said most of meetings are over. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the public meeting of the new Milford Mayor Council. At this time, I would ask everyone to please rise for a moment of silent prayer and reflection as we think about the passing of former Governor Dakota Cody. And we are also thinking about the tragic loss of life in Minneapolis. And we hope that as Americans that we can come together and do better.
Please salute the flag to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands. One nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. Before we start, please note the fire exits behind you into the main parking lot and to my left, your right, into the main hallway. 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 accordance with this act, the mayor and council of the Bur of Middle 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 Center. 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, courtesies and professional services, establish a sense of trust and accomplishment between all residents through research and prudent
planning seek to minimize risks 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 Sanders here. Councilman S here. Councilman Duffy here. Councilman Rossky here. Council President Seymour here. Counciloman Grat here. Mayor Bino here. Okay,
the first thing on the agenda tonight is Muslim Heritage Month. So, I have a proclamation office of the mayor proclamation. Whereas, the Burough of the Milford is proud to recognize the contributions of Muslim community and declare the month of January as Muslim Heritage Month. And whereas Muslims are the world's second largest religious group practicing the Islamic faith with 1.9 billion followers representing approximately 25% of the world's population. There are about 3.45 million Muslims in the United States from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds. The Muslim
community represents 1.1% of the population of the United States. And whereas Muslims first arrived in North America along with enslaved Africans whose historians estimate 30% were Muslim. Their Islamic beliefs and practices contributed in numerous ways to the founding of our nation, including courageous and dedicated military service in every major war, including the American Revolutionary War. And whereas Muslims have made significant contributions throughout history, including notable achievements in philosophy, mathematics, chemistry, physics, astronomy,
medicine, music, architecture, literature, and the arts. where philanthropy, humanitarianism, civic responsibility, and culture help to enrich the United States socially, economically, and historically. And whereas there are nearly 300,000 Muslim Americans in New Jersey, representing one of the largest Muslim American communities in the United States. The contributions help fortify and strengthen the economy and diversity of the people in our state and our local communities. Whereas the Burough of New Milford supports the right of all of its residents and calls upon our
community to eliminate prejudice and bigotry everywhere. We celebrate the great diversity of all of our citizens and extend the promise of our country to all. And now therefore, I, Mayor Michael J. Petrino, do hereby recognize the month of January as Muslim Heritage Month. Moving on to appointments. May I get a motion to appoint Gerard Smithson, planning board regular, Peter Torpey, planning board alternate one, Michael Mcanti, planning board alternate 2,
Linda Karruchi, senior center advisory board, Anita Anita Pazo Quinn, Senior Center Advisory Board, Jonathan Davis, Environmental and Energy Commission, alternate one. Angelica Gil Welling, the Milford Municipal Alliance and Public Events. Second. All in favor? I. Any opposed? Okay, at this time we are going to we need to hold a public hearing on our green acres application which you'll see on that board has to do with our tennis courts and I'm going to turn it over to our burough clerk. Thank you ma'am. Uh as part of the application process uh it's
a requirement that we present the concept plan at a public meeting and talk about the environmental impact of the project and take all comments from the public. So, the project name and location is the Kennedy Tennis Courts Improvements and it's located where the existing tennis courts are u behind both wall. Um it's officially known as block 301 block 2. Um and what's being proposed is to construct a full depth repair to the existing tennis courts. The existing fence is going to be
remain and be repaired. We're going to have a new concrete curb installed. Um and new netting to be replaced, striping to the existing court and proposed improvements to the uh lights as well, new light fixtures. Uh the existing basketball court is going to remain and be protected. The environmental impact, there's a few they want us to um speak on. It says to discuss the
short-term and long-term project impacts. The short-term impact of the proposed improvement is the construction phase, the long-term impact is enhanced resources for recreational use. Before I continue, I just want to point out that the entire um concept plan and environmental impact statement is posted on our website. It's been posted for the past month if anybody has any other questions or want to look at it more in depth. We have to identify adjacent environmental features that may be affected by the proposal. And uh due to the scope of the work that's taking place in an already disturbed property, there's not a significant impact on the existing environmental
features of the site. Have to list any permits required for the project. Um and so far the only one that we know of is the state of New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection wershed and land management flood hazard area individual permit. As part of that permit, the natural heritage data request form will be submitted to the NJTP's office of natural land management to confirm any potential impacts. We also have to talk about alternatives to the proposed action. There are no alternative sites that were identified for the proposed project
as it is specific to the needs of the Kennedy Field Tennis Court area and mitigating measures. um describe any mitigating measures that will be undertaken to mitigate the adverse impacts of bur to ensure that any impacts adverse to the project site environment are avoided wherever possible. The disturbance will be limited to only what has been identified in scope of the project and at this point to open to the public to see if they have any comments or questions.
All in favor? Any opposed? Ladies and gentlemen, the public, if anyone has any questions or comments regarding this Green Acres application, we'd love you to come up to the podium. Seeing that no member wishes to comment on this application at this time, I would ask for a motion to close the public. So move. Second. All in favor? Any opposition?
So, we're good. Okay. So, we move on to unfinished business. Make it a motion for the approval of the minutes of the January 5th, 2026 reorganization meeting. Second. All in favor? I. Any opposed? I One extension. All right. We're going to be introducing a number of ordinances, so just bear with us. The first ordinance is 2026 01. And when the clerk has the opportunity,
I'd ask her to please read the ordinance. Yes. And for ordinance authorizing the execution and delivery of a financial agreement for payments in taxes pursuant to NJSA4A, colon 20-1 except for the redevelopment of block 501, lots 9 and 10. Purpose of this ordinance is to authorize the bur of the Milford to execute a financial agreement between the burrow and 814 river urban renewal LLC for the payment and move taxes on block 501 lots 9 and 10 as shown on the tax map of the Bur Milford in connection
with the redevelopment of said property for 160 residential units including 32 low and moderate income affordable housing units plus 12,500t of retail space for a 30-year period from the date of completion of the project. Make it a motion to introduce this ordinance on its first reading. Second. Make it a roll call, please. Councilwoman Sandy, yes. Councilman Syler, yes. Councilman Duffy, yes. Councilman Graky, yes. Council President Seymour, yes. Councilwoman Grant,
yes. The public hearing for this ordinance will be at our February 23rd meeting. The next one is ordinance 2026 colon 02. And when the clerk has the opportunity, I would ask you to please read the ordinance. An ordinance amending chapter 2 of the revised general ordinances of the bar of New Milford entitled administration to add article 11 entitled memorial bench and tree dedication program. Purpose of this ordinance is to establish a program to provide new Milford residents, families,
and community groups a way to honor loved ones or to celebrate milestones while contributing to the beautifification of NOA's parks and public spaces. Making a motion to introduce this ordinance on its first reading. Second. May I get a roll call, please? Council Sam Houston. Yes. Councilman, yes. Council, yes. Councilman Gra, yes. Council President, yes. Councilman Grant, yes. Public hearing for this ordinance will also be at our February 23rd meeting.
Okay. The next one is 2026 col03. When the clerk has the opportunity, I ask you to please read the ordinance. an ordinance amending chapter 7 of the revised general ordinances of the burden of Milford entitled traffic to amend section 7-10.1 entitled left-hand turn cohorts. Purpose of this ordinance is to prohibit left-hand turns from no new bridge road and river road in and out of the driveway of 1150 river road. 1150 river road is the delta gas station on the corner of Newbridge and river.
Yes. Yes. May I get a motion to introduce this ordinance on his first read? May I get a roll, please? Councilman Sand, yes. Councilman Zer, yes. Councilman, yes. Councilman Brok, yes. Council President Seyor, yes. Councilman Grant, yes. Public hearing for this ordinance will also be at our February 23rd meeting. Next ordinance is 2026 col104. And when the clerk has the opportunity, ask her to please read the
ordinance. capital ordinance to appropriate the sum of $50,000 for the undertaking of the French burial ground headstone restoration project in buying for the burrow of New Milford in the county of Bergen, state of New Jersey and providing that such sum so appropriated shall be raised from a county grant and from the open space trust fund of the burough. Purpose of this ordinance is to appropriate $25,000 from the county of Bergen open space recreation flood plane protection farmland and historic preservation grant and $25,000 from the Burough New Milford's open space trust fund
to undertake the restoration of headstones in the historic French cemetery. May I get a motion to introduce this ordinance on its first read. May I get a roll call, please? Councilman, yes. Councilman, yes. Council Duffy, may I may have a comment? Absolutely. As the liaison to the historic uh preservation commission, um I just want to say this is a wonderful commitment uh that
the burrow is making uh towards the restoration of this uh most important um identifying uh area of our town. We are the birthplace of Burton County and the proof is in that cemetery. So, uh we are dedicated to preserve it uh for historians and our residents. I I vote yes.
Councilman Rosski, yes. Council President Seymour, yes. Councilwoman Grant, yes. And it's great timing because we are in the 25th anniversary for our country. The public hearing for this ordinance will be also be at our February 23rd meeting. Okay. The next one is 2026 col05. When the clerk has the opportunity, I ask her to please read your bond ordinance to authorize the improvement of various roads involved in the county of Bergen,
state of New Jersey to appropriate the sum of $425,000 to pay the cost thereof to authorize the issuance of bonds to finance such appropriation and to provide for the issuance of bond anticipation notes in anticipation of the issuance of such bonds. Okay, this is a paving of roads and curbs. So, let's see who gets lucky. So, it's East Woodland Road from Boulevard to Pacific Street, Lumen Drive from Boulevard to East Woodland Road, Grieve Drive from Boulevard to Pleasant Drive, Bridge Street from Boulevard to Pleasant Drive,
and Pleasant Drive from Bridge Street to East Woodland Road. May I get a motion to introduce this ordinance on its first reading? Motion. Second. Make a roll call, please. Counciloman Sus, yes. Councilman, yes. Council Duffy, yes. Council Nebraska, yes. Councilwoman Grant, yes. Public hearing for this ordinance will be at our February 23rd meeting. Next ordinance up tonight is 2026 col06. And let me clarify the opportunity and ask you to
please read your ordinance. bond ordinance to authorize the improvement of various roads in Vine for Burton Milford in the county of Bergen, state of New Jersey, to appropriate the sum of $245,000 to pay the cost thereof to appropriate a federal grant to make a down payment to authorize the issuance of bonds to finance such appropriation and to provide for the issuance of bond anticipation notes in anticipation of the issuance of such bonds. Once again, this is road
road resurfacing, uh, curve, sidewalks, drainage improvements, Clinton Avenue from River Road to the dead end, Hugenot Drive the entire length, Arlington Road from River Lane to Wesley Lane, and the entire length of Yelch. May I get a motion to introduce this ordinance on its first? Motion second. A roll call, please. Councilman Stan, yes. Councilman Ser, yes. Council, yes. Councilman Grosky, yes. Council President Seymour. Yes. Councilwoman Grant. Yes. Public
hearing for this ordinance will be at our February 2013 meeting. It's going to be a long uh the next one is 2026 column 07. the clerk has the opportunity and ask please read the ordinance capital ordinance of the bargain Milford in the county of Bergen New Jersey authorizing the acquisition and implementation of new finance and tax computer systems in by and for the bureau appropriating therefore the sum of $53,000 and providing that such
sum so appropriated shall be raised from the capital improvement fund of the burrow this ordinance is to appropriate $53,000 from the burough's capital improvement fund to acquire and implement the new tax and finance computer system. What I do know is I believe we are I think the last town in Bird County that is using the old systems and it's antiquated and no longer supported by technology. Make a motion to introduce this ordinance on the first reading.
Council, yes. Council, yes. Council, yes. Councilman Rosski, yes. Council President Seymour. Yes. Council, yes. Who wants a guess when the public hearing is? There we go. And they'll all be back. Working together. 2026 colum 08. When the clerk has the opportunity, I ask you please read the ordinance. bond ordinance to authorize the replacement of sanitary sewer lines on portions of Pine
Avenue and use road in for Burough New Milford in the county of Bergen State of New Jersey to appropriate the sum of $490,000 to pay the cost thereof to appropriate a federal grant to make a down payment to authorize the issuance of bonds to finance such appropriation and to provide for the issuance of bond anticipation notes in anticipation of the issuance of such bonds. Okay. Purpose of this ordinance is the replacement of sanitary sewer lines on Pine Avenue from Fulton
Street past the dead end and Hughes Road from the dead end past the intersection of Vorhees Avenue in by and for the burrow. Uh the work shall include manhole improvements, roadway reservicing, and all work materials necessary for the suitable completion of the project. Make a motion to introduce this ordinance on its first reading. Motion. Second. Make a vote, please. Councilman Sam Houston, yes. Councilman Ser, yes. Council Duffy, yes. Councilman Grosky,
yes. Council President Seymour, yes. Counciloman, yes. Public hearing will be like when Billy Joing Piano Man back. Okay, last one. 2026 col09. has the opportunity and ask please read the ordinance. An ordinance to amend the revised general ordinances of the department of New Milford entitled salary adopted as ordinance 91 col 1 and amended annually by ordinance up to and including 2025 col05. Purpose of
this ordinance is to establish salary ranges for all full-time and part-time positions. So basically it's the ranges. So I'll give you two examples. Violations clerk 40,000 to 50,000 tax assessor part-time 20,000 to 40,000 library personnel can be anywhere from 25,000 to 81,000 um certified technical assistant 40,000 to 65,000 part-time CFO 30,000 to 40,000
maybe one more building sub code official part-time 12,000 to 22,000 making a motion to introduce this ordinance on its first reading. Someone second. Councilman S. Yes. Council, yes. Councilman Duffy, yes. Councilman Groski, yes. Council President Seymour, yes. Councilwoman Gr. Yes.
I know. We'll keep you here that long. promise. Okay, moving on. Item number one is budget committee update. Councilman Broxy, thank you, Mayor. Uh we've uh had departmental budget requests uh that have been submitted uh to the budget committee and we've met with departments to review the requests and uh the budget committee is in process of preparing recommendation to the governing body
uh anticipation of budget introduction uh coming in March. So we're working on it. Any questions for council messky about the budget committee? Mayor, if I could if I could just add uh I just want to thank all of our agencies, in particular directors who've taken the time to not only meet with us, but prepare in anticipation of meeting with us um their absolute needs and priorities. It's very helpful to our committee to have that degree of clarity. Yeah, I mean I don't
think it's any secret that every town struggles with their budget every year. It's getting harder and harder and our department heads know that as well. So, they are working with us as well. So, we're happy about that. Okay. Item number two is affordable housing llrp update for Mr. Shad. Thank you, mayor. Um, so, uh, I think, well, I don't think I know the council knows, but so the public knows, there's a constitutional mandate in New Jersey to provide affordable housing uh,
throughout the state. That was a decision by from the Supreme Court in the 70s called Mount Laurel. Um, if you Google it, you can read it. It's a long case to read. There's actually a couple of them. Uh, Mount Laurel one, two, there might even be a three if I my memory serves me correctly. Um as a result of that uh legislation, something was created called the Council on Affordable Housing, which ultimately was dissolved. Uh and now we have in New Jersey, um the legislature created a new uh version of the Council on affordable Housing. It's called the program. Uh and the program now is
overseeing the affordable housing requirements in every municipality throughout the state. So um in what that means for New Milford is that we had to uh prepare a uh housing element and plan um which was submitted to the program and they have a judge uh who is a retired judge who is adjudicating this and try trying to get parties to to resolve. A lot of towns have resolved their situations because they don't want to be uh subjected to what they call builder's remedies
lawsuits and get what what they call immunity from that. Um we know we've been fighting with the program because as we are trying very uh our fighting is the long term we've been trying to resolve it with the program. We've made what I believe is a fair proposal uh to the to the uh the objectors because what happens is the program is just an entity deciding or making a recommendation um uh to the court ultimately because the court will approve it. But there are people that are
rejecting. There are there are developers um who want to develop certain piece of property in New Milford asked to be included in our fair share plan um as well as uh what's um I have Christine help fair share housing council. Thank you. Uh is uh is this self-appointed body basically it's a non for not forprofit that is declared that they are the entity that's going to protect the cost of affordable housing in New Jersey. So they've objected to our plan. So and that happens in
every town. Every town that has a plan pretty much has got an objection from fair share housing. I think they objected to over 500 of them across the state. So ultimately um we are now in a situation where we've put forth the town's proposal. Uh fair share and some others have objected to it. This retired judge is going to make a decision and it's really a recommendation which will then go to one of the two Mount Laurel judges for Bergen County. uh Greg Katavano and Lena Topway Corsten and whichever judge gets it is going to have to review what the burrows submitted,
what the other side has submitted and decide what which one they think is the appropriate uh uh pathway to proceed forward. Um, I'm really not comfortable saying a whole lot more about that uh publicly because there is litigation technically pending now and there is the potential for further litigation um if uh things don't go the way in my opinion if they go the burough's way my sense is the other side will try to litigate this uh and we'll we'll wind up we're going to wind up
defending it. Uh in addition to all this going on, just so everyone knows, the burrow has also uh joined part of what I I call the consortium. Uh it's the LLRP coalition. Um which stands for America local leaders for responsible climate. Thank you. Uh which is the coalition of nearly 40 uh municipalities in New Jersey. um a number of them burn county, a number of them in other counties um that are seeking uh some clarity if you would from the courts on these constitutional mandates and the new program which doesn't really have a whole lot of language in it about how we
get due process uh at the end of the day and and what I mean by that is how the municipality how the residents taxpayers of the municipality get due process uh in the whole concept of affordable housing. So with that, I just so everyone knows I've advised the council not to discuss this publicly with anyone because of the litigation that's pending and because of the potential for further litigation because anything that we say up here could be I mean not me personally I don't have the vote but everyone who has a vote up here uh anything that they say can be used against them later on if there's a lawsuit. So I just want to make sure that everyone knows that in advance
um that people are going to come come up to speak about these issues tonight. Now, don't don't feel that the council is not responding to you because they don't want to. Trust me, they want to, but I've counseledled them as my job to protect them and you not to do that. Want to point out that everything that's been filed on behalf of the burrow and by the objectors, don't post it on Keep checking that site. Everyone's aware of it, right? The page. And of course, it's nothing to stop members of the public from voicing their opinions. No,
no, no. We're going to welcome comments and opinion. We can't answer a direct question, but at the end when we open them up, more than welcome to come up and let us know how you feel. And more specifically, if you're looking on the bureau's website, it's under resources and then under affordable housing. And there's a combination of statements made by the bureau and also hyperlinks to various filings by all parties. and I periodically put up updates when it's legally appropriate to Okay. Or we can hold the comments till
okay you have to comment on all of these everything. Okay. Next thing is schedule updates come back on schedule updates. Saturday, uh, January 31st is the annual comedy night fundraiser sponsored by the New Milford Fire Department. Uh, doors will open at 6 p.m. The comedy show begins at 8. It'll take place at New Milford Fire Department Company 1 on Center Street. Tickets are $35 in advance or $40 at the door. They have great comedians and terrific food. So, if you're looking
for a night out, I recommend it. Yes. It's always cold that night, but it's warm inside. Okay. On Sunday, February 15th is the Burrow's annual Crescent Moonlighting. It is sponsored by the New Milford Public Events Committee. It'll take place at 6:30 p.m. on the Burl Hall lawn. And this will also be uh one of our food collection events. So, if you do stop by, all we ask is that you bring a can or two of a non-p perishable item. and uh our local food pantry will be very grateful.
On Sunday, March 15th is annual Bergen County St. Patrick's Day parade sponsored by County Bergen and Bergenfield. It takes the flag raising ceremonies at 1 p.m. The parade starts at 2 p.m. Takes place on Washington Avenue and Bergenfield. And the reason why we're promoting this is our police chief, Brian Clancy, was named grand marshal of the parade. So, we will all be there. And then you know going to take over Bergenville that day. So were there any other events at 3:30?
Is there any other events that I failed to mention that are upcoming? Well, I'll guess your report will stand up for your report. Excellent. Okay. Item number four is the administrator's report. Thank you, mayor. You're welcome. Most of my report is on engineering updates. Some of the things we talked about, um we're preparing bid documents for the NJ DOT uh review for the roadway approval project for the Eastwood Road, Ree Drive, Bridge Street, and Intersecting Roadways project. We're also preparing good documents for the Bird County CDBG
um for their review for the Clinton Avenue, Yugat Road, Arlington Road, and Yale Street improvements. The engineer is preparing a project schedule, location map, and list of required permits for the Kennedy complex tennis courts for the green acres application. Um, the engineers prepared a mid- project punch list for the contractor to complete on the main street improvement project and the mill and pave main street is going to be done in the spring. The ADA renovation of the two bathrooms on the first floor of Burough Hall has been completed. Weapons are
open for use and documentation is being prepared for submission to uh CDBG for grant reimbursement. Construction is underway on the French restoration project. Uh I have to say like this is a a a big thing for me because that project's like one of the first things I ever talked about back in like 2000. It was the engineer at the time. So the fact that we're able to move forward with it is really uh important. The concrete's been poured for the original limits and we're the engineer has submitted a minor technical modification application to the NJT for the proposed extended
limits of the project and we are awaiting their comments. Other than that, I think the only other thing I have to report is that the next meeting of the mayor council is our work session which is scheduled for Monday, February 9th at 7 p.m. Any questions for the administrator? Okay. Now we move on to council committee reports. We're going to start with council woman grant. Thank you mayor. Um I don't have a lot of specifics to report but all my leaison are moving along and addressing
the projects that they've undertaken. The arts committee has selected a date for its next major event which will be on May 30th and Saturday the 30th and the after memorial day and will be held at the library in Milford. And stay tuned. It's going to be real interesting. I think you will enjoy it. I hope you all come out. The library continues to work on a variety of things including the strategic plan for the next few years which is almost completed. It's the first time to my knowledge that the library has ever undertaken such a plan and that's been to library director
Stephanie Ostro who's been there for a year as of this month and it's doing a fabulous job. Also, the local history room which was um agreed to or proposed a number of years ago finally will be undertaken this year will be completed hopefully by the end of the spring and we will have a grand opening and dedication of it in the fall. So perhaps you want to come and considering that it's the 250th year of the United States and um but that you know it is a great place
county. This is a major event and we're very excited about it. As I've mentioned before, it's going to be named after Tina Delusha who was a history teacher, a council woman, a lawyer and a member of the library board of trustees for many many years. um an allaround great person. Oh, my brother and I still terribly um you know we both shared a really passion that most people don't share and that's for grammar and the English language and um there the minutes from those years
are perfect. Um but after many discussion I think she's one of the very few people with whom I can discuss whether or not we should use something called an Oxford scholar which I'm sure most people have never ever heard of but we found so dedicated to her um the senior center has so many activities going on I can't even begin with them from all their activities during the week from you know exercise programs and a wide variety of programs from uh chair yoga to um Zumba,
you name it, plus bingo, plus trips to the theater and to and elsewhere. They It's a hustling bustling little building almost always full and someday it would be nice if we could have a bigger building but that remains to be seen since we have so little developable land in the milit and we have but we have a lot of activities if you haven't checked it out yet and you're old enough check it out it's worth getting involved our director Ben Sullivan is phenomenal and she
among other things. She's a former rocket and she just celebrated participated in the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the rockets and uh had a wonderful time. Her mother was also a rocket as a matter of fact and I participate in her Broadway dance class on Thursday morning. If you haven't tried it yet, it's a lot of fun to me. You don't have to have a left foot and a right foot to left feet are acceptable. Move your right feet, whichever you prefer. So that's my report for this morning. Thank you. Thank you, Council President Seymour. Thank you, Mayor. Uh, as Council Grosski
mentioned, the bulk of our time has been spent on the budget committee meeting with department heads, and we're working towards another fiscally responsible budget to propose to this governing body. Uh, and we should have that in working order in time for our March presentation. Um and again I thank all of the agencies for being as prepared as they've been and coming to our meetings fully prepared with a detailed list of what their needs are, not just their wants. Our flood advisory committee has already started to work uh mayor on new ideas not only for
uh to improve the bureau's status visa v the CRS rating but also to information share and raise more awareness not only in the flood zone but throughout our entire community as to ways the community can work better together to mitigate that risk. Uh the municipal alliance has met and is already proposing a tentative date of Sunday, March 8th for this year's Black Balloon Day. For those of you who don't know, Black Balloon Day is an annual event that is held in memory of those
we've lost to addiction and overdose. So that's a tenative date, mayor. Correct. And I would also just like to compliment our DPW in particular for doing a fantastic job this weekend during this storm. Uh they did a tremendous job. Our police also did a tremendous job keeping everybody safe. And I thank our residents in our community for being so cooperative and staying off the roads so that our first responders could do their job. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Counc. Thank you,
Mayor. As Matt said, we're uh continually working on the budget um for the Destin Police Department. Back in December, they had a contest uh they sponsored it along with Jay and Captain Lavine, the 194 realy loop banker for Christmas tree light designs on the houses. And I'm pleased to uh announce uh the first place winner is 305 graphic boulevard family 1100 boulevard second place and
third place is 2633 uh the gilanos. Okay. Uh there were over 600 responses and votes to this request. Uh it was a very big success going forward. Uh they'll be sponsoring an America 250 decorating contest in June uh in conjunction with the 250 year celebrations of July 4th. And theme is to show your patriotism for America's 250th birthday. Uh they're also planning to uh have a
Halloween contest and also a Christmas contest again next year. So, uh that's what the the uh residents of New York have to look forward to designing their houses and aluminum devices. So, uh going from there, uh we'll see how things go. That's my report from it's going to be cool going down street bikes everywhere. Councilwoman Duffy, I will be decorating by the way. Just saying. Um
council people are not allowed to win decorating contests, just so you know. can't help it. Um, she could decorate our house. She could. Yes. Um, thank you, mayor. Uh, I, uh, let's see. My leaons have met um, and they are progressing along in this new year. Uh, the fire department, the mayor mentioned their fundraiser on the 31st. Uh, the board of health has met. Um, one thing I
thought was interesting, just like sometimes in when you're reporting on liaison, you're reporting numbers and percentages, but in the year um to in last year's report, you know, they're all all around. the board of health uh reported that COVID was down to 296 cases where in 2021 it was 1,813
cases in town. So, we've come a long way. So, just think about that. Um, also, uh, under fire, our fire official, Alan Silverman, uh, filed his yearly report for inspections. Um, and his overall, uh, collection of state and local fees was uh, $15,06.
And he inspected um just state inspections, 57 regular inspections of local businesses, 133 multiple dwelling inspe inspections, 224, no I'm sorry, 2,245 units. So when you say what does the fire inspector do? he's all over and he's very strict and uh we appreciate him very much. So the
the big one is the historic preservation commission. Um just to announce they met uh the Nancy Baron is our chair and she remains that for this year. We thank Nancy for her service and her hard work. Um we have put together the REV 250 committee and we're announcing tonight our first event uh in the celebration of the 250 anniversary of our American Revolution.
There will be on April 18th, which by the way is also the anniversary of the incorporation of his over which happened over a hundred years ago. Also the um day that Paul revered Yes, it is. His little fellow's poem was 18th 18th of April in September. You're awesome. and we'll um and so on that day on on the burl line there will be a liberty tree planted. It
will be an American elm and more information will follow with times and there will be uh some music provided from a local supplies. So that's kind of important. No sir, Councilman. Thank you, mayor. Well, let's start with the big one, the DPW. Uh they did an outstanding job. Uh again, uh this is their third time that we've got snow at Pond,
and this was the big one. Uh it's my understanding that they were out till 2:00 a.m. uh yesterday morning uh taking care of all of our properties and and the roads. Uh some of the crews stayed behind and we did get another short busting between four and five and they were able to resalt the roads uh and then continued working on the burough properties. But again, outstanding job like they always do. Uh they're just fabulous. They they the roads are looking great. My road, my trip down here tonight was a piece of cake. Um, public events, as the mayor said, uh, uh, February
15th on the front lawn at 6:30 Sunday, we'll celebrating, uh, the classic moonlighting. Um, and we did have a cameo appearance by the mayor at that public defense meeting last week. Okay. and uh he he brought to our attention some force he has going forward this year will be 25 years since 911 and a different type of ceremony uh going forward uh to be held out here at the burough hall
uh still in discussion with it uh including the firemen police um maybe some choir from the from the high school if possible Ben Piper um and some guest speakers. So that's still that's still in the works. Uh planning board met last Tuesday. We had a reward. Uh John Dcasta remains as the chair. Jeffrey Forester remains as the vice chair and presently there aren't any applications in front of us. Um recreation uh unfortunately I will represent unable to attend the meeting due
to personal reasons. That concludes my report. Thank you Councilwoman Sanders. Thank you mayor. I'm happy to share that the mayor's wellness uh campaign committee uh submitted the healthy towns application. So that application was submitted last week is the annual report for all the activities that were uh posted over 2025. And uh the mayor's wellness campaign is currently in the new chairperson. Kelly Griffo was the former chair. she submitted the the application and
uh she is moving on to her life is getting busier so she has to step down as chair. So we thank her for her great work and wish her well on her next endeavors and there is an opening anyone who's interested in helping out with that great program. The green team uh had an opportunity uh to do some information sharing. Uh the Sakus environmental coordinator Kimberly McCleary had heard about our
home energy assessment outreach program and our canvasing that we had had done in November. So, we had a Zoom meeting with them and they are going to um they were very appreciative of our experience and our success with that program. We uh the green team volunteers reached 200 homes in that two days with 78 inperson interactions. And uh the computer analytics show us that 81 users viewed the website
117 times between November uh 1st and January 7th. So it was a very successful outreach program. So and if people are interested to hear to learn more about the home energy efficiency program, they can go to the Milford Burough website. It's uh listed underneath the green team tab under committees and it's also on the front page of the burough website on announcements, but you have to scroll all the
way down to the bottom. It's the last it's the last announcement. But if you're looking for ways to improve your home energy efficiency, uh there's something in there for everyone. And let's see, the environmental commission has been working on a community energy plan. Uh they hired uh consultant to help them uh finish the plan and and make it presentable. So the first draft has
is has been has landed in my inbox. The uh it's 78 pages long. I have some homework to do and the environmental commission will be meeting the first Tuesday of February and we'll be reviewing this uh this document and uh I expect that shortly after you all will be receiving copies when it's when it's appropriate. There will be a public hearing public information session about the community energy plan. So invite any we'll keep people updated on the dates and times
on that and you might real quick. Excellent. Mayor, I have something to add. My apologies for forgetting about the rent leveling board. It's a very important board and we apologize to the members for omitting it earlier but we met it only four times excuse me four times a year and we the first time have first time in a long time have a full board in both lands three tenants two home owners and we celebrated that by our our board attorney work done so it was a worthwhile
And there's no applications for this. Thank you. Um, historic Newbridge Landing did not meet in January. I did attend a Bergen County uh, mayor's breakfast. The speakers were county executive Jim Tedesco. Basically was talking about um, opportunities for shared services between local communities and Bergen County. We do a lot with them already and he's always coming up with new things to uh, for people to get involved in. and the other speaker was Robert Laauo who is the director of the Burton County Utilities Authority. Uh they were explaining to us about
the infrastructure changes and upgrades that they will be making over the course of the next few years. Uh they landed a huge federal grant which is good for all of us. So a lot of the improvements they will be doing will not burden our taxpayers or taxpayers in Bergen County. Some of it will but the big bulk of it will not. So it's very interesting to see what they're doing. And it's funny because I say not funny but B County Utilities Authority um if anyone doesn't know they they handle wastewater from all of our communities. So one of the big things on
their mind also is affordable housing. As the numbers go up in all the towns and more housing is built they have you know they're dealing with the flow from all the towns. So they are on top of um their improvements going forward and they're projecting out 15 20 years of uh capacity. And OEM OEM we met actually Saturday afternoon at 3:00. Uh we had a another pretore meeting
uh with uh there was a member of the police department there as well. you know, they were talking about our employees that were going to be on um and all the resources that we were going to have available for the storm Saturday night into Sunday into Monday. So, it went well. Is there anything else that anyone forgot to bring out? Okay, everyone had had a chance to look at the resolutions. Is there any that need to be pulled for further vote and or discussion? If not, I'd like to make a motion to open to the public. Motion. Second. All in favor? I oppose.
Ladies and gentlemen, the public, if anyone has any questions or comments regarding the good and welfare of Bilford, we invite you to come up to the podium. Just give us your name and we'll give you five minutes to tell us what you want to tell us and uh speak into the microphone so we have a recording. Surprise, surprise. Lori Barton, I appreciate the comment. Miss. Okay, good. Yeah, I appreciate the uh comments from the burough attorney concerning um the fact that there is ongoing litigation and that the comments made uh by the council,
you won't be able to really comment very much, but I still think it's important that there are certain things on the public record. Um, I think we can all agree that having commercial businesses are vital to the health of New Milford both economically and socially. These are businesses, the ones currently, especially at Brookchester right now where we have very few in town to begin with. These are businesses that are owned by our neighbors. They're providing needed services for
our current residents in nearby apartments, for the town as a whole, for the apartments, the 160 apartments that are about to be built on the adjacent property. These businesses also are providing jobs for the Milford residents. Now, there's nowhere I think we can all agree there's nowhere for these businesses to relocate to if they're torn down. There's we don't have places for them. It's not like they can just easily go someplace else and start over. That's not going to
be a possibility. These are mom and pop stores and we're going to lose them forever. Businesses that have been here for a very long time. Additionally, if those businesses are gone and we're building lots and lots of new apartments there, I think we can also all agree that New Orleans doesn't have the current infrastructure to support more apartments. Again, we're going to have 160 right next door. Our roads, our schools, we we do not have the ability with what we have to accommodate
that kind of development. Um, and we know that the apartments to be built on the old shop right lot are going to be a major impact already. I can't imagine what it would be with far more than that. Now, I I know that we can't talk about specifics due to the ongoing litigation, but I'm wondering if there's anything we as a community can do to help you, our mayor and council, in fighting this. If there is, you have to let us know what we can do. whether it's emails,
whether it's calls, what can we do, if there's anything we can do to help you in fighting this. Um, I appreciate that you're united with us in trying to prevent this from happening and I think that the community wants to help and we want to know if there's anything we can do. What I would say to that is we are hopefully in the future we we would have the uh builders come to a special meeting of the mayor and council so that present plans to the public at that meeting
having public and your comments and being a part of the dialogue and conversation with them I think would be a tremendous help. Is there anything we can do prior to that point because that that's saying that there's already decisions made. Is there anything we can do in the meantime? Uh getting in touch with legislators with anything like that or not really. Yes. So you you you absolutely can get in touch with legislators. That's your constitutional right to do that.
Uh just like it is to come speak at this meeting and let your these are your legislators locally, right? To let them know what how you feel and what and and what the what the sort of what's the term? Zekegeist. I think I always get that term wrong of the public is what your feelings are, what your temperature is if you would. Um, as far as the I just want to make sure that we're we're all saying honestly we're on the same page when you say um that decisions have already been made. No decisions will have been made at what the mayor was referencing was the developers
have they already have plans. They already have ideas of what they want to do. All right. So, so they and they've submitted that I believe they're on the website, right, Christine and I, I believe their plans are on the website right now. So, if so, if you have particular feelings about that, it's your right as a member of the public to come to the meeting and voice your opinion about about those plans and about how you think they will affect new. As far as as as far as um getting in touch with legislators, obviously our district 38 representation, um I would think the
governor as well. We have a new governor now. Is there anyone else that we should be in touch with a New Jersey? I mean, these are New Jersey specific issues, right? So, so Governor let the senator ascended people Uh, I mean, you can certainly talk to the county level people as well, but I don't know how much impact they're going to have because it's these are state laws. Is there anybody from the um the program or the fair share housing people that we should be in touch with?
That's that's up to you. Okay. The program probably wouldn't wouldn't entertain it because that's like a legislative thing between it's like an internal mechanism created by the courts. Um, Fair Show Housing Council is, like I said, a not for-p profofit. Okay. But there's um a website. You can go They have a website, so you can go in there and find out how to get in touch with them. Okay. Thank you. It's an interesting website. That it is, mayor.
I have one. All you have to do is give us your name. My name is Richard Sabolski. I've been a resident here since 78. And all I want to know is affordable housing. I just we have a number of affordable housing right now. What is the goal by these people? What number do they want us to have? I mean, aren't we we're doing the 160 units over at um Shopright.
Aren't there so many of them? 20 20% of those affordable units. Okay. But I mean, as far as the do do they have a number in mind? They do. And how short are we? Oh, it's it is laid out on the website. I don't want to speak about that specific. No. Okay. No, I'll look at the website. We're not sure. I mean, it's like reasonable potential. Okay. But I'll look at the website then. I think I think John for this this particular round, I
think we're supposed to come up with an additional 80 units, I think. Correct. For this one round, correct? But that's only a portion of what they say we have to do. 80 affordable units, not 80 units. 80 affordable. So 80 is 20% of the amount of units you have to go to. Okay. Capture that. All right. Look at both the way. But thank you for your answers. Thank you. So you need 500 400 units in order to make 80 affordable and when you complete them your obligation goes up. Yeah.
I don't think they have some. Well, what depends which Brookchester you're discussing? Brookchester Apartments. Brookchester. Correct. They were built before 1980. So they do not count. I was building 1980. Really? What about the next
Katherine Zroga? I've been a resident of New York since Katherine Zroga, as in Zidroga Act from 911. Um, I've been a resident since 1959. Yeah, I gave my age away. Listen, this town has been a small town. A good town. You want to bring in 161 units for what? For what? The schools are going to
be out of control. That's more taxes for everybody else. You have to add on to the police department, the fire department, more trucks. I mean, that's a lot on people's taxes. We have to fight this. We had the governor in here for Green Acres. We could get the governor in here again to fight for us. I know you can't answer any questions.
The son the sons and half of book tester is that correct? Yeah, I don't know if it's exactly half or half. Well, I I didn't know. I You have no idea because I know I had heard the sister sold Milford estates and Milford estates. No, it's family. I know it's family. I don't know how I think Mr. Brunetti Senior would be rolling in his grave. He would not want this. Anyone at the meeting was 2017? I No, he was. was.
But I really think we should keep this a small. It's a small quaint lovely town. By adding all that in here, you're going to be bringing in a lot of good, but a lot of bad. Just like Lori said, the apartment, the stores that are there, they've been there forever. They're ours. I don't know what more I can say, but hopefully we can bring in the governor and she could help
us. Hopefully. We just have to get our proposal together. That's it. Sorry. There are affordable units at the nest. I'm sorry. The nest does include affordable. It does. How many units are in the nest? Three. Two. Round two. this part too. Yeah. But can't they force Brookchester apartments to become affordable apartments? Can't they take a section of that? I mean, it's a revolving door
there. There's a lot of empty apartments. Can't they do that there? New Milford. New Milford is one of the maybe the original rent control town, right? The case on rent control, Brunetti versus New Milford, I think, right? Or New Milford versus Brunetti. And and and that case which really established rent control in New Jersey. um you have a really good rent leveling board, your rent control ordinance, very well done. Um because it was like the first one and and I can say that that doesn't help us at all when it comes to affordable housing issue that we
have that we're dealing with. As much as you we 35% of of the of the residences for our rentals and they you get no credits really for for any of that. Is there a way to change that by law? That would be something the legislator would legislature would have to take up. part of the reason why we joined the LRP lawsuit. Okay, thank you. Thank you for coming and expressing your thoughts and opinions. That does make a huge difference. And spelling your last name.
Would anyone else like to come forward? I will. I have I have an easy question for you, I think. Uh I'm Kathy Palumbo. I live on River Lane. Um and the DPW did a great job. I can't tell you this one guy, he saw me out there shoveling, took pity on me. Went really slow and scooped out the bottom of my driveway for me. And considering my age, you don't know how much I appreciated that. Um I'm totally against this Brunetti thing. And I was in teacher ening camp for 20 odd years. And
the impact on the schools if this goes through is going to be especially poor Berkeley where I was a teacher. We've already expanded Berkeley. Berkeley is full to the brim. Where you going to put the kids that come with any kind of expansion of apartments? And don't tell me there won't be any children. I live down by Canterbury. There are no not going to be any children there either. No. What is the question? The question is how can we stop this? I mean it's it's just it doesn't seem feasible for this town and the impact it's going to have on every other aspect of our lives
on the children's education. Um I like I said when Canterbury was going up don't worry there will be no children. Have you seen the expansion Berkeley school had put on for all the children, all the new children that we got from there and from other developments? And it just seems the south end of town is getting the brunt of a lot of this stuff recently. And as a member of the south end of town, I kind of like am very upset about it. You know, soon soon they'll be building in the woods down at the end of our block. They came back. I know. I know. They was every day.
Thank God. Thank God. My other question is only the thing about that 03 with that uh no electrons into the delta. Are you talking about what nutrin you going to Oh, I object to that. I mean, as a How dangerous is that going to be? I thought there was no stopping. Oh, I thought there was no
All right. So, we So, so when do we come to the or we don't have a date for the February 23rd? No. When um when we have the opportunity to schedule that, we will let everyone know. I would like some board at the front. I get all my information else.
K A H A K. I ditto the three ladies and the gentlemen. Um not looking forward to this. Um, but I do want to say something regarding lefthand turns. I don't know how all this goes. I'm not part of of what goes on in town. But as far as left-hand turns go, the streets when you're going from Delta, you're going through the traffic light, you're passing Delta on the right hand side going towards the Hackinack Bridge going over the river. those two or three side streets on our
right as we're getting to the river. I don't think there should be lefthand turns from those streets. Left hand turn on any of those streets. No, I mean from the side streets going on to New Brbridge should not be able to make lefthand turns to come back towards Delta. That's dangerous. That's very dangerous. You know, and you have the people that do it coming home at rush hour cuz I see them all the time. They make the illegal left-hand turn cuz the signs are there,
but they'll do it anyway cuz they don't want to wait to go through the traffic and the U-turn to go up into town. But to coming out of those streets to make a left-hand turn is ridiculous street. You can't make a left going towards coming out of like Tina. Is it? No. the side streets. The three side streets that you shouldn't make. You should not be able to make
We will um we will let our traffic officer know that this came up and we'll have him look at it. Okay. Thank you very much. You will. Yes. Um, Ted Fringer. Um, I'm just wondering if they with all this building going through, are the developers going to put any money in towards the infrastructure, the schools, the police,
any of that, or is that all going to come down to us? Well, so that's a really broad question, but I I'll I'll answer it in the best way that I can, which is that initially when they put their plans in, um, there are tons of permit fees that you get from the construction. I mean, we're not talking about someone putting on a bedroom on their house. These are significant construction pockets. So, you're going to get a lot of permit fees from the construction. Um, but ultimately to
so to your question about what they're giving, you know, to the town, there are certain things that we can negotiate. There are certain things we're not allowed to negotiate in terms of of of what can be done or not be done when they when they put their plans forward. Um, but the value of the properties is going to increase tremendously. And that happens every time. And when that happens, that the rate of value, if you would, that the taxes that the town will receive for those properties are going to go up a lot. So, will it cover everything that any potential new expense,
whether it's police, you know, uh, infrastructure, schools, I can't tell you dollar for dollar. I don't have an an accounting degree. Uh, that's why I went to law school. You could like divide by three. That's what I always tell everybody. Um, it's a lawyer joke. Um but that it's there's no there's no like direct payment if you would to the town uh as a result of construction. Okay. There's nothing the town can do. Say that you know we need so much. I mean they're going to put all these apartments up and be collecting all this rent and we're going to I'm going to fix the income. I'm
going to be well you have to pay for more schools. You have to pay for more police, more fire and this and that. It just doesn't seem fair that they're going to you put two big projects up if they do it. And then they're talking about doing the other one down the block that was there where Curtis was or something. They're talking about that too. Now all of a sudden you're going to add all these other things. You're going to you're going to be pushing us all out of town. It's going to get to the point where it's like it's ridiculous that they can build all these houses
like all put all these apartments up. They came in and said we're going to put 25 houses in here. They say, "Okay, that's one thing, but they're tearing this all down. And even the parking now, they don't have enough parking for their existing apartments. They're all parking in those spots. So, when they tear that all down and put it there, where are all these people going to park?" So, it's just something that we were just just I've just been wondering about. Well, if they want the building, let them absorb taxes, not us. Let them pay the taxes. raise their taxes, not ours.
quiet from this. Okay. No, that was just just thinking like, you know, looking at what's going to come down the road. Like, should I plan on staying in this town that I've been in here for years or is it going to be well, we're going to have to start moving or looking to move and get out of the town if it's going to be, you know, pushing it's going to push people out of the town and then people coming in to buy are going to look say, well, there's no restaurants, there's no stores, there's nothing here. It's going to I think it's going to have an adverse
effect on the town. I mean, you have Main Street, that's it with a couple restaurants there and that that would be it. If they take all this stuff out here and you know, if they were saying, "Oh, we're going to build apartments above and you can keep all the stores." Okay. Well, at least you have something. But, um, just wondering, but my main thing was who's going to take the brunt of the improvements for everything. My daughter works at first grade. She said, you know, they they're jammed. There's no no room for other kids. And then they're going to put even if it's
one kid for half of those apartments, that's, you know, 10 some odd kids you're going to add to that school. And then the middle school and high school, it's all going to go up. Any other public comment? If not, I may ask for a motion to close the motion. Second, all in favor? Any opposed? Can you get a motion to adopt resolution 2026:65 through 2026:81? Motion second. All ladies and
gentlemen, we are going to be going into close session. When we come out of close session, this board will take no action. Before we leave you, we just want to say stay warm this week. We're gonna be, you know, 12 to 15 degrees for most of the week. So, check on others. Maybe some snow. I get a motion to go with the close.
I need a break. We're going to go