Thank you. Thank you, sir. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. I'd like to officially call this public meeting in the mayor and council's order. At this time, I'd ask everyone to please stand for a moment of silent prayer and reflection as we think about the United States military, personnel, home, and abroad.
Please stand al to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. Before we begin, please note the fire exits to your rear into the main parking
lot and to my left, your right, into the main hallway. The New Jersey open public meeting law was enacted to ensure the right of the public to advance notice of and attend any meetings of public bodies at which any business affecting their interest is discussed or acted upon. In accordance
with this act, the mayor and council of the burrow of New Milford have caused notice of this meeting to be published by having the date, time, and place thereof posted in the burough hall and notices have been sent to the record and the Ridgewood News. The mission of this governing body is to provide essential services through the establishment and implementation of public policy that
will safeguard the infrastructure, provide fair, honest, courteous, and professional services, establish a sense of trust and accomplishment between all residents, and do research and prudent planning, seek to minimize risk while improving our services. We are sensitive to the needs and satisfaction of our taxpayers while realizing that this
governing body cannot be all things to all people within the revenue constraints imposed by state mandates, economic conditions, and prevailing attitudes about taxation. At this time, I would ask the clerk to please call the role. Councilwoman Sandus here. Councilman Zer here. Council President
Duffy here. Councilman Groky here. Councilman Seymour here. Councilwoman Grant here. Mayor Patrino here. Uh before we start, I would like to ask for a motion to add an item to close session tonight and the title would be legal advice, social media policy. So move
second. All in favor? Any opposed? Okay. We have an appointment on the agenda tonight. May I get a motion to appoint Sarah Talia Levy to the zoning board of adjustment alternate seal position? Motion. Second. All in favor? I. Any
opposed? Well, congratulations and thank you Sarah for your uh upcoming service. Under unfinished business, may I get a motion for the approval of the minutes for the June 9th, 2025 close session and work session meetings? So, second. All
in favor? I Okay, one extension and everyone else was okay. Right. All right. We have a couple of ordinance adoptions on the agenda tonight and when the clerk gets the opportunity I would ask you to please to read the first one which is 2025 col 19 an ordinance
authorizing the granting of easements to public service electric and gas company to provide electric service for electric vehicle charging stations. Purpose of this ordinance is to grant easements to PSNG to install poles and other equipment to service electrical vehicle charging stations at the Milford
Bor Hall in the Milford Public Library in Nights Field. Make it Make it a motion to open to the public for a public hearing on this ordinance. Second. All in favor? I. Any opposed? Ladies and gentlemen, the public, if anyone has any questions or comments regarding this ordinance, now
would be your opportunity to come up. Seeing that Larry does not want to come up, I would ask for a motion to close the vote. So move. All in favor? I. Any opposed? May I get a motion to adopt this ordinance on its final reading? So move. Second. May I get a roll call,
please? Councilwoman Sanen, yes. Councilman Zyler, yes. Council President Duffy, yes. Councilman Gratzky, yes. Councilman Seymour, yes. Councilwoman Grant, yes. Mayor, when will the um charging stations be
the exact time or still still waiting on a few things from public service within a month or two? I I believe that the two the library in here will be not I'm not necessarily sure that the one over by the field will make it the field is taking over. Yeah, thank you. There was a little more
infrastructure required. The second ordinance for adoption tonight is 2025 column 20. And when the clerk has the opportunity, I'd ask him to please read the ordinance. bonds ordinance to appropriate an additional sum of $80,000 for the undertaking of the Main Street improvements project in
buy and for Bergen Milford in the county of Bergen State of New Jersey to authorize the issuance of bonds to finance such additional appropriation and to provide for the issuance of bond anticipation notes in anticipation of the issuance of such bonds. Okay. The purpose of this ordinance is to
appropriate an additional $80,000 to the Main Street Improvement Project. And coincidentally, last week we did get a letter from the state of New Jersey saying that our request was granted to extend the project. So everything is in everything's in good shape. Making a
motion to open to the public for a public hearing on this ordinance. Second. All in favor? I posted. Ladies and gentlemen of the public, if anyone has any questions or comments regarding this ordinance, now would be your opportunity to come forward. Seeing that no member of the public wishes to come forward at this time,
I'll ask for a motion to close to the public. Motion to close. Second. All in favor? Any opposed? Make it a motion to adopt this ordinance on its final reading. So move second. Make a roll call, please. Councilwoman Sandusen,
yes. Councilman Syler, yes. Council President Duffy, yes. Councilman Gratzy. Yes. Councilman Seymour. Yes. Councilwoman Grant. Yes. Let's get to a great one. Yes. Yeah. Okay. Moving on to new business. We have a couple of ordinance introductions
tonight. First one being 2025 Coleman 21. And when the clerk gets the opportunity, I would ask please read the ordinance. An ordinance adopting a redevelopment plan for block 501 lots 9 and 10 in the burough near Milford County of Bergen State of New Jersey
pursuant to NJSA 4A 12A-7. Purpose of this ordinance is to adopt the redevelopment plan prepared on behalf of the burrow by Phil's Press Brigal Leah News LLC for the property located at 810 and 814 and 820 River Road in Milford. copy of which is on
file at the office of the burough clerk and is available upon public inspection. May I get a motion to introduce this ordinance on its first reading? So second Councilwoman Sanus, yes. Councilman Zner, yes. Council President Dumpy, yes.
Councilman Groski, yes. Councilman Seymour, yes. Councilwoman Grant, yes. The public hearing for this ordinance will be at our July 28th meeting. The board needs to be passed on to the planning board for their review. Okay.
Yeah. Let me just not there is a 45day period, but they are planning to meet discuss it at their next meeting prior to ours. Love when the planning board is planning assuming that the planning board we think we will adopt it at our July 28th meeting.
Okay. Next one is 2025 col2. And when the clerk has the opportunity, I would ask her to please read the ordinance. Capital Ordinance of the Burough in Milford in the county of Bergen, state of New Jersey, authorizing the replacement of a fire horn at fire company number one in by and for the
burrow, appropriating therefore the sum of $13,000 and providing that such sum so appropriated shall be raised from the capital improvement fund of the burrow. Represent ordinance is to appropriate $13,000 from the burrow of the north capital improvement fund to replace the
fire horn at company one. Um when we discussed this, this was something we were no question all in agreement with. This is something that is uh vital for our community. So make it a motion to introduce this ordinance on its first reading. So second,
please. Councilman Sanderson, yes. Councilman Ser, yes. Council President Duffy, yes. Councilman Grosky, yes. Councilman Seymour, yes. Councilwoman Grant, yes. And
We're fairly confident public hearing on this ordinance will be at our July 28th meeting and we thank the fire department for their patience with this. I don't think there's any question. There's just a figuring out how we correct.
Okay. Okay. Item number one is scheduled updates. Excuse me. On Friday, July 4th, the historic New Bridge Landing walking tour sponsored by the Burton County
Historical Society will take place at 10:00 a.m. at historic New Brbridge Landing. They recommend to RSVP on their website and it's uh $12 to take part. Also on Friday, July 4th is the second annual Star Spangle Spectacular sponsored by Bergen County. It'll be at
2:30 p.m. and it'll take place at Overpek Park. Uh there'll be activities, food trucks, games, music, fireworks. On Saturday, July 12th is vintage baseball at Historic Newbridge Landing. Sponsored by the Bergen County Historical Society. It starts at 2 p.m.
It is at historic Newbridge Landing. Uh RSVP is recommended and it is also $12. And if you if you have not been to that, it's something you'll want to see. It's pretty cool, right, Larry? Okay. On Tuesday, August 5th is our annual
National Night Out sponsored by the New York Police Department. It'll start at 700 p.m. It is on Kennedy Field as usual and it will the night will end with fireworks. Terrific. Do we have a rain date for that? A weather day? There's no rain dates for National Line Out.
Okay. Okay. Item number two is overnight parking. Uh the only thing I wanted to report tonight about that is at our July meeting, we'll be having representatives of the police department uh coming to our meeting. They will be talking to us
about their plan to possibly offer a residential pass to homeowners where they can be allowed to park on the street. There will be fees associated to that. So, they will um run that by us and and see what we think.
Mayor, can we go back to number one for a moment? I have a couple of things that I need to mention. Are they anything that take place in July and August or And we're going to we're only going to do two months in front. But I do want people should know that there will be contracts available for the um library
book sale and garage sale or for the garage sale. Okay. So, they can be picked up at the um library table. Excellent. We do not have a definitive date yet, but sometime in September will be the
shop family days as well. So, just keep that in mind. Item number three is the administrator's report. Thank you, mayor. Uh, number of engineering updates. The D expects to complete the technical
review of the permit application for the French Brook restoration by mid to late July. And if approved, construction documents will be finalized for it to be put out to bid in August. Fingers crossed. Uh bid documents are being finalized for two NJ DOT road
improvement projects. The local aid infrastructure fund 2024 for Stuben, Clinton, Lynwood, Naple, and Roosevelt. and the municipal le 2025 for Rosland Monroe and Marian. Once those uh documents are finalized, we will be
advertising um public notice for bids for those as well. An application was submitted on June 11th to the NJ DOT local transportation project fund for storm drain improvements and milling and paving for portions of Lacy Drive,
Trench Drive, Perum Place, James Street, and Elizabeth Street. An application was submitted on June 23rd to NJ DOT 2026 municipal aid for roadway improvement project for East Woodland Road, Lumen Drive, Creve Drive,
and Bridge Street. The revised project documents for the main street improvement project were submitted on June 19th to NJOT for review and once approved, the project will be put out for bid. Uh the EPA application for the previously awarded
congressional appropriation for the Pine Avenue and used road sanitary sewer rehabilitation project was submitted on June 3rd and we are awaiting confirmation from Bergen County Community Development for approximately $139,000
in funding for the roadway improvement project of Clinton Avenue, Yugenat Drive, Arlington Road, and Yel Street. Uh other than the engineering review, we want to remind everybody that Burough Wall will be closed Friday, July 4th in observance of Independence Day and that
the next meeting of the mayor council will not be until the end of July. It's a work uh it's a joint session scheduled for Monday, July 28th at 7 p.m. And that's it for me. Any questions for the administrator?
Moving on to resolutions. Everyone has had a chance to look at them. Are there any that need to be pulled for further vote and or discussion? Okay. If not, we're going to move on to council committee reports. And we are going to start with councilwoman Grant. Thank you, mayor. Uh the new arts
committee earlier this month met to review its May 31st event. And to pat us on the back, I will say membership for doing an absolutely fabulous job. And thanks to the wives today for allowing us to use their agenda. The
senior senior center has numerous trips um planned and many of them are quite exciting. Upcoming events we discussed the highlight is going to be a show on July 22nd and director Sullivan will be doing a special line dancing class on
July 8th. Um this is part of Lieutenant Future event. Uh we'll be discussing senior scans on July 29th and another concert is coming. July 14th is senior swim day and swim club and the seniors
under advisor board does not meet in July or August. Some report will meet in September. The library trustees had a lengthy meeting earlier this month. Um the director will gather information
uh to finalize a plan for Delucia um his local history. We're hoping to get that done sometime in 2026 since we're celebrating history, the big history. So we have open schools for that. Carrie Hall started it and I'm sure that
Stephven doing a good job in completing it. The Phoenix Library will reopen in October. So we will be losing them by the end of September, early October, which means unfortunately that library hours will be shortened. They will
change. So everybody should keep an eye out in September, if not earlier, for changing hours. Unfortunately, we will not have Sunday hours after they leave at least for a while. Um, but there will be some uh evening hours and um hopefully everybody will be able to get
to the library when they want to get to the library. Of course, the book drop outside is always available to pick up the books 24 hours a day. Uh, rest the doors are going to be repaired. Others are going to be replaced. We adopted a policy regarding
the library cards and procurement cards on paper credit card for purchasing small. The programs for adults and children are continuing. Summer adult programs are continuing. uh registrations which should be a summer program starting
earlier this month. All the first play classes from BF kids and from the Berkeley school visited the library and got their very own library cards and it's a good way to start the meeting and I think that's a wonderful uh idea.
Um we talked about whether a trustee will be able to participate in the meeting by Zoom if the trustee is unable to attend and as a biolog she will become president. So kudos and thanks to Stephanie for
coming to Milford and look forward to the future with her. She has some very exciting ideas and I look forward to seeing helping her carry them out. That's great news. Yes. And there are no the library board trustees did not meet in July of August because of an
emergency of some sort and hopefully there won't be. That's my report. Thank you, Councilman Se. Uh thank you, mayor. Um well, the municipal lines, uh I'd like to give them a lot of welldeserved uh credit. They they've done a great job so far. uh
and uh the most recent event which they held which was of course for the mental health awareness symposium um went very very well and of course it was in partnership with the uh YMCA. So we thank them for their continued participation partnership in all of these important outreach programs that
we have in town. Uh and the municipal alliance is already looking ahead to plan uh the ATOM event in the fall and has already started to brainstorm uh ways to present another great program. Uh, I just like to give a congratulations to all of our kids in
town who have moved up from one school to the next. And of course, congratulations to our high school graduates. And uh, I think it's especially impressive to have uh, not just one but two graduates of the New Milford High School either uh, at West Point or going to West Point will be at
West Point at the same time. Um, so congratulations are in order uh, to those families as well. group. Um, and our flood mitigation committee is busy planning ways to uh increase awareness
and in particular disseminate information about resources to not only to residents who live in our flood zone, but to new residents who move into our flood zone so that they are aware to sign up for reverse 911 and other emergency measures. and our domestic violence uh coalition has already
started to plan the full military domestic violence awareness symposium as well as a mental health-based domestic violence symposium at Bergen Mage Medical Center and I'll have more details on those at another time. That's my update. Excellent. Thank you.
Thank you. Mayor, uh the junior police academy is underway now. hearing a lot of good reports especially from uh one of our council people whose daughter is attending it. Everybody's having a lot of fun there. Uh moving on to the Sha Tree Commission.
The uh Sha Tree Commission has obtained uh through DPW 100 trees that will be handed out on night out that between 4 and 6 ft high. So they are established trees. The plan is you will have 100
vouchers uh first come first serve basis and uh you'll be able to get a tree to plant in your yard from the DBW. The rest of the details are still being worked out whether we'll deliver it or how you pick it up, etc., etc., etc. Is
it one per person? One per person. We're going to have 100 uh uh pieces of paper, first come, first serve, take one. Then we'll have instructions on how to obtain table. It's going to be at the table
which is going to be with environmental. That's right. Do we know what kind of trees? I think there are two different are these the um seedlands or they actually so my last question would be can these
have to be planted on private property or can we have private property in addition to the private property uh in the fall the burrow will be getting additional trees for you want to make sure people aren't planting them in accidentally not knowing thinking oh this is a bur tree they should just make
sure that that's clear I have a question. If trees in front of somebody's house on the right way and dies, is there a way to replace it? We do. They get put on the list. We have a
replacement. Good. Good. Yeah. And also, if you notice, there's been a lot of trees. If you go down the boulevard also now that planted and we should have another big plant in the fall.
Lots of games around there. Yes. Yes. Council President. Uh thank you, Mayor. Um let's see. Uh seems like June went on forever, didn't it? Honestly. Uh how many meetings did
we all go to minutes and everything else? But we're here. Uh so the historic mission was excited to get the painting that the resident had sent to the burrow and of course there is much discussion
about where where it should be hung and um the main discussion was the library at the historic room the and so HDI uh we should talk about your timeline. line
the timeline for Rev 250 and perhaps um creating an event around this painting. I have spoken with Stephanie about working with historic preservation committee commission on a number of events. Yes. Including some she has some very good ideas, right? I know she's on
your list. She is. Yes. So, I think she'll be a But I'm saying specifically about this painting. Okay. So let's uh let's brainstorm on that. Um but most most of the members uh thought the
library was the appropriate place. Um let's see. And uh in that vein, our first meeting of the REM 250 took place. Uh just getting to know, you know, some of the people on the committee. Uh of
course we welcome ideas. uh you know the Milford is just overflowing with history. Our area uh all around the Milford is overflowing
with um history from 250 years ago which is so amazing. So uh more to come on that subject. Um let's see uh with the fire department. I just want to thank everybody for your support on the
replacing uh and the installation of the new fire horn at company 1. They're really uh very happy about it. So, thank you for that. Um and the board of health did
meet and um along with some of our other discussions, uh we always get reports from our health inspectors and they're right on target. Um the thing that I felt was a little concerning was uh the vaccines and
availability in the fall of vaccines as it relates to the administration in the feds as well as state. So we'll keep an eye on that. Um, Mid Bergen assures us that we will have vaccines,
but uh, we're going to keep an eye on it and make sure it happens for the report. Thank you. Sure, Councilman Zelda. Thank you, Mayor. Very brief reports uh, for me. I was unable to
attend the uh, wreck meeting and also the public events. tell her I did reach out to the director of Wreck and uh he said there's nothing really new to report on his end. All the programs are ongoing and and going well and I spoke
to the chair of public events. Uh they had discussed a couple of hiccups that they had in the parade and uh we're making sure going forward into next year that uh they they'll be corrected. Uh I have nothing on the DPW and planning
board. We're in the process of hearing a uh a subdivision. Um they came to us at the last meeting and however are going back to the drawing table and they're going to see us next month with some revised plans. And that concludes my
reports. Thank you, Council. Thank you, Mayor. I'd like to say the Environmental Commission is uh uh making a big leap on a big project. It's a small thing, but
they're very excited. They're are going to be working with Sprout Farms uh to create a site plan for the native plant garden. So, that has been a 4-year project trying to find someone to collaborate with. Uh this will be a
2-year project. The site plan will need to be reviewed by the D. the um the new Milford DPW will be involved as well in uh in the creation of the site plan and approvals
and helping uh the site plan go through the approval process and mayor and council will also have an opportunity to review the site plan and uh the commission is talking about how to do some outreach with the community that is going to be right there next to the
native plant garden. Uh the green team uh continues to work on their uh home energy assessment outreach. I encourage everyone to go to the burough website to the green team's website to get
information about free home energy assessments with the uh rising costs of utilities. There are programs and incentives for low and moderate income. There are incentives for rebates. So, there are programs for veterans, for
seniors, and uh everything's very customized and if anybody has any questions about that, I'm happy to answer any questions. So, they can reach me, reach out to me directly and I'll help guide them. And that concludes my report. Yes. And
you threw a giant block party a couple weeks ago. There was a block party on our street, huh? Yeah, we had a nice block party. It was it was very hot. But um that's one of the nice things about New Milford is that there are often block parties. The
neighborhoods get along really well. Uh the diversity is really nice. We get to meet our new neighbors and so we had a lovely time and thank you for joining us. Mayor, it's it's good to see residents coming together and I guess our invitation got lost.
That was a little slow. You snail, isn't it? All right, I'll invite you. I'll let make sure you know next time. It was just It's like a family get together. We don't have to It's very It's like a potluck. So, we don't do like big. Okay.
We don't do any mayor's review consultant back in January. Mhm. Um with a report due every 6 months and I filed it today. The first part one first review and I've done u significant section. It's still plenty
more to go. I found two evidence is that um need to be reviewed for inconsistency. The biggest problem I found certainly in the earlier um ordinances was uh language problems.
either the grammatical areas or sex is non non-gender neutral language and I think that should be changed. Um but there's one and some of the definitions have to be reviewed because they differ while certain terms are used
in more than one ordinance. It's used slightly differently in different places. So that needs to be reviewed as well. So I submitted it today. I have a copy of it. I will review it and I will advise how we're going to proceed. Thank
you. You're welcome. Okay. Under OEM, it looks like that we are going to get an extra $10,000 from Ready. Hurricane Ida. Okay. Remember that? Yes. What year was that? Hurricane.
No, it was it was after that. It was like five years ago. Oh, right. Uh so we we will get reimbured for administrative costs. uh we qualify and we will be getting that. Um I want to um thank everyone for their
patience and remind them to drive safely, particularly with the summer and more people out and about. We do have a lot of construction going on in town. So, please obey the traffic signs and use the detours and please watch your speed.
Um, yes, congratulations to the class of 2025, whether it's DVO, our elementary schools, or the high school. And I just want to thank everyone who came together to put a high school graduation together. That is no easy feat. It requires the police, the school
district, the fire department, the holy name, and everyone else to get that going. And it was extremely hard. I'm so grateful for the hottest day of the year. Yes. So, it all worked out well. And I'd like to thank everyone for coming together and make it such a
memorable event for a lot of people. Um, we had last week we had uh a final bridging ceremony for Girl Scout Troop 5569. So that troop is now finished and is expired in the Milford. They were they
had adopted Prospect Park. So what they have done is they have actually transferred the adoption ownership of that park to the new Milford High School environmental club. Oh great. Um Lenorpie and her team are extremely happy to have that and they will be
planning lots of things there for plantings and care of the park which we are so glad that it transferred over which is nice. Thanks. I was not at our um budget adoption meeting. that was in Disney World. But um usually at those meetings, I don't
know if it happened or not, but I'm just going to um run down the sheet one more time. I know people got their tax bills in the mail this week. So I just wanted to remind everyone that the average assessed home in the Milford now is 643,161
and your average municipal tax municipal tax is $4,232. Your municipal tax represents approximately 28.99% of your total tax bill. Our biggest expenses were salary and
wages which were around an increase of $45,600. Our pension obligation which was an increase of $194,868. Our health insurance increase which was $171,520. other insuranceances including property
insurance and cyber security was $133,030. Our garbage collection was an increase of $81,500. Our library fee was an increase of $98,54 which was statemandated. And our Burton
County Utilities Authority, which is our um that's what we pay for our sewage, was an increase of 58,66. And our debt service increased 224,151. All other departments we actually the
budget committee has cut $190,786 from the budget. So the things that we mostly control are getting smaller and smaller which shows that the budget committee is working hard and we are all committed to responsible budgets. So that takes care of the budget and
that's all I have at this time. Oh and under historic Newbridge Landing I had mentioned the events that are coming up. So that was my requ. If there's nothing else, I would ask for a motion to open up to the public for public comment. Motion. Second. All in favor? Any opposed? Ladies and
gentlemen, the public, if anyone has any questions or comments regarding the good welfare of the bur of Milford, we welcome you to come up. We will give you five minutes to talk. Would you like to come up? Well, come on up. Oh, you just have to give us your name. Do not give us your address. Stand
at the podium. Just say hi. Procedure is a little bit different. My name is Larry Bower. Uh, probably now 10 year resident, New Milford. Very happy to make the change and this is actually the first time that
I'm appearing here. And I have to say you guys are all very friendly. Some of you I've already met and I think the way everything is handled is actually fantastic. And other than that, I really have nothing more to say. Thank you. Other
than that, I'm glad I'm here. Thank you for coming. And I was kind of surprised, you know, I'm looking around, no cars in the parking lot, and I thought, I must have messed up on the day. you know, you reach a certain age and you sort of lose track of time or it
goes way too fast and you somehow lost it. But thank you. We appreciate that. Thank you very much. We uh we're happy that you enjoy living in Milford and um actually Larry does he also serves on historic lending. He's a commissioner. Yep. We we
had met and John and I had met many many times as well. Thank you. Thank you for your service to the community. I haven't really done all that much. Thank you. There'll be more to do on
Yes. There'll be more to do on Thank you. Seeing that there are no other members of the public wishing to come forward at this time, I would ask for a motion to close the public. All in favor? I. Any opposed? May I get a motion to adopt resolutions 2025
column 162 through 2025 col 175? Motion. Second. All in favor? I I Any opposed? Ladies and gentlemen, we will be going into close session. When we come out of close, no action will be taken by this governing body. And before we go to close, I just want to wish everyone a
happy Independence Day. Be safe, have fun, and uh we look forward to seeing everyone at National Night Out at the end of summer. Thank you very much. Middle of summer. Yes. First day. It's still June.
Thank you. and have a great night. May I get a motion to go into close session? So move second. All in favor? I. Any opposed?