##VIDEO ID:VwDBM753HDc## 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 e I buy a bottle of water every time I drive through Bergen County from the guy that meets me at the traffic light B count something else but it's Insidious it's everywhere even my hometown what were you look this it's right here I'm just not together I yeah it's yeah ready pursuant to section five chapter 231 Public Law 1975 this is to State for the record that adequate notice of this meeting has been provided to the public by posting and maintaining the annual notice of regular meetings on the bulletin board of the municipal building by mailing the annual notice of regular meetings for 2024 to the news record and the Star Ledger in December 2023 and by filing said notice in the Office of the Township Clerk m c here dafis present Mr DeLuca here Zangle here mayor Adams here whereas chapter 231 Public Law 1975 commonly known as the open public meeting second rep as 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 active participation of the public at any meeting and where Zar the governing body to comply with the provision of this act same time to conduct this business in an orderly and expeditious manner now therefore be resolved by the township committee Township mwood does hereby prohibit accept to set forth in the formal agenda active participation and deliberations governing by by the public accept as otherwise described by law does limit the public to the observations of the actions and discussion of the governing body at all of its regular and special meetings moved second M great yes Mr daffis yes Mr Luca yes fingle yes mayor Adams yes please rise for a salute to the flag I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty andice all thank you so good evening everyone and welcome to the Wednesday unusual usually Tuesdays November 6 meeting of the maple Township committee uh before I go through the uh agenda real quick I just wanted to make a little statement for all of us thinking today it's been a weird day uh so this is kind of a hard meeting for us to have tonight I know that so many of us are dealing with a lot of emotions today after yesterday's presidential election results I also know that 1179 of our residents voted for Donald Trump and 11,990 voted for kamla Harris so these comments are mostly to address our almost 12,000 residents who might be feeling some major emotions today like with any disappointment or loss this is a period of grieving I ask our residents tonight to go ahead and feel what you feel go go ahead and be sad or angry or scared or worried it's okay and it's necessary for for your well-being to do so it's important to feel these hard feelings so that eventually you can let them go and when we're ready to when you're ready to do so do what so many of our community members already do they get involved they work hard to make a difference whether locally or nationally and to paraphrase vice president Harris today this is a time to stay engaged for the sake of freedom and Justice and for the future we all know we can build together for our country so with that I will just uh go over the agenda and um just everybody you know take care of yourselves it's been rough so um we move on and we do what we do and to that end we will run our meeting tonight first we'll start off with a proclamation for Native American heritage month we will have a board of health meeting um then we will have public comment on agenda items only um then we will have introduction of about five ordinances if I'm not mistaken yes and then we will have reports from departments um administrative reports uh dealing with 2025 budget presentations um we will have our from our administrator our Township attorney will then give her report and so will our Township Clerk we will then hear from our elected officials uh Committee Member angle Committee Member Duca Committee Member daffis Deputy Mayor kripe and then me discussion items we have just one for this evening best practices and that's with regard to uh our audit correct budget in regard to the state's best practi program yeah yes sorry best practices for operations that kind of came out of the audit so uh then we have a consent agenda and then we have another public comment on any subject matter so with that I will ask Deputy Mayor kpe to read our Proclamation for this evening well thank you mayor this Proclamation is for nor Native American heritage month and Native American Heritage day whereas in 1990 presid President George HW Bush signed into law a joint resolution designating the month of November as the first national Native American Heritage Month followed by President Barack Obama signing legislation in 2009 establishing the Friday following Thanksgiving as Native American Heritage day and whereas in light of the Dual heritage month and Day Celebrations we highlight the nanok Lenape people the tribal nation that inhabited the lands that would become Maplewood and whereas it would be it should be recognized that the n o and the Lenape are two separate tribes who due to a shared history as the Nanticoke originated from the Lenape in ancient times have long intermarried and have formed a compound name that honors the two dominant ancient tribes which form the modern tribal nation and whereas for over 10,000 years the Nanticoke Lenape have lived thrived and existed in the area that would become Manhattan to Western Pennsylvania down to Southern Delaware and whereas since 1982 New Jersey is officially recogn Iz the anope Len laap even though that's double dipping I'll tell you about it later which is its headquarters in Bridgerton and is currently led by the chairman and chief uray Ridgeway and whereas to be an ally and Advocate who uplifts the voices of others we point to those listening to the nanok Lenape website nanop do- lane.in info they have a free ebook called we are still here which provides a brief history of the tribal families dispels inaccuracy in common assumptions or media depictions and provides an understanding of who the nanok Lenape are today not just in the past now therefore be it resolved on behalf of Mayor Nancy Adams and on the behalf of the rest of the township Committee of Maplewood we Proclaim November Native American heritage month and Friday November 29th 2024 Native American Heritage day and ask citizens again to visit the nanop do- lane. info website to learn more about the Nanticoke Lenape people their history and culture culture and become informed about our local native population thank you thank you that's why I asked you to read it because of that tongue twister that um is part of that and I knew you could do it thank you uh with that we'll move into the Octo the um Board of Health meeting for this month and I'll turn over Board of Health chair comme member angle thank you mayor pursuant to section five chapter 231 Public Law 1975 this is to State for the record that adequate notice of this meeting has been provided to the public by posting and maintaining the annual notice of regular meetings on the bulletin board of the municipal building by mailing the annual notice of regular meetings for 2024 to the news record and Star Ledger in December 2023 and by filing said notice in the office of the township clerky here here here mayor Adams here miss angle here where chapter 231 public laws of 1975 commonly known as the open public meetings act PRS all meetings of public bodies be open to the public and whereas section 7A provides that the Board of Health has a discretion to permit prohibit or regulate the active participation in the public at any meeting and where desire the Maplewood Board of Health 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 mapet Board of Health Township of mwood does hereby prohibit except to set forth in the formal agenda active participation in the deliberations of the Board of Health by the public and except as otherwise describe by law does limit the public to the observations of the actions and discussions of the Board of Health at all of its regular and special meetings so moved second SC here staff yes Luca yes mayor Adams yes single yes I move the approval of the Board of Health meeting minutes from October 1st 2024 second M cor yes Mr DAV yes LCA yes mayor Adams yes Miss angle yes now I turn things over to our health officer Candace Davenport good evening everyone evening uh we'll Advance our slides to the first slide which is to let everyone know that we are in health insurance enrollment um is now open for um New Jersey Family Care and so as we look forward to um November uh this is a slide that shows how people can uh apply for U New Jersey Family Care Health Care coverage open enrollment is open through January 31st if you sign up for health insurance by December of this year you'll have coverage starting January 1st of 2025 so we encourage everyone to do so if you have already enrolled in Insurance please check your mail because there will be a package in there for renewal so um be sure to do that so you don't lose your health insurance next slide please our Department of Community Services is hosting a Medicare enrollment uh presentation at the mwood community center and that will be on Wednesday November 12th at 12:00 pm so please attend that if you interested in information it'll be provided by the state health insurance assistance program or ship next slide our nursing I do want to make note and say thank you to Anna marova our nurse and our um our local Health Outreach coordinator Sarah Taylor um who put together the next coming um events that I'm going to report on so nursing report for October we've had 10 reportable diseases investigated and October 7th when the county came for health screenings we were able to provide the following um Services of diabetes risk assessments stroke risk assessments and other screenings like glucose screenings we were also able to provide an employee Wellness day where we um had Robert with Johnson Barnabas uh nurses and doctors come and Screen 12 people and 31 flu shouts were given to employees so that was great and everyone was very appreciative of that next slide we were also able to provide through the county a flu vaccination clinic for uh the general public and 29 flu vaccinations were given out and uh thanks again to the Department of Community Services for allowing us to use theart community Center next slide moving forward uh we are waiting on the state and the county to release covid-19 vaccinations where we'll be able to provide them to for free to homebound residents if they are homebound residents um or their caregivers who are interested in getting a free homebound vaccine uh covid vaccine please contact our Public Health nursing supervisor Anna marova next slide we also received this new information uh just this afternoon from the county they are providing a co9 vaccination clinic for Pediatrics that's for anyone ages 6 months to 11 years who is unable to get a covid-19 vaccine from their pediatrician they can get it for free uh next Thursday November 14th from 3:30 to 6:30 the uh the van is located in Cedar Grove and you have to make an appointment but this is probably one of the only times if people are looking for the covid-19 vaccine for their infants or um young children if they can't get it at their pediatrician they can get it here for free our next slide is um the township is offering and partnering with Walgreens for a covid-19 and flu vaccine clinic next Friday November 15th they will be offering a covid-19 vaccine for three years old and up um as well as the standard flu vaccine for 3 years old and up and a high dose vaccine for 65 and over insurance is required but Walgreens will cover those um who are uninsured who need the flu vaccine next slide just want to talk about the benefits of covid-19 vaccine as we uh move into uh Co covid-19 flu and RSV season the covid vaccine can prevent covid-19 disease and can help reduce the severity of covid-19 disease if you are sick it can also lower the risk of severe illness hospitalization and death and prevent long covid so we just want to reiterate and make sure that people understand the benefits of getting um this vaccine next slide talks about the um recommendations for people who are um IM imuno compromised or not imuno compromised and there are different uh criteria and uh guidance from the CDC so uh you can follow that for those who are moderately or severely imuno compromised and those who are not next Slide the county also has provided us with free covid-19 test kits these are also from the federal government so you can pick up two uh covid test kit uh kits there's two uh tests in each kit at the mwood health department um and we have them available until supplies last you can also order them um through covid test. goov and they get delivered to your home uh directly so these are handy for the holidays if you are going to plan on visit um some family members who are um elderly or imuno compromis and protect them as well moving on to measles so if uh you've been keeping up with the news on October 10th the State Health Department reported a laboratory confirmed case of measles in Mammoth County um three other uh four sorry four additional secondary cases of confirmed measles have been identified um with contact with this initial case all of the five cases are unvaccinated these cases are in Monmouth and middlex County and so next Slide the state Heth department has advised that anyone who's been exposed in any of these locations or times um they may have been exposed to measles so if you are unvaccinated you may want to contact uh your health care provider the best way to prevent measles and and um I'm not going to read everything out here but the best way to prevent measles is to get vaccinated follow the CDC guidelines for children to get vaccinated um for two vaccines um after one year of age and four years of four years of age and for anyone born after 1957 who has not had measles infection before should all be vaccinated if you're planning on international travel we do um encourage you to get vaccinated especially if you're going into a place that has an active case of measles next slide we're going into our environmental health um and Animal Control update and report so for environmental health for October we've had uh 14 restaurant inspections and seven mobile food trucks 27 complaints and 12 um notice of violations and six summonses so um we have been very busy in the um environmental health staff for animal control they have the report for September most of those 25 calls were for wildlife so um just want to make you aware of that for social services and mental health just wanted to um bring up thank you very much um I wanted to bring up that we had the reach for Recovery County Mobile van here um on uh 10:23 and we saw 15 people that's an increase uh from what we saw last time last month prior to and then this month on Wednesday November 27th that's the Wednesday before Thanksgiving they will be here again at the community fridge from 10:00 a.m. to 3 p.m. offering uh Services of such as substance use assessment health and wellness screenings care and coordination Naran distribution and community resource sharing all of this is free um so we ask everyone to come and take advantage of it and um meet the um service providers for that finally we always end our uh presentation with phone numbers for make the right call um for those who are experiencing um anxiety or stress or feeling overwhelmed um about the situation um and the outcome of the presidential election we always en encourage people to call the mental health uh crisis and suicide hotline which is 988 because it is available 24 hours a day 7 days a week to speak to a mental health professional one of my last slides sorry I thought that was my last slide but we have one more our crisis intervention social workers as you know we put out an um a uh press release regarding our crisis intervention social workers this week for the month of October they had 14 total cases six of those were co-response with our uh police officials and nine of those were clinical cases so it is my pleasure to um introduce a great partner that we've had over the last six months for our homeless Outreach and engagement program um I'm going to allow uh have uh Pam Baker who's a deputy director of homeless services with cspnj which is collaborative support programs of New Jersey um speak and tell you about some of the highlights and successes that we've had thank you how are you guys uh hope you guys can hear me I'm little so I don't want to talk real loud yeah all righty so hey how are you um I'm Pam as she uh she already introduced me um so I I oversee all of our homeless Services right which that includes a variety of our homeless Services across the state um diversion prevention uh our dropin centers our warming centers and then our uh Statewide Outreach which obviously includes this lovely map Maplewood um so just you kind of know a little bit about us which I think you already do um but just in case for the folks that don't um we are a purled agency so um I think it's important to mention because it's really important uh to us about the Way That We believe We engage right and the way that we can reach people better um having that experience having that lived experience um all the way from our Outreach teams all the way up to our executive board um really helps for us we think make the connection with Folks by being able to really meet people where they're at and being able to identify with what they have going on um so I think you know again it's just kind of something that we really like to kind of uh pride ourselves is again that lived experience um you can you can go through this if you'd like you can flip side so um obviously we um we operate a team of two um and which they work uh 20 hours a week here um so just you know our folks are also trained in deescalation Narcan training and then they also have uh ecpr um and are currently receiving their recovery coach uh training as well for their certification just you know we try to keep uh building that so they have as as many tools in the toolbx for you guys you know um so we uh they go out uh they in they check in just so you guys know we come in we check in with the police department we obviously work with these these this lovely team behind me um and we you know uh take a variety of calls uh referrals from um from the community as a whole from our warmline uh and then also any referrals uh obviously that we take from the crisis team and then also everybody that we encounter that's on house on the street um so as of today um we've engaged up to 69 individuals uh uh 54 of those are entered into our him program uh the other individuals are engaged through our diversion uh program which runs out of our Center which is located in nework uh called better life um so just you kind of know where the difference is there so the out of the 54 uh 32 are are male individuals and 22 be female female um and then as far as the separate data there that's the family type um so they're individuals um both male and female on top and then just a point that I wanted to kind of bring up that we are beginning to see more of is single females single parents but they are female heads of household um so if I was to add in the diversion number that would actually double and go to eight um so just again something to kind of keep in mind as we're trying to find some trends for you guys as well um of who we're helping in the community um you can go to the next slide um so these are out of the those 52 individuals these are the services we've able to um to provide so far um so 12 of those would be pure respit referrals which is another program that we run through our agency which is a crisis diversion program um it is again so all of our all of our services are free of charge including our rest bit services so um someone could come in there it's a it's basically a diversion so that they don't go to the hospital it's made to be a little more comfortable for them a little more welcoming a little more freedom they can come and go as they want but they're still coming in they stay up to 10 days and then they work on any component of their Wellness uh we use the dimension the eight Dimensions of Wellness so as long as they identify something on that on that on that realm you know we obviously work with them and obviously individuals in crisis um so 16 out of the 54 are individuals that actively use our daytime Center called better life again in nework um so that's not the amount of times that that they have come that's the amount of individuals that connect to our Center on a daily basis now um we obviously do a variety of other services that you can see Transportation housing applications um DMV appointments uh applications for food stamps anchor um senior freeze has been a new one that people have been coming for that we've been assisting with uh resume assistance obviously social security card and um and also benefits we've we've been able to assist folks with applying um as far as our diversion services so that's something that is again a connection to another service that we that we provide here at CSP um and that is something that's been you know again pretty successful um as of now uh we are we've been able to process three individuals so those were um three separate individuals that were able to uh have their housing uh basically stabilized right so we were able to to reverse the um the eviction process um one of them actually was actually locked out of her house and then it was a partnership between US legal assistant and another agency where we were able to actually return her back into her unit after she was locked out so which some of you guys know that's a little challenging so we're very happy and and proud of that one um you know we we tend to partner with a lot of other agencies to to make sure that anything we can't provide we make sure we're able to do it and that that comes in with that legal assistance so all of these individuals were also connected to some a location called well the initial CED and then we work with them very closely in nor um we have another individual that is about to be processed that's moving in on the 15th into her senior housing um again being referred to us after being asked to leave her residence of 37 years um which was obviously very challenging so um you know that is another individual that hopefully she'll be creating number four as as completed assistants um then we have five individuals that we're actively working with for a variety of of other assistants where they're looking for units and they'll also be seeking security assistance so that's been um two of those back rint and and security assistance have been things that have come you know uh come as service requests um we have one individual that was sent for some GED assistance and in three individuals that even though we've reached out we were unable to connect with them um through the crisis team they have also tried to reach out and we've been will continue to try to engage with them for for as long as as they will let us um so just a little bit about some of the diversion Services as well and some of the other individuals that we're connecting with through Outreach um you know these are some of the folks that that I was just mentioning to you right so we have our our one individual here who's who's moving in on the 15th which again that's that individual being asked after 37 years of being a Maplewood resident she will now be vac you know she'll be moving over a town um but again you know she'll again be stable um the other individual again is a family that was back rent you know connected legal assistance reversing that lockout and allowing her and her child to return to their apartment and then regain their stability and housing um you know also I guess another one we wanted to mention was we do try to field calls from the um from the local community and some other issues that they might have um as far as garbage or around the food shed or some other issues that were mentioned to us so we've been able to hopefully work with the individuals that were more problematic in that area for for that neighborhood and um you know they've they've actually notated seeing a visible decrease in in folks that were unhoused um and again those are the folks that when we get those calls we go directly to them at that time so our team is active and is able to actually go and and meet the individual that they're talking about and then we do some education about obviously why they shouldn't be sleeping outside and and the services that that we can provide to help them not have to sleep outside um you can flip the slides um so that is our lovely team up there that's Jason and taon uh with Di and Martha um and then we obviously have our warm line there at the bottom um and then just some other things to kind of come you know we are working on some other things just to be able to pull some additional data some other things that we're looking to try to uh make sure we track every single thing basically that we can for you guys um and then also some new comings is for the wintertime months we obviously have um be able to make some connections with uh through our folks would be able to come and actually get direct placement to a any any open beds that would be in through the city of nor um in addition to that we've also been able to build a partnership with both the county and the City of newarc um I'm sure the county um which will be coming out here and assisting with coordinated entry right so then folks will have to go all the way from here all the way to defab which you know can be a challenge so we'll have someone that actually come out with our Outreach team and be able to make that connection and if not we'll be able to bring them because they'll also be on site at our place from the county as well be able to bring them a better life and get them connected that way if for some reason we can't connect uh here on site so um that is us and a Nill and we thank you guys very much we're very happy to be here so any other questions that's the end of our presentation one thing that we also wanted to mention um with cspnj they've been an excellent partner and they're also looking at um getting other um staff to look at more housing options so that as we find people housing navigation so housing navigation so we're looking for at looking at people who want housing they have they're going to have someone on staff who's going to be able to look and that's their sole job is to look for more housing options yeah thank you so much um do I have any questions from my colleagues I'm mayor yeah hi thank you so much for that I had I had to concentrate really hard because you were talking really fast I know there there like no periods but it was a lot it was a lot yeah I appreciate that and I just wanted to thank thank you publicly for helping with um a resident reached out having difficulty um keeping her housing in Maplewood and she I actually met her when we served jury duty together last spring and she reached out when she was having this crisis and you were able to help her and I really appreciate that it was um a huge relief to her as I forwarded her grateful email to you so yeah thank you any other questions questions or comments uh if you have knowledge would you say that maplewood's experience is similar to or different than other Suburban towns in Essex similar I think than maybe originally would have been suggested I think um that there is a a growing on house population unfortunately and I think that that's what we're um we've seen increases across the everything from FKS that are living on the street to individuals backr conviction I mean everything has gone has like quadrupled to be quite honest with you so I think it's honestly pretty typical um and I'm we hoping that you know we can make those connections so that it doesn't obviously grow but we're happy we're here to be able to make that obviously make that service connection to hopefully help that un house folks that we are finding one of the things we have uh with some of the merchants on Springfield Avenue is they're uncomfortable they're uncomfortable um seeing people uh up there some folks uh who are homeless are unfortunately using some of the buildings the vestibules and doors for bathrooms and stuff like that or they're sleeping there do you have any I don't know if it's a program or anything that you do to talk to those business owners not individually but sort of there are community members that area I think you're talking about we actually um met with some individuals that were part of the the the and were able to help keep them more I think uh that individual also had emailed in a letter kind of stating that she's seen a noticeable difference in the area that she lived in um both with garbage and individual sleeping and vules and in the open area um so that's something we definitely educate them you know unfortunately with the criminalization of homelessness we really try to educate folks and let them know that you know it's better for us to help you try to find somewhere safe than for you to just kind of sleep outside because again there's there's a lot that has changed over the last year and besides the increase in individual seeking Services it's also a lot harder to find them right so like I think if they have us to make that connection sometimes folks are a little more open to taking them when it's a little easier to to access them that's a big part of what we do is to try to make everything as low barrier as possible um to make things as accessible as possible so I think you know being able to make that connection for some of them they've been very open to coming to our Center maybe on more of a daily basis rather than just hanging out inside in the vestibule areas or you know unfortunately when there have been complaints about folks urinating we definitely have responded to store owners um and and locations the park the porta potties we've we've actually hit multiple locations and let them know that we're here um we give them our warm line they usually have my number as well and then they could always directly contact the team or they can contact the team directly um so we feel like that's been actually really helpful when folks do let us know what's going on so we can try to address and talk to folks so that they're a little more educated but also understand that folks are usually reaching out because they're concerned about them you know they see people laying on the ground you know sometimes people don't know what to do with that so you know we're we're happy to be able to have that conversation so I know um Port you you had a email correspondence with Nicole Wallace of the partnership is that are you still having those Communications to help get some of this information received any recent Communications but we would encourage any uh business owner on Springfield Avenue or in other areas to contact the warmline if they have any questions about how they're do because once we know uh the locations where they might be seeing um some increase in homelessness um the guys Tyson and Jason right I'm I'm wondering if there's anything we can do proactively because I understand that's a response but I'm wondering and I'll talk to Nicole about this is maybe just have an opportunity for you know for you to be on a zoom and anybody who's interested just get on and have a conversation with you not about specific problem but just you know what do you see and what what are you doing because you have great information and I think conveying that to some of them who think we're not doing anything about it would be helpful you know okay um it used to be our policy with the police that if we when it gets really cold if we find people sleeping outside that we try to get them inside we take them we used to take them to East Orange Hospital for an evaluation is that still a practice or is that not happening a bed um we also have the opportunity to reserve a bed if we really were starting to find that many individuals um I've already spoken to um some entities that you know we could we could provide like an ongoing bed I think that's been some conversation from you know from from the average team in general um we find that unfortunately a lot of people do deny um the regular shelter but sometimes folks are a little more open to warming centers um so in the in the winter time we usually have a little more success with connecting folks are we conveying that message to our police yeah we ought to we ought to be prepared for that you know just even even because you know the OEM we used to do the code blue stuff all the time and uh you know just to just to have some clarity as to how we're going to deal with folks would be helpful that shelter linkage that we'll have through the center um that's going to be a new initiative that we've been able to make you know to make that connection um so we'll actually be able to make a direct referral from our location to any open bed so um that along with you know we've been trying to talk to Essex in general but unfortunately they don't do a every night warming Center like so that's really one of the bigger challenges uh is the in between time but it seems to be that we have again we have a good partnership with some other locations that we're hoping able to place them into actual beds if they would like to and one other thing is and my last point is um I've heard from some of the residents that we're seeing some um activity homeless activity in Rotary Park on jacobe Street which is the little park yeah so if you can just keep an eye there okay yeah dart's been there for a while um this is more from Administration is there any way we can get that number like prominently featured on um our our media the um assistance line because I it just came to me when you said we can have folks contact you that that's not just for if you need assistance but it's for folks who see things um that's the number to call sure yeah and we had recently done a press release on it and I think that was kind of our first very public um engagement with the public over how to contact cspnj and so we will schedule more routine um follow-ups with that information and we can find a good place to post it on our website yeah I think we need to work with our public information officer to do some social media campaigns on this absolutely right because with holiday season there's going to be a lot more foot traffic in our our and such and a lot of people don't read our press releases so yeah they don't as good as they are it was we put out a press release it was out through our email as well so it went and it's posted on our website but we can and social media and social media we can but we'll always do more yeah we just have to educate people yeah any anyone else have any questions I Just Want to Thank you Pam nice work yeah you didn't put any periods in your presentation like and and there were tons of acronyms in there but but well done thank you that's how we talk in Florida I loved it I was in there yeah I also [Laughter] want I also want to thank you for that thorough um presentation will you circulate those slides because it's hard for us to see over here but I want to see what those numbers actually were yes we'll be posting them first thing tomorrow morning on our um Health Department website um and we will also be putting it out on the weekly eblasts for the next um couple of weeks afterwards so the receive it yeah yeah the township committee should receive it got it please send it um now after we leave I just want to say you know to CSP andj one thing that's really great about them is their not other partners those things to happen it's just them they are connected into like an interweb of all these other resources from homeless um from warming centers and shelters and Hudson to Legal Services in nework and everything in between so right so it's really seeing people as like a whole person and it's it's just been a really great experience so far and if we want to arrange for Zoom uh we can definitely work to put something out to the community and see when we can arrange that um and then just a kind of a tag team question of what everyone other people are asking so I'm happy that the warm line seems to be successful because I know we've talked a lot about how to best get that out and I agree that we should have um Kristen our new Pio juster it into her social media posting every once in a while to remind everybody um but as the cold sets in and our residents start seeing maybe people outside and they don't know what to do is what we should tell them to do is just call the warm line and let you know know or is there other cuz I know a lot of people sometimes they see the same people and they might want to approach them or want to help them or pass a note and I know some people feel uncomfortable with that so I'm just curious what the proper protocol is that people should do so you could always we always prefer to call you know folks especially if they're not feeling comfortable it's it's nothing you know it's easy for us to go and and say hello to somebody and if they want the service they you know like kind of said we're kind of like just meeting people where they're at so um we're happy to take any calls at all you know and for some reason there was like a business owner someone who had a different a higher level type of conversation can can always you know give out my information I also do want to commend by the way about the community fridge area because we did receive an email from one of the business owners who was having some struggles very positive about the changes that were made so thank you so much or the help that was provided and the communication with them themselves so thank you for that any other questions from my colleagues for either of these two wonderful professionals um then we open it up to um public to address our Board of Health um is there anybody here in the room that has questions for our health officer about the Board of Health specifically hey Mr wary will you help with online if any members of the public joining us on Zoom would like to speak in public portion for the Board of Health meeting please raise your hand now I see no hands okay so with that I um move to adjourn until our next scheduled meeting on Tuesday December 3rd second C yes Mr daffis yes Luca yes mayor Adams yes yes thank you back to you mayor thank you um okay with that we'll open our public comment time for agenda items only but before we get to the Public Public like to offer the county Executives represent representative to come on up and um give us an update that you wanted to do ASR yeah w we can connect you afterward I I saw that you asked for and we got you yeah good evening everyone my name is Valentina Richardson green I am the director of training and employment at the Essex County onetop located at 50 South Clinton Street in East AR now many people may associate 50 South Clinton Street with East Orange as the welfare building welfare is there but we are and we offer an array of different Services geared towards uh educating empowering and engaging people towards gainful employment so the division of training employment my division uh we have two separate parts we assist individuals who are receiving public assistance that's uh temporary assistance to needy families or general assistance for single adults or supplemental nutrition Assistance programs they're required to be in a work rated activity snap is a voluntary thing but with our economy going the way that it is any opportunity to get any type of gainful employment we want to encourage and offer that opportunity to everyone on the second side we have our Workforce initiative Opportunity Act that's weoa if anyone has heard about that it's where we provide Supportive Services Career Services Training Services and we connect individuals with employers so we do all of that at 50 South Clinton Street welfare is there in addition to uh Community Services uh Department of Labor uh Employment Services we have an array of different partners there we also have programs for parents to provide uh child care services for our customers but today I wanted to let you know about a wonderful grant that we were awarded it's our tanif initiative opportunity where we have services that we're going to provide uh for job Readiness we're going to be assistant tanith recipients with uh license restoration we're going to be also assisting with uh job retention we got you the job now how do you keep the job to keep the job you need the appropriate uniform you might need recertification you might need licensing you just might need some type of Transportation support we have additional funds that we're going to be providing to those Tanis recipients so we have a great deal of of monies available the idea was the state wanted to see us do something new Innovative we got you the job how do we help you keep the job that's what's important so anybody that you know that's interested or receiving tanith please send them down to 50 South Clinton Street East Orange the third floor the next wonderful thing we're doing is every Thursday for our weoa services we're doing open housee and orientation we have three sep separate parts we have our youth program we have our adult program and we have our dislocated worker program so dislocated worker could be someone who was recently terminated from a job no fault of their own it could even be that Homemaker who was home taking care of their spouse or their family member where that's no longer their situation and now they need assistance and support for our youth population we have uh career assessments we have virtual job exploration we do job Readiness we do soft skill preparation and there's even even money incentives so if that youth ages 17 to 24 decides they haven't gotten their high school diploma or equivalent we have money for that they want to go back to school for training we got money for that too so it's to encourage the kids to get back into whatever training whatever opportunity that they never thought was possible for them we have money for that and we have the Supportive Services to help them along their Journey we have the same thing for our adult and our dislocated population we don't have the money incentives but we have all the other Supportive Services that they could possibly want uh the next thing I wanted to talk about is we have we positive job recruitments we pretty much do a couple each month the next one coming up in November is for the post office we have uh mail carriers Automotive technicians every possible job that you can think of ranging from $18 an hour to $30 an hour so if anybody is interested in that you can come on down to 50 South Clinton Street to our job development unit and we have those listings available we also have it where you register with the onetop and you receive those automated alerts via text or email about any upcoming job events that we're having so I brought that information here so that uh you can share it with your customers and I'm available for any questions thank you so much that's a lot it is that's busy congratulations on the grant yeah the extra money is is well we yeah we want to make sure those Services go in uh through the Pio and through um Administration to our residents so and to get it on our website could I also suggest we send it to the high school yeah yeah the guidance office sometimes still has contact with recent kids who've dropped out or yeah might be on the verge of buking out struggle with that that that particular population yeah that drop some people think they might be 22 dropped out it still counts it's still counting yeah that's important good point for the for the tanif program do you have data on uh whether or not we have TANF recipients here in Maplewood who they are so that we can Target we'll send this information to everyone obviously but but to make sure that our TANF recipients and town can definitely have access to it have a breakdown by U municipality but in no we don't need that but so that you have it is what I'm saying through Administration yeah break down of the cases where they have a Maplewood address and we can uh send that information out but what we really want to encourage is is getting the customers registered with our onetop and there's one more program that I forgot to mention uh we have a program where we're going to be issuing out 150 Chromebooks to tanif recipients so that they can um participate in training because tan you have children you're not always able to come into a building for training so with this laptop this chrome going to have the opportunity to participate in a variety of our different workshops and trainings but you're also going to have the ability to update your resume uh get your LinkedIn profile put together and sent out so that is all starting December 1st will those SC books be connected wirelessly because I'm assuming that okay because I'm assuming that the folks that might need that Chromebook may not have internet access okay assisting with support all right thank you that's great that's a lot anybody have any questions no questions but this sounds amazing so thank you for all your stuff doing and you should connect with our health officer and our Outreach team wonderful work our social service partner who was housed in our building because the work that they're doing is important and you don't want to when you finally have someone yeah don't want them to get frustrated as you're trying to refer them or contact somebody else I can make sure to facilitate that connection at 50 soft CL so they get there the help that they need that's awesome thank you so much Valentina thanks for coming out and thank you letting us know yeah appreciate it and then uh Michael Gray from Senator hel's office hi there thank you for reaching out and coming in evening ladies and gentlemen uh first of all i' like to say thanks to Dean Mr de for putting me on the agender uh May of Mr du they had a strong working relationship with my former boss the late Congressman Donald ping uh Jr and along with Mr deas So currently I work for Senator George and uh from the moment Senator Helman got into office he's used his position to inform uh um residents constituent about services that we provide uh we've been gr from different Council meetings and different uh faith-based institutions to just highlight some of their services the office provide so if you have like uh concerns about legislation and a resolution uh you comea the Washington D DC office but there are lots of things that we do that people don't know about so that's why I want to highlight it for example Veteran Affairs I know there are lots of veterans that uh reside in this great um Township and uh sometimes in terms of death sometime and Veteran passed away and there's a delay in terms of their veteran benefits our office can help to expedite those processes uh and sometimes maybe some very might have issues in terms of the educational uh uh services and they have some like some rare tips we can also help with those issue because we have Congressional L on there's a very important military uh Academy that people don't know about is equivalent to like a AV League institution uh like uh uh West Point uh the merchant academy uh the air force uh currently Senator helming is uh reviewing like 300 applications to help young um man to to get into one of those services and they those Services provide like jobs for the day and job for the future so please if you know of constituents that are in uh high school or college uh please recommend them and I like to go into immigration immigration there are lots of services that we provide uh in terms of family based petition let say for example husband fing for wife why fing for a husband or children filing for parent um maybe you might have someone that want to get like a student visa uh those are services that we can help to get sometimes people are relative passed away in the United State um preferably in Maplewood and they want to like attend funeral services and sometime they s they kind of hard and we can also intervene in terms of those kind of services you might want to travel and your passport is missing and that is very much important we can plan we can help and contact the passport services for like a seam day or passport or appointment for you to get your your passport sometimes constituent work hard and they have some issue with the Internal Revenue Services sometimes you owe Internal Revenue Services and they want to Gar your check or to have some issues um we have a relationship with the leers on and we can come the internal revenue office to to work along with you or maybe sometimes you work hard and you fall short of your mortgage payment sometimes the bank don't want to communicate with you anymore or we all have a congressional Layon for the h office that we can try to um Advocate on your behalf you have senior citizen that might have issue with disability or Medicare um those are issues that we can help with also um in addition May people would might be trying to apply for a Federal grant don't do it by yourself uh reach out to C heling office and you can provide a little of support and that can help your your application uh in many in many ways or maybe your fire department is applying for like a fire Grant is something that we can do a letter support since the time we can do a letter support uh in addition um exposing young people and even like early people to visit the White House is something that we can help to like organize a White House trip uh for a constituent or a trip to visit the Capital Hill or maybe the African-American Museum those are all options that are available and um small businesses are all here and sometime they want to gain access to Capital um we can comea to small business administration to help with some of those issues all small businesses trying to do like international trade and don't have access we can connect you to the Department of Commerce that can help you our institutions um so I just want to make it just want to uh give you the numbers uh to call the Washington DC office number is 202 um 224 4744 202 224 4744 the Jersey City office is our main office in New Jersey the number is 973 64530 3030 973 645 3030 we have another office in um South Jersey the barington office is a 856 757 5353 856 757 5353 so to get all the information you can go to helming H LM y. senate.gov helming send it.gov thank you for listening and I hope that our office was able to provide some services that your constituent can I mean your citizen residents can benefit from and that go of Senator homing to ensure that you bring the government uh show the people so I'm thank you hoping for any questions thank you Mr gr does anyone have any questions I was wondering you said you've gone to the faith-based organizations and stuff because we have a couple of veterans groups that meet at the senior center and the VA benefits and the questions and stuff around like how to apply for things I'm going to talk with you offline to connect you with that those groups so I'm going to be here for the the entire meeting and yeah thank you you're welcome thank you so much is there anyone in the room who would like to speak at public for agenda items only Mr wary anyone online any member of the public joining on Zoom would like to speak in public portion on agenda items only please raise your hand now I see no hands mayor okay great then we'll move on to our introduction of ordinances Miss fritsen Miss mayor uh number eight we have five introduction of new ordinance Bond ordinance 3132 d24 an ordinance amending section 3e8 of bond ordinance number 24 in order to amend the description of the project this ordinance will allow previous approved funds to be used for a high efficiency gas powerered furnace at the greenhouse 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 November 18th he second it mayor can I make a comment on this sure uh initially we had planned to install a heat pump right at the greenhouse and uh we allocated money for that in our capital budget and when we went out to bid the prices came in way beyond our capacity to uh fund it and um so we looked at some other Alternatives and right now we're heating with oil we wanted then we looked at whether we could use biofuels but there's some structural issues there uh we'd have to make improvements so we've talked about uh what else we could do and so we came up with the high efficiency gas um powered furnace so that's what we're doing here changing it thank you for that clarification we've been talking about it so long um at engineering public works so um Miss fritzen next ORD did you sorry yeah roll call I was about to M yes daffis yes Luca yes angle yes mayor Adams yes thank you on introduction mayor Bond ordinance 3133 d24 Bond ordinance for providing a supplemental appropriation of $5 million for the construction equipping and Furnishing of a new library in and by the township of mwood in the county of esex New Jersey and authorizing issuance of $5 million in bonds or notes to the township to finance the cost thereof this ordinance provides additional necessary funding to complete the library project thank you Mr dulo would you like to uh give some more information on this sure um we need to do this because the we're at the point now where we're um we spent all the funds that we have because the rest of the money that comes in is on a reimbursement basis and that's the money from the library Bond and it's also uh hopefully our FEMA uh payment so so we have to put the money out and then we have to show them that we've spent it get all the reviews and all that and then they'll reimburse us so um that's what this is about there's also some additional costs related to the environmental cleanups that we did not expect so um we're you know this this would allow us to make sure that we can continue to pay the bills and and move forward with getting the reimbursements thank you I move the passage of this ordinance on first reading its publication according to law in Maplewood South orang record and a hearing to be held on November 18 I second it m yes D yes beluca yes Miss angle yes mayor Adams yes thank you next ordinance please uh yes mayor it's 8C Bond dorton's 31 34-24 bond dorton is providing a supplemental appropriation of $700,000 for improvements to Springfield Avenue phase two in and by the township of mwood in the county of Essex New Jersey and authorizing the issuance of $700,000 in bonds or notes to the township to finance the cost thereof this ordinance provides additional necessary funding to award Springfield Avenue phase one and phase two improvements thank you I move the passage of this ordinance on its first reading it's publication according to law in the Maplewood South Orange News Record and the hearing to be held on November 8 18 He second up yes AAS yes Luca yes SLE yes mayor Adams yes next ordinance yes mayor it's uh 8D ordinance number 3135 d24 ordinance amending chapter 257 of the Township Code entitled vehicles and traffic to allow street parking on a portion of Inwood place this ordinance will remove move the current no parking Zone on the south side of Inwood Place between Maplewood Avenue and Woodland Road may I get a motion 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 no Monday November 18th 2024 I'll second SC yes baffis yes Luca yes bangle yes mayor Adams yes and the last one please uh yes mayor it's ordinance number 3136 D14 it's an ordinance to create a new article four under Chapter 93 of the code of the township of maput entitled control of plastic dust and contaminants during construction this ordinance will supplement Chapter 93 building construction of the Township Code with a new article to describe the requirements for controlling plastic and dust contaminants during construction and preventing them from entering the Watershed may I get a motion Mr Deus 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 November 18th 2024 I'll second Mr great yes Mr daus yes Luca yes fle yes mayor Adams yes thank you we'll move on now to uh reports from administrative reports unless anyone has any questions on the monthly budget report actually I do um when I looked at it I I was looking at the pool the revenue and the expenses on the pool and it looks like at least at at as of this report that we have more money in um in the balance than we put in this year I think we put in around 275,000 it looked like we had 300,000 plus as a balance and then it also looked like there was more membership money that came in so can we get a report from someone um that tells us what the growth was if there was in membership from 2023 to 2024 um if this is really a $300,000 net which is terrific because the expenses were below and the income was was um either on par or or or maybe a little above um then how would that impact any decision of putting more dollars in for next year because I would assume we would be able to roll this over into next year so what I want is before we get stuck into the budget process that we have a very clear understanding of what how the pool did and um you know what we want to accomplish cuz we're going from 10% reduced it 10% we're going to reduce it another 10% this year that's our plan so and the pooled visory committee is still waiting for the final numbers because when they met with the CFO we hadn't had August Revenue yet and so they are also waiting for that information I believe to do their report to come to the township committee which should include some of how membership did grow and we did good we did very well on membership yes and we can provide those numbers to you that on the revenue side um that's relatively straightforward on the on the expenses side there are still some expenses coming in and so they're not final numbers but we can give them to you U to prepare for the budget I to your uh comment about you know using some of this money next year yes we can this is a it's a pool utility so whatever we have extra it goes into fund balance and can be appropriated as revenue and next year's pool budget there was a large appropriation last year um from um American Rescue plan money and so that's obviously going to fall off and when we looked at the numbers with the CFO and the the um and the pool advisory committee we did very well this year but the hope is still to break even right and so that's probably where we're going to be at the end operations but we'll provide more detailed accounting will the information that we talked about in health and Community Services also be brought up as far as the parking lot and the maintenance would that be added as a portion of that that's a question for I think you know in the budget process as to where we realize Revenue so the question was should the revenue Reed from New Jersey Transit and from the Maplewood Village departments be realized as Revenue to the pool and not to the township um so that it's dedicated towards pool operations that would be a question for the township Committee in terms of where we realize that Revenue in next year's budget okay I think just if we're going to talk about doing that we have to put some expenses on that side too because we do send our street sweeper in there and we do make pothole repairs and all that so yeah um if we're going to put more revenue and we rather pick up more costs yeah I think the question was the pool is already sustaining some costs um with Mr Waltz doing the landscaping and there is costs related to the pool so it was evening it up so the revenue is so if there are other additional costs that DPW does um that should be itemized so we know what it is and see not itemized but so we know have an idea I agree if the revenue is going to be there then the expenses should be there and vice versa if the revenue is not going to be there then the expense should be on the township side and not on the pool side okay Mr R would you like to give your report thank you mayor so to continue the conversation about 2025 budget I'd like to get uh the Township's input on how they'd like to see budget workshops for next year last year we did did three budget workshops on a Wednesday a Tuesday a Tuesday they were a total of nine hours uh we held them a night I know you know last year we had a conversation about to want hold them during the week or on the weekends and um we you know was a a process of finding dates at works for everybody so I'm hoping we can start early this year um get input from the town trip committee about when you'd like to see those workshops held week night versus weekend day and what availability is for for uh next year when you'd like to hold them ideally uh we would start the we would discuss U Department budgets in subcommittee uh starting in December and January and then we would present to the township the full Township committee beginning in mid-February last year the first one we had was January 31st then we had about a month until the second one and then two weeks until the third it'd be nice to have those little for us at least just start a little later but finish either right at the same time in uh mid to early March or just a little bit sooner um you want to start later like the first budget Workshop be in February is that what you or last year was January 31st and then we had waited a whole month until the second one so it would be nice if we put them closer keep that momentum and and okay yeah because some of the conversations will you know go from one into the next and so to have those generally closer together it's important for us in terms of ontime budget adoption to finish those conversations in early March okay and so we could start later depending on how everybody's schedule works out previous to last year we had them um on Saturdays the Spritz and there were consecutive Saturdays or there was a week between the year prior yeah sorry month almost there was time in between so the year that must be the year prior right so yeah one of the issues that happened last year was We could find a Saturday that we were all available we had scheduling issues so I think maybe if you want to do a doodle or take a figure out when people are available we can figure out if it's weekend or week night sure if that's how you'd like to respond yeah and last year also there was five like Mondays or something so we used that extra week in January because it had a fifth so there were extra there are no no there's four weeks in January and four weeks in February this year so that that we lost three days that we had last year nice last year was a we Year too to there's I can send I can send around a link for you know ev Everything between you know maybe one is preference on weekday vers weekend but then you know listing out availability for all of February and uh march to hold these uh workshops but I bring it up now so at least you can give it some thought before I uh circulate that poll all right okay great is that all you have my whole report mayor thank you just stop talking I I usually highlight hires actually so I have one more uh we are hiring a program supervisor and the Department of community services so welcome to Miss Madison De Georgio great all right thank you any questions for Mr wry okay we'll move on to our Township attorney M CIO mayor just a brief report this evening um you may have seen reports in the news that the Star Ledger will be ceasing circulation um in February of 2025 um this has also prompted uh the cessation of I'm sorry not ceasing publication ceasing Printing and going to an on publication which unfortunately for the purposes of the open public meetings act does not actually qualify as a um as a newspaper or uh requirements uh that also prompts did five other locals in New Jersey to stop um either printing um uh at all in the case of the Jersey journal or uh to convert to only a digital issue because they used The Star Ledger printing press kind of had this ripple effect the league of municipalities is proposing legislation which um you know given the plethora of reorganizations coming up in uh January in in very short order um is hoping to seek uh amendments to State Statute to allow digital additions to be considered newspapers for these purposes um you know we we also have our local weekly but you know we rely on the Star Ledger both for notices which must be published in two newspapers and also for notices that we need published more quickly um you know and that we can't have that weak notice uh so you know hopefully the state responds quickly on that one it is an issue that at least in in some locations in the state if those amendments are not made will really uh reach crisis point because there are not other applications plus the local one doesn't have reach really outside Statewide nothing prohibits us from advertising in the online ones anyway it just doesn't fulfill this St or we can absolutely um we can absolutely do additional notice the one of the unfortunate uh events in the last few years there had been a push to allow municipalities to publish just on their own websites would save hly a lot of Municipal dollars but really the there has been an increasing problem with being able to have special meetings or to schedule meetings that require advanced notice because newspapers are taking longer and longer and longer to publish them so it's not even the question of whether the town may be willing to pay the fee it's a question of at some point the newspaper publication schedule is now dictating when a municipality can have a meeting yeah uh the Press Association as you may imagine had a pretty strong negative response to that legislation because governmental Publications were one of the only things keeping some of these Flo um but of course now uh you know here we are so uh there was original scuttlebut that you know we may see a Resurgence of that legislation uh authorizing you know pure website publication but um the remaining newspapers in the state I think are even more concerned about their tenuous foothold given these recent events so that's why this sort of middle chart middle course was charted it's not it's not only for open public meetings it's it's also for advertising bids and things like that right so sure yeah MH and that certainly can't just be local and you can't expect firms to be searching every municipality there's 565 of website so okay on updated just to remind us that every January we do designate tap into and Village Green as secondary um right notices but we know there's you know it's not allowed because of uh or it can't be in in place of the written ones it is surprising to me because the newspaper business has been dying a slow death for a long time and you know I've worked with journalists and it's really sad but it's surprised to me that government hasn't really caught up with that that there's still this requirement no that's still require that we have to do in was The Star Ledger protection Bill and that's what happened it was when they when they proposed it the Star Ledger fought it along with the Asbury Park Press and a couple others and and they won the day um because they said look if you stop doing it we're going to go out of business but now they are they are you know there was even well they're doing it a different form well right online only bu it doesn't qualify there was a compromise that you know was that you know allow us to you know the municipality will still pay the fee to publish post it on your website and get it in the printed Edition whenever you can and will still you know help keep the fourth estate afloat but I think there was concern concern that once we moved to a website being okay it would be too short a hop to the municipal oh absolutely their website instead of the newspapers yeah I'll keep you posted there's also discussion of if action doesn't occur by the end of the year um you know whether one or more parties may see some kind of seek some sort of declaratory judgment finding that in absence of another op that you know it the bill the statute will be construed as allowing these things to count because at some point municipalities need to be able to and other government entities need to be able to comply right okay anything else J any questions for Miss cdio Okie do so we'll move to our Township Clerk how was the election Miss priton so uh I guess in order of uh events uh we had a very successful volunteer appreciation dinner it seems like it was so long ago on October 21st since our last meeting well attended close to 150 volunteers that was a high number uh and I appreciate all of you uh your unanimous participation helping and um as well as staff and um I mean it was just a great night and you know what the volunteers really appreciate it and they um really thank you for offering this that so many other places in towns just put do uh okay so yesterday election day uh first I want to congratulate uh mayor Adams and also uh Miss Herman on your uh victories and uh I had given everybody the print out by districts so you have the numbers very high turnout uh as you could well expect and uh we had uh 13,47 to voters in Maplewood and I'm happy and proud to uh say that we had no problems we had no problems in Maplewood and that's just like a great thing when you can have a presidential election with so many people voting and so many things that could go wrong that um it was just uh from a standpoint of administration phenomenal and I have to say um you know my staff amar's here my Deputy Ed um you know you're only as good as the people around you and I truly believe that and uh they are um really Warriors for our department on a day like yesterday yep thank you amori ey witness ey witness and also the nighttime staff for the talles and uh our super uh election uh poll worker Michelle babro she's just like everywhere I need her and uh fabulations um just putting everything together for pickup last night that has to go back down to Newark it's just seamless great and um I'm happy and when I'm happy right well if you're happy we're all we love you happy uh and then again just to highlight we have Veterans Day on Monday right here in the in this room and it's a great event it's our 21st annual Veterans Day and it'll be Monday nov November 11th at 1100 a.m. sharp and uh we anticipate a good turnout and uh please do if you can uh join usk great any questions from Miss britson no all right we'll move to elected official reports Committee Member angle thank you mayor um I first wanted to just acknowledge the election and offer congratulations to miss Mia Herman um to miss to mayor Adams and also you know um I know a lot of people have been in kind of like a days today I know I have I work at a local bakery and the energy was just different and I saw so many people from maplehood and South Orange just feeling emotions you can see the emotions on their face and it's been hard to find words to talk about um this event but I saw a quote that my friend Alex posted and I just wanted to read it to be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic it is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of Cruelty but also of compassion sacrifice courage kindness um and it's by Howard Zin and I just want to reiterate what we've talked about over the past year especially that we are one community and that we should be showing kindness to each other we don't always agree on different issues we had a competitive Board of Ed election there's a lot of people feeling a lot of feelings which then brings out other emotions whether it's aggravation or violence or whatnot and we just need to come together as a community and hold each other and support each other and as mayor Adam said so eloquently it's okay to grieve and it's okay to feel whether that's happiness or sadness or confusion or you're scared a lot of people are scared so I just want to remind everybody that we are a community here in Maplewood in South Orange and we should just all lean on each other in this time um as for my report um I also like find so much inspiration from our youth the youth advisory committee met um a few weeks ago we have two members um next meeting will'll hopefully be appointing a third um and it's growing and they have such um great ideas some of the topics we've been talking about is um transportation um as well as um other ideas they have in order to engage teenagers and our youth into um our municipalities events and services so I'm really excited to keep moving forward on that um and at our Communications committee we welcomed Kristen Downey our new public information officer we're so excited to have her part-time um she has been posting regularly on our social media and I just wanted to mention what that handle is so you can follow us it's at Maplewood TP for Township um so you can follow on social media and um the environmental advisory committee had also um made a suggestion that we start offering um kind of sustainable tips and so talked about it at our meeting yesterday and you're going to start seeing some um I forgot what we do you remember what we called it Mr daus helpful hint helpful hints that we a month populating for things to do to take care of your house or just how to report concerns or whatnot around town so keep an eye out for that um and that is my report thank you any questions for Miss Ango nope okay we'll move on to Committee Member DeLuca thank you mayor I just want to offer my congratulations to you mayor Adams and and Township committee woman elect Malia Herman how's that title huh new title uh so congratulations uh we received today a draft storm water utility ordinance and uh from our consultants and what I would do is put it on for discussion at the next meeting and if we're okay then we can introduce it in our and give final consideration in our meetings in December and we'll be ready to go in January you're circulate that yep I'll circulate once we go over we'll send that out before the meeting and then um this is the time of the year when we do our demographic study for our boards and committee so I'll send out questions to everybody to make sure we're okay with them and then we'll start that process feels like you just did that that's it okay any questions for Mr tra I do have one I just uh thank you Mr Duca I don't remember where we landed up we could talk about this when we uh talk about it next time um but one of the things that came up in our Communications committee and in finance committee as well recently was um how the billing would be implemented for the storm water utility would it be in one bill it doesn't seem that that's possible which bill will it be and you know communicating and getting ahead of that we can discuss that at the next Township committee meeting when it's formally on for discussion but I just want to let you know that that was something that we were all sort of wondering about and speaking with Administration and the finance office about so I don't know if they told you uh they did not did talk about it talk about it as an add-on to the um sewer bill SE bill but in finance um our CFO made it seem like that's not actually a possibility right so that's where some confusion started happening because we all took away that it would be on that sorry I opened the can here but conversation is happened in a few places it's started in engineering of Public Works I think that as the CFO continues to look into us he's developing some ideas I know uh him and I need to get together to finalize what we propos to the township committee uh and I will ensure that that is done by the middle of next week right yeah I mean the way we talked about it is right we can't have multiple Bills going in yeah right that was our concern yeah becomes another thing that people don't pay and and I mean it's there's got to be a way to figure it out and we have the name of somebody who worked with New Brunswick who if we can't figure it out we can bring that person in to help uh guide whoever we have to guide to get it done correctly yeah that's hard okay thank you Mr Deus thank you mayor first off congratulations on your reelection as your you're about to be sworn in in January for your fourth term I know on the Maplewood Township committee lucky you and uh congratulations to our incoming Committee Member Malia Herman well done Miss Herman uh you did really well in getting the vote out for yourself and for Democrats up and down the ballot um I will say a couple things about the election last night I want to thank our awesome uh clerk Liz fritsen for all her hard work and I know it's a team effort and thank you to our Deputy Clerk and all the volunteers and the paid poll workers and everybody involved in the free and fair election process that we saw here in Maple and throughout the nation last night um two reports from Maplewood Village updates rather the uh the construction that was happening in the Village Center Lot is nearly complete there's some odds and ends that need to be sort of put together uh people have reached out they've noticed that there's a temporary handrail on the um pathway along the uh NJ Transit um you know tracks there and that is temporary folks we have ordered a real one that's going to be appropriate uh but it's on back order and so we had to for safety reasons put in something temporary and we will make that adjustment but otherwise I think everyone can agree that it is is it looks beautiful back there right it's so much better than it was and the Crash is now Consolidated and um that project is going well I do have some bad news from the Maplewood Village Alliance we did find out from DCA that our uh Grant uh application for Main Street designation was denied so uh we will try again we are uh working to meet with DCA to get some feedback they do that um and to help us learn how we can strengthen our position going forward we do remember that in our interview and discussions with them they had concerns about our budget being appropriate and they had some other uh concerns about better wayf finding and things that they had recommended to us several years back in 2018 that we have yet to implement um so more on that that was just the designation for Main Street not a grant yes that's what I meant the application for the designation yes yes U I've gotten very little sleep so I'm not at my best this evening and regarding the election we saw democracy at work last night and um we accept the results of the of the election we're not happy with them and some of us some of us are not happy with them um and many of us are experiencing our deep profound Despair and that's okay um and many folks in our community right here in Maplewood and in adjoining South Orange especially those who identify as members of vulnerable communities they are particularly scared right now myself included yes I sit up here with a lot of privilege but you know they're talking about getting rid of marriage equality and rolling back lgbtq rights they're talking about making sure that trans youth do not receive gender in care so a lot of folks are scared and it's going to be a scary four years it's going to be disruptive it's going to be unpredictable but I invite everyone certainly to take some time to take care but to not be broken or drown in their despair because as vice president Harris said earlier today in her concession speech it was worth the fight and the fight is not over the fight for justice for equity for opportunity Carries On And as elected leaders in this town what we can do during that four years despite the disruption in Washington is to ensure that our beautiful little bubble here our sanctuary of progress and equity and opportunity is protected and we will fight hard to protect that and to continue advancing progress here in Maplewood and South Orange and we will do so with our elected leaders down in Trenton with our attorney general and we want people after they get over feeling bad feeling hard and being in despair to join the fight because right around the corner we have a gubernatorial election and we're going to need all hands on deck um I'm really grateful I have to say this for so many people who engaged during the election making calls and getting on buses and going to foreign places and knocking on Strangers doors to get out the vote it was absolutely tremendous uh um and for those of you who did not engage because our turnout wasn't that great not for a presidential and not for Maplewood we're known for our Civic engagement we've broken records we've been written about or breaking records this time not so much so to those folks I say that we have to regain your trust we will work to listen to collaborate so that we can regain your trust because we need you to engage also we need everyone so um we're going to be okay we're going to get through this those are my that's my comment thank you thank you any questions for Mr dff I do want to go back to I'm sorry but I know I want to go back to the parking lot um yes so remember that whole idea started with the visioning S again the visioning The Village visioning yes yes yes so there were other recommendations about cleaning up the back of those buildings because their whole point was that that is the sort of a Gateway as people come into the village or pass on the train so I hope some of those other suggestions Beyond just the the parking lot will be addressed 100% it's on the agenda thank you anyone else I just want to we were concerned about construction going interfering with the holiday retail season so I just want to thank our staff and for making that happen so that it's like not even you know we're about to kick off the holiday retail season but I feel like the timing works out well so thank you yes Dickens Village is already installed which is tremendous yeah y yeah they were doing it today thank you mayor okay Deputy Mayor C thank you um yeah as a a committee daff is speaking everything uh Audrey Lord quote came to me and taking a page off of Deb's book um you don't have to be me in order for us to fight alongside each other I don't have to be you to recognize that our Wars are the same the inter intersectionality piece of our world is going to come to well has come to a very very large screaming announcement we got to do better together folks we don't have a choice we've got to do better but on that note um congratulations to our fourth term holding mayor Nancy Adams and to our new member of the township committee Mia Herman I look forward to seeing what you ladies produce for the township how you work for us and godp speed on your journey you know it's going to be tough but you're up for it you're the ladies for the job um quick reports couple of different areas to go into Dean already grabbed it Dickens Village is up and ready to go so if you haven't been down to Maplewood take a look at it it's going to be cool um because we are entering the holiday season and because of that the Public Safety Committee and particularly the police dep Department sent out a notice that probably folks got as a flyer in today's weekly update in regards to um safety walking around town now that the lights are getting well the sun's going down earlier please continue to drive and walk with your with other people and in yourself in mind so leave early slow down be patient stay to the lighted areas um and enjoy the holidays um as far as package stuff goes if you have the ability to have packages that are super important sent to you at your jobs not a bad option to make sure it's there however if you do have packages delivered at home have them delivered to where you have your ring camera or wherever your security cameras are so that they are protected in somewhat um auto theft yeah it's winter in the Northeast it's kind of what happens when the Sun goes down early and it gets cold um you don't need to leave your car running all the time so please turn it off lock it take your key fob with you into the the grocery store get your coffee and come back you will not die um you're lose your car you but if you do the other things and leave it running you will probably leave your car and if you thought you were cold that before you're going to be even colder standing out there waiting for the police to come to make the report so lock your cars take your keys with you um leaf pickup has begun actually began on the 4th and um recommendation from folks that I know that are in the community that do a lot of driving particular delivery guys that run into please encourage your landscapers or your sons and daughters whoever's outside doing your leaf collection to make sure your piles are pushed as close to the curb as possible so they're not obstructing the flow of traffic or in the road making it slick um mulch yeah basically creating Mulch and it ends up in the gutters no no I meant mulch Mo mulch over or mulch it and leave it in your yard even better I don't even bother mine I just that last mowing that's it leave the leaves I don't even bother with it anymore um Recreation will be closing the fields as of November 17th and we ask because additional signage has been created and will be posted that our general population please use our Parks but follow the signage directions the fields need to rest leave the turf blankets down limit the play on the surfaces that are around the perimeter that includes the pets and the people still use the park but remember it's not just about you individuals that that's got to go um the police department is also conducting with the assistance of the um Health Department a coat hat and scarf Drive they're looking for new not used um hats gloves and scarves for our our unhoused and our um financially St population so you can drop it off by the PD um on Springfield Avenue or you can bring it here to town hall um it runs from the first until December the 9th and you can reach out to officer Luen at the PD if you have any questions uh Som falles is coming up on November the 21st at 7:30 it's a great show if you haven't had a chance to see your neighbors juggle or play good ukulele or whatever it is come on out and um maybe be inspired to apply and an audition for next year's fols which would be great um as far as safety goes yes again it's the fall and this is the time when we love to be outside making our s'mores and having our our our our our sticks and things burned out of the way so we don't have to have to rake them in there but we are currently in a burn band due to the drought and that includes those fire pits so please please it sucks that you don't get to use them but don't it's not worth the risk finally in um in Allegiance what seems like most everybody here has said um there's a lot of stress going on right now in this time period um I had a opportunity to spend some time talking with uh transman friend of mine who had a really really rough time in making the decision as to whether or not they were even going to go vote because they didn't want to go through the process because they live in a very conservative area of the country of being outed again and have to go through that process of being shamed and othered and stuff so if you're feeling the feels as you should definitely be mindful of yourself take care of your bodies and take care of your spirits take care of your minds and make the right call Miss Davenport posted the signs up and they're hanging on the fences of all of our um major municipal buildings in all of our parks of the different numbers of assistance that you can get 24 hours a day um there are people that want to hear from you there are people that will talk to you and uh together we will get Beyond this um I'll just close my report out with a quote from uh my transman friend as bear Bergman who's an author and he says the movement for justice needs every skill and ability including yours for everyone making a stirring speech there's somebody who remembered to change the megaphone batteries so uh volunteer if you want to see something change you've got to make the change happen and that's my report mayor yeah yeah thank you um thank you any questions for Deputy Mayor CRA no but I like that there's someone changing the megaphone batteries so true all right um for my report I just want to give an update to the community on New Jersey Transit um congresswoman Cheryl hosted a listening session with Essex uh with Mayors along the Morris Essex line and the Midtown direct line a few weeks back and then she subsequently met with um New Jersey Transit and with Amtrak and um they will be meeting again but what came out of that meeting basically is that they are going to be creating and funding regular maintenance schedule for both Amtrak and New Jersey transit to try to be proactive and not have things break what a concept so they will be doing that um and more um she's going to be keeping her conversations with both CEOs from both companies um going so that uh the ball doesn't get dropped and try to keep their feet to the fire a little bit um there are a couple changes um to the schedule coming up and I ask I just forwarded an email to Administration please put these on our website with a link to New Jersey Transit website um changing on November 10th specifically for Maplewood the changes to New York Penn are the current 7:01 a. Express train will be 4 minutes earlier at 6:57 and also arrived 4 minutes earlier at 7:28 the 701 was trained 6612 and the 657 train will be train number 6406 um and then there is a new Midtown direct stop at 6:42 a.m. train 6610 arriving at Penn Station New York at 7:19 a.m. also um there will be this winter some maintenance uh hobo station will be going through maintenance repairs um and so there may be some closure at the station itself forcing commuters to get to Hoboken a different way or to just go into New York directly on uh Midtown direct so um this is all around planned work on uh adjacent infrastructure the tunnels that connect pen to New Jersey Transit storage yard in Queens which is why New Jersey Transit is adjusting that operations to accommodate that work um it's a project by Amtrak uh to rehab existing tunnels east of Penn Station and this was from saltwater damage from Hurricane Sandy oh getting right on [Laughter] it anyway that's just a a brief update so I ask that um our information officer please make sure that to keep up with New Jersey transit schedule and make sure that's updated on our website all the time so as these changes change back and forth can I ask a question about that so um I know you said so this would be an engineering committee meeting but I think that meets after the schedule changes are the Jitney schedules going to be changing we'll look we'll be talking we'll be talking about they do we I know but I think the change starts before the next engineering meeting possibly so we'll look at them they'll look they need to be changed we'll change them and that'll all be publicized and then my second question is with the whole and construction I when there's problems with New Jersey Transit when we can't get to pen they get sent to Hoboken so I guess what's going to be the backup contingency that New Jersey trans Transit has for our commuters if they can't get to pen and they can't go to Hoboken I don't know the answer to that so so is that something we talk to no I'll I'll reach back out to New Jersey Transit and find out if there's a plan at all with that tell them there should be backup planless they're planning on changing their fees the mandatory fees they can make that change yeah right thank you sure um now I forgot where my papers are okay uh this past weekend we had a South Essex fire department openhouse where uh there were a lot of stuff for kids and a lot of hot dogs and hamburgers and it was a fun um afternoon on a beautiful day um so I thank Chief Alvarez and his whole department for putting that together and entertaining there was even an emergency call during the time I was there so they're still working um and then we have oops oh yeah so there is um a gathering being organized by um some uh clergy um and uh one of our residents to uh have some time to meet and gather um there won't be speeches and things like that but it's just to hold space for people who are upset um particularly as Mr de said um our youth and um people with of different gender affirming type things that are transgender or gay or whatever it is they're there to hold space for anyone nervous about the upcoming Administration um and or if like I am you're nervous about women's health and a nation Nationwide abortion ban um which is not just abortion it's abortion health care so it's every time a woman goes to the doctor and needs some care and be at that being withheld and as we've seen this past couple weeks in Texas with um young women dying because they're not getting the care they deserve this may be coming up so to my comments at the beginning of the meeting make sure you you rest up you feel and you get better because you're going to need to um start fighting for that again um also of note is the Affordable Care Act is um you know at risk so that means anybody see a lot of people aren't as old as I am but I remember when you couldn't get insurance for health insurance with a pre-existing condition and I would guess that most people have pre-existing conditions and they can be as minor as heart palpitations so and insurance companies were able to deny coverage for healthcare so just these are things to pay attention to um and if you need if you need or want some solidarity to gather across the street in Memorial Park tomorrow at 4:30 p.m. um just to um if you if you want to feel better with some of our fellow residents and it's open to all yes open to everyone everyone is welcome didn't mean to imply it wasn't but everybody is nervous about all those things I mentioned so right yeah so if anyone doesn't have any more questions of me that's my report thank you we'll move to um discussion items Mr warry thank you mayor the state puts out every year a best practices checklist your any every municipality score on the checklist is tied to how much of their state aid they receive in funding for the following year we are require there are 69 questions in the best practices uh they are divided into unscored best practices and core competency questions the township to receive our full amount of state aid must get greater than 35 points and we scored 43 points so the finance uh officer has sent you a memo on this and included with the agenda is the uh full answers to the best practices checklist and then on the consent agenda you have a resolution that this was a this was discussed at the meeting and the township had an opportunity to review and discuss this could you say the last sentence again because it kind of yeah the there's a resolution on consent Agenda 355- 24 which says that the township committee had opportunity to review and discuss the best practices checklist at a regularly scheduled meeting so now that's right that's what we need to do okay so does anyone want to discuss the best practices checklist I read it looks good yeah there you go so um that's our discussion check I get our money we are all the children all the women are beautiful and all the children are above [Laughter] average okay so with that um I'll take a motion for our consent agenda approval no moved second right yes cais yes Luca yes bengle yes mayor Adams yes thank you and now that brings us to our second public comment on any subject matter um if you'd like to uh speak to the township committee please come up to the microphone you have identify yourself and where you live and you have three minutes to speak and you can also talk online if you're on Zoom is anyone in that come on up if you want to hello my name is Matthew Gibson I live over on Bernette Street um I just wanted to talk about two things I did not receive my mail and ballot selection I believe it's because uh rette street is spelled with two I on the sign it says want T just wanted to point that out get getting kind of confusing with the mail we're missing mail um another thing I wanted to say was that uh I think that with regards to the leveling in the schools I think we should do leveling but allow the kids and maybe their parents choose what level they go into I think that' be a good compromise that's all I wanted to say okay thank you so much much um Bernette street is two T's but the sign is one t right nice right okay so is Google Maps wrong is that what the issue is so the the the issue is that Bernett in Union has one t oh right Bernett in Maplewood has two T's so roughly around Florida Street that's where the signs change but it shouldn't interfere with letter carrying because they're two entirely different towns yeah but there is also a lot of Bernett right that one oh that Bernett over here right that's that's probably the main problem bigger problem because we have three Bernett Bernett Bernette Avenue Bernett Terrace and Bernett street street yeah we hear you we like Bernett sir were you able to vote if I may ask okay okay okay work great good to hear um I would just suggest that you um I think I think it's supposed to be with one t right you you can check it because it there's over there one t over here because some of it is named after a person and some of and two of them are not I think or the other way I think we should rename a couple of them one and I would just suggest uh uh either writing to or or letting the Board of Ed know about the leveling comment because we don't control the schools part but yeah yeah yeah thank you thank you anyone else in the room like to give a comment or a question anyone online for those joining us on Zoom if you'd like to speak in public portion please raise your hand now I will move Shannon cuddle to public portion while you do that mayor do we need to move to continue past 9:30 it's like oh right let's hold that hope three minute Shan welcome to public portion you may unmute yourself and address the committee uh hi everyone uh I will make this quick um can can you hear me yes yes okay great um so I want to thank everybody uh for um all that you're doing um I also just wanted to just acknowledge that November is transgender awareness month and that uh transgender awareness week is 13th through the 19th and we also celebrate uh transgender day of remembrance on uh uh November 20th um our celebration is pending but just want to remind folks that our community does celebrate the transgender nonbinary community and that it's important to uplift now uh this time more than ever um and I also appreciate uh thank you mayor Adams and also um uh Kim uh committee man Dean daffis uh for uplifting the community event tomorrow night um at 4:30 um at uh across from town hall at uh in Maplewood Park uh as a just a coming together Gathering uh but also just you know thank you again and there will be more information out for the community at our uh transgender uh day of remembrance event that we usually hold in our community um and uh just be mindful of that so thank you all for your support thank you um okay do we have any other anyone else on Zoom would like to portion please raise your hand now I see no other hands mayor okay can I get a motion to adjourn so moved yes yes good night yes yes mayor Adams yes thank you good night everyone he's out all victories that was like