##VIDEO ID:QHxBWjhCrzg## 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 e e e e e Mari good all right pursuant to 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 mailing the annual notice of regular meetings for 2025 to the news record and Star Ledger in December of 2024 and by filing said notice in the office of the Township Clerk Mr daffis Luca here SLE here M Herman here mayor Adams here where chapter 231 public a 1975 commonly known as the open public meetings act for as meetings of public bodies will be open to the public and whereas 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 where a desire the governing body to comply with the provision of this act same time conduct its business in an orderly and expeditious manner now therefore BR resolved by the township committee Township mwood does hereby prohibit except to set forth an informal agenda active participation in deliberations of governing body by the public and acceptance otherwise prescribed by law does limit the public to the observations of the actions and discussions of the governing body at all its regular and special meetings second second Mr baas yes DeLuca yes M zel yes M Herman yes mayor Adams yes thank you I ask everyone to stand for the pledge of allegiance The Pledge of Allegiance to the 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 I'd ask that you all remain standing for a moment of silence for 50 business owner in Maplewood Village Anthony garubo who passed away um with his Salon that I think we're all familiar with um cherish member of the community and I ask for your moment of silence thank you all right good evening everyone and happy New Year welcome to the first meeting of 2025 of the Maplewood Township committee um this evening we have a special presentation and proclamation in honor of Audrey row and her retirement from the Community Coalition on Race we're happy I'll be happy to read that and ask you to join me at the podium um then we have a proclamation read by Deputy Mayor Herman on Muslim heritage month then we have a couple of board appointments and then we have a board of health meeting then we will move into public comment for agenda items only we have uh no ordinances on Final passage but we have some introductions for ordinances and then we have reports from departments reports from elected officials um Committee Member Duca will go first Committee Member daffis Deputy Mayor Herman Committee Member angle and then I will go last we have one discussion item on for tonight that is a stormw water utility credit policy that uh Mr Duca will lead that discussion as he's been working closely on this then we have the consent agenda and at the end we have another public comment on any issue so we will move right into the special presentation so Audrey and anyone else from the Community Coalition on race who would like to join us at the podium please you guys are the same height that's always [Laughter] good um so I'm pleased to read this Proclamation for you whereas the pursuit of equality though rewarding often demands sacrifices of time spent with family friends and personal interests and whereas Audrey row has served with distinction as the program director of the South Orange Maplewood Community Coalition on Race for over 23 years demonstrating unwavering commitment to building a racially culturally and socially integrated and inclusive community and where she has been instrumental in developing Innovative programs such as integration through the Arts the wealth Gap equalizer loan conversations on Race the Dr King observance fostering understanding and dialogue across our communities and advancing equity and unity in South Orange and Maplewood and whereas her leadership has touched count countless lives and positively impacted our communities through her dedication to racial equality volunteer mobilization and her Visionary approach to promoting integration and unity and whereas she transitions into retirement we honor Audrey Row for her Legacy of service commitment and enduring positive impact she has had on our shared communities and whereas the success and longevity of the community coal Coalition on race is directly related to the work and commitment of Audrey during her tenure and I wouldn't want to imagine the what the organization would have been without her it's true that was my quot not therefore be it Proclaim that I Nancy Adams mayor of Township of Maplewood in honor of you and from my colleagues as well on the township committee with deep gratitude honor Audrey Row for her remarkable contributions tireless dedication to the Coalition on race and Lasting positive change she has brought to our community by proclaiming today it's almost over but you can still party January 7th 2025 as Audrey rad day in the township of Maplewood though she may be have retired from one role we are certain her commitment to civil rights advocacy remains Eternal thank you yeah get a little extra and I wanted the CCR come on out thank you I can hear wow I I just wanna say thank you so much and how honored and actually surprised uh for this wonderful honor um I've worked with each and every one of you and my I guess my comments are ones of thanks and the first Thanks goes to you to you as individuals and to you as a body because without the Maplewood Township committee I don't even know if the Coalition would exist you've been critical to our development your support has allowed us to be to sustain our work where other communities have fallen by the wayside and we're so grateful and I hope that that support continues throughout many many years I also want to thank the Coalition uh which has given me a way to live out my own life mission and Ministry which is to bring people together in unity mainly to have one Humanity where we all have equity and we all have the options to live our lives out and be all that we can do I have to thank my husband uh for all of the time and my entire family for the the the the times that uh I was not fixing dinner but asking what was for dinner because I had been in meetings all day or um all all evening and I want to thank you out there you my my neighbors the community because you make all of this work I thank those of you who have come to Coalition events and supported our work and I challenge those of you who have not because as we go forward into 2025 this is going to be chenging year and we need everyone to lean in and to be a part of what we want to be as a Beloved Community uh I'm very grateful I'm very thankful I've had all kinds of gifts someone even wrote me a sonnet one person uh wrote me left me a note that has become my Mantra and I end by sharing that with you and it basically says do not fear work that has no end and as we look at our mission as a coalition as you look at your work as governmental leaders I'm sure you can truly relate to that so do not fear we're going to lean in and we're going to make this community and this nation all that it should be thank you so much for the honor appreciate I'll ask uh Deputy Mayor to please read them Muslim Heritage Month Proclamation right whereas in April 2023 Governor Phil Murphy signed a joint resolution designating January of each year as Muslim heritage month and whereas New Jersey is home to the third largest Muslim population in the United States with an estimated 300,000 Muslims residing in the state and whereas Muslim Americans in New Jersey have made significant contributions locally and nationally including former Montgomery Township mayor saddaf jafer the first Muslim woman to serve as a mayor in the United States and wafia Muhammad of Newark a former special education teacher and advocate for children with autism in New Jersey native G Willow Wilson a writer credited with relaunching the popular Jersey City based superhero Miss Marvel and whereas Maplewood has long embraced values of diversity community and inclusion which align with the wisdom of the Quran that says what is the reward of goodness but goodness these embedded and shared values Inspire us to Foster understanding build connection and offer help in times of need and whereas while we celebrate the achievements of Muslim Americans we must also acknowledge the diverse Journeys that many Muslim Americans have taken to the United States including those brought forcibly through the transatlantic slave trade and those who immigrated for Education opportunities or safety these histories are marked by both hardship and resilience and we honor their stories now therefore be it proclaimed I Malia Herman on behalf of Nancy Adams the mayor of the township of Maplewood and the entire Township committee recognize and dedicate the month of January as Muslim Heritage Month while the richness of the Muslim Heritage cannot be fully captured in one month or one declaration we encourage you to engage with Muslim Heritage year round through learning particip IP ation in community events and embracing a culture that has often been under represent represented and misrepresented despite its profound impact on the world thank you okay thank you now we'll move to board appointments board and committee appointments and Mr Duca you have a few to read appoint thank you mayor I'd like to move the reappointment of Susan Newberry and Gary Nelson to the historic preservation commission for a four-year term each starting January 1st 2025 and ending January 31st 2027 28 sorry I'll second that Mr daffis yes Mr Luca yes yes zle yes Herman yes mayor Adams yes then I have a a reappointment of Aaron gobler to the affordable housing board for one for a two three-year period from January 1st 2025 to December 31st 2027 I'll second Mr daffis yes Luca yes Miss angle yes Miss Herman yes mayor Adams yes and lastly I have um the reappointment of our environmental advisory chair Robert McCoy to sustainable Maplewood for a one-year term January 1st 2025 to December 31st 2025 I'll second that one Mr daffis yes Luca yes angle yes M Herman yes mayor Adams yes thank you now we move into our Board of Health meeting I'll turn it over to Committee Member angle Noe to the clerk oh to the clerk you're uh reor oranization meeting what happened it's our reor oh I forgot sorry clerk my clerk she only gives us our papers she doesn't have hers [Laughter] ready pursuant to section 5 chapter 231 Public Law 1975 this is a 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 and municipal building by mailing the annual notice of regular meetings for 2025 to the news record and Star Ledger in 2024 and by filing said notice in the office of the Township Clerk so moved second mayor Adams yes daffis yes Luca yes zle yes serman yes for chapter 231 public La of 1975 commonly know as the open public meetings act requires at all meetings of public bodies be open to the public and whereas section 78 provides that the Board of Health has a discretion to permit prohibit or regulate the act of participation of the public at any meeting and where desire the Maplewood Board of help to comply with the provision this sa same time to conduct this business in an orderly and expeditious manner now therefore be resolved by the Maplewood Board of Health Township mwood does hereby prohibit except to set forth in the formal agenda active participation and deliberations of the Board of Health by the public except as otherwise ascribed by law does limit public to the observations of the actions discussions of the Board of Health at all its regular and special meetings some moved second mayor Adams yes Mr daffis yes Mr DeLuca yes angle yes M Herman yes uh members of the Board of Health call now for nominations for chair of the Maplewood Board of Health for the year 2025 I nominate Deborah Engle second are there any further nominations I move the nominations be closed I second the Nom the the motion Okay so so uh taking a roll call now for uh Miss angle to uh be the chair mayor Adams Mr daffis yes Luca yes Miss angle yes Miss Herman yes I declare debor angle the duly elected uh president of the mwood Board of Health for the year 2025 speak no speak president angle I move the approval of the board of of Health meeting minutes from December 3rd 2024 second second mayor Adams yes Mr daffis yes Mr DeLuca yes Miss Herman yes Miss angle yes now I turn things over to our health officer Candace dport who's been waiting good evening everybody and congratulations Miss Engle um we'll start with uh the Essex County code blue so the code blue uh for Essex County has been extended to January 11th at 8:00 a.m. so until January 10th overnight um Essex County facilities will be open um to assist people to get out of the cold and find shelter if um anyone would like to reach uh cspnj which is the collaborative support programs of New Jersey that is our homeless Outreach and engagement they can call the warm line at 848 23 476 if you need transportation to any of these Essex County shelters they will be able to provide it to you next slide please as always we want to start off the year letting people know about these emergency phone numbers for 911 988 211 and for Poison Control um especially given this time of year if anyone needs um to speak with someone 24/7 for a mental health suicide or emergency crisis you can call 988 um to speak with a uh counselor directly next slide we're moving on to our nursing update for the month of SE of December um our nurses had investigated seven reportable diseases they provided two homebound vaccinations to Residents and one flu homebound vaccination and um they've conducted five immunization audits mostly for all of our schools who are above 95% compliance just to remind residents that we offer free covid uh vaccinations for those who are homebound they can reach our office and speak to our Public Health nursing supervisor Anna marova to schedule an appointment next slide likewise we also have free covid kits here at Town Hall we provide two um boxes with um two kits for each household but you can also still order um directly from the federal government and will be mailed out to you if you go to covid t.gov next Slide the county is offering um free covid-19 vaccinations for the Pediatric population so if anyone is looking for a covid vaccine for their 6month to 11year Old if your pediatrician does not carry it um we will be holding that at the mwood community center at deart Park at 120 Bernett Avenue on Friday Janu 24th from 3:30 to 6:30 p.m. um must schedule appointments they are required so the county knows how many to bring so uh please go to the QR code or call the phone number below to schedule um a reservation you made Miss fritsen very happy by saying the Maplewood Community Center and Mr Duca we're here to please so we're here to please we're here to please very good thank you here at the service of of the township committee so um the Essex County is also providing vaccines for children they always update their clinics every month so these are the dates when they'll be providing it they're trying to do more of moving them around so as you can see one is being offered in Bloomfield uh this Wednesday um on the 15th of January there'll be in Orange which is a new location and on January 22nd they will be in Irvington so they are trying to move around to give people as many um availability to access uh childhood vaccinations this is important for children especially if they need to have vaccinations to attend school just a reminder that if you are in need of Health Insurance New Jersey family care is still open until January 31st um so please register if you need to moving on to environmental health and animal control services for the month of December um our rehs or um registered Environmental Health Inspectors have been busy dealing with complaints most of those are um heat related um so we've been addressing those um and we've been also preparing to do um licensing for uh dogs and cats but also for um our retail food establishments like restaurants as well as um other businesses such as vape shops tattoo parlors body art massage and spa um child uh pools and Child Care Centers and kennels moving on this was something that was not put in the agenda because it just came out today but we wanted to raise awareness that there's a recall notice of uh childhood uh of of lead exposure and cadmium poisoning from a certain type of children's jewelry set so given that the holidays uh were just around the corner if anyone purchased this looks like you would purchase it off of Amazon um please um dispose of them and uh remove them uh from access for children because there is a risk of lead and cadmium poisoning from from this uh type of jewelry next slide as mentioned um the 2025 dog and cat licensing is now open um that'll be open until January 31st so anyone who has a domestic dog or cat uh please have them licensed you can do that online on our Township website moving on to Social Services and mental health our crisis intervention social workers have been busy for the month of December their total number of pieces that should be December sorry about that for um the month of December was uh 17 with five c-responses with the mapw police department and 10 clinical cases that they had to um follow up with next slide and then on December 30th the Essex County reach for Recovery mobile van was here um at the community fridge they assisted six people they'll be here at the end of every month so we're making it a routine that they will be here offering services is again uh for people who are curious about the services that they provide they provide education and uh referrals for substance use assessment um health and wellness screenings uh care coordination Naran distribution and community resource sharing for yourself or for a loved one who might have um questions or an addiction uh to some substances and that is the end of our presentation thank you so much um any questions from my colleague for Miss D report Mr DeLuca thank you thank you for sending slides out because it's hard to see the small number so it's easier to see um on the c-responses for the crisis intervention social workers uh we have a public safety meeting tomorrow night if there's anything that you want to share privately with us that we could share in close with the chief you can let me know tomorrow but is there anything publicly you want to say about that how it's working um are the particular kind kind of cases that they are being called to correspond co- respond okay so the crisis intervention social worker program has been in effect as you know since April of 2022 so we are hitting our stride um and it has been um very effective to have a co-response um mechanism some of the things that they respond to um in the process is that someone will call either for um um an emotionally disturbed persons or like I'll just use General examples domestic violence they will go out with the police officer and corespond they deescalate they try to assess the situation um and then they make referrals if needed if for example it is a person with a psychosis and in need of um a screener from Clara Moss they'll call someone in to provide the screener um and then the screener assesses them and then they can be um admitted into the hospital there that's the only way that a person could be admitted into the hospital for further care but because the social workers are trained in this they they know how do identify and when they need to add backup help it has been extremely helpful and I think the Maplewood Police Department would definitely say um that they have appreciated co-response and having another professional there who understands social work and all of the needs and referrals um one thing I've always noticed is that PD has said we can respond to that situation in that moment but we can't know what happens after that and these cases become chronic cases they keep getting calls but they never get the help since the crisis intervention social worker program has been in effect those numbers have dropped of chronic um you know numbers of of households that have been calling for the same issues we get them help we connect them if they need more referrals we keep in touch with them um so and we make connections with the school district as well if this um involves a family with children in the school district to let them know um a Handle With Care for for these children especially if something happened after school or after hours so um everything is private confidential and um the police know when to step back and say this is the social worker who's now going to take over and we usually follow up with the resident um if the day of if not weeks afterward so there's a lot of followup that comes with it sometimes as you notice with the clinical cases those those are more um clinical in nature where they they have uh psychosis or psychological case management case management that they need so very effective Committee Member DeLuca we should get you uh a report if you recall Health officer dport that we made that the credit intervention social workers made to the community board on police in the fall of last year it had a lot of substance in there it talked about the types of cases the difference between uh the co-response and the clinical um and we should share that with incoming chair of Public Safety Committee Member Duca you can definitely do that can you send that to me as well yeah sure we should share it with everyone yeah so that's the community board on police uh fall presentation from our crisis social workers I think it was in the fall maybe it was a little bit later than that but yeah it was a few months ago got it we'll do any other questions from Mr stport sorry I have a question um I have been reading and hearing in the news that in our area in particular and this is not uncommon this time time of year uh but there are respiratory infections on the rise can you tell us what you know about this and how we can protect ourselves right so uh we have seen an increase of a bunch of infectious and communicable diseases such as flu as well as covid as well as RSV it is the time of season when respiratory illnesses um rise and this these are the three that are most common and prevalent um we always encourage people to get a covid and influenza vaccine and for those who are seniors to get an RSV vaccine uh if you are it's the same things that we told people for covid as well as with any respiratory infection if you are sick please stay home if you have a cough uh please cover your cough if you um are sick and you've recovered from covid or flu the process is the same after 24 hours of being symptom free you can go back back into the community if you um would like to be more protective it is strongly advised to wear a mask for a few days afterward just to make sure that you're not spreading anything but other than that the protocol for Co is the same so we also adver you know advocate for um hand hygiene and um covering your cough and uh staying home if you're sick are really the main things for those of for those who are suffering from uh flu there is um over-the-counter um medication like theu that you can you can take otherwise it just requires just rest and um self-medication thank you any further questions from my colleagues I was going to say just following on that um for any residents who might not have gotten their flu shot or their Co their latest um covid uh 19 vaccine is it too late no absolutely not so if you have insurance you can go to any uh Walgreens or CVS or even to your your uh pediatrician or your Healthcare provider and you can still get the covid and flu vaccine if you have a hard time getting the covid-19 vaccine for example for pedi for Pediatrics they can come to one of the County clinics where they're offering those for free oh that's great and are you still doing the at home vaccines for homebound only right yes for covid and for flu great any other questions mayor or the last one no I don't have any questions either so um anyone here in the room um have any questions for Health officer Davenport Mr wary will you help facilitate public comment online if anyone on Zoom would like to address the Board of Health please raise your hand now I see no hands all right with that I uh move we adjourn to our next scheduled meeting on Tuesday February 4th second mayor Adams yes s daffis yes Luca yes M Herman yes Miss angle yes thank Youk Miss St Port back to you mayor thank you uh Now we move to public comment on agenda items only so uh there's anyone in the room who want to speak on anything on the agenda tonight you can come up to the microphone and have three minutes to speak Mr war is there anyone online if anyone on Zoom would like to speak on agenda items only please raise your hand see no hands mayor okay thank you with that we'll move into uh introduction of ordinances Miss fritsen uh yes mayor item number nine introduction of new ordinances ordinance number 3139 d25 Capital ordinance appropriating $176,000 from the general capital capital CF Capital Improvement fund to provide for rehabilitation of the sanitary sewer system on Maplewood Avenue between Highland place and Inwood place in and by the township of Maplewood in the county of ess6 New Jersey Capital ordinance shall provide funding for the cleaning and select Rehabilitation of the sanitary sewer system on Maplewood a between Highland place and Inwood Place mayor I 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 January 21st 2025 thank you second I second the motion Mr daffis yes Mr DeLuca yes Miss angle yes Miss Herman yes mayor Adams yes thank you next ordinance 3140 d25 yes mayor also on intro an ordinance to amend chapter 257 of the code of the township of mwood entitled vehicles and traffic with respect to 2-hour parking on Raymond Terrace this ordinance will amend two-hour parking on Raymond Terrace between Milburn Avenue and the township border may I get a motion uh mayor yes just to remind us this is going to allow the residents on Raymond Terrace to park there beyond the two hours with a permit uh I move the passage of this ordinance on first reading it's publication according to law in the Maplewood South Orange News Record and a hearing to be held on January 21st 2025 second Mr daffis yes Mr DeLuca yes Miss angle yes Miss Herman yes mayor Adams yes thank you last ordinance on introduction yes mayor um item 9C ordinance number 3141 d25 is an ordinance amending ordinance 3138 d24 of the township of mwood establishing a storm water utility this ordinance will amend ordinance 3138 d24 of the township which established storm waterer utility to lengthen the period of time in which a property owner May appeal a fee calculation okay thank you m good motion yes uh just to remind us that this is in response to a speaker at our last meeting who suggested that we change the 30 days for an appeal to 90 days and then we changed our response from 30 days to 60 days so again this is in response to a Citizens uh recommendation uh with that I 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 January 21st 2025 second Mr daffis yes Mr DeLuca yes SLE yes M Herman yes mayor Adams yes thank you any questions from my colleagues on the December budget report that was provided okay hearing none we'll go to administrative reports Mr Wy thank you mayor just want to highlight one light item on the agenda uh tonight we are appointing an arts and culture manager so we're very excited for them to start we had a very competitive application process over 60 applicants and a lot of high quality applicants fortunately in the uh final round of interviews so we are excited to bring them on board they begin next week they bring with them a lot of experience uh both locally nationally and internationally so uh that uh is exciting uh with a new employee so we look forward to them joining us that's my report mayor okay any questions for Mr wry I I have a couple how do we say the new arts and culture manager's name she so she goes by um and Andrea she goes by Andrea okay much easier her first name is wonderful goes by Andrew okay we can't we're not good at pronounce um can we do a press release about this can after tonight um so that members of the community know that we do have a new Arts culture manager we've gotten some questions about that and that will also help her make connections with the different groups and we this process we have worked with the Maplewood Council on reviewing and the early stage from of the applicants and we've kept them updated uh throughout so they're aware of this appointment as well great anyone else I think you have another I have one other question um no worries thank you mayor um so we provided our availability for upcoming budget hearings when will we receive calendar invites for those hearings they went out last week I okay um I will speak to you offline then because I don't have anything in my calendar for the budget hearing everybody else should see them yet just to make sure I'm glad I asked you that put on I do have a question could you um explain the resolution 3425 on the consent agenda about the competitive Contracting for lease off duty employment scheduling just so everyone is aware of what we've been talking about for years and what we hope to be doing here so uh in a big picture the state require the state allows townships to use competitive Contracting for a for specific purposes um one of which is for uh Contracting for concessions and another one uh is for Contracting for proprietary software and so the competitive Contracting process allows you to rank uh proposals where you're not just Bound by the low bidder so that's the that you're approving tonight there's a requirement that anytime you engage in a new type of competitive Contracting uh service that the governing body passed a resolution so that's what you're doing tonight but as far as what we are doing with that uh we will be issuing an RFP for police off-duty Management Services so right now if you are a utility or you're a private contractor and you require off-duty police most often that's during road projects um you would contact our Police Department you post escrow you schedule um with us we then put that out to our police officers they sign up for it we schedule them it's a it's a very uh labor intensive process that right now is being handled by uh police officers in the department um there are companies that have emerged let's say over the last five to eight years that will manage that process for you and they have uh software solutions that do it they are used in other municipalities so you know when we pick up jobs our police officers pick up jobs in uh in other towns um you know a lot of them use the same software where anytime a job comes up they this these companies will work directly with the contractor or utility that's hiring them they put out the availability to all police officers via uh usually like a web app or a a phone application um officers can respond back letting them know that they're available they can get scheduled when they go to the job they can check in the companies will um typically the the escrow was deposited with the township and then we pay it out to the officers in payroll the uh this company would manage that escrow so they would take in the money and then uh when it's time for payment they would transmit that to the township and we would pay that out in payroll so they do they will take that whole process on themselves do a better job than we can do now because we don't have those software applications um and it'll really free up our U the police officer specifically who's responsible for this um you know their time that can be used doing uh better things so we're excited about this the you know there's a a cost for this service and right now off duty um uh off-duty jobs we charge a 10% administrative fee so the the new company will take all or some portion of that 10% fee part of their response is to tell us what they'll charge so the township at that point can decide do we want to give everything to them or do we want to increase our fees to where they get to take let's say 10% and we keep another 2% that's a discussion for a later date but that's part of this so this is just another thing we're doing to try to um help uh take um work off of our officers that will free them up to do more police work yeah and the 10% that we get on a fee is does not even cover the aggravation and work that it takes to make this happen right so total I think in 2023 we collected $80,000 uh from that 10% administrative fee yeah and we're we're almost always written up in our audits because we do not get the escros because it's hard to get the escros from the utility companies yeah right and other contractors and not that's a good point and not just our Police Department is tasked with administering this but so is our finance department taking in cash posting them to escro accounts you know we we're required by law to take the money up front and so if the contractor doesn't uh use all the money then we have to refund it to them if they do use it and the job's still going we have to get them get more money from them it's it's a it's a big process for both our police department and our finance department so um this is a uh this is a great solution and we look forward to receiving these proposals you'll still have another opportunity to discuss this topic out um at the time when we make a recommendation to you uh for Award of a contract should we be uh at that position okay anyone else Mr I want to ask um about two things the um the donation from the United Methodist women of Maro Church it that looks like really nice want to say thank you to them I wonder if you could tell us about that and then the second thing is the purchase of the three electric Jitney buses which is very exciting I wanted to hear about that and maybe that's something we want to um do a release on or tout as well I'm not sure yeah along with the one we received week ago so we for the first one regarding the um the maral memorial United Methodist Church they had reached out to us in December of last year that for um specifically for the Maplewood welfare fund um that the United Women of Faith at the church uh had selected us to receive a $500 donation and so that will go into our welfare fund to be used for the select purposes that um you know residents can benefit who need the use of that so you know we're fortunate to have receive that donation and the second piece regarding the bus yeah the electric bus electrics so yes so we're we are getting three electric jitneys this has been a long process so this is kind of hopefully the final stages of this resolution but um there was uh there was grant funding available for municipalities to retire gas and Diesel uh buses and move towards fully electric and so um the the diesel buses that we have now will be rendered inoperable once we receive these we have to cut through the frame so that you know they can be never used again which is good because you know this is a full replacement for what was a diesel vehicle um and will be fully electric and these are you know big buses very expensive and we're fortunate Grant we'll be talking about it in the budget meeting because the grant was $940,000 and the bus is about 1.4 for the three of them so we have to put some more money in but it's a huge Grant and uh this was uh you know we've been working on it for a while and this is in addition to the electric bus for the seniors so we're we're moving to uh you know get our Fleet to more electric yeah and we had recently purchased uh hybrid vehicles for Police Department fully electric vehicles for the police department two fully electric trucks one used by DPW one here at Town Hall um we have a number of uh plugin hybrids in our Township Fleet so you know we continue the transition to uh renewable energy and electric vehicles are we doing anything for the senior uh electric we'll be we'll be doing something oh cool okay and it's gonna be great excellent can't wait people email is on its way yes yes it's being lettered as we speak so graph being lettered when will it be done and also uh the drivers are getting trained up on using it which it's not a great difference but nevertheless we want to make sure they have opportunities to drive it before charging moving passengers and charging it yeah sure has anyone seen it on the township committee yeah is it cool I mean I've seen the outside yeah it's cool oh the inside of it like a bus though isn't it it's not like the future it's pretty you know looks like a nice bus okay hey it's a naked bus right now it has no lettering on so it really needs to have letter on right right but it's accessible because we didn't have that before yeah and it's electric oh it's fantastic yeah it'll get good okay we'll we'll do a ribbon cutting as soon as it's lettered soon as it's okay moving on um just to go back to Mr daff say earlier I didn't get actually a calendar invites for the I got your email with the dates but I don't have the times or anything I just have placeholders S calendar invites tonight the budget yeah I did not get calendar I just put them in from his dates same same yeah okay an implication and I left them off yeah we do think might everyone off so okay we'll move away from Mr warry and move on to Township attorney Mr cido there you go there you go I tried Township Clerk uh thank you mayor a couple uh quick things so uh I just want to uh make a point uh from our last meeting that we had um in December we left the meeting saying that we would be hosting in or early voting you all know that changed and the county was notified that we would not be able to do that this year but we will be interested in uh 2026 and then I'm happy to report if you took a look and uh the deputy Township Clerk did a great job on remodeling the uh Township committee pages and uh your pictures are up and biographies and there take a look oh and uh following your uh photos on New Year's Day uh I think I'm waiting for like one more response as to uh what you liked and we'll be proceeding there as well as um we're pretty close to rolling out our uh mayor's alol pictures cool um that you know we've been working on with the uh photography company so um that's the update are what pictures well the uh mayor's uh portraits that are in the uh Cat's Corner which um is something I want to get uh completed and uh we're getting close Okay and uh that's all that I have look the same anyone have any questions for Miss priton what was the first thing you mentioned I didn't catch that about voting uh the first thing was when we left here in December we had stated that we were going to be meeting with the county to be a early polling uh location and as everybody knows we're going to have to put that off for about one year okay thank you all right then we'll move on to Township Committee Member reports elected officials and we start with who' I say Mr thank you mayor uh I just have two things one uh at the next meeting I hope to present the report of the board and committee demographics okay it's been slow going this year I to push Pion pull to get the responses but they're slowly coming in and the other thing I just want to mention um is that on the consent agenda there's a resolution 3625 number 14 U which is a contract with Barton Ross uh um Consulting for $4,750 and that's to do the historic preservation ele of the master plan and want to thank the uh we had a team from the historic preservation commission that looked at the um proposals and met with uh Mr weary and myself and there was an agreement on this um contractor so we're moving ahead with this that's it that's exciting because that's another master plan recommendation check them off check them off we're not going to need the working group anymore any questions for Mr DeLuca all right seeing none Mr death I only have one quick thing as well mayor as my uh committee assignments uh my committees will be meeting this week we did have a meeting last night with the MVA um a spirited meeting I might say uh that went on for a couple of hours um we look forward to the mv's presentation of their budget this year to the township committee as is our annual practice and we will take a very close look when that happens to ensure that um uh to ensure to ensure that their budget is a budget that is really one that supports the MVA and all of their Ambitions and aspirations and all of their activities um you know we have some reservations about that in our discussions last night and not everybody was on board um and we'll have more discussion uh during our budget hearings but I have faith and confidence that what they present will be uh a budget that's sincere and sincerely supportive of all of their init initiatives and needs and that's something we should be looking at thank you okay any questions for Mr Dev that's just a teaser for the budget hearing so that everybody Tunes in okay Deputy Mayor sorry I heard a oh over here I have some um uh I guess signups that are coming up to share the big thing is camp registration which opens January 13 at 10: a.m. that I believe is Monday um we have a lot of camps including kids camp maplecraft Camp tennis camp mermaid Camp Scott Donnie dive Camp mapso SummerSlam basketball camp Creative Learning camps Lego camps and more the next thing to also you can sign up for right now is MSO softball um this is open to both Maplewood and South Orange residents Elementary and Middle School registration is open now through March 15 at the Maplewood wck desk the season starts in April after Spring Break um this is a really really awesome program this is the very first year that we are not going to be a part of it because my daughter is in high school now so um you can also sign up to be coaches they need coaches um but it's a really wonderful program um there are some other programs that wreck is doing including a vision board Workshop this Saturday at the Woodland there's still time to register um a meditation series for Saturdays starting January 25th a senior group meditation um on January 28th and there are a couple of senior trips um I want to point out especially Mystic Pizza at the paper mill Playhouse the senior trip is on February 20th but everyone should um get your tickets because this Focus um this features two Maple woodens so I want to give a shout out the adaptation for Mystic Pizza which was a movie and it was adapted into a play the adaptation was written by Maplewood resident Sandy Rustin yep and it's directed by Maplewood resident Casey H hushan so um two Maple wans are involved it should be a really good show um and then there's another senior trip to M for Murder on February 26 so that's what I got dial and for murder right movie D day just saying can I ask a quick question on camp registration so is the mermaid camp and the dive Camp opening on Monday as well CU in previous years those have opened up later do you know that is a great question and I don't know the answer because I think you're right those did open up later those pool ones we've talked about or there's been conversation about can they register earlier cuz sometimes they start open late um so I'm just curious if we can get clarification on that maybe we can put something else yeah we'll have to F I'll follow up on that yes sir yeah I can speak with the department head fin I was just curious because it was in the list that she provided so thank you okay thank you Deputy Mayor Committee Member angle um we had our first Communications committee meeting of the Year this morning with our new public information officer Cindy price who lives in Maplewood and we are very excited we had a long agenda list kind of going through all the things we've talked about out and all things that are upcoming and I'm really excited to have her on board so welcome Cindy um I've been meeting with the youth advisory committee um since August and we have like a great small crew we have more applications coming in um but they are working on a pitch for an idea that they have that they think would be good for our youth so um mayor I will let you know when they're ready to come um present here whether it's during public comment or we can have a presentation with them or something so we've been working on something so um stay tuned I gave you a preview Mr wary I think so yeah just let exting thank you that's my report okay any questions for Committee Member angle all right I have no report it's no meetings for me yet so all right we'll move on to discussion items and Mr Duca storm water utility credit policy thank you mayor and um today you received a document from misss cido uh you probably have not had a chance to look at it but I just want to go over some of the highlights of the uh fee policy number one there um and let let me just before I say that the way this worked is that we had our Consultants uh provide us with a draft they used the New Brunswick Fe policy as a model and looked at some other states we did the same we looked at some I looked at some other states and then we held a meeting with the consultant and we went over line by line and then um M cdio was tasked with making changes that we agreed to and also uh as we say Maple Maple eyes the uh the the language and everything else so um that's what we have and that's what you receive today it also contains um specific lists of credits for residents under three resident residential dwelling units this was uh put together by Mr um kittner and with Mr wey and myself we went over this on Monday and finalize this and that's in there too so I going to just go over some of the the B the ba the basics here so someone who wants to apply for credit and again a credit is is different than an adjustment an adjustment is you know we say you have so many square feet of impervious surface and they say oh no I don't I have this or that you know you counted that something's not there anymore took down the garage or something blah blah blah so that would be an adjustment and that process is different then there's the credit which is for doing good things and and actually either capturing storm water or diverting storm water so that's you get a credit for that and I'll give you just the cleanest example is when um Winchester Gardens was built when expanded they would they were required to build a retention Basin which is in if you ever down at the OEM building it's behind there it's just big Basin that sits empty except when it rains that's where the water goes to sit and then it you know it goes out a little by a little so that would be a credit because that's a good thing that's a capturing the storm water so that's the kind of example of course a resident is not going to do something like that so we tried to to figure out what to do but in any event we said if you want to apply for a credit there would be no fee we don't want to put a fee out there and and um either be as much as the credit would be or just make it difficult for people to want to apply for a credit so another um thing is that the credit doesn't expire I think we were was proposed to us that the credit expires in five years we said no the credit should stay if you're going to do this the credit should stay the only thing is every three years you just have to recertify that it's still functional right so that's that's just something there and then um there's no reporting except for larger properties larger properties would have to provide an annual report so that's three dwelling units or larger uh and then there's the series of credits so um you know the easiest thing for somebody to do is to put a rain barrel out there 55 gallon rain barrel captures rain off the roof that means the rain's not going out into the street or into the sewers and that's a good thing so we said okay if you're going to put a rain barrel um has to be at least 50 time 50 not 50 times 50 gallons and um what we're proposing is a onetime credit of $20 you get a rain barrel you put an application says I have a rain barrel we go by we see the rain barrel there it's hooked up and we process the $20 credit you get it one time and that's it so the whenever you put that rain barrel in your next bill would have a $20 credit then there's dryw where you actually put wells in um there's porous Pavements we had a lot in conversation about this this is where you take the asphalt that's in your driveway pull it up uh you layer um gravel underneath and you create space for water to percolate and sit and then you put porous pavers on top ex if you do that you get it's expensive yeah to do that you get a don't just do it for the credit yeah you get to do that you get a uh a credit and um you know is a certain percentage depending on how much of the impervious surface you remove rain Gardens rooftop gardens they're all in there uh filter strips um we had a situation once where somebody's garage was was emptying onto a neighbor and they built this system where they could filter the water that's that kind of thing um then there's an innovation credit and then there's a tree planting credit so we've talked that's that's what's in here now um and what I would suggest is you we kind of put this on for discussion again next week next meeting um and people in the interim can ask questions of us ask questions of Miss cido any legal questions um and then we consider it for introduction in February and Final in the second meeting in February and we're good to go in March the bills are not going to be going out until June May so May June so um you know we have time to to put it together The Next Step that we are working with um with our Consultants is to get a list of large um properties and then we're going to set up meetings for example we might set up a meeting of all the houses of worship yeah set up a zoom meeting for all the houses of worship and say okay we're doing this this is what's going to happen and before that meeting people would know what they're what they're uh charges are going to be some of you know as as we said all along some of these uh churches that have large parking lots are going to pay because they you know there's no impervious surface at all I mean there's no perious surface it's all impervious it's all just you know leaving their property and going somewhere else so right um so then we're going to do that we'll do that with some of the uh maybe some large Property Owners a residential property owners business property owners and I said the churches so and other institutions the schools and things like that so that's that's what we'll be rolling out we don't have that list yet we're waiting for that spreadsheet we've charged the Consultants to get that to us as soon as they can and we'll start that process who reviews these uh credit applications uh it's the um Mr kitner yeah kitner Mr kitner himself okay and then there's an there's a there's an appeal to the business administr well I should say his office right he's the he's the director of the uh the appropriate author The Authority yeah so he might assign one of his staff uh and then anybody who applies for credit and rejected they can um appeal to the uh administrator Mr we will go out and measure your rain barrel I like how you were referring to it as do a good thing because I think that's what we're also trying to promote here is that doing these things are good for the environment for St storm water management and yeah it's expensive to do that change to imper or the gravel and the pavers but if you're already going to be doing your driveway it puts it in your mind that oh wait I can do this and it's actually going to help with my storm water and I appreciate I didn't have a chance to read it all but I skimmed some of it and I did talk to Miss c cdio a little bit about it I appreciate that we're putting in these low hanging fruits so be it like a rain barrel or whatnot so that it can actually we can start making change even if we're not a gigantic property owner who can afford to do like these crazy things right and once we adopt this I think we can provide in our Communications that we do we can provide examples and perhaps even we can uh refer people to uh to contractors or other experts who can do these kinds of things and they can get information about pricing and how easy it is to do things and explain a little better like what they even are like you know for a rain Garden we all know what it is like how much of a rain Garden do you actually need on your property to qualify for credit and how do you actually go about doing it yeah Miss Ango I was going to ask you if you'd take it to environmental advisory to give maybe a FAQ list of a rainbarrow like you can reuse the water for watering your garden you can you should put something on top of it so it doesn't become a nesting you know a birthplace for mosquitoes and you know any kind of of our suggestions it would just be helpful and then that can go on the website yeah and can I send this to the sure right until it's adopted to who the envir oh yeah yeah yeah yeah they're they're an inhouse group yes yeah definitely some some more some examples and a little explainer because I'm not an engineer so when I look at this left it was right there are um some of the things there we've been looking at a bunch of websites Pittsburgh and and there's a one in West Virginia I think is a great website has little videos shows all this stuff I mean the other thing we need to do is we need to put out a list of the projects that are going to be covered and we'll be dealing with that in the budget time they've done maps to show where the work's going to be done so people see work around the town so we want to do all that so that they understand what this fee is for and then what they might be able to get a credit for terrific I just wanted to clarify um so I think you mentioned that all the credits they're one time only no just the rain barrel just the rain barrel okay that wasn't clear when I was reading through here because I was thinking actually I Googled at home it looks like you can get a rain barrel for like $79 or something so um you have to get 20 bucks off that helps pay for that um and a dryw is apparently sort of like an underground rain barrel I had to Google that too yeah dryw you it's about 10 grand to put in so yeah yeah but some of the some of these are like if you're going to put off um rooftop like a rooftop garden rooftop vegetarian like you have to get a licensed architect building permit so yeah because you're putting it on your roof a weight issue you have to make sure that whoever's developing it you can do that but if you're building if you're if you're building a read having a house you might want to just add something like that you know you put a couple more supports in to to go on top of some Maplewood rooms yeah right and presumably some of the larger Residential Properties that are going to be have a heavier burden are presumably uh owners who can afford to do some of these things yeah I think that's a percentage one yeah yeah that'd be really cool we had a bunch of those so move forward with we we does everyone agree with mrca to have another discussion meeting on this just so everybody can review it I yeah no I didn't get a chance to read it no yeah all right do we have any idea of how many applications we'll receive no like our our Consultants think it will not be a lot okay for credit yeah probably not it's just that you know there's an inara factor it's people are going to weigh what they're paying I mean the fee is $70 a good portion of people are going to pay $35 right so um there's going to be a lot of cost benefit analysis but I think you're right if if you are doing your driveway over maybe you're going to think about doing it a little differently maybe not so much for the credit but just for the right thing to do yeah um even a rainbow you know we're talking about capturing but don't don't forget that if you're not using New Jersey American Waters water to water your garden or something then you're saving money there too yeah that's a good point yeah so I think this is a good opportunity to get information out and I think the environmental advisory would be the best place to do that yeah I also want to just say I really like the Innovative Innovation credit too and highlight how it's you know talk to us first so that we can talk through it but I think that's a really good idea that might give us ideas for things we want to update for in the future yeah um so thank you for for our own properties and our own big parking lots we should look at repay because we pay for our own so we'll discuss it again on the 21st and then uh intro on the first meeting in February with Final on the second meeting okay yes okay all right we'll move on to consent agenda can I get a motion I'll move the consent agenda second Mr daffis yes Luca yes SLE yes fman yes mayor Adams yes thank you this takes us to our second public comment on any subject matter um do we have anyone in the room who would like to speak at public comment come on up name and address and uh three minutes to speak say bred peretta one Hickory Drive might want to give them no these meetings your meetings went to midnight these meetings don't go to [Laughter] midnight [Music] okay P the mic up so we can hear you oh yes okay um as I'm sure you know the builder at this place was told not to demolish the structure until the historic preservation commission had ruled as to whether it had historic significance or not there was a u historic PR uh preservation commission hearing on Friday last Friday at which the Builder Mr Sharif um testified that he testified under oath that among other things he tore down um before this hearing the interior structure of the house leaving exterior walls unsupported and as he put it lo and behold Mother Nature came along mother nature and blew down the walls so it wasn't his fault that it was demolished was that nature stuff you know um so it certainly appeared at least from what he was saying that that wasn't the case and that he really had effectively demolished the structure but the historic preservation Commission ignored this and decided that it was their job at this point in time to determine the historical significance of the building that was already demolished now um the um what they should have done I think is that they should have investigated the motives and the actions of the Builder and that's what I asked them at the proceeding to do and they said no that was was not within their jurisdiction they had to just go on and just and and do the significance uh evaluation and they would do it sometime in the next 45 days there's a Doctrine in law and it applies for centuries it goes back to the common law it's called spoilation of evidence and that holds that if you you're a party to a proceeding and you alter the evidence in any way destroy it modify it change it so you can't really tell what's going on you lose no matter how good your cases because you frustrated the ability of the body to determine what the truth is you've actually got that cified in your in your demolition uh um ordinances before you and as you can see Section 8 where I put a tag goes through all of the things that the Builder might do rendering the structure stly unsound and therefore more suitable for demolition he does any of these things doing so shall constitute a violation of this article and shall result in the denial of the demolition permit application without anything more because what they have what the Builder has done is effectively frustrated the ability of the of the body in charge of deciding this to make an accurate and honest determination so as I said I asked U that this be done that the Builder's motives and and actions be be uh um investigated at that very night uh last Friday and a lot of the people there also from the public wanted to do this also some some people read into the record the actions of this builder in other towns like South Orange and ignoring um directions of governing bodies and clear cutting trees and so forth but they didn't do that uh and what I'm saying to what I'm asking this um Township committee to do tonight is to inform the historic preservation commission that before they go on into any questions which to me my mind are mood at this point of historical significance they determine as a factual matter whether the Builder violated Section 8 of your ordinance and if they do find that and report that to you and you agree with them case closed it's the end he doesn't get a demolition permit he can't go on with the with the the proceedings no if you have any questions of me I'll be glad to answer them Committee Member Luc as the liais on here did you want to add anything into the record here in terms of factual timeline so I I mean I it's pretty it's pretty clear pretty clear what this says uh it doesn't say that the HPC has this responsibility I think this responsibility whether or not there's a violation and whether there's a denial rests with the administrative office and that's upstairs the the building's office and they're going to have to decide if they want want to bring a case against this person for violating the ordinance and um right now the demolition permit is stayed they can't do any more work there so um it's not really the historic preservation responsibility to investigate it's the building departments and they're well aware based on um the hearing Friday night that they you know we're trying to sort this out this is a rather unique situation this is our third hearing the other two hearings went very well this is a this is clearly a different um situation but if there's a finding of fault and if there's going to be any kind of violation it really needs to come from the building department and I think our attorney would agree with that um let me say this Mr Luca um the ordinance doesn't say that the ordinance just says it's unlawful to do this and if somebody does it it's a violation of the of of this section he was there under oath he was talking about what he he had done to the building he could have easily been asked to elaborate further and it would become would have become more clear what he had actually done one member started to ask him well did you not put up any supports he never answered that question uh that was the they had him under oath that was the body I mean it this should be done under oath so the guys commits perjury if is telling a lie uh that to me is the body where the fact finding should take place whether they're is a a further decision by the township to deny a permit I have no problem with that but as a but but the building department isn't doesn't doesn't take proceedings under oath they're taken at before bodies such as the historic preservation Comm the planning board the zone board that's where they put people under oath and that's and I'm sure that the lawyers who are very good who drafted this had precisely that in mind so I think if the if the if the building department Building Division upstairs wants to um pursue this they're going to file a violation against this person the person's going to go to court and they're going to testify under oath in court the historic preservation commission is not um a body that inv does in does that kind of Investigation they investigate the historic significance of the house and that's what this ordinance is about it's now clear that there's something happened up there and it's up to the building department and the department of uh Community Development to pursue this and if it's going to go to court that's where he the the Builder is going to have to testify under oath well all right assuming that that's that's the proper procedure would you agree that um that is a threshold matter it's to my mind kind of silly for the historic preservation committee commission to go on now and consider historical significance before the demolition work was done where none of that has to be done if in fact he's at a he he loses in the first instance because he committed a fraud Mr Ray I'm going to ask you to talk with the director of Community Development about this and see have them determine whether or not they want to proceed with any violations to this Builder one of the things I said that night was look these are all volunteers on the preservation commission their time is valuable yeah put them through another hearing on historical significances which is rather complicated uh when this is really a matter of is he out of court or not now because he lied seems to me to be a real imposition on on volunteers understood thank you Mr thank you I have a quick question about that so practically speaking where are we now notwithstanding everything that we just heard so uh the way the ordinance is written that if they find that there's a potential um historic significance they have 45 days to develop a nominating petition a nominating uh nominating petition for the structure so they're now going to do more research on whether or not the structure should be um nominated now the basis upon which they decided that it did have potential significance is the historic district the Ridgewood Road historic district okay but again practically speaking since there's not much there no I know I know look it is it it was unanimous vote um the attorney and I are not voters and you know we we we provided Guidance the attorney did um and you know we're we are going to have some more conversations um on our side we're going to reach out I think we're going to reach out to a historic uh expert legal legal expert to find out um just get some other opinions um but that's where we are right right now the the historic commission has taken the step to consider this further for nomination but I don't think that has to be separate and apart it can happen can all happen yeah it can all happen on par parallel yeah so in addition I mean this I think there's Court proceedings likely whether initiated by the township whether initiated by the the applicant so um I I would probably refrain from talking about it too much contemplating you know or or noodling about you know potential um outcomes at this time but you know I I think we can suffice it to say that the HPC is working through the process that's outlined in the ordinance and that Community Development and code will be working to enforce our our work y right but I my question relates farther down the road right so I'm not talking about this particular owner and the facts uh what happened and what didn't happen right um if the commission decides that they're going to nominate this what are they nominating because it it affects the potential of what happens there in the future let's say this owner walks away they get in trouble they go to court you know whatever again I I would really we can I think what our attorney is advising I I really don't want to speculate about next steps I think if we want to talk about the ordinance itself we can do it in your code committee um to see if there's adjustments that need to be made to that make it for the Practical reasons we're talking I'll add it to the agenda for Tuesday yeah I mean just just in general again I want to say we've had three hearings this hearing is was very in the other two hearings there was I think the reports were done very well they did a great job on the reports they were um know very thoughtful in in how they approached this everyone participated um they did the same for this their the report was pretty good they were thoughtful in their deliberations and they made a decision um this just happens to be I so I think the ordinance is working pretty good I think there's this Wrinkle in that this house isn't there anymore and now we have to figure out what happens right sure but I think the parallel tracks is the way we're going to go we're not going to tell HPC to not do we want to do and we're going to have our director of Community Development who I'm sure is watching um look into this further all right is there any other members of the public who would like to there's nobody here but online Mr wary if anyone on if anyone joining on Zoom would like to speak in public portion please raise your hand now I am moving Daniel Wright to panelist Mr Wright welcome to public portion you may unmute yourself and address the committee hi this is uh Daniel Wright chair of the Maplewood historic preservation commission I just wanted to uh say that I'm here and I listened to the conversation uh that was just had so and thank you for the kind words about the research reports Mr Duca thank you anyone else Mr wory if any other members joining on Zoom would like to address the committee please raise your hand now I see no hands mayor all right with that I'll take a motion to adjourn so moved you second can't always be I do daffis yes Duca yes SLE yes M Herman yes mayor Adams yes thank you we'll see you on the 21st have a good evening good night we keep keep this in what e e e e e e e