they have now uh created this New Jersey disability information Hub which pulls together a whole bunch of data from various um departments and puts them all conveniently in one location um it has resources for people who are um disabled for their Caregivers for seniors they categorize it um by the different types of disabilities as well as uh disabilities throughout the life cycle they have information on employment and transportation um Healthcare resources so and it's very userfriendly so we encourage everyone to use this website um we looking up information that's available through the state uh we're promoting that because one of our priorities for the health department is to increase access for Disabilities to people so that's a great website next slide please as we are in Social Services and we're talking about um mental health just want to give you a July update on our crisis intervention social workers in our department this month they saw or sorry in July they saw 20 cases um and 10 of those half of those were clinical response cases so they've been very busy our average per month is usually 12 to 13 so July's a busy month for us next slide okay I get to report on our um partnership with uh collaborative support programs of New Jersey CSP andj who are conducting our homeless Outreach and engagement program they have reported that they have seen in the month of July 24 cases as you can see we divided up into um a gender ratio just to give you an idea of who they're outreaching to and just to say that for the homeless outreaching and engagement the these are 15 persons who have identified uh that they are unhoused the diversion and Prevention Services however are those who are at risk of being homeless or who um are at risk for um needing rental assistance or um at risk for losing it losing their home because they can't afford rent because they can't get to their job because of an injury so lots of things can lead to homelessness so that's part of the program with the diversion prevention um there have been moving onward to the next slide this program at the library where our CSP andj staff people are there um at the library at 1 129 boen Avenue from 12:00 to 2 on Saturdays has been picking up speed a lot of the diversion services that they're doing like food stamp applications affordable housing applications are done there so people are coming and using their services we've also developed a system between our C CS uh cspnj part partners and our uh crisis social workers to go help UCC at the community fridge every day so from Monday through Saturday one of us is always there to help them distribute the food and that addresses their need and request for more assistance in giving out the food in an orderly and um as Miss fritzen say orderly and expeditious manner so um it's working out great and they're very grateful so that's a great collaborative uh partnership and our community fridge is is doing great and also I just want to put a shout out to our friends of the fridge as well who help with coordinating all of the messaging to uh volunteers who donate as well lastly cspnj has been working with our local businesses on Springfield Avenue and Bernett Avenue and informing them of their services so should they identify anyone um they can call their their number and they've been very receptive to that as well next slide so um Deputy uh mayor kpe had mentioned last month about her meeting with uh first lady Murphy's um um Initiative for Universal home visiting and Maternal Child Care so we just wanted to put this promotion out there again again this information is will be on our slides but it's the free Universal home visiting for new families uh two weeks postpartum and it's free support education and counseling for um new mothers and families uh this is applies to your first baby your fourth baby and everything in between so we ask people to take advantage of that is for anyone who's insured as well as uninsured as well moving on Deputy Mayor CRA had also mentioned uh the community dla's Employment Program so we wanted to include information here if anybody was interested in becoming a doula and uh working with families on um on uh prior to during and after uh birth douas are very supportive um fixtures in um Maternal Child Health and it's a great employment opportunity as well and so that's one of the things that the state's trying to expand so that information is on our um PowerPoint slide as well and moving on that's more information through New Jersey family care you can get paid uh duelist can get paid so they also offer training too next slide and our last slide as always is our make the right call uh with our emergency Mental Health crisis social services and poison control um I'm happy to say that I had a meeting with our our new superintendent today and we are going to get this Banner on Valley Street on on the school like property so this will be out there for um all the kids as are walking to CVS and Stop and Shop during their after school lunches and um for anyone who's driving by to see this information and get the word out some more so that's the end of my presentation thank you thank you so much Miss Davenport any questions from my colleagues on Township committee Mr Jula so I had a question on the homeless Outreach and engagement you said that the the the organization was working with Springfield Avenue businesses to do what so if any Springfield Avenue business has identified that they have had um interactions with persons who are homeless uh they call cspnj and cspnj will come out and one incident in particular they came out to meet with the store owner and ask you know what were some of the issues that were happening and then they were able to identify um the person who was who um they've actually been working with and they said you know this is someone's property and you know we have services available where you can get food and places to stay and you don't have to stay here you know we can offer you other options at better life which is their location in New York and the person was very responsive so that's that's a really good thing and the store owner was very happy that there was an interaction that wasn't you know aggressive or or you know combative in any way it was very collaborative so I'm going to uh do an email discussion with you and um Nicole Wallace the executive director of the partnership because we have received complaints about people using vestes for for bathrooms yes um which is a problem so so I hook that up that'd be great because um cspnj um goes around town and and tries to meet as many people as they can and one of those places is at the community fridge so if there's um storefronts that are interested in talking to them they're available so yes we can coordinate any other questions um Mr warry if you're still there somewhere can you help initiate if any of the public is interested in or should we do it in person first is anyone here in the room interested in asking our health officer any questions now Mr warry will you help in the shade on Zoom yes if any members of the public on Zoom would like to speak in public portion for the Board of Health meeting please raise your hand now I see no hands No Hands great so that our next scheduled meeting is Tuesday September 3rd 2024 and I move to adjourn our Board of Health meeting second second yes D yes DeLuca yes mayor Adams yes Miss angle yes thank you thank you thank you thank you Miss Adam for what vation oh yeah um so now we'll move to ordinances on Final passage uh Miss fritzen yes mayor on uh item number 10 or on Final passage 10A ordinance number 3126 d24 is an ordinance to amend chapter 271 of the code of the township of mwood entitled zoning and development regulations with respect to R15 and R17 zones this ordinance will amend Article Five zoning provisions of chapter 271 of the township code to amend setbacks in R15 and R1 s zones this ordinance has been published copies posted on the bulletin board in the municipal building and made available to the general public in accordance with the law I'd like to open a hearing is there anyone who'd like to speak on this ordinance from the public Mr Ry can you check online yes if any members public Zoom would like to speak please raise your hand now I see no hands mayor okay then I'll close the hearing and can I get a motion Mr daff certainly mayor if I may just um just make a couple comments for the public about this um in terms of the Amendments not everybody follows every single one of our meetings but uh again we just want to uh enter into public record uh that the planning board has reviewed this uh has found it compliant in keeping with our new current master plan made several recommendations which we have included in this amended uh final ordinance for passage tonight and one of those amendments uh recommended that we uh increase in the R17 Zone the total setback percentage from 25% to 30% and based on our discussions with them at the planning board meeting and among us here at the township committee meeting we have removed any uh references to garage garage setbacks uh including uh building on top of garage and setback there uh and also based on our discussion during introduction we and from public comment that we heard about this ordinance this ordinance uh if it passes tonight will be effective October 1st Miss CIO did I miss anything thank you okay with that then I move this ordinance to be adopted as a whole and the clerk be directed to publish the same as a passed ordinance in the Maplewood South Orange News Record according to law I'll second yes Mr daffis yes Luca yes single yes mayor Adams yes thank you next on Final item 10B ordinance number 3127 d24 ordinance of the township of mwood in the county of Essex granting a tax exemption Ion with respect to certain property identified in the Township's tax Mac as block 43.038157 d95 Tiffany Place urban renewal Corporation this ordinance will authorize an agreement for payments in Lee of taxes for two affordable housing units pursuant to the long-term tax exemption law this ordinance has been published copies posted on the bulletin board of the municipal building and copies made available to the general public in accordance with the law is there anyone who would like to speak on this ordinance I yes my name is Jeff shechner I am the development director at the Sierra house located in East Orange uh we are a shelter for homeless young women and women with children uh and along with that effort we have to help young women get on their feet and maintain Success Through education casework and a number of other intense services that we provide we also are big advocates for affordable housing not only for the young women who graduate from our program but for others uh young people that may have a job as a dental hygienist or a substitute teacher that make a decent living but not enough to afford for a home on their own uh and that's why we are involved with doing whatever we can to create affordable housing uh we've done this in East Orange this is the first project that we've done in uh Maplewood here and we're very happy and grateful that last month we had an open house and I saw many of you from the council and the mayor at that event to really let let you know what we are doing here in Maplewood so we were we are extremely grateful that you have approved this because it with your approval it makes it feasible for us to allow this development to happen and to be a place where someone can live that they might not be able to afford the market value so again we are extremely thankful and grateful that you were able to do this uh and we hope to have other projects like these perhaps in Maplewood I know we have some others in the area that we're considering working with um and just making life better for a lot of people that really need the extra help so thank you again or there any questions for me none for us thank you very much for all your help than you again appreciate would anyone else like to um speak to this ordinance on Final passage anyone Mr wary online members of the public on Zoom would like to speak on this ordinance please raise your hand now I'm moving over Kelly Freeman to panelist Miss Freeman welcome to public abortion you may raise your excuse me you may unmute yourself and address the committee Miss Freeman you're currently muted if You' like there you go hello um I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to the entire Township for the consideration of this ordinance and this is a significant step towards ensuring that our community remains inclusive and supportive of residents from all different economic backgrounds and thank you for the enactment of this ordinance because it demonstrates the Township's commitment to addressing housing needs of not just Maplewood but the state of New Jersey which affordable housing is in high demand so thank you again thank you anyone else Mr worry I see no other hands mayor thank you with that I'll ask for a motion Mr DeLuca mayor I move this ordinance be adopted as a whole and the clerk be directed to publish the same as a pass the ordinance in the Maplewood South Orange News Record according to law I'll second the motion any discussion just want to see if any discussion on the township NOP we're all solid okay and that would be a yes s yes Luca yes ble yes mayor Adams yes thank you we have one introduction of an ordinance Miss PR uh yes mayor item number 11a is an introduction of a new ordinance ordinance number 3128 d24 is an ordinance to amend and supplement chapter 993 of the code of the township of mwood entitled building constru instruction with respect to permit submission requirements and requirements during constructions this ordinance will amend and supplement Chapter 93 building construction of the township code to add new sections detailing permit submission requirements and requirements for the maintenance of sites during construction this this was a discussion item at our last meeting um Mr Palma since this is your department and your recommendations would you like to um speak to this at all you don't have to just asking yeah pull the mic towards you if you're gonna say anything put it on yeah there you go that's on uh thank you I on behalf of my uh department and everyone in our code committee who you know reviewed this several times got this over the Finish Line almost almost uh it's much appreciated this is uh the culmination of many many months of worth betting and testing uh our ordinances uh what we can do making sure that we weren't uh preempting state law and really thoroughly going through all of these uh both Recon which are some zoning some ordinary local legislation and and then really beefing up what our Co inspectors can do in terms of keeping track of construction sites as they go along from the very small things to the larger things so we're hoping that uh what this does is create a a better construction environment where rational development can happen uh without disturbing neighbors or the public so I'm very very anxious about this well hopefully on September 3rd it will be so I appreciate that um did I get a motion yet or no I'm about to yeah are we ready yeah go ahead okay I want to thank uh Community director DePalma for her leadership here and uh as she said this will make uh construction better in the township more uniform and certainly safer as well for the public so with that I will move the passage of this ordinance on first reading its publication according to law in the Maplewood South Orange News Record and a hearing to be held on September 3D a second sorry SC yes daffis yes Luca yes ble yes mayor Adams yes thank you that we have reports from departments we move to Mr war is not on the zoom anymore there he is so Mr warry vation trying Move Along yes so uh we have two hires uh we are hiring a part-time public information officer and a full-time Recreation program supervisor both of those positions are being advertised now so I encourage anybody interested to apply um you can find the public information officer ad on our website now and the recreation superviser will be on our website in about a week's time on tonight's agenda we have uh a number of hires we are hiring two positions in the court a Deputy Administrator and a violations Clerk and Finance and Accounting assistant and revenue administrative assistant and in Community Development a technical assistant to the construction officer so uh we are fortunate to be filling these positions with a lot of qualified applicants and just want to thank all the department heads for their assistance in going through that the hiring process which can be difficult we are also hiring an assistant business administrator uh Miriam Perez and Miss Perez is with us today uh on Zoom I'd like to move her over um so everybody can see her and so the public can meet her if that is okay of course so wonderful she'll be joining us in just a moment we were fortunate as part of this hiring process to receive over 75 qualified applicants uh Miss Perez was uh the certainly stood out among all of those applicants she has 25 years of experience in various levels of municipal government she has her master's degree in administrative Sciences she's an instructor at the Rucker Center for government services uh and so we are very excited to welcome her on board she begins with us on August 19th good evening everyone uh mayor Adams uh committee members Madame uh Clerk and members of the public thank you so much for granting me the opportunity to serve the township of Maplewood I am excited to join your team and look forward to working with all of you and I will see you soon at the next council meeting we look forward to seeing you welcome excited to have you on board and ready to put you to work I'm ready to work as I'm sure Mr W is thank you have a good night everyone thank you thanks for joining are we gonna move that now we could move it now would you like us to move that appointment now Mr while we yes I see that we have quite a few members of the public quite a few more members of the public than we normally would so I expect that a lot of Miss pere's support are here with us oh okay great so u m fritson can we move the resolution I don't know which number it is anybody first one to see it y near the middle uh resolution number all right 27334 so I will move resolution 273-2422 pet second man yes dff yes DeLuca yes SLE yes mayor Adams yes it's official Miss Perez congratulations congratulations Mr did you want to see if anyone wants to um say anything or should we just wait till the next public comment I think we wait till the next public comment okay I was just gonna let it roll yep that is my report thank you mayor okay any questions for administrator weary from my colleagues nope okay you're good Township attorney cedido okay any questions for Miss cidia Miss priten Township Clerk mayor I would say no report but you know it's hard for me to do that um I will say and and every meeting at the same thing but we're having many many event planning meetings we we have um backtack tomorrow on uh Oyster Fest and uh also uh some concerts at rickleton Park so uh it just continues um there's just so many things going on that we uh probably have anywhere from three to F three to five meetings every week and it's well worth the effort um to have as smooth operation as we can at each one of the events thank you thank you any questions for Miss fritson nope you're off the hook we'll move to uh elected official reports Committee Member Engle thank you so as usual it's summertime so I'm going to talk about the pool but I guess this will be the last Township committee meeting where I talk about the pool but August only memberships are open so we encourage you to buy that pass your kids are home from Camp you need something to do you need to cool off um buy a pass to to the pool um there's also a ton of programming happening um there's a DJ on Tuesdays there's concerts on Wednesdays um there's a whole pool calendar that is now up on the website on the pool website as well as paper Flyers at the pool so you can pick one up to learn more about um all the activities happening there's movies there's poolside crafts coming on August 16th 23rd and 30th um and fitness classes um lots of stuff happening and that is my report thank you any questions for Miss angle all right we'll move to Committee Member Duca thank you mayor uh three things um tonight we were supposed to do National Night Out uh but we canceled it yesterday we had a a quick planning meeting good very good call that's uh that's why I get paid those big bucks for OEM that's right Mr Mr Wy I just want to you know be an example to you got to make those quick calls um so anyway we have not scheduled a new date because we wanted to I think uh Miss fritson is going to work with us to see who's around we can schedule that date so we didn't want to do it real quick um but we will we will have a national we will have a night out uh it'll still be in deart park and we'll come up with a new date and we'll have the same activities uh mentioned porch Fest that's going to be Sunday September 1st it's 1 pm to 5:00 pm and there's a parade that starts at the community center in deart park at 12:30 and we'll be talking about porchfest under discussion items and lastly um I've been meeting with the Essex County Civic club which is um part of the it's a local affiliate of the National Association of Colored Women in in um Washington DC and uh our pre the president locally is a friend of ours Jerry Harmon Who's involved in our senior group anyway they have been talking to us about donating a little library for deart Park nice oh nice so um I ran this by uh M manuso and Mr Wei and we're going to be working with them and um hopefully at one of the meetings in September we'll have a resolution on accepting Their donation uh we met here I met here with them and they really want to get um their looking to get a two-level uh Library want to put it over where the playground is and they'll be respons ible to help fill it and um so we'll be working that out nice that's great good news any questions for Mr DeLuca will they be taking donations because I have plenty oh yeah yeah same samee in kid books particularly I have children's books all right thank you Mr Duca Mr dfus thank you mayor I have no report this evening shocking right what is the shocking somebody get a thermometer what is the date please make make sure August 6 2024 don't jinx it don't jinx it a he still has the opportunity wait a minute I I just remembered something no I'm just joking all right any questions for Mr Deus other than are you feeling okay okay Deputy Mayor K you're up super quick um just want to remind people as as a committee man DeLuca mentioned and everything that we have been having some inclement rather lately and a lot of events have been canceled so keep an eye out on comms there will be things coming up in regards to our concert reschedulings and things however we have had events go on in particular we had the house music fest that just happened this weekend and it actually we made it all the way to the last hour and then the sky opened up and uh then we all got drenched so it became like became like Woodstock the second version of it in the 2020s if people remember that whoever went to that remembers the first one was just mud and yeah that's how it devolved into Unfortunately they left our park in bad position so we're in conversations right now to revamp or re address our um ordinances as far as our paperwork around how people need to behave in the park um which is the reminder I would like to put out to people um including our residents to treat the parks the way we all want them to be treated so we can continue to use them um take your trash out when you bring it if you don't find a garbage can it doesn't hurt to take it home you have a garbage can there um no smoking or drinking or Park follow the field closure and usage rules and just generally behave as if it was your backyard because it is our communal backyard so so please behave in a way um and keep an eye out for summer streets which will be happening in Maplewood Village in the fall so technically I don't think it'll be summer streets we'll have to find to be summer in September but uh those are those applications that Miss fritzen was referring to so we're looking forward to a lot more new events keep your eyes out thank you that is my report mayor thank you Deputy Mayor any questions for Deputy Mayor k no okay I too have no report so y double double no reports we'll move to discussion items porch Fest I'm I'm almost afraid to bring up anything um not you love it so uh porchfest is is a terrific uh event but it has gotten really uh big it has it has gotten big and um with the closing of the streets and with the various porches that and and driveways and sometimes tents and people it has become really diff ult to manage and um the police have advised us that they really need to assign two police officers here and we discuss with them doing it as a paid job um so typically when we do these events with our Community Partners it's a 50-50 proposition we pay for in this instance be two officers we would pay for one and they would pay for one um we did not really plan this out and we didn't give we did not give no noce to porch Fest and time so they really are scrambling to raise the money so I would um recommend that for this year we charge them 250 uh which they feel they can raise um for the officers and then we would pick up the balance which would be 750 is or so so and then next year we would go to that 5050 it would give them a whole year to figure out a strategy whether it's buckets at the uh events it's GoFundMe it's maybe porches pay maybe bands pay something whatever it is but um so I would just recommend that this year we charge him 250 and I would make that a motion I'll second any discussion okay typically we try to you know have people doing events but this was an unusual circumstance and it is a growing event thanks to Carol and Jim Buchanon they started it right no who did I thought Carol did no bill tally bill T right T so anyway it's a growing event because it's a good event so I'm in favor of it should we take aoll call yeah I think we should do it just so we're clear what the police what the charge yes yes yes ble yes mayor Adams yes thank you all right rank Choice voting do thank you mayor uh I want to first thank The Advocates who came to be with us tonight to speak on behalf of rank Cho uh Choice voting the residents and our neighbors thank you for being here um I I just want to make clear for the record uh what we're saying this is and what we're not saying this is so uh there is some traction uh on the state bill that I shared with you uh led by Senators wicker under the golden dome uh on this issue and there's uh it would apply to local elections Municipal and school board and there's a separate bill uh that is currently sort of being held back just a little bit to see how this does uh that would apply to the G gubernatorial election uh next year and boy is that going to be something as we all know and anticipate so um the other thing to keep in mind here is that this is an optin thing so if the state were to pass this and the governor signed it it would permit municipalities to adopt this in their local elections it wouldn't be required what I am proposing tonight is that we the Maplewood Township committee this Progressive governing body that has led on many other Progressive issues uh support this by way of a trigger ordinance or a resolution saying that we support rank Choice voting for all the reasons that the advocates have already stated on the record and that we would put it to our voter voters and let them decide if this is something that they want to do um should the state legislation pass so we're far away from this happening but in order for this to happen um this is how we have to do it municipalities have to show their support um Trenton needs to see that municipalities are are embracing this uh so that we can support them to do the right thing currently Red Bank has supported this by resolution Hoboken Jersey City uh and one other municipality has done so by trigger ordinance and in my conversations with Montclair our our colleagues in Montclair they are considering this too uh I know as The Advocates have mentioned South Orange is talking about this uh considering it and exploring it as well but let me say this this is the time this is the time to do this why is this the time to do this we have experienced a massive change in New Jersey politics over the past six months for the better of democracy we are about to head into to one of the most consequential elections of our Collective lifetimes we want to increase voter engagement we want to get people excited about voting we want to encourage diverse candidates who have always been held back by those who had more power by those who had more money by spoiler candidates to get involved and to run for office ranked Choice voting ensures this and this is not just an advocacy piece it is backed by facts 57 cities across the country have adopted ranked Choice voting our closest neighbor is New York City which adopted it in their uh primary last year and whatever you think of the result of that primary the data is clear voter engagement in ways they had never seen before by populations that had not voted for years voter registrations young people bipac vote and so on and so forth ranked Choice voting is the way to go but we're not going to get there because it's a massive change in how we vote and ultimately our residents our voters will have the ultimate say as to whether or not we opt into this but we as leaders have to get ahead of it and to say that we support it and I support it for the reasons that I stated I think now is the time we're at this precipice and uh as The Advocate stated RCV isn't is uh better voting all around it's better voting all around it ens it ensures that the person with the majority votes is truly the one who wins not the plurality so um those are my comments I uh encourage us to support this by trigger ordinance or by resolution if we're a little bit uncomfortable not really sure but we're kind of want to do it maybe we could do it by resolution there's an option here um but recognizing that if we support by resolution it would that would mean that we would uh we would be putting this out there to our voters to decide should the law pass and it would put us on the map with other Progressive communities doing the right thing thank you thank you does anyone have any comments or open up discussion sure I'll add that I'm in support of rank Choice voting for all the reasons that everybody here and Mr davus has said said I think that politics especially New Jersey is very hard to get into and I think that there's a lot of barriers and I think rank Choice voting as does eliminating the Line opens that up a little bit for people to get involved and I am just very supportive of the initiative in general so how we do that legally I don't know all of that information but um yes for me well I too am in support of it for the very reasons that were mentioned but in particular the one that Miss Sher had actually brought up um in having conversations with many young people who are considering registering and I say that considering registering because I've been having conversations with kids who've said that what's the point and that's sad for an 18-year-old just right out the gate already saying that the system's rigged and there's no point in me participating so this will give them that opportunity to not vote for the lesser of two eals but to vote for the candidates they really want to have there be they somebody who's well known or just someone that they know so I'm 100% in support of this the fastest way possible we can do it so frankly um although I would love it if our voters would have an opportunity to vote because hey that's what voting is for but if it seems like a lot more people even in editorials that have been published recently are in favor of it I think the tide is you're right it's time we need to make that happen I can speak but go ahead yeah I'm very much in favor of it I think you know Mr deff as you mentioned New York City you know Milo Wy came very close because of rank choice choice voting um and if we would have had rank Choice voting in 2016 we'd have President Hillary Clint right right Jill Stein got equal to or more votes than every state that she lost which mattered in the Electoral College um and for that matter we might have even had president Gore because of r leaders vote in Florida so clearly um for that reason it does uh give people more options um and it allows them to vote their conscience and their ex moral you know use their moral compass to make you know that ballot decision and then have a safeguard in case that doesn't work um so I'm in favor of it I think uh in Practical terms uh if uh you I read the legislation and it's a little unclear about you know we can't really do anything until the legislation Ena us to do it but I think um The Prudent thing to do here would be to pass a resolution expressing our support for this because um because of our school system with South Orange we would not be able to implement this just on the Maplewood side would have to be both correct so I think getting out and in the resolution encouraging um our our partner South Orange to adopt it and then we do it um you know when when this is uh and when we're allowed to do it we do it together so that it's on the ballot in both towns um but I but certainly I would want to make sure our Municipal elections are covered by this I think for sure we haven't had I mean they would be in the primary so that would be um pretty much for the most part where it would be effective but right so I think you know uh we ought to put a resolution on for the next meeting and and um expressing our support for this and urging South Orange to to do something similar um and certainly as fast as we can we might want to also send a message to um assemblywoman Hall and Tucker and and um our Senator to uh look at this um you know there's some real headwinds here uh the Senate President is not in favor of this and whether it even going to come up for a vote is a question so I think we got to put some pressure out there and um you know I think this is this is one of the many things this rank Choice voting I I would like to see Fusion voting which allows you know since we are now challenging the two major parties it allows other parties you know we see it in New York how you you can run on you can be be a candidate for multiple parties right and add up those votes I think there's a lot of things that allow more democracy and and people giving an opportunity to vote so I would definitely be in favor of this okay I'd be in favor of it as well I just have I have some concerns about confusion among how to do it I'm not I'm not entirely convinced that the person who gets the majority wins because if the first place if some somebody loses the first place Rank and then but gets more votes in the second place rank they get so it's confusing I think and I think it's confusing for the voters so I I I'm not sure how to make that clear but I think that's that'll be the biggest challenge I know it it will in theory engage more voters but it could also also confuse more voters to make them not feel like they know what they're doing so and I think that was a problem the first time New York City did it um so I just I have concerns about all that but in in theory I'm in favor of it just you know I I think we need to um maybe encourage some clarity or or the state legislation to include information or explanations or somehow remedies to the things that people are afraid of with it or that could be you sort of backfire on it that somebody does get a majority of votes but but somehow doesn't win so it can work both ways in that regard so I anyway but the I'd support a resolution I'd want the resolution to reflect some of those concerns too right so we so then I move that we adopt a resolution that we will uh have on the next uh Township committee meeting on September 3rd a showing our support of rank Choice voting in New Jersey is that right do we have do we have the votes on that yeah should we take a vote no we can vote on resolution can't aren't we just going to instruct our attorney to come back with a resolution that's when we vote next week next meeting yes please all right and I to instruct our attorneys and I've worked on a draft already and I can just work with you to uh make it you know better as you will make it better I'm sure um also I am curious to know if we were to move forward with a trigger ordinance at some point if there are any uh legal impediments to that or requirements in amending our Charter as a form of government do you know the answer offand I'll definitely look into that as a general rule um I'm not crazy about trigger ordinances because I'd like to see the like all of us have the opportunity to see final adopted legislation before you take official actions um for example this legislation's been pending the better part of three years it hasn't had a Committee hearing yet um obviously as you well know the the bills tend to go through some heavy editing during those committee sessions and I don't know that there could be a change that would make you say no I'm no longer in support of rank Choice voting in this form but it it would be I think advantageous yeah I would rather do a resolution and support than at this moment yeah just generally the in the meantime I will take a look at the charter and see how that would be affected and what we would need to do great the other thing is that um my recollection from doing it in the past is in order for us to get something on the November ballot we need to have an ordinance passed and sent to the county clerk in August yes we vot so um I think that would be helpful for you to plot out yeah then that then it gives us essentially 12 months work on this and then if we're ready to do either a trigger ordinance or you know if there's an enabling ordinance at that time because the senate or an assembly did something we know that it would have to be on the ballot in November of 2026 five five yeah what year is this 25 that's plus one plus two yeah all right we good we're good thank you yes thank you um need a motion on the consent agenda move it second right yes yes Luca yes ble yes mayor Adams yes thank you now we move to our second public comment on any subject matter anyone who would like to speak to the township committee please come forward and give your name and address any subject matter good evening my name is Jun Kirk Patrick I live on jakeob Street uh speak a little louder a little closer a little bit closer it's really it's not you it's the it's not you it's yeah yes my name is June Kirk Patrick I live on Jobe street I'm here tonight to seek some answers regarding my property taxes because I believe a grave mistake has been made if this is not a mistake then I'm afraid that soon I will have to join the rank of dispossessed my property taxes have gone up 42% not 2 four five six but 42% over $4,000 since last year last year I paid $110,000 500 this year I'm paying 14,500 for a two family house now I've done my own sleo thing I've canvased the neighborhood and there are four unit four family houses three-bedroom three bedroom two-bedroom two bedroom configuration and they're paying $155,000 $500 more than what I'm paying for a two family house now if this I have two concern by the way if this is not a mistake then this is a nefarious plot to render me homeless why 42% Mr deuca Mayor Adams Madame kpe Mr deis 42% 4,000 plus dollars so there is an a tax appeal process have you reached out to our CFO to finance to talk about doing a tax appeal my neighbors we've made you know phone calls but there seems to be I don't know if this person is in power as any Authority I'm not sure but there's been a runaround I mean you know he send the fool a little further Kick the Can around the street I mean there's nothing said I would is this a mistake no it's probably not a mistake and I got your email this afternoon so um we will talk offline but yes there is an actual appeal process that's not just a phone call it's a application you sit down you have a conversation they look at your numbers it's not just a conversation so whoever you were given contact with was not the right person but where where do I start with with our our tax assessor and then it goes from there but I will send you that information an email you will miss yes I will send that to you thank you very much my second concern is that I moved to this town in I closed on this house September 13th 2014 that was in September the fiscal year started the following April the rental registration and all that good stuff so I started registering um then it was $50 per units so I should have paid $50 because I live on one floor the problem was well it's not a problem my the statement that said you I can't remember word for word but it said something which was ambiguous so I thought to myself well June pay for both unit just in case you know don't go a foul don't run a foul of you know authorities or anything like that because I don't like to be called to the principal's office but I can answer and all these years I've been paying it for two units while I live upstairs my neighbor said June don't pay and that's where I got one faithful day now meanwhile all these checks that I sent to the township of maplehood were cashed were paid one faithful year one nice gentleman Mr John Singleton called me and said Miss kpatrick do you live there I said yes I live there I live on the second floor he said no you're not supposed to pay for your unit and we spoke for a little bit he drove to my house he said here I'll bring the check back and you make me another one I said no sir I'll bring it to you he said no I he did probably wanted to make sure that's a two family or I live there he did I took that check back and I gave him a check for $50 um this was about two years ago and I left it and then I brought it back to his attention because I thought he was going to do something you know he was going to address the situation he said well we just took over what they did prior to my you know entrance in this business none of my I I can't help you so he is aware of the situation Maplewood Township owes me over $400 in overpayment and he's aware of it I did mention that I will bring this to the town's attorneys bring it to her attention he said hold on let's see what we could do to work for that I said okay I will address this matter when we get to the meeting and here I am tonight and yes I'm seeking redress for my overpayments I am because like I said it seems as if I'm going to be homeless but I'll wait for your contact Miss gripe this is the rental registration correct yeah yes I've been overpaying it since April yeah 2015 so Mr not good ma'am not good so p is the head of the Department of Community Development mhm since you know each other you should have a conversation with me no well well I don't really know we had a nice good telephone conversation because when the lead thing came that I had to reinspect and I said n I'm not paying $20 extra and she said well yes I don't want to send you up right you up and all that good stuff so I paid the $20 but she was polite and professional about it and I did pay the $20 yeah we like that yeah so I think on this overpayment or mis payment charge whatever I think work with m m dep on I was told it was the township attorney but miss dep is the prosecutor is it not she's two roles yeah she's multiple [Music] roles very well very well okay so M maybe you could also direct her to the assessor so Fair 42% while some people had their taxes lowered some were never increased and I'm paying as much as a for familys is there is this a nefarious plot to render me homeless I don't know but I'll wait for you Madame C I thank you thank you for coming in did you want to say something Mr CIO okay would anyone else like to address the township committee come on come to hi again my name is Barry Bender I'm from forid River in Ocean County um we as far as people being knowledgeable about Bank Choice voting we travel across the entire State I've done presentations in Atlanta County in Warren County I go where I need to go to do the presentations but what we do is what we've had in the past is what we call rank the events so we've had rank the bagels rank the ice creams rank the beers Etc and we use that as a way to introduce people into rank Choice voting okay um and I'm actually the live Outreach lead for voter Choice New Jersey we have a whole education department we do regular presentations beyond the rank th we also go to various organizations and give them uh presentations on how rank Choice voting Works uh so if you know of any organization ation here we'll be more than happy I'm looking at the brewery up the street there for the possibility of uh the be some kind of presentation has a New Jersey League of Women Voters with okay that's one of the things I asked I'd like to yes please sure yeah they die I mean this is not a new idea no all right heard about it for years thank you very much people about rank Choice voting because we think it makes us adds to the Democracy that we that we live in thank you appreciate thank youe m hi Township committee I'm um thanks thank you all I'm thrilled that you're all in support of um moving this forward um then we're backa here again at 27 Tuscan Road I just want um I don't know Mr Duca I think I don't maybe I misheard you but I um I don't if you said something about the primaries this bill does not impact the primaries at all at the moment at the M yeah they would may could maybe change it or maybe introduce a new bill but this is just general election and School Board thanks so much thank you anyone else in house yes hey there again Charles Isel 101 Rucker Street um occurs to me I'm sorry member of the pool advisory committee there we go member of the township pool committee um it occurs to me that we have schools and that they regularly have elections and I don't know a great deal about rank Choice voting um but a place where could explore as a community and maybe um educate at the same time would be to partner like the health department did with our superintendent and just have a conversation about student council elections at both the high school level and the Middle School level um I'm I'm not sure what their bylaws are but certainly they could for lack of a better term play with this a little bit right and take a look so something to consider yeah absolutely youth Advisory Board youth advisory committee anyone else in the house want to speak a public comment okay Mr rry anyone in the public the public on Zoom would like to speak in public portion please raise your hand now I see no hands mayor No Hands No Hands No Hands okay thank you very much we have no other Township committee meeting in August our next meeting meeting will be September 3rd I entertain a mo I move we adjourn second yes yes Luka yes yes mayor Adams yes thank you and have a good rest of your summer stormy and hot good night