good evening ladies and gentlemen and welcome to this public meeting of the mayor and council at this time I would ask everyone to please rise for a moment of Silent prayer and or reflection as our public events um our public events chairwoman's mother passed earlier last
week and we think about all of our law enforcement men and women and their families across our country please salute the flag I the flag of the United States of America the for it stands
na indivisible thank you please not the fire exits behind you into the main parking lot and to my left your right into the main hallway before we start I just want to mention that on Friday night it was a CB
Scout p with Derby and myself mil police department and mil 3 DBW participated I came in last place so I owed the police department and the DPW jelly donuts so they will be coming soon promise congratulations officer
again the New Jersey open public meetings law was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice of and attend any meetings of public bodies at which any business affecting their interest is discussed or acted upon in in accordance with this act the mayor and Council of the bur 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 notices have been sent to the record in 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 through 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 councilman San here councilman Zyer here council president Duffy councilman grotsky here councilman
Seymour here councilwoman Grant here mayor patrino here at this time I would ask for a motion to adopt 2025 colon 84 promote police officer Brian Saia to the rank of Sergeant motion second make it a roll call please yes councilwoman sanus
yes councilman zner yes councilman grotsky yes councilman Seymour yes councilwoman Grant yes okay chief clany you're up okay thank you so tonight we're here to uh to make a promotion and
to uh swear in our newest officer um and before I do that I'd like to thank the mayor and councel for your support with our table of organization keeping it full uh it's very important to keep the department running you know uh efficiently so first we're uh officer
Brian chal was hired by the New Milford Police in July of 2017 by uh previous chief hercy he was assigned to patrol where he did an excellent job and quickly became a valuable member of the department he was assigned to the detective Bureau in February of 202 3
where he conducted many successful investigations Brian is one of the Department evidence officers he maintains our vehicle computer systems our departmental computer systems and he does firearm background investigations which Never End um he's basically our
go-to guy for anything that breaks in the department him and Kevin uh keep everything running pretty well so they're pretty handy guys so we appreciate that I'm not a computer guy so that's why they're very valuable keeping everything going um I invite officer Shalia and his family forward to
be sworn to started I state your name I Brian Shalia do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will support the constit support the constition of United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States Constitution of the state of New Jersey the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the rules and regulations
of the New Milford Police Department and the rules and regulations of the new milord police department and that I will bear true faith and Allegiance and that I will bear trth faith and allegiance to the same to the same and to the governments established in the United States and to the governments established in the United States and in the state and in this state under the
authority of the people under the authority of the people and I do solemnly swear and I do solemnly swear that I will Faithfully that I will faithfully impartially impartially and justly perform and justly perform all of the duties all of the duties of the office of police department sergeant of the office of police department Sergeant
according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability so help me gu so help me gu congratulations Sergeant chavalia starts March 1st as a sergeant we'll be working with [Music] Sergeant
okay next we'll be swearing in our newest police officer Carlo deama Carlo attended Hudson Catholic High School and then went on to New Jersey City University and Ruckers University where he earned a bachelor's degree in communication and a master's degree in human resource management
Carlo was a police officer in Jersey City for 2 and A2 years before being hired by New Milford Police Department and he started his field training two and a half weeks ago I invite Carlo and his family up to be sworn in as our newest officer I state your name I Carlo delama do
Solly swear do Solly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States Constitution of the state of New Jersey constitution of the state of New Jersey and the rules and regulations of the New Milford Police Department and the rules and regulations of the New Milford Police Department and that I will bear
true faith and Allegiance and that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same to the same and to the to the governments established in the United States and to the governments established in the United States and in this state and in this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people and I do
solemnly swear and I do solemnly swear that I will Faithfully that I will faithfully impartially impartially and justly perform and justly perform all of the duties all the duties of the office of police officer of the office of police officer according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability so help me God so help me God
congratulations that's good one more all right as always the mayor and Council we'd like to thank uh police department we want to thank the leadership the police chief captains for all that you do for
our B we can't be who we are without you guys and and ladies and really appreciate it so thank you very much we'll take a two-minute adjournment so everyone can head on out otherwise you have to stay for the rest of the meal thank you
lieen see you guys later have a good night oh my gosh a new one oh he's got a full family oh look how brand new scar an hour before I get here I'm like depending on the time you're like doing gardening
like yeah I'm just going to wait I have to oh that's right yeah I'll be quick okay um Brian Chief would you mind closing the door please yeah I'm close it oh okay thanks okay uh before we hit unfinished
business did I get a motion to add Stephanie elro as appointment to rev 250 move second all in favor any opposed okay may get a motion to appoint
Stephanie elro to the red 250 committee some second all in favor I any post okay congratulations and thank you for wanting to be part of it she must done that she will be happy she and I did
talk about that as the library director you automatically have to be so there we go right making a motion for the approval of the minutes for the February 10th 20125 work session meeting some second all in favor any opposed
okay we have a couple of ordinances up for adoption tonight the first one is ordinance 2025 col 06 when the clerk has the opportunity i' would ask you to please read the ordinance Capital ordinance to appropriate the sum of $228,600 for the Improvement of various
roads in by and for the B of New Milford in the county of Bergen state of New Jersey and providing that such sum so appropriated shall be raised from the state Grant purpose of this ordinance is to appropriate funds from Jersey Department of Transportation Grant to undertake a road Improvement project on
rosin Avenue from the Dumont border to the culdesac Monroe Avenue from Lincoln place to rosin Avenue and Maran Avenue from Florence Street to Madison Avenue set improvements shall include Road reconstruction and curb and drainage improvements where necessary may get a
motion to open to the public for a public hearing on this ordinance Mo second all in favor I any opposed ladies and gentlemen the public if anyone has any questions or comments regarding this ordinance now is your opportunity to come forward seeing that no member of the public wishes to come forward at this
time I would ask for a motion to close to public so move second all in favor I I any opposed may I get a motion to adopt this ordinance on its final reading motion second make it a roll call please yes councilman sanus yes
councilman Zer yes councilman grotsky yes councilman Seymour yes councilwoman Grant yes the next one up for adoption tonight is 2025 col 07 when the clerk has the opportunity I ask please read the ordinance Capital ordinance to amend in
its entirety the capital ordinance number 2024 26 entitled Capital ordinance of the Barb New Milford in the county of Bergen New Jersey authorizing the undertaking of the Grant Management phase of the FEMA home elevation project
in by and for the burrow appropriating therefore the sum of $19,124 61 and providing that such sum so appropriated shall be raised from a Federal grant adopted on September 9th
2024 purpose of this ordinance is to amend prior ordinance to modify the source of funding the prior ordinance is stated the full amount will be raised from a Federal grant when in fact it will be raised from a Federal Grant and payments by certain homeowners may I get a motion to open to the public for a public hearing on this
ordinance motion all in favor I any opposed ladies and gentlemen of the public if anyone has any questions or comments regarding this ordinance now is your opportunity to come forward seeing that no member of the public wishes to come forward at this time I would ask for a motion to close
to the public motion second all in favor I any opposed may get a motion to adopt this on its final reading motion second may it a roll call please councilman sand yes councilman tler yes councilman gry yes councilman
Seymour yes councilwoman Grant yes the final ordinance for adoption tonight is 2025 col 08 and when the clerk has the opportunity I would ask you please read yous Capital ordinance of the bar of New Milford in the county of Bergen New Jersey authorizing the
undertaking of the construction phase of the FEMA home elevation project in by and for the borrow appropriating therefore the sum of 3,982 55228014 Su of 3,982
55328 of which 3,597 $439 47 is to be raised from a FEMA flood mitigations assistant Grant and $385,900 any opposed ladies and gentlemen of the public if anyone has any questions or
comments regarding this ordinance now is your opportunity to come forward seeing that no member of the public wishes to come forward at this time I would ask for a motion to close to the public motion second all in favor I any opposed may I get a motion to adopt this ordinance on its final
reading motion second may get a roll call please councilwoman San yes councilman Zyer yes councilman grotsky yes councilman Seymour yes councilwoman Grant yes okay moving on to new business we have a couple of ordinances up for
introduction tonight the first of which being 2025 col 09 and when the clerk has the opportunity I'd ask you to please read the ordinance an ordinance to amend Chapter 30 of the revised General ordinances of of the Barb New Milford entitled land
use regulations thereby amending subsections 30-21 and 30-28 purpose of this ordinance is to amend certain sections of the land use ordinance pertaining to front yard setbacks fence Heights in the sidey yard and driveway WIS may get a motion to
introduce this ordinance on its first reading motion second may get a roll call please councilman sanus yes councilman zner yes councilman gry yes councilman sear yes councilwoman Grant yes the public hearing on this ordinance
will be at our March 10th meeting next door right that's yes in the Kevin Kelly conference room the second one up for introduction tonight is 2025 col 10 and when the CL has the opportunity i' ask her please
read the ordinance an ordinance to amend chapter 7 of the revised General ordinances of the burough of New Milford entitled traffic thereby amending subsection 7- 3.4 entitled parking prohibited during certain hours on certain streets purpose of this
ordinance is to resend parking restrictions on Mammoth Avenue Stockman Street and Trenton Street may I get a motion to introduce this ordinance on its first reading motion second make it a roll call please councilman San yes
councilman Zer yes councilman gry yes councilman Seymour yes councilwoman Grant yes yes okay the public hearing for this ordinance will also be at our March 10th meeting okay moving on item number one may I get a motion to um because council
president Duffy can't be here tonight may I get a motion to table this item to our next meeting motion second all in favor hi I any opposed okay item number two is schedule
updates on Thursday February 27th Milford annual Crescent Moonlighting sponsored by the New Milford public events committee it'll be at 6 p.m. on the bur Hall lawn um this will also be a food collection event for our local food pantry for more information you can go
on to the B website or the public events Facebook page were there any other events coming up that I fail to mention I have an event coming up in the end of May I know it's a little soon but people should Mark their calendar May 31st at the
Pavilion from 2: to 4: uh the mil for Arts committee will be presenting an afternoon of some wonderful festivities and acts and performances I'm sorry what was the date again May 31st Saturday 2 to 4 well it's anything like last year's
it's going to be great it's going to be better okay even better my hands hurt for 3 Days Dr I don't think we're having drums this year we'll have other things that will please you excellent
item number three is the administrator's report thank you mayor uh we have an engineering update we are awaiting a response from the D for the French for restoration project permit application which was submitted on January 17th the preconstruction meeting for the
sand volleyball court took place on February 5th and construction is scheduled to start mid to late March the engineers preparing construction documents for two NJ do Road Improvement projects the rosalin Monroe and Maran and the Sten Clinton lywood Maple and
Roosevelt projects with which are going to be bid jointly uh the burrow has submitted two Grant applications for the williamsfield lighting project the first to the local area Recreation Improvement program for $100,000 and the second to Green Acres for
$294,500 we're also preparing an application for additional funding to buron County open space the Green Acres Grant is a 50% matching Grant so we're looking for the other two grants to offset the borrows match uh Engineers preparing a proposal
for construction management services for the Main Street Improvement project and we will be reviewing the project scope to determine if we will reduce the scope or commit additional funding to the project uh the engineer has prepared the application materials requested by the
grant writer for the EPA Grant application submission for the sewer project on Pine and use and we re just received notice of the counties intend to PVE Milford a from River Road to the Dumont line in their 2026 2027 Road
program so there's some preliminary work that we're going to be doing in advance of that uh also of interest work on the electric vehicle charging stations which are planned for the Barrow Hall the library and knightsfield is scheduled to begin this week with chargers being
dropped in place by the end of March and the charging stations being powered by the end of ail April or the beginning of May the PSENG gas main replacement project discussed last year is scheduled to get underway by the end of March they will
be beginning with sections of Webster drive prel lane and hsvi place from there they will move to sections of Harrison Street Grand Street and persing Avenue and River Road this work will take approximately 3 months to complete
and notices will be sent out to affected homeowners uh 2025 budget due to the valuation information that's needed from the tax assessor is about a month later than it usually comes in and so once we have that information will be able to
finalize the budget in anticipation of introduction on March 24th is there any questions for the administrator only other thing is our next meeting is a work work session scheduled for Monday March 10th at 7
p.m. okay may get a motion to file committee reports with the bur clerk to be spread in full upon the minutes so second all in favor I any opposed okay let's go around the table we're going to start with councilwoman
Grant thank you very much Mar um as I mentioned the Milford Arts committee is working very hard to make our presentation on May 31st absolutely outstanding and it will include a variet of performances possibly including
poetry which will be great fun um the senior center Advisory Board is planning some interesting trips they're going to see Betty Bop on Broadway and we are talking about a possible River Cruise so stay tuned for more updates on that the
library Board of Trustees has been quite busy we um talked about the budget that's coming up we talked about you know because we we have a new director who is looking at the library with fresh eyes there are many things
that we've talked about that we would like to accomplish including we have recognized the need for new computers uh the ones we have were given to us I think more than a decade ago and are very updated and indeed we need more of them we also need more electrical
outlets we're trying to figure out how to possibly get a grant to do that the adult book club is going strong and the most popular children's programs are sold out all the time but the biggest one last month was called dog dog was a
dog man day um there were 90 children there and 50 adults so which is really quite an extraordinary turnout uh for any event anywhere actually so the library is is going along smoothly the All Seasons chamber players we have a
date for them uh will be be performing on October 9th they always come in the and that will be something else to look forward to um and also I'd like to mention that the friends of the library which is not my Lea on but I'm involved with them uh
was written up in I think in Essex County newspaper because on after the sale was over a councilman came from South Orange or East Orange to collect the remainder of the books to send to Haiti and they
just published an article about his project and Thanking us for participating in it and allowing them to take all the leftover books and Linda kuchi who was the vice president of the friends was quoted as was I so under
Trav that that's my report thank you thank you lot good things happening at the Library Council and I did read oh and I did read on Facebook that there's a group of people in New who want to start a Garden Club and they will be having
their first meeting I believe it's on this Saturday at the library at if I remember correctly noon I'm not positive you can call the library to check on the time if you're interested in joining that
excellent thank you mayor uh congratulations are certainly in order uh for the first time in history the nilford high school wrestling team won the North one group one state wrestling Championship so sectional Championship congratulations to our amazing athletes
and their families in the entire uh community on a welld deserved honor it such a good team phenomenal and they am also pleased and actually in very humbl to report that I received a call from the Bergenfield mayor to advise me that upon his family
attending our sixth annual domestic violence awareness Symposium last October they were so impressed they've decided to bring hour program that we started here in New Milford in 2019 for the first time to Bergenfield this Thursday night wonderful and the mayor invited me to speak and give welcoming
remarks excellent thank you that's good news so I'm I'm just pleased that other communities are bringing our program to help their families and residents and I commend the mayor Bergenfield for having the leadership to do so wonderful that's
my report thank you Council mki thank you mayor the budget committee is hard at work last week we had meetings with the police department the library and OEM this week we'll be having more meetings and we're working very
diligently to uh get a uh budget uh respectable budget for this year that's my report thank you I know everyone is uh working hard so keep at it Council Z okay good
man uh just to Echo your February 27th Ramadan uh but I have spoke with s down at DPW and they're ready if needed to supply us with some tents uh because when we spoke about this a few days ago
there was some rain possibly uh in our future but uh they're ready to go uh their Banner program is ongoing for their veterans to be put up and down River Road uh to date they have uh 25 they have room for 60 so they're still
pushing forward with that uh the DPW once again you got to commend them for the road for the work they've done but just not only on the streets but they they shovel and they take care of all the bow properties at the same time which makes this building accessible for people when they come to work in the
morning um they spend a lot of time out on the road I have a monthly report from uh January uh which shows that their hours work were over 3,000 and and it's just like pothole repairs just to name a few uh you know pre trening and snow removal
and uh you know pothole repairs amongst another maybe 12 14 lists on that are there the planning board to date has no applications going forward however we did have the planner come back again and he made a little more in-depth
presentation regarding the uh the affordable housing and what our obligations are um he spoke about um the the present need and the perspective needs of what we have and
how we challenged the 114 uh to 108 uh and at that time we he suggested that because this is going to be ongoing that we kind of uh look down the road to other areas in town that
could be rezoned uh that would help us along the way uh Recreation just a very brief short meeting they're you know they're they're ending out their winter program and looking forward to their spring program and my report I think everyone's
looking forward to the spring yeah absolutely thank [Music] you if anyone is interested in the military tribute banners um definitely we have a flyers on our website correct go to the B website and there'll be a flyer there that you can fill out and uh
it's they're going to be really cool so take a look at it when will they start installing those so they the plan is I believe the plan was program goes to may I believe wasn't it it was Memorial day to Veterans Day so Veterans Day to Memorial I'm sorry Veterans Day to
Memorial Day this is not just for a residents there could be uh former residents uh they could be um family members family members uh who are current residents who have a family member that is isn't a resident so their
do wide open for a lot of they can be they can be alive I get a lot of questions yes it's not for just the SE yes yes so check it out good good okay Council s thank you mayor who I think has something exciting she's going to report tonight yes but
first I want to uh celebrate uh the the um the domestic violence Symposium it's really a nice honor I've been supporting uh councilman Seymour with that since the beginning that to see that the town neighboring towns are inspired by the
program and are in taking that on and continuing and expanding the program so so it's really nice to see that happening and councilman thank you for your support and partnership in the program since the beginning all right so now I'm ready to
announce my exciting news the mayor is very happy about this the mayor's well mayor's Wellness campaign so New Milford has been awarded the 2024 healthy town to watch designations
yay it has taken us so long to get the program off the ground and to finally get a designation so this has been a exactly so uh there's a rubric where you uh apply for points so there are three levels of designation so the healthy
town to watch designation is the middle designation so it's like uh a silver award and the gold award is the healthy town right me we're almost there we're almost there there this is the year yes this is the year yes right so and with
that awardees receive um indoor and outdoor signage for our town hall so we'll be receiving some banners to that we can display and uh we will also uh towns that are awarded designations are
featured in an article from New Jersey uh State League of municipalities magazine so we'll also be featured in there as well wonderful so that's the exciting part and the uh environmental and energy commission continues their
work on the community energy planning Grant uh they're working on the fleet and transportation section first this is a very big project um they have created a survey and uh tomorrow I will be
emailing to all my liaison colleagues uh links uh and an information letter for uh for that survey that survey will be sent out to you so it should take about 20 minutes this is a pre-s survey uh to
um collect some information in uh preparation for the stakeholder meeting that uh will be uh held sometime in March those list of stakeholders include the public works department purchasing
department finance department police department and fire department so if there are any uh additional suggestions for stakeholders in that um I'm open to that because senior busing transport
Senior Transport that's that's you right Chris is that that goes to your senior I guess if it has to be so be be on the lookout umy she's not here right be on the lookout for that email and please
forward to your department heads uh the the municipal building and there other pieces that I will of of this energy planning grant that I'll keep you apprised of as information comes in and I have a correction from uh last
meeting uh I announced that the hackensac river Nation Summit was going was scheduled for tomorrow February 25th it has been postponed and the new date is Tuesday April 22nd that's what the FL committee wanted
to know thank you April 22nd April 22nd Tuesday yep April 22nd it's been postponed and the information is on the uh website njcf.org
n njcf cf. Northern New Jersey Community Foundation and uh green team is going to be uh meeting
tomorrow no Wednesday they're going to be meeting Wednesday to uh work on the TR spin so we're going to doing some weighing and measuring so we'll be out there doing doing some bagging I have to tell you I was so unaware of the amount
of stuff that I was just throwing in the trash until we started doing this I come in every day and I have something to to add there I need one in my [Music] office I think we can do that that'ss really yeah the uh green team is
uh we have some new members and they're really looking forward to expanding this project and doing some uh like reals and social media education cuz people are putting some things in that don't necessarily aren't able to be included
so I really appreciate people's enthusiasm but we're already we're also going to make sure that we streamline the process and educate it's going to it's it's very interesting project yeah it is and I've heard the same feedback Chris from the from the uh Senior Center yeah
thanks and I'm complete excellent mayor I apologize I just wanted to mention that this year's Black Balloon day will be on March 8th at 10: a.m. courtesy of the New Milford ipal allance where is that going to be held
is it here or here here yes 10 a.m. I I believe it's at 10: a.m. yeah I believe it's a Sunday March 8 march8 and I also wanted to mention just for anyone watching that the de High School is proud to present Little Shop of Horrors and I believe that show will be starting
the end of next week okay March 7th and one two other days the first weekend yes excellent okay resolutions uh has everyone had a chance to look at them
are there any that need to be P for further comment Andor vote if not I would ask for a motion to open to the public motion second all in favor I oppos ladies and gentlemen the public if anyone has any questions or comments regarding good and Welfare in the B of
Milford now it's your opportunity to come forward motion to close second all favor I any opposing okay may get a motion to adopt
resolutions 2025 col 85 through 2025 93 motion second all in favor I any opposed okay ladies and gentlemen we are going to go into close session um when we come out of close session this body will take no action and we will immediately
adjourn the meeting we will immediately me sounds funny but yes that's what we'll do make a motion to go close session all in favor I any opposed okay thank you very much have a good evening everyone thank you