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Video-1: youtube.com/watch?v=IIgnqeUPraA

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Thank you. I'm watching my straight. Thank you. We need to call to order this April 28th, 2016 council meeting. Uh will the clerk read the statement of compliance? This meeting is being held in accordance with the Open Public Meetings Act,

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N.J.S.A. 10:4-6 and seq., having been duly advertised and posted in the municipal building in compliance with N.J.S.A. 10:4-8d. The meeting will adjourn no later than 10:00 p.m. unless the majority of the council members present vote to extend the time. All rise for the Pledge of

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Allegiance. We may have a moment of silence afterwards. Uh Chief, would you lead us in the pledge? Pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and

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justice for all. Thank you. All right, we have a special occasion today. We're going to be swearing in a junior firefighter. At this time, I'd like to ask Andrew Daniel Pacuic to come forward with both his mother and father. You're going to be facing the mayor, not

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me. Want you guys to come this side. All right. You need to put your Come on, Mom. You got to come in here. So, first of all, You put your hand on it. It's over there, you see? So, obviously, we've got a second generation uh firefighter here. Andrew's been a firefighter in Oakland

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here for 7 years. He holds the rank of lieutenant. He's currently in his second year as captain. And it's really nice to see that the tradition carries on through the Pacuic family. All right. So, at this time, put your hand on the Bible. You're going to repeat after me.

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I, Daniel Al Pacuic, I, Daniel Pacuic, do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution that I will support the Constitution of the United States of the United States and the Constitution and the Constitution of the state of New Jersey >> of the state of New Jersey that I will

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bear true faith that I will bear true faith and allegiance and allegiance >> to the same to the same and the government and the governments [snorts] established in the United States established in the United States and in this state and in this state under the authority of the people under the

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authority of the people and that I will faithfully and that I will >> faithfully impartially impartially and justly and justly perform all the duties perform all the duties of the office of the office of volunteer fire department junior firefighter of volunteer fire department junior firefighter according

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to the best of my ability. >> according to the best of my ability. So, help me God. So, help me God. Congratulations. >> [applause] >> Congratulations, Mom. Congratulations. Want to take a picture? Yes, please. Did you do it? Oh.

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We didn't turn it off. Mine's off. One more. You good? Yeah. Thank you. Daniel, I just need you to sign this. I'm going to look at Uh Take a little picture. Did it? No, it's good. You good? It'll be working. All

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right, good. Congratulations. Congratulations. Welcome. Congratulations. Congratulations. Good luck. All right, at this time, we'll take a 2-minute recess for those people who wish to leave. Following meeting back in session.

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All right, we're up to roll call. Mayor Kman? Here. Council President Talamini? Here. Councilman Dumberg? Here. Councilman Eiler? Here. Councilman Pignatelli? Here. Councilwoman Rose? Here. Councilman Saliani?

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I'll make a motion to excuse Councilman Saliani. So moved. Second. Second's Talamini. All in favor? Aye. Aye. All right, we're up to the mayor's report. I got several items. So, I'm going to first start with the affordable housing update. As I reported last meeting,

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we had a meeting with the Jersey DEP on April 15th to discuss water allocation. The special master was present during the meeting. And for the people, just to give you a very high level of what this is all about, at this time, no residents, no businesses can connect to the Weny of

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the sewer systems in Oakland because the water allocation permit does not allow it. However, if they do want to connect, it requires a change to the the Weny the wastewater water allocation in town, which means that we would have to procure water from

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either Veolia or some other company in order to be able to connect any of these buildings to the sewers. Okay? There is currently a follow-up meeting scheduled in June that our special adjudicator will be participating in as well. We do not have a date in June. Once we have that date,

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we will report it to the community. Also, for TDC, better known as the McBride property, TDC filed a motion to enforce its rights concerning the Page Drive access. This is meeting scheduled for May 8th.

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We do not know if it's open to the public at this point. Our attorney's looking into it. Once we have that information, we'll certainly notify the entire community that if that it affects those people who wish to attend, come down to the hearings down in Hackensack.

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This March 20th, there's fever pitch, the softball baseball parade starting at 9:00 a.m. at the library. May 20th, I'm sorry. May 20th. We had a wonderful Arbor Day. I'm going to leave that report to Councilman Rose. We really had a special event on

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Saturday. I know our other councilman also attended as well with the tree giveaway, but I'll let her explain all the good news that came out of that. The Oakland Historical Society participated in the Northwest Bergen History Coalition on the 12th.

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And Oakland was one of 12 open houses throughout Bergen County which residents had an opportunity to visit all celebrating the 250th. Also on April 26th, Sunday, there was a lecture with Historical Society at the

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Oakland Library. And it was about Robert Erskine. I'm sure many people have heard of Erskine Lake up in Ringwood. Robert Erskine was George Washington's map maker map map maker during the during the war. And it's just interestingly enough, a lot of the rudimentary original maps of

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all of New Jersey were all originated in this area because of the war. And Oakland is very very much displayed with the Ponds Church with the landmarks and everything that are really part of the history of this of North Jersey. I also wanted to announce that Sunday,

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May 17th, there's another open house from 1:00 to 4:00 at the Van Allen House. It's called Brides and Mothers. They're looking for residents that have uh old bridal gowns, something over 100 years old. So they can put it up for display.

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And accessories as well. And any old photos going back to the last century which are going to be part of the part of the exhibit. So if anybody has that information, you can contact 1900s. Yeah. Pat, do you have a wedding

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dress? I have pictures. Oh yeah, if you can Yeah, not of me, but >> [laughter] >> my mother. Your mother. But yeah, so they're looking for that kind of material for for the for the event on on the 17th. And if anybody has anything, you can email Eric Schabacker. His email

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is E. Schabacker, which is E. S. C. H. A. U. B. A. C. H. .ohs@gmail.com. That's E. Schabacker.ohs@gmail.com. Also, we completed last Saturday they had the town park cleanup. Councilman Eiler and I attended that as well. We

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want to thank all the volunteers that really braved the poor weather that day. But we did have several volunteers that had an opportunity to clean up Stewart Woods, the rec field, Great Oak Park, and Potash Lake as well. So thank you for all those people that weathered the the bad weather.

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Also, just another reminder on May 9th, >> [clears throat] >> it's going to be the kickoff of the Veterans Drive here by the library for the Arts and Crafts Fair. So the first day is May 9th. I believe there's 14 days are scheduled. I forget how many events, but I check on the calendar count town calendar for additional dates

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and events. And that concludes our >> Town calendar online. Town calendar online. And that concludes my report. At this time, do we have a motion to open to the public? So moved. Do I have a second? Second. Second. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Aye. Anybody from the public wish to address the

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governing body? Hi. Jerry Angermueller, 24 Lakeview Terrace from Oakland. And I was glad to see that you guys approved and you went and applied for a grant to have the historic resources in town

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evaluated. So I want to speak in favor of that because often I would say, "Oh, we want to preserve these elegant old homes and everything." And people say, "Oh, you have to let people do with their property what what they want to do." But of course, that's not always exactly

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true. You know, you can't you have to shovel your snow in the winter. There's an ordinance about that. You can't put a business in a residential area. There are zoning regulations and stuff like that. So there's just a lot of things where yeah, you have to ask permission. You have to get get a

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variance or something. So there are ways to try to keep the town the way the residents would like to do that. So that's one thing. So another question is why would somebody buy a house that they don't want that they

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want to change? Because um you know, somebody mentioned Cape May for instance. This isn't Cape May. We want to preserve our homes. Why would somebody build a beautiful old home when Oakland certainly treasures its its historic sites. I know Remax bought the

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the beautiful building in town and they use that as an office because they know it's elegant and uh like I don't see anybody having wedding receptions at the old Burger King building, right? That's not not so interesting. They they like to go to the across the street to the old Hanson House and have weddings there because

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it's elegant and uh So while we're waiting to do the uh the investigation as to the historic significance of a lot of houses, and we have to do zoning perhaps and put zones in some areas and say,

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"These are areas that we do want to keep in a certain zone." I know there are residential and commercial areas down there, but we want to keep it in its own like the streetscape to try to preserve and protect some of those buildings because if somebody comes in and buys it and and

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doesn't like the building, and they feel they can just take it down. Well, if you zone it properly, then people know, "Well, I won't even bother buying that that building because I I won't be able to do anything else with it." Because you know, you don't have to go to Cape May to see elegant old homes.

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You go up Ramapo Valley Road into Mahwah. There's just one beautiful elegant site there after another. Oh, you go through Franklin Lakes and there are beautiful buildings. There's almost every street in Ridgewood, which is certainly all very valuable

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landscape there that uh you know, they they wouldn't want to take that down. They preserve the buildings because they're valuable and they people pay taxes and uh So we have to consider that too and and see maybe there's something even before we do the the study investigation of the

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historic significance. Maybe there's something the zoning department could do to to make sure that we keep our our town looking as beautiful as as it is. You know, when you redid the library, you didn't take down the old library because you wouldn't want to take down the old library. You added a

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new part and and there are ways to do things. And I just wanted to you know, support the effort to to maintain the look of the town and and preserve some of the the buildings that people love here in town. Thank you, Jerry. And thank you for all your hard work during the

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historical day and all the other events. >> a lot of fun. We had a lot of great people come to visit Van Allen House. Thank you. Anybody else? Not seeing any, do I have a motion to close? So moved. Do I have a second? >> Second. Second, Mr. Dumpert. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Aye. All right, we're up to

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approval of minutes. We have April 14th, 2026. I know it's all been distributed to everybody. Does anybody have any changes? Not seeing any, do we have a motion to approve? So moved. Second. Mr. Rose. Mr. Eiler. And Mr. Eiler.

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Roll call. Council President Talamini. Yes. Councilman Dumpert. >> Yes. Councilman Eiler. Yes. Councilman Pignatelli. Yes. Councilwoman Rose. Yes. All right, we have April 14th, 2026 executive minutes. As you know, if anybody has any changes, it can only be

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done in executive session. If nobody has any changes, do I have a motion to approve? So moved. Do I have a second? >> Second. Second, Mr. Talamini. Roll call. Council President Talamini. Yes. Councilman [snorts] Dumpert. Yes. Councilman Eiler. Yes. Councilman

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Pignatelli. Yes. Councilwoman Rose. Yes. All right, we're up to raffle licenses. We have raffle license RL1600 for the Oakland Volunteer Fire Department for carnival games from June 17th to the 20th, 2026 to support the Oakland Volunteer Fire

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Department at the Miller Drive facility, Oakland, New Jersey. Do I have a motion to approve? So moved. Mr. Talamini, do I have a second? Second. Second, Mr. Dumpert. Roll call. Council President Talamini. Yes. Councilman [clears throat] Dumpert. Yes.

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Councilman Eiler. Yes. Councilman Pignatelli. Yes. Councilwoman Rose. Yes. All right, we're up to the public hearing of the budget. We've had several meetings, public meetings discussing the budget. And at this time, this is where up for final adoption. But before we do

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that, we have to approve a resolution 26144 authorizing calendar year 2026 budget to be read by title only. Do I have a motion to approve the resolution? No, it was Mr. Dumpert. Mr. Dumpert, do

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I have a second? Second. Mr. Rose. Any discussion? Not seeing any, roll call. Council President Talamini. Yeah, just let me say thank you once again for everyone and everything that they they do for the for the budget, all

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the hard work that they put in uh our CFO, our our administrator, our clerks, the whole borough administration uh they do a great job. It's a hard it's a hard thing to put this budget together, but they do it

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every year and thank you. So yes. Councilman Dumpert. Yes. Councilman Eiler. Yes. Councilman Pignatelli. Yes. Councilwoman Rose. Yes. That it? Yep. All right, we're up to the final

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adoption of our budget. >> [clears throat] >> 26145 budget adoption. Do I have a motion to open to the public? So moved. This is a public hearing. Do I have a second? Second. Second, Mr. Eiler. Roll call for open to public. Council

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President Talamini. Yes. Councilman Dumpert. Yes. Councilman Eiler. Yes. Councilman Pignatelli. Yes. Yes. This is a public hearing on this year's budget. Does anybody from the audience wish to comment or have any questions about the budget?

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Not seeing any. Do I have a motion to close? So moved. Okay, now who's got the Pat? Who got the second? Second. Mr. Iler? Roll call. Council President Talamini? Councilman Dumbert? Councilman Iler?

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Councilman Pignatelli? Councilwoman Rose? >> Yes. All right, this time who would like to make a motion for final adoption of what this year's budget. So moved. I'm sorry. Carolyn on first. >> Carolyn? And Mr. Pignatelli on the second.

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Any further discussion? Not seeing any. Roll call for adoption of budget. Council President Talamini? Yes. Councilman Dumbert? Having not had the opportunity to work through the process with the various agencies and representative, I I will be abstaining.

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Councilman Iler? Yes. Councilman Pignatelli? Yes. And Councilwoman Rose? Yes. Motion passed. Very good. I want to thank all the members of the governing body and all our professionals and department heads. Uh this is a long drawn out process. This takes months to put this budget

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together. And and I think you guys have really put together a nice uh a nice a good budget for this year because especially concerning all the issues with insurance and everything else that we've been facing this year. All right, this time we are up to resolutions.

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Uh we'll do this as a consent. We have 26-146 authorizing recreation refunds. Here's 26-147 authorizing utility refund for Alua. 26-148 authorized utility refund for Hall. 26-149 authorized affidavit of discharge

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of tax liens certification number 22-00020. 26-150 capital projects cancellations. 26-151 authorized hire of DPW labor. 26-152 authorized hire seasonal DPW employees. 26-153 authorized accrued

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time pay off for Catrino. 26-154 authorized shared service agreement for SCLO3, these are special officers for Indian Hills. 26-155 authorized shared service agreement for SCLO3. These once again,

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these are the uh specials for K-3 schools. 26-156 authorized liquor license expansion for outdoor dining for the area of Doc Watson's. And 26-157 will be work contract for copier. Does anybody wish to point it

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out? Uh could we one 156? 156? Anybody else? Not seeing any with the exception of uh 26-156, it was a consent agenda. Do I have motion to approve? So moved. Mr. Iler to

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have a second. Second. Mr. Talamini, roll call. Council President Talamini? Yes. Councilman Dumbert? Yes. Councilman Iler? Yes. Councilman Pignatelli? Yes. Councilwoman Rose? Yes. Uh Mr. Talamini, uh 26-156 liquor license. Sorry, I just

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have a question. Um so they're going to extend it the liquor license into the outdoor dining, but um uh that just it it makes it like regular liquor service. Uh you you know, it's like you would be ordering from within the in the

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restaurant. Right. So, do you want me to answer, Rich? Yes, please. Um so basically it's the same rules as uh serving inside. So, they have uh limits on how much they can do based on tables of how many alcoholic beverages they can serve. Uh they I did send off to zoning

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and PD and everybody, nobody had any objections to their expansion. And obviously it's seasonal. Cuz they're not going to have outdoor dining in the winter. And so so it it would we would have to approve it every year if if they were going to do it. >> If they're going to do it every year,

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yes. And I I just I I remember when we were doing it, I I thought there was they couldn't serve the alcohol outside. They couldn't set up a bar outside. >> No, they can't set up a bar, but they can bring the drinks out by waitress like they do in the regular part of the restaurant. They can't have a bar out

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there. And they had to get a board of health and zoning approval for the outdoor dining area for food as well as now the expansion to be able to serve the alcohol out there. So, they've applied to the ABC and the ABC has approved them. The next step is for the council to approve. And that's

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the ABC is the one that says you can't set up the bar, right? >> Alcohol beverage >> That's That's not our Right. That's it. Right. All right. That was it. Thank you. Any further questions? Not seeing any. Do I have a motion to approve 26-156 to authorize liquor license expansion for outdoor dining

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area for Doc Watson's. So moved. Mr. Dumbert. Mr. Talamini, roll call. Council President Talamini? Yes. Councilman Dumbert? Yes. >> [clears throat] >> It's good for business, yes. Councilman Iler? Yes. Councilman Pignatelli? Yes. Councilwoman Rose? Yes.

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All right, we're up to ordinance. Uh we are introducing 26 capital 989 capital ordinance. Mr. Kuhn. Uh thank you. So, the capital and bond ordinances are sort of an adjunct to the budget process. We just [snorts] appropriated an amount

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in the capital improvement fund. Uh the capital ordinance [clears throat] and the bond ordinance actually authorizes funding for the capital plan. Uh we've gone over this in the budget hearings. So, uh everything is in the capital plan uh ordinance. You have that in in your

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packets with all of the various purchases that we're proposing. Uh everything from IT stuff to uh putting money aside for a fire truck and uh you know, equipment purchases for DPW and police cars and the like. Uh the bond ordinance this year is specifically

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for the road program uh and the downtown improvements, which we're going to be talking about in a little bit. Uh both ordinances together uh appropriate $4,258,500. That's just shy of $3,000,000 uh in uh the capital ordinance, which includes

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not only money from the capital improvement fund, but also uh capital surplus, uh the open space trust, uh and grants that have come in as well that are that are pledged towards that amount. Uh and the bond ordinance is in the amount of $1,260,000.

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Does anybody have any questions? Not seeing any at this time. Does somebody want to make a motion for introduction for 26 capital 989 capital ordinance? So moved. Second. Mr. Iler with the second. Roll call. Council President Talamini? Yes.

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Councilman Dumbert? I'm struggling cuz in here we also have included the basketball courts. Is it possible to pull those aside and vote on those separately? We had our open for discussion. We already closed discussion on that, Mr.

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Yes. Councilman Iler? Yes. Councilman Pignatelli? Yes. Councilwoman Rose? Yes. All right, we're up to uh final hearing will be May 12th that for the public to comment on the capital

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ordinance. Next we have 26 bond 98990 bond ordinance. Does somebody wish to introduce? So moved. Mr. Rose. Second. Mr. Iler, any discussion? Not seeing any. Roll call. Council President Talamini?

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Yes. Councilman Dumbert? Yes. Councilman Iler? Yes. Councilman Pignatelli? Yes. Councilwoman Rose? Yes. Public hearing and final adoption will be held May 12th here in council chambers. All right, currently we're up to work session.

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Uh Mr. Kuhn's oppose S1836. Uh yes, this is an issue that uh the municipalities wanted us to do and all municipalities to. Uh and I think this is part of the state's larger effort regarding affordable housing. Uh this bill would basically enhance the

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ability for religious and nonprofit organizations to convert certain property that they own uh into inclusionary housing developments as long as it meet the zoning requirements in the state law, thereby preempting local zoning. Uh and

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the issue here is we've all spent a considerable amount of time crafting our uh fourth round affordable housing uh you know, elements and fair share plans and going through the entire fourth round process with challengers. And then this would come in on the heels of that

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uh potentially lead to even more uh you know, development that really doesn't comport with good planning or the town's wishes. Um And again, the the one of the main issues there is that it just would preempt local zoning. Perhaps it would take that out of your hands. So, wanted

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to alert you to that uh and ask that you consider at the next meeting adopting a resolution opposing the legislation. Any discussion? I just want to say this affordable housing is the gift that just keeps giving. I mean, this is I mean, I I just

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we just went through round four. We're still trying to settle this up. And now they want to take more property and you know, neuter the municipality's ability to have any zoning or control over any of these these applications. I just want to put on the record this

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bond this is bill sponsored by Senator Troy Singleton, District 7 out of Burlington. And also uh Senator Bernie E. Wimberly, District 35 out of Bergen and Passaic. It was co-sponsored by Senators McKnight and Timberlake. And uh quite frankly,

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this is you know, we we all moved to this community for a reason. We were not expecting urban sprawl. We were not expecting high-density housing. And and you know, I think we do we have an opportunity here to make our voices known. I I agree with the mayor. I'm I'm sick

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and tired of the state of New [clears throat] Jersey taking away our local authority. I I and what the basis is I have you know, it's beyond me that we even have our local zoning laws that are pushed aside

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to be decided by the state. It's just just unfair. Anybody [snorts] else? All right, Pat. There's there's several residents that have approached me, you know, urging for the this governing body's opposition to things like this. And and I know I I speak for myself when I say this. And I

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I believe we're all united in in in this notion of fighting overdevelopment in Oakland, of maintaining the culture that so many families have worked so hard to develop here. And in maintaining the beauty, the charm, and and Mr. Mayor, to your point, the reason why people sought out this

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community to live here. I'm committed to doing that smartly. With the advice of council and using the instruments that are available to us so that we don't put the borough in jeopardy, but we do it through thoughtful deliberation and applying those skills and those expertise that we

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have through our outside council and others. So, I think we're all united in in in that notion. And Pat, I share your frustration that the state of New Jersey is um is forcing this upon so many local municipalities. You know, let's call what it is. It's nothing more than builders driving more

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and more profits. That's all this is about. >> Yeah. Yeah. [clears throat] That's all this is about. Anybody else? All right, Mr. Coons. Will you have that prepared for next meeting? Yes. All right. As you know, we were talking about the road opening ordinance last week. There were several questions concerning trenching. I've asked our

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engineer to be present here, Mr. Kimik. There was quite a discussion about it. >> time. Would you explain trenching to us and tell me why we have to wait 6 months or if there's better ways of handling trenching so we can pave sooner? Yes. Thank you, Mayor. So, I believe the section is um

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12-2.8G of the current code. And it states, "After a reasonable settlement period which consists at least one freeze-thaw cycle but no more than 1 year from the initial opening, final restoration will require

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infrared application or 2-in compacted surface course of bituminous surface. This is high-five replaced over the entire trench." So, I believe the concern was is that long freeze-thaw cycle. So, I

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conferred with our experts at Boswell, that could be shortened to 1 month with the caveat that the trench be compacted in 6-in lifts and that it passes a 95% proctor

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compaction at each one of those lifts. And in order to certify that, I would say that either we as the borough engineer would have to inspect that or we get a certification by somebody that

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has witnessed that that can sign to it. So, we can certainly shorten that period. We lifted this from the Bergen County and Franklin Lakes road opening permit. And I don't want to speculate too much, but I suspect that

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they probably took the approach that you know, they didn't have this control over inspecting things. So, we can certainly give that option in here to shorten it up. As I I'm I'm sure you know, we have this problem with PSE&G within the borough.

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And we want to get those trenches and those streets fixed as quickly as possible. But what what most concerning to me was that with the first frost, if you open a trench in April, you got to wait another 8 months before you pave it. And I [clears throat] think that's

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just ridiculous. I think if you use non-organic material, compact it in 6-in lifts, you're going to get sufficient compaction that it's not going to be sinking. I I agree, Councilman. So, if the council is okay, I can give

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Mr. Coons language to change here. And then I guess we would have it on the agenda for the next meeting. All right. It it just open too long. It took too too long. And they they they don't come back. No, I agree. I I guess my question to the engineer is can we make public

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service do this? Yes, we certainly can. Okay. I I think so. I don't you know, I I I think we want to, quite frankly. Okay. Um because um historically [clears throat]

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and in other towns that we serve, we don't watch Excuse me. Public Service 24/7. As you know, that sometimes they're a moving target. It's very frustrating. We don't know when they're out there. Um but to require the certification from

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them, I think would be a good compromise. And we could certainly shorten up the period. I believe that section talks about 1 year. Um we could talk about maybe shortening that up to 6 months, weather permitting.

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Um so, because right now the ordinance allows this trench to be not permanently restored up to a year. So, we can certainly shorten that to 6 months, which I think is reasonable. And weather permitting. We really don't

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want people restoring trenches from like November 15th to April 15th. And I believe the ordinance talks about that. So, as soon as the weather breaks on April 16th for anything they've opened during the winter, you know, they should be out there

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restoring it. So, you have to stipulate that in the ordinance. November to April. You know, you you don't don't be so flexible. Tighten it up and and get this a lot quicker and give them and require the certification. And the certification would come from PSE&G or

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whomever the utility is. They would have to You wouldn't have to go out and do it. That is correct. Either or. I would make them do it. We do it. You know, they could put up escrow and pay for our inspector to be out there or All right. or they could provide a

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certification by and we'll give the specification for the type of inspector that's certified for these types of things and provide that to us, have it signed off, and and then they could go ahead and restore the trench. And I I think this is in the

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best interest of the borough. So, we could Would the Could the inspector be from from the building department? From like the mobile home or it would be a No. Should the that Usually or not usually, those inspectors are UCC code

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inspectors. And trenching is not part of the UCC code. So, this this typically falls under the borough engineer's purview. And so, but basically I mean, cuz this sounds like it's going to be a little more money to

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fill the trench. So, we'd be pushing that on to the contractor. PSE&G put up an escrow. >> Yes. Well, whoever is digging the road up. Yeah. And and you know, we get occasionally um plumbers that want to put in a sanitary

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sewer. Uh We don't have sanitary sewer in town, but we have others. Very few and far between. Mostly all of our road openings are by our own DPW, our own contractors where we have our inspectors or PSE&G.

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Um so, they're all big entities that can certainly observe you know, absorb the cost, especially PSE&G. So, if it's the DPW, you mentioned DPW. So, our DPW would have to comply with this also. Yes, they would.

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Okay. Good with me. What are the additional costs to the borough in something like this? I There might be an additional cost say for the DPW for the water service. I would I would think, maybe. And maybe that's something we can talk about. So, that doesn't get passed on. I

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think it gets So, if you think about PSE&G, they won't like target Oakland. They won't be like a tariff. And target Oakland. I don't know if you use their services with a slightly higher rate because they

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have to I've never seen that happen. So, but we we would talk with the DPW and see if this could be absorbed. So, under this plan, no additional cost to the borough when it's PSE&G doing the digging and doing the the trench work, no additional cost to the borough. Because that's

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money from PSE&G that's put into escrow and that's what's paid for for the for the certification after the fact. The materials, if the cost differs from organic to non-organic, all of those costs are are shouldered by PSE&G. They're supposed to do that regardless, those materials and

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compact it that way. We just don't know for sure if they're actually doing that or taking shortcuts. With regard to the escrow, that escrow would only be posted to pay for us. Um and we could certainly

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They could do that. My guess is they don't want to do that. And that they would rather have their own inspector give a certification. That that's the way they would do it. But regardless, I don't think >> body would have control over whether we authorize them to bring their own people to certify, to self-certify, or whether

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Boswell Engineering or our engineer would be the one to do that. If if the council wants to do that, to make that that tight, we could we could certainly do that. >> It really depends on the specific language that you write into your code, whether you leave that to the discretion

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of PSE&G or the public utility, uh or whether you dictate it more closely in the ordinance. Mr. Uccimic, an engineer's an engineer. It doesn't matter whether it's you or theirs or anybody else. They're same certifications, same same standards. >> from them is just as good as our inspector out there inspecting it in our

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mind. Uh if we change to this type of an approach, are there any risks to other underground infrastructure or any risks to the public in making a change like this? No, there are not. And then the the only thing the guy might say is if we if you know, once we do this, maybe after a year, we we look

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at it and we say, if you know, the roads look like the roads look fine after doing it this way, then then great. But if they if we're noticing that that the trenches aren't holding up like they should, maybe we have to look at the ordinance again.

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I just want to say I just let everybody know, Mr. Uccimic and I did meet with Lenore last week concerning paving of McCoy Road. That was an open-ended item. Uh in speaking with the the contractor

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or the builder, they are looking to pave in June once school is out. They will pave McCoy Road. Uh Mr. Uccimic and I and DPW and the borough administrator have been meeting with public services well, trying to get a handle on getting the public service roads paved as well.

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>> now, Mr. Uccimic, I believe we're looking at possibly June or July. Is that kind of where we are? Uh June or July. I would really like [clears throat] to tighten that up. Uh well, I I I really like to get their plan now um to know precisely what they're doing,

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what the limits are. I just don't want them showing up and forcing something that's not acceptable to us. So, we're trying to get them to the table here and talk with them as soon as possible. >> And and we did go through this process

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last year as well for Mr. Uccimic's certification. We did have a sit-down at some point. We did come up with a plan with public service. We're just trying to nail that down. Did they finish all the cut-ins yet or does or does does the project still ongoing? Uh according to Oakland PD as of about

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I'm going to say 3 weeks ago, they only had five more services. But I I frankly I question Now, I don't question Oakland PD. I question what public service tells the Oakland PD. So, they told the Oakland PD they only

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had five more services. Five sometimes turns into 10, 15. All right. So, we'll set up a meeting next couple weeks with public service and we'll get this thing nailed down and find out what the status is. I just have one more question. So, this would only apply to dedicated roads, right? So, for

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instance, in the subdivision, they sell units and people move in before the roads are dedicated. Is that possible? It will be like it at Lenore. >> Yeah. >> [snorts] >> Um Well, everything is [laughter] everything is in place underground. [snorts]

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They're they're dictated by their HOA. Um those roads are all private roads. Those are not roads owned and operated by the borough. So, so we would um if we do get a complaint

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say on rough roads within the reserve, they're they're borough residents, it would have to be the HOA uh that would have to take care of it, not the borough. So, those roads will not be dedicated to the borough. No.

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So, the borough wouldn't have to plow them in the winter. Correct. Mr. Coons? Correct. Uh I mean Conduit Services Act basically gives us the option. Uh what we would most likely do is what we do for Oakland Knolls right now,

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where there is a calculated payment uh sort of specified in the law for how you do that. Uh and they would get a payment in lieu. Okay. Any further discussion concerning this? So, just to recap, Mayor, um I'll I'll work with uh

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borough administrator and DPW on language and with the goal of having it for the council's consideration. At the next meeting. Okay. All right. And just a reminder, too, a couple other changes we're going to be making in here. One is regarding the time frame that you

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have to complete the work start and complete the work. And also we're going to provide for greater notice in the ordinance as well to make it a little bit easier to better to inform the residents and to schedule

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you know, traffic control as well. Okay. Rich, as those meetings come together, would you mind keeping me in the loop as as on the DPW? Sure. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. We're moving on to engineering's proposal streetscape design. So, uh as many people know, there's a lot

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happening downtown with Bush Plaza being completed, uh 455 by the Exxon. Um they had to put a we passed a streetscape ordinance in the first year, so we start creating some uniformity in the downtown area. Um that project is going. We have the McDonald's going.

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The Oakland Drugs has to adhere to the streetscape ordinance as well. Uh so, for a couple years I've been talking about and I thank you for the council for putting in the budget. We want to now start working on the streetscape in the downtown area. Uh as you know, we did the bottom of

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Yawpo with the new sidewalks to find all those corners. And now what we'd like to do is have a streetscape improvement going from the railroad tracks to 202 South to Maple Avenue, which will grab all the storefronts on the left-hand side of the road as you're heading toward ShopRite. Uh we've been working with Ed Clark.

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We've been working with uh our our uh borough engineer and um at this point we think we have a pretty good plan going forward cuz what we hear is, "Why does Oakland's downtown look so terrible?" And by putting the street lights on that one side, start pulling that whole line from Bush Plaza, the

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Walgreens, 455, start moving that line up and next year we start working more on the other side of the road. And with that being said, uh Mr. Uccimic, you want to talk about your proposal and what we're looking at here? Yes, so um this proposal has been gelling over the last couple of weeks. This is

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>> [clears throat] >> This is quite frankly an ambitious project uh for the borough. Um the mayor has also tasked us with looking [snorts] into and considering um the cleanup of overhead utilities in

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the downtown. And to smartly get those utilities underground. Um that's a um as I said, an ambitious task. We have a meeting with Rockland Electric scheduled

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for May 12th. Um this proposal is really separated into two components. The first thing we're recommending to the borough is that they we develop a conceptual plan

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of the downtown at a large scale. We look at the entire area from along Ramapo Valley Road from Franklin all the way to Oak Street. And also out

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outlining spurs of that of West Oakland Avenue, Yawpo, Terhune, Elm Street, Maple, the loop where the bus station is at Raritan. And all these different sections and come up with a conceptual plan.

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Basically showing where the right-of-way is, where we would like our curb lines to be, where all the street trees would be placed, where all the street lighting would be placed, where all the current utility poles are. And while we're

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discussing with Rockland Electric um what would be the process of putting those overhead utilities underground and what sections would we talking about. So, in order to do the detailed area the

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mayor was talking about uh between Maple and Yawpo, we feel it's very important to get an overall conceptual plan. Uh so, quite frankly, we're we're not do We're looking at the entire corridor and

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being consistent in our design and thinking and cadence with all the things that we want to do. So, um the the conceptual plan is easy. Um that's easy. And uh I met with our

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internal group today this afternoon. Um what I would like to do is bifurcate this um proposal. And uh by the next Mayor and Council meeting uh provide you with our uh cost to do a

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conceptual plan. I think the second component I would much rather wait until we hear from Rockland Electric uh on May 12th on what, if anything, we could do uh to put conduits underground,

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uh things underground to uh facilitate those utilities going underground in the future. And if that segment is a smart segment to start at, as you know, the utility lines are on one side except for one

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pole at the corner of uh Yawpo and Ramapo Valley Road. Or from Rockland's standpoint, is it easier to start putting things underground say at 287, uh where it's already underground

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uh as with the lines passing under the underpass of 287, would it be more cost-effective to start at that location in front of the Walgreens. So, that's kind of it in a nutshell on what we wanted

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to do as part of this proposal. I believe, you know, the goal is to try to show the public some progress in 2026. This is a multi-year undertaking. It's going to be in in several stages. Um,

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you know, [snorts] we can talk about funding through grants and other means during this process, but the most important thing to do right now is to get this conceptual plan. Uh, have it reviewed by DPW, have it reviewed by

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Oakland Shade Tree, have it reviewed by our town planner, and gain a consensus of what we want to do for the downtown. Any questions? Any questions?

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I think it's important, Mr. Mayor, kudos to you for for spearheading this. It's not just for me, it's not just an aesthetic project, although that will drive value in Oakland. It's it's a public safety issue. I think the distractedness of downtown for pedestrian and crosswalk safety

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is is critical. And I think as we talk about all the issues that we talk about in the in this governing body with the affordable housing, with the potential population boom, with the pedestrian safety and and incidents that have happened historically, this is not just an aesthetic issue for me. This this plays into the public safety as well.

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So, I'd like to be helpful with this one. And I think it's also important to build on what Mr. what Mr. Dobert is saying. Once we start investing in our downtown and our our sidewalks, the lighting, and the streetscape, then we can go to business owners and say, "Hey, listen, now it's

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your turn. We've done our part. So, we're going to start engaging business owners as well as we start going through this process." Okay. Anybody else? Okay. All right, Mr. You'll have that proposal ready for the next meeting, then, correct? Yes, for the conceptual plan.

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Okay. Very good. All right, new business. Mr. Mayor, business, I'd like to to offer a motion to reinstate the second public speaking session at council meetings. Really driving force for me on this is

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the freedom for the public to engage its elected officials, which I think should be protected and if the public chooses not to exercise that right, that is their prerogative, but I do think they should be afforded to them by the governing body in abundance. So, I'd like to put forward a motion to reinstate the second public

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session at council meetings. Discussion? Second. Discussion? Well, I mean, I think that we always have the ability to, you know, obviously if the room was more crowded, to have to open up a second session if we needed to. I don't think it has to

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be something I mean, like obviously today, nobody came up for the first session, much less up except for Frank. Except for Jerry, sorry. But, you know, Yeah. To me, the the the the the I think it should be just on a case-by-case

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Question. with my meeting. Question. I I If I if I may, I'm sorry to interrupt. Um, we've been doing this now for a year and a half or whatever year and a quarter you call it. Um, I'd like to see this brought up maybe in

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January to start the year because we've been doing it for a while. If if there's an item 50 on the agenda, it can be brought up in the beginning at regular open session, and the person can talk about it even though we haven't gotten

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to that item yet. So, there is an opportunity. I think people are used to it being only one session. I think if we do this in January, we set the tone for the entire year. Uh, but that's only my opinion. If I may, the really [clears throat] the

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driving force here as as I introduced was, you know, I I don't think it's the the government's place in in any forum to restrict the public's ability to comment and engage with their elected leaders. It's less about how full the room is and what's on our agenda. It's more about protecting that ability for

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general citizens to have an open dialogue with their elected officials. And I'll rest my comments with that. I mean, I also think that if if nobody's going to speak in the second session, then there's there's no nothing lost. Like I think we I think they should have the opportunity

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either way. I mean, it should be there for them. And if there is nobody, then there is nobody, but but I think they should have that opportunity. Yeah, discussion. I mean, the open session is the opportunity for the people to express their views on on

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items on the agenda. So, it's not like we don't give them the opportunity, but um, I I think they do have the opportunity. As I said, even if the item is last on the agenda, it can still be brought up during an open

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session. But, as as the meetings go on, something might spark them to want to say something. And then they won't be they won't have that opportunity to to speak again. You know, until until the following meeting, 2 weeks from now. I think we've been

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pretty inclusive when when there were when there has been discussion, we've we've invited people up to talk, and we it hasn't been something that would that that we've stopped anyone from talking. I don't I

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Yeah, but it shouldn't be at our discretion whether we want people to talk or not. Um, it's just you know, it should be something that that they should be I mean, it's been that way for you know, as long as I can remember. That's so. But, I So, in the

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the the two other councils that I that I'm aware of, the Fairview Council only had one open, Harrington Park only had one open. Most most towns that I know of only have one open. >> All right, my my question would be, why why do you not want a second one? Why do

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I not Why do you why do you why do you not want a second session? That's my That's my real question. I I well, I don't think it's necessary. I disagree. Totally why? Any discussion? Any further discussion? Not seeing any.

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So, where are we? So, we have a motion. We have a motion. >> the second public. We have a second to introduce the second public. We can take a vote. Okay. Well, at this point, if we have a motion and a second, no further discussion, roll call.

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Council President Talamini? No. Councilman Dobert? Yes. Councilman Eiler? Yes. Councilman Pignatelli? No. Councilwoman Rose? No. Okay. All right, we're up to

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Council Any old business? Not seeing any. All right, Council Liaison reports. I'm going to start at the right this time, Councilman Talamini. Um, I have nothing to report this month. Thank you. Okay.

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Councilman Pignatelli. Yes, I do have something to report. I'm from the senior citizens. Here it is. On May 7th, at 12:00 noon, a taste of history, Asian immigration to America, lunch and learn.

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We will be watching a documentary on Asian immigration to America and enjoying a Chinese food lunch. The cost is $5 per person. On May 21st at 1:00 p.m., we have

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sun safety presentation presented by the Bergen County um, I think it's Bergen County Health Department called Spot Skin Cancer. People are asked to RSVP by May 18th.

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Uh, and at at the Board of Health meeting, this last Board of Health meeting we had, the health educator from Bergen County's new new health educator from Bergen County Health Department came to the Board of Health meeting and introduced several programs that they would like to

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have. This is one of them, and this is an excellent program. I was in public health myself. I gave a similar presentation myself. Um, it's it's it's extremely important. There are a lot of cases of skin cancer. I mean, I had something removed from my

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forehead. Another member of my family had something removed. So, it's it's extremely important. You know, some people think they don't need to put sun tan lotion on. Well, that's not true. Uh, you have to have it on. Um, and there are some um,

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uh, products that really don't even do what they're supposed to be doing. They say they do, but they but they're they're really not. So, that's an extremely important program on skin cancer. So, please, if you have any questions, May 21st.

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>> Councilman, is that open to the public or just the seniors? No, it's open to the public. It's open to everybody. So far, I mean, that's what I see here unless >> [clears throat] >> unless it wasn't in the No, I'm just going I'm pretty pale. I'd go to that. >> [laughter] >> That's it? Yep. Uh, Councilman Dobert. Thank you. Uh,

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starting with the Municipal Alliance, there's a push for for fundraising again. I brought it up last meeting. The Municipal Alliance is geared toward keeping at-risk communities from from falling into drug or alcohol abuse. Um, and one of the main keynote [snorts]

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events that they sponsor is project graduation which helps keep our high school students off the roads and in a structured environment post graduation. Keeps them out of trouble, keeps them I think involved in positive activities that evening and there's a big gap there

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between what's contributed publicly and what has to be fund raised. So as you see those fund raising efforts, please know that that does go to a good cause and consider donating. On to the library. There are for those residents who are not aware, I just want to raise

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awareness to all of the programs that are available to the to the public from adults to children and infants really. There are support groups, there are activities, there are rentals from video games to yoga to support groups. Active website that details all of that.

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I'll encourage the residents to use it. It's one of the most well run facilities I've seen. So I really encourage our residents to use it. On to DPW. The DPW has been filling pot holes and will continue to do that over the next couple of weeks. They're seeking

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the residents help. If you see pot holes, please do feel free to report that by calling the DPW switchboard. The same goes for street lighting. If you see dimly lit lights or ones that are completely non functional, please do report that to DPW. They are actively going around to identify those those pot

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holes and those lights that are out but they could always use the public's help. Yard waste pick up has begun and the reminder to properly bundle our yard waste I was asked to convey. And then lastly which I think is is tremendously impressive and I I don't

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want to steal too much of Councilwoman Rose's report on the trees but DPW did accept the delivery of 34 trees that they will be planting throughout the borough over the next couple of weeks and I think that's a tremendous program and it's a tremendous way to bring life

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back to the areas of open where trees were either removed or might be lacking. So thank you to DPW and sorry if I stole some of that thunder but I thought that was a wonderful event this past weekend. Anything else? That's it. No sir, thank you. All right, Councilwoman All right, thank you. >> [clears throat]

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>> Yes, the Arbor Day event was this past Sunday and it went extremely well. Just to give you an idea of the types of how much we've uh distributed in trees. 72 trees were planted through the adopted tree program which is one of the

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ones that I participated in and did receive one. It looks beautiful. 22 trees have been planted by the borough. 90 trees were [clears throat] given out for the junior program which was this past Sunday. 515 saplings were purchased and given

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out at the event and to students leaving only 100 of the saplings which will end up being um used for the houses that were torn down in the uh flood zone area. So um

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that is I have to say is an overwhelming amount of trees that we worked on. It was probably the biggest amount that we've done this year. So and anybody who wants a tree cuz we did have a lot of people come and want one please sign up for it. Go to

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the website, you know, you know, and email us for to get the tree. Just sign up for the tree. The next ones are probably going out next year. And that's it. Also Columbia Bank donated a tree down >> That is true. Yes, Columbia Bank donated a tree as well.

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And just so the public knows, these were good size. These were not saplings. These were good size trees probably an inch around, probably 8 ft high. So this was very very substantive tree donation Mhm. opportunity. So thank you for all of them. >> committee. I mean the people on there

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are very passionate about what they do and you know it's a great group. Anything else? Nope. Councilman O'Leary I thank you mayor. Um You touched [clears throat] on it in your in your report but the environmental committee did have their

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their town clean up on Saturday and I just want to thank all the volunteers that came out in the rain. You all worked really hard and you did an amazing job and I just want to thank you all for coming out and keeping keeping Open Clean and Green. And then on the arts committee, they are

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happy to announce that the the market is opening. It's Saturday, May 9th from 10 to 3. So be sure to stop by, check out their crafts and big goods and I believe they're looking to get a fresh produce vendor to go there. So and they're also having

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live music on the first day. So definitely stop by and check it out. Thank you. That's all I have mayor. Anything else? That's it. All right. I could take All right, we're up to bills to be paid. Councilwoman Okay, bills to be paid is 711,683

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and 44 cents. So Second. Second. Roll call. Council President Talamini Yes. Councilman Elbert Yes. Councilman O'Leary Yes. Councilman Pignatelli Yes. Councilwoman Rose Yes. Councilwoman

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Got it. Meeting Councilwoman [laughter] Seazzu Aliano Okay. All right, do I have a motion to adjourn? So moved. All right, who's got it? Mr. O'Leary who's got the second? Second. Second Mr. Talamini. All in favor? Aye. Aye. All right, the next council meeting this concludes this meeting. Our next council meeting will

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be held Tuesday, May 12th, 2020 at 6:00 7:00 p.m. here at the council chambers. Thank you everybody. Have a wonderful evening. Meeting adjourned.