A couple Call to order. This is a November 25th, 2025 council meeting. Would the clerk brief the statement of compliance? >> This meeting is being held in accordance with the open public meetings lawy, advertised, and posted in the municipal building. The meeting will adjourn no
later than 10 p.m. unless the majority of the council members present vote to extend the time. >> I'll rise for a pledge of allegiance. >> Police officer Mcder, would you lead us in the pledge? >> I pledge allegiance to the flag United States of America and to the republic
for which it stands, one nation under God, with liberty and justice for all. Please remain standing for a moment of silence. Thank you. Be seated. Clerk, call the role, please. >> Mayor Kamala, >> present.
>> Council President Slinski, >> here. >> Councilman McCann >> here. >> Councilman Pigmatelli >> here. >> Councilwoman Rose >> here. >> Councilman Saliani >> here. >> Councilman Salamini >> here. Very good. We're up to the mayor's report. I got several items here today.
Uh, number one, the Roosevelt Avenue houses, the flood buyouts, if you recall at the bottom, I'm happy to report that the five houses at the bottom of Roosevelt have been removed. They're currently working on backfilling the properties. Uh, on also, we're moving right now. The crews are working up on
Lenipe Lane by the Lenipe Lane Bridge. There's four houses right across the bridge. They're also in the process of being removed. We expect them to be completed either probably next week due to the current holidays. As you know, on the other side of town, we have a lot of public service gas work taking place. Uh the bureau is currently
scheduling a meeting with public service PSEG to talk about the scheduling and get an update on exactly where they are in the process and where they are in the job so that we can start planning for paving in the spring. So, that's a meeting we're putting together in the next couple weeks. Want to just
congratulate Anthony Mizzola from the Oak Volunteer Fire Department. He graduated firefighter 1 from the Bergen County Public Safety Complex. So, congratulations, Anthony. Job well done. He's probably one of our youngest firefighters to grab the to graduate the academy. Uh, Veterans Day was celebrated
uh earlier this month. I was happy to report it was a bit chilly and cold out there, but uh we had a very nice turnout from the Oakland veterans that on that particular day. And once again, I want to thank every all the veterans for their service. >> And also the school members of school. >> Oh, yes. We also had members of the Valley Middle School president as well
from I believe it was their what was it? Their their >> student council. Student council representatives are also taking part within the uh celebration. I just want to take a moment. I got a little bit of a just want to show people in the audience. It's going to be shown up on
the screen for the people at home. As you know, we've been dealing with the Oakland drugs for the last several years. I'm happy to report that the this is a rendering, an architectural rendering of the new building or it's going to be the same building that's going to be refaced with uh a brick,
nice glass in the front. Uh they're going to replace all the sidewalks down 202 and I believe it's is it Elmer or Maple? Mr. Coons the street next to it. >> Maple. >> Maple. So they're going brand new sidewalks going down both sides including the decorative lighting that you see down in Bush Plaza and you know
along that entire quarter. So this is what the rendering looks like obviously for the people at home can see that. We asked them to pull some architectural cues from Ponds Church, look at the Walgreens and look at some of the other architectural cues within the town. And this is the rendering. uh it's come between the in front of the planning board twice. Uh so it was looked upon
favorably. Uh we expect them to start breaking ground sometime in I believe they said February March time frame. So this is what the new Oakland drugs is going to be. It's going to be a Hackinack Meridian Health. It's going to be pediatric services and also adult
services doctor's office. And also want to remind everybody I hear more from the public's events leaison. December 7th 5:00 pm is a Christmas tree lighting a minora c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c celebration down at veterans park and I also want to wish everybody a very happy Thanksgiving to you and your family and it's really a time to cherish time with your family
and friends. So happy Thanksgiving everybody. At this time I'd like to make a motion to open to the public. >> So move. >> I'll second. >> All in favor? >> Anybody from the public? Hi, Mike Guenino, 34 Hopper Street. Um, I'd like to invite all seven members of the
governing body to the turkey truck this Thursday morning. Um, not to come and shake hands, to come and run with us. >> Uh, run >> run with us and walk with us to 5K. If I can, I'd like to pass up to Wendy. You can hand it out to everybody. >> Thank you. >> Um, I hope to see everybody there and
support us. The second thing I can talk about staying with wreck is as you know I'm stepping down as the rec chairman and uh they're going the rec committee is going to be selecting a new a new recreation chairman and there we've been told it's got to be done transparently which means it has to be done in public
it has to be discussed in public and they are right behind that we're all support of that we all want to do everything transparent we're asking for transparency here I shouldn't say we I'm asking for transparency here when you guys choose a council president it's not done in open it's done privately and
then you come here and you just vote for it. So I think it would be nice if we hear discussions of who should be decided not not be done behind closed doors. Staying with transparency um tonight there's a ordinance uh about establishing a police committee and I'm asking that we please discuss this
publicly. >> Mr. I just want to amend the uh the agenda that's pulled for today. >> Okay. >> It's it's going to it's not in the agenda. >> Cool. Whenever it's discussed we want to hear discussions. I don't want to hear just the mechanisms from the burough administrator. I want to hear why everybody supports doesn't support that.
On several items such as last meeting there was a a raise for the burough attorney. I'm sure he deserved it. $19,000 raise. I'm sure it was deserved. Taxpayer dollars. We really need to hear what why why these things are being done. It hasn't been done. Um
the same thing too with uh you know transparency saying with the bylaws second open recreation bathrooms. I'm looking to see some more transparency now. I mean, I think a lot of things that went on lately, we heard about transparency. I mean, your your flyer said it's a transparent council. We'd like to see that that transparency u
react more. Uh because lack of transparency, rumors start. And I don't believe this rumor at all. I I think this is just a false rumor. But we have this beautiful new bridge there. And thank you everybody who who's involved in putting that bridge there. But the rumors is a plaque there with all your names on it, and it cost the taxpayers
$2,500. Now, I personally cannot believe that that happened, but maybe with more transparency and explaining to everybody that the taxpayers didn't pay for this uh particular sign would would be helpful, but again, recreation is going to stay transparent. They're going to pick their chair to replace me in a very
transparent way. We're looking to see this transparency become more prevalent >> and start from here. Thank you. >> Anybody else? Yeah, I'm gonna follow him only because of the transparency act. But uh first off, uh I was here about a month ago. Your name, sir? Oh, Le
Carlson, six on my way. You're in. >> Thank you. >> I was here about a month ago and I was complaining about um one of your contracted officials with the county taking pictures in my backyard. Um according to the state, actually what
they did was illegal. Uh there were actually two test cases. One was uh put on me right here. Uh Bris Bisby versus counter agency 1982 established for privacy tors in New Jersey including intrusion upon
seclusion unreason unreasonable security supports civil liability for photographing or surveilling fenced in yards without consent. Okay. Um, two years uh, eight years later, the state versus Hemple, the New
Jersey state supreme court ruled that the New Jersey Constitution provides border privacy protections and the federal and citizens have a reasonable expectation of privacy in their own yards. Okay. Okay. So, it provides for tort um
code officials and this is there's been several ta test cases or several cases and the municipals have lost every time cannot photograph a person's backyard if it's fenced in. They can take pictures from
the street, any public views, but they cannot go over a fence, behind a fence, into somebody's backyard. That's exactly what your contracted employee did. And therefore, I'm filing suit tomorrow
actually against the county of Bergen because she's a Bergen County employee, against the Burrow of Oakland because you contracted her and her personally. Uh, I have a very solid basis here. I spoke to the state attorney general on
it and he basically confirmed those two cases. So my message to the burrow is train your employees. They cannot go into people's backyards, go over back fences. Do you realize under this law, I can blast my radio so loud that you can
hear it across town, but if I do it in my backyard, there's nothing you can do about it because that's it's not me. It's the state supreme court that said it. You can't even look at my garbage on the street because I have an expectation of privacy. Not me. State Supreme Court
1990. Okay. There's about a 100 cases every time the mun municipality has lost. That's a pretty good track record. 100%. I mean, it's like 98 or something. >> Mr. Just watch your time. >> Okay, I got a minute left. The other
thing I want to bring up real quick is that uh I brought up the no parking 22 26. I contacted the state state department of transportation. They are sending, they already did a formal survey for me, but they are sending a formal investigator. I didn't know they
had them that basically will show that Oakland is out of compliance with its overnight parking. Because it's out of compliance, no tickets can be enforced for overnight parking. None. And because we've been in out of compliance for several years, a class
action suit is very evident that you're going to have to return everybody else's money and then there's going to be punitive damage. The third thing I want to bring up real quick is I asked several of the police officers what was going on with the contract and they all said they couldn't talk about it. It was a gag order. I want to know why there
was a gag order. And then following the last gentleman here about privacy, I mean about transparency. I did a quick search on the state election commission. >> Mr. Just got to wrap it up. >> All right, I will wrap it up. And what I found was that we had one council
member, only one, that took contra campaign contributions from several several our top vendors. One took $5,000 from the engineering firm that we use, Boswell, not to mention some of the attorneys firms. So I would like to
propose I'm going to wrap up here that whenever there's a vote and you have received a contra contract contribution you have to state they contributed to my campaign and this was John McCain all the it was $16,00052.
>> Thank you. Thank you. >> Anybody else? >> Hi uh my name is Moren Merlane. I live at 188 Hayawa. Um, and in the spirit of transparency, I'd also like to bring up um something that I've heard some
chatter around town. Um, the potential change in contract of our garbage and waste removal. I don't know if there's been any updates because we haven't heard anything online. Um, but if it is true, I'd request that the council um provide the residents and taxpayers with
the reason for the change. um any criteria that was used to evaluate or terminate the existing relationship or selection of a new company. Was there a cost analysis done? Is it saving us money? Is it uh costing us more money? Things along those lines, especially
with such a large um impactful service that we have. Um I apologize if this has already been provided. But I think in the spirit of transparency, we'd like to know because I feel like we all pay taxes in this town. this is something
big that the current uh provider is really fantastic. They are wonderful and I'm not sure why we would move away from them if there isn't some kind of cost consideration or service level that isn't being met that we just don't know about. Um and that's it. And I would
also like to say real quick that I do support uh Oakland PD and their uh their fight for additional rights to their benefits. >> Thank you. Anybody else? >> Thank you. >> Sheila Boent, 16 Walnut Street, Oakland,
New Jersey. Obviously, I've been here in front of the council, mayor and council, several times in in uh representing the shade tree commission and the uh issue we feel about the deer and the defoliage of the
deer etc. Um I am here tonight you know as the shade tree commission also we uh look at the trees along the road and you know which ones would be dangerous to fall on the street and
injure anybody. Well, I'm here tonight to say we need to do something a lot more about the deer because on October 22nd at 10:00 we came off uh 208 onto Colonial across
McCoy where there are no woods anymore but development turned down Yapo got literally I and if we were doing 27 maybe 28 Two deer flew out of the high school
parking lot. We missed the first one, got the second one. I encourage Well, we went home. We were in such shock. We didn't, you know. So, we drove home. I called the police. They said, "Oh, we can't issue a a report
because you left the scene." I said, "Well, who was I supposed to exchange insurance information with?" the deer. I mean, really, I I'm calling you. >> They said, "No, no, that no, we can't do it." Luckily, the uh person who took the
pictures, the deer was very thoughtful to leave a whole lot of hair on my bumper. I lost my my the hood of my car, my bumper, my grill, and my headlights. 5,100
something dollars later. It's an issue. I mean, I can tell you at least eight from just past the first aid squad to 208 or 287 that I have seen on
the road dead. Somebody else hit him. I talked to one guy. He said, "Oh yeah, I hit one." Miss Bole, let me just interrupt you real quick. Why don't you have the Shake Shoot Commission make a recommendation to the governing body? >> To what? >> For what? >> Dear management.
>> I I've I've done that. Uh uh Councilwoman Rose is involved in that as well. >> Okay. >> Uh and and >> you know, nothing's happening. >> I spoke to this gentleman. He had $11,000 damage to his car. He said he's
afraid to drive at night now. >> Okay. there that we are over overrun. It has to be taken care of. >> Thank you. >> Wendy, I just want to something. >> Thank you, Mr. >> Okay. Thanks. This copies for everybody there.
>> Yep. >> Frank Depanimus, 6 Mount Lakes Road. Um I guess I'm going to steal Mike's transparency thing. Um there's been a lot of talk about the PBA contract or not so much talk about it, but one of the things that was clear is during the
election uh two of the incumbents put out a statement that there would be a massive tax increase if the PBA were to get free benefits. So being a self-described numbers nerd, I wanted to take a look at this. So using this year's budget and keeping all things
equal, um the facts that we know is that it appears that um per person cost for retirey benefits right now is 62,000 a year. That takes us to age 65 for someone because then we know that at age 65, the burrow becomes secondary and
Medicare becomes number one. Um of the 62,000, we know the burrow picks up 65% of that. So that leaves the 35% that you guys would presumably be negotiating with the PBA about. And under this contract, as I understand it, and maybe
I don't have the right facts, four officers would be eligible to retire when this contract itself gets ratified by the council. So if I look at that and assume the first scenario where they would get free benefits um 62,000 less
burrow share leaves a a plan balance of 21,700 times the four officers means the taxpayers us would have to absorb 86,800 a year. The cost of that on the average home is $13.73. If the burrow were to negotiate
reductions there, which I think you guys hopefully will will try and do at some point, a 10% reduction, meaning the PBA contributing 10% toward the cost, would drop the cost that the taxpayers would absorb down to 78,000 and change, making
it $12.15 on the average home per year. And if you could bring it up to 15%, which is pretty close to what MAWA's retirees are paying in their contract, they pay 14%. But if you bring it to 15%, which is actually 10 times the amount that the
state minimum requirement of 1 and a.5% contribution is, that would bring the the annual cost to $11.36 on the average home. Now, that's not massive. That's not egregious. And I can't speak for everyone who lives in town, but certainly $11 or $13 a year for me, I'd
be willing to front to make sure we have a viable and uh uh spry uh PBA. You can further reduce that if the burough were to consider say using some surplus. I'm not advocating a lot, but you could dedicate 50% of the cost. You could
further reduce that by um again assume the free benefit story was in place. The 1373 drops down to $582. Call it $6 a year just by using about 43,000 in surplus with a 10% contribution and a
use of about 39,000 in surplus which means the taxpayers then pick up only $5 in in change a year. $5.3 and on a 15% contribution using 50% surplus which is just under 37,000
brings it down to $463. Again, reasonable, manageable. I really hope you guys can get back to the table and work something out because we're just going to burn money and legal fees on both ends. We're going to create a disgruntled workforce. You guys aren't
going to be happy either. Let's just go back to the table. Let's work something out and and you know get them a fair deal and do the right thing for the T. >> Thank you, Mr. Dependent. >> Thanks, sir. >> Anybody else? >> Uh Steve Penosian 69 Glen Gray. I um
won't be attending um a council meeting um till the middle of January. I have some conflicts based on holidays and and things of that nature. So, I'm going to take this opportunity to uh make a few comments. And um one of them is I I'd
like to thank uh John McCann for all the contributions that he's done over the last uh number of years um uh supporting the town, fighting for us. And um I think it goes without saying there there's a lot of work that every one of you do that we don't see um if you're
not attending these meetings. And I forgot to open by saying um these are my personal comments. has nothing to do with the TV committee that I'm I volunteer and do work with. Um, but coming back to um thanking John for his work, I I I don't believe it's evident
that that uh the contributions that he that he makes um in my opinion outweigh um the criticism of your work. Uh it always seems that the strong and the controversial are the ones that that get hit the hardest. putting that aside, elections have their consequences and um
I'm sure John will be able to spend more time uh doing um something else to support um law enforcement as his um as he's the general counsel to the the New Jersey Sher Sheriff's Association. I don't know if everybody knows that, but
it's a big deal. Um so when I read everything in the campaigns about that that John and uh Russ or uh Kevin do not uh support the um the you know the police or the PDA. I I it just didn't
compute. Um got to thank our resident here for doing all of the analysis. Uh if there was true transparency in the campaigns um maybe that would have been part of um what they communicated uh when they were um casting a lot of doubt on on their um in their campaign. And
then I'd like to close it with just saying um you know I'm still scratching my head about the chief of police and his decision to uh endorse a political candidate. It's it's my understanding that the New Jersey law enforcement officers um uh should not use their
official positions or influence for political purposes. While private citizens have that right, police chiefs are prohibited from using their authority to influence elections or coers others into political action. Um I think it just sets a lousy precedent. Um
uh and you know going forward uh everything's political today. I think there was a comment last meeting where it would be stupid to think that somebody would retaliate someone for their opinion uh about which political party or who they want to support. Um
the fact that somebody criticized what I had said is indication that it is political and to be called stupid uh for saying something like that. I grew up in this town. Um my kids grew up in this town. Went to the school system. We participated in the wreck programs. I
played ball rec program uh uh uh men's league uh uh softball with many of the police and enjoyed all the good times that we had. I don't have a problem with them. >> It's going to be a wrap up. Uh I don't have a problem with them, but it's the
newbies. It's the newcomers in our town that might not be able to understand that. >> I trust the police. I have good relationships with the police. I support the police. And I don't really believe that there's going to be retaliation, but I think of the people that come into our town. It's all perception because everything's political these days. Thank
you. >> Thank you, Mr. President. Anybody else? >> Just 90 Skyland Drive. >> I'm sorry. What's your name? >> Jeff Smurchinsky. This issue doesn't have anything to technically do with the town itself. Has
to do with the county and the lack thereof. Um, we all know the issues of going on Route 80 with the sink holes. Well, there's about to be one on Skyline Drive. There's a huge wash out on my property
and it's eroding Skyline Drive into my property and within a year I would say half of Skyline will be gone. >> Um >> Mr. K, can we have uh somebody from DBW or engineer go up and look at that? >> They've had engineers, they have
reports, they've had the state up who who's >> the county. >> Okay. >> Um >> which say county or Bergen? >> Bergen. Bergen. We're in Oakland. So, um, they've closed Skyland Drive three times to bring their engineers up. Their
solution was dropping 200 pounds of rip wrap, which has washed away. There is a covert which didn't do anything for 47 years because the ditch on the other side of the road was
allowing the water to move to the lower part and drive the water onto my property. No big deal. Goes out into a swamp. Who cares? Well, that's all cloud because Orange and Rocklin, Verizon, and Optimum, every time they clear a branch,
they throw it in this ditch. So, I went out there the other day and I dug down about two and a half feet of silt to get to the road base, which is where these pipes are. >> There's 47 plus years worth of debris in
these ditches. So, the water has no place to go except through this upper cover, which like I said, hasn't had any water come out of it since 1977, which is when we bought the property.
Now, that's the only one flowing. And pavement is washing away at Skyline Drive. And pretty soon, the guardrail supports will disappear. someone will have an accident where they always die on my property and they'll go right through that guardrail.
Just a matter of time. So, I've wrote a request of the uh engineering reports. Um they haven't responded yet. They still have three days. Um hopefully I'll have that for your next meeting, but someone has to light a fire. There's somebody's butt down in Bergen County
because they won't listen to me. >> Okay. >> Can you just say your address again? 90 >> 90. Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> And happy Thanksgiving. >> Thank you. >> Anybody else wish to address the governor body? >> Not seeing anybody looking for a motion
to close. >> So move a second. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> All right. We're going to move to the minutes. Uh we are going to push the minutes until the next meeting. Uh there was some problems with the uh the way it was delivered. We're going to move up to special announcements appropriations. Uh
we have raffle license RL579 for high school PTO on January 24th for 50/50 in support of educational experience and campus improvements at Holiday Bowl. Raffle license RL1580 for high school PTO for 50/50 supported educational
experience and campus improvements at Doc Watson's authorized raffle license RL1581 for the BPOX 2167 Oakland lodge for December 13th for a poker night to support the educational experience camp improvements at 33 Rempo Valley Road. Do
I have a motion to approve? >> Do I have a second? >> Second. >> Roll call. >> Council President Sinski. Yes. >> Councilman McCann. >> Yes. >> Councilman Pigatelli. >> Yes. >> Councilwoman Rose. >> Yes. >> Councilman Saliani. >> Yes.
>> Councilman Talini. >> Yes. >> All right. With the following resolutions. 25302 resolution ratifying labor agreement with the white collar unit. We have 25303 resolution ratifying labor agreement with the bluecollar unit for
the burough of Oakland. We have 25304 resolution authorizing senior center refund for a Broadway trip. We have 25305 resolution authorizing a refund of recreation for a roller hockey individual.
25306 resolution authorizing tax overpayment refund for LAR. 25307 resolution authorizing tax overpayment refund for A I K E Y. We have 25308 resolution authorizing tax
overpayment refund for Salimi S A L L E M. 25309 award contract for for the Burough Hall roof replacement. 25310 award contract for Gov Pilot.
25311 non-union salary resolutions for 2025. 25312 resolution authorizing amended acrewed sicktown payout for Mr. L. Roland. 25313 resolution authorizing the hire of
seasonal snowplow operators. And 25314 resolution authorizing Basel Engineering to perform a traffic study. Does anybody wish to pull any up? >> Mr. Mayor, sir, >> Mr. Mayor. >> Yes. Um, I'd like to pull out U 25302 uh 25 311
>> 20 uh 302 311. >> Yes, >> just 302 and 311. >> Yes. >> Okay, that's Mr. McCann. Mr. Helen, >> I was going to pull this in. >> Anybody else wish to call me out? >> Okay. Uh, Mr. McCann 25302.
>> Um, it's a resolution uh ratifying labor agreement with M with the white collar. I think this uh calls for um to be pulled up from the consent agenda because we have council people uh that may want to vote yay or nay or abstain
on this >> Mr. Sali. >> Same for same for for 311. >> Yep. >> What I was going to do. Yes. >> All right. So by 25302 311 Mr. Salin is going to be recusing himself.
Uh for the rest 25303 304 56 7 8 9 10 11 13 and 14 >> not 11 pulled 11 pulled. >> We have a motion to approve. >> So moved. Do >> have a second. >> Who was that at the other end here? >> Kevin. >> Kevin.
Any discussion? Not seeing any. Roll call. >> Council President Slinski. >> Yes. >> Councilman McCann. >> Yes. Councilman Pignatelli, >> yes. >> Councilwoman Rose, >> yes. >> Councilman Saliani,
>> yes. >> Councilman Talamini, >> yes. >> Okay, we're like I said, we're pulling ordinance 25 code 976. >> Wait, we got to go back. >> Oh, I'm sorry. That's right. Yeah, we'll do a 25302 resolution ratifying labor agreement with white collar unit.
>> Have a motion to approve. >> So move. >> Second. >> Any discussion? Not seeing any. Roll call. Council President Sinski. >> Yes. >> Councilman McCann. >> Yes. >> No. You're Are you voting on this? >> Yes.
>> Oh, you are. Okay. I thought you were I thought Oh, just Steve. Okay. Sorry about that. >> Councilman Pignatelli. >> Yes. >> Councilwoman Rose, >> yes. >> Councilman Saliani, >> abstain. >> Councilman Talamini? >> Yes. >> All right. 2511 non-union salic resolution 2025. Have a motion to
approve. So move. M. >> Rose. Have a second. Second. Mr. Talamdi. >> Roll call. >> Council President Sinski. >> Yes. >> Councilman McCann. >> Yes. >> Councilman Pigantelli. >> Yes. >> Councilwoman Rose.
>> Yes. >> Council Saliani. >> Yes. >> Okay. We're up to work session. >> Wait, wait, wait, wait. 311. >> Oh, sorry. >> We're at 311. You're abstaining, right? Councilman Talamini. >> Yes. >> Okay. We pulled it for you. >> Yes. >> Okay. >> I think something else.
>> All right. Work session. pet licensing fees. Uh would the clerk or bur administrator like to take that one? >> Uh Wendy can handle that one. >> So um every year we spend four months chasing after people who don't license
their pets on time and as a result it takes a lot of time. Last year we had 224 people that did not license their pets that we had to chase after and send seven letters to to pay their fees. So I
am proposing which is consistent with what other towns do that we increase our late fee to make it more substantial than $5 because nobody cares about paying $5. So, I would like to propose
that we increase our late fee to $15 and if they don't pay by February 15th, unless it falls on a weekend, obviously it would adjust for a workday, that that would be the fee that is due as well as the licensing fee. It's it's an issue.
And over the past three years, I've had to chase down almost 700 people. So this is my proposal for the next meeting is to introduce an ordinance and update it to the late fee to be increased. >> How does I mean do you compare other
towns? Do they have late fees? They perform the same functions. >> We do. So I did do some research. Uh I think Whiteclaw charges 10 and then um >> Come on guys, be quiet. >> A percentage for every day or every week that adds on they
charge even more. Um, Hillsdale charges double the license fee. Uh, Franklin Lakes charges, I want to say, $10. So, it is pretty consistent. Our $5 fee is pretty low compared to most towns. So,
that's why I am making this suggestion. >> Thank you. Any further discussion? Questions? >> Was council's pleasure? I I think uh it just it pays for the
amount of time that uh Wendy puts into chasing it. So we get the $15, we're better off. Mayor, I was in public health for for over 30 years, and I I think that the misconception is we're not out
to collect the money or to make money on this. The real premise behind dog licensing is to ensure that the the dog or cat has a rabies vaccination. Nobody wants their child or their wife or
husband bitten by a dog that does not have a rabies shot. At least I don't. And uh whereas there is a there is a a monetary fee for it. The purpose is to make sure that the animals are vaccinated against rabies.
uh not to make it so dreary is that you get rabies, you die. It's it's that bad. Do not pass up getting your dog vaccinated is the main reason for the lensure. That's it, mayor. Thank you.
>> Thank you. Anybody else? >> All right. Can we have uh attorney write up a resolution? It's new increases that the clerk has recommended. >> It'll be a change to the ordinance. >> Okay. All right. All right, we're up to water fees. Uh, Mr. Coons or our CFO? Who would like that one? >> Uh, I'll I'll start. Let me let me just
start. Uh, because the next four items all concern ordinances uh that we're going to be asking you to consider uh potentially introduce at the next council meeting. The first two concern water and sewer fees. Know it's early in the budget process, but as we do every
year, we sort of prioritize taking a look at our utility budgets early on in conversations with DPW. um and we try to assess where we think we're going to need to be and what fee adjustments may be needed to support the operations of our utilities which have to be self-liquidating. So we've gone
through that process to date and of course it's subject to further uh you know discussion with the governing body in terms of specifics but based on you know what the requests are where we are right now uh we do have a few ordinance to propose before we get into that David
you want to just sort of take a walk through with the council of where we are at the moment with these two budgets. >> Sure. Um but budgets are all in. They're pretty sound in terms of everything that's been submitted and vetted. Um on the water side, uh we're recommending an
increase from 6250 per quarter to 6450 per quarter. Um and also a 3%ish on the variable rate. We're not going to raise it by 2 cents or 3 cents. We'll do it to the nearest nickel to keep things simple on the figuring out side. Uh
mostly this is to cover salary increase, inflation. uh we have to continue to support the infrastructure of the town, things like PAS um uh water main replacement and all of those things. So, this is just continue to make sure that
we're maintaining the the water system in the best fashion to be able to serve the public and provide that service. >> Anything specifically looking else on for the water? >> Anybody have any questions for CFO? Well, I mean it didn't we just increase
the water rates this year? >> We did. Um we went several years, many years without increasing the rates. Um in the last few we have consistently increased them. The water quality accountability act is a uh standard that the state has put on us and it requires
us to do 75% of our infrastructure replacement um or do it all over 75 years. Uh to do that we would have to be doing about 1.1 miles of infrastructure replacement every year. Uh currently our budget allows us to do about half that.
Um so we are trying to slowly work that budget up to the point where we can meet that that requirement. Um with Anthony and the engineers uh they focus on where the oldest infrastructure is and identify which ones should be replaced
first. uh we apply for grants to help support that as well. Um in the not too distant future, we'll have some debt service come off which will enable us to also increase the funding that way without increasing the rates. Um but this is just part of the strategy to get
us to where we need to be um so we don't have a major major problem down the road. >> Okay. >> Any other comments, questions? >> All right, Mr. Cruz, can you start working up that ordinance for that? Sure. Uh and likewise, we also
prioritize looking at the recreation budget, which as you know is now sort of off budget. The utilizer trust uh but everywhere every year we ask for them to please give us their fee fee recommendations for any changes to program costs uh so that we can
prioritize getting that in place by the beginning of the year as well so it doesn't impede their ability to um you know hold their registrations for their programs. They've provided that. Uh we've talked about that. uh and you have a draft of their uh schedule in your
packet as well. Most of the fee adjustments are minor. They're meant to uh you know accommodate uh any increased costs for things like umpires or vendor fees for clinics and the like. Um so you have that schedule. If you have specific questions, let me know. Um but again,
we'd like to move forward with an ordinance on that as well. Uh so everything can be in place by the start of the year. >> Okay. Salary ordinance. So, the salary ordinance, this sort of comes on the heels of uh updating the or or ratifying the white and blue collar labor
agreement. The last time there was a uh general uh complete redo of our salary ordinance was in 2020, which was on the heels of the last round of negotiations. Uh you did two supplemental salary ordinances like in 22 and 23 for a
couple of uh unique positions. Um this will be the sort of the first full revisions to the entire ordinance since 2020. Uh and it's really meant to encapsulate where we uh project all the salaries to go within that contract period. Uh so we sort of run a
projection out of where we think salaries are going to be. Uh make sure that the salary ranges are built accordingly to accommodate for that. So for example with the DPW position titles you'll see the minimum of the range which sort of reflects the minimum in
the first year of the contract the maximum is going to uh more or less line up with the maximums of the range in the contract in the last year of the contract and like uh we've also made some um minor adjustments to fee titles
uh or the titles that we no longer use. couple positions that we are using to make sure that uh it's covering everything uh that actions that you've taken uh over the last year as well. So uh you have a redlinined version in the
packet as well as a uh um clean version that we'll work on for introduction at the next meeting. >> Are there any questions? >> Question comments. >> Okay, not seeing any. Moving up to resolution to oppose 4736. Mr. could.
>> Sure. Uh so the league of municipalities alerted us to legislation that was introduced recently in the state senate. Uh and the concern is that this particular legislation would preempt local zoning. Uh again sort of in the pursuit of uh or under the guise of
affordable housing. Um, essentially it would require a municipal planning board to approve an application to repurpose or redevelop an eligible property into an inclusionary development with affordable housing regardless of the eligible property's location in the
municipality if the project complies with applicable zoning requirements as described in the bill. Not your own local zoning requirements, the zoning requirements in the bill. Uh, and this applies to uh certain uh
nonprofit and religious uh institutionowned properties. And it does things like allowing densities up to 40 units per acre, allowing uh building heights above what's in your zoning and the like. Uh and while the goal may be loggable, uh there's a lot of problems
there in terms of impacts on uh the community and basically the uh you know, sort of overriding your local zoning and master plans and all of the work that you put into trying to plan for uh you know, the appropriate growth of the community. So, uh, with that, the
league, uh, is asking towns to, you know, voice their position on this, and they've prepared a resolution, uh, sample resolution, uh, in opposition to it. If you'd like to do that, we can schedule that for a resolution at the next meeting. >> Questions, comments from the governing
body? >> Let's see. Mr. Cruz, would you prepare that resolution for next meeting? >> Sure. >> All right. That ends our work session. Does anybody have any new business in front of uh from the council? New business? Not seeing any old business?
>> Yes. I want to bring something up. Uh if I remember correctly, the Burger King property, the owner was supposed to come to the planning board and give a plan for Mayor June. You're supposed to report back to plan progresses, next steps. >> That is correct. So, the way it was left at the last uh planning board meeting
when we were talking about the the Oakland drugs property, they are reaching out to their attorney to come up with a date to come in front of the planning board. >> And he has until May to present his plan. Correct. >> We only asked him to come back for an update. >> Okay. Yes. Okay.
Anybody else? >> All right. We're up to committee liaison reports. Uh we'll start with Councilman Tal Talamini. >> Uh sure. First, um uh recreation Uh please sign up uh if you go to the website you can sign up
for the specific sports that uh your your child would like to play and the signups are open. Uh please coach your kids. Greatest thing you could do. It's amazing. Uh but also if you are a coach make sure that you are certified. You
take the ruters course, the concussion course and um just one other thing. >> Background check. >> Oh the background check. Background check. Um just make sure you do that because otherwise you cannot be on the field coaching your kids. Um so uh but
again please please please coach your kids. Um it's it's amazing. Um you make friends you and and you get to to watch kids enjoy themselves playing sports. Um otherwise I just want to take this time
to say uh happy Thanksgiving to everyone. I want to take a minute to say thank you to uh everyone up here, all my friends up here. Uh thank you to everyone in the the burrow hall, all the employees, all the volunteers. Um the
the volunteers, I mean, we are so lucky the volunteers that we have in Fair View. I'm so thankful for for >> I'm sorry, Oakland. >> That's funny. uh in Oakland. Um uh that's how much I love Oakland. I called
it Fairview. Um uh u it's it's amazing what what the volunteers do. But but uh but also um uh our burrow employees, everything, the the police, the fire, the ambulance, the uh all the DPW
workers. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And happy Thanksgiving. >> Council Pnatelli. >> Yes. I'd like to to echo what um Councilman Talamini is saying. Our town basically the support comes from the volunteers. If if we had to hire people
to do their work, it'd be millions of dollars. Uh forget paying taxes would be astronomical. So, thank you to the to the great volunteers we do have. And for Thanksgiving, let's just bring to mind what we're grateful for.
just thank be thankful for what we do have because there's a lot of people that don't have what we have. But uh again, thank you to all the burrow employees. Also, um senior citizens, there's going to be a Victorian carolers
and afternoon tea on December the 4th. There's going to be Christmas carol carolers uh singing and tea. Um, if you're going to attend, please call 2011457731. And I've been asked I'm I'm not on the
um public safety committee, but I've been asked uh by the first aid squad to make an announcement. I know everyone is busy and again, we do depend on volunteers. Um, but if you're looking
for a New Year's resolution, please join the uh first aid squad and the fire department. I know both of us, both organizations need volunteers. Uh, it it's great. I mean, the the training for an EMT, not only you're going to be
helping our residents here in town, but you you could be possibly helping your own family someday because you will be trained and training is constant. the third uh week uh Tuesday, Monday of every month, we're in training. So,
there's always something to be trained for. Always updating our our our profession. But uh please, if you're thinking of making a New Year's resolution, it would be great great for the town and for your family to please
volunteer. Uh first aid squad and fire department needs needs people desperately. So, please consider it. It's it's extremely rewarding. Thank you, Mary. That's it. >> Okay. Councilman Salian. >> Sure. Um, thank you very much. Um, the chief asked me to reiterate a Facebook
post, a chief of police chief keen a Facebook post he put out regarding the blue envelope program. The Oakland is about 4 days ago on Facebook. The Oakland Police Department is proud to introduce the Blue Envelope Program, a community initiative focused on improving safety and communication between police officers and drivers on
the autism spectrum during traffic stops. We understand that flashing lights, sirens, and the general stress of being pulled over can be especially overwhelming for individuals with autism and spectrum disorder. This is where the blue envelope comes into play. Clearly
marked for an easy recognition by officers, the envelope indicates that the driver may have different communication needs or responses during the interaction. This voluntary program provides a blue envelope for individuals to store important documents like a driver's license, registration,
insurance information, and emergency contact information all in one place for easy access. Each envelope also contains clear instructions for both the driver and responding officers. Drivers receive guidance on what to do during a traffic stop while the officers and first
responders are given tips on recognizing signs of autism and responding with patience, understanding, and clarity. If someone you know or care about could benefit from this program, please stop by the Oakland Police Department headquarters and pick up an envelope at
our desk or call the main number at 2013376171 or email officer Joseph Burns at jburns oakland police. I think it's a great initiative and it's a great program. Um, the fire department just asked me,
well, Pat took one of my updates. They are looking for volunteers. So, please, if you're interested in joining the fire department, uh, Mondays, uh, at YPO at 7:00, they run drills. They're looking for volunteers to meet. And then on December 20th, the one of favorite times of year, you'll see Santa on the fire
truck driving around the town of Oakland. So, please be on the lookout. You can find these sites of where he's visiting on the town website or on the Oakland Fire Department Facebook site. And lastly,
the holiday stroll. So, the mayor touched on this in the beginning. So, the public events for the holiday stroll, which is the tree lighting, is something different this year. What's going what the what the public events committee is doing is they're basically quartering off thanks to the Oakland
Police Department and and the fire department. They're quartering off the uh top of Oak Street by Pine by Pond's church and there'll be a holiday stroll where have some entertainment for the kids, some rides, some food, and then the rumor is the big man's going to come in a suit and uh light the tree. So, I
uh I look forward to it. I think it's a great job Boke events um trying to build upon and making this a true a true holiday event. And to everyone else, um I do want to wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving. Um I'll echo the councilman's comments. We we appreciate everything everyone does for this town,
volunteers, first responders, and with that being said, happy Thanksgiving, everybody. >> Thank you, Councilman. Councilman McCann. >> Uh thank you, mayor. Um a couple things on the administration committee. Um, with regard there's a there's a post
going out around with regard Well, first of all, before I even do that, I want to congratulate Mr. was it William Islet? Is I saying the name correctly? Uh, on his election to the council uh and defeating um me because my running mate
is tied. Um, so good job. Congratulations. I hope you I hope you will serve the town as you have in the past. I believe you're on the planning board and I'm sure the town hopefully will be in good hands. Having said that, happy Thanksgiving. Let's get back to the administration committee. As it
relates to uh the campaign, there's some uh misinformation out there with regard to uh the recount with regard to Kevin uh and Mr. Dumpford. Um the their campaign put out a piece
basically almost stating and implying that the town was going to be paying for a recount because Kevin hired a highpriced attorney. Um he's not highriced too and Kevin's the one that hired him, not the town. So the town will not be paying uh for the recount.
That will not be coming out of uh any recount will not be coming out of the taxpayers's coffers. Uh there will be a cost if uh the tie remains and there's a special election and uh there was a tie in Maywood a couple years ago. I think
the estimated cost was around $40,000. Um bigger town you could expect the cost for us to be somewhere around that that range 45 to 50,000 maybe more with inflation than the Biden inflation from three years ago. So having said that
happy Thanksgiving everyone and I'll turn it over to Kevin. Thank you, Mayor. Um, uh, from the library, uh, after Thanksgiving, the OPL will have programs in December for adults and children. On Monday, uh, December 1st, they will have favorite
foreign films at 10:00 a.m. for adults. And at 300 p.m., they will have the Nintendo Switch Club for young adults. Uh they're also hosting uh hosting uh key gang u with Tara Farley at the library on Mondays uh in December. This
is a Franken Lakes library program they are hosting during their libraries renovations. So anyone interested in attending can sign up at the uh FLPL website. Uh they also will have uh their regular weekly story times on Tuesday, Thursday,
and Friday mornings through December 11th, including the popular Jigglywiggly music performance on Friday, December 5th at 10:00 a.m. Registration is required for this program. Uh also, uh Friday, um December 5th at 7 p.m. is the
NJ Coral Society concert, a a holiday concert live on the library stage. call or go online um to register. Uh also, happy Thanksgiving, everyone. >> Thank you, >> Councilwoman. >> All right. Thank you, Mayor. >> Um the arts committee met on November
17th at 700 p.m. Um they are working on decorations for the Oakland's Christmas tree at Vanson Park. Um every year, Vanson Park does a winter wonderland featuring a tree from each Bergen County town decorated by residents or community groups. Uh you can check out the display
of the trees in Pamis. Um they have a jured art exhibition and sale is scheduled for January 10th through February 22nd at the Oakland Public Library. More details will follow in the upcoming months. Um for access for all,
please join us on December 7th after the tree lighting for pictures with Santa at Pawns Church. And I too would like to wish everybody a happy Thanksgiving. Okay, that concludes our council leazison reports. Bills to be paid.
>> Bills to be uh bills to be paid. Uh $512,23923. So moved. >> Do I have a second? >> Second. >> Second. Councilwoman Rose. Any discussion? >> Roll call. >> Council President Sinski. >> Yes.
>> Councilman McCann. >> Yes. >> Councilman Piggatelli. >> Yes. >> Councilwoman Rose, >> yes. Councilman Saliani. >> Yes. >> Councilman Telamini. >> Yes. >> Okay. Do I have a motion to uh I guess that's it for all we have in the agenda.
Do >> you have a motion to adjurnn? >> So move. >> Second. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> All right. The next council meeting will be held Tuesday, December 9th, 2025, 7 p.m. here at the Oklahoma Municipal Council Chambers. Have a happy Thanksgiving. Have a happy Thanksgiving
everybody. Good night.