##VIDEO ID:beQJbXwRJtU## 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 yes yes Amari all right 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 the year to the news record and Star Ledger in December 2023 and by filing said notice in the office of the Township Clerk right here Luca here angle here mayor Adams here whereas chapter 231 public a of 1975 commonly known as the open public meeting SE requires all meetings of public bodies be open to the public and where section 7A provid that the governing body has a discretion to permit prohibit or regulate the active participation of the public at any meeting and where asire the governing body to comply with the provision this act same time to conduct its business in an orderly and expeditious manner now therefore be resolved by the township committee Township mwood does hereby prohibit except to set forth an a formal agenda active participation and deliberation of the governing body by the public and accept this otherwise ascribed by law does limit the public to the observations of the actions and discussions of the governing body at all of its regular and special meetings so moved Mr yes Luca yes fingle yes mayor Adams yes all set please rise for salute to the CL if I can get my words I pledge to the CL of the United States of America to The Republic it stands Nation indice he uh he sent me a picture that they're gonna take care [Laughter] of that's got to get good evening everyone and welcome to the Tuesday September 3rd 2024 meeting of the Maplewood Township committee um now that we're out of August and we're getting back on regular schedules um we're going to have uh Pro one Proclamation tonight that will be read by Committee Member angle on suicide prevention month um we have nothing for boards and committees right yeah that's next meeting and then we go into our Board of Health meeting then we have one ordinance on Final passage um with regard to the building department basically um and then we have no introductions for ordinances we have uh reports from departments we have the report in case Mr weary would like to add anything to that or explain anything he's there to answer questions um then he will do his own report uh then we have our Township attorney and our Township Clerk reports then reports from elected officials Committee Member daffis will kick us off Deputy Mayor Kus is unable to be with us this evening uh Committee Member DeLuca is next and Committee Member angle and then U Mine we have one item for de demol ition review ordinances for discussion then we have the consent agenda and sorry public comment for agenda items only in the beginning and public comment again at the end for any subject matter so with that um I will move it over to miss Angel to read the proclamation for today thank you mayor thank you Suicide Prevention month whereas September is recognized as Suicide Prevention month a time when millions of people join voices to bring visibility to the role everyone in the community can play in preventing suicide and whereas according to the American Foundation For Suicide Prevention suicide is the 10th leading cause of death among adults leading cause of death among individuals between the ages of 10 and 34 in the US and whereas the stigma associated with mental illness and suicidality continues to work against Suicide Prevention efforts by discouraging those who are at risk for suicide from seeking life-saving assistance and further traumatizing traumatizes survivors of suicide and whereas the goal of Suicide Prevention month is to destigmatize the conversation surrounding Suicide Prevention encourage community members to know the signs of someone at risk for suicide to help connect people with the appropriate support and whereas Maplewood aims to highlight the importance of preventative measures as an essential need in our community and whereas Maplewood encourages all residents to take the time to understand the importance of mental health education and recognize that taking care of ourselves and others includes taking care of mental health and whereas Maplewood is committed to coordinating the collaborative efforts of Community Partners in the development and implementation of evidence-based Suicide Prevention intervention and post intervention strategies now therefore great resolve that I Deborah angel on behalf of Mayor Nancy Adams and the entire Maplewood Township committee to hereby proclaim the month September as Suicide Prevention month thank you thank you GL for that it seems very jokeful okay before we go into um public com comment on agenda items only I just want to welcome our new assistant administrator who just started a couple weeks ago two weeks ago uh Mariam Perez welcome and you'll get to hear a public comment for me I'm sure you've read watched a few past meetings probably so we're going to go to public comment for agenda items only is there anyone in the house who would like to come on up name address and three minutes to speak make sure that thing yeah make sure the mic's down yeah push but nope no I thought it was is it on yes hi uh my name is re my name is Rebecca Shear I live at 27 Tuscan Road in Maplewood and I am here to ask you all to support um and to vote in favor of the resolution 30624 on tonight's agenda which expresses your support for the rank Choice voting bill that's currently been introduced in our state legislature this bill would allow towns to put a decision to its voters in the form of a ballot referendum of whether they would like to use rank Choice voting for their Schoolboard and general local elections and I spoke at um your previous meeting urging you to pass the trigger ordinance in support of this bill but as your uh Township committee lawyer pointed out a resolution is a much more measured approach than essentially enacting a bill which has yet to be finalized and passing a resolution I think will be just as effective because the point of this resolution is not only to express to the legislature that the Maplewood Township committee is in support of this bill but that our town is in support of rank Choice voting in general and of the many positives that it would bring to our elections and to our political climate and I'm not going to mention all these positives here since you collectively addressed them so well at your last meeting um I'm so encouraged by your discussion at the last meeting and you're willingness to support this resolution and I so hope that you all vote tonight to pass it thanks a lot thank you yes hi name my name is Lily benav I live in parip and I came here tonight to express my support for the rank Choice voting um I believe it makes um makes it easier for the Ved it makes a better experience um I am a person that I'm always pushing for people to vote because I think I should be an obligation to do it and some some um Express that is difficult is complicated they don't seem to understand it or they don't like the candidates they don't see someone that is representing them so if we have this method um we can we can have people that can represent the diversity that we have um also it would eliminate the need of expensive elections which leads to corruption and which uh it would be I would give opportunity to other people to to run for office um yeah that's thank you I appreciate that thank you there anyone else present who would like to address the township committee Mr warry anyone online any members of the public joining on Zoom would like to speak on resolution items please raise your hand now I am promoting Mary Gallagher to panelist welcome the public portion Miss Gallagher you may unmute yourself and address the committee yes hello my name is Mary Gallagher I live at 6D Salter place in Maplewood I'm also here to speak about the rang Choice voting resolution which expect you're going to pass tonight so I'm not so concerned with persuading you but but is thanking you at a time when democracy is under attack around the country and even here in New Jersey where Democrats have gutted pay-to-play laws and the open public records act I am grateful that the Maplewood Township committee is taking this step to strengthen our democracy thank you thank you any other members of the public on Zoom would like to speak on agenda item please raise your hand now I'm moving over Zack Kars two panelists welcome to public Porche Mr Karns you may unmute yourself and address the commitment hello my name is Zach CNS I'm a resident who spoke at the last meeting uh from South Orange in support of the ranked Choice voting resolution that you're now introducing and I also want to extend my thanks for bringing this forward and taking this step to try and change the way that we vote not only in New Jersey but also as a nextdoor neighbor in uh the shared school district and School Board elections thank you thank you any other members of the public on Zoom would like to speak in public portion please raise your hand now I see no other hands mayor great thank you and thanks to everyone for speaking up on that um like to move now from public comment to our Board of Health meeting I'm going to turn it over to Committee Member angle thanks mayor pursuant to section 5 chapter 231 Public Law 1975 this is to State for the record that adequate notice of this meeting has been provided to the public by posting and maintaining the annual notice of regular meetings on the bulletin board of the municipal building by mailing the annual notice of regular meetings for 2024 to the news record and Star Ledger in December 2023 and by filing said notice in the office of the Township Clerk c s daffis yes Luca here Mar here here M angle here for us chapter 231 Public Law of 1975 commonly known as the open public meeting s requires R means of public bodies be open to the public and whereas section 7A provides that the Board of Health heal has the discretion to permit prohibit or regulate the active participation of the public at any meeting and where Zar the 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 mwood Board of Health the township of mwood does hereby prohibit except to set forth an formal agenda active participation and deliberations of the Board of Health by the public acceptance otherwise described by law those limits public the observations of the actions and discussions of the Board of Health at all its regular and special meetings some move second Mr Davis yes Luca yes mayor Adams yes angle yes now I move to approve the Board of Health meeting minutes from August 6 2024 second Mr daffis yes s DeLuca yes mayor Adams yes mle yes now I will turn it over to our health officer Kansas stav ort good morning good evening everyone um if I could just have the PowerPoint set up for presentation this evening happy sep part I think we I'm having trouble hearing you okay I know you're probably jet leg so yes so I just want to highlight that uh our upcoming Health screenings at the farmers market will be held September 9th along with that we'll be working with the maple wood Police Department on having a Maplewood mobile drug disposal where people can discard or their unused or expired medication safely that'll be um at the maple Farmers Market on 1662 Springfield Avenue from 3:00 to 6:00 p.m. and our health screenings will be there from 2: to 6: pm. and they're free next slide onto our nursing update this month was a busy month for reportable diseases that were investigated our nurse uh investigated 13 cases and an update on the August 5th screenings at the farmers market eight people were screened for uh stroke risk assessments and glucose A1C screenings next slide we want to highlight that our partners at Memorial Morrow Memorial United Methodist Church will be holding a blood drive that's open to the community uh that will be held this Thursday September 5th from 3:30 to 7:30 p.m. at uh the mwood church on on um Ridgewood Road there is a registration link so we encourage people to donate because for every pint of blood that is donated three lives could be saved next slide moving on to our Animal Control Solutions monthly report for the month of July we had 21 calls um most of them were for wildlife uh we had three bites that were reported to animal control Solutions um in the month of July and um they addressed three Strays that uh were found in map wood next slide we are keeping busy at the mwood health department with a rabies vaccine clinic uh that'll be held on Wednesday September 18th um ahead of time we just want to thank Valley vet and uh the veteran veterinarian uh Dr morcos for volunteering his time to uh provide this vaccine clinic from 11:00 a.m. to 1 p.m and we will be working with the South eex Fire Department um at their map Wood Station on denell Road this event is free and open to the public to vaccinate uh their dogs and cats no need for registration Walkins are are welcome moving on to environmental health for the month of August as you can see we had uh several food truck inspections that was because of our summer outdoor events which uh we were glad to do we had childcare inspections and uh complaints most of them were for uh rodent um mold garbage and dog complaints next slide moving on to Social Services and mental health to provide an update for our crisis intervention social workers uh for the month of August they addressed 15 cases with seven c-responses and seven clinical cases uh they'll also be pre presenting a quarterly uh a yearly update excuse me to the community board on police meeting tomorrow evening so um if you would like to learn more about uh the details of their uh work they can attend that meeting as well moving on we have our uh collaborative support programs of New Jersey or cspnj homeless Outreach and engagement update so for the month of August they addressed 27 cases as you can see that the homeless Outreach and engagement was 15 but that the diversion and Prevention Services which are increasing is also um up to par so they're addressing both homelessness and prevention of homelessness so um they're making great efforts and strides especially at the library next slide this is getting out so thank you to everyone for spreading the word that cspnj is available for free help on Saturdays from 12: to 2 uh the library has seen an increase in service providership and people who are coming to the library for help with filling out applications like food stamps and um housing and job applications so thank you for getting the word out on that next slide as uh we highlighted in the resolution for suicide prevention this month so thank you Miss Engle for that just want to highlight that on 98 or September 8th um we are celebrating and acknowledging and raising awareness for 988 which is the suicide and crisis Lifeline this is a national uh phone number that people can call 24 hours a day seven days a week um and their uh theme for this year is no judgment just help so it's it Val we're trying to emphasize the importance of mental health support and that everyone should um take advantage of it not only if you are in crisis but if you yourself know of someone who is in crisis they can be there to help we also provide virtual uh Narcan training um updates from our friends at Ruckers and adapt ethics County adapt uh they're offering another virtual Narcan training this is also free on September 17th from at 11:00 a.m. uh you can register for this they have a maximum of 25 participants but if you participate you learn how to recognize and respond to an opioid overdose and you receive a free Narcan kit as I've mentioned before um some of the in in some of the data that we're looking at elderly people are interestingly um the inadvertent U opioid overdose cases that we see in New Jersey and so we like to tell people that if you are a caregiver of a senior please take advantage of these free online classes you don't have to go anywhere you can just do an a virtual class and be there to save a life because sometimes people forget that they took too much medication and they overdose inadvertently so please uh for all caregivers of seniors or someone who is in chronic pain or uses opioids at home please take advantage of these Narcan trainings next slide as we We Begin our school year this Thursday we wanted to highlight this new um signage at lawn signs at all of the elementary schools so we have partnered with the school district and um all of the little elementary schools we have included their logos as well as the logos for the municipal Alliance and these lawn signs will be put out in front of all of the elementary schools um this month so we're working with all the Maplewood ones and South Orange is doing uh the South Orange ones all these are being funded through the Maplewood Municipal Alliance so we're really getting out there to tell people that parents or Guardians who spend 15 minutes per day with their child can improve their health and well-being sometimes it's just nice to be reminded that spending time with with their kids is just the way to get to address mental health too so uh we want to thank the school district for partnering with us on that next slide um this is also to address um DC kpe had mentioned about Universal home visiting and although the name Universal home visiting doesn't really address it it is free um visitations from a nurse uh two weeks postpartum so after you deliver you can have a nurse talk to you about baby care about uh Family Planning about how to make the adjustments and it's even for you know the little children and your partner as you welcome a new person into the world so we encourage people in Essex County but especially in Maplewood to take advantage of this free uh Universal home visiting program for all women um two weeks postpartum next slide and of course for mental health we just want to emphasize uh that people can make the right call again you'll see the 988 Mental Health crisis phone number but also 911 for emergency services 211 for social services and the 800 number for Poison Control and that is a national number as well next slide and that is it for uh the Board of Health presentation for this evening thank you thank you so much any questions from estort from my colleagues Mr DeLuca um I want to ask a question about the uh the work with the homeless over at the uh near Indiana the Indiana Street parking lot you mentioned um the work around the library which I know is a problem and thank you um we just installed some new bench is there these are have dividers yes and what we were hope and we actually reduced by a third there were six benches between Indiana and park they're now four benches the new benches with the with the um um y arms in between one of the reasons was to try to um prevent lying down and sleeping there um it still seems to be happening is there any anything that we can do in our interaction with homeless individuals to um try to encourage them not to sleep there or or sleep not to lie there because it does first of all with reduced seating we need more seats um and secondly it it is a problem it's a it's it's a visual problem it's a real it's a real problem they need place to sleep but it's a it's a visual problem too so in our conversations with um you know both either the in our staff or the um cspn J uh staff is it is there some way we can try to discourage that from happening sure yes uh when CSP andj goes there and they go there every day that they're here um they have developed a relationship with the um persons who are who are there they've taken them to better life which is their location in nework where they've um gotten them food where they've talked to them about some of their needs in um in their cases sometimes people can refuse to go and sometimes can people can refuse the help but we keep trying every day to to get them to um find other resources and other locations to stay um some of them may not be homeless but they choose to um congregate there because they find um companionship among the people who are there um and they understand one another um we will continue to encourage them to find other locations or if they have issues with their own housing to help them with that we will also address that they shouldn't be lying down on those um we want them to be a part of the solution so they may not understand why the change was even um made so we can reemphasize that that that was um the change for the township and why the benches are are reformatted that way do we have people out on the weekends or is it just Monday through Friday they csb andj is out there Saturdays so after they're at the library from 12:00 to 2 they're there from 3: to 8: okay going around you may I follow up on that go ahead Mr daas um not to Target anyone obviously but is there any way that we could ask CS c um cspnj uh to uh to work with those folks in particular the committee men DeLuca referenced um as they may be sheltered individuals uh sheltered means uh they may be already admitted into an assigned and registered to a shelter but because it's nice outside they prefer to be outside for obvious reasons or they may be unsheltered folks um there's all kinds of categories of of houseless folks so so could we find out a little bit more about that and and um see see what we can do to directly uh assist them yes one of the things that I know we uh they have they have regular contact with at least four U males there that seem to be frequent they are also in touch with the residents who um have been taking pictures and just Chon Chon cheling that their people there so they are um talking to the residents as well and then they go there as soon as um they can uh to the location if they haven't talked to them already that day um cspnj is also going to try to get a uh Spanish speaking um staffer to come especially to the Indiana locations um there seems to be an increase of um Hispanic speakers who utilize the community fridge and so should they need um CSP andj Services uh they're going to also make that available since um that's a language can be a barrier to service access thank you just whoever's idea was to put the new refrigerator that you can see in is a great idea yeah because it that was the that was UCC well it was a great idea because it just allows people to see without having to open it and close it and open close it which then taxes the the machine exactly so having it there it also um you know when you see stuff you take a little more ownership some of the volunteers will maybe clean it out you know they'll see something in there that shouldn't be in there so I think it's a it was a good idea and it looks better already and I I find that some of the issues that we had there have decreased not eliminated but decreased yeah that I think that was the whole goal of trying to um address the community fridge and how to make improvements and I think the township has done a great job and people see that the the township cares about this and all of our partners like UCC and CSP andj care about and so we want to make it a you know dignified and wonderful experience as best as possible so thank you for your support on that one I also want to thank um engineering and administration and DPW for installing that so thank you don't give away your thanks this all you this is your praise don't give it away it's hard to get any other questions from my colleagues is there anybody here that would like to ask our um Health officer any questions I'm opening it up to the public in our room first have you have to come up come up to the mic oh hi M thank you so much for that report I had one question about could you identify yourself for the record I'm sorry Maplewood 6 South Crescent my one question was about um the unhoused individual ual in Maplewood what uh members of the public should do if they see someone um we we had an individual at at our house recently and so um I wasn't sure who to call I know you're doing such great work with that and um I wanted to make sure the public also knows the information on um who to call to get them the services that you have thank you it's a good question y that is a that is a great question cspnj has a hotline phone number that we can share um on our website as well as on our eblast we were trying to work out the snafus about um about that before we put it out to the public so it it was uh going to the police department and the library but now that we know that someone will be um receiving it or or responding to the phone calls um we can definitely share that now with the public we're also working with CSP andj on releasing a press release so that will be coming out shortly with the hotline phone number that residents can call it also will provide um when to call some when to call cspnj right um you know if someone if you identify someone who is unhoused or they themselves identify as unhoused uh that is what the appropriate time to call the hotline that hotline is not 247 so I just want to pre you know make that clear um CSP andj will answer it if they're on shift for Maplewood otherwise they'll respond to it the next business day and get information but should you have an immediate concern or incident um the police department has the phone number for cspnj so you can call um their non-emergency number or their emergency number and they can relay that message to um CSP andj immediately and they can follow up that day if they're on shift or the next business day to assist so about what about if this is the assum the Assumption I'm making from based on what aah said was that somebody came to their house which is a little different than encountering in public area right so if if if there was you know an incident where um the unhoused person um is unknown to you and may be trespassing then that's a police assistance and that would be you know a 911 phone call um if the person is unhoused and they and they are familiar to you and they're looking for assistance you can reach out to cspnj uh for more help for social identifying social services that they need I'm a little concerned it because I find that um anyway we could talk about it again when we get closer to a final product in terms of communicating to the public yeah how to make the right call yes because I really think this is another category of making the right call right because we're going to have folks who are going to we have folks who call the police about this about an unhoused unthreatening yes person who is merely sitting somewhere not doing anything not trespassing not being a public nuisance not engaged in a misdemeanor or felony or anything like that right they are just merely present as an unhoused person on the streets of Maplewood right and people call the police and there's nothing the police can do about that but the police do respond because we have an awesome police department and they take all the calls and they and they respond um but that increases the harm to that person and there might be people out there who are listening to this and saying hey dafis you you crazy liberal why is that causing harm to the person well because it goes back to the issue that we talked about earlier which is how do we get folks to trust trust that there are people there to help them well guess what the way not to get them to trust the people who are trying to help them is to have a police officer show up no matter how kind or warm or welcoming so that is the issue and I think that we all need to figure out here maybe we could talk about it in Communications uh the chair of communications committee uh is committee woman um angle there so we need to talk about this and figure out how to make the right call and maybe we can add it to our white make the right call flyer if it will fit on there but I think we need to sort of help people triage yes because it's education right if a dangerous situation if threatening of course call the police correct if non-threatening non- dangerous right don't call the police non-emergency number call cspnj we can do that now with the hotline yes right yes so we have to figure out how to triage these situations otherwise the police are going out there as a co-response anyway and there isn't anything that they can do well this the you know with our crisis intervention social worker program the PD does go out there to assess the situation and determine the safety of it so they can you know they're trained to triage and figure out what the situation is um we we rely on them to be able to do that people can call CSP andj if there's a person that they've identified as unhoused and that person identifies as UNH house or in need of Social Services with regards to a housing aspect um but like I said you know calling the PD is um I find you know essential for us because cspnj is only onshift certain hours of week and so if someone's calling and they're not on shift CSP andj can respond afterward once they get a report from the PD of what happened so that's where the PD can be helpful in just recording what happened but they have the phone number to cpj to call them and if there's an emergency and they they find that someone is on house um they can call CSP andj um their directorship and maybe they can send somebody out but I don't want people to think that the hotline is a 247 right availability even the county doesn't have 2 47 capacity of course of course I understand this brings me also to another point that was in social media recently um and it's also a very good question and it's something we haven't resolved before we talked about getting there we haven't gotten there yet um how do you reach a social worker how do you re reach our crisis intervention social workers right um and the previous practice was the previous guidance rather was call the police not emergency number yes right and I again I'm not sure that is the best way to go about it because unless it's a domestic violence situation again a threatening situation our our crisis intervention social workers can do a response and they can call the police in if they if they find that that's necessary but for an emotionally disturbed person or for uh someone experiencing some other crisis and they need immediate help you know I I don't think that calling the police again is the best way to handle that either Mr daffis just I'm sorry to interrupt you but I know that we talked about this a little bit at the communications committee meeting and I've also talked to Miss Davenport about it and we decided that the best place to talk about continue this conversation is at the health and Community Services meeting which I believe is next Monday maybe I think weting on a date of rescheduling it because it was supposed to be on Labor Day so um we talked about having a more robust conversation there because there is a communication issue there's a lot of going on because when we don't have people on staff all the time we don't want to give one number out to the public because what if then they're not getting a call back or is a real emergency and we know the concerns also about going to PD um but there's also reasons between the way the partnership works with our crisis intervention social workers and the PD so there's like a lot of different moving parts that I think we just need all of our brains together in our committee just talk through all the different reasons and try to figure out like how to move forward and what the information is that's going to the public so that people actually understand who they're supposed to be calling and to make sure that the proper process and protocol that's supposed to happen is actually happening so I think if we can just table if it's okay with everybody here to table this until our health and Community Services meeting and we can make sure miss kite puts it on the agenda at the top so that we don't um skip over it yep just putting it on the radar yeah and I I appreciate um Committee Member Engle there are nuances and lots of ways and so communication about this process is super important so we can get all of um everyone's buyin but also understanding of when is the appropriate time to call thank you any other questions from the public for Miss Davenport in the room Mr wary can you help assist um public comment online if any members of the public joining on Zoom would like to address the Board of Health please raise your hand now now I see no hands awesome so with that I move that we adjourn until our next scheduled meeting on Tuesday October 1st okay Mr daffis yesca yes mayor Adams yes M angle yes back to you mayor you this is I can't we have another public comment meeting after the rest of the agenda and it's relatively short so if you could wait till the next public comment meeting at at the end of business of the rest of the agenda yes period as I think you met period public comment period right okay so we'll move to ordinances on Final Passage Miss fritson uh yes mayor uh ordinance on Final passage uh item number nine 9A ordinance number 3128 d24 is an ordinance to amend and supplement Chapter 93 of the code of the township of mwood entitled building construction with respect to permit submission requirements and requirements during construction this ordinance will amend and supplement Chapter 93 building construction and Township Code to add new sections detailing permit submission requirements and requirements for the maintenance of sites during construction this ordinance has been published copies posted on the bulletin board in the municipal building and copies made available to the general public in accordance with the law is there anyone I'm opening the hearing on this is there anyone in the public who would like to comment on this ordinance seeing no one inside the building Mr where is there anyone online if any members of the public on Zoom would like to speak on this ordinance please raise your hand now I see no hands thank you uh may I get a motion for this please yes mayor I move this ordinance to be adopted as a whole and the clerk be directed to publish the same as a past ordinance in the Maplewood South Orange News Record according to law now second spitson Mr daffis yesca yes SLE yes mayor Adams yes thank you we have no introductions for any new ordinances so we'll move to reports from the Departments and we'll start with administrative Mr wary thank you mayor two reports uh first we have our bulk drop off program which we hold twice a year here we had some changes in dates for that I'll put them up on the screen so the public can see uh We've also we have them on our website and uh put out a or have put out a uh an email uh to the public on this so what was to be held September 14th will now be held October 12th and then uh Monday October 14th through Wednesday October 16th and then again Saturday October 19th the Saturday hours are 8 8 to 2 and the Monday through Wednesday hours are 8 to 3 p.m. uh you can find more information about that on our website which I will share now and the second item is it this Friday September 6th we will hold our annual Employee Appreciation event that will be held in the uh in the afternoon and so Town Hall will be closing early we'll put a notice on out to the public on that as well that's my report thank you mayor great any questions for Mr weary I have one question um so uh our students are going back to school on Thursday they're all excited to start another Academic Year uh I'm wondering if um there's been any coordination with the school district and the requisite Public Safety officials about safe safe routes to School uh that was definitely something uh you know we didn't do the best job in terms of coordinating last year uh at this time and I'm wondering where we are this year about that our Police Department had a meeting last week with the Board of Ed officials to discuss exactly that any changes in start starting times or ending times bus Foods maybe changes in where children are walking to from their homes to their school so we are uh we're aware at least as much as the the school district knows of how we will start this school year obviously you know there may be adjustments needed as we start we we will um we will uh keep eye out for any you know any changes that we had noticed prior additionally we have uh in this budget year increased our staff of crossing guards so that we're not adding crossing guard posts but we will have additional guards for when our U current guards uh call out sick potentially or are unable to work and so that'll help we'll have guards that are always familiar with uh their Crossing assignments it also frees up police officers normally previously had covered those posts to be available for other incidents that are happening in the morning and afternoon crossing guard time so that'll help it a little bit as and either we have or we will put out uh an an email to the public regarding tips for um going back to school being aware of traffic did they you did put it out and it was amazing I was going to mention it in my report it was a very good email yes excited assistant business administrator uh took that on herself and did a wonderful job work with the chief of police on that and I know the chief had also gotten that out to some local media so that was polished there as well that's terrific thank you for the update and I see that the school district did put out some information on for parents on how to ask questions about or raise concerns about their child 's respective walking route that's on the district's website parents can consult that there thank you welc anyone else have questions for Mr warry nope you're off the hook we'll move to M cido thank you mayor uh only one quick item just as a reminder the uh Oprah amendments that were passed earlier this spring went into effect today was the uh magical day as far as the um as far as the township interfacing with residents a lot of the things that are now required uh Township was previously doing redacting you know personal information phone numbers email addresses that kind of thing um so there's not going to be I think a tremendous amount of difference in how the township interacts with people seeking public records of course the biggest change to um the law itself is the change to the availability attorneys fees to people who feel that they have not been uh presented with the appropriate records uh but hopefully that is something we will see very rarely okay that's it just one okay any questions for Miss cidia all righty and we'll move on to our Township Clerk Miss fritson uh thanks mayor so I just want to report uh as you know we're making plans for our annual uh volunteer appreciation dinner and I had presented to the township committee with a proposed date and uh you know before I announce it tonight just want to make sure that the township committee is available I haven't heard otherwise so uh awaiting your reply thank you oh thought we figured that out no I sent you a save the date oh right I didn't figured to save the date meant that it was put this on your calendar this is what yeah I thought it was resolved too like my date I thought when you said save the date we just that was it so now you want us to on it what was it like September Monday October 21st 21st October 2 October 21st okay all right I'm saving that date right now we had a pool advisory committee meeting that night was the only thing but they'll all be invited so we can maybe uh leave early that was the only thing that I had on my calendar that was a conflict any questions for Miss priton on any other topics that the clerk should know about okay all right then we'll move to elected offic officials Mr dfus thank you mayor the only thing I've Got Tonight is to welcome everybody back from vacation and the holiday hope everyone had a great summer out there and uh wishing our students you go back to school on Thursday a fantastic Academic Year so uh that's all I got thank you that's what happens when you go on vacation that's what happens when you go on vacation exactly thank you very much any questions for Mr daus okay we'll move on to Committee Member DeLuca thank you mayor I just want to remind us on September SE at our September 17th meeting we will have a presentation on the Woodland from our historic preservation consultant um we also expect to have a discussion item on our sore storm water utility uh proposal uh we just couldn't get it together and get it out to you in time so you could read it and be informed um but we'll have it for you and it is likely we'll also have a discussion about a recommendation on a housing partner from the affordable housing board so um be a jam-packed meeting I just want to congratulate the police department on a very successful National Night Out as you know it rained and uh we had another uh date and got as many people as normal so or maybe even more and it was really a lot of fun speaking of fun we had porch Fest yesterday yes uh after uh a cancellation on Sunday it would move to Monday which made some people very happy because they could participate and um it was a great event and uh I want to thank um our Police Department again for all their help and uh we worked hard Miss fritsen to get everything moving but uh and they and they were very appreciative of our um reducing the fee for the first year and so we'll work with them now for next year to make sure that they're covering it they didn't have any donation buckets by the band no think well you know what a lot of the Bands had raise it a lot of the Bands had tip jars yeah do they get paid they do not get paid oh then they can have tip jars so so I think that a little confus confusing um Saturday September 21st is the end ual lightning Brook cleanup of the Hilton neighborhood association and the uh Saturday environmental advisory committee Saturday September 21st okay at noon what time is it I think it's at 10 o'clock 10 to noon I think we do enough two hours walking in the lightning Brook is is enough karing are garbage out sound a lot of uh tonight on our consent agenda 3 38-24 we have a resolution for traffic caling $100,000 and so that is a something we've done now in the last couple years put all these um together and uh so we'll be awarding that contract and then um I may have been sleeping Mr weary did you mention anything about the senior bus did not all right would you like to tell us when it's when we're expecting it now mid October okay we currently expect it okay so that's a just so some people someone asked me yesterday and I just want to let them know I I we've having I guess there's always production issues with these this is a specially designed vehicle right this is a just so folks know we're getting an electric vehicle uh for our seniors so this is a a grant we got through Community Development block grant from the county and when you buy these things you have to uh Speck it out and have it made and we've been working with um the Builder uh to do that and and there's there are always delay we thought we'd have it for the summer but now we're going to have it in October better late than never and totally accessible too and be totally accessible yes it's a Ada um accessible that's and quiet because it'll be Elric and that is my report great any questions for Mr DeLuca do we expect the information on storm water utility like a week prior to the meeting oh hopefully next week we'll get it yeah yeah okay and in enough time to take a look at it yeah all right Committee Member angle thank you well I guess I'll start with what we just mentioned the back to school email that our Maplewood PD um put out to remind folks that kids are going back to school traffic patterns are a little different there are some street closures near elementary schools um there are going to be a lot of kids and families walking a lot of people who haven't been to their schools before and might not know where they're going so just want to remind folks when they're driving to work or getting around town to just please drive slowly leave a little bit extra time know where the schools are located so that you're not just driving super fast down these hilly roads and um at risk of hitting a child so just want to make everyone aware of that and really appreciate appreciate our PD putting out that um emo with tips um our youth advisory committee which we're revamping met for the first time last week we have two youth that were appointed um this summer and we are recruiting more so if you're interested you can go to our website and fill out our our boards and committee application form to join our youth advisory committee um grades 7 through 11th grade um can be appointed for a two-year term um we meet monthly you come to these meetings you learn a lot I think we have our two members on our Zoom listening in and I'm really excited to get going with them um I'm really excited about the greenway because anyone who knows me knows I don't stop talking about it but it started um we have improved the student parking lot um with um putting lines in we paved a lane a bike walking Lane um the driveway going from uh Jefferson um is improved and so we're really excited to get this going for the new school year and we are um talking at our engineering and Public Works about how to continue the greenway um all the way to M to Milburn so more to come on that and then last is the pool it'll be my last report on the pool for this summer um and we have I want to just first thank our director of community services Melissa manuso and our pool foran Nick Waltz they have worked so so hard this summer and have just done an incredible job with all the programming all the people um it's just been a blast all summer long um they just finished their final week of the season with a float night with a DJ a live concert poolside crafts and a movie night um tomorrow the pool is hosting the senior picnic and of course we have dog day of summer on Saturday September 7th from 11:00 to 1 you register on W desk and you must have a doggy license for 2024 to participate um a postseason survey will be sent to all people who are registered for the pool so please um keep an eye out and participate in that survey um and just to kind of recap our 2024 season um this is what Miss manuso wrote for 2024 the pool had a large scale Capital resurfacing project new family changing room two new shade structures fresh paint with color change and some new awnings as well we refined and improved our learn to swim programming had a winning moo season sold out two weeks of mermaid camp with fresh programming and opened for heat waves regardless of infrastructure improvements and enhanced features the staff is what makes our pool stand out from increased trainings in services and staff appreciation events to a culture of promoting from within um Miss manuso is most proud of the team who makes the work possible and the pool safe we look forward to some offseason updates and hope everyone stays in touch on lands in the offseason thank you for the memories and keep our Instagram active at Maplewood Community pool that is my report any questions for Miss Ango no okay so my report also sort of um dovet Tales into because I'm I'm uh G to speak a little bit for deputy mayor kpe who can't be with us tonight and um as from recreation department so talking a little bit about what's been going on from Community Services um as Miss angle mentioned Miss manuso has a very um Hefty uh schedule of events and um and programming that um we're very privileged to have in town um so just a few things for recreation stuff there's a Laura Holtz tennis tournament to fight epilepsy is Saturday September 7th a few stop a few spots are left to register on wesk um um Community meditation on Saturday September 7th maybe I should go to that I could use that um from 4: to 5:00 pm in Memorial Park Amphitheater you can register at recus also just re register at recus because it's really hard to say at all of these things and that's Maple wood. wes.com Community program um fall pickle ball is open and begins on September 14th um for all ages and all skill levels I know that was a question uh Dart fall basketball league is going with great participation Maplewood South Orange softball has 12 teams playing fall ball this season over 125 girls from ages 8 to 14 hitting the fields for practices and all games are on the road they have using up a lot of Maple Crest Park I understand it so M map mapo travel basketball travel team tryouts are coming soon so look for publication on that um practices will start late October um Hometown Ultimate Frisbee has a few spaces left for co-ed players grades 6 to8 co-ed intermural registration closes on this Saturday at 11 PM this program is for those learning to play Ultimate Frisbee from fundamental skills to intermediate um and then Maplewood South Orange youth wrestling club offers wrestling introduction practices and competitions for boys and girls ages one grade grades sorry grades 1 through eight um and then for seniors we have a lot I just want to also shout out to Michelle W Welsley who does an amazing job uh she cares deeply about programming for our seniors and we do a lot um including tomorrow the senior picnic at the pool um new water CL watercolor classes on Tuesdays pen and Inc just some art classes are they're all sold out so um stay tuned and look for the next session lunch and learn uh they have one on September 10th at 10:30 with the topic of quality of life and quality of mind go hand inand um with a speaker and a light lunch on October 2nd the other lunch and learn is partnership for a drug-free New Jersey which will be the role of a grandparent in in in prevention um they have movie days coming up with an appropriate one on September 24th at 1M is 80 for Brady pick off the football season you go we could both go to that one 80 for Brady I didn't see it did anyone see it I saw it did you is it any good it's fun okay fall Fitness is underway um for seniors register at R Des with 15 classes from aerobic dance to balance and stability Dan happy is a fun free blast event on Thursdays at noon and then also Simply Delicious and simply nutritious is a four-part cooking series beginning September 17th for four weeks and nutrition at 10:00 a.m. at the senior center so you need to register for those and lastly there's a couple of senior trips coming up one to Holland Holland rdge Farms on September 19th and one to see the Jersey Boys at paper mill Playhouse and then a Sleepy Hollow day trip on Friday October 18th so again shout out to Melissa manuso and to Michelle Welsley for um just a lot of programming that you know is really way more than I ever remember being available um in town in years past in all the years I've lived here so thank you um and other than I was on vacation as well jet lagged as well so I actually landed in Alaska I'm not supposed to but we had to oh have to talk about that on the way I know you were there I thought of texting you anyway if no one has any questions for me it's a big state it is it's a very big state yes I thought think you see somebody on the corner but there's only a few places where you can land an airplane yes I saw the the flight map that we passed over Sarah Palin old mayor Town what was that um what town was that Sarah Palin mayor oh yeah toown anyway okay we digress discussion items Mr DeLuca you have one for the demolition reviewer yes thank you mayor um so earlier this year we passed a uh demolition review ordinance which requires um anyone who wants to demolish a home 50% of the home or more to have a review by the historic preservation commission before uh obtaining a permit uh and the idea is to just to decide if the [Music] um that house has any historic significance and therefore would be it would be prevented from demolishing 50% or more so in the ordinance we included a provision for an informal review by the historic preservation commission and um what what happened is that we got a perspective purchaser of a building um who wanted an informal review View and it became an issue quickly that I think when we talked about it code that we thought it was going to be someone who was a property owner we may have not written the ordinance as precisely as we should have but um then this raised a lot of other questions that if someone whether they own the property or thinking about buying a property goes before the HPC for an informal review gets an informal review which we say doesn't you know is not final um but then makes some decisions or spends money based on that informal interaction and then when they go for a formal review there's a difference in what they heard from the informal review and then someone comes and says well you know when I met with you in the informal you said that it wouldn't be a problem so I went and got an architect and did engineering studies and you know I spent a lot of money and now you I go for the f review and you tell me there's a historic significance you can't demolish the building yeah so you know you told me one thing now you tell me another thing talk to my lawyer yeah so I think we're trying to avoid any kind of confusion um by you know the recommendation here of the code committee and by our attorney and the director of Community Development is to eliminate the informal review provision to just make it clear that if you own a property and you want to go for um a permit to demolish 50% or more and you go through the process of having a formal review it's cleaner it's tighter their Provisions as to what the review is supposed to do and then whatever the decision is you live with that decision and move forward so that would be the recommendation to the township committe is that we introduce a change to that ordinance to introd to eliminate the informal review this was an area of inquiry that the planning board had as well when we presented this uh this was presented to them uh and I think we should eliminate this yeah I think it's a good idea what if we can just um authorize well uh you've you've drafted something already so if we could just introduce that next at the next meeting if we're okay does that have to go back to the planning board yes it's substantial okay that's all I have okay no other discussion item so I move will move on to the sentena can I get a motion I moveing second M fritson yes Lua yes SLE yes mayor Adams yes thank you that brings us to our second public comment portion on any subject matter so this is the time you get come up to the microphone if you will uh give us your name and address and you'll have three minutes to speak y of course suggested to me that IE to discuss issue I have okay drive I have nowhere else to park but in front of the house and I'm trying to get some help maybe I can get a permit park there I'm willing to pay for it to avoid paying for the how uh is this a multif family and so how many units are there and how many cars own two cars I own a car my wife own two cars that's the issue she has her car it's a lot of cars for yeah help us in understood could you leave your contact information with Miss fritsen the clerk over here and um then you know we'll we'll talk about it we have other concerns about the same problem with other houses and we're talking about seeing what we can do um unfortunately you know there's a lack of space and not a lot of ways to solve this issue but you leave your contact information back in touch with you doesn't concern this I don't understand maybe explain [Music] may9 um yeah why don't you yeah okay you see this from okay so this is uh yeah under Maple code she's she's passing on part of the property taxes to you she's allow yeah well I don't know about your lease that would be for legal to um probably go ahead yeah we have someone on the uh rent leveling board who or the the rent control board who is helpful in answering questions to Residents about rent contr on what is and what is not allowed for our ordinance so I can give you my card and if you want to reach out to me tomorrow if you want to write your information on that I can have them connect with you and let you know some background on it all right you're welcome okay yeah sir can you go back to the microphone I have some questions on the parking have have you um have you discussed any possible rental of space with any neighbors and what happened right the mechanic I asked he uses his space have another right also was suggesting that I talk to some of the owners business own right right yeah so I I think um I mean we hear we hear the problem we heard the pro we hear problems from other folks who have more cars than they have spaces to park um so we have an ordinance townwide ordinance no overnight parking as you know from 2: amm to 6:00 a.m. because you're getting tickets for it and the only right now in the ordinance The Only Exception in order to get a permit on the street is if you have no parking on your so we have some houses that have no parking they have no driveway no off Street they have no off street parking so those are the only houses and I I think there are less than 20 in the town there's about 18 yeah so there's less than 20 uh in the town that we give out permits so for us to to do what you're asking we really have to take a hard look at whether we want to change the ordinance um and to be honest it's a heavy lift because one of the reasons we have the 2 to 4 2 to 6: a.m. Pro prohibition of parking is for Public Safety we don't have cars on the street we don't have people coming in and stealing cars police are able to do a line of sight when they ride on the street they can see up and down there's no there's no cars there um so we'd have to to have a conver and then also just for for plowing street sweeping we have no cars on the street so it just helps all around so I just want to be totally honest with you in order to solve your problem we really have to figure out a change in the law and then that can't just be for Evelyn Court it has to be for every every street in town and and and I listen I know the situation I've I've I've I've been on Evelyn Court I've stayed on Evelyn Court my wife lived on Evelyn Court so and you know there and and then on jacobe street and we had problems there I had a park in in Irvington and and I know exactly what you're talking about but it's a difficult situation yeah um so but it's been coming up a lot L it is it is but it's it is it it changes everything so it's just not a simple situation is saying let's give this gentleman a permit it CH it's going to change the law and so we have to really think through and talk with our police about what are the ramifications of changing that law that's the I just want to be honest with you that's they told me at the police dep Department as well was suggesting where you come here and see the same okay thank all right thank you yeah we'll be talking about it again at engineering Public Works and planning and then we should talk about at Public Safety maybe what we need to do is talk to the chief of police talk at Public Safety with regard to possibly maybe there is something we should do with our existing yeah or I'm in support of relooking at it because having lived in a multif family house and gotten all those tickets because either I get locked in my driveway or I have to get a ticket which is worse and um I do I think as we look at Maplewood and we want to make it an affordable place to live we want people to have affordability and we're looking at different of housing stock we do need to look at parking because it is an issue when you have a narrow driveway and you have you are going to have a lot of cars because if it's a three family and people have one or two cars each you know that could be a bunch of cars so I I would be in support of and I've talked about it with at least two of you on this day so I think it's something we should talk about yeah and I brought this up to the committee before and at that time we were not ready and uh committee M DeLuca mentioned the things that he mentioned tonight as well as the reasons for not lifting it um but we should take another look I mean one of the things that our new master plan recommends is encouraging more multi family housing as another housing access point and Equity Point uh in our community and this is going to be a barrier to that uh for the Practical reasons that we've discussed so we need to uh reconsider I believe okay so I think what you're hearing is that they we're going to start you know looking at see what we can do and weigh the pros and cons of between the police's needs and dpw's needs with maintaining our streets and and cleaning snow and all that kind of stuff um yeah appreciate you coming in thank you any other um members of the public want to speak a public comment none in the room Mr weary don't forget you still have to look for them online if any members of the public joining us on Zoom would like to speak in public portion please raise your hand now I see no hands okay great can I get a motion to adjourn Mr Duca so move second dff yesca yes Miss angle yes around yes thank you we'll see you all uh September 17 17 thank you the math is a little slow