good evening everyone welcome to the uh public meeting of the mayor and council at this time I would ask everyone to please rise for a moment of Silent prayer andoor [Music] reflection please salute the flag IED
un States and justice for all thank you please not the fire behind you the main par lot to my left your right the main hallway these kids the New Milford open public meetings 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 act upon upon in accordance with this act the mayor and Council of the bur of 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 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 infrastructure provide Fair honest courteous and Professional Services establish a sense of trust and accomplishment between all residents and
through research and crud and 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 sanen here councilman zner council president Duffy here councilman gry here councilman Seymour here councilwoman Grant here mayor patrino here okay before we start I'm
going to ask to add two things to our agenda tonight first is going to be I'd like to add Megan Fox for appointment to alternate she tree commission I'd like to make a motion to do so second all in favor I any opposed
okay and the second one is we're going to be adding resolution 2025 colon 12 resolution approving a settlement as to the dca's fourth round affordable housing prospective need number for the burough of New Milford
a motion motion second all in favor I any opposed okay now we're going to move on to some presentations USA Wrestling New Jersey state Youth Tournament coach like to come up and say a few words
[Music] um so this year we had a record number of um wrestlers attend State we had 21 wrestlers total who qualified um and we had about uh 11 or so who actually placed so was a pretty amazing year for
the rec wrestling program um I also want to call out that this is the third year that they had um USA wrestl second year that I had USA Wrestling for girls um and every year we've been able to have a good group of girls um qualified but
this year was was our largest um group of girls amaz um but it's really a testament to the hard work over the years over the over the season um the efforts you guys put forward um working closely with our coaches um so again as I told you guys
over the last um the last few months uh really really special um this group of kids uh well done and congratulations so with that we are going to start with the ladies canila Caba Castell Andrea gues Payton Pino
Diana lggy Diana lggy come on down Briana Cay Melania Malone Destiny Anderson and kayin Walsh uh everyone okay all right so we're going to move on to the boys tournament
Place winners Braden Wright oh yes yeah Mo great was a state champion this year tell right Brian I [Music] everybody once again congratulations on
mayor coun make sure you don't forget your phon we will take a one minute break so okay okay perfect [Music] hard Okay one minute is [Music]
up sorry make get a motion for the approval of the minutes from the March 10th 2025 work session meeting don't move second all in favor I any [Music] opposed just adoption
bus you want me to close the door uh yes pleas yeah we have a ordinance up for adoption 2025 col 11 and when clerk has opportunity and ask her to please read the ordinance an ordinance authorizing an emergency appropriation pursuant to
njs 40a col 4-53 purpose of this ordinance is to approve $40,000 for the preparation of the ms4 stor motar infrastructure map which shall be deem special emergency appropriation as defined and provided for an njs 40a
4-55 may get a motion to open to the public for a public hearing on this ordinance so move second all in favor opposed ladies and gentlemen of the public anyone has any questions or comments regarding this ordinance now is your opportunity seeing that no member of the
public wishes to come forward at this time I would ask her motion to close to the public motion to close second all in favor I I any opposed may get a motion to adopt this ordinance on its final reading motion second make it a roll call please
councilwoman sanen yes council president Duffy yes councilman gry yes councilman Seymour yes councilwoman Grant yes mayor patrino I'm sorry yes just reading the list that wasn't a timee okay so let the record reflect
that tonight we have our auditor stepen wil's here tonight and he's going to uh come up and talk about our Municipal budget can you welcome sir roll the podium a little further so you're on camera little closer what if I don't
like to be on roll the podium keep going it really rolls yeah it really does perfect there you go good excellent my tie good everything good
okay wow that's a momentary thing good [Music] evening another year we are and uh unfortunately I think as everybody understands it just doesn't get
easier uh this we thought last year was challenging this year was even more challenging um the combination of inflation higher interest
rates um stall development and Redevelopment all through Bergen County North Jersey I'm sure all over the country um has played Havoc with Revenue use
ratables and overall you know budgeting um we we've been through a number of iterations the fanes committee I don't know how many times they met but I'm sure they met a lot um a lot of adjustments a lot of
cuts a lot of decisions and um we end up with a budget tonight that the average oh oh and let's not forget you had re a revaluation oh
yes just to just to you know put the icing on the cake this year so the average residential assessment went from about 330,000 to 643,000 um this is the trend residential
real estate has been climbing in value exponentially over the last five or six years um unfortunately commercial industrial and apartments have remained fairly flat over especially over the
last year uh but the end result is the tax rate is going to be basically cut in half the local rate last year was a223 this year it's going to be
658 but obviously applied to a much higher value so the bottom line is that the average resident residential unit that was 330 that's now 643 we'll see
$199 increase in Municipal Taxes which I have to tell you based on my clients that I've been to and gone through this process this year uh you're right you're right in the
pack there's there's higher there's not much lower I think Fair laon introduced last night they were at somewhere between 160 and 170 so you know it's it's just if you
look at the list of where the expenses went up a little bit of salaries almost $200,000 in pension $171,000 in health insurance 133,000 in liability and workers comp insurance 815
in garbage almost 100,000 to the library because now you're you're at True Value they get a third of a Mill by law so they get $98,500 Debt Service went up about
224,000 a lot of that is again the interest rates on short-term debt are higher than they've been in a long time and again I mean I've said this every year probably for the last five or six
years all the other stuff in the budget everything you control the apartments the the programs are $190,000 less than last year so as you continue to cut the things you can
control the things you can't control just are out of control so I think you know based on everything I've seen this year um yeah May would introduced last night they were at 290
something um and they're on the 5year rolling reassessment program and because of the re the reassessment and the increase in the residential and the flatness of the commercial industrial Apartments $70 of
that increas is directly related to the increase in the assessments so again good job uh tough job and right now based on everything that's going on in the world I mean I don't see it getting easier I don't see costs going
down um inflation has gotten worse and not better although somebody said that they would take care of it day one but it's a whole different conversation U and that's where we're at I mean considering everything that's going on
in the world uh I think we did we did a very good job in in maintaining and managing what we have to manage I think you're right about the tough decisions because the things we can't control keep going up and what we can control we have
to make Cuts so I mean you ask any Department in the burrow and they'll say you know they got cut so those are the decisions the budget committee and the council kind to make and I thank them for that I mean it's unfortunate that we have to do that but we have to again there's certain things you have
to do and certain things you have to buy but when when you bought a whatever it was pencils paper clips pads last year was $2 and this year it's $4 well you can't buy half what you used
to buy because it's you consume it so it puts everybody in a really tough spot and keep in mind our burough is one of the lowest in commercial ratables in the county and yet we maintain fiscal responsibility so tips on like
hat if you had a hat if I had a hat if you were wrestler you would have a hat true the budget questions comments for the auditor anything thank you Steve thank you yeah thank you for the job you do helping us and working with us thank you
for changing your meeting because of my I was conflicted on Monday with my my last Schoolboard presentation I need to retire no no no I have all these people telling me you can't retire Till I Retire right
I have a few more years see and uh I just want to say thank you to the budget committee and uh all your hard work it's it's no picnic I've been there um but thank you so much and Christine
especially uh so many things you have up there in that brain I don't know how you do it but thank you so much CER who couldn't be here tonight he's ill but he was on the budet committee and and Steve how you bring it all together you like a
fine wine oh yeah I think you do it in your sleep I send you stuff and I get it back 2 minutes later I'm like how do you do that you know the irony of of the older I get the more forgetful I am so if somebody sends me something or somebody calls me for something and
if and sometimes I write it down and put on a sticky and then I lose the sticky so I I just I I have to keep everything flowing because do the same every day in my life this time of year every day is a new adventure
so excellent than thank you should I roll should I roll back [Music] back have a nice night see you see you at the hearing thank you very
much okay with an introduction 2025 col 12 when the clerk has the opportunity ask please read your calendar year 2025 ordinance to exceed the Municipal budget Appropriations limits and to establish a
cap Bank njsa 40a 44514 purpose of this ordinance is to authorize an increase in the annual budget that exceeds the appropriation limits to establish a cap Bank Mak get a motion to introduce this ordinance on its first reading Mo second may have a
roll call please yes councilwoman sanen yes council president Duffy yes councilman grotsky yes councilwoman Seymour yes councilwoman Grant yes the public hearing of this ordinance will be at our April 28th meeting May get a motion to introduce
the 2025 Municipal budget motion second roll call pleas councilman San yes councilman council president Duffy yes councilman grotsky yes councilman Seymour yes councilwoman Grant yes
okay the last introduction tonight is 20253 clerk has the opportunity please read the ordance bond ordinance to amend sections 4. C and 10 of the bond ordinance number 22
20227 entitled Bond ordinance to authorize the making of various public improvements and the acquisition of new communication and Signal systems equipment and new Automotive vehicles including original apparatus and equipment in by and for the B of New
Milford in the county of Bergen state of New Jersey to appropriate the sum of $950,000 to pay the cost thereof to make uh 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 adopted on March 14th 2022 as previously amended by ordinance number 2 2022 colon 24 adopted on December 19th
2022 if you want me to give a comprehensive something easier to understand when we were reviewing um the capital budget requests this year one of them was for uh new security C cameras
at the DPW for $25,000 and it was something we wanted to fund the CFO said to us we have Capital money that we've already uh authorized that go has gone unspent it was under the heading of hbac hbac
improvements I checked with Vince the DPW director he confirmed that he he had completed all the things that he had intended for that portion of the budget so rather than incurring additional debt we are reappropriate debt we've already
authorized to cover the cost of those cameras okay so the purpose of this ordinance is to amend Bond ordinance 2022 column 07 to include installations of security cameras at the DBW yard as an authorized purpose to make use of
funding that has already been allocated but remains unspent a motion to introduce this ordinance on its first reading motion second make it a roll call please yes councilwoman San yes council president Duffy I I do have a question
uh then does this make this um lump some uh is now used yeah there was uh just a little bit over that amount it was so it's now yes exended
book after okay yes councilman gry yes councilman Seymour yes councilwoman Grant yes public hearing on this ordinance will be at our April 28th meeting
okay item number one is historic preservation bcos grants council president du thank you mayor um I think this is kind of a two-parter when you say Christie yes um I will just uh say
that every year historic preservation uh applies for a grant for a project and over the years uh now that we have uh full ownership of the
cemetery and the fact that it is on the county state and federal registry um it has become the focus of most of the money that the uh commit
commission is looking to spend so therefore uh they were apply uh we are applying for this grant for uh stabilization of certain
headstones um recreation in some cases of uh the stability of these stones and you know the mayor made a great Point um next year yeah he did Mark it down um
next year there will be quite a few people visiting our burrow for the uh 200 50th um and our cemetery is uh meaningful in in this celebration so um
anything I think we can do uh in that area is worthy of this um application so Christ yes so you before you start yes council president is correct because we're revolutionary town because we're
participating in R 250 our cemeter is to be advertised throughout the state as a location to see so so the grant is for work being done to be done at the 73 prior hopefully to be completed by 2026
yes so um there's a grant available through the county um it's through the historic preservation trust fund it it's a matching Grant and Nancy had um talked about the possibility of applying for
grant for preservation plan the preservation that Randy had just talked about the total budget is $50,000 so we would be talking about a $25,000 match and in discussing that um some of the
money from the 100th anniversary celebration that came in through donations um was uh unspent and put towards put into the historic preservation trust for the Rev 250 celebration that's coming up for
the number of things that we're going to be doing so the mayor had suggested that it would be possible for us to um use $10,000 from that trust fund with the understanding that next
year we would include $10,000 to be put back into the trust fund for the Rev 250 celebration similar to what we did when we had the 100th anniversary and that the balance would come out of our Capital Improvement fund which I know we we work very hard to to Monitor and
spend uh frugally but we all think this is a great opportunity to bring much needed um attention to the cemetery and so I guess we're looking for the council's support on whether or not that we're going to apply that we need to submit a letter of intent intent by the
end of this week which doesn't commit us to anything but just says that we're part of the project is not just about cleaning the stones and making them pretty this stabilization yes they're old and we want to preserve as much as possible I think
it's thanks I also want to say that going around town and seeing the signs that are created by the historic preservation commission with the QR codes are fabulous I haven't tried it yet because just it's great seeing them s beverage
you know the sadly bottle company and various others it's very it's terrific great project I didn't go around town but I did open the link with the QR code and like it it it no but it includes things that we don't even have anymore which I thought was really interesting you hit the the marker on the map and it
gives you the history of things that aren't aren't even here anymore yeah that would be a great like summer tour we get group it's going to be and we go around and we do the QR codes since it's going to be better at it than us part of that yes
excellent okay any questions about that move on to number two which is the DPW seasonal hire councilman Z could not be here tonight so I believe the administrator is going to walk us through this yes um so on tonight's agenda we do have
a resolution to appoint a full-time DPW employee to uh replace uh somebody who had retired and in the course of doing the interviews um we met we met a number of
uh qualified people one person who came across uh he does not currently have experience but he's a new Milford resident very enthusiastic um and a recent New Milford
High School grad and we were very impressed by the young man and we thought we actually considered whether or not to put him into the full-time position but we all agreed the person that we picked had had just the right amount of experience coming in not too
much to have learned bad habits just enough that he has an idea of what the job's all about but we really thought that there was an opportunity with this um young man to uh give him a chance to see if this is something that he really is as
interested in as he thinks he is and we thought that the possibility of doing a part-time seasonal hire would be incredibly helpful for the DPW in the uh coming months with the amount of uh Landscaping things that they need to
keep up with and vacations and vacations um and so we wanted to find out if there was support from the mayor and Council to um bring this person on for a seasonal position for six months through the end of October um and it's part-time
24 hours per week so it would be a Tuesday through Thursday schedule 7: to 3:30 p.m. no benefits no benefits so you're creating this position just for him well we have had what we've had done in the past we've had both seasonal and
also part-time people that we hired that it was sort of like a a period of time where we got to see what people really were able to bring to the job and sometimes in some cases we brought them on fulltime if the opportunity presented itself and so it's not that we're creating a new
position it's just we haven't it's not something we've done in in the past but it's something that uh we think is merited right now but you hadn't plans on creating filling a position had created this position this year well ideally I mean Vince would be
very very happy if you would be able to take somebody on full-time but that's not necessarily where we're at right now but it's something that he feels he can cover within his budget and or with uh
look what I'm trying to think of what's the budget that he has not uh recycling but uh clean clean communities yes funding from the CLE Community funding from that Grant be appli to cover cost this so if there's any interest
in taking that path I did prepare a resolution uh if anybody's interested in making a motion to add that to the agenda I'll make motion add to the agenda so all in
favor any oppos this is 13 yeah 1 113 I read oh item number three is distracted driving campaign compensation councilman GR thank you mayor uh we have an
opportunity has an opportunity to get a uh distracted driving gr uh we we actually already have it we already yeah I'm sorry we already got the have the grant okay and uh what it entails is 100
hours of uh police work at UH overtime okay and uh what it does is it's going to pay uh $70 per hour okay as overtime uh 80% of
our police force will qualify for this uh in the event a sergeant or above takes it uh it will be a little bit more than that uh but the feeling from our
fewd seniors is that most of the officers who are relatively new will take this because it's an increase in pay for them on overtime okay uh well what we're asking what does
this entail I'm not it's a distract I know what that means what do the police offic they do additional patrols specifically for this so that's what those 100 hours are and we have had this grant in the past and what we've done in the past is
we paid the actual overtime rate which for some of the younger officers is not the 70 but the division of highway traffic safety encourages the agencies to pay participating officers a flat rate of 70 per hour for the overtime so the request from the police department
would was would we be would the mayor and Council approve paying $70 to as a flat rate to the for the overtime for officers that might not be making the $70 per hour the money is not coming from the state from this it's not come from
it's comes from the gr comes from the grand yes it's covered by the grant so if we if if we only pay him if we pay somebody $40 an hour we will only get reimbursed $40 but if we pay them 70 we'll get reimbursed 70 I think it's a great idea it's a very
obvious way to keep our community safe I agree yeah texting and driving has become awful you can't go anywhere without seeing it everyone's St and distracted nice I think if we can put an extra 100 hours to crack him down on that I think it's a good thing
do you want to make make a motion on whether that they're any agreement on that I think we have to have like formalize okay how do I phrase it make a motion that we agree to move forward with the the minimum the minimum $70 $7 per hour over time for the distractive
driving campaign compensation I'll make that motion second all favor I any oppos okay item number four schedule events okay Thursday March 27th is the 2025 New
Milford Education Foundation Galla sponsored by the New Milford Education Foundation starts at 6:30 p.m. at the Alpine Country Club if anyone is looking for a last minute ticket you can go to nmf gala2 givesmart.com at which the mayor is going to be
honored as the humanitarian of the Year correct thank you if you want to hear the full speech you got defit the the mil Education Foundation we have a Gala each year each year they pick um educators of the year and
humanitarians of the year and I was picked as humanitarian each year so very honored and proud and I'm looking forward to a wonderful even Saturday April 5th is opening gate parade sponsored by the Milford Recreation and Milford littley the
parade kicks off at 9:30 a.m. it will start in the old shop right parking lot and it will proceed to Kennedy Memorial Field on Saturday April 12th is the Easter pancake breakfast sponsored by the New Milford athletic boosters it'll be from 8:00 to 12:00 p.m. at the New
Milford High School cafeteria at the same time is the annual Easter egg hunt sponsored by Milford Recreation and the hunt will start at 10:00 a.m. and it'll be at nights field right across from the cafeteria they kind of start working together so people
can do both MH did we raise the budget on the eggs yes eggs are I don't know if plastic eggs have gone up as much as eggs but probably yeah on Thursday April 24th is
the annual black poster event sponsored by the New Milford Municipal Alliance and alumni and Recovery it'll take place uh from 1: to 5:00 p.m. at the New Milford W CI on Tuesday May 13 is suicide prevention Symposium sponsored by the Milford Police
Department and nj4 it'll be from 6:00 to 8:30 p.m. at the New Milford High School auditorium on Monday May 26th is new milford's annual Memorial Day Parade sponsored by the New Milford public events committee it will start at 9:00 a.m. it'll go from nights field to bur
Hall and on Saturday May 31st is the second Annual Arts in the park sponsored by the New Milford Arts committee from 2: to 400 p.m. at the night field Pavilion are there any events that I missed I fail to mention got a lot coming up which is
great always great move on to the administrator report thank you mayor uh for my engineering update uh we have been advised that the application for the French Brook restoration project permit has been deemed complete as of January 23rd by the D and is currently
under review that was the first step um the sand volleyball court next to the basketball courts behind Kennedy field has been completed construction documents for the two njdot Road Improvement projects consisting of Roslin Monroe and Marian
and stubin Clinton wait Roslin Monroe and Maran and stuben Clinton Lynwood Maple and Roosevelt were submitted to the do on March 19th and were awaiting their comments or approval uh we're in the process of getting a transfer of the cad files from our former engineer on the main Street
Improvement project and once received the current engineer will provide an updated estimate for engineering and construction management services for the project work on the ms4 stormw infrastructure mapping is scheduled to begin with a meeting between the engineer and bar Personnel scheduled for
next week and a walkthrough of Milford Avenue took place on March 20th in advance of the county resurfacing of Milford Avenue from River Road to Dumont which is part of their 2026 2027 project which they're already planning
for uh work on the electric vehicle charging stations plan for the burall the library and nights field has begun as I'm sure you might have noticed according from the front Lo at the bar Hall and the next meeting of the mayor and council is a work session session
and it's scheduled for Monday April 7th at 7 p.m. meeting a little earlier in the month to accommodate some holidays I just want to touch on the volleyball courts yes the Vol the new volleyball court s volleyball court is completed um it is not officially open
yet we are waiting for padding which is going to go on one of the polls that has the electrical components on it so once we get that we will pick a uh an opening gate and we'll do a little ribbon cutting down there nice maybe invite some uh volleyball players and we'll have a lot of
fun and did you want to just update we had a meeting with our GRS consultant yes okay yes we did meet with our grants consultant uh this week talking about upcoming projects and uh we got to meet some uh new Personnel that we're going
to be working with and it was a very productive meeting we kind of look at things for every Department particularly the library environmental a lot of pedestrian safety items and infrastructure stuff so those are the things we're really looking at uh going forward I'd like to hear more about some
of those things when you have more information excellent anything they find they will feed us for our review if we want to proceed with it or pass on it we did tell them about the priorities that we have unfortunately some of you are pro priorities are priorities of a
number of other towns which makes the grants less less uh likely to be more comp more competitive okay everyone has had a chance let's go to council from the airports let's start
with let's start with start Lisa Council s start off I all my committees are busy working on projects uh and I will have more to report next time so I nothing to report right now everybody's working
hard behind the scenes promise yeah councilwoman d uh thanks guys um okay in March uh Board of Health I I have to say the Board of Health and Health Department are very grateful to
the DP you for the improvements and cleaning up they did downstairs um and they are practically giddy over the idea of getting a sink in the clinic so they are so happy about
that it's a compliance issue as well so thank you for that um the mid Bergen organization has been really coming through with some very good programming with the seniors um and one thing that's coming
along I just want to alert people they're going to be running um the uh program for new babysitters so keep an eye out for that I think it's very valuable for young
people um and it'll be free of course um a historic commission that um obviously we talked about the grant that we discussed earlier um and we are planning
to get meeting with the Rev 250 group as soon as the burrow receives their our packet from the Statewide organizers and then we'll kick off our first meeting um
one thing I just I know uh last week was extremely trying around down the burrow for a number of reasons and uh I just really personally want to thank our
employees especially our Emergency Services um and especially the New Milford Police Department so just thank you so much uh for what you do you're
always at the ready so that's my thank you Council msky thank you mayor April 9th I'll be attending the graduation of one of ourfor police officers of the academy uh I also uh as to what Randy
said want to thank the police for the uh tough couple of weeks they've had lately uh moving on uh last night the planning board met okay we're working on the uh housing agreements getting that moved in
place uh they've also uh approved and sent back to uh the mayor and Council the ordinance uh in regard to the height it is consistent with the master plan and it is verbiage correct as they
decided it so that should be put on the agenda for the next meeting for adoption uh also uh the planning wood will be looking at our next meeting at a uh another application for uh uh joining
two laps together and putting an additional house on that La so uh they're going to be busy y excellent any questions for counc not councilman SE thank you mayor
I just would also like to Echo council president duy and councilman gry said and thank all of our First Responders uh they've done an absolutely tremendous job to say the least to see the immediate response of our volunteers fire department to a carire in front of Berkeley Street was incredible and very
reassuring to our community and likewise seeing such a fast and immediate response from our Police Department to recent incidents at our a recent incident at our high school was also very reassuring and and mayor as we do our our school district and our and our Board of Education superintendent have
expressed uh great appreciation for their strong partnership with the buau and our joint commitment to keeping our communities our families our children and of course staff and everyone safe in our Community uh and I also just wanted to uh point out for anyone who follows
our domestic violence Pro Symposium program which of course we started in here in New Milford um our program has continued to grow M recently it's expanded into our neighboring uh communities in Bergenfield um where our Coalition against violence did a presentation which was fantastic in
Bergenfield and I'm very gracious and appreciative of the burfield mayor's invitation to come and um help present that program and in addition this uh this spring next week on Wednesday April
2nd at 2m at Ramapo College will be our fourth annual spring violence prevention Symposium at Ramapo College for anyone who's interested and again we our partners at Rao College the office of violence prevention extends their
gratitude and appreciation for starting the program here in the yeah it's wonderful that it starting to expand that's exactly what our Hope was so we thank Bergenfield for absolutely for jumping on it and and do starting now absolutely good that
yep councilwoman Grant thank you mayor first I'd like to say that I was very honored uh this month when the uh Bergen County planning board reelected me their chair I believe this will be my sixth year serving in that position congratulations thank you very much
thank you it is a great honor and I all my Liaisons and committees and whatnot are are functioning smoothly and doing what they need to do and I have filed a council liaison report that will be appended to uh the minutes and I choose not to go into any linky description
because there something I want to read um at our last council meeting we the mayor read a proclamation in honor of women's history month and one of the things he mentioned was applauding the contributions of women to the armed
services of this country and I occurred to me that um women are being removed from many websites um of governmental websites particularly that of the Department of Defense um done by
secretary uh heet and so council president Randy Duffy councilwoman Lisa Senus and I decided to write a letter to The Honorable Pete hson in Washington DC and I'd like to read that letter if it's all right would you may of course thank
you says Ray women's History Month dear secretary hget we the undersigned are members of the Council of the burrow of New Milford New Jersey a family oriented community of 16,000 people in Bergen County a few miles west of the George Washington Bridge we are proud to say
that our burrow has had women Mayors and council members since 1991 and in some years women made up the majority of the council at our mayor and council meeting on March 10th 10 2025 the mayor issued a proclamation in honor of women's History Month among other things the
proclamation led the achievements of women in the military it stated and I quote women have always served to defend our freedom and our country courageously in the military at home and abroad unquote women served in the American Revolution the Civil War and in every
war since then women have been exemplary soldiers and Fighters both on and off the battlefield for the seven years ending in 20 3 100 women have graduated from the Army's Ranger school and others successfully completed the Navy SEAL officer
training further information on women's contributions to the military can be found at on a givea website um some women who made significant contributions to the military include Harriet Tubman Sarah Emma Edmunds and Cafe Williams and E
Dunwoody was the first woman in the military to achieve a fourstar rank and Lori Robinson is a retired United States Air Force General who served as commander of the United States Northern command and the North American Aerospace Defense command from 2016 to
2018 many women who served in the armed forces have gone on to illustrious careers after leaving the service witness for example tamy Duckworth Who currently serves in the Senate and representative Mikey cherl who currently serves in Congress yet despite the
achievements of women in the military you have stated that you will not permit women to engage in comat combat will not permit girls to participate in stem classes and you are removing mention of all mention of women's service members and their achievements from your
official Department of Defense website as well as from alling International Cemetery we find this incomprehensible disrespectful shortsighted and potentially harmful to the defense of our country we urge you to rethink your position on women in the military and
encourage you to look at the talents and merits of everyone who seeks to serve it should not matter what an individual's gender is what their skin color is what their religion is what their gender identity is what their hair and eye color are what matters is their
ability to perform the required tasks that should be the only Criterion for service in the military in close please find a copy of our mayor's pre Proclamation very truly yours well done thank you thank you I will be
sending that out to tomorrow out tomorrow I have no I can't imagine they will actually get a response are you are you sending it in the blue folder or just the actual no I'm just going to send it a letter I'm I'm going to photo cop make a copies of the Proclamation and include that rather than the the
original yeah and I'm also sending by the way I'm sending copies of this letter too president Trump Senator Duckworth congresswoman Cheryl Senator Christian Jill brand she's the ranking member on the Senate
armed services committee and to Christopher gra who's the vice chair of the Joint Chiefs assassins I don't believe there is a chair at this point there anybody else who think I should send it to please let me know you can always add their name sounds
good excellent I'll let president come share with him thank you thank you okay for me historic Newbridge Landing they continue to work on the project for their Barn Museum and and also making certain other
improvements around the property uh especially with the pavement and the roundabout that continually floods they're working on trying to mitigate that from OEM they are working with our other emergency service organizations and they'll be planning a drill which
will be upcoming this year which I can't get too much details on yet okay resolutions has everyone had a chance to look at them are there any that need to be pulled for further comment and or vote I had a question on
um 106 106 R of lease for 2013 2000 213 River Road with Holy Name Medical Center there there no right but there is no amount it's in the resolution the
resolution it is yeah oh oh no no it's not I'm sorry it's in the it's in the agreement in the contract in the so you it's in the lease agreement that was my question so it's not we didn't yeah okay I was curious keeping it
in yeah okay no just I was curious how much is it is that something we talk about uh it is an increase from the prior lease I believe we are increasing it um $100 a month that's right for the
first year and then another in the second and another in the third so it continues to increase yes that's great thank you excellent make get a motion to open to the public second favor I any oppos ladies
and gentlemen the public anyone has any questions or comments regarding the good welfare the B Milford 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 motion to close the public motion second all favor I I you
opposed is there any other business before this Council uh two things okay we didn't we we vote we we made a motion to add the appointment but usually you vote on the appointment separately okay yes and we
didn't do the consent agenda we didn't do vote on that yet okay so let's start with the resolution first sure okay may get a motion to adopt resolutions 2025 103 through 2025 col 113 motion second
all in favor I any opposed may I get a motion to appoint the name yes Meg Meg oh yeah Megan Cox I thought okay Megan Cox to alternate sh commission
motion second all in favor I any oppos I we added it that's that was the motion to add yeah is there anything else in your end nope well before we adjourn let actually Chris the mayor and Council want to
recognize your 25 years of service to our burrow and to our residents and I think um I speak for everyone we say we can't do this without you so I'm embarrass but thank you you are the glue that keeps everything together and we so
excited for yourself thank you very [Music] much release the flowers oh my gosh thank you so much all I can say I think I said this too privately I feel so lucky to have found the Barb Milford as
my home when I first came here and uh the burrow as a home for my my career uh I you know I said to the mayor it was my fiveyear plan when I was going through a very difficult time personally and it turned out to be one of the best things that ever happened to me and I'm really
grateful to be here and thank you all a pleasure to Ser that was so sweet thank you very much yeah it's not just the oh my god oh my god wow thank you after reading yes okay here we go wow that's
beautiful oh my gosh 25 years of service presented to Christine demirez your dedicated service has made the Milford a better place thank you and then and list all our names thank you so much oh my gosh thank you wow I I can't even I'm speechless honestly I real that's that's
a first wow that's true thank you thank you thank you very much all in favor have a good night everyone and uh let's get ready for spring yeah thank
you than you and go yank of course