I'm ready. You just wait. We have to wait on on Malia's miss. I think you may have to shut your sound off a bit. Okay. So do I actually. Okay. 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. Davis present. Luca here, Bangle here, Miss Herman here, Mayor Adams
here. Whereas chapter 231, public laws of 1975, commonly known as the open public meetings act, requires that all meetings of public bodies be open to the public. And whereas section 7A provides that the governing body has a discretion to permit, prohibit or regulate the act
of participation of the public at any meeting and where is the desire of 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 Mapwood does hereby prohibit except as set forth in the formal agenda active participation in deliberations of the governing body by the public and except as otherwise prescribed by law does limit the public to the observations of the actions and discussions of the governing body of all
its regular and special meetings. So moved. Second. Mr. Daffus. Yes. Suca. Yes. Engel. Yes. Herman. Yes. Mayor Adams. Hold on. Yes. Thought we just for attendance.
Okay. And that's the last vote. Okay. Are we done? Didn't sound like attendance to me. I said yes. Not here. I said yes, too. I think we did attendance before. Okay.
Why do we always mess this up when Miss Bobo is here watching? She's losing faith in us every single time. Please stand for the salute to the flag. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the
United States of America to the republic for it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, liberty and justice for all. Thank you. Good evening everyone and welcome to our only meeting in August for 2025,
Tuesday, August 5th. We have no second meeting this month. Um, and for tonight we have uh public comment is the first thing. I'm so used to seeing proclamations in that. Um, public comment is for agenda items
only. That's right after my introduction. Then we'll move into the board of health meeting. Um, then we have ordinances. One on final passage. We have a bond ordinance um appropriating money for um the joint meeting of Essex County. We have uh
introduction of one ordinance or couple ordinances, sorry. This one is for changing the code be led by Mr. Daffis. It's on zoning and development regulations for front-facing garage regulations. Um the next ordinance is to amend chapter 257
um regarding merchant downtown merchant parking permits and eliminating any cap on those. And then um we have an ordinance amending and restating an ordinance for Maplewood establishing the Maplewood Cares Trust Fund. Then we'll
move into administrative reports. Um, this our administrator, is he on Zoom? And is he um going to be giving a report? No. Okay. I thought he was coming on Zoom, but that's okay. All right. So, you'll
give the the report and then we'll have our township attorney, township clerk, elected officials, Mr. Duca, Miss Angel, Miss Herman, Mr. Daffis, and then I go last. We have a couple of um items on for discussion tonight. One is time
limited parking changes around the Maplewood Library and that's Mr. Duca and then uh request for a beer garden from the Springfield Avenue a Avenue Partnership and that will be Miss Fritzen. Then we move to the consent agenda and we have public comment on any
subject matter and then we will adjourn and we had national night out tonight so we're starting an hour late so ready to move along. So, we'll go to the first public comment on agenda items only. If there's anyone who would like to address the township committee, you come up to
the microphone and please identify yourself and you have three minutes to speak. Hi. Hello. Uh my name is Ken Stannic. Uh I am here to talk on uh discussion item 11b, the request for a beer gardener
from the Springfield Avenue Partnership. And I just wanted to explain a little bit about what that request is for. Uh it is for a an affordable arts market that we're putting on. Um there's one another organizer that may be showing up
any second now for it, but um there Oh, look, showed up, took my seat. Um we are Natalie and I are local artists and we organized this with two other local artists. And one of the reasons we're putting on this event is just to
have uh markets that are organized by local artists for local artists and also to bring more events to Maplewood because we love doing this stuff anyway and we wanted something that was going to serve us as artists as best we can. Our first event was wildly successful
and we decided we'll just do two more this year. Uh, and as a former member of the Springfield Avenue board, I know how much effort we put into attracting people to the avenue and bringing events there, uh, that, you know, show people that there's something else going on on
this side of town that is worth going to. Um, so why we want to apply for a beer garden permit is to encourage more people to come out to leverage uh, lumellers and their vendors and all of
that. uh buzz that we can create about an interesting event that hopefully we can continue annually uh into the distant future down there as we put on these art sales. And the the event it's called affordable arts because everything that we put there is
under $200. So it's very affordable. Like art sales can sometimes be like wildly expensive. Everything we do, everything I sell is under $100. Usually they're like 50 bucks. and we have lots of vendors who have small items like this and we're excited about the success
that we've had and we're excited to bring it to Springfield Avenue in general. The other point I was going to make is we're trying to attract as many Springfield Avenue businesses as our food or arts vendors as well. So all of this is as much as we can to Springfield
Avenue vendors. So we're trying to make it much more beneficial to Springfield Avenue. And that's basically it. Thank you very much. I hope to see you there. It's on September 14th. It's a Sunday. What date? September. That's right. September 14th. The first the month was a little
bubbled. So, yeah. Thanks, guys. Anyone else like to speak on agenda items only? Miss Pres, is there anyone online who would like to speak? Okay, thank you. So, with that, we'll
move into uh the board of health meeting. I'll turn it over to committee member Angel. Thank you, mayor. 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, the news record and star ledger in December 2024, and by filing said notice in the office of the township clerk.
Mayor Adams, yes. Mr. Daffis are here present. Mr. Duca here. Miss Herman here. Miss Angel here. Whereas chapter 231 public laws of 1975
commonly known as the open public meetings act requires that all meetings of public bodies be open for 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 whereas desire the Maplewood
Board of Health to comply with the provisions this exact same time and conduct its business in an orderly and exhibitious manner. Now therefore be it resolved by the Maplewood Board of Health, the Township of Mapwood, does hereby prohibit except the set forth in the formal agenda act of participation
in deliberations of the board of health by the public and except as otherwise describe bylaw does limit public the observation of the actions and discussions of the board of health at all of its regular and special meetings. So moved. Second. Mayor Adams.
Yes. Safus. Yes. Sluca. Yes. Man, yes. Zangel, yes. I move to approve the board of health meeting minutes from July 1st, 2025. Second.
Mayor Adams. Yes. Mr. Daffis, yes. Duca, yes. Miss Angle, yes. Now I pass things over to our health officer, Candace Davenport. Hello. Good evening, everyone. We're going to start our presentation a little differently tonight with a presentation
from the Collaborative Support Programs of New Jersey, which is CSPJ, our homeless outreach and engagement presentation. They'll be giving you an overview of information since they started in May, but most particularly from November to April. Um, highlights
of this year. I'm going to introduce Miss Lashima Sanders Edwards, who is the wellness and recovery regional coordinator for CPNJ. Good evening everyone and thank you for having me. Um I would you pull the mic up a little?
Mic up. Yes. Thank you. So um I will be taking over the project and working with the two gentlemen that are out doing the outreach um and working with the team. So I just wanted to give you a little background of what we were doing since November of 2024,
November 1st to be exact. um up until April of 2025. And just to highlight a few few key things here is we had a total of and we had 221
uh food assistants um and 127 DMV appointments and that also includes getting IDs for individuals um 116 wellness center um connections and with that the 80 services for transportation was transportation for like when we use the automobile to transport them to and
from wherever they wanted to go. And then we also provided 100 um transportation services which included giving them bus tickets to get to and from wherever they wanted to go. Um just another note here, even though they're small um we did provide resume
assistance for individuals as well as SSI benefit um applications completed for some individuals which also shows wraparound care and services. Next slide please. So um 521 represents the engagements for
the entire project. That's how many people we have come in contact with that is on the Google tracker. 106 individuals represent the um November 1st to 2024 to 4:30 2025 with that being 78 of them being male that identified in
Hemis as male and 24 female. And we also had 76 individual females, 18 males that identified um as individuals in Hemis as well as four single parent homes. But those four single parent homes, one of them were a male single parent home.
Next slide please. uh for diversion to date and that also includes the overall project um 19 diversion for the period between November 2024 to April of 2025, April 30th. Um there
were three um diversion referrals. Um and with those three diversion referrals, they were a success. Um we had a family that was facing eviction um and within two days their back rent was paid and the eviction was stopped. Um, in addition to that, another family was
relocated. We also provided a security deposit in first month's rent. So, they successfully relocated and are in their new home. And finally, we had an individual who found affordable housing and we paid the security deposit in first month's rent, which is a success.
I also want to put out there that our funds had ran out at some point, but we have been replenished, so we are looking forward to helping more folks get served. So, thank you. Yeah. Does anyone have any questions? I'm sorry, Deb.
Does anyone have any questions for CSN? Jet Mr. Duca, just for the sake of the public, could you sort of define what diversion means? I was going to do that, but yes, please.
Um, I can't do it off the top of my head, but diversion is basically it's an assistance that helps folks with um, if they need a security deposit, first month's rent, it's kind of prevent them from ending up homeless. It's like a housing first
model from my understanding. So, even if that includes car repair services to help them stay employed in order to keep their housing. Um that also could be relocation services if they need to relocate um and that's going to secure their housing. So pretty much in a
nutshell it's like housing first um services to prevent homelessness if I Yeah. Can I add to that? May I? Thank you. So um housing first is the principle is the umbrella principle in all of
this. We always focus on getting someone housed first before we provide the other necessary supportive services. Diversion applies upstream to someone who may be facing eviction. We want to get to them
before they lose their housing. So, we are diverting them away from displacement. Diversion can also apply downstream after someone has been displaced but before they enter the shelter system. So
we are getting to them to do exactly what you said so well relocate them rapidly you know finding that new housing that new apartment paying the security deposit and you know safely housing them. That's diversion.
Diversion upstream, diversion downstream. Any other questions for CSPJ? I just have a question. When you said that your funds ran out, but that was replenished, was that just like fundraising of CSPJ or does it have to do with what we are?
Those are funings that we have DCA for the DCA funding cuts. We used them up so we had to wait for them to be replenished, but we're replenished and we're ready to go. Yeah. DCA just put out a new round of of grants with new funding after the state
budget was approved and made official. Great. Any other questions for CSPJ? Nope. Awesome. Thank you so much for your report. Welcome. Nice to meet you. Thank you. Back to you, Miss Davenport. Can I say something because I think this is first of all, we're going to make
this available. Right. Right. People should look at this. Hey everyone out there, whoever's watching, if anyone's watching, um, take a look at this because at in other communities right next to us, Mel, not Melbourne,
but Summit, not too far away, they are criminalizing people who are unhoused. They are saying that if you sleep outside, you will be arrested and you will be fined $2,000, which is insane, right? someone who's homeless is
not going to be able to pay that. Yeah. Um and it's happening in New Jersey. Progressive liberal New Jersey is doing this. We're seeing it. Tom's River tonight. Tom's River has a township committee meeting tonight and their
council has an ordinance before them to criminalize people sleeping outside. And I think it's important to really say this out loud. this works. Not police badges
or locking people up. That does not solve the problem. And the other things that we need to talk about to address the affordability crisis in housing across the state. Those are the things that work, not locking people up or criminalizing them. And our president
right now is doing that with his executive order that he put out which is threatening the funding for programs like this. And it's important because you know I was in some circles in this progressive community where people were
like saying well you know what I have a heart but I don't want to see this homeless person. What can you do to get rid of them? You know what? I have a heart but I don't want to see them on the bench. Get rid of the freaking bench. You know what? I have a heart. But that person just defecated on the street.
Yeah. Because they're houseless. So, I think it's important for us to keep raising awareness, to keep investing in this program and as a champion in this space. I'm really proud of our work. I'm really proud of our work. We have a lot of things to focus
on and do better in, but I'm really really proud of this and I thank you. We're very grateful for CSPJ. Thank you, Mr. Davis. To move forward, next slide. Just want to let you know that we have a new community resource guide that's updated
with resources for all of those uh contents like utility, food, housing, family assistance, and mental health transportation resources that'll be available on our website. Um, thanks to Gabe Suarez, who is our health outreach coordinator who updated that. You'll also notice that we have information to
the state health department um of human services and the New Jersey disability information hub. And also we make note that people can go to the local libraries for um free Wi-Fi if needed. Next slide. Um as we look at the weather, just want
to give information on heat safety that's available here. This uh presentation will also be available to the public on our website as well. Next slide. Next slide. Just want to give some highlights of the presentation tonight. Uh for July, our nurses, our nurse
Susette uh Gail has done um seven reportable diseases investigations. Next slide. This is important. Um this is measles. So we have had in the last two months three cases of measles. One in Ocean County, one in Hudson County and now one
in Pay County. Uh this is as of April um August 2nd. So we are watching this very closely. These are um all unvaccinated individuals. The one in Pay County was due to international travel. So we're keeping an eye on that. Next slide, please.
Again, just information for the national measles update just to keep everyone informed of what's going on across the country, which is impacting us as well. Next slide. So, the county is providing a measles vaccine clinic. This is only for um
those who are anyone 18 years of age and older. So, uh the new date they had to postpone it is now Wednesday, August 13th from 3:30 to 6:30. walk-ins are welcome again because we want to get people vaccinated, prevent vaccine uh prevent vaccine preventable diseases
like measles. Um please attend this uh free measles vaccine if you know of your status as being unvaccinated. Next slide. There's been a rash, no pun intended, of hand, foot and mouth disease um which is also known as Kaksaki virus in our child
care centers and preschool settings um and camps. So we are monitoring that as well. Um we have a few of them in um our childcare centers and our nurses doing a great job of um monitoring that and we want to thank our childcare centers for doing a great job of disinfecting, cleaning and notifying us of these
issues. Next slide. Again, for the vaccines for children clinics that the county provides, um we have three dates, August 13th, August 20th, and August 27th, where people, now that you're going back to school, uh can
get their free vaccines for children in order to attend school um in New Jersey. Thank you. Next slide. Lastly, we have a free rabies vaccination clinic for our uh dogs and cats. That'll be Saturday, September 6th
from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. at the Maplewood Community Pool. Um following that will be uh doggy day at the pool for Maplewood residents. So, we wanted to offer this. Um it'll be at the parking lot of um the Maplewood Community Pool. So, please bring your um
dogs and cats for a free rabies vaccination. Next slide. Just to give you an update, on July 14th at our health uh at our farmers market, excuse me. We had free health screenings from uh Raw Johnson Barnabas and um the
county, they um serviced 15 residents with stroke risk assessments, blood pressure screenings, uh diabetes um screening and education, and um finger sticks. Next slide. Moving on to environmental health
update. Just to show you that um our registered environmental health specialist Isabelle Dari has been very busy with um complaints and restaurant inspections. Next slide. And uh going to social services and mental health. Want to highlight here
that in the month of July they have seen 36 cases. These are individual cases in the month of July. This is the highest number that we've ever had in terms of co-response or followup or walk-ins into town hall for services. Um 26 of those
were new cases that we've never seen before. Um four were co-response and 18 were followup. And please note the other calls were walk-ins. Those 14. So we're getting the word out there that our services are available and we are really reaching out to families. The uh cases
are very diverse. We've seen cases from ages 12 to 76 years of age. Next slide. And just to let you know that on um July 23rd, the reach for recovery van, which helps to inform uh the community about
substance use disorder services and treatment programs. Um six people were serviced by the community fridge. Next slide. And this is our last slide as always to let people know about the resources available through our make the right call program. Thank you.
Thank you, Miss Davenport. Any questions from my colleagues for our health officer? I just want to highlight all those free services, the reach for van recovery, the health screenings at the farmers market, um our crisis intervention social worker. I mean, I feel like we have so many of the vaccine clinics.
there's so many um affordable free um health things that people can take part in through the county and through Maplewood. So, we appreciate you very much. Thank you for promoting. Um Miss Perez, is anyone here in the room would like to um ask our health officer any questions?
Miss Perez, can you help um facilitate online public comment for our health officer? Right. Then I move to adjourn until our next scheduled meeting on Tuesday, September 2nd, 2025. Second. Mayor Adams. Yes. Mr. Davis. Yes.
Duca. Yes. Miss Angel. Yes. Back to you, mayor. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. Nice work. Thank you. All right. Now we'll move on to uh we have one ordinance on for final passage. This is a bond ordinance. Miss Pritzen.
Uh yes, mayor. Item number 7A, ordinance number 3163-25. bond ordinance providing for township's elocable share of the 225 capital improvement program of the joint meeting
of Essex and Union counties in and by the township of Mapwood and the county of Essex, New Jersey appropriating $900,000 therefore and authorizing the issuance of $855,000 in bonds or notes to the township to
finance part of the cost thereof. This ordinance appropriates $900,000 for the township repair of the 2025 capital improvement program of the joint meeting with Essex and Union County and
authorizes issuance of $855,000 in bonds or notes to finance part of the of the cost. Okay. I open a hearing on this ordinance. Is there anyone in the room who would like to speak to this bond ordinance uh funding for the joint
meeting projects? Miss Pres on online who would like to speak to this ordinance. Any members of the public joining us via Zoom? If you'd like to speak on this ordinance, please raise your hand. I see none. Mayor. Okay. With that, I'll close the hearing.
Is there anyone up here would like to discuss any comments or discussion on it? Okay. Then I move this ordinance be adopted as a whole. The clerk be directed to publish the same as a past ordinance in the Maplewood South Orange News record according to law. I second the motion.
Mr. Davis, yes. Mr. Duca, yes. Bangal, yes. Mayor Adams, yes. Um, did we do M? Oh, right. We didn't. Okay. Introduction ordinance. Uh, yes, Mayor. Item 8A, ordinance
number 3164-25 is an ordinance to amend chapter 271 of the code of the township of Mapwood entitled zoning and development regulations with respect to residential front-facing garage requirements.
This ordinance will amend article 5 zoning provisions of chapter 271 of the township code to incorporate requirements for the arrangement of residential frontfacing garages in the
R15 R17 zoning districts. 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 September 2nd. I'll second.
Sudafis, yes. Luca, yes. Engel, yes. Mayor Adams, yes. Next ordinance 3165-25. Yes. Mayor, item 8B, ordinance 3165-25 is an ordinance to amend chapter 257 of
the township code of the township of Mapwood entitled vehicles and traffic. This ordinance will remove the caps that are currently imposed on the number of merchant parking permits that may be issued to a business establishment based
upon the number of employees. 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 September 2nd. A second. Datis, yes. Luca, yes.
Miss Angel, yes. Mayor Adams, yes. Last ordinance on uh Yes, Mayor. Item 8 C, ordinance 3166-25 is an ordinance amending and restating ordinance 2942-9
of the Township of Mapwood establishing the Maplewood Carees Trust Fund. This ordinance will expand eligibility criteria for recipients of funds from the Maplewood Cares Trust Fund and make certain changes to fund administration.
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 September 2nd. Second, yes. Luca, yes. Yes. Mayor Adams,
yes. Thank you. That's all for our ordinances. Now we'll move to our administrative reports. Miss Press, we have no report. Madame Mayor, you have no report. Oh, okay. Any questions for administration?
Caught you by off guard, didn't it? Yes, it did. Um, now we'll move to our attorney, Miss Pidio. Thank you, mayor. Brief report. Um we have a uh mortgage that's been submitted
with a request for discharge in connection with our affordable housing program where the township um gives members of the community small loans to help do life safety items in their homes uh you know roof boiler etc. Um this
would be with respect to block 49.5 lot 632.8 in accordance with the terms of the program. the property owner has resided there for more than 10 years since the initial mortgage was issued. Uh thereby entitling them to a discharge. Uh we
would you would like uh if we could get a motion and a second just uh authorizing Mr. Wary andor Miss Perez uh in his absence to execute the discharge and any related documents. I'll move it. A second. Mr. Davis,
yes. Luca, yes. Miss Angel, yes. Mayor Adams. Yes. Thank you. Thank you. Any questions for our township? Um, you know what? I'm Can you uh just describe I want to thank Mr. Daffis for raising the issue about virtual
participation by township committee. Can you describe what we're going to do next at the next meeting we hope to have on the consent agenda? Just talk about how we're going to change our bylaws or amend our bylaws. Sure. Um the the township in the past their practice has been that uh members
who participate remotely you know may participate uh be present discuss but not uh not vote on matters and that's largely um a carryover from a pre zoom era. The most important thing obviously
is that uh members of the township committee can hear and be heard. Um in this beautiful chamber sometimes, you know, in a presume era having a cell phone on on the desk wouldn't necessarily allow a member to have the benefit of all the discussion that's
happening in the chamber. Now that we've um got the improved technology, uh it's the the township committee has asked me to draft an update to the bylaws which would reflect the ability to for a township committee member who
was not present in the room to participate fully including voting and to you know sort of set some some parameters and and to add that to our bylaws so that you know everybody very transparently and so that everyone's aware aware of of what the the
parameters are. Be careful. Any other questions? Okay. Thank you. We'll move to our township clerk, Mr. Spitzen. Uh yes, mayor. Just one thing I want to uh uh report on. Several event planning
meetings have uh occurred since our last meeting and several more are uh future weeks. We have a lot of activities and um a lot of events in town and uh we're covering them with the meetings to make sure that everything
runs smoothly. Thank you. Okay. Any questions for a township clerk moving? I like it. Don't jinx it. Okay, Mr. What is that interference? Feedback or
Yeah, I don't know. I think it's Mr. Duca turn. We know what's happening. It shows the AV is muted. What did you say, Miss Herman? Oh, now it's off. Now we should be able
to hear Mr. Duca. This is This has never happened before. Yeah, I don't think it's me. We never have any problems with microphone. No, I think it's the mayor, but that's okay. Um, so I just have one item. You want to write this down? Just one item?
One item. Love it. August 5th, Duca. One item only. Uh, Porchfest is going to be on Sunday, August 31st from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Actually, 12:30. We start with the honk parade uh community center dehart park
and then we'll walk down uh to Lexington Avenue to the former home of Carol and Jim Buchanan. Yeah. And then that kicks off uh four hours of free music uh around the Hilton neighborhood assoc Hilton neighborhood. That's it. Thank you.
Any questions for Mr. Duca? What are you going to be honking during the honk parade? this microphone out of this if you Okay, then we'll move to committee member Engel. I thought Mr. Duca was going to thank the police department for a national
night out um this evening. So, great job to all of our hardworking officers who worked on that event at the heart park tonight. Um I also attended the municipal alliance meeting which is um a joint um venture between us and South Orange and it's funded by the state and there's always such interesting
presentations and so I just this past one was talking about cannabis um and the danger of children getting into your stash. So I thought I would just bring up that if you have edibles at home um you know the portion size but your kids do not if they find your gummies or your
brownies. So, just make sure that you're storing your edibles in safe spots so that your kids don't have health issues because they get into it. Um, and that is my Oh, and the last thing is, um, last time we talked about how the CHS, uh, drop off, um, procedures are going
to be changing. We're working with our partners in South Orange and with our engineers to get an updated map and information out to the public. So, that will be coming soon. And that's my report. Okay. Any questions for committee member Angel? Seeing none, we'll move to Oh, Deputy
Mayor Herman. Oh, thank you. I actually have a bunch of things to share. There's a lot of things happening in August for the end of summer. We've got the divein movie and donuts at the pool. The movie is going to be Toy Story. That'll be
Wednesday, August 13 at 8:30 p.m. And I just wanted parents to know that um if you're still looking for camps to fill up those last days in August there, we still have a number of camps that are open. Uh Ultimate is next week. Math made fun next week. Reading and writing
um is the August 18th week. Soccer camp at Memorial Park and Multisport Camp at Memorial Park both have openings for the week of August 18th. I want to remind everyone about the farmers market on Mondays. They run from 2:00 to 5:00. Um really great offerings. Um I got some
amazing peaches and corn and made a salad. Um and I wanted to let everyone know that we are offering the senior bus for the farmers market. So you can um seniors can make sure and get a ride and get to the farmers market. Um we've got the Laura Holtz tennis tournament to
fight epilepsy coming up on September 6th to 7. And I'm mentioning it now because you'll want to think about um getting your teams to your um like partners um and signing up for that. That's on Recesk. Um and for everyone who wants to uh go to the pool, we have
Auguston pool passes. So this is a really great opportunity to um get a lower cost pass. If you're in town for August, you can get a pass for the rest of the month. Go and get it right now so you can use it the whole month. Um it's
125 for individuals, 80 for seniors, 210 for a family of four. Um so this is a really good bargain um to get over to the pool. And um as an added incentive, we have Zumb Zumba at 6 p.m. on Mondays and that'll be the remaining Mondays in
August, August 11, 18, and 25. Um so that's something to look forward to. And we've got a lot of events coming up in our alts and arts and culture department. Just want to mention um that American Classic filming is wrapping up on August 22nd. So um that's good news
for some, maybe not so good news if you're still trying to catch a glimpse of our stars who are in town. Um we are looking at updating our venue rental fees. So I'll have more information on that soon. Um the gazebo concert series,
it has two um Fridays left. This is a really really great relaxing evening. bring your chair and get some food from one of our amazing restaurants and go listen to the music Friday, August 8th. That's this Friday. And then next Friday, August 15th. Um, and then also
coming up in August, we've got Reflecting Refuge. It's a solo exhibition by New Jersey based artist Christine Solder Pilar. And we have an opening reception on August 14. And then we're going to be celebrating Hispanic
Heritage Month. So, um, save the date September 20th for salsa dancing. And we're, um, we're working to try and get a salsa dancing class before the salsa night so you can brush up on your skills. Um, and right now the deadline
to for we also have a um, Somos Latinos exhibition. It's going to be a collective exhibition at 1978 Gallery and the deadline to submit is coming up. It's August 12th. So, go ahead and submit if you want to participate in that. The opening reception for that
will be September 19th. And then um we've got a lot of fun things for Labor Day weekend right after you enjoy PorchFest come the very next day on Monday, September 1st to Memorial Park for Broadway in the Park. We've got a
lot of local Broadway stars who will be singing. Um that's always a highlight. Um I I've gone in the past. It's really fun. Um, and then I just wanted to give a couple of updates on the health department. Um, we're still working on a
um on the community fridge issue, so bear with us on that. Um, and we're also um still looking at local and state smoking ordinances. So, more to come on that. Um, and that's what I have. Okay. Thank you. Any questions for deputy mayor?
Okay, Mr. Defus, did she leave you anything? We have nothing going on in this township, right? Oh my goodness, all the great events coming up. Thank you for that very comprehensive report. Deputy Mayor Herman, I have one uh item and it's a call. It's a call to the
community for residents who are renters. We need you. We need you at the table to talk about rent regulation, housing equity, housing affordability. We are um
reinstituting our rent leveling board and we're looking to put in a new rentleing ordinance, otherwise known as rent control, in Maplewood to reflect the reality of housing and the affordability
crisis that we're all dealing with. Uh so now's the time to get involved. We need a few tenants to be part of the board. Um, and we'd love to hear from you. Um, everyone signs up for all that cool stuff that Deputy Mayor Herman just
talked about, the camps and the wreck, and they want to be on wreck advisory or pool committee. Uh, some people want to do environmental work, right? You never have any problems, Miss Angle, recruiting people for the environmental advisory committee. So, um, again, if
you're a resident and you're a renter, we need you at the table. You matter. Nearly 30% of our residents right now, it's about 26% I think uh of our residents in Maplewood are renters. So we need to change the conversation
which has been exclusively focused on homeowners and single family zones, right? Our community has changed and um we need to reflect all those voices and all those
important issues. So reach out to me. Um very easy to find and uh let's get you on board so that we can work on this. Thank you. Thank you. Any questions for Mr. Death? Okay. And I have no report. So we're going to move into discussion items. Um
time changes. Mr. Duca on the library parking. Yes. Thank you, Mayor. Uh the board of the library uh discussed the current uh time limited parking in front of the library. Currently it's 30 minutes. Um
these are for seven spots that are in front of the library. And they'd like to extend that to 1 hour instead of 30 minutes because we have so much going on at the library now. And then across the street is three hours. They also would like the parking lot to be three hours. So, if we're okay with that, we can ask
our Is there any time limit on the parking lot now? There is. It's three hours. It's not signed. And I'm not sure that it's actually in the code. I haven't found it in the code. I think we may have dropped it. I'm not sure, but we need to put it in. Probably codify it. Yeah. So, uh, if you could if we if we're okay
with that, then we can just have our attorney draft the ordinance. We can introduce it at the next meeting. I have a question. Um, is there a particular reason for the three hours in the parking lot as opposed to saying two hours?
Uh, because you can rent the rooms for 3 hours. The community room. So, it's consistent with that how long can you rent the quiet room? I'm not sure about the quiet rooms, but the community room is three hours. That's That's a good answer. That answers my question because I'm thinking about the
other parking lots that we have nearby in the village and we uh took great action to uh reduce the three-hour parking in most of those lots to two hours, but this makes sense for this. Thank you, Deputy Mayor Herman.
Thank you. So, I was wondering if there's a spot or two that might be 15 minutes for people to return books. Um, just so they can pull up and put them in the slot and not worry about cuz I think that one spot that's in front of where
this the return um uh thing is is a handicapped. So, I just wanted to know how we can accommodate those people. We discussed that. I mean, the reality is that it's very hard to enforce and and and people park there. So, it just
it it's it's you're we're making people break the law by because they're going to park there anyway and we're not going to enforce it. We talked about it and we said we'd rather just have all parking and people can figure out they can double park in the parking lot to uh Yeah. Yeah. drop off the books and stuff like that
if they're just dropping off books. That's what they used to do before. or they used to just double park in the parking lot, drop off the books cuz all the books are encouraged to be dropped off uh externally. So, you don't even have to go in the library. I just wouldn't want them to double park
in in front of the handicap spot. No, they're not going to park there because they can't. That's a driveway. So, they would park inside the lot. So, okay. Any other thoughts or questions?
I'm in favor of it, I think. Um, same. Yeah. But want to spend longer in this great library. Show it off. Yeah. Okay. So, that'll be on for next meeting. You draft the ordinance.
Our attorney will Okay. No, you're not going to do it. No. Okay. Um, okay. Mapler Park Beer Garden. We have a request. Miss Fritzen. Okay. uh mayor and township committee. Uh you heard from uh the speaker at the
first public session, but I will give you a quick background. Uh the event is Sunday, September 14th, and it's from 11 to 4 in Springfield Avenue, Maplewood along with Soma Affordable Art Fair.
They're co-hosting an art fair event on at the Springfield Avenue Gazebo and Maple Crest Park. This event will feature dozens of local Soma artists selling reasonably priced art products. What um we're asking for consideration
of the governing body is that part of the event uh lums sellers will host a wine and beer garden. The beer and wine garden will be in Maplerrest Park roped off from the rest of the event with a
mandatory ID check as required by EBC. And um I had previously submitted uh Nicole Wallace's ask on this event along with the map so that you could um get a picture of where the location would be.
And um so uh anytime we have a beer garden in uh one of our municipal parks, township committee must concur um to accept uh the request that the uh beer garden be placed there. Additionally,
they have to apply for an ABC license, um a social affair one day event, which um I believe um they have done, but of course I have to check that. But there was no point in proceeding if the township committee was not in favor of
the beer garden in a municipal park. I'm in favor. I love this event. Thank you for bringing it to Maple Crest Park and for including all of our Springfield Avenue businesses in it. I feel the same. This is exciting. Well done,
M. Um I'm not going to be voting for this. Uh I did not agree when we added Maplerrest Park to the um permission of parks. We had Memorial Park and then we added Maplerrest. I
think Mapler Crest is too much of a neighborhood park as opposed to Memorial Park. So, I just want to be consistent. So, I won't be voting for this. I'm fine with it. I just I I I need some clarity. I think we um I don't know
if we'll be able to have it with regard to I know we have Maplerest Park and Memorial Park as permitted to have these, but I I have some concerns about having every event start wanting to have a beer wine garden. I don't know if that's something I would want, but I'm
I'm fine with this one. Um Deputy Mayor, did you have any thoughts? I think that um in light of all of the work that's been going on on Springfield Avenue and the plight that it's taken on our businesses, it's really wonderful to have an event like this that we could
celebrate our businesses and really um you know um help promote them with our residents. And so that's why I'm particularly excited about this art program. Um I think that, you know, having a beer garden in Mapler Park kind
of evens it out. you know, we allow it in in Memorial. So, I think it would be nice to allow it on um Springfield Avenue and also to promote again to be able to promote events there and businesses um you know in in two different parts of town I think is appropriate. So, um I I would support
this. Okay. Um so, we have opinions. We should probably pass this by resolution, right? Motion. So, we need a motion. I'll move it. I'll second. Mr. Davis,
yes. Luca, no. Zangel, yes. Mayor Adams, yes. Passes. Thank you. Okay, with that, we'll move. We're done with discussion items. We have um I'd like to make a motion to go past 9:30
because I think we have some second. Mr. Stafis, yes. Go past 9:30. Mr. Ducas, yes. Bangle. Yes. Mayor Adams. Yes. Thank you. Um, reluctantly. Can I get a motion on the consent
agenda? Mayor, I move our consent agenda. I'll second. Daffis, yes. Luga, yes. Bangal, yes. Mayor Adams, yes. And that brings us to our second public comment session on any subject
matter. So, if there's anyone in the room who would like to speak to the township committee, please come up to the podium, state your name and address, and you have three minutes to speak. Make sure you uh bring the mic up to you. Yeah, thank you.
It's a funny mic so they can hear you out there, too. Okay, agree. Um I've never been here before. It's beautiful. Welcome. Thank you. Um, my name is Ali Gans. I'm a South Orange resident visiting uh Maplewood, very far away.
Um, uh, I I'm here to to express my um financial concerns around uh the plan to um cover Ritzer with artificial turf. Um, the Ritzer project budget has
increased from 2.2 2 million in 2019 to 5 million earlier this year, then 6.4 million in June, and now it is 7.4 million. This is in the context of the district holding town halls warning of a
fiscal cliff and proposed cuts to special ed services. The proposal, sorry, it's okay. The proposal earmarks $300,000 for a storm water retention system, but according to the district's architects, they won't be able to
determine the storm water requirements until test pits are dug to access the water table depth. For comparison, Westfield um in New Jersey had to allocate an additional $2 million just to incorporate adequate adequate storm
water retention and organic infill. And this is something that they learned the hard way. And as a reminder, the storm water system is legally required. This plan feels like a financial disaster waiting to happen. Thank you.
Thank you. Welcome. Stat your name and address. And my name is Jessica Miller. Um 87 Hickton, please. Jessica, could you use the mic a little closer? Yeah. It's that's a tough I don't want to overwhelm it. Yeah. Yeah. Um the selected plan for Ritzer plan D
2.0 has the greatest amount of turf coverage, 3 acres. Therefore, it will create the largest heat island and require the most storm water retention. It only leaves 15% of natural grass for Columbia High School's 2000 students.
The plan for Ritzer has now ballooned from $2.2 2 million in 19 to now $7.4 million. And yet, it's concerning that only $300,000 is allocated to a storm water retention system on the current
cost sheet. Two years ago, Westfield had to add $2 million when they included proper storm water retention and organic infill. According to the district's architects, they can't know the storm water calculations until they dig test pits to determine the depth of the water
table and determine the grading plan. That sounds like Pandora's box to me. On June 24th, the BOE also approved a $1.3 million change order for the Columbia High School girls locker room that was previously approved at a cost of $2.5
million. Asbestous abatement was mentioned, but it sure seems given the age of Columbia High School and the ongoing construction that's something that should have been explored and known at the initial costing of the project. So stakeholders
would know that they were actually approving a $3.8 million girls locker room renovation. Stakeholders have a right to well-considered estimates before approving funding. Many of SM's stakeholders are increasingly concerned
about the escalating costs of living. SOMD's current debt is $190 million, nearly equal to the annual operating budget. That breaks down to a debt to student ratio of over 27.5,000
per student. That is double and triple that of neighboring districts. For comparison, Milbour is 11,000 and Livingston is 8.5,000 per student. Continuing to bond more and more funds without anything rolling off is not
sustainable. I asked the board of school estimates to insist on proper storm water calculations and a properly costed storm water retention plan before any funds are even considered. Your responsibility as the board of school estimates is to
determine what the taxpayer can bear. Is this the appropriate time to be pushing a vastly expanded plan at a vastly expanded cost? Thank you. Thank you. Would anyone else in the room like to speak? Oh, okay.
Jane Conrad 35 Roosevelt. I really need Jonathan here to be Vanna White pointing to certain things that I brought here. Um I also am uh you know wanted to speak again as you know against uh moving
ahead with this sort of maximalist turf plan and um I I sent you all earlier an email which um included a number of questions that I would ask if I were you just to try to get a handle
on what costs that haven't been accounted for could add on because it feels like the more you can foresee and lock down, you know, the better the better job you can do for the taxpayers.
Um, I also it's very I wish you could press for what fell on the floor here, a set of plants that you could examine because it's very hard to sort of squint and see um, you know, from sort of the blurry screenshots,
you know, where trees are that, you know, like how they would be impacted by Thank you. This is I was going to say I will stay to the end of the meeting because I wonder if you all have even ever seen this is plan B from last year
and it at least shows you like where there's the pipe stream under the field and what they were going to do before you know with storm water and stuff. So just an offer in case uh anyone would like to look at that. Um there were there I noticed for example that there's
no um notice of any of the trees on Valley Street and you know there's in the plans for it there's they say they'll for anything that they chop down they'll plant two others. Well, there are like 60 or 70 foot Kentucky coffee
trees, maples, there's an American elm that would be involved. And I think unless you, you know, I don't know how fast these things move on, but you need to see that and make a plan to protect it. Also, some of my
questions um refer to mistakes that were made with the deart installation. I don't know how much grass we'll end up with. I hope it's more than 15%. But there are foreseeable things to write into any kind of plan or to insist
on before you approve it, you know, because there goes your leverage. Um, you know, not to compact the soil in that extreme case and, you know, to to have them justify replacing all the soil. Why do that, you know, with the result that uh we know happened there?
Um, so I I brought my other visual aid here. You know, some of the trees that would be impacted with different things. Also, I I just wanted to mention Project Adventure. Everyone loves it, but very few people, including on the on the
board of education, realized what the low ropes course is, and that is the essential um part in order to get to the high ropes course. like it it could stand alone but not the high ropes course and if that is disabled or cut into which I
believe both plans C and D do then you're stranding you know 300 students a year that have to take or that want to take that class for fizzed. So anyway, there's there's just some more thought that I think really needs to go into,
you know, proceeding. And then I guess that's my buzzer there. But one last thing I just wanted to say getting grass to go grow is not that hard. I just wanted to share this was the way most of the field did
not look like this, but this is one very badl looking part of Ritzer. We John and I were there weeding and kids asked us if we could do something. So we came back a few days later and put compost there. This was in early May.
And this is by July. It looked like that. Just one intervention. We we weren't able to water. So that's just you know water from nature there. So again, I I really hope you'll look into just uh you know,
better care of grass fields because we haven't solved the climate crisis and we need to. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, M. Comrade. Is there anyone else in the room who would like to speak to the township committee?
Seeing none, is there anyone on Zoom who would like to speak? If any members of the public joining us via Zoom would like to speak on any subject matter, please raise your hand. I see none, Mayor. Okay. Thank you. Uh with that, um I'll
take a motion to adjurnn. I move to adjurnn. Second. Daffis, yes. Luca, yes. Bangal, yes. Mayor Adams, yes. Thank you. Enjoy the rest of your August. Stay cool off and we'll see you