okay call the meaning to order roll call please miss Pisa president Mr kamsky here Mr dno here mayor Morgan here Mrs Joffrey here Mr kogan here Mrs mcnight here let's salute the flag Al to the flag of the United States of America and to the repic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all the public meeting and federal Council Providence govern Union state of New Jersey adequate notice has been given in accordance with PL 1975 chapter 231 that an annual notice or revision was made in conformance with Section 13 of the act right now we have a public hearing on Green Acres playground Grant application for Oakwood Park playground and Alison our community uh activities director I know you've been working hard on this for weeks months months all right so good evening I did send this all in the packet um so the presentation tonight is about our Green Acres Grant application since 1961 the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Green Acres Program has been has funded the acquisition of open space for recreation and con conservation purposes and the development of outdoor recreational facilities while New Providence has received some funding from the program most years we do not have eligible projects because the funding calls for the acquisition of open space or requires a large percentage of matching funds last year the Green Acres Program introduced a pilot program for New Jersey counties to com to create completely inclusive playgrounds inspired by Jake's law promoting accessible Park improvements for children and adults with disabilities in 2024 for the first time Green Acres is expanding the Jake's law funding program to include Municipal governments so it's a great opportunity for us um bernardet has I'm trying is going to put up some slideshows okay so um the first slide is basically a picture of Oakwood Park as it currently stands Oakwood Park is the most well-used park facility in New Providence residents come to recreate on the multi-purpose turf field in baseball diamonds play on the playground and relax in the picnic Pavilion community members of all ages and abilities utilize the park and find ways to enjoy its features however the existing playground is more than 25 years old and it's ready to be replaced it was not done as a part of our Park renovation it is not fully accessible it needs better drainage and its replacement parts for repairs can no longer be ordered when we had a vandalized slide a couple of years ago we had to retrofit the entire side of the playground to fit the replacement slide so I'm here today seeking permission from mayor and councel to apply for the Greet anchors funding by way of the Jake law playground Grant to build an inclusive playground at Oakwood Park I'm going to tell you what that means Jake's law is a 20 28 18 measure that incentivized counties to build inclusive playgrounds for children for the First Time Jake law funding is being made available to Municipal governments at a 75% match meaning that the buau would be responsible for funding only 25% of the project that 25% would be paid forward with already requested Capital funds that we put into the budget for this year and or we are requesting to be put into the budget for this year and additional funding that would be a result of our applications to the local Recreation Improvement Grant this year and the kids recck trust fund Grant this year can you go to the next slide so that's basically it and then the next slide so the picture up on the board is just an idea of what an inclusive playground could look like at Oakwood Park it's not the exact structure so the proposed inclusive playground is aimed at providing fun recreational play equipment that can be accessed by all children and adults including those with limited Mobility or developmental conditions in addition to many of the common playground Staples like swings and spinning attractions the playground would include sensory activities for children with autism and similar disabilities wheelchair access to rides and revised surfacing to make the park accessible to all we also had done a study with our trian members that we share with um Summit Recreation and a lot of the feedback we received from the families were things that we may not have thought of like having a quiet area off to the side for children who need a little space having a a lot of shade for people who are in wheelchairs so the image on the screen is a mockup of what the proposed playground could look like keeping in mind that final features colors and the like have not been chosen next slide please this project also proposes the construction of a new bathroom facility or a renovation to make it wheel more wheelchair accessible and familyfriendly so the things that would be included are up on the screen right there playground surfacing drainage Pathways shade canopy picnic tables fencing signage and bathrooms and most of those are required by the Jake law funding the new playground will be located exactly where the exist existing playground is but would be increased in size from its current 4,680 squ ft up to the largest size we could accommodate would be 10,450 square fet so double the size of the playground it would include many features that can be found in most playgrounds like swings Spinners and sensory walls however they will be designed specifically to be accessible and of course Fun For All residents the spin around or rocking attraction will allow wheelchairs to be loaded onto the carrier for a quick ride and ramping throughout will allow for more access to all of its features and this will actually a bit back to that one it's good yep sorry we've engaged with our planning Consultants higher gruin Associates who we also worked with to create our open space and Recreation plan and they found no adverse environmental impacts to either the land or Wildlife that would be caused by the construction of the new playground the image on the screen is a concept plan that shows the existing playground footprint and the largest version of the proposed playground footprint now the next one okay so how much does this all cost the total cost of the proposed project again the largest scale project that we could accommodate including the playground surfacing new drainage Pathways shade canopies picnic tables fencing signage and bathrooms is $1,296 th000 we're applying for Jake's law grant funding in the amount of $972,000 which would leave the burough responsible for $324,000 I've been talking to the Green Acres funding people and it sounds like they're aiming for municipalities realistically to receive between 500,000 and 750,000 we're going to go ahead and apply for the 972 see how it goes because again this is the largest scale project that we would consider and it's dependent on the funding so to pay for our 25% of the project cost the 2024 capital budget includes a request for 187,00 and will apply for additional Grant funds in the amount of 1 36,500 the project can easily be downsized if the Jake law playground grant funding does not come in at the requested value and will plan to contribute the required 25% of the smaller project cost through a combination of the aforementioned Capital funds and grants keep in mind that the proposed project again is the largest scale and we can easily shrink the footprint even all the way back down to its current size the last size if funding is secured we anticipate the project to break down ground in summer or fall of 2025 thank you for your consideration of this Grant application we're proud of this park facility and we look forward to enhancing it for everyone to enjoy thank you um I know how much time you put into this i' go down and and see you and you're you're I'm working on this grant I'm working on this Grant on but uh this this looks great it does look and um we need a a a big playground down there no doubt about it and you know thank God for Jake SL and they're bringing it down to the municipalities and thank you for for looking into it and going into so much step does anybody here have any questions I would I would Echo that and just say thank you so much because applying for something like this is never easy and and you've done a wonderful job and this is is great for the community you ended by saying something I thought that was very important as well if the funding does not come in at the anticipated level it can easily be downsized to the project itself it's not that the burrow would be have to make up the the difference so I we plan to you know we we purposely sized it this big so that we could request the maximum grant funding if we got 750,000 if we got 500,000 we would still anticipate to just pay that 25% of it and scale the project down okay thank you for your efforts okay I think it looks great Alison thank you so much Alis and thank you for all your work because I know that you also um surveyed the community and it's a lot more than even we think that it was well and we would continue to survey the community if once the grant funding comes in and we really choose the final elements I definitely would want to invite people back in so that they could you know people especially who would um most benefit from this kind of a playground I would love to hear from them which items would be best suitable that's great thank thank you okay well since you're here Alison does anybody in the public have any questions see no one yeah quick one I go up yeah Brian hos 49 Bradford just a question about you know you saying you're talking about increasing footprint so there are some Fields there now um would there be any impact to those fields no she explained that okay it's going to be in the current area of the it's hard to tell from yeah it's very small but it basically would stay in it its same location just grow a little bit bigger so it would move a little bit closer to the lower baseball diamond okay and it would stay behind the um big fencing of the larger baseball D it stays in the same spot it just kind of spreads outward okay there's just a big area there behind the playground that's kind of I want to say it's yeah people put chairs and stuff there but it's unused right now all right thank you yes Kathleen hi Kathleen Dolan 12 L drive I'm just wondering uh the grant is going in this year based on if the proves and when does the decision get made and then kind of what would be your timing in terms of getting this implemented so this grant is due on February 7th so um pending approval tonight it will be sent in by next week and they anticipate two to three month decision time so we should know pretty quickly um how much we will be funded and then applying for the local Rec Improvement grant that will be on the next council meeting we're going to be applying for $100,000 from that one and then we're going to apply for 50,000 from the kids Recreation trust fund which will be you know again in a few more months so we should know the decision of all funding um pretty quickly and you know by the end of the year and the implementation would be for fall summer to fall probably most likely Fall of 25 nice okay thank you sure okay yes Jeff Jeff Gro 240 Central great great project um I've done these and my question is um besides higher Grill did you work with a specific uh playground manufacturer and which one was it yes Ben shaer Recreation the one came out they're actually going to be replacing our small playground at Lions Park in Spring this year and we're g to continue to you know try to work through the project with them I'll see Ben schaer next week should I ask him any questions you want tell them to give us a break give us a discount they actually installed a completely inclusive playground down in Westfield a couple of years ago it's right right down by that town hall area with the fountain and um you know it's got wheelchair access and everything wonderful done these projects locally before what are you going to do with the old stuff the old stuff unfortunately is not usable because doesn't comply it doesn't comply it's all it's all on its way out and like I said before when we tried to replace a part because of something that was vandalized it was impossible to find we had to reconstruct the entire side it's too old yeah oh this is good this is very good very very good well done thank you thank you thank you so much anyone else hi Alan Swanson 47 Overhill Road um this thank you very much uh I I think um this is an excellent idea to to improve the uh the playground there uh I just I just want to mention and I was going to ask about the timing because um I think it's important not to get wedded to the idea that we're going to put in a Turf uh surface there I understand the the wheelchair accessibility and what have you I is going to be important but it's going to be important to explore other Alternatives um the Synthetic Turf industry is I it's under attack basically and and you need to know that you know in Westfield and Scotch Plains there were uh proposals to put in turf Fields uh at at both locations and um citizens were able to get that on the ballot and in both locations the citizens at the last election turned out and by a significant margin voted down use of of Synthetic Turf in uh fields that were going to be uh that had already been approved by the council uh and uh even after the approval by the council they were voted down by the citizens um the reason for that I'm not going to go into the only reason I bring it up is and and I was interested in the timing I I think it's important to to be sure that you look at all the Alternatives you're apt to have I don't I don't know the vendor that was mentioned I'm sure they're they're great um but there is a tendency to to glorify the turf fields um and they are just hazardous and they're going to be they're they're a problem and so I just I I I want you to approve this and uh and I think it really needs to go forward but it would be good for us to involve people who are involved in the discussion so that uh you know you you get the maximum and the safest benefit just interject there I I totally understand your concern with turf synthe turf field that have the rubber pellets I I don't want to speak for Allison but I'm sure this for playground equipment playground surface are very different material although it's synthetic but it's not the pellet that that there's a lot of outcry for oh I I know that I'm extremely premature I just don't want yeah I just don't want people to get in their head that this is you know we're going to be putting down you know some kind of a plastic surface because it's you know that just to be open-minded to to all of the options that's May mainly what it is and uh I wasn't planning on talking I didn't really realize but uh just something to keep in mind for the future it's and there's there's a lot of time to think about it so it's it's good thank you you know there's a time and a place for that kind of CHF so just so you know the playground that we're doing at Oakwood Park we're leaving it more of a natural look and is going to still be Mulch on the ground and the playground structure itself looks like a treehouse because it's in that wooded area and it you know kind of lends itself to that in a project like this where one of the larger purposes is to make a wheelchair accessible that surfacing is pretty Paramount to making the project work so be on every playground but in a playground that's um one of the main purposes is to have accessibility that's a pretty big feature Yeah well yeah I I wasn't aware this was going to come up and and believe me what what I will do um I mean there is there's a benefit to to being tied in to be in the leadership and the tied in with the national and the Sierra Club there are resources and people who can provide information so that you know hopefully I can do some research for you and present you with some information that'll that'll help you to maximize and do the best thing thank you thank you thank you thank you okay let's move on I have appointments from Municipal Alliance uh Kristen mson Hayden for the Bo almenta on to Municipal Alliance have a motion please so moved second second all in favor yes no be it historical preservation uh commission Jeff Gro Some Mo second all in favor yes no so be it okay we have approval of minutes for December 5th have a motion please so moved second second in favor yes no so B it December 19th motion please so Mo second second all in favor yes yes no so be it uh January 3rd Jour meeting so Mo second second all in favor I no so be it uh January 3rd reorganization motion please so moved second all in favor I I no so bad okay we have correspondence uh Board of adjustment for 135 Union Avenue uh Union County public meeting for their meeting schedule PSC and G extension of the uh flood Hazard area individual permit um un County of union reorganization meeting notice Nokia notification of ongoing environmental activities PS uh notice of increase of electric and gas rates John Monday um Lea collection Westside residents I always thought we switch every year each east and west side don't we we do we do right okay um New Providence Fire Department resignation for ragava K bedala and fire department warden's membership for darl Jones uh Fire Department junor application for Aiden fagy and board of adjustment for 56 Ridge View Board of adjustment for 22 Seamore well get a lot of board of adjustments uh Jersey Central Power and Light uh hearing notice for the LR filing and Berkeley height zoning board um any uh questions about correspondence seeing none we'll go to councel business administration Lisa thank you mayor uh we've got resolution 20 24-5 3 and this is a resolution authorizing agreement between the buau of New Providence and gov pilot LLC for a one-year term uh gov pilot is the workflow software that we use for requests like facility usage um Oprah requests dog and cat licenses leaf collection permits parking permits Etc the cost is $40,000 for 2024 and I believe we're locked in for three years with that price so no increases for three years okay community activities Matt thank you uh resolution 054 is a resolution authorizing the burough of New Providence to apply for Green Acres Jake's law playground funding for Oakwood Park playgrounds this is just giv us the authorization to apply for that uh resolution 055 is a resolution of support from local governing body authorizing the Arbor Day Foundation Community Tree recovery application uh this is requesting uh um authorization for the tree saplings that we that we hand out U I think we're getting like a thousand if I'm not mistaken tree saplings and we get the saplings yeah good stuff and they usually go through most of them yeah okay uh engineering Alex thank you mayor uh resolution 2024561414 3 for TNS painting and maintenance ink in the mountain not to exceed $222,000 for municipal center interior painting and replacement wall coverings uh this is to complete the interior painting of the second and third floors of the municipal center uh which includes hallways and office space uh resolution 2024571970 ordinance 202 24-1 is an ordinance of the buau of New Providence County of union state of New Jersey deleting chapter 41 article two of the code of the Bureau of New Providence uh just a little background here this is an ordinance really for some housekeeping and updating our ordinances uh back in 2023 Governor uh Phil Murphy signed an act uh the elections transparency act which made some changes and one of those changes is that that uh the state now um state laws now preempt local ordinances for pay to play so basically we are just removing the ordinance and cleaning up um that area Okay Finance in thank you mayor resolution 202 2458 is a resolution refunding tax title lean Redemption resolution 20 2459 is a resolution authorizing payment of the attached bills payable list and the amount of 3,723 6477 and items of note um we have our Board of Education January appropriation for $2,528 th000 Garden State Municipal Municipal GIF our first installment for our Burrow's Insurance of 178,000 3003 $178,300 n which is for our sanitary sore lining project uh payment number one um paid with capital funds sorry Alex I'm steering your thunder because that's below um and then the last last item of note um in the amount of$ 13,16 is for WSFS CF aclean holding Inc it's the tax lean Redemption and tax sale premium and that is paid out of our general trust account that's not um burrow funds okay Personnel Al thank you mayor resolution 20 24- 60 resolu appointing Denise brovsky as the burough Clerk and register of the burough of New Providence County of union state of New York as a result of Wendy's retirement Denise sitting right over there congratulations will'll be appointed the burough clerk register our effective uh February 1st 2024 State new state of New Jersey I'm sorry County of Union and state of New Jersey resolution 2024 d061 resolution appointing Jessica short as Deputy B bur Clerk and deputy regist of the bourbon Providence County of Union and state of New Jersey as a result of Wendy's retirement Jessica will be appointed to the appointed the deputy burough Clerk and Deputy register effective um February 1st 2024 resolution 202462 resolution accepting written retirement resignation from Kathy herle as finance office manager for the Bureau of New Providence Kathy will be retiring effective April 1st 202 4 she's worked in the Bureau for about 20 years uh resolution 202 [Music] 24-63795 through December 31st 2026 and author and authorizing mayor and the burough clerk to execute the same this is just adding the language consistent with the Personnel policy making juneth a holiday resolution 2024648300 65 resolution approving Amendment to the labor contract for the burough of New Providence patrolman's Association of PBA Local 132 for the period of January 1st 2023 through December 31st 2026 same here adding the language consistent with the Personnel policy making juneth a holiday okay we have a limousine license for MP Corin limo for uh Ibraham uh and a limousine license for Summit Express limo all the uh requests were properly uh prepared and reviewed by the police department uh resolution 066 is appointing Carly Balman as a permanent employee patrolman step nine and I can't believe it's been a year since we hired Carly and she she's doing a great job Okay resolution 067 appointing Jared B white Weiss Esquire as a substitute public defender uh resolution 068 is authorizing the execution of a mutual Aid agreement with uh Berkeley Heights Fire department and we do this every year okay uh let's see Public Works last one resolution 2024691 for National water main cleaning in the amount of $298,800 n 11 for the 2022 sanitary sewer lining project National waterm is finishing up some of the punchless items uh this is the first payment towards that project thank you okay discussion items one thing I do want to bring up is uh um committees um you know I asked everybody to get in church with the chairmans to see you know who who was uh attending the different committees who wasn't um you know we got a partial list here and there so I I want to lock this down with with uh an so as you know these aren't State regulated committees or advisory committees Council people aren't on the Committees they're just leaon you know they should just bring back what the the different committees are thinking to the council make recommendations um apparently we we have we we have to lock this down so I I taught the naine and you know I I think what we have to do is H have a work session you know it doesn't have to be long but I think everybody should Mark down what they think uh should be in this policy because we all have different ideas and we we got to lock this and these these four committees we're talking about it's not a lot and what we have to do is come up with the with the uh procedures the policies and and go from there and adhere to it okay so um I ask everybody come up with some ideas in the next couple days s of to burn a dead we can we can compile everybody's ideas and then we can have a quick work session and uh go over this and get it nailed down it shouldn't take that long okay everybody in agreement sounds okay so actually I just want to add a point to that as well the only problem is that now the Committees that we have those four committees kind of are sitting in a little bit of a limbo place right now um when I look back last year we all these current committees were appointed as of February 28th um when I look at the agenda and I look at the minutes there was no start and end date when I went to the current sop it states that it's for one year so reading that my interpretation of that is that the Committees go the current committee sit until February 28th of this year that would allow them to continue their business um because what we were told the other day is that since they were not appointed for 2024 they weren't able to operate and since they weren't able to operate they weren't able to have their rooms for that um so I'm suggesting that since we are in a state of flux since we are only talking about four committees and since I think these committees have a sincere desire to really just talk about the year they're not doing anything radical in the next between now and the next meeting they just want to talk about the upcoming year and make some plans and make have some discussions I would like to suggest that we allow the Committees to continue to operate to respect their room reservations um and to let them continue and then we will nail this down we'll get and times and all that I I would add I think February just to shed a bright light on this February is a good day a good month to do this um just to point out and thank Allison for running the community Fair uh that yielded a lot of new volunteers for some of these committees uh some in the order of uh five to six people per committee so it'll give us a little time to vet and by the way thank you for doing that it was uh terrific so I think February does line up pretty nicely perfect time I guess this is more legal a question for Paul the terms is if we appoint them on February 28th does that go for a whole year or does it end at the end of the year it usually ends at the end of the at the end of the year um so they really technically don't exist the the fops were written when you guys were making the appointments at the reorg meeting which is why it says the year it says one year right because pointing at the reor meeting that was always the policy until last year so things did get a little wonky last year since we did move it and they continue to be wonky but it's always been the calendar year it's it's not been a year from the date of appointment is the calendar year ending on the last day of the year okay I just I had a hard time finding that documented anywhere yeah the SOP says I have it in front of me it says appointed annually for a one-year term so if that's correct we defer so I guess my my request is since we are a little bit in unusual State now that the four committees continue to just make very preliminary plans they're not running events they're not doing anything they're just talking about among membership what they can be working on there's nothing that prevents them from getting together and talking okay they can't act they're not I mean they're not doing much they're just really talking if a group people want to get together and and talk make plans whatever they want to do that's not a problem like I said they're not official and they can't act they can get together okay so I guess can we do we have to do something to agree to let them continue or to respect their room assign you're not let you're doing nothing they would do it on their own but you can't act they can do whatever they want to do on their own okay what I ask is that we get this thing squared away in the next week okay agre that's good soon the sounds good all right and um I don't think it's a difficult ask so it's puts everybody uh you know as long as we have the rules everybody can abide by the rules and I think we make a uh we we say in theop that those appointments for those committees will be done in the last meeting of December so we it won't be in the reor it'll start January 1st okay great okay thank you all right uh Council committee reports uh one thing I wanted to talk about was the ice storm out last week I know there were a lot of comments out there about brining we have found that brining really doesn't work and in fact if we did brine like some of the other uh communities and made it slushy and all it did was freeze our policy is uh we start plowing after 2 Ines of snow uh that's pretty standard a lot of communities don't don't plow unless they have three Ines of snow I've always said you know let's be let's get ahead of these storms the best we can what happened was that they they went out they salted and it was all right until you know what the the Frozen rain came and it dropped below 27 degrees you can put as much salt on the road as you want physics and chemistry doesn't change anything below 27 degrees the salt or calcium chloride is not going to melt so no matter what you did to that those roads they were going to be they were going to be icy uh I think common sense says Don't drive stay at home be safe at any rate um it cleared up the next day a little bit of sun and it started melting right away so uh I just want to let everybody know that they were out all that night working they worked that day they had to go home and get some rest that's federal law and then they went back they came back that night and sold the deal the whole town again it went the next thing so I know we spent 37,000 $500 just on Soul alone uh and I think uh the total cost of the storm was like $65,000 right bernardette so you know sometimes I think it's unfair you read some of these things on social media like where are the guys why aren't they salting why aren't they they were out there in fact got comments from other towns and said why are your roads so clear so they did do a good job and I want to thank the DPW you know we we do 42 miles a road just in New Providence so uh the other thing I I just wanted to toh bring up is that bernardet and I went up to Nokia and met with their Executives uh we all read the uh paper nj.com that they are moving to New Brunswick um they are going to be leaving totally out of their uh mid 2028 is that right bernardette and um you know they they've already sold the property Nokia is going to be leasing that property uh from the uh the owners we haven't gotten any plans or even talked to the new owners yet so we're waiting and uh hopefully we'll put out our feelers using our professionals and see what's going to go on there and that's all I can really say at this point okay going um we just had a public safety meeting every year I I we we I say we uh go over our traffic plans and what we've done over the past year uh it will be Lar Tom I'll give you this flyer and you can put it up on the TV and MaryAnn if you could uh report on this too um there'll be a traffic safety meeting and a pack neighborhood watch meeting and P stands for uh police and Community together and we'll be going over it'll be on Wednesday February 7th at 7 o' right here okay the topics of discussion are going to be traffic safety improvements Traffic Safety goals for 2024 recent crime Trends crime prevention tips surveillance camera registration and uh the policing Community together Watch program um it's pretty detailed uh but they'll be talking about this in in in uh total on the seventh I uh ask everybody to come um I think it'll be uh very informative and we're going to try and get uh uh TV uh here and um hopefully Mary and you could come and report on it I no try and get somebody okay great thank you uh besides that that's uh really all I have uh B thank you I have uh we had our first Board of Health meeting which is always um very informative I love their little one page of Flyers that they send out that we post on our uh website um just a couple of things of note actually um covid they're not seeing um household spread so that's good they're not sure if it's immunity or if it's awareness so you know just keep being aware and Vigilant and that will hopefully continue to be the case um they have been seeing in especially in middle schools and high schools pressus um even in vaccinated kids so if you have a chronic CLA you know um go to the doctor because it needs antibiotics so those were just a couple interesting things from that um Historical Society uh is gearing up for their April event um and you know their website has all their additional information and and um the did we haven't had a meeting yet so that's about it okay mat uh nothing nothing from a committee perspective but did I did want to I know today is Wendy's official last meeting so I just wanted to say a few things I know Wendy's not here um and I'll save most of my comments when I do speak to her on her last day uh but I do want to just say you know we've as a community have been very blessed uh to have such a special person like wday and the work for the burough for the last 42 plus years uh she's definitely a gift uh and she will be missed her shoes will be difficult to fill no question if You' seen on the agenda today we've appointed uh some of her roles to multiple people um we do have an incredible team and I'm confident that we're not going to miss a beat um like I said it's amazing to think that it's been 42 years Wendy started in 1981 uh 1981 I was 11 um and I just so I'd give out a few fun facts about 1981 Ronald Reagan was inaugurated as our president sandre de o Conor became the first woman to serve on the US Supreme Court bread cost 59 cents a loaf eggs were 95 cents a dozen you could buy three pounds of bananas for $1 a gallon of gas was a do25 on the last day of trading in 1981 the Dow was 8 75 wish we all knew that uh Dallas was the most popular TV show uh Jr did get shot radar Raiders of the Lost Arc number one grossing movie and finally the 30-year mortgage rate was the average rate on a 30-year mortgage was 16.6% so some fun facts there for sure uh which speaks volumes to how much life and the world can change over time but but one thing has never changed and that's Wendy's infectious smile and her incredible work ethic and I want to thank her for everything that she has done to make New Providence the special place that it is today she is she is and will always be a big part of this special place and why we all chose to live here and raise our families so thank you Wendy we will miss you that was very nice Matt um 81 was that one I think the Dodgers to beat the Yankees from I'm not mistake again I'm a Yan I'm a Yankee fan but a bad a bad year from that perspective yeah I it has been amazing to watch the last uh couple weeks with Wendy's departure uh the amount of respect and affection that has come her way and that's a true Testament of of how much she's uh admired and loved um I moved to town 25 years ago and I remember my first visit to town hall going up stairs to ask some sort of question and going to the window and and the the the the kindness and the helpfulness that I received I remember being very taken with when I went back home to tell my wife about my experience in our new burrow Hall um and Wendy was a part of it she was she was there then um 42 years tenure amazing I mean you she has seen literally you know administrative staff Mayors Council you know come and go I mean and she's been the she's been the con so um someone who will be definitely missed and someone that we hold in in high regard um uh as far as things to report the only thing I I would just make mention of and it's already been mentioned by councilman kogan is is the Martin Luther King Day of uh volunteer Fair event which I I know many of us have attended um at one point I just was on the stage here at the uh at the gym kind of looking down at all the tables and all the volunteers and just in total admiration for the good people in this town and and what people do with their time to give back so a wonderful event that's it thank you thank you mayor um I would also be remiss to not just thank Wendy um her her welcoming smile and calm demeanor um exceptional and I know she's definitely trained everybody up very well so I agree with Matt we won't miss a me a beat but she will be greatly missed uh from my perspective uh communication committee is going to be meeting tomorrow uh we're going to be kicking that off this year um you forgot to mention you have chat with the mayor on February the 2nd uh so everybody can come that's at 7 pm here in the lincol room so if anybody would like to um have further discussions there will be two council members in presence as well U please join us on February 2nd in the Lincoln room um and then I have a non-committee but a community item I just want to share um our link program and that's our local resource Pantry here in town um celebrating their second anniversary of existence so two years of supporting families and providing them um about 40 to 50 pounds of food every month uh we just had a distribution this last week we fed 30 families very exceptional program so to celebrate their second anniversary they are having their first annual chili and Pie making competition it's going to be at the Methodist Church on Saturday February the 10th um from 3:30 to 8:30 so we are looking for participants so we're looking for our great chili and Pie makers out there um to come over and help us out and do that and then we also need tasters the tasters will be judging so once you eat the chili and Pie you put in for your uh favorites and uh there will be prizes and there is going to be a trophy um they're going to make it a it's going to be a sustainable fundraiser so every year the chili and Pie people will have their name etched in so it's kind of going to be like the Stanley Cup but for chillian pie um so I also have a flyer that we'll get out there um competitor registration is due February 2nd and general registration is due February 5th so very affordable way to support a great local resource and um have dinner with your family it'll be a lot of fun so hope you can join us I am making chili so we'll see I have to try to kick it up a little bit to get the heat it's called heat and sweet Showdown and that's it for me don't forget the TS yeah yes chat with the Mayors at 6:30 oh CH May it's on the calendar 60 just wanted to Echo uh Al your comments about that storm I some of you might know I manag four city blocks in Manhattan and I had a very similar experience I in fact called bernardet and commiserated on this type of storm uh there was nothing you can really do other than wait it out and unfortunately um you know I wanted to thank Lisa I know she went on social media to thank all of our DPW workers because they do look at the stuff even though we say don't look at social media it's demeaning at times because you worked your butt off and you you've done your best and there might not be physically something to show for it at the end of the day but we all know how hard those guys work and uh they definitely deserve more praise than than some of the comments I read um from a committee standpoint just setting up my uh our engineering committee meeting uh next week getting ready for the budget process as well um so be able to report in the next few weeks on on those thank you L um so just Echo what everyone else said about Wendy I won't take up too much time um but she knows that she will be missed and um hopefully we can still tap into her when we need her that's uh on a selfish uh level there but uh as far as the Committees um you know mental health advocacy and education um they are sort of working getting ready for uh Mental Health Awareness Month in May uh they have some great things up their sleeve as far as just raising awareness and education for mental health so stay tuned for for some of that they do have a parent Workshop that is on the 20 is this yes right the 26th um it is it is on Thursday night at the media center so um it's just on um 25th oh the 25th sorry I'm really always bad with my dates um so it's the 25th it's a parent workshop on uh just helping Kids In This Very overachieving type of society that we live in so I think it should be really good the speaker is Rachel Hine and she she's really fabulous so if you can make it there on uh the 25th that would be great uh the library board is actually meeting right now so I'm missing that but they have been very busy um Stacy who is the director there keeps sending us pictures of the library that is jam-packed with kids like they had to bring chairs up from the basement because they don't have enough room for them so that is a fabulous thing people are using the library and they're enjoying it and they're studying there and they're reading there and it's there's a ton of activities going on all you need to do is go on the website um and they have a whole calendar of events something going on every single day and um speaking of a full Library they are moving forward with perhaps expanding um they did do a survey of the property and so far it's come back pretty good so they're very optimistic that they can move forward with their expansion plans but obviously a long a long way coming so um but one one step forward on that okay can I add something since I thought we were all going to talk about Wendy at once um I I appreciate Wendy very much I think we all know her and love her um I just wanted to point out one thing in Kathy Hero's letter of resignation excuse me resignation she made a comment about having um it being such a hard decision and how the burrow and the offices that she's worked in for 20 years is like a second family and I think a lot of that comes from like everybody else is saying from Wendy and I think that she has left so many pieces of herself that our burrow Administration and our employees will carry that with them and continue to to carry that uh torch and as usual um our DPW our wastewater treatment plant guys our First Responders and our burrow employees deserve immense kudos for all that they do in our um times of emergency so thank you well at Wendy's retirement party I think I said it all but um I've worked with Wendy for over 19 years as a councilman mayor it's it's unbelievable I I you know she started in 81 I started UPS in ' 82 and I remember her being in the office where the police department is now and she was just very young but um you know I've um I've always cherished her advice her support and most of all her friendship throughout the years she's truly an incredible person but you know the Testament of somebody's character really is when they leave they have trained somebody to take their place and that's what Wendy has always advocated for Berets the same way and we're we're going to have a lot of retirements over the next few years but I can assure you that when they retire there'll be somebody to take their place and they will be fully trained so it is something that uh we we uh we ask for and you know we don't we don't miss a beat we really don't miss a beat and for Kathy hero she's G to be sorely missed too so but we'll just keep moving forward like we always do so I wish her a a great uh retirement and um you know she it's welld deserved truly welld deserved 42 years you never hear anybody working in one place 42 years so I that uh we'll end the uh discussions and you have anything burn a debt just really quick um thankfully uh the cold weather is leaving us uh but welcome to podole season so um while our DPW and the police are out there driving the roads of New Providence every day day there are times that seemingly potholes pop up overnight so if you see one that we haven't uh paid any attention to please fill out an action line request um so that our DPW can get on it um we don't always know they're there and sometimes they do seem to just happen um the same light um street lights uh we are actively looking for street lights that are out but if you see one please report it there's a number on the website um as well as on the calendar that's all I have can I can I just add to that it's funny you say that um I did want to mention that I walked around I walked my dog at night and I walked our usual route and there were three lights out three on my route and and I took pictures of the poll I went back and the address of the house I went back to JCP website I I have you know punched up my account number or whatever and then I reported it all three of them out and literally the next next day they were replaced I'm not saying they do that I'm just saying they were I couldn't believe it an interesting fact the burrow gets charged for the street light if it's working or not so having it out for weeks at a time we're still paying for it so it it it's in our best interest to be rep and and it's a safety issue right you're walking at night it's a safety issue it's a public safety issue right you know those street lights are on people are walking your neighborhoods that shouldn't be there you'll be able to see obviously so if you see one definitely report it like I said you know I'm I firsthand knowledge that it worked and it was quickly addressed so I was I was amazed that's good because I have one right in front of my house okay we have C public comments anybody wishing to address Council yeah Jeff congratulations Wendy of course she's she's amazing um I got a couple of items that I came to my attention I wanted to just ask some information the first one was this business on the commissions are they the advisory commissions that y all appoint is that how about or the Committees I mean because we're a historic preservation commission is that different that's different so we don't have the same issue that you mention okay good I was going to have to cancel the February meeting we didn't want to do that um the second one I saw on the agenda and it made me look it was this um resolution to hire uh the burough architect the museal group having submitted a proposal non-fair and open process professional architectural services was there an RFQ issued for I know there's it's unspecified Quant um there's no definitive scope and there's no anything but you must must have had quals submitted to pick somebody was it an RFQ last year H last year we extended them out they're working with us with the police department I see um are those RF submiss submittals U public to to take a look at sure I have a question to followup um would that be something that the uh historic preservation commission could Avail itself with if we needed architectural services for one of our projects that I'd have to check on your bylaws and who pays for what okay because we at one point we had asked if we had a legal question who would we ask I'm sure it would come to me eventually I'm sure it would so it was sort of the same thing if we needed Legal Assistance or architectural assistance I need to know where to direct my question well you you the the historical commission would go through Keith Lynch and the building department and he would contact you know whoever rep okay good at his discretion good okay at least we know that could be possibly available depending on how we talk to Keith and lastly I know it's coming up on Thursday but there is I got a letter official letter head uh on these sidewalks along Central this coming season and there's um two sections between Livingston and Verona and Salem and maple that aren't so simple and if you don't know that stretch well like I do and used to walk to Hillview school as a kid um the section between Livingston and Verona is going to be almost all retaining walls and you're going to be cutting down trees like this now there's already a very viable well-used and existing sidewalk on the north side of the street so I need to talk on Thursday to whoever the engineers are that are coming here to to put this in because this one's not going to be simple it's going to be expensive and it's going to change the character of Central Avenue by a lot and the section be on Central between Salem and maple if you're on Salem there's already a piece down to the first H School driveway the stretch in front of of your school where the big trees are is easy but then once you get past the um parking lot by the playground then it gets hairy real quick uh there's again many really large trees there you're going to need retaining Ms again be cutting down stuff like this and you're also going to need a cul none of this stuff is cheap and again the well-used sidewalk is on the north side of the street so I need to ask them what how they're going to do it and make you think possibly is maybe you can spend your money someplace else because safety number one of course but this is not just laying down a strip of concrete thanks thanks Jeff yeah you bet hi Sarah hi Sarah Aon 99 Crest Road so I come here tonight supported by my husband Jim and our girls Quinn and Tean as well as friends neighbors and constituents thank you um thank you for your support uh so good evening mayor and council members and I'm sure you can surmise the topic that I'm here to talk about tonight uh so it's the hurricane Ida damage that affected part of the burough storm water system on my property um as you are likely aware by now FEMA issued a denial letter on December 28th of 2023 this past December for the first appeal which was 276 days after the appeal was submitted by the buau to the new New Jersey office of emergency management the denial was on the grounds that the buau did not submit I'll quote did not submit sufficient documentation to establish legal responsibility for permanent repairs to the facility end quote so while we had established and proved that the burrow had quote jurisdiction over and legal authority to conduct the work end quote according to FEMA quote that is the legal that is the legal responsibility standard for emergency work and does not apply here end quote so meaning that FEMA has a distinction between emergency work and permanent work and I can get more into that and in more detail after so The Bu of no Providence already has the legal responsibility for the storm water system according to New Jersey Administrative Code Department of Environmental Protection the flood Hazard act all of it the bu of new province is legally responsible and has ownership for the storm water system and its apperences and has to maintain it the town has to take legal responsibility for the this project here and replace the damaged apperances to the storm water system and maintain them the burough has historically maintained it which you're aware of for the storm water system that runs through the side of my property which the burrow owns the easement for uh the bur has historically maintained the Culvert by cleaning out Fallen trees branches large limbs things that could cause flood water blockages and the burough has historically maintained the chain link fence the is part of what is damaged um has replaced entire sections of the fence including replacing a approximately 60 feet of fencing to make the overall height of the fence several feet higher for Public Safety purposes in 2014 the chain link fence is clearly an apperance I'm terrible with that word a pertinence to storm water system and it is flush right against the retaining wall the fence cannot exist and serve the purposes it was built for without the retaining wall to support it the hurricane damage left the fence nearly bent over in half and the wood retaining wall is toppled over onto it with land and debris sliding into both how is the burrow going to maintain the storm water system and the upper turren is perces I'm going to keep doing that how's the burrow going to replace the chain link fence and repair it and put a new one up with the wall that's toppled over it and um with that was right next to it in the first place and you have ground coming into it there's no way to replace one without the other so how is the Bro going to perform its legal responsibility of maintaining the storm water system and all of its apperances without doing these Replacements and repairs the Burrows argued that the wall does not belong to the town that there is no record of who built the wall this argument really stands equity on its head it is the Burrow's responsibility to maintain these records and it cannot credibly claim that it has no responsibility for a wall which was used to support the fence which the B has already taken legal responsibility for this interdependent nature of the wall and the together demonstrates it was built when the storm water system was built as it exists today the wall is within the burrow zement it is an AER a pertinence to of the system and part of the fence um that the burrow has already claimed ownership of so any argument to the contrary is quite frankly simply absurd the wall and fence combined serve a very important purpose for the storm water system and that's to prevent accidental entry and unwanted intrusions by humans by children by pets by animals debris anything that can lead to a safety issue so safety is a major reason the fence and the wall as the fence could not exist where the wall the the fence could not exist where it is today without the wall it's a major reason why they were installed with the storm water system installation in the first place and mayor Morgan I know in your annual mayor's message to the burough a few weeks ago one of the first things you said is that Public Safety is our first and most important priority Public Safety so this damaged area of the storm water system is a big safety hazard it's a hazard for my family it's a hazard for my kids it's a hazard for my dog it's a hazard for Neighbors it's a hazard for Neighbors kids and for kids that have historically played in this Culvert for whatever reason right they just they found it fun to crawl in this tunnel it's dangerous it's a liability effective operation and functioning of the storm water system is another key reason that the fence and the wall were installed in the first place when flood waters get bad enough this damage fence and wall are going to snag debris tree limbs and damage is going to cause even more back up or Worse the entire side of my house will slide into the cul and block the storm water system entirely causing massive flooding in the area this is a hazard it's a liability so the burrow is not maintaining not performing not upholding its legal responsibility and is acting in direct contradiction to the terms of the easement itself in 1962 the burough signed off on the easement deed and and purchase the rights and perpetuity for all construction reconstruction replacement repairs operations and maintenance of the storm water system with the apperances in this easan area so it means the burrow has all the rights and I as a homeowner do not have any rights to build replace repair maintain the storm water system its apperances or anything even Within the easan area if I do I could be interfering with New Jersey Administrative Code Department of Environmental Protection the flood Hazard act the system and its apperances which clearly include the fence and wall are not the homeowner's responsibility instead the Burrows put the homeowner in an impossible and inequitable situation is attempted to shift liability to the homeowner is attempted to shift the burden of proof onto the home homeowner and require it to prove how the storm water system was built and put in the first place in the late 1960s or early 1970s when the homeowner did not purchase the property until over 50 years later so these attempts stand equity and government on its head the Burrow's motto is we are a nice place with nice people well right now there's an opportunity to do the right thing take care of your constituents take responsibility for the system the burrow owns and has a legal responsibility for to remedy this Hazard and potential liability all you have to do is what's right inform FEMA that the bur owns The Wall which is an a pertinence to the storm water system just like the burrow has already taken and stated ownership of the fence that the wall supports the wall and the fence are very clearly within the Burrow's easement and apperences to the storm water system it's legally the bur's right and responsibility to reconstruct replace repair operate and maintain and that's quoted from the deed so let's get this done please enough's enough the burrow has spent $2,000 of our taxpayer money fighting me on this and the problem is not going away until the burrow takes ownership so let's not waste any more of our taxpayer money that money could have gone towards repairing and placing the damage system the burough taking ownership appealing to FEMA a second time with definitive language taking ownership and responsibility and getting FEMA approval to fund 90% of this project is the best outcome for everyone thank you well I had a discussion with you a couple Friday nights ago and I'm going to have to refer it to Mr rizen because I am not engineering expert I do know that if you have an easement you don't own the property I know that but I I'm going to leave it up to to Mr Rizzo because you know we did appeal and it cost us about $20,000 to appeal um and FEMA still came back and I you're the you're the attorney I can't I can uh well we we've been down this road for what two years too long or so yeah um I take issue with the statement that this town has spent $20,000 fighting you they spent $20,000 supporting you they applied for the funding which you could have and should have we've had this conversation applied for yourself as the owner of the property you didn't it fell to the burrow the burrow made the application the application was denied because essentially the easement gives the bureau the right to do certain work if necessary it doesn't provide the obligation which is what FEMA has said repeatedly in terms of ownership of the CT my understanding is there's no history there's no documentation there's nothing that talks about in terms of wall I also understood from the beginning that we had our Engineers out there and the engineers had made suggestions which were not acceptable I cannot see going back to FEMA again to now say on a third time never mind we own the Culvert the wall um I don't think they're going to accept that anyway I I said when we appealed before I didn't think it would be U accepted but we said let's try which we did uh I included you wrote your own letter detailing your arguments and support which I submitted with the appeal FMA has your arguments FEMA has determined under their regulations that it's not something it's not eligible for their funding whether we like it or not agree with it or not there is no basis for a further appeal you've got the denial you've seen it it talks about what law did we Overlook what Federal Regulation did we Overlook there's nothing to point to I I understand your frustration upset Etc but I can't change the law I disagree with many of the legal conclusions that you've just espoused I respect the fact that that's your position but in terms of the legal obligation of the burrow it is not to maintain that wall in fact I believe the engineer had at one point suggested they would just remove that retaining wall um but I'm not an engineer I I know the engineers had looked at it and and made their own suggestions we have supported this and I I Know Chief hen has done a lot of work in support of this FEMA has twice now told us under these circumstances under these facts they have the easement they have the information they've denied us I can't change that and another appeal isn't going to change that I'm sorry that's that's my opinion I believe that's the law thank you for your opinion so there are some truths in that uh October 4th 2022 the applicant's attorney stated that the buau is not legally responsible to repair the facility FEMA relies on that that initial letter that was sent by the burrow uh October 4th 2022 letter it iterate reiterates that the easement does not establish the buroughs ownership or obligation to perform the work again true the easement we know is not the legal Authority or requirement it grants the area all the rights to the burrow I'm saying this wrong the easement grants the burrow all the rights to that area in terms of Maintenance building support rebuilding to do that the ability but based on New Jersey Administrative Code Department of Environmental Protections Department of Environmental Protection this is a regulated water system so this is uh you know it falls under the Flood Control Act if there's no wall there do you think the entire property would be even compliant with the Flood Control Act that's an engineering opinion not a legal opinion that's fine but I know it wouldn't be had the engineers look at it I can't tell you anything different than that so I as a homeowner have no rights to repair this wall because the rights have been like in the easement area the rights to build have been so to in perpetuity to the burrow as well as you know and I I do take offense to the comment that I never tried myself to contact FEMA I didn't say that I said to apply for funding and you said I didn't that's what we discussed two years ago I've discussed and shared that I had applied for funding I applied separately even before the burrow I think got involed what came of that I was awarded 150 7 is a laughing joke so uh I was put in touch with Congressman kean's office thank you mayor Morgan uh and they are working to push FEMA on this issue both from a burrow involvement perspective as well as a personal perspective I gave them all the claim numbers and project numbers for both um but I don't know where that'll go agree so you know given that this ret caning wall is part of the system the storm water system it is an a pertinence to the storm water system it falls under the requirements of njac D and flood Hazard act as well as the fact that I don't own the rights in the Ean area you own the property I don't own the rights you own the property you do have rights so so if I built whatever I want in this easan area it would be fine by the DP it would be fine by and I can't speak for the engineers it wouldn't be fine I don't know that and you don't know that so I could just build over it and block the flood control Waters I didn't say you could block the flood control Waters okay you're taking it to an absurd extreme to try and make your point I don't ABS I don't agree with it I can't say anything further of that if uh representative Kane is able to get you some satisfaction and resolution through FEA great I don't think anybody up here you know wants this type of resolution but we don't control it I think the problem is when the October 4th 2022 letter was sent it was not in support of the buau um having any responsibility or control or ownership over the project the letter was written stating we didn't have the obligation that that's what was stated that was that issue and you were represented by legal counsel I believe at the time that I'd had back and forth in Communications with so nobody contradicted that letter we did actually with FEMA we tried to through the burrow we don't have direct access to the FEMA Representatives that the buau was working with you know you're you're you're re recreating history I'm not trying to rehash everything I didn't say rehash I said recreating because I know you had legal counsil I know I communicated with legal counsil I know I communicated my opinion with legal counsil on what I was going to express so my legal all I can do my legal council at the time did submit a letter based on the letter you had written okay I don't know if it was submitted to FEMA I don't at this point that was two years ago I don't know a year and a half ago so with the appeal the challenge with FEMA is that uh FEMA reli so part of the argument and justification that we used was based on the deed and um and using the justification around the emergency project terms so emergency work is what it was when it should have been based on permanent work so according to FEMA according to the policy guide um within the policy guide says to determine legal responsibility for permanent work FEMA evaluates whether the applicant claiming the cost had legal responsibility for disaster related restoration at the facility at the time of the incident based on ownership and the terms of any W agreements which can include various things um when the applicant requests uh PA funding uh Public Authority fund or public administra ation funding I think that means but when it requests PA funding to restore a facility is the applicants responsibly to provide proof that it owns the facility to determine FMA May review Deeds title documents and local governments tax no local government tax records ownership of a facility is usually sufficent sufficient to establish the applicant's legal responsibility to restore the facility I think by njac D and flood Hazard Control Act I mean that that those documents itself show legal responsibility for the burough to maintain you know build maintain control store you know own this the um the flood water area oh my gosh I'm losing it storm water system FEA disagrees I don't know what else to tell you FMA disagreed FMA agreed with your statement that the burrow does not um um is not obligated to maintain based on the easement deed and how it's written you presented you presented your argument for the appeal correct I did and and that was submitted to FEMA yes okay FEMA obviously disagreed because they denied it yeah so we're going a lot around in circles I feel like technicalities here so I think we just need to cut to it like the burrow owns a system and should take responsibility and ownership of it and all its apperances Sarah can I ask a question Paul yeah so Sarah as you all know i' I've visited the site with Sarah I've seen it with my own eyes I I understand the retaining wall if the homeowner themselves wanted to replace the retaining wall are they able to do so or is there sure we can we can agree with to for them to we the bur would have to give as long as it's not interfering with our reement I think we would have to have our our Engineers involved of course yeah but with our Engineers involvement sure and Sarah have you gotten estimates of what that would cost any idea more than I can afford more than you can afford y by a long shot so what what is the challenge with the burrow taking ownership of an apperance to the storm water system Mr Rizo what is the challenge you don't own it who says you don't who says we do who says you don't the we go back and forth the the burden is on the applicant to FEMA which is the buau we don't have any documentation or information of ownership I can't change that so I'll go back to that I mean the buau should have that record and responsibility of owning it that record I I can't debate that I don't all I know is there is nothing in any record in terms of ownership right but that doesn't mean it should be turned on the homeowner for that doesn't mean it should be turned on the burrow the point of it is the applicant is the burrow FEA says the buau has to provide us with proof of ownership we don't have it you can argue with me that we should that doesn't change the fact that we don't you have the rights based on the deed we have the easement rights we've been through that yes and you have the ownership based on NJ Administrative Code no we don't have ownership responsibility leg responsibility but you're you're equating that responsibility with we must replace that retaining wall my understanding and again this is engineering is the engineers did not say that if the engineers come out and say the only way to maintain this storm system and our and fulfill our responsibility is to replace that retaining wall I think you have an argument my understanding is the engineers were out two years ago ago and didn't didn't agree with that have you had Engineers look at it yes and what is their opinion this is a effing mess and needs to be fix agree with that yeah but if you'd like to have your engineers confer with our Engineers that's certain something that can be done it's poses a serious safety risk and liability again I'm not I I can't speak to that legal I'm talking about that's an engineering perspective if you want to send the engineers back out you can send the engineers back out the burrow Engineers would have to be sure send them out Sarah we we have an engineering meeting coming up I think the next step would be to see let's have a look at it one more time see see I agree with both of what you're saying it's a liability uh who's the liability go on is it the homeowner or is it the burrow if God forbid something does happen there we're we're all doing this the entire time so I think getting an answer I think we know what the answer from FEMA is I think Paul has really um laid that out um and apart from uh Congressman Kane coming to the rescue we're gonna have to try to figure this out on our own well there is an opportunity to appeal to FEMA again there is a 60-day window from the receipt of the determin ation so that makes it February 28th would be the final day we can as a the buau as the applicant can submit a second appeal to NJ OEM which would then have another 60 days to submit to FEMA which is the way the process worked the first time uh in the next appeal if if we were to pursue that is there any other language we should use is there something you want to just stating that the wall like yes very clearly the fence is a perence to the stormw system as is the wall they work interchangeably intertwined together they are part of the system preventing accidental entry Etc into the storm water system by human pet debris everything so en enabling the flood waters to flow unencumbered uh and so yes the burrow takes ownership and responsibility as part of the overall storm water system that the burrow legally owns and maintains and I it's strongly worded like that I think that would work is there a cost to reapply what is there a cost involved just it's the legal work no I me writing a letter do you agree with that no the statement's not correct that's the problem that that's the stick that's the problem but if if yeah you want to submit another appeal I said the first appeal wasn't going to be successful you want to try another appeal that it seems like there's no point in appealing unless the language is changed correct well I think we first start with the engineers right let's get the engineers out let's take a look let's see where we land in terms of where what's happening at the at the location right and whether or not like you said it's a it's a requirement for our storm water um you know runoff and whatnot and safety and all that other good stuff right so let's start with that right and then from there I think we make we come back and the engineering team would with the team and and you guys and you know make a decision on whether an appeal and change of language and all that good stuff you know makes sense okay yeah and our meeting is next week so that would be plenty of time for an entire another month that's great okay I will don't give up on Congressman King I'm not giving up on anything have you seen me back down no I'll keep coming back I hope not I do want to say I I do appreciate you know good time time and effort and and preparedness that you you know exhibited tonight um thank you and Calas I know how difficult this was you know not only just you know from a homeowners perspective from a family's perspective and things like that so I mean we all feel for you we have to deal with this government gibberish all the time and we do we all feel for you you if we can make them approve it we would you know def make who approve it FEA oh that's why I well you can help make them approve it right that language Congress kan's office try and get work around it but we'll see what happens yeah I think in that case uh speaking with one of the um I don't know the right term aids for Congressman keing there was mentioned that the uh the question comes in is ownership so who owns it so I think there H would probably have to my guess crystal ball would have to be a burough statement saying saying yes we own it as part of the pertinence to the storm water system we'll look at that okay well let's see what the engine say and we'll go from there thank you I appreciate your time I know it wasn't three minutes I tend to go over but that's okay and I appreciate everyone behind me and all their support and coming here it's nice to see Neighbors supporting Neighbors wait a minute alen this man uh his hand was up before real um my name is Robert wi 105 Crest Road I live on the other side of the Clover I know so one ask that I have for the engineering is that um in the past 45 days the water has approached and hit those railroad tiles up to the top every time when we had those flood War morning in December we had 3 in of rain clearly those tiles are needed to keep the water away from that house and away from flooding I don't know if that's really being taken into consideration from the engineering because are they there in the 3inch rainstorms right come onto my property take a look of what's happening and it's definitely a threat to the water and it's a threat to my house too because the on the other side right it's also impacting and the water is backing up and we all suffer through that storm massively like you should have been there with Hurricane Floyd yeah my house was swamped then too this is all the houses yeah and I had New Jersey Transit put in uh the sister planks to let the water FL and it's so much better yeah so it was just a freak occurrence that that's the first time it's flooded since Floyd but still no less than $60,000 in repairs right and it still is backs up and my property is sold right that Culver is is that part part of the retaining wall is going going to go in the next couple of years another these 3-in rainstorms in two hours it's going to come down I'm glad you share that I okay no my question for Sarah would have been I remember where the ties were and how high they were but I was curious where it was with the rainstorm yeah it's bad it was well over it I'm assuming yeah and she can't see that from her side I'm looking out the window going oh there it is understood so understood and then one more thing is DPW does a great job on our roads we're way better than Summit thanks thank you okay Alan Alan Swanson 47 Overhill Road uh I'd like to begin I I'm sure you're going to pass the resolution congratulating Denise and uh pass on to Jessica uh my congratulations uh I very much appreciate when I I come often into the clerk's office and the kind of reception and cooperation that I get from uh from Denise and Jessica and everyone there um I I I'm coming here i' I'm coming to these meetings now for about four years and I've always tried to to come with suggestions that that I believe to be in the best interest of our town and uh tonight I'm I'm coming to you again in hopes of making Mak a change that will benefit the safety of of our neighbors so as you know as as homeowners uh and when I had a sidewalk on when I lived for 12 years on Central Avenue when you have a public sidewalk you have the obligation of uh clearing the ice and snow off uh within 24 hours after the end of the storm um on Sunday my wife and I were were were driving through town and and I was noticing how many I was looking at Central Avenue um where I used to live and and how many homeowners hadn't cleaned off the ice and snow from the storm on the previous Monday the storm where that was problematic and there were plenty of of um sidewalks that were not cleaned off um then I noticed that some of the public property area sidewalks were not cleaned off uh in particular on Livingston Avenue um not far from Maran and um so what I did was I thought well you know that's it's that's property owned by The Bureau and it should be where because I don't I'm going to I have I have visuals so we're going to it's not the bridge right I'm sorry the the the county does the bridges okay well then then you're going to be passing this on to the county okay that's what I'm saying say property it's not bural property okay so then I'm getting everybody tonight um so what I did was I thought that the best thing to do in order to to make short work of this was to take a few pictures and I'm going to give these to you they're labeled give to bur de well I want you to see them are you well sure she'll she'll okay they're they pictures of uh all of public property some bridges uh some other areas um they include Mountain Avenue which I know is is a uh a County Road area uh Central Avenue there's about three um there's one that's important to realize most of them are are bridges um but um the soccer field that's near the old BD property driveway I don't believe is is is property of this town you'll see it it's on there um and then um there's uh salt Brocks Museum it belongs to the burough I believe from saltbox property line all the way up to the driveway um not far from where Prestige is was never cleared and uh if we walk across the street here to Lincoln Park the driveway there is not uh the sidewalk there is not cleared in fact with when I was out taking the pictures were people walking in the street near Lincoln Park um I not I'm not bringing this up to be to be critical of of the DPW or or of anyone I I understand um you know the oversight obviously is apparently just not having particular person assigned to that that duty to make sure that that those particular you know public property areas or the sidewalks are clear um so that's that's I'm just hoping that in the future by bringing this up that um clear elf in in in the future that that's so that's basically um what I'm after tonight I I I do want to say that I have a a bit of a concern um that nobody else noticed that that that the bureau doesn't notice or that I don't care the police or the crossing guards or the parents or the people walking on it it um it it it seems like we should be more diligent and I think that given that the number of um homes that are that are not cleared within the 24-hour period and almost a week later still had the ice and this this particular storm and the fact that it got so cold uh I know because I have a terrible steep driveway um took a lot of work to get that ice off um I I just I think it would be a good to do a little more education of the uh the homeowners just to give them a reminder that it's important uh we spend we spent a lot of uh grant money uh building sidewalks for our safe to schools um we ought to be sure that those sidewalks are safe I just that so that that's the vein that I that's that's the way that I how I bring it up I do have one other picture um and I don't I'm not passing I'm not passing it around um but it it's it's a picture um I I'll give it to the the owner of the property um it's it's a property in in the town um that has a crosswalk next to it on Springfield Avenue and um and and it it's a private home and that it it's not cleared and and uh it's one of you so um I don't and I don't bring it up I just bring it up because there's so many across the town and it's so easy to overlook um and it's not intended to be a gotcha moment or anything uh the only other thing that I want to say that since I started coming here in 2019 was the first time I ever mentioned it the the gentleman who just spoke before me um I I couldn't understand a word he said because of the the system here is just not whether or not the person I mean maybe if he got a little bit closer to the mic it might have worked um but I I continue to to just stress that we need to do some work and there's been it's been mentioned over the years about well we're going to do this we're going to do that you know and um it continues to be an issue um and I have some rather sophisticated hearing aids in my in my ears um so I just it just continues to be a concern and I think that that covers everything for me I appreciate it thank you coming anyone else yes sir somebody raise their hand she's up now no she's please give your name and address U Martin Paro um 12 Ean drive so um it's important to me to live in a um you know a green community that values sustainability you know and eco-friendliness uh and regarding that um I was actually reading the council goals on the bur website and um I just had a question about um two two points in particular I think there I give me a moment number three um points g&h so that's um conducting an energy audit of all municipal buildings that's G and H uh installing EV charging stations and evaluating EV vehicles for the police department and I was just wondering if there's been um you know there's a status on that if there's been an any progress made on these two points sure um so EV charging as if you've been here or might have heard from your colleagues um we did approve which charging station to be put right that uh so it' be single pole but two two Chargers so that's just uh been in the psng or I forgot who it's an electric electric vendor it's an electricity issue at this point um that we don't have um electric coming from the old bur Hall that can sustain the Chargers and then we looked at the um ambulance building and they could only put one single charger then leads us to dropping a poll for hundreds of thousands of dollars so it wasn't in the budget so we're still looking we are committed to doing so and of course for the audit uh of this energy audit for all the buildings of course we're going to do that as well okay so uh just to clarify so one spot has been approved here and there was another spot that was uh planned and and isn't being done or no no so it was one spot that would hold two Chargers MH that it's one poll but two two and only one of them was approved well no not one of them was approved we found out from lot it's the same lot so we were just trying to pull power from a different place um but neither one of them was viable at that point oh okay all right well thank you you're welcome have a good night anytime anyone else wish to address Council Kathleen Doan 12 law drive so I just wanted to follow up on the discussions around the Committees because um I think I heard you say mayor that you wanted to create an sop but it sounds like there already is an sop there is but it was never there were a lot of different ideas floated last year and I don't know if everything got in there with theop so trying to get this thing done the next week or two so we get it squared away it's an so that just needs more concrete details so you want to revise theop it's going to yeah well it's either going to be revised in the existing sop or separate s so I'm not sure where it's going to land yet but it's going to get the hard details down it was kind of really just done um more casually in the past um I think we've always had at least two of those because it affects four committees right so we're we're talking um beautification diversity sustainability and mental health advocacy and education so this is going to really just true up by this time we do this by this time we do that bum bum bum bum right and that hasn't really it was more of a a casual process before but we're going to more formalize it okay it's always gotten done before but now it's just we just have to make it more formalized to do so does the ex is the existing sop still in effect the existing it it is in effect okay so is it acceptable to continue working under the existing op because you know sustainable committee we have a meeting tomorrow night definitely and yep we're going to be applying for Grants yeah absolutely the mental health group is having workshops because I heard the attorney say that we can't actually do anything we can meet and talk well you can meet and talk and then by next month everything is going to be by the next meeting everything is going to be you know approved and committ for clarification um Paul did I and I don't want to put words in Mr Rizzo's mouth but I don't think that they get a room is is what was said I don't think we finalized on the room but we just said that well and I think that's what Kathleen is is looking for a concrete answer to well I want to make sure because that's up to you we want to apply for this grant we want to actually apply for the grant we don't want to wait until we're officially whatevered are you looking to do it before February 13th sth nth nth wow is it I think it's the nth so I mean I you know don't want to not be able to get the2 the grant is due on the 9th so as a committee you would have to bring it before Council for approval before you could apply for the grant yeah so that we were going to try not through we were going to try to do it X committee you you can't do it as a committee because you can't act on behalf of of council if we have Council Liaisons can they not do this on their own no has to be it has to be approved it has to come before Council it has to be at approved at a council meeting we have to have coune because it's the law is this a new Grant or just it's grant that we've applied for before it's just the $2,000 Grant and I think we've gotten it before and we've used it to help support you know Green Fair Recycle Fest and stuff like that so I guess we're going to miss that opportunity well is it going through sustainability or is it going through community activities it doesn't matter they are a council committee working on behalf it still needs to be approved by bur Council because they are working on your behalf yeah so would have to be approved why don't we do this we're going to have a work session we can approve it at the work session it's a public meeting so um so proceed with that appliation hopefully we meet before that we will meet before that okay okay great you guys can let me know obviously yeah all right thank you so much thank you about the room it's G be on Zoom okay said it was all right okay yeah not to not to keep everyone later um Harry CL 65 Madison Avenue uh I have two questions one as a follow up to Martin the gentleman there um you know I appreciate the commitment to do it is there anything concrete in terms of getting the financial backing it seems like that's been a major hurdle what's the what's the next step for that for what sustainability no for the electri charging stations yeah we're in the budget process yeah and that much money wasn't budgeted last year in any way shape or form um to be able to drop a new po so that will be considered when we put together the capital plan for this year Harry we're totally committed to doing it I think we said that no no no but we said that last year after we've done some engineering studies the our initial location just came back from the utility that it it was not a viable location and the other location was a lot more expensive than what we budgeted no my my no I got you my question is is simple it's just like is the plan to budget for it or is it to get gr yeah that's it sorry all budget yeah okay perfect um my next question is very broad but I was curious I read the state of the burough um and you know what you guys had accomplished over the past year I was just curious if you all could um you know obviously briefly just tell me what your goals are for this year and you know how we're going to measure them and and going forward and that's really it they're on theb goals are on the website no I'm talking about individually like your goals what are your goals we determine everything as a a group we don't have individual goals so you don't have like personal goals to I mean things like you want to work on things you you know what one thing about local government is that we don't have personal agendas we look at what is needed throughout the buau and sometimes Public Safety trumps something else and you know we can't we can't have our personal feelings going into what what's needed in the buau what we do is that we look at our needs not our wants and it's a big difference a need and a war so personal goals we really do our personal goals are what's best for the uh bur as a whole I understand I think that if there's just certain projects you feel passionate about I was just curious to hear what they were and you know what you can also come to chat with the mayor because I think that's a better Forum than this kind of a meeting I think I'm I don't think I think I'm not the only one with the question which is why I would want to get it on the record but but that's you know I would just want you to to kind of elaborate on what you're focused on and if there was anything you were focused on for 2024 we all have our committees that we're on and so we're focused on the Committees that we're working on whether it be mental health or whether it be Municipal Alliance or whether whatever it might be that we're on those committees to do the best that we can right and to help those committees come along whether it be applying for Grants or um holding you know community activities so I think that like like Al like mayor Al said like we work as a group we don't have we didn't we don't come here saying like I Lisa mcnight and going to do a and C um what it's more about is I Lisa mcnight am going to work you know as part of a team with not just the council but the Committees that I'm on whether it be the library or what like whatever might be to help them achieve their goals right so they're not my goals they're the commit they're the bu's goals and they're the committee's goals well as all of our departments right our Recreation Department our DPW our department has to tell us what they need and when they need it you know sometimes they'll say I'll give an example uh a dump truck maybe they don't need it this year but they're going to need it the following year so we put that we we have a 5year plan you know so it's not a personal thing which we have uh our individual goals it's the goals of the B we all we all work for I don't think it's I I don't I I don't think it's I don't mean like you have a Personal Agenda I'm not implying that at all I think uh the big thing I think is just for this year if there's things that you're focused on understand it's on the website but is there a way to actually gauge you know how the progress is being made on those goals and so we can just make sure that uh you know we can just understand what's going on well my priority is Public Safety and working on it I think we made big strides that's that's that's all I wanted to hear that's so if there's any others I mean I I know each one of them each one of my Council people have uh different uh goals for their their uh committees so how do you my last question I you know how do you measure success for for example like Public Safety what what do you measure what's what's the like what's the measurement of success what's the measurement yeah like how do you say okay I accomplish my goal yeah so so so is there certain metrics that you're aiming to achieve that's my question making side more sidewalks pedestrian flashers I think uh the new pedestrian flashers are going on Valentine and Central tomorrow I think they're going to start working on them so there's different measures what you get completed during the year so yeah so all I mean I'm not going to be labor it my if you had said you know our goal is to have five pedestrian flashers in by X that's all I was looking for that's it so if you know if there's not if that's on the website I'll look for it um but I I was just looking for well you know what you could come to the meeting and Sergeant Diamond will tell you what his goals are for the uh next year I'm interested for his and yours so I'm excited thank you very much okay anyone else seeing no one I decare the public comments closed and I need a motion for items one through 20 please so moved second Lo call please miss PESA I Mr kamsky hi Mr daro Mrs Joffrey yes Mr kogan yes Mrs mcnight yes okay before we uh do a German I do want to say that you know Sarah I I you know I want to compliment you and your neighbors for coming out to support you you know we usually don't get a lot of people at at Council meetings maybe uh two or three and it's usually the same ones right Allan yes so uh you know it's nice to see neighbor neighb trying to help neighbors and I don't know where this is going to wind up but I think Paul said it right when we do these appeals we're doing them for you we're not doing it for us so um we'll see where it goes so um and it's also getting late and also your family coming out to support you yeah great job okay um motion for adjourn so moved second all in favor no so B and be careful going home I think it's getting cold again be 60°