##VIDEO ID:DSzUPu03iT4## guys we're ready good evening everyone and thank you for coming this is a regular meeting of the Council of Township of Montclair and is being broadcast live on Channel 34 and is streaming live on Montclair tv34 YouTube channel it's available on demand and can and will be rebroadcast the sunshine statement is thus this meeting is called pursuant to the provisions of the open public meeting Act this meeting was included in the revised annual notice of the meeting schedule as set forth in resolution r24 174 adopted by the township council at its regular meeting of July 17 2024 transmitted to the office newspaper on July 24th 24 posted on the bulletin boards outside the municipal building and has REM remained continuously posted in addition a copy of the revised annual not notice is and has been available to the public and is on file in the office of the Township Clerk please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all Madame clerk will you please do the roll call yes mayor Deputy Mayor Anderson here Council Birmingham here councel damato here councelor lochman absent councelor Toller present Council Williams here mayor Baskerville present thank you there have been presented to the council the minutes of the October 8th 2024 and executive session minutes for the council meeting held on July 17th 2024 are there any corrections additions I sent a few I'm sorry I I didn't hear you I sent just a couple of of okay would you like to share them with us or are you're okay with her or how I'm okay with her appending them in okay rechecking but it's all good otherwise thank you so much does anybody have any corrections or anything they'd like to to add publicly councelor lochman I can wait a few minutes you we're accepting the minutes you're good with the minutes okay all right um hearing no um additions or Corrections I'd like to make a motion that we adopt the minutes second all in favor I I any opposed or abstained Okay um tonight we have two proclamations and um we have the first Proclamation is for epilepsy Awareness Month um council members anybody like to read that is there anyone here to accept the epilepsy Proclamation where is it no one this is it thank you um Deputy Mayor would you please give us the highlights of the um Proclamation for epilepsy awareness month okay um epilepsy as many of you might know is an incurable brain disorder it causes people to have recurring seizures and is the third most common neurological condition one in 26 people in the US develop epilepsy in their lifetime um due to various causes like abnormal brain development illness brain injury or unknown causes it affects um particularly um Children and Youth to and causes them to fear and isolate uh and so it it does impact um many many people in this country so um where the city of Montclair or the township of Montclair we are joining in recognizing November as epilepsy awareness month which is a global national and state effort to increase awareness educate Montclair residents about epilepsy and lent support to people with epilepsy and their families in order to improve their quality of life and I know that there are um a number of individuals um Youth and adults who are affected by epilepsy in our town so now therefore the mayor and councel of the township of Montclair to hereby Proclaim November 2024 as epilepsy awareness month thank you thank you very much um we have another Proclamation and um I believe that Mike Guero is is here with us are you here Mike oh yes um would you please come down to the along with councelor Amina Toler sorry mayor will you join me I'm going to stand this way so if you don't know Mike is Leaving Montclair we're going to miss you we appreciate all the work and service that you've provided to the families here in Montclair Township for the past 10 years so with this with that being said I'll read the proclamation whereas in 2005 Mike began working in what would become his first shop in Caldwell New Jersey and on his 25th birthday in 2015 he opened his shop located at 571 Bloomfield Avenue in Montclair New Jersey a place that embodies the warmth comfort and Community Spirit instilled in him by his grandmother known Marie and whereas Mike and his wife Briana have always gone above the Call of Duty as business owners constantly giving back to the community when called upon their dedication to helping others within the township who may be in need is to be commended and whereas the guo family will forever be known as the monair face of the pandemic being covered in almost every National Media news media for turning their monair shop into a makeshift Community pantry and soup kitchen helping to serve and deliver over 6,000 meals and supplies over the course of the pandemic to community members in Monclair yes over 6,000 meals so community members in Monclair area and Beyond and whereas Mike gelato has become a cherished establishment in Monclair offering the community not only fresh delicious homemade Gelato at reasonable prices but a safe and welcoming space for every Patron who has entered with endless affection and respect and whereas Mike and Briana have helped the community by employing local people and perfecting their craft earning them numerous awards for the best gelato now there before us we the mayor and the council in the township of Monclair New Jersey do hereby recognize and celebrate the contributions of Mike Guerrero to the mclair community we commend his dedication passion and unwavering commitment to serving others and we wish him and his family continued success thank you Mike yeah thank you Bri for demonstrate earlier today we had a um uh meet and treat with your council members and as he so often does he had the ice cream treat for our young people so for those of you who didn't get here you don't know what a treat you you you missed I think I had something like devil's blood or something like that it was really good had big chunks of coconut and everything but certainly you will be missed in our community and I'm very grateful for all of the service that you've provided for us at this time I'm just going to make a um a brief statement um and it's just going to sort of share something things that I've been asked um over the past few weeks and so please bear with me and I share this with a with an open heart hoping that you receive it in the spirit that it's intended as we close the month of October 2024 Global diversity month a month during which people around the globe seek to heighten awareness about differences especially among cultures ethnicities and faiths and to teach about the enriching impact these and other differences among people are having and must continue to have on families communities States and Nations we in Montclair certainly are no different to seize this occasion of global diversity month and every day in the township of Montclair we're anchored and we celebrate the efforts to attain and sustain a PL pluralistic Township in which everyone learns from the uniqueness and commonalities of our residents and our visitors if you believe in the power and potency of democracy protected freedoms and the Beloved Community of humankind as I do then you know that we must all work together to continue to make sure that there's no room for hate in our Township of Mont Clair in spite of my many affirmative in spite of my affirmative spirit and actions toward building one Montclair indivisible segments of our community have become more vocal in raising their voices and their concerns that more needs to be done and some things need to be do differently to ensure that our Township reflects the highest of our Collective aspirations and I agree with that while supporting a climate for the realization and individual aspirations and in furtherance of our commitment to make Montclair montclair's America's Exemplar for Township mutuality under my leadership and that of our August Council even amidst the rising hate speech and Rising hate crimes nationally increasing vitriolic diet tribes bigotry and incendiary speech and the physical demonstrations of Tolerance we will not tolerate this in our Township of Montclair as I move to open the meeting and the portion that we call public comment today know that we will not tolerate any language which vilifies an individual or incites hatred against a group an individual or a class of persons we will not tolerate rudess when your fellow residents are speaking public comment mment is just that it's a time for the Montclair public to come and comment if you have questions we would appreciate it if you would try your best to send us the questions a couple of days before the meetings that's the best way for us to give you an answer um if you don't you're welcome to come up here and we want to do a respectful thing and and we do want to hear from you um it was decided um a few weeks back that we were not going to have a back and forth with people that come here during this time simply because there's time constraints we do want to hear from all of you it's very important to us and we listen to what you say we take notes and we then talk about them at a at a later time but we're trying very hard not to have a back and forth during this time most of the time we leave here at 1:00 a.m. and most of us have jobs that we have to get to so please um thank you all for being here we're going to move on to open this up and thank you so many of you to come here I know your time is very valuable and and we respect that thank you everyone um please make sure that you sign up um you can look at a number by your name you don't have to stand in the line anybody that has some um abilities that are varied such that you can't get up let us know where you are by raising your hand and we'll try to get a mic to you everyone has three minutes we are going to try very hard to limit this public comment to a on hour period we're going to try very hard T to sh is it with that being said um welcome and um you guys you're on there all right uh good evening mayor Basketville and town counselors my name is Nicholas cillo and standing with me are namdi mahalu and Logan Martinez together we are the captains of the moner high school boys varsity soccer team we are also joined here by some of our other teammates because we're deeply concerned about the proposal that would lead to the replacement of our Town's turf fields with grass all of us up here in Monclair as at our coaches T Weaver and Jonathan Charles we take a lot of pride in representing this town in our high school soccer program supporting our team is one way we give back to Monclair and we're honored to be part of a program with such a strong reputation across New Jersey we believe that if sorry it's all we believe that the proposal were passed it would eventually be very damaging beyond the significant costs maintaining grass fields would be a challenge bad weather alone would lead to frequent cancellations of practices in games and the fields themselves would deteriorate quickly under the heavy use by multiple teams as the grass wears down the fields would become unsafe increasing the risk of injury we've seen this firstand at Hillside field where the freshman and JP teams practice a number of injuries including ACL tears have occurred due to poor field conditions a fortunado field where both girls and boys varsity soccer teams practice um were converted to Grass it wouldn't withstand the heavy use from both programs this would not only put our schedules in Jeopardy but it would put our players at greater risk our success on the field is directly tied to the surface we play on we play a style of soccer that requires a fast-paced precise game which Turf supports far better than grass moving to poorly maintained grass fields would change our game entirely making it harder for us to compete at our best and keep monair soccer program among the top ranked teams in New Jersey to be clear turf fields are the standard in our competition across the state we have never played on anything besides Turf while this decision may may not directly affect us as seniors it would be unfair to the players who come after us which is the reason we all here tonight to give you our input we believe it's essential to choose the option that best serves our teams in our community keeping the turf fields many of us plan to pursue soccer in college and our high school experience is an important part of that Journey having reliable highquality tur Fields makes a difference for our training safety and future opportunities we're proud to be moner mounties and we ask for your support to ensure that future teams have the fields they need to succeed please support the program we are so proud of instead of passing laws that will tear it down thank you for your time thank you very much next speaker please uh good evening my name is Scott KY I'm here for my two daughters um who also play soccer um I have a quick question for the council could you just raise your hand if you're a parent so 80% of the council's parents well I have a quick win for you I actually have two potential quick wins because this has been a very interesting room for the last three months and as you mentioned mayor Baskerville going to 1:00 a.m. very quick wins we have exceptionally dangerous streets we are almost 100% residential there was a tiny bit of um industrial some commercial and we don't have speed limits that match residential they go 70 plus miles hour in front of my house there's the list goes on and on and on a very quick win make everything in the town 25 miles an hour make all school zones preferably 10 if not 15 miles an hour this can be done does anyone in Council know there's actually a road that comes into Montclair that's 10 miles an hour 10 the stopping distance that has been proposed right now is 63 ft at 20 mph this will be in your inbox and if we go down to 10 it's 27 44 we have four schools that actually have active roadways pylons uh crossing guards do not close roads constantly there are cars going up and down and there this is easy it's an easy win I'll send you some pictures of what other schools are doing around here it's even more Progressive elsewhere but this is an easy quick win and then the second one is we have pontificated and pontificated pontificated and have a plan like this that almost nothing's been put in there's a complete streets ordinance pass it put some money behind it we don't need to pave 70 miles like our previous Mayors do we need to restructure the roads we can make our town like Europe and we can protect all the kids in here there have been three I was barely here this summer three kids have been hit since the summer on bicycles three not one not two but three one of them got hospitalized I don't know about the other too but I was only here 15% of the time roughly and I know that we have a problem this doesn't include the eight deaths in the last s years Hoboken has gone to zero zero we haven't we've implemented almost nothing so please put an ordin put put the pass it right away we have precedents we have Town nearby it comes into us at 10 miles an hour make our school zone safe you have kindergarteners who have no Street awareness until there it's 12 or 11 or 12 or 13 and and the head of safety anesio can tell you that she can give you all the details um so that that's my want it's quick win otherwise who's going to speak at the first funeral that is in your tenure ship because there's one panum we're already a quarter away of the Year we're we're we're overdue like a bad library book and that's a horrible approach so please protect all the kids who've come here tonight all the pets that they have and everyone else in the town and our visitors too visitors have been struck including two reporters have a good night thank you very much next speaker thank you for actively listening uh hello good evening my name is Patrick cetto and I'm a resident of 95 Upper Mountain 3 weeks ago on Wednesday evening October 9th I was sitting in bed at 7:20 p.m. as I had just returned from a wedding in Europe and was jetlagged I heard a screech and a crash and my partner came into our room and told me to look out the window in our side yard there was a car crashed into fence and a tree headlights glaring at me we do not live on a side street you see a car had been speeding lost control of their car drove diagonally across our neighbor sidewalk through their Hedges across their lawn knocked over a historical piece of stonework launched off a small twft retaining wall flying about 40 ft through the air landing on their lawn and only stopping when it hit the tree in our fence the police arrived um and the driver claimed that she was not speeding but her heel got stuck in the accelerator I have never worn heels but many of my female friends tell me this is very improbable when we told the police officer how upset we were he said well these things happen it's just an accident I'm not trying to point out anyone as you said mayor Baskerville but when will this attitude which pervades the public servant of Monclair stock these things don't just happen they are a result of poorly designed streets which feature zero traffic calming they are a result of a carbrain traffic engineering mindset that pervades the civil engineering profession they are a result of continued an action from the Town Council in refusing to pass the complete Safe Streets ordinance and also refusing to listen to a petition signed by hundreds of residents over a year ago asking for more stop signs on Upper Mountain my husband and I moved to Montclair because this is an exceptional town full of exceptional people why can't we show this exceptionalism with regards to our town government I first raised this issue about the street redesign of upper Monclair in 2022 it's almost 2025 we live 12 miles from New York City and 10 miles from Hoboken two cities that are worldwide examples of vision zero traffic calming and daylighting even Glenn Ridge right next door has examples we don't need a committee report we need action from all of you when my partner emailed one of you up on the D about the incident and asked why no stop signs or daylight examples had happened in our Ward but had in the first ward he was told that a resident in the First Ward had been hit by a car and died last year so that was spurring changes there must we wait for another death for more changes the irony is most Wednesdays I get home from work at 7:15 and at 7:20 I'm walking our dog Hamlet right at the location where the driver ran across the sidewalk The Morbid truth it seems is while the fact is I wasn't there and didn't die should be a blessing instead it appears that it just means this will be another traffic incident that is waved off by the Town Council and bureaucracy as something that just happens waiting for the next accident to happen and praying that we continue to be so lucky I encourage you to all start taking immediate action to make Upper Mountain and all of Monclair safe let's honor the memory of that woman her name was Vivian who was killed in the First Ward by making the SE the streets safe in all four Wards immediately thank you very much thank you very much next speaker please very festive hello Council how are you doing this evening my name is rastafa actor singer songwriter musician many of you have known me some of you may not so just to re expl why I'm here uh I am doing a event for Tony's kitchen called the last Walts which is basically a rock concert that was taking place back in 1976 that is taking place literally November 16th of this year last year we did it at pora and was very successful to the point where we sold it out 8 days prior to the event and almost broke fire code thank God we did not we are 43% capacity of selling tickets currently and it is still Rising however and I'm saying this only because I care this is this is a event that's more than just another rock concert or just another way just to celebrate life this is also about people with mental health as well as issues of not being financially complacent or not financially suitable in order to get food clothing and other resources such as Jobs Tony kitchens provides that I am just an event organizer I'm just somebody who sees us every day as you see it every day where we have an increase in both mental health and homelessness now I know this is not just in a downtown area this is all parts of Monclair you even see this in Upper Monclair this is something that is not a joke the reason why I'm a little bit in rare form today is because I constantly have been bombarded by commentary by people that I know in the community that is going what has happened why is this happening and what is the cause and why is there no communication this event that we are doing is a as a time to communicate yes musically but also culturally and socially and also judging by the tension and everything that's happening in this room I don't want that happening to the people that are behind me young old or indifferent Rich poor black white you get it I asking the council that if there can be any way to promote the event and no this is not a biased nature because there's a lot of events that do fundraisers this one in particularly is special because nobody in the United States based upon my research has ever done an event with 75 plus musicians doing this one event especially for charity I'm asking that the council in any way shape or form can promote the event whether it be by social media whether it be on their website and also to team with Tony's kitchen and even just as so if any Representatives can be represented on the dayis to give any kind of commentary of why this event is important why we should be helping Tony's kitchen even further and why we should be helping our men women and children of this community if you have any questions please contact me last walow gmail.com you have my email I've sent it out plenty of times I yield my time thank you very much thank you for coming next speaker please get used to the microphone hi my name is Meg St Pierre and I am a proud parent of Montclair baseball and softball players I was witnessed to the controversy surrounding the completion of the new Turf baseball field at the high school I attended Board of Education meetings Town Council meetings and even the court session in Newark so I was not surprised to hear that a faction of residents were continuing to raise concerns about and challenges to the use of turf playing fields in Montclair however I was shocked to hear that a council member chose to both introduce a resolution and call for a vote all in the same session on something that could potentially have far-reaching impacts on thousands of Monclair children in my opinion it is critical that the council have a procedure in place to introduce a topic and then to provide time for reflection and research on that topic before voting this is to ensure that decisions are well thought out and that the council is not making emotional or reactionary decisions um nor political or personally agendized decisions nor mistaking the visibility of a small very vocal group to be the views of the broader Montclair population in general after all residents that are happy with the status quo or are not even aware that a particular topic is being challenged are not going to be pounding down your doors for an audience I applaud those council members that kept this check in place as regards the proposed moratorium on Turf and thus maintain the Integrity of the council and we are here tonight to represent that previously quiet majority we do not disagree that the environmental and health impacts of turf and proposed alternative should be studied and considered however proposing a moratorium now risks introducing a whole host of other challenges for thousands of monair children all of which carry their own health implications so we ask that you include in your analysis a number of different factors first the conclusiveness or inconclusiveness of the environmental and health claims presented against Turf two the relative impact of turf specifically versus the impacts of other potential hazards in the town are there other areas of more pressing concern or of easier resolution and most importantly the practic IC ality of the moratorium how many children will be impacted if they cannot play sports or are forced to play on unsafe unmaintained grass fields what are the health and wellness impacts of that how many grass fields would be required to support the volume of playing time on a single turf field what are the financial and environmental impacts of that do we even have the space or the funds or the commitment to maintenance for the alternative solution we ask that you talk directly with those that will be impacted by these decisions and work collaboratively to find a solution rather than passing a moratorium that could have immediately negative consequences with no proposed solution or time frame thank you for listening thank you very much next please hi my name is Karina Karina spinetti and I have been playing soccer in Montclair for 5 years being part of a team has been an incredible experience I made many lasting friendships and built my confidence I've experienced both Turf and grass fields but our grass fields are not wellmaintained unfortunately grass fields at Brookdale Park are in poor condition there are too many holes and dirt patches making it unsafe to play I've seen many people twist and hurt their ankles trying to play on it after Heavy Rain the fields become muddy swamps forcing us to cancel games and practices I think that grass fields also have much greater danger than Turf for example I was playing at a game on Mon clay United my soccer team for a tournament on a grass field and I almost fell in my face because there was a giant hole that I didn't see in the grass on the ground I can't tolerate grass fields that isn't that aren't maintained properly in almost every game on grass someone gets caught in or trips from it being uneven therefore we should keep the number of turf fields and fix the grass fields we have if I could pick one thing to be my birthday wish it would be to keep the turf fields as is it's hard to understand why the mo moratorium on our turf fields is necessary while a study is done why not continue to improve our Playing Fields during that time after the study the town should put together a plan that offers us more access and better Fields this should a top priority for Monclair we truly deserve better in conclusion we want a safe playing field period we are respective or we respectively urge the council to reconsider Banning tur Fields as this will limit access for all kids participating in various Sports in Monclair we ask the town to ensure we have more access to better Fields not less thank you for your time thank you very much next please my name is is kayy sterre I'm a seventh grader mka and I play soccer for mon CLE united mka we are here tonight to oppose the res resolution Council Toler introduced to place a moratorium on turfield in Montclair I have been playing soccer in Montclair since I was 4 years old it has been so great being a part of a team I have made lots of friends and it's helped to build my confidence and it's so fun to play I have played on both tur fields and grass fields and I like both when the grass fields are good grass Fields the grass fields we play on in Monclair Brookdale Park are terrible there are so many holes and dirt patches it is dangerous to play We have had many teammates and opponents twist knees or ankles playing on our grass fields also when there are bad rainstorms the grass fields get too money to play on so we have to cancel our games or practices we don't understand why we have to put a moratorium on the turf fields while you conduct a study you can't conduct a study and still move forward with the maintaining or improving of our Playing Fields one once the study has been completed we think that we should then come up with a plan based on that study that would provide more access to better fields for us to play on this should be a priority for the town of Montclair we deserve better in conclusion we want safe fields to play on period we respectfully ask the council to not ban tur Fields as it will impact access for all kids across many sports in Monclair we ask that the town provide us with more access to better fields and not less thank you for your time thank you very much be before we go on I just want to make sure that everyone's sitting here you're all aware that we're not discussing this and that it's not on the agenda and um after a further consideration of the council uh most of us are in agreement that we need to have more opportunities for public comment it is important we want to hear from you but I want to make sure that um and you're welcome to keep coming and speaking we will we listen to you but I just want to make sure that you're not here thinking that we're going to take action on this this evening hi good evening good evening mayor and town counselors my name is Carla Osborne I'm an 11th grader at moner high school I play soccer and I'm speaking here on behalf of the Montclair girls soccer program we're here tonight to oppose the resolution councelor Toler introduced to place a moratorium on turf fields in Montclair playing soccer for monair high school has been the highlight of my high school year so far there's nothing better than stepping on to Fortune field on a Brisk fall afternoon after a long day of school I have met some of my best friends for life playing on this team and fortunado has become a safe space for me to escape from the outside world fortunado has been the home of some of my most memorable moments including being crossed on Rivals mka my freshman year and again this year in the corner finals of the county tournament cheering on the boys team when they play seaten Hall Prep and preseason summer practices as the sun sets there are many reasons as to why M grass fields are dangerous and inconvenient but I'll just name a few to start they are never properly maintained in our are full of dishes ditches for example my team practiced at Northeast a few times last year and every single time I took a step I had to be mindful of the holes on the ground around me I have severe ankle problems and one misstep while playing on fields like Northeast could lead to a serious season ending injury additionally grass fields would cause even more games and practice to be canceled tur Fields allow games to be played while it's dri drizzling and even while it's pouring anytime it rains grass fields become absolutely flooded and leave wet mud for days this is extremely unreliable and would cause multiple stoppages in a team season lastly there are not enough fields in Mont Clair as our population continues to grow so does the demand for accessible recreational spaces right now the local soccer club Mont CL United struggles to find a place for every team to practice my 11-year-old sister has practiced at 8 p.m. Sun some nights meaning she doesn't get home till around 9:30 by limiting turf fields it will become increasingly difficult for clubs and high school teams to find a reasonable time and place to practice I urge you to consider the importance of preserving our turf fields not just for our safety and enjoyment but to ensure that future generations of mocker athletes can share in the joy friendships and Unforgettable moments that come from playing the sport we love thank you and have a good night thank you uh good evening uh mayor and Council thank you for uh taking the time to listen to everybody and just to reiterate one of the public comments there that I don't think it was expected last time that this subject was going to be erased and that's why there's a presence here today and I appreciate everybody being here as uh nobody wants to be sideswiped by something um and not know it's coming um my name is Ashley Hammond I've had the honor and privilege for the past seven years of serving as the moner high school head girl soccer coach um previously to that I had the honor and the privilege to serve as the Monclair kimbery Academy boys head soccer coach uh my career spans 40 years in this town which arguably makes me the most well-versed person to speak on this subject as I've experienced both grass and turf fields in this town on numerous occasions I also experienced and worked with jod vinchenzo at the very onset of the turfing of the field at Brookdale Park I helped to have that happen and was there at the groundbreaking at Brookdale Park when that did occur I have five children all of whom four of whom went through the public high school system and one went through mka and my final my second to last year at mka was when I was at the crossover of the grass to the turfield there um when I told my children that this was there was a proposal to place a moratorium on tur Fields they laughed because they all have PTSD from the grass fields and the turfield um tobaccos that we've had in this town over the years um and I told them that I was going to speak here tonight and they said that's that's a good thing um everyone loves Montclair for a different reason the diversity of the school the system the 85 Plus restaurants the proximity to New York and so many other things um I'm very lucky I love Montclair for a different reason I love Monclair as our good friend said earlier because of the people um I generally experience people that are the very best in this town because of the compassion and the willingness to do good and well by a population that is grossly grossly undeserved and that is the disability population this town does tremendous work both our both our parents our coaches our players with an inordinate number of disability programs and effectively by having a moratorium or not having her Fields you cut out 26% of the population that does not have a voice grass fields will after year one be cut off from every other group except the varsity athletes in school and they deserve that field but so do the 26% that they all help rello the Board of Ed the coaches the players do an incredible job supporting the disability population in this town I do too I work with the team the tops program in town is great I'm the CEO of the world governing body for athletes with cerebral pausy stroke and brain trauma and we all use these fields we will be done we will be gone from town so I know you're on the precipice of something I would appreciate it if you think wisely I do appreciate that a number of you reached out to me to discuss this I'm always available and I appreciate your time next speaker please hi I'm CCE coward and I'm a junior at monair high school and a member of the monair fiak time I am proud to have recently traveled to the Netherlands to represent my country as a member of the junior National field hockey team and competed at the national Club championships in July excuse me in July earning the chance to play on the national International stages was difficult and never would have been possible without the hours of work put in at Watchung field for as long as I can remember Watchung field has been my second home the place where I push my limits and work to become the best player that I can be is the time that I spent on watch chunk that gives me the confidence to pursue my Olympic Dreams because I know that the work I have put in will translate when I finally hit the big stage however if the if this field were grass I know that the same would not be true all International and Division 1 field hockey games aren played on artificial turf a vastly different surface from grass I'm sure that if my individual preparations had to be done on grass I would never be able to keep up on a faster and more sophisticated field watch on field is also the home of MHS fiak we are currently the number 14 team in the state and are hoping to Garner another State title in November as the number one seed in the state tournament all of our state games will be played at Watchung but if this field were grasped the opposite would be true for the njsiaa the athletic governing body of New Jersey All State field hockey games must be held on artificial turf this would mean hours more bus rides and many more losses for a team expected to have Peak Performance when traveling to play on a foreign surface I hope that when you make make your decision about whether or not to place a moratorium on turf fields you consider all the young athletes who rely on watch Young field to help them Reach their dreams and the hundreds of field hockey players whose future hangs in the ballots of this Choice thank you thank you next speaker please hello mayor hello council person um my name is Christina Ray I am a 17-year resident of Monclair and a proud mother of four athletes and students of Monclair Public Schools I'm also the president of Monclair youth field hockey which is a recreational field hockey group and uh we are very proud to uh grow the game with over 150 players and new families every year and we feed into the high school field hockey system we are opposed to any moratorium the fields today are 100% utilized I will talk about the one moment where I have encountered field challenges when the turf was ret turfed at Watchung when that happened we went to Cedar Grove there is a pecking order for these fields and so we were practicing sixth graders at 10:00 at night in Cedar Grove under the lights that was very difficult parents were upset players were upset I was upset we can't continue that way so we must think about the fact that our fields are fully utilized GW is the first field that probably needs to be retured and it may need to be retured in under 3 years so I hope we think about that every season I spend much time with Garland Thornton and Ethan Turner and the rec wck group that does a very good job trying to fully utilize the fields after the varsity teams have used them and we can never squeeze everybody in and that is before we're considering any moratorium GW is a turf field it needs to stay a turf field we love playing Glenn Ridge on that field and they too need to play field hockey so it is a series of dominoes that will fall if we continue to consider that we have to sit and wait and see if these fields are appropriate or not so I encourage us to really think long and hard about how important it is that kids have access to sports specifically field hockey which as CCE coward pointed out is not played on grass anywhere in the world at the Collegiate Olympic or professional level thank you thank you next speaker please next speaker please number 12 hi good evening mayor and council members um I am kind of new to speaking on this topic but it's something I'm very passionate about the Montclair bike bus and um advocating for safety on our streets I lost my brother earlier this year to a um he was a pedestrian in an accident and um it's something I care dearly about um our streets seem to be safer um um I walk my six-year-old and my four-year-old um about a mile to school we regularly ride our bikes and it's just not safe um there's a terrifying intersection right on Elm Street and orange Road where I have seen multiple um other students Crossing there with those cars uh huge pickup truck stocking within a foot um there's no crossing guard there's no lights there's no nothing there um it's a it's a blind turn that's just one example of many that's on our our our our walk there um so I'm just uh here to strongly ask for um passing the complete and green streets initiative and implementing that and doing more to make our our roadways safer and to make um our our bike it's safer for our our kids to bike around kids are especially as they grow up there's a lot of kids here on for the soccer team that um can't get around by car and so we need to make our street safer for all of us in Montclair um and I would suggest even starting by formalizing bike routes that the uh the bike bus uses currently those are routes that we already know are um bike friendly and so and we can build off of that but um we need to do more um I'm still learning about all the um the points in this but I'm just um passionate about this issue and I um I just would urge that this be of the most importance to to the council thank you good evening uh my name is David corage I live at 58 Tuxedo Road I'm also president of Monclair climate action I'm here uh to ask the council to adopt the complete and green streets policy that's been proposed by the vision zero task force first of all big picture and I'll wear my climate change hat we all know there's a climate crisis uh to picture just the latest scary headline scientists are increasing increasingly worried that global warming will shut down the Gulf Stream with catastrophic consequences for the world including Rapid sea level rise on the Jersey Shore a deep freeze in Europe that would destroy agriculture there and dramatic changes to the rainfall patterns in Amazon and and in Africa so we really want to avoid that it turns out that one of the best things a town like Montclair can do to cut emissions of heat trapping gases and clean up the AAS to promote biking and walking perhaps the best thing they can do getting people out of their car promotes sustainability not to mention lots of other valuable things like Public Health social trust social Equity I think of all the people around town there is quite more than you would think who can't afford cars and would benefit from having a system that's not just oriented around cars uh the completing green streets policy would help with that by making it easier and safer to bike and walk around town um I can also speak as someone who bikes around town almost every day I wear my little prop here I bike to work I bike to church I bike on errands and first I'll say I see a lot of people of all ages biking around more than ever in the past year there are a lot of people who bike now and more people who would bike of streets were safer and the complete and green streets policy would help all these people by frankly making it less dangerous to bike and walk around town as Citizens we're asking for help from our government I bite to work here in town and frankly there are some parts of my trip which are a little hairy I do it because I enjoy it most of the trip anyway maybe not the ride up Claremont Avenue um and because I'm committed to living sustainably but I'd feel safer if we have the right infrastructure I've seen near accidents on my rights to work I've almost had cars turn into me and of course I don't have to tell you that we've had because we've heard from other speakers about the bad and sometimes fatal accidents in this town bikers and Walkers deserve Safe Streets we're not asking for car-free streets we're just asking for streets that aren't designed exclusively around the needs of cars and we're serve all people getting around in this town including as said those who can't necessarily afford cars the policies of the toship has adopted up to now haven't gotten the job done we need the complete and green Street's policy in order to get serious about this for sustainability for safety for a healthy Community please get on your agenda and pass it thank you very much next speaker please good evening mayor and town councilors my name is Ryan Milano and I'm an eighth grader at Glenfield Middle School I play baseball I'm here tonight to oppose the res the resolution that was introduced to place a moratorium on tur fields in Montclair returning to GL grass fields is a bad idea because of how dangerous it can be they are difficult and to maintain and you can not often play on some Fields because of bad weather some grass fields can be dangerous for baseball because of the way the ball bounces on the ground sometimes when I'm Fielding a ground ball on grass the ball bounces suddenly and hits me somewhere in my body which can cause an injury in addition grass fields can be difficult to maintain sometimes when I show up to a game or practice we have to take we have to rake the field and things like that so that is playable the problem with grass fields is that since I've been playing on fields they have not been maintained very well finally weather can affect grass fields way more than turf fields sometimes it's taken more than two days for a field to dry out I have had games and practices canceled because of that there is not a problem for that with tur Fields please do not ban Sur fields and please understand that this will have an impact on our health and our ability to play I'm sure if we all work together we can do best for what for our athletes living in Mont Clair thank you and have a nice night thank you next speaker please good evening mayor and town counselors my name is Sam Dorian I'm a senior at mockler high school I'm joined by another senior Ben sterre he's been longtime teammate I'm here speaking on behalf of mclair baseball tonight my fellow teammates and I are here to oppose the resolution introduced to place a moratorium on the installation of tur Fields as well as repairs and Monclair standing here tonight speaking on behalf of monair baseball means a lot to me throughout my childhood I've had the joy of experiencing this great Community this town has built around my first love baseball from t-ball and Edgemont park to a State final this town and this baseball Community have given me a truly special experience in which words cannot express my gratitude with that being said it is my understanding that you all are faced with the proposal to not install repair tur fields for the next 3 years with our limited field space in Montclair tur fields are essential for us for allowing us to play consistently and safely year round many researchers researchers have supported claims in favor of turf fields for the safety of high school athletes like those of the American Journal of sports medicine who found that artificial turf due to its even and controlled surface lowers injury rates compared to natural grass where variable conditions due to weather or lack of Maintenance increase risks if the moratorium on installations and repairs of turf fields forc us to return to a natural grass plank surface it would limit our plank time and also greatly increase the risk of injury monir's grass fields are often uneven full of ditches and poorly maintained making them unsafe and unreliable additionally grass fields are highly dependent on weather conditions which means more practices and games can get canceled due to rain or muddy conditions all in all after tonight with the support shown in favor of tur Fields I hope you all will understand the positive impact tur Fields have and will have on the health and development of my fellow teammates and the young children that will follow us thank you thank you good evening mayor and town counselors my name is Benjamin St Pierre I'm a senior in monair high and I'm here to speak on behalf of the baseball team uh we're here tonight to oppose the resolution that councelor Toler introduced on to place a moratorium on turf fields in Monclair in particular the resolution proposes a pause on the replacement of turf fields over the next 3 years this language is unclear as to how that applies to repairs to existing turf fields if for example an existing turf field gets damaged and portions of that Turf need to be replaced it appears that this moratorium would apply and therefore Mak the entire field unplayable this has huge implications for the high school baseball team and on countless other teams and sports and sports facilities in fact it seems to have the potential to shut down Sports townwide I couldn't imagine not being able to play baseball it has improved my physical health tremendously throughout these years and has opened up an entire new social chapter in my life and I uh and I've played on both Turf and grass and I believe that I speak for the team when I say that my playing experience on grass has been awful grass fields are very dangerous in many ways when it comes to playing the possibility of getting hurt on grass fields is far higher than on turf fields returning to grass fields is a bad idea Montclair grass fields are dangerous because they're never maintained and are full of ditches there aren't enough fields in Monclair and as and grass fields cause even more practices and games to be canceled due to weather we here tonight to ask that you do not pass the resolution placing a moratorium on the installation or replacement of turf fields in Monclair the effect this would have on our ability to play and therefore on the physical and emotional health of not just our team but all of the teams of Monclair is too high a cost to impose while the council spends time studying and considering something that countless other Studies have already deemed inconclusive Council please do not ban the creation and replacement of turf fields as it will affect the Monclair Community very greatly thank you for listening good evening um my name is Dave cross and I live on Prospect Avenue I've been a Montclair resident for 11 years and I'm a parent of two boys age 12 and 10 who between them play on five youth sports teams in town my wife Helen has lived in town all her life I'm also on the Mont clay United board and I've watched literally hundreds of games mostly soccer and baseball in the past seven years played on all types of surfaces in across New Jersey and Beyond I understand that the debate about Turf is a complex one and don't profess to have any unique expert knowledge about the science however I do know a few things about Youth Sports and the day-to-day situation in our town that I'd like to impress on you tonight thousands of Montclair kids play outdoor Youth Sports every single day whether it be at school or as part of one of our amazing nonprofit volunteer Youth Sports organizations like Montay United for soccer alone conservatively speaking close to 1500 kids all skill levels and resources are out outside each week taking part in healthy Pursuits and learning about teamwork leadership commitment and how to win or lose with grace these are fundamentally important things for our kids physical and mental well-being I would invite you to swing by Brookdale or Glenfield or watching On Any Given afternoon evening or weekend during soccer football lacrosse hockey or baseball season to witness scores of kids with their families participating in wholesome fun it's a great scene but if you look closer you will see that the turf fields are packed in fact Beyond capacity because they are the ones that are reliable usable and frankly better to play on as you've heard tonight the reality is that this well-resourced town of 40,000 residents only has a handful of usable turf fields simply not enough to meet the demand that we have the issue is that the grass fields are less usable than turf fields because of poor maintenance weather and safety concerns turf fields are simply more durable versatile and reliable when grass fields and are our staple of Youth Sports the world over through travel Sports I visit town after town in New Jersey and almost all of them are better served with usable safe facilities than we are despite our size and the level of interest in sports that so many of our kids have with the proposed moratorium and potentially a ban on turf fields we start to place restrictions on the careful allocation of space to tur fields and the continued upkeep of our existing small inventory of tur fields we're in real danger of severely limiting Youth Sports participation I don't think that anyone is asking for an unfettered approach but we are asking for continued and expanded access to a reasonable number of fields that is commensurate with the demand in our town put simply organizations like mon Clair United will for sure have to cut our programs significantly if we lose access to turf fields either because they fall into disrepair during a moratorium or Worse still we are unable to explore thoughtful and safe development of fields as opportunities arise take for example Hillside where I believe an opportunity was recently missed to create a durable high volume field and it will now through overuse the maintenance will have limited utility for Youth Sports thank you for your time next speaker please number 18 please if you're um the person that is next can you be in ready position so that we don't have to wait um it'll just be helpful for all of us thank you sorry for that we're doing well though we're doing good I'm good evening town hall and conceal people I'm cor living on 41 M place and I'm here to speak about the the bike bus um just recounting the the day of 27th September 27th September Sam Balto was one of the leading figures in the US of the bike bus came here to ride with us because he saw this movement here building up he saw hundred of kids riding with us and it's just wor to be part of it uh this was wonderful I think we had hundreds of kids and parents on the streets on that day the day was bright it was music and we all going to school preparing for a day of lessons then uh on the second second day the day after I was on the bike again it was a Saturday we bike bus on Fridays so Saturdays I think so many kids go on activities like there's no bike on the streets there's no bike I was alone I my daughter behind and I'd like to tell you was there's nobody I think some people spoke to this again biking in this city can be terrifying terrifying at Le uh you have I've in two years I've been in monair I've seen some cars flipped on the roof at the fourways Crossing four step Crossing sorry I've seen cars cring tires in front of my house I live on Harrison at the corner Isel Rose scratching towers for 70 ft 80 ft you know you had black marks on the thing that c finished deep inside the corner across the pedestrian way I've seen as well I see daily I don't know I think Harrison is 25 mph limitation Street I think there's 10% of the cars that respect that limit I think the cars and I think Scott was saying that before Ren be behind somewhere between 35 70 sometimes 80 I don't know but my personal experience biking is that one day a little bit after selto came here I was passed by a car probably above 50 MP I don't even know I'm on my bike you know biking and this guy passes too close really too fast he could have killed me and couple you know doz and seconds later another one slightly slower but two close like 3 ft maximum probably 40 50 again and I was able to catch up because there was red light I confronted the guy I said you know it's dangerous what you did uh the law says you should leave clearance of 5T so that I can write safy I said did I touch you so the guy was completely in his car me me me my steel my speed my metric ton I didn't touch you you can go to H so I don't think this is what we want for for for our town this is a town this is for the community I think we should commit all together and this Council should commit in protecting the vulnerable so and and I'd like to say also we are very positively uh looking at this conil I think you you guys are willing to listen to us I acknowledge we tried to to meet and we didn't but we'll do it so we're sensitive to that we see demo projects that are couple on the northern part of town but I think we need to go faster we've also pass some speed limit last year but the speed limits work to a certain point if someone that's just three minutes so complete and green save streets I think this will save lives and more demos if possible in equity North and South next speaker please we appreciate you for coming next speaker thank Youk you hi good evening everyone evening my name is Nigel furong I'm the head of school at Montclair Kimberly Academy I live on Lloyd Road as you've heard there are a number of us uh here just to voice our concerns that we've experienced connected to the the proposed um resolution just want to make a few points and Echo what you've heard tonight to be clear I've heard that this resolution might not apply or doesn't apply to mka I want to note that as a longtime educator 30 years now um regardless of whether this actually applies to mka or not my concern our concern is really for all School AG children in Montclair who are connected to the ecosystem of fields and tur fields in particular we want to ensure that they all have the same kind of access to Fields I think that's really important so clearly we're here to support all school age children and the programs that serve them so for us this is this is also about equity and access before you hear from my colleagues um I also want to note that in the discourse I've heard say well this is not really a ban this is an opportunity to study further and I understand that and I appreciate that but it's effectively a ban for those of us who have her feels that would need a replacement within a year or two years or this three year more so I think how we move forward also has to be mindful of that reality because if we can't replace our fields and and have them continue to be safe that presents a problem for us and it presents a problem for everyone else in this community that's using the fields in the way we do thank you uh mayor and and and Council um thank thank you for the time uh tonight I'm not sure that anything I say will be more riveting or compelling than what our students uh tonight have said um and as an mka administrator and parent um it's really good to be on your team tonight instead of against you um I my name is Dave Flo I'm the head of the upper school at mka um and I've been at mka for 30 years so while I don't have the seniority of Mr Hammond um who has uh has 40 years in this town I certainly have seen turf fields uh the Advent of turf fields certainly at at our school um it's important for you also to know that I have four children who all played Youth Sports um in Montclair football baseball field hockey soccer lacrosse on both Turf and grass facilities and in every situation experience on turf was more pleasurable and better for my kids um than those played on grass or mud or the holes or the divots that might have existed at that time we've had our fair share of rolled ankles and rain out games and injuries because of the field conditions that did not exist um as a result of a Turf facility Fields had to be res Fields had to be roted every year um at mka prior to us putting in our our turf facility that impacted access um because those uh Fields could never hold up um with a wet summer or fall or a late winter early spring these fields were deemed dangerous and unplayable um far too far too many times and at times we were forced to play games just like my kids um that grew up in Monclair to play away from home um when uh field conditions would not allow us to play in our home in our home Fields The Challenge obviously of maintaining grass facilities um and the heavy use by a full roster of middle school and upper school students um is something that uh would would certainly um be a problem um for us um and for all of our our fields in Montclair um what what we can do now that we couldn't do before we can play safer uh and we can play more continuously um and we can play without interruption and I think you've heard tonight from the students who have spoken so eloquently that that is a really compelling Factor um for our students and for um anybody who enjoys Youth Sports and we all know the value uh and the importance of Youth Sports so I'll yield the rest of my time to Dr Bell thank you no she gets her own treat good evening Council and May thank you for allowing me to speak tonight my name is Carina Bell I am the head of the middle school at Mont Clair kle Academy um my middle school has 385 children grades for through eight I've worked at mka for 22 years um and I now am a resident of Montclair in 2022 we replaced our grass fields with Turf because the use of the fields was completely dependent upon weather if it rain the fields would be unusable and unsafe for 2 to 5 days due to flooding and mud we use our Fields For Recess physical education classes and all of the Middle School fall and spring athletic teams in addition to our Upper School baseball and softball teams in the past before we turfed our field the athletic seasons were negatively impacted by cancelled practices and games due to the rain and the students were not permitted to go Outdoors For Recess 40 to 50 % of our games and practices were cancelled even though we invested the necessary money to maintain them with turf fields students can go outside and use the fields within 1 hour after it rains our schedule appropriately includes two recesses each day to allow children free unstructured playtime Outdoors we know through research that plays crucial to the social emotional development of our children of this age play is a direct source of children's happiness it promotes well-being at a time when we are currently experiencing an upward Trend in anxiety and depression amongst our children thank you thank you very much at this time please I'd like to uh see if there's anyone here please that is not here to talk about the turf please come down as I mentioned at the start of the public comment we were going to limit this to one hour is there anyone here that is not here to speak about the um Turf because we've reached our 1 hour time period and I'd like like to close out the comment everyone will have an opportunity to be heard as I mentioned at the start of the public comment we are going to have several opportunities we will be hosting opportunities for public comment you can email us if if you need to say something right away I'm going to just extend this for maybe five minutes so anybody else is not going to talk about the turf please come down um and all of you all over there or for not Turf issues how many is over there I don't know how to do this okay can we talk a little more though all right all it's not we all came here to talk right but I'm just trying to figure out now if we're even going to go through the next um 20 people that are here uh because we agreed as a as a council that we were going to to limit the public um comment for as much as we could um and so it's up to you guys if you guys want to go ahead and give them we want to go ahead okay we're going to go ahead um and is everybody getting three minutes still okay so so they said it's okay we're gonna go ahead um and just so you guys will know I take my directives here there's seven members sitting here and they beat me down when I talk back to you guys and they beat me down when I go over because time is is fine so um I apologize to you please the other guests that were here that want to come on down and talk about Turf you come on and get your spot back thank you I'm sorry if they beat me down I'm going to come find you guys go ahead welcome thank for coming thank you for having me Town Council Members and mayor I'm here to reiterate a previously mentioned issue on overnight street parking permits for Woodland AV and also for Maple a my name is Mimi Brees I'm a new resident of Montclair I've only been here about a year and a half and I really like living here but recently it's come to my attention that parking I'm being charged $5 a night and that is incredibly expensive compared to other streets where you're able to get a monthly parking per for way less and there doesn't seem to be a lot of reason of why Woodland AV is being excluded from monthly parking permits and I would just and I know that these issues are going to be brought up I know these issues are going to be discussed that's been mentioned in previous meetings I would just I'm asking for some urgency cuz every day that we're not able to get a monthly parking permit that is oh those are two streets that are being completely charged um every person is being charged $5 who parks on the street and it doesn't sound like a lot but over time it really adds up it's been a couple months now and it adds up like I'm a I'm a young woman I'm trying to budget and make my way in this world and that's money that I could really use and so I just so thank you for hearing me out and I would really appreciate some urgency on discussing the parking issues thank you next guest please hey hey hey hey heyy I'm sorry everybody hello hello hello hello um I'm having an issue with um the township of M CA um in particular Bruce Morgan um my fiance passed in April I've been dealing with trying to get excuse me just one moment please if this is about a specific individual here okay it's it's not okay I just want to make sure you weren't going to speak to us about a specific individual here so okay go right ahead um basically as of right now me and my family are homeless dued on due to someone trying to handle paperwork that didn't never got done since April so as right now like me and my family have no home um and that's priority to me um we've been in m c 4 years and I'm trying to keep it continuous um but without the support of M Clair I can't do nothing and now I'm forced out of my home due to one of your colleagues I don't know how this is going to help but like I'm here I've been at work all day my kid has been at school all day and I'm still here this is very important to me so I haven't even fed my kid then either either myself probably many many of as y'all not trying to put me and my family above anyone but I don't know if this speaks for itself like but this is something that I need help with urgently from everyone that's on the board however you can help whatever you can do um but please please I have email um yourself I have email um Miss um TOA as well I don't know if I need to reach out to anyone else but as of right now this is why I came immediately so that I could try to get home and ttin to M um thank thank you thank you very much next guest hello good evening mayor and town counselors uh my name is Tracy shyman I live at 175 Cooper Avenue and have been a resident of Monclair for 9 years thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight and appreciate your time and dedication to the community I know you invest a lot of time and effort and energy into who we are as a community um I'm here to share my perspective on affordable housing initiatives currently under discussion an affordable housing incentive is being discussed with faith Bas faith-based organizations I'm concerned that the council is on track to hand additional benefits to already tax exempt entities at the expense of regular taxpaying property owners in town churches and other Faith spased organizations would be collecting rents without paying any of the additional expenses resulting from the additional Demand on our town Services regular taxpayers should not have to be asked to subsidize churches even more than they already are thank you for your time thank you next guest please hello hi so nice to see your beautiful shining faces thanks for putting up with us tonight um I wanted to start by saying I am a sports person I come from a sports family my dad's a football coach I was a stack girl I was on the softball team my kids in sports um and I think it's so cool that all these kids came out tonight to talk um but what I really want to talk I'm so happy to look at your faces but I really want to talk to the people behind me and just call out the fact that people in our community raised a concern that puts our children's life and our environment at stake and instead of hearing what they want to say I am being bombarded with emails from coaches like portraying environmentalists and concerned parents as the enemy and I find that so disheartening and I find it really aggravating too um I feel like there's so much misinformation about the moratorium and what people are asking for for one thing and I'm talking to you guys who I like a lot um for one thing the moratorium sets very clearly that we would maintain Fields as we do more research and I just want to say too like in history the Nerds are right guys so if the Nerds are saying like we got a problem maybe we have a problem maybe we should be patient and do what's best for our children um I think we are such a loving Community we are freaking smart people and problem solvers so can we just hear the problem get together and find the solution instead of portraying me as like a weird climate person I don't even care that much but give me a break here um also and this is important too I the thing that can't I can't sleep at night about is that we are installing tons like thousands of tons of plastic into the Earth and then when we're done with it in 8 years we're shipping it to other community ities to deal with what about those families what about those communities what about those children and the cancer that we're sending to them what what are the results what's the impact without taking a pause it is worthless so I don't like to get heated but I'm a little bit heated and I'm annoyed and I know we can do better I also from the little bit of research I've done it looks like yeah we suck at maintaining natural Fields right now so let's do better we have millions of dollars we spend millions of dollars on installing new Turf every 8 to 10 years what if we got goats I don't know goats like grass what if we got another grounds person there's PE we're smart we can do better that is all I like you all very much and thank you next guest please hello my name is Keith Asal and I've been a Monclair resident for 6 years and I believe the plastic Turf is poison it it seems like not everyone understands how bad it is for our kids for our land and for our own well-being so let me put it in terms that are easy to process plastic Turf is so bad that it's like Puff Daddy it I swear to you it is Puff Daddy bad you see both plastic Turf and Sean puppy Combs they seem cool in the 9s but now we know better and the more that we learn the less we want to go anywhere near them example Number One Synthetic Turf contains forever chemicals that leech into our water when it rains and will never break down into the environment P Diddy was basically singing about them in his song Bad Boy for life it goes if you don't remember we ain't go win nowhere we ain't going nowhere we can't be stopped now cuz it's bad boy for life and turf like Puff Daddy is a bad boy for Life the only way it goes away is if there's enough evidence that comes forward about how it ruins lives well that science is emerging Synthetic Turf sheds microplastics which are inflammatory and now found in our blood our brain our lungs our liver our gut and more and this plastic waste has been around the world and ay a two 2023 study shows that artificial turf microplastics have been found in 50% of waterways tested in Spain and comprise 15% of the plastic found in their water and there are side effects of ingesting these forever chemicals one of them is obesity who is Puffy's best friend notorious b i g Biggie and who is one of the biggest rappers that biggie discovered Lil Kim another side effect of forever chemicals low birth weight chemicals and side effects aside a lot of you are saying that it's all about the Benjamins that there's a high cost to maintaining a natural grass field but I urge you to read the Santa Clara County Medical Association June 2024 report which states that on a yearly average natural Fields can cost less than installing and replacing turf fields when they wear out every 8 to 10 years and turfs turf fields cannot be recycled they just get sent to a landfill Turf is made made out of polyethylene a product of Big Oil just like the 1,000 bottles of baby oil that were found in Diddy's house when he got arrested that's right Turf is just a big old batch of solidified Puff Daddy juice now it seems like a lot of you guys love it and if it got banned you might look at it and think I'll be missing you but I ask you guys to trust the science and come with me in 2016 I produced a TV show The Puff Daddy appeared on and I thought that he was a legend but after seeing the evidence I changed my mind about him and you can change your minds about synthetic Turf because the more studies that emerge the more that it seems like more Turf more problems please take a long hard look in the mirror and ask yourselves do you really want your kids playing with Puff Daddy thank you thank you next guest please next guest please 26 next guest please 26 hearing no one back to the order go back to the order good because I could hi uh my name is Beth paloski I'm speaking on behalf of myself and then I have something from teray Weaver who wasn't able to make it tonight I have lived on Mont clab for the last 11 years I'm the mother of two boys who are active participants in soccer baseball and flag football I also on the Mont Clair United board and help run our travel program which constitutes over 500 travel play travel players in addition to over 1,000 recck players and hundreds of other skills based and other community progr programs my family's introduction to Montclair Sports came four years ago when my kids who were in first grade in preschool at the time had their world turned their worlds turned upside down because of covid as did the rest of us while my couldn't my kids couldn't go to school one thing they could do was play outside and I am grateful every day to the many beautiful outdoor spaces that moner has I am even more grateful to our tour fields fortunado and watchong that are within walking distance from my house that come rain storm and even snow provide my kids their friends and our Community with a safe and reliable surface to play on during Co when grass fields weren't usable and yes I was one of those parents who during Co shoveled the turf so my kids had a safe place to play I will be emailing you guys that picture later I want to underscore what I'm hearing tonight the need for strong and safe infrastructure for our kids to play sports and to even to bike to school and work um and shout out to the um the bike bus who have gotten my kids out of school uh out to school every Friday morning I'm asking that you not pass a moratorium on tur Fields as we know and have heard consistently this evening we as a community need more access to safe and accessible Fields not less and this is a message from T Tay Weaver I grew up in Mont Clair attending Glenfield and Montclair High School for the for the last 20 years I have been coaching Montclair High School boys soccer program I am also the coaching director for Montclair United Soccer Club 2000 players age 8 to 14 you have heard both sides and hope that you you have kept an open mind and ears to the reasons we are in need of turf fields I will not rehash all the points I would ask that you take into account the people who are actually on the ground and who have and who not U having turf fields will affect players teams and what the reality would actually look like not having turf fields in Montclair would be absolutely devastating to Sports in Montclair the maintenance of grass fields is very difficult Hillside just got new grass with no watering system put in 2 years this field has been having issues again grass fields need time to rest and have a certain amount of hours that they can be played on without it being overplayed and the surface being ruined if it rains practices and games would have to be canceled as the fields would suffer Montclair High School boys and girls programs are one of the strongest high school programs in the state our lower level freshman JV grass fields are some of the worst in the in the super Essex conference we have lost players because of injury and we have lost players going to other schools because of the surface other high schools have also ref refus to send their lower level levels to play at our grass fields because word got around about injuries to our players and our opponents both the boys and girls program play a very beautiful brand of soccer thank you very much for coming next speaker please good evening mayor council and Community my name is aan Spence and I live in the fourth ward and I'm Maline Gail and I live in the fourth word too uh the Community Development block grant is designated for the fourth ward which includes areas with low and moderate income housing out of the $300,000 40 to 50% will go to nonprofit uh organizations like uh brotherto brother and Salvation Army the remaining funds can be used for Capital Improvements in specific areas of the fourth ward which have the highest concentration of low and moderate income housing or families also we understand that a public hearing was held last night by Janice tally to gather input from the residents of how to use the approximately $150,000 for of these funds for Capital Improvements please note that this money has been uh has been granted since 2010 and there has never been a public hearing on record in the past Money's been used to fix restrooms at the libraries Walnut Street beautification and much work in WS one and two this year the fourth word wishes it to be used where it's needed for things like for safety issues such as Beacon flashing lights crosswalks that need painting that don't now exist lighting and cameras and more so please consider using this money as it needs to be in the fourth ward for safety another issue about safety separate and inclusive of the fourth ward as I'd like to ask you to please pass the complete and green streets ordinance and please work with vision zero to enact the objectives of the task force you hear everybody talking about the safety of our people on bikes and pedestrians and lastly a completely separate issue I continue to implore the council as as um mayor Baskerville said we'd like a town where everybody can come together so I ask the council if you can consider having some public forums may be including the Mont clarent Faith clergy Association some social justice organizations to hold these townwide forums where all of our residents can come together to listen to one another with empathy and compassion maybe we could come together and learn to live with love and peace thank you thank you good night thank you next speaker please hello hi my name is Jessica tiller I live at three Harvard Street I just want to say I am so excited by this Council and mayor Baskerville I cannot wait to work with you over the next four years I believe I've seen in my job that great cre great leadership takes creativity and courage that is what America needs right now and I see that in all of you I want to read something to you picture this children feel the joy of Freedom communities Bond while pedaling the chore of getting to school is a delight our daily actions are a climate solution well-being is prioritized on our streets it's normal for children to transport themselves the sound of traffic is quiet the sound of laughter is vibrant our world heals and grows a new this dream is happening today it's called bike bus a growing family-led Global movement to ride to school and mass come ride with us and really come ride with us some of you have and it's been so much fun shout out Birmingham shout out Anderson okay so I am Jess tiller I am the co-founder of the bike bus I I love soccer and field hockey I also I actually started a company with Megan rapino but bike bus is not Recreation it's an equitable Transportation option that allows kids to get to school in a healthy way we were actually recently um in this report from the Department of Education and Department of Transportation federal I should say and this is a fact sheet that went out to every single town and community in America so the federal government sees what we're doing as strategic I've worked with Michelle Obama I know that this is the type of work that she wants and it's time for our town to also see it as strategic we also were awarded these are I don't even know how many are here there's maybe nine maybe 10 um certificates of recognition from New Jersey safe routes to school um we were silver uh we were awarded the silver medal um Monclair has only ever gotten bronze but because of the bike bus we got this award but those two things are incredible but the most incredible thing is seeing people who were stuck in their homes because they did not have access they do not have a car like many of you here do um and they just can't get around town the bike bus provides that now bike bus is not sustainable it is social infrastructure and what we need now is real real traffic infrastructure so we need to complete we need to pass that complete streets ordinance ASAP we need to finally make change not take 50 years but five years I've seen this happened before I know we can do it I know we can work together to do it we need active Transportation Lanes through town and we need more Equitable and safe options to get through town thank you so much thank you so much next please good evening my name is Su Imam I'm a child care worker and a community Gardener and I'm here to speak in support of the artificial turf moratorium a moratorium not a ban not a ban on uh maintaining current turf fields but a pause to consider the consequences of installing more turf fields and a pause to consider those consequences and also to consider the Alternatives I heard a lot of kids T and it's so nice to hear young people speaking up for themselves and I'm almost sorry to be speaking in contradiction to them but uh I heard a lot of uh kids talking about well-maintained like poorly maintained grass fields and we don't have to have poorly maintained grass fields if that's the choice that we make um something that really frustrates me is that whenever people bring up concerns about potentially hazardous substances a lot of a lot of us react as if we don't know better as if this has never happened before as if there hasn't been this long history of Industry introducing poisons into our soils into our Waters into our bodies and it isn't until after the consequences come up and the cancer diagnoses happen that we now are worried about getting those poisons back out a moratorium is a pause to consider the research before we put those poisons in and the concerns about artificial turf are legitimate and they're coming from research scientists they're coming from Pediatric Health institutions they are coming from uh the njde and the EPA um I understand that the athletic Community can see that this is like an undue burden being put on them but when we're talking about the use of public space uh it's it's all of our burden uh and we all need to take some responsibility for what we're putting in our public spaces so and I I'll e the rest of my time next guest please hello mayor and Council people I'd like to thank you for the time to speak uh some of you know me already my name is Tom Mulligan I'm a 20-year resident of Montclair a former uh employee at American Royal Hardware I've helped many kids with science projects uh and I currently work in community gardening uh sustainable gardening uh but I've also been an activist for 30 years uh doing social Justice work both working with Habitat for Humanity in New York City for 8 years uh with the friend shelter uh and as as as mayor basille and Amina both know me as the moderator of the Northeast Earth Coalition uh little free food pantry which I uh helped initiate and have built uh many of and many houses of worship and synagogues and other public spaces the reason I'm speaking here is I I support uh the moratorium on turf fields uh as as someone who both played Youth and high school soccer uh and uh I have a niece right now who works for the national oceanographic and Aeronautics Administration who was a star soccer player in Ramsey New Jersey who's now a researcher at Sandy Hook studying microplastics and she knows the dangers of it uh again we live in a a community New New Jersey has more Super fund sites than any other state in the nation uh just in West Orange we have the radium Factory which is now ironically a playing field uh and often they they get turned into Playing Fields uh as as the industry offloads them uh I'm also going to speak as uh someone who as I played soccer in high school witnessed both my my aunt and my mom who were twin sisters both get diagnosed with breast cancer uh neither of them had genetic markers they got tested for braa one braa 2 uh environmental conditions were the most likely cause according to their oncologists we I find it deeply ironic that in a town where so many houses have a sign in front saying we believe in science and water's life that there's such an unwillingness to actually listen to the science when pasas posos and all the other forever chemicals that are used by the Plastics industry are known to be in these artificial turfs I agree that children should have good fields to play on but I also agree that there are programs that can be explored to ensure that they have good playing fields without endangering both them and the entire Community uh we all deserve better thank you next guest please good evening sorry I got a lot of equipment tonight hi my name is Aaron bullan in the 1950s pharmaceutical companies marketed fide all over the world as a safe sedative one UK company selling phalidomide advertised it can be given with complete safety to pregnant women and nursing mothers without adverse effects on mother or child and it had no known toxicity and was free from untour side effects asbestos asbestos called the magic mineral was used in floors ceilings walls our lives were wrapped in it and add for asbest smoking pipes if you can believe it boasted Millions have been sold and are in daily use throughout the Civilized World great today we have Synthetic Turf Dupont says it's forever lawn provides a waterless low maintenance solution that will continue to be realistic and functional for years to come just want to point to that landfill years to come and they also boast that 70 million square fet of this material have been installed for proof of safety artificial turf companies often point to studies um their own studies or information provi provided by the Synthetic Turf Council which is a registered lobbying firm on their website it states we represent all levels of the Synthetic Turf supply chain and promote Synthetic Turf as the preferred solution for play spaces fun all the while we hear calls from trusted medical organizations Mount siai the national Center for Health research the Silent Spring Institute and the CDC pointing not only to the known dangers of this material but the unknown uh dangers for our body the environment and mostly our water please look at this and understand there is no escaping this material if you choose not to play on it all we're asking for is some time this is an expensive material it's expensive in dollars and it will be be expensive in health it already has been and you represent 40,000 Montclair residents not just the athletes all of us people that aren't here please don't choose not thank you very much next speaker please good evening council members mayor Baskerville I'm going to start by just finishing what coach té had sent over that and asked to be read both the boys and the girl program play a very beautiful brand of soccer possession based that Monclair High School is known for having grass fields that after time would not be suitable to play this style it undermines the ability to maintain the quality of the program and these talented players deserve more we have so much talent in the program but we cannot play the style we would like and develop the players in a manner that aligns with our possession based tactics with lower levels with lower level Fields thank you my name is Dan rivlin I am a long-term me uh resident of Montclair my daughters are high school soccer players and track athletes and I'm also the president of Monclair United Soccer Club I agree that you should spend some time and investigate all of the facts the moratorium I also didn't interrupt anybody last time or this time the only person who got interrupted was me by the people who were supporting the band and the moratorium I'd ask for the same courtesy that everyone extended to you guys when you spoke take the time to get the information but don't stop everything in its tracks while you do so the moratorium as it is written right now does prevent replacement does prevent repair and would prevent someone from replacing the field and goes to mka and all the other places you have a lot of people who rely on turf fields I don't disagree that a well-maintained perfectly fit grass field is fantastic for most sports as you heard from the field hockey people not for every sport but we do not have the space in Montclair or the funds for the amount of grass fields that would be necessary for even a proportion of the amount of space we need and the amount of use that gets played on these fields on a daily basis grass needs rest grass needs to be taken care of in a very different way than Turf does and the amount of use will destroy it very quickly and unless we're going to raise a whole bunch of buildings and put in tons of grass fields that can accommodate the amount of play that Montclair requires I ask and I implore the council to to think long and hard before you pass a moratorium you want to do a study and see feasibility of turf vers grass and the cost and the benefit and how long everything can happen go ahead pass a resolution that says you're going to do a study on both grass and turf but don't do so by automatically stopping one for the benefit of the other without having all of the information thank you thank you uh next guest please good evening my name is Andrew Hawkins uh resident of 15 Warfield street I'm one of the organizers of the bike bus uh I'm the guy who sent you all emails uh during the election asking for your positions on Street safety and the bike bus and you all responded and you all said that you were in support of safer streets in our town and I'm so encouraged by that like my colleagues before me very much looking forward to working with you guys um I understand that a lot about this job that you guys have can be really thankless you have to listen to very long testimonies from very many people on a variety of subjects and it can get very dull and I understand that but what I want to say is that the bike bus is an antidote to so many problems that we have in this town around safety and uh uh isolation and uh you know things that are are sort of uh inflicting our schools in terms of kids uh getting ahead because we've seen so many studies about how covid has really held a lot of kids back and there's lots of problems uh with our kids uh learning at the levels that we'd like to see them too so I feel like that the bike bus is a really great um antidote to all that and I was really encouraged to see all the students come out uh at at today's meeting to talk about the turf issues we would also bring out some of our students but it's way past their bedtimes a lot of them are asleep right now hopefully my kids are asleep maybe they're not um but what what I think they would tell you is that they love the bike bus they love riding with their friends to school it's it's an activity that just really makes them look forward to the day uh and our schools love it too we've heard so much wonderful feedback from our principes and our administrators administrators about how much they love the bike bus but here's the thing it's an entirely volunt volunteer run organization we're not doing this for money or fame or Glory whatever we're just doing this because we like to ride with our kids to school and we want to see safer streets and what we need from you guys is uh a little bit of help in making sure that that it is as safe as possible because we have four and five-year-olds riding their bikes by themselves to school tiny little kids and if they didn't have adults riding alongside them they would be I don't want I don't even want to speculate what would happen uh on my way uh up to this meeting tonight uh I saw a man almost get killed by a car on Walnut Street uh a car was driving way too fast uh the man was crossing at the crosswalk he had the crosswalk uh and this driver decided he would rather his his priority was to drive fast and this pedestrian was in inhibiting that uh horns were honked uh unpleasantries were exchanged there were probably some bad words as well um but what that really kind of highlighted to me is that we have a lot of work to do if we're going to make things safe not only for the little kids riding to school every day on the bike bus uh but for everybody that gets around without a car we need Pro we need to pass the uh complete streets program we need to fully support the vision zero task force we really need to get moving on this because I feel like we're running out of time 40,000 people die in traffic crashes every year in this country that's the entire town of Monclair dead every year thank you very much next guest please 36 hi thanks for the time I appreciate even your Indulgence this evening uh my name is Danny Leo I'm a longtime lifetime resident of the area longtime resident Monclair father of two kids in school chb the high school MUSC parent um I'm very sensitive to the um to the concerns of the Pro Turf Lobby um I love the turf field I love the way it looks it is fun to play on I have to say you know it looks good it looks clean but but come on I came home the other day and I thought we had mice I was like oh my God cats will you earn your keep for God's sake there little black things all over my house no it's Turf it's the little pellets of turf from Miles Away miles away in my house all over the floor are you telling me the Nano particles aren't getting everywhere these are little black things like this big and they're traveling miles miles the science is compellingly alarming enough to support a moratorium on new turf fields it's that simple and it's a balance of equities right so yes the students the athletes the people who are in there keep coaching they have a stake in this I have a stake in this my son loves playing on Turf what Fields is grass or turf it's Turf yes he loves it but it's a balance and the science is compellingly alarming enough to say no more new turf fields until we know what's up it's really that simple an ecosystem of turf fields the gentleman from Kimberly Academy said he said an ecosystem of turf fields an ecosystem of plastic is that a joke that wasn't rehearsed that was rehearsed the president of one of the most prestigious schools in our state that is idiocracy that's moronic an ecosystem of plastic come on it's a really simple thing stop new tur fields and study it thank you thank you next speaker please uh good evening uh Anna Grossman resident of Monclair first I'd like to acknowledge breast cancer awareness month I want to spend a special salute to Ellen Megan Tony and all the brave women in Monclair who are real warriors on this I applaud you I also want to acknowledge everyone who comes here because they're experiencing fear or pain I know there's racism in this town I know there's Islam phobia and I know there's anti-Semitism I don't have an answer about that but I want to acknowledge that and my hope that we can keep each other safe here I am so happy on to my other favorite topic I'm so happy that our firemen are transitioning away from Gear with pasas why are we not wishing the same thing for our student athletes or for our water manufacturers of artificial turf have admitted they need more time to remove pest from their product why would we not pause what justification does anyone have for imposing more of this potent toxic chemical on our Community Resources I was a soccer mom for years I know what it feels like to watch your kid play soccer and experience that Joy at the same time since the early 2000s I advocated to help make New York City artificial turf better it had lead they denied it we advocated for the product to remove lead it was removed it had recycled rubber crumb we advocated for infills we got coconut husks being a soccer mom didn't stop me from advocating for a healthier more environmentally responsible product in fact it's because I had a kid who played on these materials that I wanted something better for him when we would go to soccer camps in the summer in Italy in the UK and in Canada my kid played on grass when we came home to New York City he played on scrap chemical products nothing that we have heard tonight in the comments provided real data just confirmation of high demand and a belief that because pass maintenance has been unsatisfactory it will forever be that way it doesn't have to be and you've heard from grass managers and they have reassured you what you need here is a specialist an expert this is precisely why we need a pause and a study on Township owned Fields these decisions cannot continue to be made without even a basic environmental impact study or financial analysis it has consequences for all of us heat is is flooding microplastics pollution water contamination waste and landfills when you use public funds to purchase artificial turf it's not a private Choice when like mka you put artificial turf 25 ft away from a stream it's not a private Choice when you install Acres full of pasas over our well heads it's not a private Choice when we are all in an existential struggle against climate change having public funds spent on petrochemicals that heat up entire neighborhoods is not a private choice I strongly encourage you to look at La council members Bob bloomfield's motion to transition away from artificial turf it has everything you need thank you very much next guest I have some newss I'd like to circulate for all of hi um my name is Amy vich and I'm a resident of 535 Upper Mountain Avenue and I just want to thank you all for your service I know that um it's a real commitment to our community and thank you so uh I am also a member of the vision zero task force and the W one rep and I'm really proud of the work that we are doing and we're in the process of doing so what's circulating around is our newsletter um really celebrating some of the things that as a Township we've done so I want to thank you for your vote to reduce the speed limit on Valley to 25 miles hour thank you and I want to thank you for extending um the task force to have more time to do the work we need to do but I'm here to ask you to um pass the complete and green streets policy the first thing if you look at the resolution the language itself the very first first job and ask that we are supposed to do as a task force is to update our complete and green streets policy this policy and the work we have done and want to do is really dependent on creating a process in within the township to implement this work and we all know a vision zero it's it's a very simple it's zero deaths and fatalities on our roads and I feel like we're all committed to that as a community we committed to that to that but in order to make it happen we really need a strong policy in place so I I kind of um made a list of some of the the big things that this policy does and I'm sure that you probably already know this but I just want to reinforce it uh one the policy allows division zero task force work to continue so it establishes an advisory committee which is essentially an extension of the task force of all the members that are in there now um both on the staff with the county with uh Advocates I I can't stress how um like we're really starting to this isn't a simple fix it's a simple goal but it's not a simple fix and uh bringing all of us together to collaborate and to coordinate on Solutions is essential um it the policy provides a structured approach to by utilizing checklist and uh for all repaving and maintenance projects so instead of making actions after the fact we can plan it and build it into the system as we go dayto day so again thank you and please vote for the complete in green streets policy next speaker please good evening mayor and council members uh my name is Brett sores and I've lived here in uh Montclair with my family for nearly four years uh my daughter is 5 years old and I want her to grow up in a community where biking is safe accessible and encouraged tonight I want to talk talk about the potential to formalize bike routes that the community-led bike bus has already established these routes are used by local families children and adults who are choosing to ride together for safety by formalizing these routes into designated bike Lanes we could build on the Grassroots momentum already in place and create a safer more connected biking infrastructure for all residents as it stands the bike bus has proven that there's both a need and a desire for safe bike routes in our town families like mine are choosing a bike but the absence of formal Lanes mean we're constantly navigating the risks of sharing the road with cars by giving the bike bus routs official status we not only improve safety but also validate our commitment to our community um that uh we've already made excuse me our commitment to uh cycling um dedicated bike Lanes along these routes would encourage even more residents to join making a biking a viable option for more families including mine these Lanes would enhance predictability for both drivers and cyclists reducing accidents and fostering a sense of shared responsibility on the road additionally formal bike routes have been shown to boost local businesses by increasing foot and bike traffic montclair's businesses would be would benefit from these improvements a safer designated bike pass would encourage residents to stop at Shops restaurants community events along the way in closing I hope you'll consider formalizing the the bike bus routes making them an official part of montclair's infrastructure together we can take this important step to promote safe sustainable and Community Center transportation in Montclair thank you for your time and your consideration and I also want to say I I highly support the moratorium on Turf I love everything that I heard tonight thank you thank you next guest please I'm Chrissy Thomas a 54 year resident and I just learned that the only person that was refused to speak tonight was Sarah Avery because Tony fan said that the mayor closed public comment to just her which is unacceptable and I don't believe that for a second I hope that you'll allow her to speak yeah that's that that's not um the case I I told him do not let additional people come up we shouldn't have let anyone come up after one hour since I realize now it seems like there's only one other person then certainly let's let that one person but I had no idea who the person was I went over and I told him do not allow additional people moving forward just so we're really clear we're not going to allow people to sign up if the council agrees after the first half hour of the meeting I don't know if you were here and the whole purpose is that we are trying different things in this Council to try to find out what is going to work and what is not in terms of public comment and we are not there yet but we're going to try to uh figure it out but I I appreciate it and we've had a wonderful night and nobody has come up here and offered anything that was like negative or accusatory or trying to act as though I am trying to single out anyone individual for any reason and I just had to stop to be really clear about that because that's that that's dangerous and it's just wrong thank you mayor I hope get my time back for um the 3 minutes under the fauler act in Monclair New Jersey the rules governing public comment allow each member of the public to speak for 3 minutes under Robert's Rules individuals are prohibited from yielding their time to another speaker to effectively double or triple one public comment The Only Exception would be if the governing body and the meeting chair in our case the mayor decide in advance to change the time for public comment or to allow a person to give a presentation outside of public comment which is what your honor did and I appreciate everything that you're doing I truly believe in permitting people to finish their thoughts or at least their sentences particularly when members of the public are doing a public Mitzvah by educating their neighbors and this governing body about things that are important to them um if you want to give people the opportunity to feel truly heard then you have to enforce the rules equally for all and I'm sure that's exactly what you're trying to do fairness is really important and I really appreciate you saying that Miss Avery can speak um as for the agenda I'm really concerned that you appear to agree by consent to increase the neglia engineering contract by $200,000 for calendar year 2024 I'm advised neglia made election contributions to Spiller in 2023 and 2024 so the contract seems illegal that's prohibited by law you cannot allow an increase by more than 20% now what that increase means is that neglia has already Bill $500,000 and that you're agreeing to an increase to the amount paid to $700,000 for calendar year 2024 that's a $200,000 increase in October it would cost less to have an onsite engineer $700,000 is an awful lot of money to one firm remember when we thought $500,000 was too much in March that's number three on the consent agenda number four is a retroactive alcoholic beverage retail consumption license transfer number 13 is increasing the clear law firm's contract for labor and employment Matters by another $25,000 for not to exceed $60,000 to ratify bills and services already provided that's not permitted we need lawyers who do not exceed contract prices and certainly don't try to consistently increase payments after bills have been incurred those are illegal and improper billing practices and prohibited by their prohibited payment processes our lawyer knows better and should be warning you about that ahead of time as well as about conflicts of interest as for number 17 it's unclear to me why we're buying software for a town manager who's supposed to be replaced shortly we're investing $52,000 for a three-year contract that software that software may not be needed Susan rahum Eileen and Carmel all voted to approve the cgph even though they overcharged us through our affordable housing trust fund this is again on the bill list they had to have a proposal a contract and a resolution for their services in multiple instances there was at least one missing and cgph overcharged us multiple times by tens of thousands of dollars they approv contracts who should contractors who shouldn't have been approved if you divide their hourly rate by the bill for example $1,300 to inspect a boiler when they are only allowed to charge $150 an hour please thank you very much concerns about next speaker please thank you hi good evening mayor and Council aava fad first um founder and president of the organization of Mont CLE the group that brought us run control with the community to our beautiful Township first I would like to take 3 seconds of silence for the families that we lost that rent control did not save the families who moved and sent messages later because things have gotten so bad for them we get reports of horrendous things that um that happened that were going on with people who were in fear of speaking in the midst of these things happening fear of speaking often keeps people from being heard while things seem to be quiet they are not so much some people say they don't want to be patient or ruffle feathers and it may be the wrong thing so they move the tenants organization of Monir is a movement that was created for renters to stay I'm smiling because I was on campus at mockler State University today working and recruiting as I often am doing now never giving up I want to shout out to ban and Sam education and sustainability Majors respectively they heard about monir's lack of affordability and although they would prefer to graduate and live in town felt that it was not possible now they know about rent control and will be helping to spread the word there's a bonus join us because now we are starting a radio show this year we need and would love to have your participation um this is to everyone out in the public as well to grow this and to make sure that current and new renters know that we have rent control and who's covered by it while building Community Collective and empowerment tenants organization monc gmail.com text and call to get started 973 619 2855 and 973 936 8848 tomb advocacy on Facebook book everyone have a great night thank you next guest please good evening my name is David folen flick I live in Upper Monclair uh Madame mayor members of the council Mr manager it's good to see you I've SE seen many of you in a different circumstance I appreciate so much your service what you're doing for the township uh I arrived to you day uh a day after uh marking the death of my mother Vivien uh we spent a lovely evening with a small gathering of friends it was an evening of readings we read a favorite passage of hers from Shakespeare a poem she wrote inspired by the Psalms uh my daughter my eldest read her fourth grade uh essay about her grandmother uh it was a night filled with laughter and lemon square is something she she loved very much um it was a night also of connection in her three plus years here in Montclair living with my family she made connections with people in ways she didn't experience and that's something very special about Montclair that I prize greatly I sometimes fear that in Montclair uh and I'm hopeful that you all as new figures here can do something differently and act with a different way but that we don't make the connection uh between our people and our policies our intentions and our actions we've heard today from folks who have echoed concerns similar to my own folks involved in the bike bus folks involved with v Vision zero people talking about ways in which we can make improvements these seem like small things they are not small things these are not things that could happen these are things that have happened but we haven't treat it it as a matter of imperative or urgency at times I fear because of the way things have been done we make uh sort of a a delight in certain incremental advances and Surround ourselves and comfort ourselves that we have done enough and I fear we have not I think that is important for Montclair to commit itself to the idea that its people can move around not motorists but its people can move around safely and enjoy this beautiful gladed glorious neighborhood uh city of neighborhoods with sidewalks and parks and homes and schools and businesses and reasons that people want to be here people want to live here but also to visit but I don't see that sense of urgency even from my new friends here I I put this charge to the previous mayor and the previous Council when I spoke not very many weeks after my mother's death and I said this is something you can embrace this is something you can accomplish this is something you can say and be a beacon Montclair can signal to the state and to the region we too recognize there is nothing more valuable than the quality of life for our people and our families I ask you to do that take Vision zero not as something in the distance but as the here and the now in our intersection a great change is being made one without my consultation that expends a great deal of money but a year and a day later not a single change has been made to that intersection that keeps us safer right now now there are cheap things we can do in the meantime a glorious blizzard of them and we haven't seen a flurry folks we've seen a couple scatterings here and there please embrace the urgency embrace the now and make life better for mclair thank you for your time thank you next guest please hi everyone my name is Jessica stalsberg I live in Monclair um it's interesting to follow the previous speaker because I there was one thing I was hoping I was going to actually ask for clarification but I guess I have the answer because of all the street safety uh speakers tonight um I remember um learning that we um that the intersection of bellw and park was where we lost a member of our community a year ago um and every time I drive through and then at a later meeting Mr lolle you acknowledged um during the meeting that they it had been discovered that there was a problem with that traffic signal and then at a later meeting you it had come up again and you had assured uh the community that that traffic signal was going to be um repaired early in the new year because it was that end of 2023 so we're on the cusp of November of 2024 and it's just sort of shocking that I just learned that it doesn't sound like that traffic signal has yet been repaired and every time I drive through it I think about it and I think is this light okay am I driving when I'm supposed to be is the other direction stopping when they're supposed to be so to find out tonight that that traffic signal continues not to be okay in the very location that someone's life was lost I really hope that we can move very quickly on that um I I just want to quickly say and I'm I'm I use some of my time for this um I know that on your on your desks currently you have something an ordinance that was passed to you to pass uh I Believe by the environmental commission that residents proposed which is something called skip the stuff and it is sweeping the nation near and far and it is these should be m words music to your ears lwh hanging fruit pass lwh hanging fruit you have a lot of tough stuff on your desk that will be expensive and you will please some people and you will not please others and skip the stuff you will it is so easy please move forward quickly this came from a Chinese restaurant that I love we ask them every time please don't put it in and then we find it I send my husband and say please make sure it's not there and it's not and then when we uncover the stuff at the bottom there it is waiting for us so I just wanted you to see that we don't use except maybe sometimes we eat the fortune cookie we don't use any of this this all goes in our trash for no reason this is a lot of trash my favorite taco place in town we had a sorry I wanted these props tonight we had this is a lot of plastic we had a um a stapled up bag that my husband didn't unstaple when he went to pick it up to see that these were waiting inside he picked it up at 8:00 at night on a cold night in the dark we ate at home with our regular utensils so we didn't need this thank you next guest please next speaker please oh 20 Mission Street next speaker please number three greetings uh mayor and counsel I actually uh wasn't feeling very well I intended to come earlier for the treats wasn't feeling well um but then I saw your statement mayor basille and I said I wanted to come out to respond to your statement much respect to you and I appreciate your statement it actually clarifies a lot for me um you know heavy is the head that wears the crown be very clear on that there is nobody here that does not know you're the one who has the pulse of this community so I don't want what I've been doing here lately to confuse anyone at all I celebrated when you became our first black female mayor then and still so it was I was taken aack when people were not responding but I now know that that was a consensus that you guys made and then I heard you say that you get beat up on uh or get beat down for not responding to us or speaking too much please continue to do what you do we need we need you we need persons like you especially when it comes to communities that are disenfranchised disrespected marginalized ignored and literally just beat upon and I'm not going to speak on something else I heard uh when I was watching uh the code switching and some of the language I'm not going to speak on it because I don't want to get in the way of anyone else's movement right now but it was very offensive it was very offensive but any case um I hope when you guys do get to the point to uh decide on how we're going to continue going forward with the black liberation flag that I am contacted I want to be part of that process to protect the integrity and the authenticity of what that was um and someone here mentioned tonight about the racism and some of the other things that happened here in town we know that to be true when I last stood here at this Podium I mentioned equity and I mentioned what comes with it is a sense of urgency my heart was broken when I saw the father and his daughter come here I've already expressed the fact that I'm part of an organizations whose entire goal is to eradicate racism and we know that it exists in Monclair and I recently became aware that it does exist uh among this Council some things I read and it's deeply concerning so please when that moment comes I would like to be part of that subcommittee to uh protect the Integrity of our culture as people of African descent as black people all right so I don't want anyone thinking that this was about anything other than what I came here for I saw online where someone referred to me as the flag lady and that I'm kind of getting into certain communities Waring with one another the fact of the matter is I was the one who came here on August 13th and I brought that flag and a certain energy that came with it and you all responded accordingly and then other persons added in some energy that that turned into something else so I just wanted to make that clear thank you thank you very much next guest please hi my name is Gretchen Nolton I am uh one of the VPS for montcl un night soccer club and I am here to talk um to you about please do do not go forward with the moratorium um and banning the turf soccer fields um in terms of I have a note here from Dan who wanted me to point out that if we're keeping track then we definitely had more people in favor of the turf fields than against them and I do believe in science I believe all of us believe in science and the science is definitely inconclusive about turf fields but more importantly even with gra Fields there are pfas that are part of top soil that are part of all the components so just ripping up the turf fields and switching over to grass fields is not going to solve the problem um and there so I I urge you to please reconsider this moratorium right now I work on the recreation side and we have a thousand children that play every season and on the recreation side we have the children who we're providing their cleats we're providing their shinguards these are kids who can't afford to play in travel programs for other communities that can afford to go play in other spaces a lot of our kids they walk or ride their bikes to our fields and as much as I love grass fields I do unfortunately Monclair has a history of as soon as the grass fields in Monclair have been upgraded the fields that Monclair owns like tours field and Mountainside Park we're no longer allowed to play there without the turf fields we wouldn't have some place to play my best example is on Saturday morning from 99 to 12 we are blessed with access to George Washington field and during that 3-hour period of time 180 six and seven year olds get to play soccer every week if that field is damaged and it can't be repaired we can't play if it if it was a grass field we wouldn't be allowed on it to begin with so I also just wanted to say as you're reviewing the science this is from findings published by the clinical Journal of sports medicine that the impact of playing surfaces on concussion symptoms in Young American football players has been shown to be worse and more severe on natural grass fields and one of the reasons for that is because it has been found that many natural grass fields especially at the Youth Level may not be wellmaintained and can be harder and less forgiving than modern artificial turf which has evolved significantly from the old thank you very much next guest please hey good evening uh my name is Chris Smith I'm the president of the MAA grid iron Club um I'm also a former football coach in town so I've been around uh fields for the last 15 years when I moved here from Brooklyn uh and I just want to share a couple of thoughts um you know in my line of work in financial services whenever we make decisions the first thing we do is we study it right we want to uncover all the possibilities all the pro and the cons and then we make a decision we generally don't make decisions until we've uncovered all the facts I think that's all I think folks on both sides are asking you to do so I don't envy you but both sides is the important piece to this okay as I said I used to live in New York um at a time where the streets were uh the wild west I don't know if you guys are familiar with Flatbush Avenue but you know it was literally the Wild Wild West um but um you know only after New York City studied the matter and started studying Solutions they reduce the lanes to slow the traffic right uh so what I think I'm hearing about this moratorium is that we're being asked to close the lanes first and then study the effect of traffic right I think that's maybe the cart before the horse a bit um so I went back to Brooklyn recently and to my surprise all the streets that they studied and put in caling devices don't look anything like they did before traffic is much calmer much slower I actually had to adjust my behavior cuz I was expecting one thing and found out another right so the point is is that they studied it before they did something um the other point I want to make is uh I live across the street from Cody Field on Orange Road um and right now uh Glen Ridge youth football they play there uh well they don't play there they practice there twice a week um but in just those twice a week practices in a grass field the field is turned into straight mud just with practices not games on only twice a week so the practicality of trying to play with much faster speed on grass is is probably not going to turn out very well and you've heard from other players as to why that might be the case so the other thing is just just keep in mind that you know these fields used to be grassed for and they're no longer grass for a reason I'm sure it was studied and that's how you figured out that tur would probably be better um what I'm asking everyone here is you know please be more Cooperative um I think you know unfortunately I think a moratorium is the first step in uh in a ban um so I'm hoping that doesn't happen um one other thing is is that I think a lot of the opponents that I've heard here are on their cell phones um and I'm sure you guys have all know that there are dangers using their phones right there's radiation Etc but nobody's going to stop using their cell phones why because it's impractical so we do need to understand the practicality of just changing on a dime without having a suitable alternative nobody's going to stop using their cell phones until there's a suitable practical alternative so I think that's all anyone's ever asking but there's no need to stop it before you start to do something else thank you very much next guest please uh hello Sarah Avery um thank you for recognizing the Public's right to free speech with tonight's public comment session I hope the council appreciates the wisdom of the many residents who recommend a moratorium on Turf I personally believe a moratorium on Turf is not enough I think there should be a ban in the town the county the country and the world uh the health of the planet is worth the sacrifice uh last night I attended uh a meeting organized by uh councelor Toller uh about the cdb grant that the town has been receiving for years and learned but also I just want to say thank you Amina Toller um so we found out that uh These cdbg funds have been used for road projects uh other things but a lot of road projects and Sewer improvements in the South End um I listed uh some resolutions here from uh starting in 2017 to 2023 and um $885,000 was used for Road and Sewer projects that was really meant for improvements in the South End of Montclair why because it is a low and moderate income neighborhood and that's the purpose of these cdbg funds that come from HUD now these type of projects these Road and Sewer projects they're performed throughout the town and by and large they're funded with taxpayer dollars and so it seems like the south end has been uh somewhat short changed here now when members of the public asked uh the planner uh you know could the cdbg funds be used for school improvements well she didn't know but she did know that it could be used for roads and Sewer projects which are typically funded by taxpayer dollars and a very easy internet search today I was able to download all of the activities that are eligible for assistance uh by the cdbg funds for example provision of assistance including loans and grants assistance to neighborhood-based nonprofit organizations the rehabilitation or development of a housing assisted under Section 1437 and affordable housing projects assisted and you know that really struck me well I'll have to pick this up at the next meeting thank you next guest please okay hearing none we're going to move right along to our consent agenda um mayor can I address the CB cdgb issue no um no there's just to too too much that that is uh that that we need to have a whole meeting to discuss that there's information that's not accurate and we just don't have the time for that we're going to move forward to the consent agenda um please does anybody wish to take anything out of the consent agenda not this one oh they gave me this um did we change that this is what I got yellow the yellow sheet the yellow is the most updated agenda yellow wait wait so we're not going to discuss the storm water ordinance proposal why because sorry about that yeah because we had to U put more detail in into how we're going to draw down the money and how it's going to be held Etc well I have some comments on that so I maybe I should just send them to you and it's about changing the ordinance okay thank you okay there are 1 two three four four items that are listed on our consent agenda does anyone wish to remove any of those from the consent agenda I would like to discuss um number three okay we'll take number three out of the consent agenda anyone else okay would somebody make a motion on the remaining consent agendas or we have to we have to make a motion to take number three out no mayor I understand that three item three is not on the consent okay thank you should I make a motion should I make a motion on the rest of them yeah I make a motion to accept the consent agenda except for item three which has been I'll second it okay all in favor I any opposed um U you want to have comments abstain okay now we're going to go to um so the motion carried we're going to move to resolution number three um Council damato would you read resolution number three um resolution R 24229 resolution amening the fair and open contract for negly Engineering Associates for calendar year 2024 Municipal Engineering Services and I saw move second discussion councelor Williams I I've made my my thoughts on on the firm known I I think that we do pay a lot of money to retain them and you know three days a week and I read through the whole list of things that they do and you know it's a lot of work and I I think that we really need to start looking at either bringing in another firm so that we can get lower pricing or hiring Engineers uh and keeping them on staff it would be my preference to hire engineers and I do I do realize because we spoke about this that you you know it was a tough time getting Engineers uh but I I do think that we should do that I concur with councelor Williams anyone else um coun councelor Birmingham I just have a question I think I emailed you about this or um that and this goes to what was asked earlier but this was a fair and open contract and I think that's what what it says at the top but then in clause three where it says pursuant to NJ C- 5- 5 col 30 the 20% limitation shall not apply to Professional Service and consultant contracts when I read that statute it seems to me that that applies specifically to Professional Service or extraordinary services and I don't think this contract was granted under those terms so I I just again I'm not really even questioning the money I'm questioning the process because again like I think there are different attestations you have to do when you get a fair and open contract compared to a professional service or an extraordinary service so I I just that's my question on this I'm not really understanding your question but the one that you sent to us in the um email um Mr dairos responded um and I believe he said um in the resolution that we have it says it is amending the fair and open contract but then in clause three it says pursuant to njac 5 30-16 D the 20% limitation of njac 5 colon 30- 111.3 A9 shall not apply to Professional Services and consultant contracts is that what is that what you're asking asking about because you can award professional service contracts without doing a fair and open process but as party as part of that people have to attest that they have not made political contributions so when we say we're amending this fair and open contract pursuant to njac 530 to me that's not consistent because we didn't use the Professional Service process to get to this contract this contract was awarded through the competitive process right and and public contracts law and it's required because it was over the threshold and because there was a contribution by negia that it had to be done by fair and open process and so the fair and open process is is putting out advertising it by an R RFK so so it meets the criteria for being done open and fair and is not subject to um but now but then I I understand that okay but then why can we now amend the 20% limitation because that's that's part of a fair and open contract right that you can't go over 20% because otherwise if you're under bidding you know that so Mr daos our purchasing agent says when awarding the contract pursu to pay to play law it is required to specify whether it is awarded fair and open or non-fair and open process and he says item three emphasizes that the 20% limitation does not apply to the Professional Services contract it only applies to other than Professional Services contract so in this sense and I'm not sure if the language is in improper in the resolution maybe there's it's not clear in the resolution but in this case this is a Professional Services contract so it's not subject to the 20% limitation but but that's I I just don't think we we awarded it under the professional service contract process that's my that's my question because there's certain like you're allowed there are certain um things you're allowed to do when you when you get a professional service contract and that that's just my question competitive Award of contracts permits Professional Services contracts to be awarded in that manner so it so there is uh this contract was awarded appropriately properly it allows Professional Services contracts to be awarded through competitive bidding May mayor yes Council D my question or our question just is under what you know why are you allowed to go up by more than 20% that's the thing what what under what circumstances would you be prohibited from going from breaching the 20% limit and that answer I will have to give you at another time so we can't pass this tonight in a legal opinion we can't pass this tonight let me just let me just see what the purchasing agent says mayor he may have answered that question according to our according to uh puring agent he said the 20% limitation is specifically written for construction contracts and goods and services except Professional Service njac 5 colon 30- 111.6 right change orders for Professional Services and extraordinary unspecified services so the 20% limitation shall not apply pursuant to njac 5 colon 11- 11.6 B uh sorry D the 20% limitation of NJ 5on 30- 111.3 A9 shall not apply to professional and consultant contract so pursuant to the administrative code it's permissible counselors anyone else I seed the balance of my authority to councilor Birmingham are you 100% sure I'm just well I'm are you 100% sure one I'm reading what the purchasing agent and it's very cuz so this is change very well learned there's and two is he's citing Co he's citing code I don't unfortunately I don't have the code in front of me uh to to site could we maybe ask the CFO yes good evening I am not thank you good evening even I'm not 100% sure of this but you have the book right there right so is it possible to look well I don't have the administrative code in front of me oh I have the uh uh is is this more than one year if it is Professional Services it cannot be more than one year if this change order is putting that's what I know again I am not an expert in this but if it is a professional service it cannot be more than one year it is either under the fair and open process uh compet to uh Contracting fair and open process or without the fair and open process we can just do a Professional Services that's what I know but not I'm not 100% sure again uh one year is it one year or more than one year that may make a difference well you're not expanding you're not expanding term you're just increasing yes manager I I I just spoke to the director of DCs the way this is Bid is on an hourly basis the only thing we're changing is the not to exceed that we we didn't bid it as it came in a certain number it's a an hourly rate we did it not to exceed okay so it wasn't bidden like a construction project you get a number it's a million dollars so we bid it on on the hourly rate we then put not to exceed in that initial contract so the 20% rule doesn't apply because the number that was accepted in the bid was not was not the hourly rate well it was the was the hour it was the hourly rate not to yeah so it wasn't that they submitted a bid of $500,000 they submitted a bid with the hourly rates we in turn based on our budgeting put the not to exceed $500,000 and now councel lman and now they've exceeded they've uh occurred more hours basically because of all the engineering reviews that they're doing right on uh like planning projects and traffic uh counselor it's actually because of the um the changes we made in the storm water review so that's why I wanted to talk to that's why we are going to have before you hopefully at next meeting a proposed ordinance right that will then charge the residents who have to deal with this it's not everyone no I have another suggestion for that we talk about that but that's but that's what it is it's approximately an additional between about $170 or $180,000 in additional cost a year for these reviews for the changes that were made I mean what basically should be made is we should increase the from 250 squ ft new impervious surface to something like 400 or 500 or a th000 even so then you generating so regarding the resolution um 24229 did anyone else wish to uh talk about that or does anyone want to pull it until a later date or um any further discussion on that coun I'd like to make a motion that we just pull it until we get a thorough clear understanding on what we have in front of us that's my recommendation well I think we just got an understanding it's an hourly rate it's and we superose 700,000 so you can't do a change order but if that's what the majority of the group is comfortable with and wishes to comfort go with I'd just like to um say that I'm not that comfortable I really agree with what I hear um councelor Williams saying and I I would like to find out more about um not going in this direction any further and possibly exploring having in-house engineer uh at some time so I'm just trying to find out do we have to vote on this if we want to go in a different direction well this is for work part done yes the work is done the work is already done so we have to pay them pay yeah okay then yes yeah so this this is basically until the end of the year but just want to put it on the on the radar for next year that we should be looking at possibly putting uh hiring Engineers rather than doing this or you know if we we all collectively decide that we're going to use a a firm to putting this out to bid again um to see if we can lower the cost of this but counselor I think it would be great if we can have an engineer Engineers on staff can we stop them from any further work so that we don't incur anymore or they're going to keep working between now and if you're not paying them they're not going to work but then everything comes to well from from from what I understand we will pay them and I'm asking after that is there anything that we can either add to this or put in writing so that they don't continue to do work until we're sure that we want to continue with this um form of engineering service we're going to we're going to aide by the contract we have with them and then once we can make a decision if we're right so councelor Williams just said that it's over the end of the year and so I'm asking after that point in time I mean up until that point in time even so after that do we have to continue is there any reason why we have to continue doing more work with them mayor may I speak yeah um I I am in favor of I concur with councelor Williams but I think they be really difficult to have them stop doing any work there are a lot of projects coming up we don't really have an alternative at this point so um I think we should just continue to honor the contract this contract I'm not saying not honor the contract right this this ends at the end of this year correct that's what I said that's what I heard councilor Williams say and my question was after that is there any reason that we should be moving forward until we as a body decide that that's what we we want to do well all I'm asking is that you continue with the contract to the end of the year pursuant to the terms of the contract yeah but I mean nobody was saying that we weren't going to honor the contract so I guess the answer to my question would be no we can do we can move forward and discuss what we'd like to do after we pay this bill and until the end of the contract which is in December the end of December yes well can I say something yes counselor um you can't just cut them off at the end of the year because there's applications that need to be processed that they do work on they look at every application for a minor site plan over 250 square ft so we can't then you'll stop the whole review process of applications so we have to have somebody on staff that's doing that review process and well that that is at least answering the question that I was asking and I appreciate you very much for answering the question that I was asking councelor Toler um yeah I second what you're saying Madam mayor not that it's an official second um perhaps we can have this discussion at our special board meeting that'll be held in O in November uh on the weekend to really decide which way we want to go after December uh 2024 um that's just my recommendation for you yes counselor I I would just say also that we we do need to uh be mindful uh and I'll say this to the people at home anybody still watching earlier stuff that if we are going to uh pass the complete Street policy there will be a a ton of engineering work that will be need to be done it's a we have a lot coming down the pike I mean all these regulations that come you know the about about you know storm water and all these things it's ever heavier load uh and uh we will have to be mindful and economic and how we pay for it but it's work that's going to need to be done and the happy related news I'll say is that my son was just accepted to the University of Pittsburgh engineering program so hopefully in four years maybe we can have somebody to hire to take care of it so in resolution um r24 22 n um there was a motion in a second okay what what what's the motion that's on the table because m m Toler I thought had made a motion and there was and there was no second no no I didn't make an official motion I wasting that understand that there's a motion I do to ad roll call please Madam clerk Deputy Mayor Anderson yes just have another councel Birmingham yes councel damato to accept this y y yes please councelor lochman yes councelor Toller no councelor Williams yes mayor Baskerville yes okay next okay so we're moving on to new business resolutions next um councelor Birmingham would you please do R 24231 um resolution R 24231 resolu resolution awarding a fair and open contract to fully Incorporated authorizing the purchase of wheel loader for the Township of Montclair Department of Community Services in accordance with sourcewell national Cooperative purching contract 011 723 cat and I so move second discussion all in favor what's a wheel loader discussion up you I you got your buzzer okay councelor lochman it's a small wheel loader and it has like a bucket thing here that Scoops up maybe leaves or dirt or something and uh and it's cool it's like your like your little boy would want this little toy it's so cute I too but it's I what is it for like what I would say if you had put leaves or something in if they're I think EMP oh there you go let's ask the expert yes he's waited around all this time R you and I are like on the same page uh good evening we use the wheel loader for loading salt so loading and unloading salt for the leaf collection for debris removal um it's a valuable piece of equipment this is replacing a 1990 wheel loader so it's long overdue May thank you I saw uh councelor Williams I think I probably already know the answer this we would never entertain buying a used one for say no we we we use the uh we hold on to the equipment for long enough per of time yeah okay and they don't councel sorry they don't make one that runs on D batteries yet no not that I'm aware of you're sure councelor Toler yeah thank you you said you use it to remove salt uh to load and unload salt when we get a delivery of salt at the uh the community services yard that needs to be loaded into our salt shed um and that requires the use of a wheel loader that salts for salt snow removal correct for uh D so what does shoger do we we're paying them to remove snow too so it's a joint effort or so shoger supplements our snow plowing operation um in certain areas of the town we still have snow plowing operations and in in larger snowstorms we could also deploy the cats with for snow removal okay and is this this is budgeted into your the budget for the township or is this just correct this is a this is a capital uh expenditure thank you yes councilor U bman just since Miss Toller mentioned it um yes schlager does the uh snow removal right and we have a contract in there to approve tonight for snow removal and stuff what do we are they on retainer if like we had no snow last year maybe one time I had to plow my driveway so how does that work with uh our snow removal services so what will happen is when we anticipate a storm uh 3 to four 2 to 3 days before the storm we will call them if we feel that it will be necessary to deploy them and it depends on the amount of snow anticipated and and who we can field we used to use them for salting operations we no longer do that we have the salting inhouse so they're just supplementing our snow plowing operation with additional snow plows so our internal we have internal snow plowing correct okay so but so we only pay them if they're used we don't have them on retainer we don't get them anything to keep them you know ready and willing to work with us correct okay thank you anyone else roll call please Deputy Mayor Deputy Mayor Anderson yes Council Birmingham yes councilor damato yes councelor lochman yes councelor Toler yes councilor Williams yes mayor Baskerville yes resolution R 24233 Council lockman please 233 23 232 232 right yeah oh 23 232 okay um so resolution authorizing the use of competitive Contracting for consulting services in connection with the Township's Professional Services as affordable housing administrative agency agent and affordable housing authority that's resolution d r 24- 232 second word is affordable housing attorney oh I'm sorry should I read it again just to be sure I we got it okay I'm sorry yeah I'll do it again so resolution so res r- 24- 232 resolution authorizing the use of competitive Contracting for consulting services in connection with the townships Professional Services as affordable housing administrative agent and affordable housing attorney I so move second discussion I I have a question with the um with the combined position for the affordable housing administrative agent and affordable housing attorney are they um close in salary and if not would it be costing less money to break up the two positions can can I yeah goad okay yeah that is it's not a combined position it's a separate they put it under the same resolution because they're related okay but it's a separate affordable housing attorney a couple of years and then a separate agent that will handle the affordable housing management two separate people good thank you any further discussion and just mayor I was just going to just mention um I mean this this is time is rather of the essence so and this is just a resolution to um authorize um us to issue an RFP for competitive Contracting um as you all know um we just got the DCA numbers um our obligations and we have a number of like really time um sensitive deadlines coming up so both of these positions are very much needed any other discussion on this okay please call roll Deputy Mayor Anderson yes councilor Birmingham yes councelor damato yes councelor lochman yes councelor Toler yes councelor Williams yes mayor Baskerville yes next resolution um please Deputy Mayor mayor I'm sorry I just want to note on the record that items number seven and 8 on the agenda the resolution numbers are incorrectly noted so item seven the true resolution number is R 24201 which was tabled by the governing body on the 10th of September M and item number eight the true resolution number is r 24223 three which was tabled by the governing body on the 8th of October thank you thank you very much Deputy Mayor will you please read resolution r223 okay so um this is resolution r- 24-21 uh a resolution awarding a contract to deweer Roofing LLC for Cornerstone house roof replacement project pursuant to njsa 40a colon 11-5 3 see and I still move second a second Madame mayor I mean I'm sorry the um clerk can you please tell me the number for the r24 234 I thought it was 223 it's what yes ma'am you're right R 24234 is 223 but I believe the deputy mayor just read item number seven she's reading okay that was 201 was discussion yeah just uh just a quick question I noticed that the bids that came in were much higher than what was negotiated and I was just wondering why we didn't just scale back the work that would have been the bare minimum yeah councelor if you if you saw initially it was for all parts and then the first time and then ultimately we did that and included a breakdown so we could pick and choose what we wanted to award this is the Cornerstone building for those who in the public who don't know is the building next door which is the Salvation Army houses people and the roof is leaking this is also grant money so if we don't use the grant money to fix the roof Ro we have to turn the money back so that's you know but that's that's why we did it that way to see as much as we can get we can get the basics getting the roof fixed but I did send actually sent our inspectors over there to see what was going on with the leaking and and the leaking roof Etc and there is leaks in the the rooms that people are using so we need to if we can't get that fixed councelor lman yeah I know I I said this last time and I'm going to say it again um I know it's not our money it's grant money but nonetheless this is a building that ultimately will be torn down if we do do our um new uh Municipal complex there and I don't see the purpose in fixing buildings that are going to be to torn down in a relatively short time even though it's not coming out of our budget anyone else I mean they need their roof repaired right it's they should be being aware that this building is not long for this world let's say because we intend to do a municipal complex there or do something there and we should start the process of advising people that they but you have leaky like if you have water coming in from your roof like that's not really a safe condition I I what you're saying I understand what you're saying but like mayor mayor if I may yes um I understand what you're saying um councelor lman but um I I mean this is we don't have I to my knowledge we don't have a plan as of right now and it is um a shelter that that that um houses unhoused people um at the Salvation Army so I would just recommend going ahead with this at this time any further discussion Council deato any further discussion Madam clerk Deputy Mayor Anderson yes Council Birmingham yes Council damato yep Council lochman no council Toler yes councilor Williams yes mayor Baskerville yes next resolution please councilor Williams resolution r- 24223 resolution to award fair and open contract to h2m Associates Inc for environmental remediation project at 399 Orange Road move I'll second it discussion yes councelor Toler thank you uh at the last meeting I did table it because I had some questions and concerns and Miss tally wasn't here to answer them I then went on and emailed Miss T and Mr Lola to request that h2m uh just fix some of the language if you will the wording with some of the task numbers and I see that most of it is here so I'm very comfortable with moving forward with going Hadad to approve this for 399 um orange Road there's still one or two things and perhaps maybe Miss tally can share with me why they couldn't address them but um as long as the town camps will be getting reports after every sample um long as we'll be getting monthly invoices and no surprises things like that are now included in the language here and I'm 90% comfortable with moving forward with this thank you thank you Council Toler anyone else Madame clerk Deputy Mayor Anderson yes Council Birmingham yes councel damato yes councelor lochman yes councelor Toler yes councelor Williams yes mayor Baskerville yes um councilor toll would you please do R 24235 sure thank you uh resolution r24 to35 resolution requesting approval of it items of Revenue and appropriation pursuant to njsa 44- 87 I so move I second discussion yeah yes councilor Williams this is for 399 orange yeah my my only thing is they should have just put the address in here also but that that's yes mhm discussion any further y I just want to make sure cuz I don't know if this one should include that additional $5,000 or should it stay on this past resolution cuz that you know we had some concerns about whether or not the township was going to have to pick up any cost this is this is just to insert this into our budget okay to accept the money to put in our budget it's not anything else okay thank you all right man clerk Deputy Mayor Anderson yes Council Birmingham yes councelor damato yes councelor lochman councelor Toler yes councelor Williams yes mayor Baskerville yes moving to the next resolution please councilor damato resolution R 24236 resolution appointing members to people with disabilities advisory committee and IA move second second deputy mayor do you want to Yes um so um myself and the mayor um support this resolution to appoint um uh Joseph calibri who's here today thank you Joe for being so patient and steuart Ruben um both longtime residents um very you know they they immediately volunteered to step up uh they've already started contributing uh and attending the meetings they come recommended by the current advisory committee members I know um Joe um uh Joe became involved in advocacy work he has a lot of professional experience as well um with uh people with with special needs and he became involved because of his son who who has multiple special needs I know that both of these individuals are very dedicated to improving the lives of people with disabilities in our town and I'm very pleased to um move this forward any further discussion or comments I also I I know steuart Rubin and I would highly recommend him as well he's a wonderful person Madam clerk mayor Anderson yes councel Birmingham yes councelor damato yes councelor lochman yes councelor Toler yes councelor Williams yes mayor Baskerville yes okay moving to the next resolution please Council Birmingham um resolution resolution R 2423 s resolution authorizing renewal of contract to IPS Group Inc for proprietary support and maintenance services to parking meters and I so move I have second discussion yes ma'am Council Williams yeah I I'll explain yes yes please I I apologize this is this manager uh this is you know confusing there's actually two parts to this with the same company one is the maintenance of the meters the other part is we collect uh all the money we have to pay them back this authorizes us to then pay them their fee so next time this should be in two separate resolutions so I apologize that there's confusion that that part I I got but what I didn't get was the the 660 per meter and I was trying to back into the 75,000 what I I I that's what I'm not getting here I don't know what the $75,000 for and then it breaks out it says it's uh in the memo it says it's $660 per single space meter it I don't I don't know what what that means yeah what does that what does that mean I try to back into the 75,000 you know 75,000 divided by 545 M that's $137 a meter I don't know what that means you know the 660 that's that's what I was confused about okay well we yeah there's a there's two fees but just from the memo it doesn't look like we have any double meters which we charge 25 which we get charged $25 meter we only have we have 545 single meters at six but I don't know what that means $5,000 could be not to exceed excuse me please would you come to the mic cuz we'd like to hear your information and thank you for being being here with us problem from what I'm understanding is that $75,000 is not to exceed cap but it is $660 per meter per for for Support Services when needed no I I don't know so is this a this is a not to exceed contract there's a total of 114,000 that's not to exceed part of it is for Support Services maintenance services and some part of it is when people pay the credit card fees that credit card fees come you know part of that goes to that's fine that's the 39,000 I'm just trying to figure out what the $75,000 uh dollars is I I I I'm just not following this that 75 it says that's the average I get you a breakdown if yes that's the maximum not to exceed we know that no I I I get that's the max with not to exceed but what is the six 60 per meter what what does that what's that mean what does that mean I mean every time they go to service I will phone uh I will contact Manny and get you but I'm pretty sure that $660 per meter if they ask for Support Services the problem I tried to reach him today but he was out SI so mayor I have a question do we have any multi uh space meters this this only mentions that we have 545 single space parking meters we we recently bought some multispace meters for uh what's it in a parking lot it's a machine basically single meter is a single meter MTI is the pay station pay station pay station what is the lot that we recently bought I don't well there's one inessive no Midtown de mid mid has one and there is a lot also not parking deck there is a lot yeah I don't Council Williams was your question answered um do we need more information before we vote on this where are we this uh is it for discussion right no it's for a vote it's for it's up to you it okay it's just to Echo the the math is just 545 spaces at six .60 comes to like less than $4,000 so I think that's where just the question the confusion of where we're now saying it's 7 the annual cost is7000 per call maybe per call 660 per call uh per month let me do the per month if you did the per month it's just confusing this needs to be clear as as you know whatever and it's not clear and we can't we're new at this and we can't approve something that time of the essence here I I off to the next meeting okay yes so the motion's withdrawn and you're going to table it to the first meeting in November mayor okay I understand thank you moving along please to resolution r24 238 Okay resolution oh sorry resolution on R uh 24238 um resolution awarding a fair and open contract to Angels landscape contractors and Suburban sidewalks Inc for snow plowing and removal services for Township parking facilities bid number 24-10 ISO move ISO move second discussion yes councel toer thank you uh again I'm just trying to understand we're paying shoger we just bought a new salt remover now we have Angels Landscaping doing sidewalk and snow plowing um I guess my first question is is there an affirmative action report for this vendor and should it be attached to this because this was an issue that I had with sha group um without you know they don't hire minorities I just want to ensure before we're paying another company to do more work in town that their affirmative action report is up to date um and what would this contractor be doing that's different than what Sha could be doing or would be doing or contracted to do councilor Williams I think I know I think it's different parts of town because they enter manager laa this is parking facilities oh okay when did you stay parking facilities yeah this is only for parking we did the bid for one for the for the regular Township facilities and one bid for the parking facilities this is Park this uh this uh vendor was selected was bid for parking for decks and sidewalks around the parking me parking decks and the parking lots so you're saying Council to did that answer your question it yes it did but it just seems a little odd you know I mean if we have staff did you're saying well I guess we don't have enough staff to do the work supplementing these are also supplementing just like the three two three or four outside vendors to help us with snow yes these two it seems like these two are local angels and uh Suburban are local and okay and uh Mr Lola if you can please ensure that you can email me their affirmative action report should be on fire yes counselor thank you and can I just say something Council lochman I I just know that they at least hire one minority because the one minority is on one of our boards that works for this company thank you for that any further discussion please roll call please Deputy Mayor Anderson yes councilor Birmingham yes councelor damato yes councelor lochman yes councelor Toller yes councilor Williams yes mayor Baskerville yes Deputy Mayor please do the next resolution resolution r- 242 d239 resolution amending the fair and open contract of clear jacobe Alfieri Jacobs LLC as special councel for labor and employment matters for calendar year 2024 I so move second discussion roll call please Deputy Mayor Anderson yes Council Birmingham I'm sorry discuss yeah can I just ask is this for the um Police contract being negotiated no this is our this is our labor Council for the township that they handle uh Personnel they help out HR and they do uh employment litigation and investigations for the township okay thank you um yes Council deato yes councelor lochman yes councelor Toler yes councelor Williams yes mayor Baskerville yes thank you um Council Williams resolution R2 24240 resolution r- 24240 resolution requesting approval of items of Revenue and appropriation pursuant to njsa 4A 4- 87 2025 pedestrian bicycle uh School Bus Grant so move second discussion yes mayor yes I just have a basic question I I'm not clear on what EX actly this money is going to be going to like what yeah I what is it going to be used for I mean I'm I'm glad to see it's something to do with pedestrian bicycle school bus safety but um it's not clear from the stock this man whenever we're um the normal course is when we're uh asking that the revenue be included in the budget we don't include a me the finance does not include a memo explaining what it's for so whenever we're putting a accepting a a grant or amending our budget or asking local government services whether we can amend our to allow us to amend our budget we don't include a memo explaining what that Grant is if you look at the other ones but we can provide you with that information yes please it would be just good to know for yeah know I understand are we comfortable voting on this this evening Deputy Mayor I I would really like to get more information um before voting on it but I but this is just to accept money mhm okay it's I'm just like this is just to accept money yes okay okay all right well then then that's fine we're okay but I think we needed explanations we do right I was going to say can even though we we approve it and accept it if we can get a followup with what the money is going to be spent on and how it'll be utilized in the town will be appreciated absolutely thank you um councelor Toler and councelor lochman anyone else roll call please Deputy Mayor Anderson yes councel Birmingham yes councelor damato yes councelor lochman yes councelor Toller yes councelor Williams yes mayor Baskerville yes um resolution R 24241 um councel Toler thank you uh resolution r24 d241 resolution authorizing the award of a contract to NJ edge.net Inc under EDG Market Cooperative pricing system contract mss-1 19-2 for the Redundant internet circuits for the Township's internet access access for a period of 3 years um I so move but I have some questions second thank you sir uh councelor Toller um yeah I'm just trying to understand if this is Mr fan still here is this going to interfere with the um anything have to interfere with the 5G ordinance that may or may not be going on and if you can really explain what this is going no this is not going to be uh interv with the 5G ordinance this uh internet service provider is through fiber optics directly pulling cable to uh our uh uh data center at 1 Street okay um so for fire department so can I ask a question yes councelor lman so what is this this is really to have extra for the internet service for the township of monay yeah but when you say it's redundant service what I thought that meant it's like kind of a backup to case something we have uh on the contract they have two uh providers and then they have uh that the uh they all host the uh pull the fiber cable at one Pine Street with the different directions they not going to be pull at the same path in case one fiber optic go down for one provider and then the other one will be available yes and also and if one go down let's say on some somewhere in the uh path going to mon Clair uh something happens someone hit the utility post the other service provider will provide because he go to different route and then it will continue provide internet service to the T for good any further questions no Madam clerk please Deputy Mayor Anderson yes councelor Birmingham yes councelor deato yes councelor lochman yes councelor Toller yes councelor Williams yes mayor Baskerville yes thank you councelor deato please resolution R2 24241 r424 no it's no I'm sorry 242 uh r 24242 a resolution awarding a non-fair and open contract spatial data logic STL for proprietary software license agreement pursuant to njsa 4151 d d ISO move second discussion yes what is councelor Williams so I look through this and it says only five departments use the software and not sure what the software does so this sof is majority for the building and Co enforcement department they are issuing uh permit construction permit for the building department for the C enforcement they issue violations and also uh tax assessor uses to uh for the property information or look at the construction permit for the tax assessor office as well as a planning office in case of they to look at some certain property uh for the past construction permit what have SE done on that property but what does the software actually do generating the permit collecting generates the permit generating permit generating the violation collect the uh permit revenues oh what are they using now currently spal data that logic okay this is just a renewal we've been using this software for many years so this is the best option out there this is I am in the process working with Co enforcement and building department to look at the uh different uh software I think called GA OS because I do he back some feedback from the other department both departments they um post and con so I'm in the process looking to a Goos to do a comparison and also involving the department who is using this software daily to get their feedback okay so you're looking at other if you will and this is asking for one year yes one year up to uh May uh 30th of 2025 Council lochman so Mr fan if you move to another vendor is there a setup process that takes time or backup process that you keep the information that you've given in past years and is that included in pricing generally or how so that will be one the let's say we go to the get the proposal from the uh other vendor that's also setup process setup fee data transfer fee and that's all will be included will be considered put put in The Proposal so there's a cost to move to another vendor thank you uh most likely yes councilor is anyone else one councelor toer just one last question I see it says for 27 seat renewals is that 27 employees 27 computer okay thank you uh 27 computer plus one license is free this mention it is for the server because we hold Host this uh application on on premise thank you madam clerk Deputy Mayor Anderson yes councelor Birmingham yes councelor damato yes councelor lochman yes councelor Toler yes councelor Williams yes mayor Baskerville yes next resolution please uh resolution R 24243 resolution authorizing the award of a non-fair and open contract to Zen City Technologies us Inc for a software license agreement of the township manager office's strategy planning tool for a period of 3 years and ISO move second discussion Council dman councelor Toler councelor Williams um I I think councelor Toler mentioned it before too I I um why are we this seems to be for the township manager position as a strategy document of software to help with that process and if I I'm not sure if we're moving perhaps to a new town manager wouldn't we wait and see if that new town manager would want this kind of software or is this customary to have this or this was brought to my office from the township manager and then plus it's not just only for the township manager this is also for the planning and zoning department let's say they want to do a pilot program they can gather all the information feedback from the community from the social GA all the social media and everything into one portal and then they can help us analyzing um uh the data so we'll be data driven provide you data statistic report then not just help the manager also May and counsel to make the better decisions okay I'm sorry Council toer thank you um this is for three years though is there any way we can do this for one year or is the contract have to be for 3 years because as counselor um lofman stated you know if we're moving into a new manager we're not certain what his or her wishes or desires would be what to use and how to utilize it to work with other departments would it be more efficient you know dollar-wise to maybe enter into a one-ear cuz three years I'm just asking and what's being used now to honest this contract was brought to my office and then so okay so then Mr Lola can maybe answer that question you I I heard you manager okay uh this program while it's says the manager planning document uh system is really for the township this is brought to our attention by councelor Birmingham who has seen this work I believe in Princeton and other places it's a fascinating interactive thing with the community it's not for the manager him or herself but rather how to gather information how to provide information to uh to the public you would if you see how I I saw the demonstration for example if you have a project that's going on somebody can go in click on it and find all the information about it narratives Etc it's really a way to get information to and from the public to assist you in making decisions while it says it's for the manager it really is for the as much for the governing body no matter who the manager is if that's an accurate synopsis there councelor Council Williams I just I I I want to encourage these sorts of thinking outside of the box things but uh did they was this program run by the comm's person the new uh Communications person Ju Just because when I read through it it it seems that what it does is it goes out to social media and it goes out to different things and it it extracts information and tells you gives you feedback of what the constituents are thinking about but mon Clair's constituents aren't shy right yes councilor Birmingham um so I think Princeton has a good model of this and they have it's called a Civic engagement Hub and because one of the things I think when we say that montclair's constituents aren't shy it is a small amount of people who aren't like a lot of people are just living their lives and not coming to meetings or even not emailing us and and what this does so for like if we think about in the next 3 years what we have what we're going to be dealing with we're going to have loana Plaza we're going to have this complete streets all this Vision zero um Police Headquarters affordable housing lots of major the all of the infrastructure that we are going to be doing and with this software and it's $177,000 a year so it's not an enormous chunk of money but but you know but yes we want value of course for our money but like what this does is if you are you know you haven't been paying attention or maybe you are somebody who pays a lot of attention you can click on you know police station and then you can see every meeting that's been held the timeline for the project you can comment on the pro like you can put your words in there there so you don't have to come to the meeting you can literally put it it doesn't have to necessarily be an email to us and then they can count they can say we've gotten you know 50 emails about this project or we have people worried about this intersection etc etc it's just I I'm we don't necessarily have to I don't know if we have to vote on it tonight if people are not comfortable but I'm a big fan of transparency and one of the things I thought about laana Plaza is that it was not a transparent process and I think for me I think a lot of Discord might have been prevented if we could just be more transparent coun can can we see a demonstration so we know what you're talking about or how do we see that yes we can arrange that uh you think yeah I mean I think that would be great cuz I yeah I just have a question you say it can be collected who would be the collector of the information this uh will be run by the if I may may that will be run by the new communication director because at that time um when we when I put this together I'm the inum so that's why I'm putting out for the U put it up for the resolution for you guys to vote at but this will be run by the new communication director good mayor I have a couple of questions done I wasn't done oh I'm so sorry counc to that's okay I was letting Tony finish um the synthesizing of this info is going to take place when or about when if we approve this tonight actually the motion is in progress and then so if we approve it then we can start using it as of uh once the PO is cut and then by the finance department we can start using it within a week thank you you're welcome Deputy Mayor so uh I I like the description of what it does I it sounds like the kind of thing that can uh you know creates a lot of efficiencies around data analysis um and I think that's really good I did want to know is the three-year contract term is that their minimum I think that contract pricing is negotiated down already because I think the pricing is a little bit more than 175 per year since they are anxious to work with Township of monay I think they reduce the pricing to 175 per year okay but I just wanted to know if the the three-year term of the contract is what they require at a me I think they I think that was they recommended so if you want go to just one year the single year pricing may be increased more than 175 and then so that's something I have to reach out back to the uh the account manager and find out for you so you're saying the the longer the term the the lower the amount the multi-year contract is you pricing is lower that sometime we would do that same thing with the IPS the internet service provider we usually do a three-year contract get the better pricing from the providers or the vendors it sounds like it's worth trying councelor lochman and then councelor Williams yeah I I just wanted to know have you has um our new Communications person taking a look at this because he might be the major user so the person who look at this is myself uh uh Miss Norma tassy and Janice tally and we already look at that three person look at that the demo we already have a platform like a a demo platform for mon CL we already start looking into it so the Baseline is created again to make this um legally for the statute legally so we need a PO so and then due to a three-year agreement we need a resolutions and you all three thought it was a good idea yes three of us are con uh three Department had was concur agreed it oh thank you Council Williams yeah I I would like for the communications person to chime in on this also it it sounds like it's a good idea and I would also like to see a demo but I do do you do you mind if we we table paying paying for it tonight and then get the demo and get the coms person up on board and then revisit first yeah that's fine for me yeah so if you approve it the training will be continue because we kind of paus at that moment because we don't have a PO so we need if you want once a PO issue the training will continue we definitely including the new communication director who recently joined the the manager Office and then we will catch make sure he up today and then we I will contact the uh account manager because they had different time zon so uh let's see find out from them when we can do a a a live demo during uh council meeting Council oh I'm sorry uh Council Birmingham and then Council lochman so I think we're saying that for tonight we're going to table like we're not going to approve it because I think people don't know enough about it and so um perhaps and and you can see it like Princeton you can look at their site and there are other towns that that have it but if you want a demonstration maybe I will see if they have a a link that the YouTube link maybe give you like a five minute YouTube link if not then I will see if they can give you a live demonstration yeah and I don't even know if it has to be during a meeting if people want to just see it like you know yeah we probably if I can get if they don't have a link I Mayan we have a do or three different meetings yeah and so do you think your impression for communicating to people in the town about projects going on or eliciting information you think it would be yes it will make uh the communication director's job much easier to collect collect all the data and broadcast all the data to all the channel at all the social media Channel website they also collecting all the news from different news uh uh news media group and talk about Monclair whatever the project they have on going they're automated collecting those data so that is time saving gave you real data uh statistic and for you guys to make the decision help you guys make a better decision for the for the project moving forward or otherwise yes um I mean we've we've spoken about this before Mr fan but um for me personally what's most important would be to get a good and we have something already uh issue reporting system that is visible to everybody that creates tickets that allows problems to be not disappear and to be tackled so hopefully they have a module for this as well or we can integrate with our other software so that while the software you talking about I believe you is a q alert we for the resident to on the website or from the mobile app to reporting any uh Township issues such as street light potholes anything related to the township currently uh Department each department have a designated people to respond to the ticket close out the ticket and I believe if I'm not mistaken is uh Deputy Township manager Brian scan in charge of that yes M well uh enhancing that and making that an everyday tool for residents is will be the difference between uh I will work with the new communication director Matt to um do a another face liting up to broadcast out to the uh residents excellent excellent councelor do yeah just in line with that there should be something like right there on the front page of the website says problem push this button we do we did where is it I it's on the uh homepage one of the uh the top page one of the button and what's it report an issue well why don't you call it something different like it put stars around or something like problem complain here yeah all right we will and one more question is z what is it the is this a new company have they been around for a while yes oh they haven't so they're start this is a a lot I believe u Council Birmingham can verify that I think this software the zens city is been utilized a lot not just for local government they also use it for a lot of big Fortune oh okay thank you and I just think that moving forward as we begin to get our subcommittees in place when we have things like this that may um assist with Communications it would be a good idea to run it by our Communications subcommittee I know we haven't really you know talked a lot about them but I'm just a thought that communication subcommittee would be a great place for something like we just received a invitation from uh councilor Williams for our first meeting this Friday at 2m right great we look forward to having you with us okay moving moving right along then oh so we uh the motion to adopt that resolution is withdrawn and the governing body's tbling to November 12th yes understood thank you mayor I know she is uh where are we we are at the bill list okay um so Bill sorry uh the bill list resolution r- 24- 244 uh whereas invoices against the township of Monclair in favor of the following persons for the amounts set opposite their respective names have been received duly audited and found correct now therefore be it resolved by the Council of the township of Monclair in the county of Essex that said invoices be and they are hereby ordered paid and that checks be drawn by the finance department to the order of such persons for the amounts respectively and here and after stated on the schedule attached here to and made a part hereof total amount 1,597 354 98 discussion Madam clerk roll call Mayor may I have a movement in a second please I'm sorry uh can we just Who who okay who's going to move it you carel I did and I'll second it oh yeah thank you discussion um I have a couple of things what do we pay over the course of the whole year to dispose of grass cuttings is it like five times that bill a quarter of a million dollars like how much do we pay a year I don't know the answer I because it what is it in here $60,000 what am I looking at I don't what talking about Nature's choice H 867 $64,000 for the collection of disposable of grass cuting and which can be composted I mean I don't know I just feel like that's you know we're supposed to go through the bill list and there are a couple of things that pop out and by the way since I gave a shout out to one of my kids I'll give one to the other whose eyes popped out when I showed her the other one which was hazing the geese we we pay for Haz geese hazing which we had to look up is a thing but I I would love an explanation of at some point of why we're paying so much to get rid of grass when it I feel like we could put it somewhere and let nature do its trick but I'll pay for it if we already contracted for it roll call Madam Clerk so um I see that the rent is on we're paying rent on the senior community center is that that's the one month Security in the first month's rent one month and first mon the security oh Security Plus One Security Plus Security Plus One okay and then the my other question is I see the bunch of PSC and G bills um is this something that we're going like is this going to be coming under one bill in the future the goal would be uh to put all piercing jib bills compiled to one location which one person will be paying thanks and we have bed bugs somewhere um we had a uh yes we did we had a oh my God bed bug issue in this building actually where someone spotted a bed bug so we had some dog there a dog name Rosco Rosco came and did a search there were some hot spots but we did not find any more oh bed bugs we literally had an inspector say an inspector saw one bed bug in a hallway and we did have to get rid of some furniture that was quite old because there were some hot spots but we did not find any more bed in other words when Rosco doesn't leave you know there's a problem I don't that's a I'm not an expert in bed bugs but that I do remember I do when Rosco was here R's dog yes a big dog yes anyone else Madam uh clerk roll call please Deputy Mayor Anderson yes councelor Birmingham yes councelor deato yes councelor lman yes councelor Toler no councelor Williams yes mayor Baskerville yes okay um yes please is the mic on oh okay sorry I was able to get hold of Mr gero and he explained to me it's $660 per meter per month and plus the uh estimated repair cost and he said in the resolution they put $75,000 is the average per year paid in the last three years that is the reason he put $75,000 to not to exceed estimated cost okay um we're going to take a five minute break and then we're going to come back back um I I don't know what that is we're going to take a 5 minute break and then we're going to come back um and resume the meeting thank can we do this no e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e first well first they have to I think thank you very much okay so um we're back and thanks to Mariana horta for bringing us some delicious treats we appreciate you and we're moving on to resolution R 24244 manager I think you passed the H the bills list no I think it's the report oh I'm sorry um we're going to go to the 2024 best practices inventory results um thank you mayor I had emailed and also it's a long day already and and distributed copies of this this is a survey we required to do by um State Law Department of um DCA local government services and it's basically measures if you maintain certain things that they consider to be best best practices in good government that you have to reach a certain score in which in order to get 100% of your state aid we reach that score we have a score of 45 it's out of a possible it says 47 and the two issues that we didn't get the thing on or one the budget for this year was not introduced by February 10th and the other one is we do not have a official I I'm speaking we don't have an official uh uh hybrid uh alternate fuel um Fleet uh policy so once that happens next year we'll be get the sure 47 so um that's what it is but this is uh and if you have any other questions you're not required to uh vote on this um it was submitted to the state on Friday but it we are obligated to to discuss it in public and make it part of the record so great new the only two things that we did not get points on everything else excellent can we get extra credit for excellent I don't know if you get a 100 maybe you get like a lollipop or something I don't know so excellent anyone wish to make any comments yeah I just wanted to hear what uh Maja had to say did you have something to add to this or no no did very well except for those two points that miss Ma I'm sorry please speak into the mic cuz I'd love for the uh people at home to benefit from your wisdom okay um the survey has uh several unscored questions also these unscored questions are to just test it out the DCA is gathering data to introduce some new items for next year but otherwise it's generally like a uh the scored uh questions are generally like they give like a year Worth or something like a head up hey these are the kind of questions that are coming that will be scored uh towards the uh uh towards your your score with the full um to get the full amount of the state aid if we don't get a minimum required amount uh of score which is 35 here in this year it is 35 points is a minimum score if we don't get we will lose a certain portion of state aid but um uh we got very good except like two points we missed other than that we did very well so we get the full 100% of the state all right thank you do you have anything just one more question okay just make sure councel I'm sorry councelor Toler were you I'm finished you any more questions yes I just want I just had a question from Mr bar if he had any input from this and he said no he didn't okay councelor lock I just want to ask the manager who fills this out the uh I fill that out but I'll gather all the information from all departments because as you can see many of them are Department related operational question before it's filed the the clerk and I both have to approve of it yes thank you I I have a question please manager who is our um ethics board we don't have an Ethics board okay but we didn't lose any points from that no mayor okay is that a good thing for us to have an Ethics board um eics it's something you might want to consider yes whose ethics are you talking about I'm reading I'm reading on um page government officials uh you and the employees of right I'm I'm reading on on here and they ask about an Ethics board and I'm always interested in ethics and I was just wondering if it's something that we'd want to consider moving forward since you were kind enough to share the document with us I guess we'll talk about that another time okay no further discussion and um at this point in time we're going to move into executive session you no no no no I'm sorry we're we're not going to do that I I I'd rather that we do the good of the order first and then go into the executive session because I know that a lot of people at home um want to hear what's going on and I know that since we did not have an opportunity some of You may wish to make comments regarding uh some of the things that were said earlier during public comment or just share with the public so at this point in time I'm going to um go we're going to have good of the order and we're going to start with councelor Toler thank you um just a few reminders for the community of some uh upcoming events the ARA Lodge will be having a Halloween party this Thursday uh 173 173 Glen Ridge Avenue from 5: to 8: there will be some adult fun in town for Halloween Vanguard theater costume paper plane is having an event Montclair um out Montclair is having a bingo event at just Jake's um all ticketed so you can visit their website just a gentle reminder about first Thursdays at the mclair art museum which is November 7th uh Dia de morto am I saying that correctly Day of the Dead event at Monclair Art Museum from 5:00 to 9: um we're going to do recognition for our veterans the brave men and women who have served uh Township Veteran Day service will be held at Edgemont Park on 1111 24 at 11:00 a.m. um our Township cop Drive initiative will soon be underway we're partnering with St James Church uh please stay tuned for more information about that on our website uh I want to thank mayor baville for initiating our Halloween treats today with families uh and with the help of the the HR Director and I believe Miss tassy was involved in helping with that as well it was a really fun day this this afternoon for the children and families and we want to thank Mike for his wonderful wonderful gelotti um these two things that I'm going to mention here are from our last meeting but I think they're still relevant to today we didn't have this good of the order the last time because we got out so late um I just wanted to congratulate our newest police officer uh Lewis albanes who was uh successfully completed his one-year Pro probationary period uh so welcome to the Monclair family and we want to congratulate Chief con 40 for his recognition by the essis county Italian Heritage committee for his outstanding work in the community and Beyond we need to give a special thank you to our custodian Michael Perez who works right here and also at the monair in National National custodians day was um October 3rd and as I stated we weren't able to do good of the order then um gentle reminder for our seniors the senior tax frees program the deadline will be Halloween October 31st if you haven't done so please visit the website you can get all the information you need there um again special thanks to Chief coni and Deputy young uh for their meeting with myself and the residence of Hilltop Place um I believe that we had a productive meeting um the residents were able to leave and feeling a bit safer in the community with some things that were presented to them so just just wanted to extend a thank you to them um again another hearty thank you to miss deed Malloy and the entire landlord tenant advisory committee members uh for their dedication hard work and due diligence to the residents of Montclair um I'm going to acknowledge Miss tally she and I met about two weeks ago um I want to thank her for agreeing to host the first ever public hearing on the Community Development block grant funding um I think it was a great meeting the residents were a ble to share pertinent information uh regarding the best use of funds they would like to see for improvements within the fourth ward in those specified areas another bit of information for our fourth ward residents the Monclair police department has a community service unit and our designated officer is Lisa Peterson she is our liaison for the fourth ward she's available to assist residents with any and all police related questions or matters uh you can easily spot officer Peterson throughout the fourth ward whether she's on foot riding a scoot or a bike she proudly proclaims proclaims her monair mounty status if you see her in her blue mounty shirt say hello take a minute to greet her and have a chat um I did want to respond to the thoughtful emails that were sent from uh Monclair United Soccer is it club club thank you um the portray of events as having been conducted in a sneaky way is entirely unfounded uh I think if anyone had taken the time to review the meeting that night instead of relying on a misleading narrative from an email they would have been able to see for themselves that nothing was handled converted um the turf item was a item up for discussion and during those talks I was asked if I wanted to put it to a vote to which I replied yes now if that's considered being sneaky then so be it but it's not anything that was done in any sneaky manner um again and I was asked and I said yes um I believe it's essential for our community to take the initiative to research information independently rather than being misled I do value the numerous emails and conversations I've had with families over the past two weeks and a common theme and their feedback was that many of them did not attend the meeting nor go back and verify for themselves actually what transpired that night but it's okay we got through tonight it was great to hear from all the wonderful athletes and families and students and as we mentioned earlier in the meeting that we're going to work as a unit and perhaps meet with some stakeholders and figure out what the best next steps will be um on a different note I just want to say that I firmly believe that words matter and we should select them carefully when discussing other colleagues the notion that a colleague who believes they possess Superior knowledge over their peers regardless of reasoning must acknowledge that we are all equals with no hierarchy among counselors decision making is always free from malice or ill intent and not every topic Pro possesses uh necessites approval or justification from other counselors instead we should embrace our Collective uh expertise as we strive toward the shared goal of enhancing our community in conclusion while I understand that some colleagues may wish to expand their knowledge or may be unfamiliar with certain topics it's vital to Foster an environment of mutual respect furthermore there should be openness to learn about areas that may be unfamiliar without preceive preconceived judges without respect our governing body will function no better than those who came before us thank you I just I just one um question please councelor Toller when you mentioned and I heard a couple of people earlier mention that there was never a public hearing on Community Development block grants ever before what is what exactly does that mean um well I like I said when I SP spoke with Janice uh Miss tally via Zoom we had a meeting and she said that no there hasn't been one for a public hearing uh Monir local picked up a story as well stating that there was never a public hearing and I think what she meant was as far as Community engagement having residents come to the table and have a say as far as what they would like to see or have done with funds utilized in specific areas and so I I I I'm just a little concerned because the when it says public hearing um I recall for at least 12 years that we had um situations that were called public hearing and they were for the um people that wanted to apply to come in and tell the rest of the people that were here about their application and what they were doing right um I don't recall a um situation where just the community came in although we did have several where the community came in to learn about about the um what you can use it for so I'm just maybe semantics but I don't want people to think that for years there were no right opportunities for the public to be heard or for the people to talk about their applications and for people to learn because we've always had learning opportunities we had some in the um fourth ward in the firehouse and we had some in this building great so I'm just trying to figure out and well I don't mean to cut you off I apologize no no no not at all I was just trying to get clarification on exactly Janice you know I went on our website and looked at how the Community Development block grant information was posted it was very vague it wasn't very clear um it almost made you feel like if you were a resident and not a nonprofit you don't have a say at the table or can even participate in the discussion I also mentioned to Jack Janice and I think I sent it via email I may have copied some of you that I went on other municipality websites and when you look up Community Development block grant the information is Crystal Clear almost tap dancing at you that residents are 100% entitled to be part of the discussion and should be part of the discussion Janice then had I guess Mr fan changed the language on our website so that it reads more user friendly it's not as vague um so a lot of the residents felt like this is the first time they've ever heard of this okay that they can actually have a say um overall it was a good night so thank you for cing I heard it was a wonderful night and and I applaud you for taking the initiative to pull it together I was just sitting here and I heard it so many times I just felt the need to um let people know because just as some people came here and suggested that the um Vote or or the thought that we might have voted on the turf was something that was um you know underhanded type of thing when you hear that there was never any public hearing it might send the wrong message to people absolutely ABS thank you very much I appreciate you and Janice yes sir manager I just want to add that this was advertised for the entire Township that it was open to everyone based on some of the comments from the public that was not clear and the other thing just for the way the process works we will receive the applications from all the interested parties they will be given to you there will be a pres at our meeting first meeting in December they will make presentations you individually will score them and then we'll calculate them and allocate the money based on your scoring so and that's for the nonprofits not necessarily the one that Janice is going to present from the information she got from the residents yesterday so just to make that clear and one other thing that I have to say and I apologize if I'm monopolizing the no but then can you just clarify that because the projects that um come in for the that the township will put forth we used to have a say so in that we're not going to have a say so we do but I was just saying that the manager was saying that we're going to score but the scoring is the nonprofit agencies I don't know if the scoring involves what Janice is going to compile based on what res usually we just discuss those as a group and then decide which township problem you know where we want them to go yeah you make a decision in terms of any money you want want to allocate to a municipal uh project different we don't make a presentation and it's also just not it's not just for the fourth ward although the overwhelming uh majority of all the areas that actually qualify are in the fourth ward and councelor toer as you were kind enough to tell me that the map demonstrated that this year the only areas in town are in the fourth supplied yes yeah this is it's just it's just um a new thing and I thank you for helping me with that because I know in the past there have been other are areas other than in the fourth ward that financially um were eligible now perhaps because of the um amount of development that we've had now there's just nowhere else in the township unless she just gave areas highlighted in yellow that were in the fourth perhaps because of the meeting because I know in the past even like some of the walkways that we have in areas um that are not in the fourth ward in the past I know that many of them have qualified to be looked at as town ship properties and some of the other things that some of the groups that service at least 51% of people that are in the low and moderate income group would then you know qualify those groups would qualify and they may not be in the fourth Bo physically she's going to share the map and the PowerPoint with everyone and I'll make sure that you get a copy like I said what she gave us last night um it was for the fourth ward the areas in yellow is she said what we should focus on one other thing I just wanted to make sure this is for the township manager that at our next meeting the presentation will go on I know that we have some new set of rules if you will on how we put things on the agenda but this was asked back in September 28th for a presentation on the state Rags God for the no no not for the state so that we understand uh Redevelopment law and it wasn't on for today so I'm not sure what happened there but I'm just asking now that it's going to hopefully be on I believe I responded that the attorney it's not rord dancing okay but whomever it is I got it I don't understand what happened yeah I'm I'm sorry councelor toer are we still talking about Community Development no no no I that on a separate note I was just is the RS no I didn't mean the RS I meant the uh State Redevelopment laws is a presentation that I asked okay so that's going to go what concern Pilots a whole bunch of things regarding lack of water at the conference meeting MH okay November the 9th well no Mr laa said that it would go on for the next meeting in November not the conference meeting not not our special meeting I should say 12th the 12th 12th okay all right thank you saying okay I thought for presentations we want three people to confirm November the 12 this was submitted back in September 28th prior to the new workings of the order of agenda that you guys created and wanted to do so so just you want to hear this and you don't know if any other counselors want to hear regulations it's not for Reg this is for the Redevelopment law so that we as counselors understand what our rights are what we can ask it has to do with Pilots it has to do with a lot of things I've sent many emails to everyone if you like for me to forward to you again I will I would like to know about the Redevelopment but I had a second and back in September 28th Redevelopment laws Pilots all sorts of things things that we don't know okay when we had the presentation when we design this is going to be 10 minutes we'll see well no cuz we're not going to just see without we're going to um give a certain amount of time because we're limiting the amount of time so I would imagine it'll be more than 10 minutes okay so I would imagine we're going to give it a Max of 15 minutes because that was the other thing that we discussed in Communications thing that we didn't want to just take up that so can we get it get it you know whatever an a brid an a bridge presentation that'll be quite aim of 15 minutes can I just ask though like we're GNA pay a lawyer for a billable hour of like I don't know $400 and then they're going to come for for for 15 minutes like I don't oh I'm confused like we're gonna get a because they're going to probably bill us to make a presentation and to to give the come here so is there a cost involved in this I I think that's I would assume I would assume there would be I didn't I yes there's a cost in that that you are right it will be how much like I believe I think their rate is 185 an hour okay so they're only going to do 15 minutes so is there a minimum they have a minimum but they're going to prep they're going to come they're going to sit the travel time you don't want to do it you don't have to do it the amount of money should not be the issue as far as knowing to do I well first of all $185 for somebody to come and tell us about things that will will be in the millions tens of millions of dollars as a bargain uh there were uh residents who questioned why at a previous meeting we had a developers attorney answering our questions and I thought that that was a very legitimate critique of what we were doing I was like oh you're right you know so having our own attorney to answer some questions and and I don't I I would say maybe they can talk for 15 minutes and then we can ask them questions and and you know and see where we go with that but we are about you know we are always dealing with these issues and and they change and I I for one I'm pretty new to it so I'm I'm for it I think it would be eliminating I'm not a I'm not actually against it but 15 minutes is like to to go over Redevelopment law is not enough time if we're paying for it this was submitted prior to we us putting in place what we have now for presentation so I mean whatever if the council wants it to be whatever let me just tell my my problem is that we spend time meeting Communications Committee just met and we all agreed on what was going to happen and I was really fortunate to have the team that we have and then we get in here today and I'm saying okay they say don't go past one hour so I'm like okay the time is up in 1 hour soone so no let them keep going so we're we're wasting time and if we're not going to adhere to the laws that we set for ourselves then let's let's just don't do it let's just say hey let's just sort of leave things open and go with the flow CU I don't mind I think I'm I'm much more like go with the flow type of person than maybe some of you all who want these laws in place but once we put them in and I digest that and I'm trying to run a meeting based on what we say then it's it's very difficult right so if we're not going to stick to 15 minutes I'm fine we can just say since this happened before that it's very important 15 minutes is good as an opening thing I think it's good whatever the majority of the of the group says since councelor Toler is saying this happened in September before we had this in place we can just invite them in and whatever the council whatever the council wants to um parameters they wish to put in if we are paying that person in particular if they say yes we have a you know hour and a half presentation and that's fine with the majority of the group I think that they need to give a presentation for more than 15 minutes they can stand up talk give an you know we can say tell us 15 minutes worth of stuff that you think we need to know that we might not already know and then we can ask them questions and prepare and go back and forth but it's good you know we don't want to make it in a public meeting you know two hours long because people will you know will fall asleep but if but it's a good start to start at 15 minutes and then and then we can you know we should encourage people to be brief you know because I always whatever the majority of the council what say the rest of the group that's how you know but arene Carmel Deputy manager rum what what do you guys say I mean I would first of all like to be very clear about what this presentation's topic is and what the aim of the top I mean I very specifically what law what you know what we are looking to get out of it um if it's you know if you want it to be about Redevelopment laws uh Pilots I highly doubt that it's going to be limited to 15 minutes um I think the whole point of having uh creating this agenda um making process was to make things more efficient for us for our meetings to be focused on business um as well as give the public an opportunity to do public comment I don't necessarily think that it's a great use of our time um or the Public's time to um have presentations that are longer than necessary to convey information so um that is why you know we sort of created this this agenda to limit the number of presentations and the amount of time it takes so Council lochman will oh he had his oh I'm so sorry Council Williams I'm probably going to say something that councelor L is going to say anyway I say it in a deeper voice with more Authority so I've made myself known on presentations I think presentations I think should be done in the town hall format for anybody that is interested in that particular topic to just come and you can make the town hall as long as you want but I think for the purposes of these meetings I think that we should focus on on the business now I I do understand that we're probably going to have presentations on budgets and stuff like that that I think is a little bit different but uh these kind of special topics while we're all you know should should know the these topics it just doesn't lend itself to to these meetings I I I think that you know we should have them town hall and it it's not specific this one this my my understanding on on all presentations but that's just me so yes Mr Williams you took the words right out of my mouth but with respect to this particular issue we are in the process of negotiating a Redevelopment agreement do we really want to have a presentation on Redevelopment agreements when we're in the throws of doing this you're opening up a can of worms I think you're going to have debate about Pilots do you want Pilots do you not want pilots and I don't think that I don't think we need to listen to everybody going the going on and on about it we are you know the people are working on this on the EDC we will ask the right questions we will get the information out of the attorneys we'll get the information out of Mr Burr we'll come back to the committee here um and you know give you our recommendation you'll be looking and have discussions you'll be looking at the agreement yourselves we have um excellent attorneys I hope who are working on this I don't see why involving the public on an issue that's going to be raise a can of worms you know we got already got cancer worms open and we don't need to this one especially since we have a Time clock on this where it's got to get done you know I just I don't that's why we should have never agreed you should have never put in a Time Clock CU how do we learn and you just said you hope we have an attorney or we we have an attorney we have an attorney working on the Redevelopment agreement you have an attorney and and excuse me go ahead mayor may I yes sir if my I was asked for an opinion uh I would have stated that I don't think you need a presentation from your uh Redevelopment Council who's your attorney in a public meeting you could have had an attorney client executive close session can do that too we have I have questions to discuss and I think what the questions that you are that you have revolve around the process of going through a Redevelopment agreement which was I had put out of order last time I said Financial agreement Redevelopment agreement but the Redevelopment agreement with the redeveloper and then the financial agreement and what that looks like and I agree with carmell you don't want to do that in open public meeting when you're in the midst of negotiations with the redeveloper but if you have those questions we bring ERS MC bearon in closed session for as a group as a you want the whole Council to ask question otherwise you run it through one of your committees right fin how we do that during the Clos session how under I mean contract negotiation contract negotiation so if you're looking at your uh your resolution for executive session there shows you the exemptions the list of exemptions and we would look for which one of those fals it could be attorney client you're getting consultation from your attorney or uh contract negotiation okay I mean can I may I yes I'm sorry Council lman when we have the draft from outside Council and yourself we can all get it we can look at it we can have questions we can talk at at a executive session with the attorney at that point I think it's kind of it's premature to be you know doing this now and I don't think it should be done during the public because this is an active contract negotiation that's going on right now now Council Birmingham what what are your thoughts oops um I think that probably makes sense to because I think it accomplishes both goals in terms of learning about Redevelopment law and a contract negotiation but also making it gerain to loana you know to the to the actual um relevant issue so I think and I think it's then it can be a little bit longer than 15 minutes if that's what we want so I would think closed session when the time is right is for me that would make sense yes councilor damato I just thank the township attorney for cutting through the mustard and um sign me up okay um coun councelor Toller yes how are you feeling about um the discussion that you've heard and the suggestion I think it's wonderful I think it's great um this has this is not about a contract or anything um I just think we as counselors don't have enough knowledge on what we can and can't be involved in um as counselor damato stated when we had the first discussion we had to use the developers attorney to answer some questions for us and that just didn't make sense we don't know what we can do we had to fix a resolution sitting right here that night so um I think it's just in my best interest if the C doesn't want to do it then you know I'm outvoted it's not a big deal and what I'm saying is we don't even understand what we're supposed to do or can do so who are we relying on and how do we know that this is the right thing to do we need to educate ourselves if we're going to be moving forward but you don't think we can do that in in the order thaty this wasn't this wasn't meant for like a big Public Presentation or having cans come out of a worm or what have you it's just it was a meeting for us this is something that I was trying to do a couple of months ago but I didn't get any response back but yeah we can do this behind closed doors executive session we can do it on the weekend whatever is most you know is going to work for everybody but I just think in the best interest of development law when it comes to Pilots do we what kind of Pilots can we ask for what kind of all kinds of things we need to know and where are we getting that information from we're going to wait until we get a final document again and then have to sit and have try to fix it I don't understand that part we should at least be knowledgeable about what it is we can be involved in what say we can have and take it from there Deputy Mayor councelor Toler I'm I'm appreciative of your desire to have us all have information that we need to vote on things and make decisions I just really want to be clear like the Pres are you concerned with the presentation your intent behind the presentation to get more information about how to evaluate the Redevelopment agreement or the project itself because okay because I have no knowledge and I don't think any of us have any knowledge on which way we're going how we should go about it so again um I mean I think we've been presented with the process we've been advised on the process the Redevelopment agreement and the financial agreement they're going they're being negoti they're in the process of being negotiated but do we as counselors have an opportunity to be involved in those negotiations this is just an off-the-wall question I'm just asking it's our it's going to be our responsibility to review the agreements when they're ready to be reviewed that's going to be our responsibility and so I think what people are proposing is rather than having um you know rather than having a presentation is when the drafts are ready for our review you know we can have the EDC do a purse pass and then everybody everybody around this dis is going to have the opportunity and has a responsibility to review the contract and at that point I think what I'm hearing is from you know the other counselors is that at that point we could ask for a closed meeting with um the Redevelopment Council and ask any questions I'm definitely not in favor of EDC getting the first shot at it before the rest of the coun all be aware of what what is what is that's my point so why don't we have a just I would like the knowledge to yeah why don't we have a closed session sooner then like why don't we do what councelor Toler is proposing but do it in close session because then if we have specific questions about the cont contract we can ask them in private like why don't we can we do that I'm I'm I'm I'm with that councelor toer does that sound yeah yeah yeah plus I just want to emphasize the element of confidentiality here which we've seen some well whatever councilor Williams the Yankees are winning they were down in the beginning of the game that's good news okay so um did you finish with the comments that you wanted to make Miss Toler for now yeah sure yes I'm done all right thank you very much we're going to move on to councelor Williams good to the order good evening good evening so I I don't have a I don't have a lot to discuss uh just a couple of things for folks in the third W that are still up and watching um farest Street my uh my folks on farest Street we we are working on on ordinance there to uh to make one side of the street the east side of the street permanent only as requested with the many signatures that you you got we're working on that hopefully we'll have that up for discussion at the next at the first meeting in November uh I'm also a part of the mobility sub committee there's a committee and then there's subcommittee I'm on the subcommittee uh and we're dealing with overnight parking so I know uh one of the constituents from the First Ward came out tonight about that so we're working on that we got some uh important data that we needed to kind of make some sort of decisions which we'll make decisions and then we'll pass it off to the council uh you know for their them to chime in also and last but not least I you know I'm going to hold myself accountable to get this off the ground uh I'm planning on putting together a kind of a basketball tournament for you know some of the old folks like myself in uh in Montclair and uh the plan is to have a team from each Ward uh be put together and I SP to some of my counselor colleagues already about this and it'll be a game uh a day of games you know and uh hopefully it'll be a fundraising me mechanism where the winning team the the charity that they chose would get the the proceeds that were raised for that day it's kind of a way to get folks that don't necessarily get to Vibe with other folks in different Wards together for a day of fun and stuff like that I think mayor Baskerville said she's going to put on her cherle and outfit I am inde so so I'm I'm gonna the one thing I'm going to do is it's going to be an age uh limitation so we want kind of the the older older folks to play because I think there's plenty of of stuff for the young people I don't want to get hurt right ceg maybe well we'll we'll talk we'll we'll talk about it we we can we can make it co-ed we can make it co-ed um so anyway this there's a lot to be done in in terms of that I I'll be seeking feed feedback from folks and anybody's listening here that they're interested feel free to email me about it but uh that's the plan and that's all for me I I have a question about what you said with the East Side permit parking only are we planning to have a a public community meeting for input and how does this work because um if we start going down that very slippery slope it seems as though anyone anywhere else that wants to have permit parking only like I'd like to just be able to park in front of my house as well so I want to know how we're going to do this parking thing and we're going to do it peace meal like some residents on Forest say they just want to have permit only on their street so only them can park there and taking away parking from the rest of the residents in town and I'm just trying to think about it in terms of the entire Township because we have to do whatever we do with with you know some Similan of equity so if we're going to do that there then I would assume everybody else is going to come Woodland and say hey I only want to have permit parking on Woodland in front of my house you know for those residents so how are we doing this so great great question so I think the the folks on farest Street they have uh different situation than maybe some of those other folks whereas at the end of Forest Street they have the Midtown deck and what's happening on Forest Street or folks that are visiting businesses in the area are coming there and they're parking on the streets on on both sides and the deck sits empty so this the residents this was sponsored by the residents of farest Street they want to they want a way where folks will be forced to park in the parking de that don't live on the street so the permit parking will be available and it's not we're not talking about overnight parking we're talking about during the day during the day parking will be available for residents of only residents only of far a far street so that they can have a better quality of life and you know these folks that visit the areas they'll still have plenty of parking because the the Midtown deck is underutilized yeah I I get it but I'm just saying so then why don't we give them you know um some parking spaces in the Midtown deck maybe the people that are parking they don't want to park in the deck and once you do that just like in the South End Business District right everybody wants to park on the street there and say for example there's a religious institution there and they take up all of the streets in there all of the time so once we start this there other people and there are a lot of streets even by The Grove Pharmacy right where people park there to go to the train station I know we've done some types of thing I just want us to make sure that we're thinking about the whole Township and not just making this a private Street type of a situation for the farest Street residents and um if you've given it a plenty thought and you're not planning on having a public community meeting to hear from the the public that's just something new and a little bit different and it's sounding as though we're trying to turn you know um Community things into little private um my street type of thing when really these not my streets they're our streets all all good all good feedback but when we put this up for an ordinance or for discussion everyone can come in and discuss it and if folks on De don't like it then they can vote it down I mean it's I'm I'm just a single person that's Tak taking the feedback from constituents in my group I am you know putting something forward I'm sponsoring something I have to get someone else on the day to sponsor it as well it comes before everyone else and they can chime in and say hey I don't like this because you know this is going to start something or whatever case may be and that and that's perfectly fine but I I do think that the instances that you're you're mentioning versus this it's a little it's a little different uh not necessarily making it a private Street uh so that's impacting anyone else in town there is parking available right there in the Midtown deck is just that no one's using it because there's free parking right there which is you know blocking up both side of the street so this is only on one side of the street so so I'm I'm going to ask though then we have to set some guidelines all of us as a group all seven seven us as to when you know things that affect the entire town Township need to be you know publicly advertised so that the entire Township can have a voice just like when we're talking about lacana we had public comments so everybody can come and we're talking now about a public Street not a private Street maybe people don't want to park there maybe they don't have money maybe they don't like decks and you're saying well they can read this maybe those people don't even look at our agendas I don't know the situations I'm just trying to think you know make sure and what would be the problem with having a a community meeting where you announce that we will have the meeting you know and for the purpose of discussing this maybe maybe nobody wants to um you know maybe nobody cares I don't know I'm just really trying to think down the line what we may be creating maybe nothing and I receive with what I receive what you're saying counselor I'm just trying to figure out a headache yeah I think you're Bas I'm sorry you're you're basically responding to requests that you got right you said the for street street res mon Clair Park Walnut Parkway that's a self-enclosed Maple Street I guess these are requests that you got I think that's what you're trying to respond to you're not broadening it to the whole town so I mean we'll never get anything done if we don't respond to the requests that we've gotten if we keep having you know Community meetings and all that so I'm with you we home we have to we need to do that as a council and decide then that we're going to turn the neighborhoods into private parking for the Neighbors if they request it and we're not going to announce it publicly for the rest of the residents I have a problem with that because I like transparency and I promise transparency and I think that that is taking away an element of transparency I don't know who the people are that are parking there they could be people that work there and maybe they don't have money to go to thing I don't know the situation for them but I just think when we have public streets and we're now taking a block of Park away from the public the public have a right to come in and comment maybe no one will show up I don't know it just seems like we're it's not as transparent as it could be well so I don't think you get more transparent than this we're streaming I'm talking into a microphone it's not done in secret it's going to be put on an agenda that's going to be on the website it's not going to get pass the first time anybody that wants to come out come it's not being done in secret it's being done out in an open and anybody up here that doesn't um like like it and thinks that it's a slippery slope can vote it down and this this is the whole purpose of of the commit there's a process in place here really um where anything that is going to be passed in the law in terms of an ordinance or resolution it comes up for discussion before everyone right it may it may start out in the committee but it comes to everybody for them app Pine just like your planning on this right now and it's fine if if you don't like it and ultimately if it comes up here it may fail so it's it's up to me to convince everybody that this isn't a slippery slope situation this is kind of a unique situation where there is a solution here in ter I mean the the other thing if if it's not uh permanent parking you just make it 1 hour parking so everybody has to move their car uh every hour I mean well at least it's Equity then so that people that don't just live there there have an opportunity to park there if they want to the folk I I don't I I think the the folks that since this was sponsored by the folks that uh the young man that came here and gave me the petition in front of all of you I mean that that was the transparency I I I didn't make this up they when I was campaigning I went to far Street and knocked on doors and that was the one thing that everybody said no one uses the deck they all Park here free parking they leave their uh cars here all day it it narrows it here all day long and they've been consistent with this for they use the deck then they don't really care that no one is using the deck their thing is I want to park in front of my house and I want to make driveways they have driveway then why do they care who's parking in front of their house because they get a lot of traffic from the businesses in they do any lives near business de or a school well that's why they're making the request it's it's it's incumbent upon their inent webent it's not going to work IED that let me just let me speak okay it's incumbent upon me as their representative to listen to them I receive CFT craft uh legislation bring it to everybody put it up for a vote if it gets vote voted down it gets voted down yeah right but it's not that simple because you're assuming that the majority of people in this Township are sitting at all watching this meeting and the majority of them are not most of them don't even know who we are and that's the truth after 4 years most of the people in this Township won't even know who the Town Council people are and they're not sitting home watching that and I don't know if any of the people that park there regularly do or don't so no this is not my idea of transparency that you know people yes we're we're on TV okay come on but anyway I'll I'll rest I just think if we're gonna start crafting uh legislation as you said and creating ordinances we need to think about the whole Township and parking not just a specific block because I know in the fourth ward there are plenty of areas where people Park their cars and get on the trains and they're there all day so and there plenty of homes in the fourth W without driveways so if you're going to take far street with people who have driveways and their complaint is people are parking in front of their homes it just seems a little weird to me I just think it needs to be a bigger discussion for all all four WS to just think about what would be the overall good look for parking I think I think it's I think it's specific to different Wards you have a different situation than the fourth ward than the Third Ward and the first and the First Ward right um maybe the third and fourth W that really have the most issues well but but so in one situation you know what I I I'll speak I'll speak to you offline okay I rest and and thank you for trying to help me better understand that um so did you have anything else you want to talk about let's go Yankees okay deputy mayor uh well first of all early voting um is now through November 3rd so um there's I go to the one in Verona um the Verona Community Center I hope um people take the opportunity to go um beat the lines on Election Day um devali starts uh November first so um I want to say happy deali to all the families and people who are celebrating um I wanted to just give a very brief update on the um on the manager search um myself and the mayor you know have been in touch with um the CEO and um just a very quick update um a basic job description was posted on the league of municipalities website um a few weeks ago we got uh um we got a good number of resumés um com in through that additionally um a brochure a town brochure with an ideal candidate profile uh which we all contributed to all seven of us as well as um a senior staff was created by um JPM that was also posted on uh the um website of the international City County management association um that that website recent uh that was just done last week um and uh um right now we are we are getting recommendations um from JPM about the candidates that um that we we would we would send uh an initial questionnaire to to get a very high level overview of their executive um experience and um from that we would um decide who we want to bring in for an initial interview so that's where we are in the process um I wanted to just really quickly also just say I mean we we've all been I think all seven of us have been working really hard you know engaging with constituents and and and um doing a lot of really um really tough hard work um just a couple of things that I've been um working on with um members of the Human Services committee um and um missions where we are a resident actually brought this up um we have been working on the skip the stuff ordinance we are hoping to um we're you know planning a whole um uh Outreach um plan um you know uh getting feedback from restaurant owners um and uh we are hoping to get that ordinance on the agenda for a first reading at the end of November I believe hopefully hopefully it'll happen end of November or early December um so that's exciting news um and like um councelor Williams said um we are working on an over the looking at the overnight street parking um a group of us are are working on looking at that ordinance um to see what um criteria we could set around how decisions how we as a council decide what streets are approved um to be added to the list where overnight street parking with a permit um is allowed because I know that several of us um councelor Toler councelor Williams um counselor lockman we've all been getting requests and we um I think we all recognize that we don't want to become a town where every you know every street um overnight street parking is allowed but um you know exceptions have been made in the past by the council so um we want to just kind of create some guard rails around that I I should say um I also just really quickly wanted to just reinforce something um you know clarification that the mayor made about the uh CDG um the Community Development block grants program um because I I just want to try to be as precise as possible and I know that the application is going to be opening up on the Essex County website I think at the end of the this week and so regarding the capital projects that were brought up um you know the eligible I in order to qualify um the the capital projects that are proposed have to be located within this income eligible um area of town um and I think I believe that the majority of those areas are U within the fourth ward however um if the project if a capital project would serve a special population like the people with disabilities or seniors what have you those can be located anywhere in town so I just wanted to make that clear like for example the um bathrooms at the public library the main branch of the public library they were made ADA Compliant through um one of these grants and that is in the four and it's in w three so I just wanted to clarify that y thanks that's that's that's what I said before I just didn't tell them specifically all the projects I can probably tell you for the last 12 years what they all were but yep um anything else that you wanted to to talk about that's all for now okay councelor lochman Susan I just wanted to ask you a question since I didn't go to the meeting about the the process um there's no hearing is there there's no Community input that's given on the capital projects right that's just what we decide we want to do and then we just there's no input really that we get I mean I think that's what one of the reasons why I yeah I mean I I I I I appreciate that councelor Toller um had uh you know many of the fourth word residents there because you know the township projects that are capital projects what would probably come from you know they can come from ideas brought by residents which you know happened but they don't have to you know that's all I'm saying they don't have to the residents don't really have a say it's just based on what the council wants to do no residents do have a say I mean the council are the ones that are deciding on the project we decide on it correct but it's based on Community engagement right which Janice talks to the community and gets the you know comes up with some ideas yeah she had scheduled that meeting process the nonprofit agencies even though Janice was saying 40 to 50% uh should be allocated it's really about 15% so this would actually leave more money for Community engagement process well it depends on what our needs are within the 12 years you know nothing's really been done in the fourth W with that money so I think it's not much not much I don't think that's true tell me where something happened in the fourth ward they give M to she shared she shared a lot of projects on Walnut Street the librar Walnut Street is the fourth word no no no I'm talking about up the lighting um it actually turns into second ward um but everything that she listed on her presentation and like I said I've asked her to share it with everyone um you can see the projects that were the money was used for what she shared with us and and there wasn't much there for the actual fourth one and yes it could have gone to affordable housing and perhaps fix some of the problems that we have here now you capital capital projects it could have went for that but it didn't go well I wouldn't question what the other Council has done clearly they thought about what projects were presented and made this decision so understand why are we second guessing that I'm not second guessing it I was just stating a fact to you y uh right I just wanted to uh I mean I really don't have all that much to report before I came here I did go to the board of ed um uh candidates forum and so there you know there's six candidates running for the board of bed and it was kind of interesting to hear the questions that they were asked and their ability to respond we all know what that's like you know having to be at a form and responding to questions so there you know there's some good people there and I think we'll have a nice a nice choice on November 5th I guess it is election day yeah that's basically what I'd like to report on um Council Birmingham I'm going to keep this very short I do want to just remind everybody to vote um mayor thank you for hosting a um really sweet Halloween treat um activity earlier today thank you to um the gueros for the ice cream um this is part of my suffragist costume so I'm not I don't have the full regalia on right now I've got the pictures you have photos Okay um I want to just say give a quick shout out to the Scarecrow competition that's at the vanv Gardens on Saturday um which is always really fun I know I get to announce the winner I think um and then um yes so vote and then scarecrows and Halloween um please drive gently on Halloween um it will be dark and there will be a lot of it's supposed to be really nice out so there'll probably be a lot of kids out sort of late so everyone please drive safely and um that's all for me thank you councilor damato uh thanks um you know as usual it's a mix of uh bad and good uh in the world um I'll thank the mayor for starting off the public comment period with a very nice few words about being kind um which I think are very important right now the last couple of weeks unfortunately we had some bad incidents in in relating to town um uh we were world famous for one little short news cycle for a very dumb and and hurtful incident that took place right downtown where somebody uh as seems to be the case a lot mook one flag for another uh uh and hurt other people and hurt themselves in the process um there was a possibly related copycat dumb incident in my ward which involved some arson and very hateful yeah uh graffiti also confus people the good news is that this is just a few people who are con confused we live in a great town with a lot of very thoughtful people uh these things happening does not sour me on on our town uh and in fact um a related thing is that uh in the last week some friends of mine have said to me oh it just must be terrible what you do you know all these people coming up to yell at you and all the email that you get and I just say no it's not at all like this question of artificial turf which is what I think the person was saying about it's just not true I my inbox was filled with extraordinarily thoughtful emails with with with real with data and and good insights you know uh from not just to perspective but you know from a variety of perspectives um so that's quite you know hardening and tonight it was the same thing a lot of people spoke it it was maybe a long time it's maybe a little TIR to hear people but they're great they're terrific people should be proud I mean like and people were pretty nice to each other in fact they were very nice to each other so I think it's you know I think it on balance it's all good um and then just a granular and and sort of funner and more good uh I was very happy to and proud that uh my uh the first WS uh library branch the belw Avenue branch um was the site of shooting for the new new Bruce Springstein uh pick biop pick that is coming and the actor is the star of this show the bear Jeremy Ellen White which women are crazy for this man and so they may still be filming you can go up there well my wife at least uh and maybe in related news uh on the 13th it's Ladies Night Out in Upper Monclair so good okay I um want to thank councelor damato for joining me with little Reed at the library that's always a wonderful um time where families can bring their usually younger children to the library and sit in the big red chair and read and it was it was a lot more fun with you there councilor damato so thank you I appreciate that um I'd also just like to to comment when um Miss Rubina and um Madeline mentioned some of the things that um possibly we could do in terms of speaking about uh anti-Semitism and islamophobia and racism and some of the other things the anti-lgbtq plus um activities or remarks that have been um on the increase I just wanted to um let them in the community know that I have been meeting with different groups I've been meeting with our faith leaders and we've been discussing different education um opportunities that we can create for the township where we have Specialists come in and they do things um and one of of course one of the first things that we thought to do would be start out with um an anti-Semitism um awareness type of a thing and I was given the name of some different people that can come in and talk about that and um we would um bring them in and anybody the entire Township and this isn't just for the Council of course you know anybody that wants to come it's education for everybody and I know when I was at the Civil Rights Commission they kept mentioning yes and the the township Council should go well I don't think that there's anything going on in this Township Council that in any way suggests that um that we are um at all trying to allow anti-Semitism to exist um and so when we were talking about these with the different leaders from different groups we were talking about inviting everybody here people from the general Community from the schools employe ERS employees Town Council Members anybody who wanted to come and I really liked that and we all agreed that we do need to do more um and and maybe look at things a little differently and um to that end we talked about um possibly the people that we were meeting with talked about something called the Montclair um mutuality impact group and there would be workshops to review and make recommendations um for innov ining the laws that we have our policies the program Services the modalities and the mediums through which we communicate with the residents and other critical stakeholders and see whatever we can to move Monclair to its next level of greatness so while we all think that we are doing um you know a good job in things we all realize that we can do better and um this Core group is going to reach out and when we have um a timeline and have written the goals up we're going to announce it to the public and invite people to join us so that people I know there are already some people in the Civil Rights Commission who wish to join the committee but if other people think that you would be a helpful person to come and join this committee that help us to address some of the um not just types of hate but but some of the ways we address policies and things to make sure that we are um providing the most input for the majority of the people and doing things with equity and um checks and balances and not not often do we you know even take a look at who the people are that are um in in the different employment when we pass things and we say we want to go with this group or that group not all of us even look at the diversity on those groups and so maybe we should look at things like having that included when we you know put a contract out maybe we should um specifically ask for those things we don't know but we are interested in it and so those of you that have reached out to me um Lonnie and Tamar um I'd like to thank you both for taking your time and again Eric I'd like to thank you for agreeing to meet with us um and is that oh um and so the other thing is that the um council is planning some type of a a retreat and we have not yet just so the public knows we have not yet really solidified what's going to what subcommittees so while some subcommittees are saying this is ours some other subcommittees are saying this is ours and the council has not had a chance yet to discuss those things because we're not allowed to meet um together without having you know um a meeting a public meeting more than three at a time and so it's been very very very difficult to lock lock down what um is going to which committee so we hope to get those things solidified and once we get them solidified we wish to put them up on the township website that way if you have specific concerns um and say for example parking then you know that would go to and you look on the web page and it will will tell you that if you have other concerns that may have to do with housing or that type of thing then you look there and it will tell you that um same thing you know with Park and wreck things environmental things but just to let you know we're not quite there yet but we are moving um I think in a very positive direction I'm excited about where we are now um we're gaining momentum there and these things will make it much easier for you to have your questions answered and thank you for bearing with us while we try different things uh manager thank you mayor the only thing I want to mention is how much I regret not be a being able to say let's go Mets tonight but I am rooing for the yys counselor uh manager I do have a question for you sorry um did you see my email about braymore because I guess there's a Time clock on that we're working on that we have to involve Council as to what we can or can't do okay all right I don't know if you have any Madam clerk thank you mayor um as it was stated earlier early voting is underway it will continue through this Sunday uh the hours are 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. uh through Saturday Sunday they'll close early at 6:00 p.m. uh Verona Community Center at 880 Bloomfield Avenue is one site if you're on the other side of town Watsessing Park um in Bloomfield conjure street is closer to you um and then the election will take place on Tuesday the 5th polls will be open from 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. and as always anybody who has any questions about voting call the clerk's office 973 94900 we have all the answers thank you uh Mr attorney attorney bur nothing mayor due to the late lateness of the even okay um then we will um adjourn to the executive session we'll ask any public that remains please to excuse yourself e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e we're unmuted we're unmuted we're unmuted good evening we're going to uh at this point in time we're going to come out of executive session I'd like to make a motion please that we adjourn the meeting second all in favor I opposed good thank you have a good evening