one. Welcome to the June 3rd, 2026 meeting of the Maplewood Township Committee. Uh, as you know, this is a a different night normally because we had the election yesterday, so we shifted back a day. Um, I'm going to read the
statement and then we'll go from there. Pursuant to section 5, chapter 231, public laws 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 2026 to the news record and star ledger in December 2025 and by filing said notice in the office of the township clerk. >> Mr. Adams >> here, Collins Colding >> here. >> Mr. Daffis
>> present. >> M >> Herman >> here. Mayor Duth >> here. >> Whereas chapter 231 public laws 1975 commonly knows the open public meetings act requires that all meetings of public bodies be open to the public. And
whereas section 7A provides that the governing body has a discretion to permit, prohibit or regulate the act of participation of the public at any meeting and whereas desire the governing body to comply with the provision of this act. Same time to conduct its
business in an orderly and expeditious manner. Now therefore be resolved by the township committee. Township of Mapwood does hereby prohibit except as set forth in the formal agenda. Active participation in the deliberations of the governing body by the public except as otherwise described
by law does limit the public to the observations of the actions and discussions of the governing body at all of its regular and special meetings. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Mr. Adams. >> Yes. >> Collins Cing. >> Yes. >> Mr. Daffis. >> Yes.
>> M. Herman. >> Yes. Mayor Duca. >> Yes. >> Thank you. >> Would you please join us in a salute to the flag >> to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God,
indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. So, welcome again to our meeting. I'm going to run through the agenda real quick. Um, we did get a special uh permission from Mayor Mandani to stay up
late to watch the Knicks game, but we also want to move the meeting through so that we could get to see the Knicks game. >> It starts at 8:30. Just for the record, >> we thank Mayor Mundan. Um, so we're going to do a proclamation on Pride
Month. Then we're going to appoint a member of the recreation advisory committee. We're going to have public comment on agenda items only. And I know some of you are here to talk about our um discussion items in which we're going to talk about the immigrant the Maplewood immigrant trust act ordinance
and the restricted access to uh township public property. uh during the public comment. That would be the time to come up and speak during the public comment. Okay. Uh then we're going to have a presentation of the Soma shuttle working group and we
asked them to keep that to around 15 minutes. Uh we have our board of health meeting which is a monthly meeting. Then we're going to have a public hearing on our budget amendment and then we are going to adopt the 2026 budget. We have an ordinance on final u to make some
changes to the community board on police and then we're going to be introducing um three new ordinances uh dealing with right on red uh salary ranges for employees and some changes to the village alliance improvement
district uh regulations. We'll hear from our administrators. We'll have reports from elected officials. and then we'll get into our two discussion items which is Maplewood Immigrant Trust Act and restricted access to township public property. We have a consent agenda and a
number of uh resolutions on here, contracts, paying bills um and we'll be going through that and then we have our second public comment which is any item that you'd like to talk to us about. So with that we are going to move into our
first proclamation. We're going to ask committeeman Daffis if he would do the pride month proclamation and you're going to do it down there. >> With pleasure, mayor. Thank you. Just a little bit so we can make some room. If there's anyone in the public
who wishes to join me, please do to stand up here with me. >> Why not? >> Good evening everybody. Thank you for joining us and thank you uh mayor for um giving space here to do this important proclamation.
>> Good thing it's rang before the >> um I'll take that as a cue that this is a good thing that we're doing. And look at that progressive flag. Isn't that beautiful? Um, I want to just acknowledge two special guests that we have. All of you are special guests. All the residents of Maplewood are special. Uh, but we have
two in particular special guests as it relates to pride advocacy. Uh, LGBTQ notable advocates. Uh, we're joined this evening from Essex County's Office of LGBTQ affairs, the one and only Reginald Bled. We call him Reggie. He's a dear
friend. And we have our very own uh trans advocate, first transelected, former BOE uh in South Orange Maplewood School District, the one and only Shannon Cuddle. Thank you both for being here with with us today. Yes.
So, we're not going to do too much pomp and circumstance tonight about this. We invite you instead to come tomorrow night at 6:00 right outside if we have the great weather we're having tonight. We're going to have a really joyful uh flag raising for Pride and we're we're really going all out. We're going to
have snacks and music and balloons. Please come out. It's familyfriendly and we really really need people to stand together with the LGBTQ community. So, let me start before I uh do the proclamation by saying that I'm really
proud of our community and this governing body in particular because right here, right now, even in Essex County, you may not be aware, communities right next to us are not raising the pride flag. They're not
having pride celebrations. They're they're caving to the national pressure to eliminate pride and eliminate the inclusion and celebration of all kinds of ethnicities and communities. And
certainly when we think about what's happening at Delaney Hall, that's really really relevant, right? Um because freedom and liberty and justice for all, we just said as we saluted our great flag, applies intersectionally to all.
Um and um I was just uh I started my pride month, an exhausting month, right, of celebrations. Um in West Orange on Sunday night where West Orange, West Orange, my friends, very diverse community right next door to us.
recently passed an ordinance that forbids them from raising any flag in celebration of any cultural heritage uh other than the American flag which belongs to all of us, right? It's our
flag. Um and they in doing so also eliminated a a rainbow crosswalk which was painted on the front municipal steps. Uh so that's just an example of what's going on. just right here around the
corner. So, we have to stay vigilant, we have to stay visible, and we have to do it together. We need everyone. So, please join us tomorrow night and throughout the month at our various pride celebrations. So, our proclamation
says that um this is in support of June as Pride Month. We do this annually. It says that uh Maplewood is a diverse and inclusive community in which our residents take ga great pride in our diversity and strongly believe in safety, opportunity and equality for all
who live and work in our towns regardless of their immigration status, religion, ethnicity, race, gender, gender expression, identity, or their sexual orientation. Maplewood recognizes the human rights of all residents and actively supports an
end to all forms of prejudice and discrimination. And we're going to be talking about uh the injustice our immigrants are facing right now and our attempt in strengthening our welcoming status here in Maplewood through Maplewood's own immigrant trust law
later during the meeting. So stay around for that. We honor our LGBTQIA+ community and its rich significant contributions to the history and quality of life in Maplewood throughout Essex County and in our nation. We are woven
into the fabric of America. We are we always have been. We always will be. The Township Committee of Maplewood is committed to pro promoting LGBTQIA equality and fostering, welcoming, and affirming LGBTQIA spaces in our town. We
stand with the community at a time of significant federal threats to our safety, health, and well-being by executive orders, legislation, budget cuts, eliminating all kinds of things, access to affirming health care, to
mental health support for our students, to the trans community, particularly our trans youth. HIV prevention is under threat, banning transgender military service, and we have a remarkable, courageous local older resident who came
out later in her life who served our country during war in combat with pride. Um, attacking trans youth in sports, banning LGBTQIA inclusive books in schools. And
I'm so proud that our Maplewood Library believes in the freedom to read and has been recognized nationally for that reason. Maplewood Township Committee unequivocally condemns these direct threats and the reported rising rising bullying and violence against the
LGBTQIA community that these attacks are emboldening. So what do we do during Pride? What exactly are we recognizing or raising awareness about? We raise awareness of these ongoing threats, the indignities and discrimination facing the community,
and uplift the LGBTQIA community's resilience, perseverance, and power in fighting back in overcoming hate or fear. From the early sippins and riots against violence, violent police raids in underground bars or other safe places
to today's wellorganized and politically powerful and influential international LGBTQIA civil rights movement that's produced greater equality under the law and greater representation everywhere in politics at all levels in
mainstream media, arts culture, in school, school curricula, and in all facets of society openly and visibly. So on this 57th anniversary, it's been 57 years.
Let's get emotional when I say that. um of the Stonewall Uprising, um the 56th anniversary of the first gay pride march and the 46th anniversary of the first national march for LGBTQ equality in
Washington DC. We honor and celebrate queer resistance and queer liberation by those courageous and fearless early queer pioneers who fought back, who first led us, including the drag queens that are now under attack. And
transpersons of color like Marshia P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera. We stand on their shoulders. And many other transpersons of color who were whitewashed in mainstream LGBTQ history. my uh lotion and all the stuff that
makes the face look good is getting in my eyes. We recommmit ourselves to continue standing together in the fight for full federal LGBTQ equality, inclusive curriculum, access to affirming healthcare and mental health support, strengthened hate crime
protections, open and safe spaces for all LGBTQIA persons. So, we resolve here today, like we do every June, that um I uh Maplewood's first openly queer
representative, its first member of this esteemed governing body, its first mayor, hopefully not its last, on behalf of the entire township committee of Maplewood, do hereby proclaim uh June 2026 As LGBTQIA pride month in
Maplewood Township, we commemorate, we honor those who came before us, especially the persons of color who changed the course of our liberation history around the world, those at Stonewall and those who preceded them,
and urge all people of Maplewood and beyond to join and support our advocacy, our actions, promote diversity and inclusion, create welcome welcoming and affirming spaces for LGBTQ youth, trans and non-binary folks,
persons of color, and be visible, outspoken allies and upstandards. For any injustice against one is an injustice against all. Thank you. I welcome Shannon to say a few words and I welcome Reggie to say a few words on
this occasion, please. Uh thank you committeeman uh Dean Daffus. I just want to thank again Mayor Vic Luca, the entire Maplewood Township Committee to once again being the model and leader in our state uh for being able to be upstanders not just speaking
out and speaking up for the LGBTQIA plus community, but for many communities that are underserved and marginalized across our state of New Jersey. and also want to recognize the power of allyship and being upstanders that speak out and up,
not just online and offline. Actions matter. And oftentimes people hear me say that visibility matters, representation matters, it can change lives, and it can save lives. And as I always say too, to our youth out there,
please know that you are loved, you matter, you are not alone, you belong here. come out and let us celebrate you tomorrow when we do the flag raising this week on Friday for our annual Mapso
Lavender graduation at CHS at 6 p.m. and then at Lavender Ball following for our youth. Now more than ever, we need our allies to speak up and show up. To be brave allies, to be able to talk to your neighbors, your co-workers, your family
and friends, especially now in these moments, and show up and up again because that's so powerful. Thank you again to the township committee. >> So, I'm going to be really, really brief. Uh good evening uh August body of
the township committee uh Mayor Duca uh committee Mandafis and the entire committee. Uh just would like to say thank you uh for recognizing Pride Month. Uh you all are leaders in this fight. Uh we thank you for your
allyship. Uh Maplewood is leading and taking the lead where there are so many vulnerable pockets across this country and specifically in this county. you all are are that beacon of light and that hope that you are a town that's getting
it right and uh I just can't thank you enough for always being there for this community um you know when we're not in around this town and this leadership is leading the way so um I'm not surprised
uh that you all are doing this but I just would like to say thank you for uh continual support thank you for showing other towns uh what it is to be a model uh for the LGBTQ community. So uh as always, congratulations and I appreciate
to be in in community with you all and I'm grateful to you all. Thank you. >> Did you guys >> right up here? I made a Yes. >> Okay. Deputy Mayor Herman, if you could take us to the uh board appointment on
recreation advisory. Oh, yes. Very exciting. I love when we get new volunteers to our boards and committees. And this volunteer I'm very excited about. Um, Marissa Russell. Um, if you could please come up and introduce
yourself and tell us why you want to be on the recreation board. And I will tell you all as she's coming up. I met Marissa online because she had some stuff to say about our field. And you know what? I love it when residents have something to say and they're willing to
get up and um volunteer to make it better. So, all right, take it away. >> All right. Hi, everyone. My name is Marissa Russell. Um I I've lived in Maplewood for the last 12 years. I have two daughters. Um they are 12, almost
13, God help me. And nine, who is currently being driven home from one of her many practices um by her coach right now. So sports and recreation has been a big part of our lives so far and I think that there's some work to be done. Um I
have some experience with just the things that my kids have been involved in. Um I've volunteered for the ski club chaperoning. Wow that's a lot. Um so I think there's work to be done and apparently um you know you can't just complain on
Facebook. So here I am and uh that's it. That's me. Well, we thank you for stepping up and we're so excited to have you join us. >> Thank you for >> and um you know, talk about all of these things that we're working on. So, um with that, I would like to move that we
appoint Marissa Russell to the recreation committee. Do I have a second? >> I'll second it. >> Please call the role. >> Mr. Adams, >> yes. >> Mr. Collins Cing, >> yes. >> Mr. Davis, >> yes. >> Herman, >> yes. >> Mayor Duca,
>> yes. Congratulations. Thank you very much. Welcome to the fun. >> Okay, next up we're going to have our public first public comment and that's on agenda items. Again, if you'd like to speak about the immigrant trust act or any other um disc the other discussion
item about the public spaces, this would be the time to come up now. Then you have three minutes or any other item that's on the agenda. Michelle Barro 51 Coolage Road, Maplewood and League of Women Voters of
Maplewood, South Orange. I am not here to congratul to talk about the very positive campaign run by the candidates for township committee. I am not here to congratulate the two winners who won
seats for the next term on the township committee. That is not why I am here. >> Okay. >> Okay. >> However, I am here because I have a question about
17B, the supplemental chapter public property use. Um, as I read it, there are restricted areas uh p use of public property.
Restricted areas are including and please explain this because I really am confused. Republic uh town hall, Memorial Library, Hilton Library, Department of Public Works facility, health department and
community support center, public safety building, community center at the heart park, senior center, community pool. We'll talk about the pool, the woodland, the burgdorf center, the art center, or any other municipal property. Why are
these included? Um to designate them as restricted. Can you please help me? >> Let's have our attorney respond to >> it's not on. >> The buildings in their entirety are not designated. It's identifying those
buildings as buildings that there will be portions of which that can be designated by the business administrator, the chief of police or the library director in uh the case of the library. So for example, using this building um obviously the public areas,
the meeting room, the hallways, etc. would continue to be public. But the space behind the counter in the um finance office or the space behind the counter in the building department where only uh municipal employees or people
who are brought back to be administered services by municipal employees should go. Those areas can be designated by the business administrator for this building and for public safety building it would be the chief of police and for the library buildings it would be the
library director. But so it's not the entirety of the buildings. It's just saying those are specific buildings that we will look at and we will identify areas which should be private versus public. >> Can you uh explain why areas of the
library would be designated as nonopen? >> Sure. uh particular um there may be an employee break room uh private offices perhaps storage or basement areas where the public is not generally expected or or welcome to go.
>> Thank you. >> Or in the case of ICE ESL classes being conducted ice. >> Yes. So I mean this came out of it was motivated initially out of our uh clear directive to have
our own immigrant trust ordinance in place. And then we realized well you know what we should be a little bit more expansive and think about this more holistically than just in response to what's happening. >> Thank you for the expla explanation. It
clarifies. >> Thank you. Is there anyone else who would like to address the township committee? Yep. >> As long as it's on the agenda, this is the time. >> This is uh 17
B. Um I was delighted to see that this was moving along and I take it these are draft comments and things will go forward. Um, I had besides the the um the ordinance that was just discussed,
are there any other projected elements to the implementation of the new statutes? >> Can you identify yourself for the record? >> Well, like um I I wondered if we had there's nothing in here about language access, about protocol.
>> Can you first tell everyone your name? >> Pardon me. >> Can you first identify yourself? >> Oh, I'm sorry. >> Yeah, no worries. It's all good. My name is Susan Verek. I live at 24 Bowden Street and I'm also the co-chair of Soma Action Immigration Committee. >> Thank you, Susan. I can answer that. Um,
now I could say thank you, Susan, because you've identified yourself. Um, so uh we received those additional uh elements that you are asking us to consider and we're going to be discussing those tonight. We received them today. So way after we published
the draft ordinance and we're going to discuss uh with the township committee the additional elements the language access that you asked about the legal representation funds >> okay like community education >> community education police training and some of those things we do believe and
we'll you'll see this reflected in our discussion that some of those are already included in the ordinance but we're going to be talk talking about those elements possible inclusion. >> Okay. Um, I also thought um I went through it not super carefully, but I
did think the the definitions and the descriptions of warrants and judicial orders and law and um uh uh orders needed to be tightened up.
Um I I thought u it wasn't all that clear. Um, I can give you a markup or something. If I had a word document, I could mark it up, but I I did have some problems with >> Sure. >> You know, treat Anyway, I I thought um
some of the the wording could be better. As always, one can look at things and find them to be better, but overall, I really applaud that this is moving forward. >> Yeah. >> Thank you very much. And if and if I could get a word version, I would be
happy to get it back to you with relative elacrity. >> Happy to do so and welcome your continued partnership in this. >> Okay, great. Thank you. >> Hi. Uh my name is Daniel Wright, 41
Oberlin Street, uh chair of the HPC. I just had some questions. We noticed that the um the village alliance uh design review uh changes to the design guidelines. I saw that there's it
mentions another meeting. I guess the meeting in on the 13th in about two weeks. Is that when most of the discussion will be happening about the change to the uh guidelines?
>> The ordinance will the ordinance was discussed at the last township committee meeting. >> Okay. >> And so it there was agreement that we would move forward. So tonight we're introducing the ordinance and then on the 15th 16th there will be a public
hearing and consideration on final adoption. >> Okay. I just uh I know and I remember in the last meeting discussion about the sandwich boards out front. I was just wondering what the background was on the
changes to the window portion of the uh of the ordinance. Can you deal with that? >> Sure. >> Sure. Um I could tell you were looking at me as I was looking this way. I have eyes in the back of my head. No. Um I'm
MVA leaison. That's why he said that. So uh the the two was HP Let me start with a question first and then I'll answer your question. Um were was HPC not included in MVA's design standard review?
>> No. >> Not at all. >> No. Okay. Uh it was my understanding that HBC was included, but let's move on. Um the the two notable changes in the design standards is with respect to the
A-frames as you mentioned uh to make them uniform, to make them more appropriate for the village. Um because we have all kinds of materials being used right now. >> Uh and the other change was uh to tighten up the language as it relates to
neon. Uhhuh. And beyond signs, right? Uh but the existing language that pertains to coverage of uh windows and I forget what the percentage is that's allowed with posters or notices. That hasn't
changed. >> I think there was something about the size of the windows and having a bay. Um it was like the first thing. >> I don't remember that, but >> but happy to look into it. >> Okay. and connect you to the MVA as you
should have been connected. >> Great. Thank you. >> Thanks. >> Is there anyone else who would like to speak to us on an agenda item? Anyone online? >> If anyone joining on Zoom would like to speak on agenda items only, please raise
your hand. I see no hands, mayor. >> Okay. Thank you. We'll close this public comment. Uh there is a second one later on in the meeting. We now going to have a presentation by the Soma shuttle working group. She wants company. She's like, "Come on
up with me. Don't let me do this alone." >> All right. Um, thank you for inviting us here today. We are part of the shuttle, the Soma shuttle working group. So, we have um a presentation to share with you and we'll take some turns with with the
slides. >> And your name is >> And I'm Julia Flath. >> Thank you, Julia. >> Um and I live in South Orange and I'm also chair of Walk Bike Ride South Orange. So, um, our mission, our goal is to
create a shared accessible shuttle system that links both towns, both South Orange and Maplewood, enhancing mobility for residents of all ages. Next slide. >> You could carry this with you if you want. You could just pick it up.
>> Okay, >> that might be easier. And um so our vision is to establish a communal shuttle service beyond commuter transit to link important destinations in both South Orange and Maplewood. And it would
be a loop-based shuttle similar to our Jitneys with a dependable and consistent schedule. And it would cater to teens, older adults, disabled people, families, and the general public. and all ages
would be welcome with caregivers. Um, now I'm gonna hand off to Juliana. >> Hi, my name is Juliana Gare. I'm a South Orange resident and a member of the South Orange Environmental Commission. Um, so I'll just speak a little bit
about why this matters. Reducing our reliance on cars and other private motorized vehicles offers benefits not only to each individual resident, but benefits that ripple out beyond our community's borders. So for shuttle riders, it increases accessibility to
places of employment, local businesses, recreation, and services. It also fosters independence for teens, older adults, disabled people, and really anyone who doesn't have access to their own personal vehicle. For the community
as a whole, it alleviates traffic congestion and reduces climate waring climate warming greenhouse gas emissions. Um, as a South Orange Environmental Commissioner, I'm also here to speak on behalf of my other commissioners in support of this
project. as just one of improving the environmental impact in our town. Of course, we all know that while we support people's adoption of electric vehicles, just having fewer cars on the road entirely not only increases the
safety of the road for people on other modes of transportation, but just decreases the overall amount of emissions. Thank you. So, who is in the working group? Um, we formed starting in the fall and there
are a lot of people involved now. So, we have members um from, you know, we represent a lot of people besides just who's who's here right now. Um, Walk, Bike, Ride, South Orange, Soma, Two Towns for All Ages, the South Orange and Maplewood Senior Advisory Committees,
the Maplewood Youth Advisory Committee, um, South Orange Columbia High School students, the South Orange Environmental Commission, the Maplewood Environmental Advisory Committee, Soma Action, the Board of Education, the DIS, the School District Dream Team, other local
residents. Um and then we have invited um Jessie House, the Maplewood All Access Committee, and then um our business district groups for South Orange, Maplewood Village, and Springfield A um to get involved in the
conversation. And um at the town level, we have the village, South Orange Village Council involved, the South Orange Parking Authority, and Maplewood Township Committee. And um I'll also add that we are open to more volunteers. The
more voices we have involved in this, the better it's going to reflect the needs of our community. And we could also use um a co-chair. Um so now um with the next slide, we'll move into what you know what we've found so far
that people want and why they want a shuttle. So, families um things that families want, transportation for households that have only one car or no car, alternatives to driving, and to show children the benefits of
public transportation, um because it it can be a joyful thing. Um, adults also want access to go out to restaurants on evenings and weekends without a car. Um, or to do daytime errands and to not have to worry about competing over parking.
Um, to not have to worry about drunk driving and to have an al affordable alternative to taking a car service to go out in the evening. for um what the what our youth want. We're going to hear from a member of the
Maplewood Youth Advisory Committee. >> Um hi, I'm Violet Kesler. I'm a member of the Youth Advisory Committee and I'm here to represent um kind of what the youth has to say about this idea. So, we want independence and to be like more able to take advantage of the town's
resources and things because that's not something that teenagers are very used to or very involved with the towns as much as I think that we should be. So, access to sports or ext extracurriculars and jobs because a lot of us want to be active and involved in our community. Access to and from school to reduce
traffic congestion to get from farther neighborhoods like Hilton or the downtowns. car-free transportation since there are not enough bike lanes yet. And um so we are still working on like the minimum age to travel without a caregiver. But overall, these are like the main reasons why youth people are
really looking to have more transportation and be involved in public transportation. So it would be great for our independence and allow us to be more involved in the community really. And parents want to promote independence for their teens and it would be more efficient for them to not have to be driving their kids everywhere all the
time and better for the environment. So that's just good for everyone overall really. >> Um my name is Phoebe Spanard. I live in Maplewood. Um I'm also the chair of the climate committee of Soma Action and I don't have a slide to present but I will
just add that as a parent of teenagers, I would love to not be driving them between Maplewood and South Orange, which is very trafficicky and um I think this would be an amazing solution. I'll be filling in for our liaison from the South Orange senior advisory
committee of which I am not not quite a member yet. Um so older adults and people with disabilities want access particularly to the South Orange train station because the Maplewood station is not ADA accessible like the South Orange
train station is. Um, currently with their senior shuttle, they have to call ahead to arrange transportation and it would just be more convenient for them not to have to make those arrangements ahead of time. Um, they want transportation outside of the hours
currently offered by those senior shuttles and particularly evening transportation since even a larger uh population of the older adults don't drive at night and there are many community events happening in the evenings.
Um, they particularly want access to the Baird Community Center, the Maplewood Senior Center, which offers senior activities for both Maplewood and South Orange residents. They want access to restaurants, the movie theater, and of course, like we all do, increased
opportunities to get around locally. Thanks. So, uh, this this should also have economic benefits for our local businesses, um, to give people increased access to, um, go to our local shops,
services, and restaurants, and, um, as I mentioned before, reduce complaints about parking, so they don't have those that as an excuse not to go out. Um, and it can also attract out of town residents. um with the pilot at the Baker Street flea. They saw that it did
that. Um and then uh putting advertising on the shuttle exterior is a potential way that um businesses can um promote their promote themselves and there could be other co-branding opportunities. And then um in terms of potential
destinations on the next slide. Um so this is all still to be worked out. Um, we're going to we're planning to use a community survey to help figure out potential destinations. But in general, some of the priority ones would be the train stations, um, aligning with some
of the New Jersey Transit bus stops, the downtown areas and business districts, the senior centers as we mentioned, um, especially the the high school, maybe some other schools, libraries, and parks and recreation areas.
And why now? So, there is a new um a new grant that there's a little bit more details about the grant on the next slide. Um and it has a rolling application process. So, um when I last checked with
them a few weeks ago, they said it was still open. Um it was announced a year ago, but it's it's still ongoing. And there's definitely been community demand building this year that we can keep mobilizing on. and um you know looking
for a way to enhance our existing JITney and um yeah so let's move on to the next slide with more about the grant um it's it's a federal grant designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions but it's being
administered by the um New Jersey Transportation Planning Association I think that's what NJTPA stands for um local mobility initiatives program So it is it is designed for um municipalities to
to um create or supplement or enhance their their uh shuttle services. and some of the um programs that already received the grant. Um they range the funding range was from 185,000 to 750,000 to give you
an idea of the range that's possible and it can cover um the cost of purchasing vehicles as well as operations in general for 3 to 5 years and it requires a 25 match percent match from the
uh municipality. So, if we split that between South Orange and Maplewood, it makes it more feasible for the more affordable to for the towns to cover it. Um, and then there's different op um options for how to run it that can be looked at
whether to use current municipal vehicles and drivers to purchase new vehicles, which could be electric, um, or to hire a vendor, um, that would operate it for us.
So some of the on the next slide some of the things that that we'll need to figure out um the service model that we just you know the questions we just talked about is it run by the municipality or the vendor or hybrid um what vehicles will we use and then what
does the fair structure look like? What are the roots and the hours? What is the age minimum? and then how will we plan to fund it long term once the grant phases out. So, um you know, these are all things to figure out and for today
we're looking for um uh you know, what's Maplewood's interest in collaborating on this and um the ne figuring out the next steps to explore that. So on the on the next side slide, the committee's path forward that we
recommend is um that this would be best as a joint initiative between South Orange and Maplewood because that will make it a stronger application and um to the funer and also um really fulfill the needs of our community because we are one community.
Um and we have been working on a community survey um as one of the next steps and then we can there have been some pilots already. We can keep working on more pilots um and then apply for the grant funding
and figure out um the long-term financial plan. On the next slide there's um some details about the status of the survey. So the per the survey will help us um gauge the demand and the desired times
and destinations and inform the plan to develop for the grant application and ensure it meets the community's needs. So so far the working group has drafted a shuttle that is under review by both towns. Um and South Orange has suggested
a great idea of partnering with Satan Hall marketing students to manage the survey since um you know municipalities often hire consultants to do these kinds of surveys, but that is a great alternative. Um and right now we're thinking early fall
could be a good time to do the survey and we'd also like to try to achieve statistically confident responses. Next slide um talks about some pilots that have been happening. So South Orange um in response to some of these
requests that we heard from the older adults wanting um a loop rather than having to call ahead is launching next week um one day a week a loop that runs between um key senior housing and shopping areas. So the other days they'll still have on demand service.
Um, and then, you know, it' be a great opportunity to see what what the usage is like, if it's meeting their needs, and some logistical things, um, logistical learnings from that. And, um, yeah, we hope that they enjoy it. and um at Baker Street Flea recently
um as part of Martin Selely's election campaign he conducted the swamp trolley that connected Newark Way, Springfield a and Maplewood a business districts and um there was a lot of uh popular interest
and use of that um that we can continue forward. Uh Maplewood has also done some jitneys for special events like the porchfest and Springfield holiday events um that we could try replicating again.
Um and uh then on the next slide we get into some other places in New Jersey that have started um shuttles that serve the general public, not just commuter, not just commuters. Um, so in Rutherford
they have a daytime loop that connects transit to their downtown and some shopping areas. Um, and then I'm also familiar with um, Long Beach Island. They have a continuous shuttle up and down the island that runs afternoon and into the night um, to give people access
to dining and entertainment throughout the um, throughout all the towns on the island. And um and then Montlair, they dis they discontinued their service during COVID, but they recently did a survey um you know, they're working on,
you know, having similar conversations as what we're having here, um to figure out what's the best way to bring back public transit within Montlair. And um there's a lot of, you know, really interesting information in those survey results to look at.
Next slide. um just give some background on the timeline because um you know this isn't just as I said the people in this room and this conversation these conversations have been going on for a while. So last spring um the Maplewood Youth Advisory Committee first proposed
the teen shuttle idea um and then uh I think that the older adult groups have also been asking for improvements to their transportation for a while. Um, and then in the fall, um, there were a lot of parents, uh, saying,
"Oh, we wish we had a teen shuttle." So then, um, we started having, um, meetings so that I could let people know about this new grant that could help fulfill those needs. Um, and so then we just been working on this a little bit
at a time since then, and now we're looking to explore this further with the townships. So, um, so far South Orange is interested in continuing to explore this and, um, you know, we hope Maplewood is will as well. And that that
concludes our presentation unless you guys have anything else you want to add. No. Okay. Well, thank you again and and let us know if you have questions. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. So, we shared your information with um
our engineer director of DPW. Have you seen their responses? >> No. >> Okay. We can get those to you. >> I didn't see DPW. I only saw community services. >> It was community services. Yeah. >> No, it was DPW. >> Oh, it was both. >> Yeah. >> Oh, it was both from DPW. >> I didn't see that one.
>> That was in the email that >> as well as And then we have the Yeah, that was Mr. Weary sent out an email that >> So, we received send stuff earlier today. >> We received comments from um DPW which operates our jitneys now. So there
they're mostly operational questions, you know, um how are we going to find drivers, things like that. What buses are we talking about? Um you know, we have Jity buses that are uh generally available between 9:00 a.m.
9:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. um for weekdays. and we don't use them on weekends. Um, and then there were comments from both the Village Alliance and the Springfield Avenue Partnership, both of which felt that
they would have liked to have been more involved early on to have some conversation. There were some com some there were some of those comments where about um can you really you know if you want to be inclusive of everyone can you
really do that in a time a reasonable time >> you know out there that someone could be on a bus for an hour uh and is that >> does that really make sense and does it make sense to do loops versus direct things like that. Um, and then we got
responses from community services today really describing our Maplewood Senior Bus, which is a dial, you know, dial a ride type thing. Um, but did ask some questions. So, we've we did what we said we would do. We would share this with folks. It's
given us some some questions to to look at. Um I did take a look at the Rutherford uh shuttle bus that you referenced and also now Montlair hasn't started their bus right so they've done a questionnaire and all that
>> um you know the Rutherford bus is under 20 minute or 20 minutes or under um but it looks like it focuses a lot on going to and from Shopright. So I guess one question I would have is
um how how you know to include both towns is a lot of territory to cover. >> And is it almost too big to start off or should it be each individual town
focused and then somehow incorporating what we have with New Jersey Transit? Now, with New Jersey Transit, we have in Maplewood, we have the 25 and the 70 bus on Springfield Avenue. We have the train that takes, you know, the two towns, connects, and then in in South Orange,
you have the 37, the one, well, the 137, which um goes up Irvington Avenue. So has there been any analysis of how to build those existing transit
uh operations in a shuttle proposal? >> Um we have a member of the group who couldn't be here who's good at maps who um started thinking out some potential routes um that aren't you know at a a state to present right now. Um, but you
know there are some challenges because I think different people have different ideas about what would what would work best and but we can't do it all and so that's where the survey would be helpful to really narrow down what what to focus on first. Um,
so I think that's that's the answer that we have right now. >> That's fair. >> Anyone else have comments or questions? I mean, I'd be interested in exploring this further. I think the questions are operational questions,
>> right? >> And cost. >> Yeah. As opposed to No, this is a bad idea. I don't think anyone feels that way. Does anyone feel that way? >> Well, I I'd like it for special events. I'm not convinced that it would be um used on a regular basis. We did try
something similar um I want to say nine years ago and um it kind of it didn't get any usage because people are used to the convenience and it's not that big a town. So um so I'm not convinced that it would be something that would be on a
loop and for seniors they have the dial ride that's free and they and we have the senior shuttle. So, I mean, I'm not opposed to more um I love the idea for big events like Maple Woodstock or and things like that to park elsewhere and
or have a loop and people go like like the commuter jitney. Um I don't know that that it would be something that people would use regularly because they love their independence so much. So, u to to justify the cost. So, it has to have a
critical mass of usage in order to to justify the the things. >> Well, we can learn more about that from the community survey. And you're right, we did something back in 2018, I think, when I first got on the township committee through the Soma Two Towns for all ages initiative. We created a loop
um an exploratory like a pilot between Maplewood and South Orange. Uh, it went to the two downtowns. Uh, Shopright, I think Michaels off Route 22 was included. Uh, and it ran only twice a week.
>> Okay. >> Um, and it wasn't a failure. I mean, some people used it, but it wasn't by any means um, well used, >> right? But there was a lot of reasons for that. Was there a survey that went into it? No.
and and the world has changed significantly since 2018, right? Like I think that more people are thinking about microtransit at the local level and reducing traffic and the environmental cost of all that. >> And um that actually reminds me that I
just read that um Union County is starting to do microtransit starting in the Westfield area. >> Cool. >> So that's another model that um we can look at what they're doing. >> Great. Did you look at >> I Isisles
>> IELS is less in Trenton. >> Um, no. But is that like um I think I looked at the website briefly. Is that like another microtransit thing? >> So yeah, they have um they I I met this
uh person um at the sustainable Jersey event. Yeah. and um he runs it and he talks about it's both for adults and for kids and there's a cost
and then there's a split there's a split for folks who are on um SNAP SNAP B who receive SNAP benefits they write for free others pay so it was a and was it was a loop
and it was I think also demand response Okay, we can look at that too. >> So, um, thank you for this presentation. Um, thank you for bringing up this, you know, this idea. I think that, >> um, there's a lot of good elements to it and there's a lot of things to spin out.
I certainly would be in favor of continuing the conversation. I would like I'd like to see what the survey says. >> Yeah. you know, I'd like to see, you know, where if the demand is there, um, and continue looking at what we have and trying pilots. Um, I know I'm was, um,
I'm still waiting for a a few numbers and I also would like to see the DPW, um, and some of this other information that you got. Um, but I did see from community services that we have, um, so for our dial a ride for our seniors,
they do about 137 rides per month. And then they also do like trips to different areas. And so um looking at the fleet that we currently have, we have um we have three electric jitneys and then we have three older jetneys and
then we have a senior bus. So our jitneys do run from about 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. as the mayor said, but if we use our electric jitneys, then you have to also factor in the time to charge them. So, if they're done at 9:00, they may need an hour or two of charging. I'm
not sure. And then, you know, before they start running at um I think it's at 5:22, they would need also time to charge after being used in the day. But then if you're looking at like from 11:00 to like 3:00, obviously that's not going to affect the the the teens and
it's not going to help um any of the seniors who already have the dial ride during that time. So then what we'd be looking for and then also I would mention that during the summer a lot of these shuttle buses are used for camps like for our take our kids to the pool and and whatnot and then also for these
senior trips. So I think we probably would be looking for um if we wanted to focus on evenings and weekends um either another bus or you know expanding our senior shuttle or you know if we feel
like the seniors need more it because the senior shuttle is for seniors and the disabled community. So, if we felt like there was more of a need, you know, um for those individuals, like expanding that could be a way. And I really like, as um committeewoman Adams said, using
it more for um um community events. I was speaking to some business owners on Springfield Avenue actually about, you know, doing more, you know, on Small Business Saturday and holiday markets like this one that, you know, was done in 2023. you know, doing more, you know,
from the train to Springfield and all up and down Springfield, like that kind of thing. Um, so I think there's a there's a lot of potential here and a lot of things we can do. Um, I definitely want to keep talking and I definitely want to do this survey. I think it's exciting.
>> I would So my thought I I just had a few questions. Would this run um as often as maybe let me just put out there 24 hours or seven hours a day? Is it seven days a week? Uh you know your thoughts in how
you do it and accessibility for people with mobility issues, right? Limitations, what streets are you going to put on? How you going to determine where the streets that are most used? Who's going to come to those corners? Where you going to pick them up from? Where you going to take them? What's the drop off point? And uh is it benefiting
the certain group of people just seniors or are we or young children uh what's the target market and the mission? Who are we targeting? Because uh kids might use it more our seniors might use it more or people who might be just going to the supermarkets on Saturdays and
Sundays who don't have cars. Are we making accessible to families who are under the um um limitations in terms of financing? We giving the discounts like the mayor was talking about that. We're going to put that in and I like what um
uh committee woman said, Nancy Adams said about um possibly testing it during the times we have those um big events, right? And then but will it be a true test if it's the big events? Are we just doing it just for the big events? And
then what does a true test look like? Is it a limited test where we do for like five days or a week and see who uses it for two weeks and then pull back and then take our survey from there? >> Yeah, that's an interesting idea to do
um like a two week test to figure out if it makes sense to do um a bigger project. Um because usually when we think of pilots, we think of something um like for special events or something different. Um, so that's
definitely something to consider and um I think some of your some of your questions are things that we hope the survey will answer. Um, 247 sounds uh too ambitious for what what you know what we are can can
accomplish here and um it is tricky because there's a lot of different you know needs and desires in our community. How do you balance that? And so may maybe the answer is that different populations are more likely to use it at at different times of the day.
Um or different, you know, roots are more popular with with certain populations. Um but we definitely want, you know, the the goal will be for it to be accessible to everyone. >> I have one last question and are we looking at the demographics of the the
people will actually offering this to? Right. So we in this neighbor this nice neighborhood where people make a little more money. So the accessibility might not be the needs of other population where there their most needs where they need to get on a shuttle bus and if it's
free they can use that or reduce um reduce pricing. So what our needs are here in Maplewood? What our needs? Do we have a lot of families who will take the shutter bus to go to the supermarket or will our kids be using it to go visit their friends? You know that sort of
thing. So what our what in this neighborhood? What our needs here? I think that's what we need to dig more into then we can really target why we need it. >> Adding on that the the grant seemed to
say that um transportation disadvantaged like um were the was the focus. So I'd be interested in more on that. >> Yeah. Like they they prioritize that population. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Restricted.
So, uh, as far as the questionnaire, what do you need anything from us on that? So, you've gotten some comments from people. >> Um, you know, I think you said that there were comments you could forward to us. So, then we can look at that and see if there's more back and forth.
>> Okay. So I think um this is probably going to end up being looked at by a couple different commit or a couple different of our subcommittees because we have um recreation and seniors in our health and
human services subcommittee and then we have our jitneys in the engineering public works. So I think both of those will take a look. Um there was we we'll share these comments that Mr. Weary sent us. um with you. Uh
the other thing that came up today with Ms. Manuso's comments was the um potential liability for young people using it. Um is there going to be an age cut off? Um you know, how do you
you know, is there is there any responsibility after someone gets on and off the jettney? Um, so >> consent, >> child consent from their parents. >> Yeah. It'd be pretty hard to have conform. >> The lawyers will get involved, right? >> That's the lawyers are the ones who know
the answer to that. >> Yes. We ruin everything. Yes. >> No. When you live when you think about transit, it's a public conveyance. And >> even the jitties in Atlantic City, they're public conveyances. So the the responsibility is just when you're on that public conveyance.
the the pre and post time is not anybody's responsibility other than >> your own or your your you on behalf of your children. But so when we talk about providing transportation for kids, what are we talking about? That would be
important to know. You know, I think um I think some people want the middle schoolers to have access to go travel alone and um definitely high schoolers want it, but I think it will ultimately come down to what the
towns are comfortable with um in terms of setting the age limit, the age minimum. >> Well, I think it's also going to have to be that the Soma working group is going to have to narrow this stuff down, too. If you just throw a bunch of spaghetti at us, that's going to nothing's going to
happen. I'm serious. Nothing's going to happen. If you say, "Here's the five things that we can make happen. And here here is we're not going to do everything." You you kind of said it before, you know, and what's the ambition here? I think you're going to have to come back to us and say, "Here's
what it is." Um, I will tell you the the most important thing for us with our jitneys is they have to be accessible >> in the early morning and in the evening. >> And right now, um, we don't use them during the day,
but that's not a bad thing because the more you use them, the more susceptible they are to accidents, um, wear and tear. And we see the difficulty transit has in keeping their fleet on the
streets or on the rails for 24 hours a day. So right now we operate 6 hours a day, 7 hours a day, eight hours a day. If we start moving that to 16 hours a day, that's a doubling of our our taxing our infrastructure and equipment. So
that you know that might speak to the third party the bus you know I think some of the grant stuff is that we have to pick it up after a couple years. So um so I think I think there's a lot more that we have to figure out. >> Yeah there's a lot to think it's
complicated to say the least. I mean I I worked in when I was running the parking authority in South Orange years ago. I developed the Jity program for South Orange and just figuring out the routes and the timing and coordinating that with the with the train schedule and
like there's just a lot of moving parts and that's just a commuter jney. So, you know, there's a lot for you to think about. So, um but thank you for the work you're putting into it now. But I agree with the mayor probably should uh limit the scope at le I think that's the only
way it'll be workable. And I was going to add also in terms of limiting the scope uh kind of what the mayor mentioned earlier um it might be worth also looking at it from Maplewood and South Orange because the while it's while we are one two towns in one
beautiful community. It can be a little complicated when you try and figure out which buses do we use, whose staff do we use. You know, South Orange has uh we have a bigger population and more square footage than South Orange does. So, how do you make it equal? Are we splitting
it down the middle? Is it not split? It can get kind of complicated. So, um you know, one way to look at it might be like a um like the Rutherford um shuttle, for example, has two loops. And so, like you could have South Orange doing one loop and Maplewood doing
another loop and they overlap. Mhm. >> And then if you also factor in like the bus lines and the train, you might be able to work together for an overall transit plan that is coordinated and gets you to different places, but then
Maplewood can do its one and South Orange can do its its its loop, but in a coordinated way. So, just something to consider as well. Yeah, I think um coordination is key because we wouldn't want, you know, one one town to be like, "Oh, never mind."
And then the so then half of the population is like, "Oh, now we can't use that loop anymore to connect to the other one." Um and um you know, more shared services can be tricky to figure
out, but it is very worthwhile. So what is the direction we're giving this working group? >> I think they should move forward with the questionnaire. I think that would be helpful >> and I think we should take a look at I know uh we have some residents who have made comments. >> Um
>> you should also not just have it online should be printed for some people to >> don't have access maybe at the libraries. >> Oh yeah the library is a good idea. Yeah a lot of people go there. So the idea is to print the the presentation to put in the library. So that would
>> No, the questionnaire. >> The question. >> Oh, yes, of course we would do that. Yeah. >> Yeah. We already started thinking about all different ways to distribute it. >> We can do at the pool as well. We have lots of activities this year where their parents will be present. >> Yeah, we can we can help disseminate the questionnaire. So I think you have to
come down. I think it's it's first of all, it's a pretty large questionnaire. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> You're going to have to I think narrow it down some. >> Yeah, I agree. Um, and then you know factor that in and then get it out there and we can help figure out how to get it out there with you.
>> It's exciting. Well done. >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> All right. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you everybody. >> Good night. >> Right. We're going to move to our board of health meeting. >> Okay. >> It's hot, right? I'll open this window
maybe. >> I brought my >> Okay. Okay. Pursuant to section 5, chapter 231, public laws of New Jersey, 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 2026 to the news record in Star Ledger in December 2025 and by filing the set notice in the office of the township clerk.
>> Miss Adams, >> here. >> Miss Collins Cing, >> yes. Mayor Duca >> here. >> Mr. >> Herman >> here. >> Mr. Daffis >> present. >> Whereas chapter 231 public laws 1975 commonly known as the open public meetings act requires all meetings of
public bodies be open to the public. And whereas section 7A provides that the board of health has a discret discretion to permit prohibit or regulate the active participation of the public at any meeting and where a desire of the Maplewood Border 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 Maplewood Board of Health and the Township of Mapwood that it does hereby prohibit except as set forth in the formal agenda act of
participation in the deliberations of the board of health by the public and except as otherwise described by law does limit the public to the observation of the actions and discussions of the board of health at all of its regular and special meetings. >> So moved.
>> Second. >> Adams. >> Yes. >> Collins Cing. >> Yes. Mayor Duca. >> Yes. >> Mr. Zerman, >> yes. >> Mr. Daffus, >> yes. Thank you, Township Clerk. I move approval of the BO meeting minutes from our last meeting on May 5th. Do I have a
second? >> Second. >> M. Adams? >> Yes. >> M Collins Golding? >> Yes. >> Mayor Duca? >> Yes. >> Thurman? >> Yes. >> Mr. Davis? >> Yes. Thank you. And I turn it over to our health officer, Candace Davenport. Welcome. >> Thank you. Good evening, everyone.
Moving on to our first slide to talk about our community food access plus program which started on May 18th. This uh replaces and transitions the community fridge over to our location at 129 Bdon Avenue. Uh to give you some updates on that, we've had three weeks
of it now going into our third week. And the first week we had um in the first two weeks we've had about 30 to 40 families each week each day coming. So, it's it's a lot of um households and they keep coming and we hope they do and it's a very successful program thus far.
Um every the posit the positive feedback has been that they like it. They like it indoors. Um the people who were going to the community fridge are frequent users of the community food access plus program and um their demeanor has completely changed. They're just like more positive about it. They're they're
kinder. They take turns. Um it's very civilized. So, um we're really happy with that. We are working on uh the donation system with UCCC. So, more to come on that. Um we know that uh residents are eager to know more about how to donate and we do have a system,
but we want to improve that system for our residents and appreciate their generosity. Next slide moves on to our free summer meals program, which is starting on June 22nd to August 14th. We'll be offering breakfast from 9:00
a.m. to 10:00 a.m. and lunches from 11:30 to 100 p.m. from from 1:30 11:30 to 1:30 p.m. um Monday to Friday. It's open to children and teens 18 and under. It's a sit and eat program run through the New Jersey
Department of Agriculture and we are working with our neighboring township of Irvington um as one of their satellites. So there is a QR code there that people can use to access the application so they can sign up for um free meals.
Going on to our next slide which is um our farmers market which started this week on Monday. We also on June 1st had our first free health screenings. These health screenings will be available every first Monday of the month up until October from 2:00 p.m. to 700 p.m.
Services offered are blood pressure, glucose, A1C testing. That's for glucose, cholesterol, nutrition, and health education. All of this is free and available, 500 cases of Lyme disease were reported in New Jersey and New Jersey is one of the leading states in the nation for
tickborne disease incidents. So, please do um look over some of this information, especially if you're going to be outdoors um and with with pets. Next slide. We're going to talk about FIFA. FIFA is coming up in tminus of 7
days, June 11th to July 19th. Um we're very excited about FIFA. I know it's a lot of excitement around um the country and around the state and even in our county. Um from a public health perspective, we're looking at this from a few um issues. One is food safety because there's going to be a lot of uh
food vendors all around for all these events and uh communicable infectious diseases as we have international travel. So um we just advise people to um we have some guidances on the state health department website on what to do
if you feel sick. Uh but also just um on the Department of Transportation, they have um some information on uh transit and how there's going to be lots of traffic to and from areas where it's going to be um the matches are going to be shown. The next slide just talks about more of the information about
where the in uh matches are going to be held. So it's going to be a very busy time, especially in Essex County, which is right in the middle of that thoroughfare. Next slide goes on to our nursing and health screenings update. For the month of June, we had um 13 diseases
investigated by our our public health nursing uh nurse. Uh she also conducted uh 12 senior citizens health screenings and we are still finishing up our school immunization audits. Onto the next slide. On May 27th, we had our Maplewood
blood drive. We want to say a big thank you to the Hilton Neighborhood Association and Vitalint for helping us with this. we were able to um receive 10 people who donated blood and um each donation each pint saves three lives. So
we want to thank thank you to everyone who donated. Just a highlight on the next slide of the free adults health screenings that um we do. Um we will be just a highlight in July we'll be having a our first free adult health screening in um our
location at 129 Bdon Avenue to coincide with our free distribute food distribution programs on Thursday afternoon. So we'll be doing that once a month. On to the next slide. If anyone is following the haunt virus um issues um
that were related to the cruise ship on international travel, just want to let everyone know that haunt virus um is a very rare um disease that is transmitted uh from uh rodents and um mice. However, in this situation with the cruise ship
um and international travel, there is a strain um from South America that is a hunto virus strain that is communicable from person to person, which was why uh people were monitoring the people who were coming off of that cruise ship. Um this is a very low um risk to New
Jerseyians, but in case anyone was still interested in that, we wanted to post that up there. The next slide talks about the measles. Um, just want to let people know that the biggest thing that we want to highlight is that there are currently 1,983 cases of measles in the United States.
This is significant because it is out of control. 30 p uh 30 new outbreaks were reported in 2026. 93% of those confirmed cases are outbreak related. So, just want to let people know to please please please um look at your immunization
records and u vaccinate your children. um as well as yourselves. Moving on, while we are slowing down on the respiratory diseases, um that's what we want to let people know about. On the next slide is if you've made a mixtape, it's time
to get vaccinated against shingles. The reason why I bring this up is because I recently had shingles. Um and I just want to let everyone know that um age 50 you should get two doses of the Shingri shingles vaccine. It prevents the um
most common complication of shingles which is severe pain in the area where the shingles rash occurred which is called poster herpetic neuralgia and we really want everyone to um pro protect yourselves from that because it really was no joke painful. So um you know as
we get older our immune system goes down but it also goes down because of stress. So on the next slide I just want to show you that it's not >> is that is that cassette tape there? Because if you use a cassette tape, you probably need it. Yes. >> Correct. >> Exactly. Yep. >> Yes. If you remember one of those, it's
time to get up. >> It's time to get a shingles vaccine. So, thanks to the CDC for that little um advertisement. But I just want to show you on the next slide that it's not just 50 and over, you know, the incidence gets higher as you get older. But you will notice that in the 30s and
sometimes even in the 20s it's not on here but even in our lower ages those who have imuno compromised or who are stressed you know I I tell people about my experience and I keep finding more and more people who are saying I too have had shingles and I was 21 I was 17.
So um we really do have to take better care of ourselves and some of that is um the shingles vaccine which is available to all of us 50 and over. Next slide. Okay. So, what I want to highlight for environmental health is the humongous
number of temporary events which our um environmental health inspector Mike Smithu um made note of it over here. Temporary events is um Mayfest as well as the Baker Street flea. Both of those occurred in one weekend and there were
52 vendors uh that he had to look at. So, um there's a resolution on tonight for a supplemental uh seasonal RHS to assist with our weekend um events. These are big events. We're proud of our events. A lot of people want to participate um and it does take a lot of
manpower um from the health department side for inspection. So, just want to highlight that when we are doing our outdoor events and our um activities, we are busy. Next slide goes into our animal control update. Um this is
similar to other months of uh 27 calls. Most of them is wildlife. But again, I do want to highlight the number of strays and stray empel uh that is um that occurs. Um just to remind everyone that your dog and cat licenses help to
pay for a lot of these services to help the the most needy of us or the animals they're injured. Um it also pays for uh bat trapping as well as testing. So, please please um if you have a dog or cat um please help out the town and um
get licensed because that money does help us to pay for these services. Onto the next slide is our social services and mental health. On the next slide, you'll see that for the month of May, our crisis social workers are continuing to be busy uh with 33 cases uh for the
month of May. And then we end our slides with um our social services with CSPJ. Uh this is their 11:00 a.m. to 1 p.m. service on Saturdays at the Hilton Library to assist people with um social security
cards and health insurance. And then our last slide um and employment assistance. And our last slide is always the make the right call to let people know that they can uh call these numbers 24 hours a day, seven days a week for assistance. >> Thank you. >> That's a lot. You're busy.
>> It was a lot. >> Thank you for that great report. Uh I have a couple questions myself and then I'll open it up to my colleagues and then to the public. >> Uh so Community Food Access Plus, the new program, right? >> Uh you said we've served in the three
weeks uh you're looking at about 30 to 40 >> uh individuals each day. >> Each of those days. Yes. Each of those days. So that's times two, about 80 a week. >> Um that's definitely more than before at the food shed on Springfield Avenue, right? >> Yeah. And some of those are repeats.
>> Sure. >> But they keep adding each week keeps getting more and more. So just like on Monday we had 38 households. >> Mhm. >> So it is a steady cadence of of households. >> That's terrific. Um so the word is getting out there that the the shed has
moved and that it's this new and improved model. That's great. >> We also have Haitian Creole and Spanish speakers among our staff. So that also helps a lot. >> Terrific. Now you did mention and I do want to note that um you know we have a lot of folks who are very generous the
friends of the fridge the original fridge um and others who want to better understand how they can donate. >> Yes. >> Um so how are we doing in establishing a process that communicates that and helps makes it convenient for people to do that? >> Right. So I was just on the phone with
UCCC today. Currently uh we are telling people to contact UCC. We have a contact there, Maria Torres, who will be the point person, and she can coordinate uh the distribution and and um pickups. So, we're looking at picking up from people,
but ideally, we'd like to pick up in one location and have it be bulk instead of like I have one bag of food versus like four cans of food. That makes it very difficult and not economical to to schedule pickup. So, they did try that. That wasn't really working very well.
So, we're looking at uh identifying a place or a partner where we can like drop off food and pick that up. So, >> yeah, I I'm not surprised that scheduling pickups didn't work out. That >> doesn't sound sustainable >> or efficient.
>> You were trying to, you know, be accommodating, but I think that there's some things that we can do to make it convenient for our residents to donate, but also be efficient. >> Yeah. So in my opinion, I think those who want who are committed to, you know,
being generous donors here are happy to stop by and drop off. >> So why can't we establish a drop off time andor zone at 129? >> That's something that we're talking about that maybe people can drop off
when UCCC is there so that the the distribution is immediate. So as soon as you donate, they're already distributing it out amongst the food that's already there >> and it can be inspected to ensure that it is of nutritional quality and correct and and all that good stuff. >> Yep. >> Yeah, I think that's the answer.
>> Yeah. So that's what I have to work out with UCCc and make sure that they're okay with accepting >> the food at that time because they're they're busy unloading food and then distributing at the same time and coordinating donations. Just one more thing that we have to coordinate. >> Okay, great. Um, two more things from
me, I promise only, and then I'll open it up. Um, I I would like us to uh have a township official take on some of the public communication
that is occurring in social media threads about our moving the shed and why and how you can go get food now and the process as opposed to having UCC do it because I've noticed I've been monitoring those threads. I understand
that UCCC jumped right in. They're very eager to be and they're a great partner to us and we value their partnership uh exceedingly, but but I oftent times they're responding on behalf of the township >> and that's not a good practice. >> Okay.
>> So, we should figure out with administration what that looks like and who that person is. >> Well, I have to say I think the UCCC has done a really good job in answering questions. disagree. >> Okay. I I've been looking on these threads and I thought they've been
answering them and doing a really great job. I don't think that we have a practice >> answering questions that they don't know how to answer because they're questions about the township, not about their services. >> Well, I do want to just pull back that
we don't have a practice of having a having an official answer. We don't we don't answer things on social media. So, if people want to send an report a concern on our website or send an email, that might be a better way because I
mean I I don't think we can have a communications person check all social media to make sure all questions are answered. >> No, no, I'm not suggesting that. But, you know, you've seen some of the stuff that's being talked about, right? Or your team has. >> My team has. Yeah. >> Yeah. How about how about if we audit
the questions that are coming up and we put out a frequently frequently asked question response. >> Love that. >> Okay. >> And this way we're not going back and forth on social media, but we have our means of putting it out through our distribution network and we can say here
are the questions we are receiving. Here are the answers to those questions. And if you have other questions, please email us and we'll respond and we'll make them public. >> Okay. I appreciate that. Thank you. And then lastly, a matter of public health and public safety. Um you mentioned the
World Cup. >> Yes. >> And uh one of our uh awesome residents who's with us tonight who's a tremendous antihuman trafficking advocate, um Miss Bobo, who's still awake tonight. Thank you.
We're not boring you. Um, what information can we put out there that says, you know, if you are please call this number just to raise awareness, right,
>> for for possible victims and or uh the general public who may notice something. >> That's a good question. So, what I can do is um the reason why I brought up FIFA is because it's a big conversation not only with the county but also the state level with the OEM. So, I can
reach out to um our county office of public health management and see what they have. Um >> they do have some stuff. They do have stuff. Yeah. Okay. >> So, I can we can >> and the sheriff and state police, they have all that. >> Yes. Great. >> So, we can share that with the township and put on our website
>> and maybe in some spots in town. >> In town. >> Yeah. Okay. That's it for me. I open it up to my colleagues. Any questions? >> I have not. >> Can we I know our police officers got trained on the human trafficking when um Miss Braa brought it to our attention. So she uh give us some information that
we use and shared with our police department and they got some training on the human trafficking. Thank you for that. And if we can share that uh with our young adults, youth nets, the schools, maybe the social workers, our young adults know what human trafficking is and just sort of educate them before
or I mean we should always have them where a breast of what's happening, you know, not only doing the FIFA or any soccer um tournament, but all the time they should know these resources are there. So uh if we could just share that with the schools, that'd be great. And I think the last question I had is um the
group of there's some people who pick up food or have food after church and have donated in the past and took to the food shed and my concern is those particular days may not fall within the days that you arranging right should we just point them to different shelters because I
know attorney point shel shelter takes food on Sundays or you know if it's cooked they have a kitchen to take food so should we redirect them to other shelters and would you have some recommendations for them That's good. >> Yeah. Until we can work out something with UCCC. Um, yes, I would definitely
tell people if they have food, the more immediately we can get food, the fresher the better to people. So, um, until we can work out a a better system of collecting that food um, and distribute it on Mondays and Thursdays. Sometimes there's food that's available Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and the weekend.
So, um, the more people and and partnerships that we can share with, the better. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you. I also um so in response to your question about the human trafficking training, I just wanted to share this was something that we discussed in the public safety meeting
that our police force did attend in April the 2026 human trafficking conference detective and investigative training was held to identify signs and resources for survivors. So this is something that we did discuss and the the police department is aware of this
heightened risk with FIFA coming in and they have prepared and have this training. Um >> thank you. I was actually thanking Miss Barbara because she brought it to our attention and thanking her for that information which was passed to the police department. So I I would like to
give her the credit for that. Thank you. >> We can work with the police department and get that information out as well. Any other questions or comments from the township committee? Okay, seeing none, we're going to open it up to the public. Are there members of the public who wish
to Yes, please. I'd like to share with you and with everyone. The New Jersey New Jersey coalition New Jersey co I'm barely awake. It was a long election day yesterday. The New Jersey Coalition Against Human
Hum human Human Trafficking has um many resources and they can be found at the website safer safer nj.org. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Is there any other member of the public
who wishes to address the board of health who's here with us in person? Seeing none, we'll go online. Mr. If anyone on Zoom would like to address the board of health, please raise your hand now. >> I see no hands. Okay. Then we'll close
the public comment period and I move that we adjourn >> and meet again on Tuesday, July 7th. >> Thank you, Mr. Adams. >> Yes. >> Collins. >> Yes. >> Mayor Luca, >> yes. >> Miss Herman, >> yes. Mr. Davis.
>> Yes. >> Thank you. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. We're going to now move to the public hearing on the additional municipal budget amendment for 2026. >> Mayor, I move we go past 9:30. There's no way we're getting done before that.
I'll do it. >> Second. >> Adams, >> yes. >> Collins Cing, >> yes. >> Mr. Daffis, >> yes. >> Herman, >> yes. >> Mayor Duca, >> yes. >> Uh, I'll now be calling the role. Mayor
for uh this portion of uh the budget meeting. Miss Adams, >> here. Miss Collins Cing, >> yes. >> Mr. Davis, >> present. Herman, >> yes. Mayor Duca >> here. >> Uh, let the record show that all five members of of the governing body are
present. >> Mayor, this is a time for the public hearing on the additional municipal budget amendment for 2026. The amendment was advertised as required together with notice of hearing for this
time. Printed copies have been made available to the public and a supply is here right on this table for anyone present uh that is desiring a copy. If anyone would like to get a copy of
the budget amendment, you can come on up and pick it up. And with that, I'm going to open the me open the hearing for the budget amendment. Is there anyone in the room who would like to speak on the budget amendment? Seeing no one, is there anyone on line?
>> Anyone on joining on Zoom would like to speak on the budget amendment, please raise your hand. >> I see no hands. >> Committee member Adams, I'd like you to move that we close the hearing. >> Mayor, I move we close the hearing. >> Second.
>> Please call the role. >> Mr. Adams, >> yes. >> Collins Colding, >> yes. >> Mr. Daffis, >> yes. >> Herman, >> yes. >> Mayor Duca, >> yes. I would ask the clerk read section two, pages 41 and 42.
>> Yes, mayor. Section two, uh, upon adoption for year 2026, be it resolved by the committee persons of the township of Maplewood, County of Essex, that the budget herein before,
set forth, is hereby adopted, and shall constitute an appropriation of the purposes stated in the sums therein, set forth as appropriations, an authorization of the amount of
$41,824,711 for municipal purposes. And uh item D is $623,525 even for open space, recreation, farmland, and historic preservation
trust fund levy. uh NF, which is item five, uh municipal tax, municipal minimum library tax, $2,146,232 and general surplus 2,900,
497. Miscellaneous revenues anticipated 15,384,080 even receipts from delinquent taxes 1,135,645 even and amount be raised by taxation for
municipal purposes $41,824,711 even amount to be raised by taxation Minimum library tax 2,146,232 even and amount to be raised by taxation.
Minimum library tax 63 million 391,165 even. Summary of appropriations operations including contingent 28,438,362 even
defer charges statutory expenditures municipal $6,28,51 even excluded from caps operations total appropriations excluded from caps. 17,685,83 even
municipal debt service 8,597,687 even deferred charges municipal $761,482. uh reserve for uncollected taxes $1,700,000 even and total appropriations
63,391,165 even. It's also certified that within the budget is a true copy of the budget finally adopted by resolution of the governing body on the third day of June.
It's further certified that each item of revenue and appropriation is set forth in the same amount and by the same title as appeared in the 2026 approved budget and all amendments therefore if any have
been previously approved by the director of local government services. >> Deputy Mayor Herman, would you move the resolution that was just read? I move resolution 209-26.
>> No, the amendment. >> All right. I I move the budget amendment that was just read. >> Mr. Adams, >> yes. >> Mr. Collins Cing, >> yes. >> Mr. Daffis, >> yes. >> Surman, >> yes. >> Mayor Dula,
>> yes. Okay. and uh committee woman Collins Coding. Can we get a motion on 20926? >> Mr. Mayor, I move the adoption of this resolution number 209-26. >> Second. >> And this is a resolution to adopt the
2026 municipal budget. Please call the role. >> Mr. Adams, >> yes. >> Collins calling. >> Yes. >> Mr. Davis, >> yes. Miss Herman, >> yes. >> Mayor Duca, >> yes. Can we have an ordinance on final passage? >> Okay. >> Yes, Mayor. Uh, on final passage,
ordinance number 406-26 is an ordinance to amend and supplement chapter 19 of the code of the township of Mapwood entitled Community Board on Police. This ordinance will amend and supplement chapter 19 of the township code to
clarify the membership of the community board on police and provide further detail as to the membership and functions of the civilian review board which is a subcommittee thereof. >> Thank you. This ordinance has been
published on the township website, 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 in the room who'd like to speak on this ordinance which makes some changes to
the community board on police? Seeing no one, is there anyone online? >> Anyone joining on Zoom would like to speak on this ordinance, please raise your hand. I see no hands. >> Okay. So, we'll close the hearing. Can we get a motion? >> I move this ordinance to be adopted as a
whole and the clerk be directed to post the same as a past ordinance on the township's website and town hall bulletin board according to law. >> Second. >> Any discussion? Please call the role. >> Miss Adams? >> Yes. >> Miss Collins? >> Yes. >> Mr. Daffis? >> Yes. >> Herman? >> Yes.
>> Mayor Duca? >> Yes. We have introduction of three ordinances. >> Uh, yes. Introduction of ordinances all number 1313 13A ordinance number 407-26
is an ordinance amending chapter 237 article one of the code of the township of Mapwood with respect to design criteria in the Maplewood Village Special Improvement District.
>> Do we get a motion? >> Certainly. Mayor, I move the passage of this ordinance on first reading and its publication according to law on the township's website and town hall bulletin board in a hearing to be held on June 7 at June 16th.
>> Second, >> please call the role. >> Miss Adams, >> yes. >> Miss Collins, >> yes. >> Mr. Daffis, >> yes. >> Turman, >> yes. >> Mayor Duca, >> yes. We have another ordinance on introduction.
>> Yes, Mayor. 13B. Ordinance number 408-26 is an ordinance to amend and supplement chapter 257 of the code of the township of Mapwood entitled vehicles and traffic with respect to right turn on red restrictions.
>> I move the passage of this ordinance on first reading and its publication according to law on the township's website and town hall bulletin board in a hearing to be held on June 16th. I second the motion. >> Please call the RO. >> M. >> Adams, >> no. >> M. Collins Golding. >> Yes.
>> Mr. Daffis, >> yes. >> Herman, >> yes. >> Mayor Duca, >> yes. >> Next, uh 13C. Mayor, ordinance number 409-26 is an ordinance to amend classification of employment positions within the
township of Mavenwood and to establish salary ranges for employees. >> I move the passage of this ordinance on the first reading and its publication according to the law to the township's website, town hall bulletin board, and a hearing to be held on June 16, 2026.
>> Second. Please call the role. >> Miss Adams, yes. >> Mr. Collins Golden, >> yes. >> Mr. Daffis, >> yes. >> Herman, >> yes. Mayor Duca, >> yes. >> Okay, let's go to administrative reports. Mr. Weary. >> Thank you, Mayor. I would like to
discuss two items, uh, resolutions on the agenda tonight. Resolution number 206-26, which is award of a contract for engineering services for the Oakland Road pilot program to dynamic traffic. And the next resolution 211-26
word of a contract also to dynamic traffic for supplemental traffic engineering services for Prospect Street corridor. The both of these came out of conversations we've had on the Prospect Street improvements. 206-26
specifically is for the Oakland Road pilot program where it has been proposed that no left turns be permitted out of Oakland Road. As part of discussions we've had with the public, there was an interest in understanding uh both from the public and the township committee on
how that restriction would impact traffic on surrounding roadways, especially given um the the traffic that travels between Valley and Prospect and also with CHS in the area and a lot of school traffic going through there, how
it would impact that. So, Dynamic has proposed to um as part of that traffic study to perform traffic counts uh at nine intersections in that area. They would do field dri uh visits and also provide us with a technical memorandum
that describes both the current condition before the uh the trial of what the what the traffic counts are and turning movements are and then what the traffic counts and turning count and turning movements are with this pilot program in effect. So that's one
resolution um that the the township engineer has recommended move forward. The second one and the one that I'll uh ask for changes on is a is for the actual design services of the um
striping and improvement plan that we would use to go out to bid. I think that piece of this resolution is premature and in my discussion uh with the engineer, he agrees. I I believe there's an interest of the township committee to discuss the improvements along the Prospect Street corridor at the the
meeting on the 16th, the next township committee meeting. And so the engineer thought it wise to hold that portion of this award for the 16th meeting. There is a portion of this resolution and this award which we would like to move forward and it's proposed that we
combine it with the first resolution. So that portion is for a supplemental traffic and parking data collection, traffic signal timing and directive evaluation and some reimburseable costs. So specifically the supplemental traffic
and parking, there were some areas along Prospect Street where um the the public had wanted more information on counts uh specifically around the Tuscan school and and a few other intersections where we thought that maybe the initial data
collection wasn't representative of what happens throughout the day in those areas. So we want to take another look at that. The second uh the traffic signal timing is specific to Springfield Avenue and Prospect where uh we are
there's a proposal to reduce the southbound across Springfield those lanes from three lanes to two lanes to accommodate a bike lane and there's a question of how that impacts the traffic movement whether it be u you know having a straight and right turn lane or
straight and left turn lane there and so they want to look at that as well. So I in discussions with the engineer had would submit to the township committee that we remove resolution 211-26 which is the the the resolution that includes the design element and that we
include the necessary portions with resolution 206-26. Um the amount being moved would be $6,000. So it would increase the total contract award for resolution 206-26 from $25,500 to $31,500.
Okay, any questions on that? >> That was a lot. >> So, yeah, I just had a question. Um, so with regard to the timing of the road pilot, uh, with school ending, uh, we have one more week of full full days of
school. Is that going to be able to be completed in time? Yes, we would do we are and the engineer is ready to do the first data collection this week to start the implementation of the no left early next week and do another data collection toward the end of next week. So that
would be the this week would be current existing conditions and next week would be with the pilot in place and all of the data that we're talking about here. So everything regarding the the no left turn restriction, the additional parking analysis and the analysis on turning
movements for Springfield and Prospect. All of that information would be prepared and submitted to the township committee prior to your discussion at the June 16th meeting. >> Okay, great. Um and then the second question is just um can you tell the
public how um the costs for each of these three three things just for transparency? Yeah. So the let's see of the three things. So the the I I'll break it down. Um supplemental traffic and parking data collection is 2700.
Traffic signal timing directive evaluation is 1,800. Reimburseables is 1,500. And then the piece specific to the no left turn movement that was 25,500.
The 25,500 is a high cost and that's a result of the number of intersections in the area that we're going to be doing counts at. Again, that's nine intersections in the area that we're looking for counts and turning movements. >> Okay. >> Okay. Anything else?
>> That's all. Mayor, >> anything else for Mr. Weary? >> Then then I would just uh Yeah. No, that's fine. I just want to make it clear to the clerk that we would um if the township committee is in agreement, we would remove resolution 211-26 and we would increase the contract award
for resolution 206-26 to $31,500. >> Right. And that we'll do that when we do the consent. Okay. Midio, >> no report. Mayor. >> Okay. Miss Fritzen, >> I have a report. >> Of course,
you have six minutes. First, I want to report on uh what everybody is anxious on the most. I would guess yesterday we had a primary election and um I will say that uh locally I'm going to announce the uh
winners uh from the local level. Uh Mr. Duca, congratulations with uh 3,417 votes. And congratulations as well to Mr. Sullivan with 2,869
votes and the third candidate uh was Martin separ uh votes. So as you all know uh it was a primary for three people running for two spots uh that have secured uh the primary and we'll be moving on to uh the
November general election. Uh so congratulations 57 uh 5,7787 uh individuals voted on election day 487 uh with early voting
uh 2403 with mailin ballots and that totaled um 8,677 votes cast. So, uh, uh, average turnout across Maplewood is
almost 25% which is a very, very good number. The county average is about 11%. >> 11%. >> Yes. >> Wow. >> So, uh, we have a lot of participation of our voters in Mayo.
Um, so again, congratulations to, uh, Mr. Duca and Mr. Sullivan. And uh I have nothing but positive things to say about our new polling place at the library.
It was wellreceived by uh the pole workers, well received by the voters and uh you know, you can't do it alone. We had a lot of departments involved in making it perfect and we wanted to take take
care of the parking uh the facility and um again I have absolutely no complaints. I went there twice and the pole workers were excited to be there and uh the library was also uh the staff
was very very accommodating. So, uh, even though we missed all the, uh, ruckus in the lobby here for the first time, well, I that saying that as a joke, uh, the library was great, a great great
location. Um, so, uh, again, I want to compliment my entire staff and, uh, those that help us with the results in the evening. It was really a flawless election day. uh
very very few problems and um yeah uh everybody worked hard and worked very long hours yesterday. Uh just touching on Memorial Day, as we all know, unfortunately due to weather, we didn't have a parade, but we
certainly did have a ceremony. And uh you know, we worked real hard for the organization of the parade. Uh and unfortunately, it didn't get to happen this year, but we were planning uh with weather if we had to to have the uh
Memorial Day ceremony indoors in this room. And uh we did have it. Uh coming up uh future events, we have uh employee appreciation day and uh
veterans day and volunteer day and a lot of extra um township events. We've been having many many uh event planning meetings. We had a planning meeting on Monday for four events. We had a planning meeting
on Tuesday for uh the big pride event and uh upcoming tomorrow is a flag raising and on Friday we have the uh gun violence uh awareness. So uh lots going on and that is my report.
>> Thank you. Any questions for Miss Richardson? >> Thank you. We're going to go to elected officials. Deputy Mayor Herman. >> You stole all my thunder. Yeah. >> Um, okay. So, I want to kick off my report tonight by saying um with some
election congratulations. I think somebody up here might have run. I'm not sure. >> Maybe. >> Congratulations, Mayor Duca and also John Sullivan. I look forward to working with you both. And I also want to congratulate Martin Separ for running a
race that really highlighted the need for safer streets, which I know is a priority for myself and all of us up here. Uh so I look forward to working more on that important issue. I want to say also a huge congratulations to uh my dear friend and our former colleague Deb
Engel for winning the Democratic nomination for the Essex County Commission. I believe her win is historic and she would be the first uh from Maplewood to serve on that commission. So um honestly it's about
time. So very excited about that. I also want to say a big congratulations to my friend Christine McGrath who I've known since uh we volunteered for Mom's Man Action and a congratulations also to our district commissioner Adorian uh Thomas Murray as well as the district
commissioner in South Orange Medina Muhammad. These are some amazing ladies and I can't wait for everyone in Maplewood to get to know them. And speaking of Mom's Man Action, yes, we do have a wear orange rally and proclamation this Friday. Um, if you
have driven by by town hall or entered town hall this past week, you may have seen the orange ribbons adorning the this um uh our our columns and the trees in front of town hall. And this is part
of the event to raise awareness and also to really, you know, show this isn't just a day where we're really coming together. This is um on this Friday. It's at 4:30. And for those who are attending the lavender graduation at 5:30, I mean at 6
o'clock. This will be strictly 1 hour. It'll be 4:30 to 5:30. Wear your orange. We're going to have some orange ribbons if you want to put it on your lapel. We're going to have some signs. Um you know, we're really going to come together and we're going to have um uh
we're going to have two speakers who are really important. one is a survivor and then the other is our very own county commissioner Adorian uh Thomas Murray who is um she lost a loved one to gun violence and she will be sharing her story as well. So it's important that
when we talk about gun violence prevention and gun safety that we center the voices of those immediately affected. And so I'm really um I'm really happy about the program that we have for this Friday and we'll be reading of course our proclamation. Um
and then we'll take a big orange picture so that in addition to having or at our town hall and lighting it up with orange, we can show everyone everywhere that this town stands against gun violence. So very happy about that. um speak and then also
I will be speaking at the Ethical Cultural Society on Sunday morning at 11 am >> plug. Shameless plug. >> Yes, shameless plug. Come, you can come and hear me. So June actually is the exact center point of my three-year term
on the township committee. So um the theme of my talk is going to be um my at my halfway point. What have I done and what am I doing next? So come out and you can you can hear that. And because no public comment from me would be
complete without a mention of the pool, the pool is open. And so I want to thank all of the residents who have signed up for early bird rates. Those are unfortunately now over, but you can still sign up for the pool. We have um season rates right now and also August
only rates. And the swim lessons went on sale. Um and so you can sign up for that. Um, and I also want to make sure that residents know because there's been a little confusion about this. I want to make sure residents know that the pool is only open on the weekends
until the until the Monday following Father's Day. It there's no connection to Father's Day. I don't know why, but it's the it's it's because the kids are in school and so once they're our lifeguards and so once they're out of school, then we can open it Monday through Friday. So, it's weekends only.
Don't try and go to the pool during the week because you'll be very disappointed. I don't want any of your kids to be disappointed. So, it's weekends only, but starting on Monday, June 22nd, it will be Monday through Friday, and that will be a lot of fun, and I hope to see you all there. >> Thank you.
Committeewoman Collins Cing. >> Thank you. I'm going to make this short and sweet. Uh on June 19th, we have the Junth celebration at Duran Hidden House. And we also going to have another celebration right outside um at the
memorial uh Maplewood Memorial Park. And we have lots of activities, arts and crafts. If you want to sharpen your coloring skills, you can come and join us. And there will be music, dancing, food. And if you go on our maple art and
culture.org org website, we have the list of all the events and activities that's going to happen. We have tons of activities. We have songs of resilience, the benefit of concert for immigrant aid and defense. And that's going to be on, let me get the right date, June 20th
from 7 to 9. And this will be at the St. George's Epis Episcopal Church in Maplewood. And we have lots of information there about that event. Uh we have cycle beach party that's going to be June 19th and 20th at 7:30 at the
Beriff Center. It's on our website. We also have um well this is the library but it's music for kids and that's on our website too. Some um wiggles and whistles and sings and strings all the kids at the library. We have list a list
of programs for the kids at the library. And as I go through this we also have the mayor had posted this today. So, I'm just going to steal this from him. The Maplewood Ukraine day and that's going to be June 6, Saturday at the new location, the Woodland. Um, it's going
to be food. Um, and I think you have to let me just make sure it's free from 12 to 6 live performances and it's from 12 to 4. I said 12 to 3 here. And I'm just going to go to our um
summer camps. So, the summer camps include, if you haven't already looked at the summer camps that we have available, we have tons of activities for the kids. We have the kid camp, we have the Maple Craft Camp, we have tennis camp, we have the mermaid camp, we have uh Scotty uh Donniey's dive
camp, we have creative learning camp, math and reading and writing camp, summer slam basketball camp. I mean, we are just camped out this summer. So, there's tons of camps, lots of activities. Please go on the website and you know just enjoy what Maplewood has
to offer. It's a lot. Thank you. >> Thank you. Um I did get a text yesterday or I guess Monday. Yesterday was a blur uh from Congresswoman Mahia's office. They would they're asking about the possibility of having a table at Junth
or maybe having her speak. >> They have her contact at you. >> Yeah, we can certainly do that. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Uh, Committeewoman Adams, >> thank you. Um, I just wanted to update people on the project at Dehart Park.
Um, engineering had a walkth through today with the contractor. We, uh, the mayor and I attended a pre-construction meeting, uh, last week, I think that was. Um, and so everything's on track for that. Residents along Lombardi Place
and Torrento Court will be notified of the pending work. Um parking will be need will need to be um restricted on one side of each of those streets. Um mobilization of equipment and vehicles will take place on or about uh Monday,
June 22nd. Um the walking path and the field around the field will be um remain substantially open to the public for uh what they use it for, mostly exercising. Um and they'll only be closed when
trucks and equipment are getting on the field um from from the field to Torreno Court. Uh the work involves the construction of the field as well as milling and repaving of the walking path around the field. So that's starting so
look for work at the heart to start on June 22nd. Um uh unfortunately for the pride flag raising I have a huge event for work tomorrow. So, I will be working. >> You'll be here in spirit >> till 9 o'clock. Yeah.
>> You and there's plenty of opportunities for you to celebrate Pride the rest of the month. >> Yeah. There you go. Uh but I wanted to mention that. Also, um I wanted to let the public know that um bulk drop off day is this Saturday uh at the DPW yard.
Uh anybody know what time? I'm not sure. No, Pat. No, me neither. Okay. So, just look on the website. There's a bulk drop up. Yeah. But what's exciting about this is uh we've been working with um Vicky Arlene, one of our volunteers on
environmental advisory committee. Um they uh she met with um our contact at Beayshore um which is where uh the haulers take your curbside recycling to and where DPW takes our recycling to the
regular recycling um mixed and fibers and all that stuff. But now we're gonna um be the second municipality in the town to accept um what are called MRPs. That's mixed rigid plastics. So instead
of landfilling your um broken laundry baskets or your toys that are not playable anymore or um plant the pots that plants come into all the plastics that are currently not recyclable can be
brought to DPW um starting on this at 8:00 am to 2 pm. Thank you. Um this coming Saturday at DPW. So that's bulk drop off. So any big things you have that you can't put out at the curb or um but definitely start thinking about your
mixed um rigid plastics that you have in your house instead of throwing them in the garbage um bring them to recycling at DPW. And lastly, congratulations to John Sullivan, to Vic Luca, and to Deb on um an exciting election day
yesterday. That's all I have. >> Go Knicks. >> Go Knicks. Thank you, uh, Committeeman Davis. >> Thank you, Mayor. Uh, I'm going to start my report by thanking our township clerk, township clerk Fritzen, on yet another successful administration of
another big election. >> Uh, there's been a lot of elections, right? Special primaries, special general this, right? Like we're heading into our fourth election this this year alone. So, thank you for that. Um, and I'm glad to hear that our new uh polling
site at uh at the library where I did visit a couple times yesterday and the poll workers were really happy as were the voters. As were the voters. Very visible location, a lot more space. I too want to um salute uh Vic Vic Duca,
Mayor Duca on his resounding reelection. uh very strong campaign uh a very positive campaign and clearly uh voters respond to positive messaging focused on policy and change. Uh and I also want to
congratulate committeeman elect John Sullivan. Congratulations John. I see you in the audience tonight attending your first meeting on the other side of the fence and a little bit closer to being up here with us soon enough. I can tell already by your body language that
a huge weight has been lifted and you already look a lot more official than you did before. So, uh, welcome aboard and we look forward to working with you as well. Uh, and I too want to congratulate our former colleague, uh, committee woman and deputy mayor Deb
Angel who made history as Deputy Mayor Herman just stated. Um, and again, Deb Angel ran a very positive campaign focused on speaking to voters, knocking on doors tirelessly,
showing up at one event after another event. She really hustled and she made this happen and we are so grateful in Maplewood to have that direct county representation. So, good for her. Um, I mentioned earlier that there's a lot of opportunities for us to get our pride on
as a community. I really welcome folks to come and join us tomorrow night to kick things off with our flag raising starting at 6 pm right out here. Um and then on Friday night, come and salute and congratulate our uh graduates at
Columbia High School for our annual lavender graduation starts at 6:00 p.m. I really really want to have that auditorium filled with parents uh supporting our graduates. It's a really moving and powerful ceremony. Uh the
graduates will have fun at the Lavender Ball afterward at the Woodland. Um on Sunday morning, uh North Jersey Pride kicks off its month-long events for Pride with the North Jersey Pride Run.
It's in South Orange. Um and uh you can find uh details on registration um on their website. And North Jersey Pride Festival this year is on Sunday, June 14th. Uh really really want folks to come out this year. I think we're going
to have a lot more people than we usually do. We usually have around 10,000 people come come to that thing between 12:00 p.m. and 6 p.m. every year. Uh but because as I stated earlier as we started our meeting tonight that prides are being cancelled in other
communities and we heard recently that out Monontlair has rescheduled their pride for maybe sometime in August if it happens. Uh people are going to come to Maplewood as they should because we are proud here and and uh we've had successful event planning meetings that
township clerk Fritzen has successfully coordinated uh throughout uh the different departments to ensure that we're ready that we're ready for all the people coming to awesome Maplewood. Uh and lastly, I want to give a shout out
to uh uh the community board on police. We just found out a couple days back that our proposed session at the League of Municipalities has been accepted. Uh so we're going to start planning that uh and getting that session together. We
don't know what day it's going to be yet. Um but I will certainly report back about that. And lastly, I want to give a shout out to my nephew uh Yanni Daffis who's graduating tonight from Villanova. I couldn't be there with
him because I'm here serving the public. Um, this is the sacrifice that comes with public service. I love doing it. I have no regrets. But please, folks out there, when you're campaigning, don't minimize what we do. This is really serious work and it comes with a lot of
family sacrifice. Thank you. >> Thank you. Um, I have a few items. Uh just on the Ukrainian day, I received the text from Father Hot today that he's asking that we appear at 12 for the reading of his
proclamation. So, um I I want to raise New Jersey transit problems. We're getting increased uh comments from our commuters in town about the unreliability of transit over the last couple weeks. I
know there was a fire Amtrak there's been some other problems but uh and there's been a change in the train on the way here uh uh from New York no longer 619 no longer stops in Maplewood. So I'm going to be reaching out to transit and trying to get a huddle up to
see if we can get this resolved. Another problem we have is the post office. I had reached out to um Senator Booker's office. We resolved the delivery problem, but now we're having a problem at our post office facility in Maplewood Village that there's only one person
working there and um the times are limited and when that person has to leave, the post office just closes. >> Wow. >> So, we're going to be getting on that. >> Trump's administration. >> Yeah. Thank you. >> There you go. >> Thank you. Yeah. >> And lastly, I just want to thank all the voters uh who voted for me and those who
did not for coming out to vote. It's very important. You know, in this day, we talk about the importance of elections and they're under attack. And we heard from our clerk that people vote a lot of different ways. They vote
early, they vote by mail or dropbox, uh, and they vote on election day. So, we had a good turnout in all three categories. Um, I'm particularly uh happy to be uh serving you another three
years past the rest of this year. And uh because we have a lot of stuff to do and I'm looking forward to serving with John Sullivan and um it's always great to win elections. Always great to win elections. Having lost some, it's always
better to win. Now we're going to move on to our dis two discussion items. the Maplewood Immigrant Trust Act ordinance. >> And before we do that, mayor, if I may, um, just say congratulations on your win and to John himself, uh, and to our
former township committee woman and deputy mayor, Deb Angle. So, congratulations and to all the candidates who put themselves out there. >> Okay, we're still going to go back to the discussion item. >> Yes. >> Trust. >> All right, let's get into it. We have
talked about this and I'm glad that we're finally here. We're getting closer and closer to adopting an ordinance. So, um, we've talked about this before. Uh, what we have before the township committee and what we've, uh, disseminated to the public, uh, before
tonight's meeting is a draft ordinance called the Maplewood Immigrant Trust Act. It is our cottifying officially as legislation here locally our existing welcoming sanctuary status or our
welcoming status resolution. We wanted to strengthen um our resolve uh in solidarity with our immigrant community, our residents here, those who are undocumented, underdocumented, those are
who are on their way to citizenship status in some uh way or another. Um and we wanted to do so by legislation as opposed to leaving it as uh the current resolution. Uh, this ordinance clarifies the township's policies regarding the
use of municipal resources in connection with federal civil immigration enforcement operations to protect the rights and privacy of all residents and to ensure compliance with state law, including the Attorney General's immigrant trust directive, which has
recently, as many know already has been uh itself, the Attorney General's immigrant trust directive converted into to a law that Governor Cheryl signed um earlier uh a couple months ago or so.
So, what is our ordinance uh say? As I mentioned, a lot of this uh that we uh have disseminated tonight for the public's uh uh feedback and for the township committee's discussion are uh provisions that were existing in our
welcoming status. We've strengthened the language and our resolve. um making it clear that uh our Maplewood Police Department is not going to be in the business of federal civil uh
immigration enforcement, not to assist ICE or other civil civil immigration enforcement operations, uh but rather to uh focus on Maplewood residents public safety, keeping the
peace. Um, and it goes into some detail. Uh, I want to say before I get into some of the key provisions, um, the ordinance before us tonight is the work product that comes from a lot of different sources. I want to
certainly acknowledge our partners in this. Everything that we do that we do well is a partnership with uh thought experts with organizations that have experience in this and with our community-based or organizations and community partners our advocates in
particular for this ordinance. We worked very closely together with the Soma Action Immigration Committee. We've heard already from a couple of members from that committee this evening and at our last meeting. We worked uh also with Soma Justice. We worked with members of
the community board on police. We worked with other individual local immigrant rights uh either legal representatives or other advocates. Um and as far as township committee members, although the
entire township committee is supportive of our doing this and we'll have our discussion in a moment. In particular, I want to um mention that Deputy Mayor Malia Herman as our public safety chair uh was uh part of this process uh along
with me. Um, and I definitely was informed personally by my lived experience as a first generation American uh, in doing this and in my professional capacity working with um, immigrant rights groups such as Make the Road New Jersey and the New Jersey
Alliance for Immigrant Justice among other uh, groups. So, with that being said, and if I left anyone out, I apologize. I I think I was being as inclusive as I can be here. Um what we're saying here is that um what
are we saying? First of all, we ident we we define things. Uh some of the provisions here we copied from Montlair who recently did the same thing last month. Uh I think our definitions of what is a judicial order and what is a
judicial warrant and why is that different from an administrative uh order or warrant are a lot stronger than Montlair's if I may say so. Um but happy to look at it further. Happy to look at it further based on some feedback that
we that we received. That's why we're doing this in public. Um okay. So we start off with the use of township resources. We say very clearly that no township time, funds, resources, or property shall be used to enforce federal immigration laws unless required
by law as further described in this chapter. Right? Unless there's a judicial warrant, a validly issued judicial order or warrant. That means signed by an article 3 judge or magistrate or state equivalent. We make
that very clear here. uh not an administrative order or some other resolution that ICE agents have have tried to get over in in communities including here in Maplewood. There has to be a judicial order or judicial warrant. um that we are in compliance
with the new law here in New Jersey and all existing state attorney general directives and other laws that our overriding mission that Maplewood's police department overriding mission is to enforce uh local criminal laws and state laws
and to protect the community it serves, not to administer federal immigration laws or assist federal immigration officials including ICE. We say that several times in this ordinance. It's very clear and strong.
The police department's mission is to provide fair, impartial, and professional police services to all individuals. Not only are they not going to participate in civil immigration enforcement operations, but they're also going to be impartial and professional
in their service to the community to all residents, regardless of their immigration or citizenship status. Benefits and services in Maplewood will not are not conditioned on citizenship
status. We say that in 44 C-6 pretty explicitly. Again, civil immigration enforcement operations are the responsibility of who? Of federal authorities, not Maplewood Police Department or the Township of Maplewood. We say very
clearly here, we adopted this language from strong similar um other immigrant trust laws like Montlair's that the township of Maplewood, its administrative departments, boards, committees, commissions, volunteers, and employees shall not expend any time,
funds, or resources on facilitating civil immigration enforcement operations, nor in participating in civil immigration enforcement operations, except again, we're legally required to do so by a validly issued um judicial warrant or judicial order.
As I mentioned before, we are not to enter into any um um detainer agreements or renew or reauthorize any contract agreement or other arrangement with uh with federal immigration authorities, including the
Department of Homeland Security. That's explicit in 44 C8B1. That was really important for us to outline there. We're not going to honor immigration detainer requests or administrative warrants from ICE. We say
that in 44 C 8 B3. I think it's important to put these on the records, mayor. On the record, Mayor and I I appreciate your patience here because some people are not here. They're watching or they will be
watching later. And please work computer. Okay. Um, we talk about the regulation of township property and information. Um, and we have a separate ordinance we're going to discuss separately about this to be a little more holistic. As I
said earlier in my introductory comments that the township retains the authority to regulate, manage, control, and restrict public spaces, township owned buildings, facilities, vehicles, equipments, parks, parking areas, public libraries, and
other township property. In other words, we reserve the right to say no ICE in these public otherwise public areas. Who will have that authority? the business administrator, our township administrator. He's the administrator of
the township. Um, the business administrator shall review township facilities and ensure non-public areas are reasonably identified and uh all of this is communicated to all of our township departments, directors, and all of our
employees so that they comply with this. any ICE or other similar agency officer seeking access to non-public areas of township properties with a validly issue judicial warrant or judicial order shall
be required to provide such to the business administrator to our township um to to Mr. wary and and his team. And without a judicial or a judicial warrant, any request to enter these
restricted areas of public property will be denied. We say that very explicitly. No exceptions. Okay. We talk about implementation and training that within 90 days of enactment of this chapter, the chief of Maple Maplewood Police Department shall
update current operational orders and training to effectuate uh the components of this new law within 7 days after enactment of this new law. The business administrator shall disseminate this to all of the township employees that he
oversees and officials and train accordingly as well. Um, and we talk about here the uh that we are not sharing township employees are not to share any information on immigration or
citizenship status with federal um authorities. Um again the only exception there not to federal authorities in the is in the administration of any social services programs that require the collection of that information but again not to be shared with ICE or federal
immigration officials. So that is the extent of this. Now, before we talk about some additional components to consider to add to this from our advocates, um let's stop with what we have that we compiled after all
of these weeks of putting this together and see what our discussion looks like. And I'm going to turn it over first to my partner here in this work product to Deputy Mayor Herman. Then I'm going to go to township attorney Credidio to add in, fill in, correct if I made any
mistakes. Um and then I'm gonna open it up to the rest of the township committee. Deputy Mayor Herman. >> Thank you, Committee Mandis. Yeah, this is uh definitely this has been the product of um many many meetings and going over um a lot of the language in
here. And what we want to do is take what we what the resolution says and put it in the ordinance and make it a lot stronger. And we were very specific about who designates um you know uh um that that we make it very clear that you have to have a
judicial warrant or order um and then um >> validly issued. >> Exactly. >> Yes. >> Um and then and and what that looks like. Um, and I just wanted to also um share that this part of putting this
ordinance together is we are also going to have a Q&A that will be available as well. The Q&A is something that we're working on and will come after the ordinance because we want to have a full discussion about the ordinance and its provisions and obviously these
additional suggestions and then also the you know public private property elements and then um the Q&A we have we have a draft of the Q&A so far and it goes into you know just explaining to residents does Maplewood um cooperate
with immigration enforcement actions in town? Obviously not. Um, you know, what do people do when they see agents? You know, we found out at our last meeting, you know, what do people do if a car has been left behind? You know, so we're we're trying to address a lot of different questions that we're hearing.
Um, our state assemblyman, Chagier Ona, had a um a know your rights presentation where they have slides and I thought a lot of his slides were really good. For example, when we talk about judicial warrant and judicial order, he shows um
photos of what that looks like and compares it to the ICE order that many of them show and it can be very confusing and if you're not seeing what the difference is, you know, a lot of people don't know. Um, and so I think what we're going to be looking to do is we're going to we're talk about the or
the ordinance um talk about these two ordinances and then flush out this Q&A um and have some town hall meetings so that we can present the the ordinances, present the Q&A, uh have some slides showing people um you know the
differences on some of the things that we're talking about um you know and and get this on our website. So, you know, we want everyone to be able to, you know, get their questions answered. >> Yeah. And I think when you say Q&A, I think you mean FAQs, right? Like we just
want to distill the ordinance into like bullet points so that in plain language so people can understand, okay, what are my rights as a resident? What happens if Maplewood PD is called to a situation when ICE is in town? What
will they do? What will they not do? Who will they assist? Who won't they assist? what is their role there? Uh, and so on and so forth. And as you stated, Deputy Mayor, uh, we intend after we have those FAQs together to, uh, have a town hall
or two to, uh, engage with the public in those scenarios along with all of our relevant uh, stakeholders and and public safety officials. So, I'm going to turn it Thank you for that. I'm going to turn it over to Township Attorney Credidio. Anything to add?
>> Just one thing. Um the and I know this was very important to the working group and their discussions in our section of the ordinance where we talk about um the police department's mission and um their overriding uh principles. We did
specifically include a recital about the department's commitment to complying with uh chapter law three which was signed in March that uh deals with identification of officers and accountability of officers and that we
also encourage all other law enforcement agencies to do the same. >> Thank you for Yeah, I missed that one. Yep. Okay, so let's open it up for discussion. Township committee members. So, I'm I'm very comfortable with both of these ordinances. I actually think we
should move them and then we can go in and clean them up. I don't I think waiting is wrong. Oh, yeah. I agree. >> I think we should move we should introduce this at the next meeting >> and I know there are some recommendations >> and I think we can clean that clean them
up, but I think we ought to get these on the books as soon as we can and I'm comfortable with the language in both of them. >> Thank you. Anyone else? >> Great. Wonderful. So, um I'm going to move both of the ordinances
and just for the public certification, I didn't really talk about the restricted access to township public property ordinance. Some of that language is already embedded in the immigrant trust uh ordinance. But again, the idea here
is to uh allow us to restrict uh access to certain public spaces as necessary for public safety. Um yes, it relates also to uh protecting uh our our residents who are using our public
facilities for recreation or for services. um but also uh to ensure um confidentiality and safety of information as well. Um and it was certainly inspired by the immigrant
trust act ordinance and again township attorney Credio, did you want to add anything else about that ordinance? >> No, I think that covers it that the two do work together. Um obviously the restriction of spaces as you said um
protects private information from constituents, protects our you know adds another level of security for our employees and goes beyond um just the uh immigrant trust act you know aspect of it but the two work together um very
nicely. >> Yes. Yes. I mean, for instance, we can't have some of these, you know, first amendment journalists, you know, um, barging into one of our social workers offices as
they're trying to assist someone in crisis. I mean, that's ridiculous. And that is happening in municipalities everywhere. So, this is not just about ICE. We're trying to be again holistic. And I really want to salute our township attorney for uh you you championed that. you were like think bigger and let's
have a separate ordinance for that while embedding this uh also in the uh immigrant trust ordinance. Okay, fantastic. So um the additional considerations that we received earlier today include the following. I'm going
to go through them. Um I think some of them we already have in the ordinance, but you know, let's get into it a little bit. All right. Uh let's see if I could start with the easy ones first. Um let's see if this thing will work. Okay. So,
um requesting information prohibited again that no municipal agent, employer agency may ask any individual or request information from any individual about their citizenship or immigration status. And I think that's already in our ordinance and I ask township attorney
Credio to have a look and if you think that we need to adopt this language as proposed um to make it stronger or more clear, let's do it. um they're not any m all you know no municipal agent or employee is is
allowed to maintain or share confidential personal information. We already have that in several of our ordinances that deal with the services that we provide. But again have a look and if we need to add that uh we can language access. This was very
interesting and uh this is very generous if you know certain uh municipalities can do this but I want to address this. I want to address this. So the language access um recommendation says the following. Maplewood shall provide free
language assistance services as required to limited English proficient individuals. Municipal agencies shall employ sufficient bilingual employees to provide services in languages spoken by at least 5% of the municipal population
or 10,000 residents. Um so that's an interesting consideration. I I do want to note and maybe some of our advocates are not familiar. Um we currently provide the resources and the information and the services that we
provide uh pamphlets and and and the information we shared through our public health officer earlier. We do already in three languages English, Spanish and French Creole. We do those three languages because according to our census data, demographic data, household
data, that represents the three main languages spoken in uh in Maplewood, which is fast approaching 26,000 residents. Now, uh I think that complies or sort of satisfies this language
access. You let us know if you think it doesn't, but I I think it does. And I think that's even bigger than, you know, this recommendation here. Let's carry on. Require training that all city departments, this obviously came from a city ordinance. All cool. We're a
township. All township departments, agencies, officers, employees, agents, including members of law enforcement shall receive regular training regarding compliance with this ordinance. Of course. Of course. Of course. I think that does say that in our ordinance, but again, let's look at this additional
language and add what we need to add to make it even clearer and stronger. Designation of point of contact. I think that's in there. The point of contact is Mr. Wary. Um, and then we get into some interesting things here. Uh, expand community partnership for community
education, engagement, empowerment. Hell yeah, that I'm all about working with the community. This this product is a community product. uh no one here on this day is uh owns this. We did it all together and it's for all of us together. So um
you know this idea that we should probably maybe add in there that we support community- based education efforts to ensure that residents are informed of of their rights and of of what we're doing here. Yes, we're going to put out the FAQs FAQs. We're going to
do a town halls. We're going to bring our assemblyman who's been doing a lot of know your rights. We're gonna bolster our know your rights on the website. Township administrator wary. Um um so yes, I think that satisfies that requirement as well.
Then we get into one recommendation here which is a little bit tricky for a township. Um legal support for immigrant residents. The purpose of this ordinance is to expand access to legal representation and support services for immigrant residents facing civil
immigration detention or proceedings. Specifically, that means in this recommendation that the city, the township in our case, shall allocate funding subject to budget approval to support legal service providers offering
representation and assistance in immigration matters. I think we should open this up for discussion. Um, what I would say about this as a lawyer that works with Make the Road New Jersey and my other professional capacity, um,
I think we should definitely in our know your rights and resources for residents, um, connect people to the organizations that provide proono legal representation and to the local network of attorneys
who have said, "I raise my hand to help folks with their hearings. um and the way that we connect people to other organizations that do other things that they're seeking assistance for. But I don't know about this idea of our
actually funding these organizations and or helping them with their fundraising. There might be some limitations there for us. And I invite our township attorney, Miss Credidio, to opine. Unfortunately, I mean, I think I totally
understand the good intention behind this recommendation. Um, but unfortunately, New Jersey municipalities are limited in what we are allowed to raise taxes and expend funds for. Um, and you know, we're not allowed to
unfortunately um diverge from sort of that universe of of what we're allowed to spend money on. It differs from so for example with respect to municipal court we pay for a public defender that's a requirement of
a municipality in New Jersey it's a criminal action it's not a civil action it's a criminal action before our courts it's a it's a different question um now as far as connecting people or making information available about legal legal
aid services etc you know that's certainly as Mr. Zaf has said consistent with what we do for other constituent services. There are clinics at both Rucker Law School and Satan Hall Law School that provide um services to this end. You know, we could certainly
collaborate with them um or connect with them. But unfortunately for a from a funding perspective, I think it's problematic. >> Okay. So, let's open it up to the township committee for discussion. One of the things that I discussed with uh township attorney Credidio when she and I had this conversation earlier today,
right? We always prepare for these meetings. We do our homework, believe it or not. And um she and I engaged in a back and forth as we do uh because we're lawyers and we love doing that. We're nerds. And uh I said, "But wait a minute, we have this little trust fund.
We call it Maplewood Cares. We invite private donations. We don't ask questions. It's discreet. And people are uh uh you know write checks into this fund that we use to help people in crisis sometimes. Like what kinds of
things? We help people um who may have been displaced because of a fire in their home get set up in a hotel temporarily before you know they can make other more permanent arrange arrangements. We help folks with other
emergencies. It's called Maplewood Cares. So, why couldn't we use that the money in that trust fund, which isn't a lot. Again, it's based on private donations, um, for this purpose. >> So, there's two reasons for that. Uh,
the first is that we would still need to appropriate the funds. So, even though they wouldn't be raised by taxation, we still have limitations on what we can appropriate funds for. And the second is that our powers are much stronger with respect to the kinds of things that we use the Maplewood Cares Fund for. Uh,
you know, health, safety, welfare. Someone is, you know, experiencing homelessness, someone is um, you know, had a a tragedy uh, at their property. um rather than you know it it's funny in the rest of the immigrant trust act
right we make this distinction between civil you know civil enforcement is you know the is ISIS's domain and but unfortunately you know the fact that it is a civil proceeding you know really sort of limits the ability of the township to become involved on that
level. Okay, township committee members, your thoughts, comments, concerns about this in particular, this recommendation. I think we covered the other ones. >> Well, I have two two things I respond to. One is I don't think we're in a
position to employ people for language assistance, >> right? >> I think we have some people on staff both on a civil staff and on a police staff um >> who are bilingual and >> Yeah. who are bilingual and but I also think that the courts have used uh
technology to uh to solve this. I just don't think we have the the capacity to do that. Nor do I think we have the capacity to fund legal >> uh >> legal aid >> legal aid. I think I think your recommendation that we provide referrals to uh legal aid I think it's just you
know because often times this is not a one-time deal >> right >> it's an ongoing issue and especially right now a long time. >> Yeah. and we just don't have that capacity to do that. >> Yeah. Other comments. >> I agree with that and I think the um
Miss Credio is pretty clear on our um >> limitations. >> Limitations. Yeah. >> I'm just wondering what the limitations I know is for is uh when you created that fund, you had some criterias with restrictions as to where you could spend
that money, right? Uh, did you leave any ample space that you could add on to that or would you have to create a whole new fund in order to do that? >> So, we could amend the uses for the Maplewood CARES Trust Fund by ordinance because it is part of the code. However,
I I still think we would have problems using any of the funds you >> prior to. Yes, I wouldn't we won't touch any funds prior to but going forward I think people might be very actively um passionate about donating but putting the line item for immigration purposes
and maybe that's a way you could separate the um funding for families shelters and other things and you have um the accounting services divided into two funding. So one goes into the
immigrant um funding aid with limitations of how much we can fund individuals because it gets very expensive. Immigration is very expensive and what are the criterias that we would keep within the scope of is it just helping with you know move towing their
cars from where they are taking them home paying the rent what are the what are the um the criteria that we'll set for that funding if we were to go forward. So I I think uh committeewoman we're we're mixing a couple of concepts.
So for example um and uh business administrator can correct me but so for example if someone was experiencing homelessness or experiencing a um uh you know a difficulty that is a health
safety welfare difficulty that is something that we would ordinarily fund through Maplewood Cares that was perhaps brought brought about you know in relationship to their involvement with uh the federal immigration system. I
think that's different than us being able to specifically fund immigration related um issues and and legal services. >> But okay, >> okay, >> I understand that, right? But but if
we're just putting out a call >> to the community like we do now, like we every so often we remind people, hey, we have this little cares fund and we know the people out there care about their neighbors. We accept donations. We can't fund raise
for it obviously. Um can some of that money be used for this purpose because then we're not doing an appropriation ourselves. Well, we still are appropriating funds, right? We when when we authorize the expenditure of any
money held by the town, >> that's an appropriation. >> Whether in a trust fund or otherwise >> appropriating the funds. >> Got it. Can you look into that a little bit further? Are you are you 100% sure right here right now about this? >> Unfortunately, I'm I'm confident about
this one. You said about doing an ordinance. Is that a possibility to tweak the ordinance a little bit to to put that language in there that will allow us to do some things? And what if I just just I just want to ask this last question. If we were to fund a family
that let's say the father got picked up and they were back on rent, would we use some of that funding from that particular because we're talking about shelter, right? Is that different because it's immigration related or you helping a family?
>> No, we could help. >> I think that was Yeah, that was what I was trying in artfully. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> To say is that the things for which we usually use >> the funds regardless of why the family is experiencing that particular kind of distress
>> is is one thing. specifying it for um immigration related causes or legal services is is a separate question. >> Okay. So, we won't specify. >> There's also just a very practical issue here. >> Yeah. >> We we just adopted the budget and neither of these two things are in the
budget. >> Right. Right. But this would be like donations coming from people. >> We still have to allocate. >> Yeah. So, >> so this may be something we want to work to. >> Yeah. But we're not going to do it right now.
>> Okay. So then how about we land here for now that we add to the ordinance that we will actively make referrals to legal aid organizations and other legal services
organizations that assist people. >> Yeah. >> Does that need to be >> legal um construction of us making referrals to council? We will make information available on this topic like we make information available on all
other topics but we're not recommending a lawyer >> right >> you know >> and we can take care of this function to the to the advocates here I want to address this to you remember that another way for us to address this concern and this is coming
to this is coming down the pike after we get this ordinance adopted um we can address some of these individual concerns concerns with people that we know who are in in this type of crisis through our health department, right?
And using our social workers. We haven't figured out that process yet or that workflow, but that is another way of doing that because they're going to be assisting that household anyway possibly with, as you said, maybe rent is due,
father just got picked up, got abducted, you know. Yes. I mean some of these other uh >> homelessness prevention >> homelessness prevention utility assistance you know uh we have students who don't have access now to their their
m you know to their schools and and so on and so forth. So we can get that work done with our crisis intervention social workers as opposed to saying in the ordinance oh we're going to pay for legal counsel. >> Is that fair?
>> Yes. Okay. >> Okay, >> we're good. >> Yep. >> Do we Okay. Okay. Public comment's coming. Yeah, it's coming. One last public comment. >> We're Yeah, you have to wait for a moment. >> Just a Yeah. Thank you. >> Okay. >> So, we're going to move forward with
introduction. >> This will be on for next meeting. >> Yes. It'll be introduced on June 16th and second reading would be July 7th. >> And we'll talk obviously in between. >> Okay. >> As we do. >> Yeah. All right. Uh consent agenda. Can
we get a motion to move the consent agenda with 18J resolution 206-26 increase to $31,500 and the removal of 18N resolution 21126? >> So moved.
>> Is it the hard part? >> Mayor, I move the consent agenda. >> It's been moved. >> Oh. Okay. >> It's been moved and seconded. >> Second. >> Mr. Adams. >> Yes. Yes. Collinsing. >> Yes. >> Mr. Daffus. >> Yes. >> Turman. >> Yes. >> Mayor Duga.
>> Yes. Okay. Now we're open to public comment. >> My name is Georgiana Hart and I'm a recent resident here in Maplewood just formerly of South Orange. and I'm really
proud to be here and am very welcomed. Uh the discussion I think has been very open and receptive here and I'm extremely interested in what's going on with the immigrant community. Uh I I and
that's one reason I'm here present. And my only statement that I wanted to make today really doesn't have to do with specific individuals, but something that I was recently aware of where they are now kind of
warehousing people in uh outside of communities and this might happen here in Maplewood where all of a sudden they've decided to turn a warehouse into an immigration
detention facility. And it's happened in different areas in New Jersey. And I could name them specifically, but when I think when you mentioned a call out to the community, it kind of uh rang something rang a bell in my head that
this is a way that something like that could be prevented from happening here in Maplewood. And I it these com other communities were taken by surprise
because it is a uh very surreptitious uh mechanism that they use to uh involve ICE, but mainly uh legislation
and the ability to utilize facilities such as warehouses to house immigrants. So, I wanted just kind of to give everybody a heads up because I you're a very aware community and I know that
very well having lived in South Orange for years and been a member of this community. You might think that this is too broad a subject, but what I saw on
the agenda here, the uh the shuttling of I said, you know, the scope is um something I I need to take to heart too and to look around at what's been happening in other communities and um
just kind of a heads up because uh they they sneak in a warehouse here, a detention facility there. So, thank you all. I really wanted to commend you all
and I wanted to thank you all for being here. >> Thank you. >> And welcome again to Maplewood. >> Is there anyone else who would like to dis to uh speak? Janet Haynes, also a new Maplewood resident. I just want to say thank you
for being out there, for being intentional, for protecting our citizens, and I applaud the mayor for saying, "Let's get on with this. We'll worry about the details in the words, but let's make it happen." Thank you.
>> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Um, let's see if there's anyone online. If anyone joining on Zoom would like to speak in public portion, please raise your hand. I am moving over South Orange Mayor
Sheena Cullum to panelist. >> Welcome Mayor Cullum. You may unmute yourself and address the committee. >> Hey committee, how are you? >> Tired. >> Hey, mayor. Sorry, can you change the video? I'm
looking at an empty podium. >> So are we. We're hoping to see your face. >> I'm already ready for bed. Um just um I wanted to follow up. I saw the uh shuttle working group um kind of give you guys an overview. Um I'm scheduled
to meet with them in June. We had an internal meeting. I agree with a lot of the questions and comments and concerns you guys raised, but I wanted to tell you a little bit more about the partnership uh with Satan Hall. I think they called it marketing students. It's not marketing students. It's Satan
Hall's market research center. Uh they have worked with South Orange before in the past in the creation of Satan Village and some of the investments over there. I know that they've worked with the school district. Uh they are supervised with faculty. Um that is very
databased in how surveys go out. Um there would be a lot of conditional logic that I think makes sense whether you're general population versus a special needs population versus a teenager to really hone in on some of those answers so that um we're not expending funds for something that
wouldn't be useful. So that program would kick off in the fall and have two dedicated groups um specifically focused at looking at the shuttle opportunity for both South Orange and for Maplewood whether we do it together, separately, joint grant. Um but that's probably the
best way that we can collect data. And I do agree with you um committeeman Daffus is that things have changed a lot from 2018 and we're seeing some new needs um arising in the community particularly not just the seniors but I've seen a lot of interest from teenagers jumping all
over the place from the programs they're going to um and believe it or not our residents love coming into Maplewood and I'm pretty sure that Maplewood residents like visiting South Orange and that's great economic development for both of us. So um and that would kick off in the
fall. So, I hope that provides a little um insight as to the survey. Obviously, the working group along with the township committee if if you're supportive of this would be all-incclusive of all the stakeholders so that you know some people have participated so far and some haven't. Um
but then we could do focus groups also. They have an entire market research center where you can have deliberative focus groups and things of that nature. And then you know surveys are good electronically but also um hard copy as well. So I hope that provides a little bit more context into what the
opportunity is uh and that partnership for the fall. >> That's great. >> Thank you. >> Do you have any questions on that or is that pretty pretty straightforward? >> I think it's straightforward. >> Okay. I also wanted to say congratulations to Mayor Duca. Welcome back sir.
>> Thank you. And last thing with my 15 seconds, um I don't want to disagree with anything that you guys talked about, but um just know that in South Orange we did set aside $15,000 for legal defense and um it is my understanding that this does serve a
public per purpose standard uh through uh New Jersey state law. So, if you guys want to talk offline about um funding, funding resources, and how we've structured ours, happy to do so because I I did a deep dive into this after hearing from Soma Action and some of the
issues we've seen, and there was precedent within the state as well, is that they have the detention and deportation defense initiative. So, it wouldn't be something new for municipalities to guarantee due process. So, anyways, I know I'm over time, but just wanted to add that because I
enjoyed your last conversation. I'll be reaching out to you about that. Thank you very much. >> Sounds great. Have a good night all. >> Thank you. Anyone else? >> Anyone else joining on Zoom would like to speak in public portion, please raise your hand.
>> I see no other hands. Mayor. >> Okay. >> Move to adjurnn. >> Second. >> Please call the role. >> Mr. Adams, >> yes. >> Collins Cing, >> yes. >> Mr. Davis, >> yes. >> Herman, >> yes. Mayor Duca. >> Yes. We'll see you on June 16th.
>> Good night.