good evening on behalf of the governing body of the city of Pake we welcome you to the June 18th 2024 city council meeting in accordance with chapter 231 public laws of 1975 iocan notice of this meeting was provided by resolution of the municipal Council adopted on June 13 2023 setting forth the schedule of meetings for the year 2023-2024 said notice was published and posted on the city Hall bulletin board by the office of the city clerk please be further advised this meeting will be conducted in person the zoom stream provided is for viewing only and is offered to the public as a convenience on June 7th 2024 public notice and zoom instructions for this meeting was published in The Herald news and posted on the city of Pake website at www.city of.com Council agendas instructions are also available on the last page of this agenda please be guided accordingly roll call please councilwoman Melo present councilman Schwarz present councilman Garcia present councilwoman col monz and council president Sher president shall we all please rise Heavenly Father we thank you Lord for allowing us to be present this evening Lord we ask you to please guide us in the decisions that will take place this evening in your beloved name we pray amen I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the repic indice good evening everyone and Welcome to our meeting of June 18th um if you don't have a copy of the agenda it's available to you on our website or else if you're physically in Chambers they are available outside the door um on the website you can find all items which will be discussed tonight meeting including all resolutions ordinances Communications and the like we invite you uh to participate at this time we are up to ran numeral R numeral four of our agenda the mayor's update Mr Mayor would great pleasure us to see you when you're gu thank you thank you council president I was at uh my son's birthday party we took him out to eat early I think the rest of us are jealous that we're not wearing one first I gotta get you some get you some very EX excited about it um council president members of the city council residents department heads and all those that are with us I wanted to share before I go into the regular reports of events and activities there have been some concerns I know I've spoken on a number of occasions with councilman monk with the rest of the city council psng has continued to do work around our city however there have been some concerns expressed in terms of the polls and the conditions that they have been left in I went around personally and took pictures around the city I sent them to our business administrator along with our engineer and a meeting was set up with the representative from psng in order to address when they will be coming back we understand that they're working on multiple municipalities however it is important that uh they leave areas especially when they open up sidewalks or the street at least in the conditions they found them in most times they pave the road we've been pushing in for uh complete streets to be paved some of the delays and I know that most residents aren't privy to this information some of the delays may be caused because they're scheduling more work later on or we may be funding a full Paving of the road so having them do it we may negotiate and say don't do this one because we're going to do it but if you can do two of the other roads in both sides but I do want to let the residents know and update all of the council members there we have setup meetings with the pscg representative to address some of the main concerns especially in terms of the polls and the sidewalks and why they're being left in these conditions we have uh reached out to some other municipalities and I know some people have seen it in the news we're not the only city and they have been concerns from Wayne to other municipalities of this work again I'm going to wait for after the meeting to get more details but it appears that psng is attempting to expedite some of their scheduled work through the season and they may be trying to get the work done first and then come back around to redo the sidewalks or the area around the polls and some of the streets however we want to come up with a timeline for the council as it is that you receive numerous phone calls regarding this I want to give some updates as to some work that's being done around the city we're extremely excited the new parking lot on River Drive and paulison has begun right across the street from pay County Community College it is often referred to as Jack Tatum way many of you may not know that uh our council president went to football camp with him only one of them made it to other the pros sorry council president but everyone knows strange how the council president looks like the assembly man also you forgot Mary you forgot of us made it pro but in that specific area we're converting that land which was really just not used a space of grass right by the highway to 31 new public parking spaces a few feet away from the stadium right across the street from PA County Community College which leads to the next announcement I'm so very excited after sitting down with Dr Rose I want to commend this city council I Representatives local um or locally our assemblymen on the state the relationships that we maintain with the county our Administration I'm excited to announce the city of Pake will be receiving through Pake County Community College 10 million dollars to build a brand new building on that site right by the satellite site and expand the educational opportunities in the state-ofthe-art facility I don't even know if it's still can be called the satellite site council president it might we might rival the uh the main campus but we're very excited because it's proven to be a huge success I want to take this opportunity along with my colleagues on the council if I made to also commend the work of the Board of Education the administration there as it is that we've been able to work together to expand opportunities for our graduating students to with 60 credits many of them graduating with Associates degrees before they even begin their first day of college and for most of us we're still paying off college loans we understand that going into college with 60 credits already earned is huge savings for families from our city but again I can't speak uh more highly of this Council of the work of the board of our teams working together as a community because to have been identified as a City to receive $10 million to expand on the P County Community College provide educational opportunities in these fields that are becoming extremely competitive but necessary whether it's the medical Fields specific trades respiratory Tech uh pharmaceutical techs and so much more and I know that they're going to focus a lot of the attention in the health care industry perhaps providing opportunities for future nurses and so much more so with so very excited about that last week council president and this week we shared with the community that we would have a meeting uh virtually regarding the bicycle routes and the potential bicycle routes in the city of bate it was very well attended we want to thank the representatives from the state and from the county and locally our ba was on that meeting I was on that meeting and we were able to address concerns some of the things that we discussed for the city of P were Road EXP expansions specific bike names whether on Broadway or on Lexington and other areas that we may be able to identify that would be conducive as we encourage obviously more recreational activity physical fitness but from a pragmatic perspective transportation we know there are many cars but some people can't afford vehicles and some individuals use bicycles to get to work or go around so we're very excited the unique opportunity that is available is though it stops at the county line one of the things that myself along with our business administrator have been adamantly pushing is that they connect to the bike Lanes in other municipalities whether it's Bergen County wington and Garfield or neighboring municipalities of Clifton or around in order to make it a bit of a tour and an enjoyable experience for those who like to ride bikes every single day like uh councilman Dr Terrence love though I will admit I used to see you more last summer so this summer we're still waiting to see the bike the summer just started all right you're right you're right he used to just ride up in his shorts on his bike and I'm like C he's like just riding around the city so it was very exciting we also wanted to share that this weekend we had our juneth community celebration in partnership with the NAACP different organizations the upo I again want to join with my colleagues in the city of Pake to humbly let everyone know that we were the first cities in the state to declare it a holiday a municipal holiday provide employees with paid time off the only to do fireworks so uh very humbly I want to or modestly share that but we were excited that the year after it became a federal a federally recognized holiday and then after a state recognized holiday but I do take this opportunity in all seriousness to highlight our Council because we've been at the Forefront and at certain times some opportunities we get to be the very first to do things because we're considering our community we hear the voices of our residents and we respond so I wanted to share that we finished off the evening right in front of uh Pacific City Hall it was our fifth annual juneth celebration and we had fireworks right across the street we had hundreds of families that came out we had free ice cream so the children came from Aspen place and all over and uh we had the uh elect officials show up so it was a wonderful Community activity and we were extremely excited right in time for the weather the spray pads are open so yes I can feel the excitement from parents with the spray pads are open my spray pads I'm referring to the water amenities that have been added throughout our city also we continue with our efforts of uh putting down rubberized surfaces in Parks we're working on tennis and park next but we've done it on at number 11 School Park we've done it on Broadway by Third W Memorial Park we have it with our county park at dundy Island Park as well as we're looking to do it on Harrison where again I remind the community that we were awarded 2.5 million dollars in a unique application to create an all water park in the city of bate with two big pirate ships and water coming out we're intending to call it the Pirates of the Caribbean faake we still working on whether we uh we can get away with that but I I I'm ready to write a letter and uh invite Johnny Deb to come over and visit us yes on June 15 on June 14th we had an extremely successful resource fair right here at the courtyard led by our assemblyman Carrie Sher who was able to bring County resources and representatives along with our city resources our health department our amazing and wonderful City Clerk and her staff were out there thank you so much Madam Clerk and to your staff which uh continues to remind the community $300 a day to be election poll workers we're still hiring but also we explain passport opportunities we know it's the season we know people are going to go on vacation with the schools finishing up this Friday our high school graduates and I believe we're having hundreds and hundreds of students um councilman Marissa colomo who only graduated high school about two or three years ago do you know the exact number councilwoman I think it's over 500 but we still are getting the final counts but we we are so excited to congratulate them as well as on behalf of the city and all of us we congratulate all of the prek all of the eighth graders moving up ceremonies and all of our graduates from all of our emies we're so grateful over the weekend council president they also had many orientations at the different emies for the children that will be starting next year so we're extremely excited about that we also want to let everyone know that we as a city have had our first Quality of Life program special law enforcement officer class two sworn in that's mouthful all right let me just explain very quickly what that is in the uh wisdom of our Council working with our Administration and through our business administrator and our Urban Enterprise Zone we were able to apply and request for funding in order to fund additional law enforcement representatives in our city especially around our commercial districts for the summer to do walk in details working very closely and I commend the leadership and vision of our chief of police leis Gman we will be able to have individuals who are retired or individuals who are qualified work in these areas and supplement help or complement and support our police officers thus expanding our present so we're extremely excited as we continue in this initiative on Thursday June 20th us Environmental Protection Agency we will have a community meeting the US EPA will be holding a community meeting to inform the public on the super fund process and status of the cleanup of the upper nine miles of the Pake River superf fund is also coincidentally what I refer to the uh Council president's wallet when we all go out eat together so that he pays but outside of that I'll continue the US EPA the Environmental Protection Agency all jokes aside this is exciting news because as we've seen over2 200 million dollars go into the revitalization Redevelopment of our East Side as we see Waterfront development becoming extremely popular around the state the idea that there will be funding to address and mitigate contamination or issues that have been caused from decades even up to 50 years back in the water you're extremely excited about that and we encourage all of our residents to please participate in this virtual meeting or in this meeting we will put up the link I'm not 100% sure I think they changed it last meeting is it still gonna be virtual or in person in person they change the virtual to iners we will be putting up new Flyers council president through the clerk we will send out the information to all the council members to make sure that everyone is aware of it also we want to let you know that July 3 through the 7th We Begin our family festivals many individuals ask you know where are we getting funds for the fireworks for juneth some of the additional activities a few years ago we decided to take a route in an initiative of creating family festivals where we invite these carnival rides I think right now it's McDonald's um brothers and the fund that they receive they bring it back to the city a portion comes back to the city and we utilize it to fund these additional activi activities and it has been going very well every single year and we've been able to expand without going directly to our tax base in order to provide more recreational opportunities for our communities and our families our NJ do the New Jersey Department of Transportation Safe Streets grant funding continues to be a blessing and we have Paving on Mon gy and Monroe and Van Howen and Pik have all completed where extremely excited about that and uh the state U recently approved the funding in phase two for the anticipated Cafe at Carney brag Carney brag Cafe that's over $600,000 that will go in addition to brag park over the last few years we've added Lights music ballots tables chairs many people may not be aware having been born and raised in that exact area that area had no amenities it was a pay phone there were no benches and no seats but working with this council with our Recreation with our Administration we've been able to add amenities throughout the years and that has been a great blessing I'm gonna finish up council president with just sharing a few of the areas that are up and coming over the last just few months we've been able to repair 45 additional potholes in the last four weeks and uh that totals in the last few months 165 potholes I often share with the community may not be privy over the winter whether it's snows or not the frigid temperatures uh whether it's freezing rain whether it's salting in anticipation of the weather it takes a toll on our roads and in the spring we have to do a lot of repairs some of the areas that we have been able to fill myrdle Avenue Fourth Street Prospect Street High Street Hope a Gregory Third Street Reed a Lafayette third and Virginia St Street Hoover Quincy murle Burgess Monroe lafette lynon and 8th Avenue I share all this just to encourage our community please continue to let us know areas that need attention sometimes we miss them obviously the council members drive around they send messages to us I drive around our staff drive around but the more eyes on the road the more helpful so if you let us know we'll keep track of it council president that is the extent of my report for today thank you so very much there thank you very thank you very very much I wonder if I could ask you to come back just a moment in terms of something that you announced and that was the Community College yes the $10 million any do do Dr Rose shared with you some of the particulars that you could share with us of course as I mentioned briefly it's going to go to expand upon education in the healthc care industry it will go in the same location as the college right now they were able to uh extend their footprint and get the building right next to it adjacent so they will deconstruct that and construct a brand new building with the $10 million so we're extremely excited the funding comes from the state through the college and through the federal government so we were excited for that opportunity it will remain a community college a two-year college but we do want to share with individuals that it is a wonderful option for those who are who are financially challenged or deal with constraints because you can get many of your credits there and then transfer them to a 4-year University the timeline council president we do not have yet but if the council if it would please the council I would like to send a letter inviting Dr Rose to come to our council meeting and just share a little bit because I think this is going to be exciting news and something that we should all share as much as possible with the community and the the parking facility that you had mentioned that's adjacent isn't it yes so the parking is going to be right across the street from the P County Community College so that becomes very beneficial especially because they don't have a work in cafeteria and we've designated two spaces for food trucks so that's going to be a benefit for the children that walk to the stadium from the high school for obviously sports events at the high school as well as for the college an option there and that's $10 million $10 million for the building we were able to save significant amounts of money because we've been identifying areas around the city in terms of the parking lot that are conducive to be transformed into public spaces so obviously since we don't have to purchase the land we save money on that and then we work through our Engineers to design and once it's presented and acceptable and we know it's a viable plan we've been able to increase parking around the city with over 700 new parking spaces and we're very excited that the work on the parking deck right across the street over 300 spaces should begin this year and forgive me at our last meeting there if M Serv me correct you announced about $10 million coming to the city from various sources that you and your administration had had successfully achieved yes sir it it is it is a wonderful time in the city of bake we've been able to apply for many grants they are competitive I remind people there are 564 municipalities in the state of New Jersey and everyone's competing for Grants sometimes and if you would allow individuals go well why are you spending $2 million on a park because we applied for uh for Green Acres or open space funds and you can only use it for a park it's like winning a $25 card for Dunkin Donuts and then going to the movies and saying I want to use it for AMC they go no no that's a Dunkin Donuts card that you want there are many grants and we compete for them and then when we win them if we win a grant for iring police officers legally were not allowed to use that Grant let's say for fixing roads and over the last uh few months we've been awarding millions of dollars for parks for infrastructure for flood mitigation $6 million to address the concerns on Van Howen right by the train station an additional $1.6 million and we fought this Council my Administration we fought hard especially after the recent storm obviously FEMA was here to receive funding to finally address the McDonald Brook right by Benson we will be able to mitigate the covert uh look for some pump uh storm draining pumps right by Van Hen Avenue so we're extremely excited just between Harrison Park Benson and Van Howen that's $10 million but I'm excited at our next meeting to share that uh with $10 million going to pay County Community College and some additional GR that we've been informed we are expecting to have confirmation on receiving we're looking at over $25 million coming to the city of Pake just over the next couple of years whether it's infrastructure parking decks flood mitigation Park improvements uh expanding educational opportunities and so much more we're still we're still a city that needs to address issues we still face many challenges you know recently we received Grant funding for more garbage containers we're addressing issues unfortunately around our Main Avenue to minimize littering and the problems that come with that but I I have to take this opportunity to thank this Council for your hard work my business administrator Rick Fernandez all of the department heads because we're working hard and little by little we're moving forward and I think that that speaks volumes about the approach of this governing body of this uh Council and the recognition from County State and the federal government and it's not just this year it has been year after year thank you just extraordinary thank you sir I just want to be clear mayor that there was $10 million at our last meeting $10 million at this meeting we look forward to keeping up the page I'm hoping I'm hoping Hing I I I just want to be on the record and say we will be so wholly disappointed if you're not able to break the record because you have set the record several times if we stop getting grants we will all join together and pitching for the Mega Millions or the whatever the Power Ball we'll try for the city we'll all try the best we can Mr May thank you sir questions for the mayor is councilman know just it's ironic that you mentioned $10 million that's going to be given to erect another building just a few years ago it was a debate on whether Pake Community College would be successful here in Pake I mean it was a major debate to the fact that those of us the natives um had to step up and in meetings let them know that um many of our students travel down Main Avenue on bus uh spending that money that you just talked about I mean um with this economy we're all tight there's no such thing as um you know extra money anymore so I'm just excited that um one um our young people right and and older people have proved individuals completely wrong and it's a testimony that they're now ready to erect another a building worth $10 million so I I just I just had to say that um and you spoke about it 60 credits that's halfway done I mean a college uh degree is about 120 credits depending on what you're taking kids are almost done for free um that's that's very exciting hopefully one one day we'll get a four-year College to build a $10 million building here um uh that parking that's going to be is it going to be free parking as well or is it public parking sorry first allow me to address uh the statement you made about a week ago the Pake County Commissioners held their meeting here in Pake at the community college we want to thank the County Commissioners obviously oversee the college and their partnership with us in terms of the parking some of the approaches that we've taken with the lots are to put meters obviously to fund our parking authority and to be able to reinvest and create more parking opportunities and then in some of the other Lots we've left it open depending on the use considering the proximity to the school in the stadium we're having some conversations but we want to include the council so if you allow for the next meeting I'll come with an answer because there is the opportunity to create meters there but however I remind you when it comes to the proximity to the college and for the kids sometimes it's not always that easy even though college classes rarely go over two hours you can probably put the four quarters in we're still working out how we can make it beneficial to all of the students and with that college site we've received report that students from other municipalities are choosing to come to the Pake Community College satellite site because they enjoy coming here going to eat going to shop which is very exciting but councilman in some of our Lots we have in this law we are considering it it is an option but as of right now I still won't have conversations with my staff just to really figure out whether that's the most pragmatic approach for the usage there and also um Mr Mayor you talked about um the progress and then you talked about you know this we still have a lot to do and a long way AG go um I'm here to tell you that I'm very pleased with the the progress of this Administration under your leadership and our city council um just a again a few years ago this Council Chambers was packed weekly with complaints of recreation not enough to do there's no parking spaces all types of issues and slowly but surely many of them have been addressed um and again as we live there's always going to be issues right there's going to come up with just the even the involvement of the things that we're doing now um I've never seeing as much movement and things going on in forsake All My Life um and I've been here um a long time so I just wanted to say thank you for that and um again just just keep up the good work thank you sir yes councilwoman Miller please yeah I just want to um make a comment to the mayor and his administration um thank you for the diligent work that you guys have done I mean 31 parking spaces will come a long way especially when there's activity at the stadium a lot of them are after hours so even if there's meters after hours will will come in helpful for graduation especially when um you have those Sports um events on Saturdays or even Friday nights so that comes a long way and for the kids that are attending college and I mean just that add-on to the Community College is a plus especially because our community a lot of the parents can't afford to send our kids to a four-year college and for them to St with a two-year College I mean and leaving with a degree that helps a lot um also I mean we see what's happening now with the Dual program between the high school and the Community College a lot of our kids are graduating with an Associates that means they can go to a fouryear college and they haven't even tapped into their grants so they can use that money for the life of the four-year college and pretty much sometimes don't even take a loan because we know grants have a life but if they haven't tapped into it that that will come a long way so we really appreciate everything that the Administration has done and always being at the Forefront always thinking outside the box um and even that there two spaces for the food truck that will come in handy I have a boy that after after practice was always looking for food so that will definitely help those kids so definitely kudos to your Administration thank you really appreciate it any other questions thank you thank you mayor we're up to R numeral five on our agenda minutes of the February 2024 meeting of the Council are there any additions or Corrections that need to be made to the minutes as presented by the clerk seeing no lights at this time is there a motion please to accept the minutes motion and second roll call please councilman monk yes if you hear me or not yes you hear me yes can hear you Council yes yes councilman love yes councilwoman Melo yes councilman Schwarz yes councilman Garcia yes councilwoman go monz and council president sh yes thank you up to R numeral six on our agenda hearing of citizens in accordance with the open public meetings act njsa 104-1 at SEC the council opens every public meeting for comments of the public however in accordance with njsa 10 colem 4-12 nothing in this act shall be constru to limit the discretion of a public body to permit prohibit or regulate the active participation at any meeting therefore please be advised that the C will not entertain any comments from persons who communicate obscene material make statements which are considered bias intimidation in which a person intends to intimidate any individual or group because of race color religion gender handicap sexual orientation or ethnicity or makes comments intending to harass or speak any offensive language the person who makes these statements will relinquish their allotted five minutes for public discussion we welcome your participation tonight is there anyone who would like to address the council please yes sir if you please share with us your name for the record my name is Yosef wolf um I just wanted to say um I'm sorry for complaining but there is a there is an idea in law for the sunshine Lo of equality between the citizens and the representatives and and I'm asking again how is it that a council member can attend this meeting virtually but citizens can't fully attend or engage virtually I wonder if there's a way despite the setbacks and issues in the past if there's a way that citizens could engage um virtually as well um and specifically because sometimes the hearing of citizens not at the same time every night could be pushed back if there's an event if there's some type of commemoration or if the mayor's update or the comments therea go on for a while I do want to express um on behalf of myself and I'm sure everyone else in Bic and the rest of council members that have not spoken thank you for saving time but this City compared to other cities brings in tremendous amount of funding and grants it's very clear from the budget compared to other cities including Clifton um the city I think it's the City Commissioner um I would like to ask though I see in the budget that the City Commissioner's budget for his office is going up substantially more than other offices I'm curious if that's another employee that's being added or what that's uh what that's for um I also want to ask compared to other cities the city has a a garbage sanitation budget that's that's that's a bit out it's going up not substantially this year actually a little only a little bit but in other cities um there's no there's no line item for tipping and it seems in this city there's a substantial line item for tipping I'm wondering if other cities have it somewhere else or the is unique that the bid is only for collection and the Tipping is paid for by the city but on whatever it is I'm asking that because if the city is paying for tipping there might be abuse I don't know if there is but there might be abuse that a Sanitation Company can pick up garbage from different municipality or from somewhere else and drop it off as as if it's a city's garbage Additionally the people collecting garbage um very often in towns that don't are not careful people are able to throw in construction materials that they're renovating their house they're able to throw a few bucks at the garbage men and it's taken care of because the it's not acrost to to Sanitation Company it's only acrost to the city I do want to ask um Team pic 522 pson Avenue is asking for a entertainment license um just are they located at the VA building now on at on pson Avenue or is that just um something that they're doing there I do want to ask also the cost to the city for health insurance is $20 million about $20 million for the year Clifton other cities comparable have similar costs in pic the employees give 10% they give about $2 million it comes out to 10% in other cities it's close to 14% in Clifton for example it is 14% in in in Patterson it's 12% why pic is it only 10% why the employees contribution only comes out to 10% it seems to be lower than other cities um I would also ask if 20 million dollar I don't know the amount of employees in the city I just would imagine it's around 150 seems to be costing the city $50,000 to $200,000 per employee for health insurance that seems outrageous to me but it could be this the way it is in New Jersey um I do I do want to ask ask this this agenda was was put up yesterday I know the city's doing better than in the past but it still seems like introducing a budget which might be bringing up taxes by 5% because the city seems to want to re have anticipated last year to collect $72 million and this year they want to collect $76 million I don't know but i' I'd imagine that people are going to appeal taxes due to values going down and the and the multifamilies have higher interest rates they they're going to say that they're making less money but is that a 5% is the city just looking to raise 5% to fill that gap of $4 million or there's other ways the city anticipates that um his time sir um you raised a number of questions and I don't have I hope I wrote down many of them I think I failed in a few of them um you mentioned the Tipping fees Mr Fernandez can you School Us in that area it's it's my understanding The Tipping fees are in area in New Jersey that the state government takes very strongly in terms of of problems that have been in the past in this whole area with uh groups that have charged money which is not quite right so the thing with the Tipping fees is that it's also offset by fees of collection that are done in the city so we cross reference that at the end of every year and there's a portion of it that comes back to the municipal government so it's not like we pay and there's nothing coming back the more people that um dump in the city of P let's say you through um the different establishments as we pick them up and dump them we get a we get a percentage of that and that's submitted to our recycling coordinator they offset that weight that has been dumped and then get a portion of that funding I'm right council president I'm sorry I me in terms of your point and I know the business administrator will go into detail it's extremely important that we clarify to the community because the question was regarding potential abuse of that practice that individuals first of all our staff is Vigilant to ensure that they're following every single regulation and guideline however these individuals uh garbage contractors they have contract with other municipalities around the state if they were to be caught as council president was alluding to to any abuse they would lose their contracts in the entire State they would no longer be allowed as a city it's been extremely difficult because as we put out for bids the cost for garbage services has risen exponentially throughout the state in fact every municipality is facing it now you can't always ju oppose one city to a city next to it with 3.2 square miles with over 70,000 residents there's a lot of garbage that is created if you compare us to a city with less population or a city that's more rural suburban they may not have the same amount of garbage but I want to clarify that because I believe that's where the council president have been going that this is not something that they could easily get away with in fact it would be extremely hard if I'm correct I believe that's where you were going you are there that's exactly the point that I I was going to make and did not do as certainly as well as you did it's my understanding this area is one of the most heavily regulated uh areas there are um and it's in terms of the amount of time that the state takes as well as the federal government and to ensure that there is no violation of Rico uh which is the uh point in in the past um yeah and if I could just add to that that cross referencing I was talking about is not from the same agency the same agency doesn't report to us it's another agency that reports their and then we cross cross reference what they claim they dumped versus what the other company claims so if they there's a checks and balance and if uh like you said uh mayor and council president if they don't add up that can mean significant loss uh if they lose their their dumping license they can't manage any municipality in the entire state of New Jersey good deal thank you the gentleman asked in terms of virtual versus non- virtual meetings of this Council I appreciate him raising the issue it is certainly something which I will discuss with my colleagues um and we'll make a decision on that but that is a a privilege of the council president um so I will I'll certainly take it under advisement um Mr Fernandez in terms of health uh Health costs I certainly don't want to explore what other municipalities are doing because frankly I don't know um and forgive me with all of the accumul accumulated knowledge which you've developed over the past years I don't believe you would know either and I wouldn't suggest but I was curious he did raise the issue of health care costs could you address that generally yeah so um if you recall from our last meeting our health benefit cost has gone up over 30% in the last two years so that's a significant increase um I don't know where uh the resident got their information but I can tell you that roughly a family plan is approximately $45,000 per employee um and your single plan is probably in the $25,000 range for a single and then just in between that is where you get the different makeup of different families so it's it's significant increases that have happened throughout uh we also were diligent in the review we went out to look for other opportunities and this is still the city's most economical option healthc care costs I I can speak to them I I know all of my colleagues can as well and certainly you you the very most I mean this is something which we're not only seeing in in government we're seeing this in in all elements of our society healthare costs are are the driver U and it's everywhere council president it's everywhere you can't escape it no matter where you are the cost are astronomical okay terms of the uh the budget document has that been produced for review by the public as of yet yes and so members of the public can go to the clerk's office and get a copy after paying whatever fees might be involved yes yes President also at the direction of the council at the last meeting it was posted up publicly the presentation with all of the slides and all of the information that was at the request of the council that was provided to members of the council specifically and on behalf of my colleagues we thank you very much for that attention and and that followup um I'm looking at my notes and off hand I can't make out other things that the gentleman might have said and I apologize for that but I did want to tackle the issue of tipping fees specifically as well as health care costs um okay um anyone else wish to address the council please yes good evening council president I know on the rank control there is no rent control in city of bake but there is a big problem that I think so you have land landlords out here uh charging families from $400 to ,000 more rent is it legal is it not legal what is the what is the draw of the line I would like to know my next question is Van hton Avenue and Pake Avenue I have some photos I would like to present to you guys show you this is a area in need of resurfacing Ron Avenue and bake Avenue outside the old tennis court you got all the overgrown trees um looks horrible um you have the the street light there's only one street light on the outside of the uh clay court on both sides of the street you only got one light street light under the train under the train um path there on bake Avenue um the lighting is terrible on the inside and on the outside there's no lighting um the uh face of it it needs to be re refaced because everything is deteriorating I don't know if you can get a hold of Transit get some kind of funding because a lot of money's going in that area but this place looks horrible most of you take this every day this room the s Avenue to the City Hall wherever you guys are going back to Clifton the other way hold in that area it's just a horrible looking area those are my two questions tonight to get answers I'm sorry sir you finished your remarks yeah I'm done okay so in terms of van hton and paic Avenue um there are any number of streets a multitude of streets if I can use that word the mayor shared with us I believe it our last meeting and our meeting before detailing I counted 40 5050 streets that you mentioned that will very soon go into some resurfacing certainly the administration's initiative with PNG making sure that what we build today they don't take down tomorrow um these are are wonderful things because we haven't gotten to van hton and P as of now we're going to get there we're trying to do all the streets in fact I should let amend that the mayor and his administration credit needs to be given where credit is due and his administration uh have made sure traditionally that that when a street is being resurfaced in one Ward then it is also in the other three Wards as much as possible um and the that that message is one which should not be forgotten there because it's made a critical difference in people um believing that uh one area of the city is being treated differently than another area when they're all being treated the same obviously with different needs but to to do so appropriately in terms of rent control Mr Fernandez do we have rent control control we do have rent control for anybody who's been in their residence prior to 1999 and I'd uh like to remind the public that at the mayor's request and initiative and the council passing the ordinance we do have a set aside ordinance where every single project in the city of Pake that is over five units is required to have an affordable housing set aside as well as an Adu ordinance that would allow homeowners to be able to also provide affordable housing within the city of Pake as a way to help prevent that the laws in terms of rent control are they local are they state or are they Federal how does how does that work so we have a local law currently we have a local law that's uh in effect and if I would had an apartment that I was renting today for $400 a month could the landlord make it $1,000 next month no that would not so under the law there's a reasonableness standard and I'm glad you asked the question because my next comment was going to be it all depends on how much their current rent is and then so in some cases 400 is reasonable in some cases it's not reasonable if you're paying four even $800 and you're now going to pay 1,200 or500 then that the court because this tenant landlord court it's not the city of Pake so let's make that clear we don't handle those cases that's handled in the Superior Court they would then look and put their reasonableness standard to that increase and then let the landlord know or the tenant know if they consider it reasonable or not so it really comes down to the courts and most importantly what their initial rent that they're going from is council president I me thank you businessman sh because I really wanted that clarified I make that same point but if I may uh it depends on the lead as well and often times when we have individuals come to City Hall and say my rent was raised $300 our first question is do you have a lease right did you sign the lease and in some cases again and I think the business administrator clarified it in the lease it may State depending on how much you're paying the rank can be raised $150 $200 or $300 that's why we always advise individuals to please read do the lease but also it's extremely important to note that there is recourse there is somewhere you can go and it is tenant landlord court it is not necessarily to the governing body or to City Hall we help we facilitate we direct as the council president requested it can be done by the state it can be done locally and in the city of Pake we do have a court system but we also have Human Services we also have uh individuals who who are trained to respond to these complaints and direct them to the court and the place that you go is the court to assess that and the court has historically been very supportive of tenants council president if there's been an unreasonable raise but sometimes the information that gets sent to the public is an apartment was raised $300 and we go yes but it also didn't receive raise and rent for the last two years and it's in the lease that it could be raised $300 so those details become extremely important good thank you sir sir thank you anyone else wish to address the council I did not mean to be harsh Mr Wolf but if an exception is made for one person at one time it becomes something which has to be given to everyone I'm not any is there anyone else who would like to address the council at this time saying no hands I'm Mo to close the public portion second motion and second to close public R call councilman monk yes yes councilman love yes councilwoman Meo yes councilman Schwarz yes councilman Garcia yes councilwoman colz yes and council president Sher yes thank you're up to Communications Roman numeral 7 items one through six are there any questions please on one through six at this time seeing no hands is there motion please to accept one through six under communication motion and second roll call please councilman monk yes councilman love yes councilman Melo yes yes councilman Schwarz yes councilman Garcia yes councilwoman go monz and council president Shar yes thank you list all Ms listed to be considered routine in nature items number 7 through 12 are there any questions please on 7 through 12 seeing no lights is there a motion please to accept 7 through 12 motion second and second roll call please councilman monk yes yes councilman love yes councilwoman melow yes councilman yes Council Garcia yes Council monz and council president sh yes thank you we're up to ran numeral eight budget introduction current year 2024 um Susie can you tell us what we're doing here if you and the clerk can share with us what we're doing on 13 14 and 15 please sure um 13 is 13 is an ordinance that is required by law if we are going to exceed the 2.5% tax levy cap so it's introduced uh tonight and then set down for a final hearing after the actual introduction of the budget number 14 number 14 um that's simply the resolution authorizing that the budget uh be read by title only and 15 is the actual introduction of the budget uh which was transmitted at the last meeting if I may impose on my colleagues on items 13 14 or 15 are there any questions that you have at this time seeing none if I could have a motion please to accept 13 alone is there a motion please motion and second on 13 roll call councilman monk yes yes councilman love yes counc Melo yes councilman Schwarz yes councilman Garcia yes councilman col monz yes and council president share yes thank you and number 14 please resolution authorizing the current year 2024 Municipal budget to be read by title is there a motion to accept please move it motion and second roll call please on 14 councilman monk yes yes councilman love yes councilman Melo yes councilman Schwarz yes councilman gar yes Council MZ yes and council president Shar yes thank you and number 15 please introduction of the municipal budget for the current year 2024 is there a motion to accept please motion motion is there a second motion and second roll call please on 15 councilman monk yes councilman love yes councilwoman Melo yes councilman Schwarz yes councilman Garcia yes councilwoman and council president sh yes thank you to R numeral ran numeral that would be nine fact remember numeral days number 16 please is a resolution authorizing closed executive session of the city council of Bic on June 18 Susie do we have need of no council president thank you Mr Fernandez Mr Mayor none at this time Council thank you sir members of the council none at this time if we could then go into two resolutions items 17 through 29 are there any questions please on 17 through 29 yes council president councilman Mark please thank you um on item 19 the resolution for a lead paint analyzer i v i remember like maybe four or six months ago we had a similar resolution for this type of testing equipment is this an addition or is this a replacement Mr Fernandez yes so this is addition we just uh received additional money in a grant so that we can purchase the items uh as the council may recall the state of New Jersey passed a new uh lead inspection required ordinance or statute that requires every single mun municipality and multif family dwellings in those municipalities to have these things inspected annually uh we are revving up to begin that program uh we just received our first pot of funding for it and this is necessary to help us continue with that endeavor um I don't know if the mayor or the council president were instrumental in uh that law want to have a conversation on it but it's here we're starting and we're very excited we were able to receive the money to buy these uh analyzers lead paint analyzers so what's in place in terms of racking uh these these um testers I mean they're like 25 27,000 a piece they're handheld um there the only type of log that every time it's taken out it's someone signs in signs out to keep track of these expensive handheld tests yes uh we have a safe in the health department where all of them some of them are actually even separated because the we do have a few that are um they're called xrf so they have radiation in them and those are in a solid lead lined um safe so they have to be logged out and the safe has to be open and logged out as they take them up okay thank you thank you also can you just itemizing um or detailing um 24 and 2 five exactly what is this what what are we doing in these on these rows and intersections okay so uh for 24 we're replacing an old traffic light on P and Brook we're adding flashing beacons on Pake Avenue and Boulevard and we're adding flashing break-ins on Monroe and cver for item number 25 we're doing a full reconstruction of the road concrete and sidewalks uh for three seat three streets uh Hillside way Boulevard and how Avenue okay okay when you said the full that means curbing as well yeah full Recon construction means the Curbing and in certain uh areas that the sidewalk is in major disrepair even the sidewalk some of these streets I'm not every one of them some of these streets curbing has been replaced over the last I don't know 15 years 20 years where there are many cities and town don't even have any curbing left you know when when it rains the water just runs right over so just trying to understand the the you know the thing behind redoing curbing on on rows that looks pretty not bad has new cement curb curbs some you know some of these roads yeah if the curbs are in good shape we don't replace them um as the council may recall a lot of times if there's multiple roads and this is why you lose the curbing you try to resurface as many as possible because maybe there's that many number of potholes or areas and then uh the municipality to get that done doesn't then have the funding it's very expensive to do full Road reconstruction and it limits the length so what would happen is if we had a policy to only do Road reconstruction a lot of the worst areas of town would not get resurfaced so what has happened throughout uh well for a number of years you you get some roads that are just resurfaced just to fix the damage but the curbs we don't you know it's expensive so you get the issue where you have very little curb and if we were to fix the curb the elevation changes and then we have ponding so it has to be a balance these three roads um on 25 they're getting roads and curbs and sidewalks are just roads they're getting full reconstruction so that includes everything where necessary so there's a if there's a full curve that is the the required height after the after the resurfacing it won't be touched just like if it's a very good sidewalk that's in very very good shape because our goal um and the mayor's Direction has always been get as much as possible done as far and length as possible to impact the most number of residents in a positive way uh so we're always looking to figure out how we can do number one full reconstructions to get those curves where they need to be but also not waste you know time and energy and things that don't need to be replaced so uh there may be areas where if it's a small piece of curb that you saw was in a good shape that they knock down just because continuity right they they're not going to leave a twoof foot piece of curve that's good and the rest of it's bad but if it's long stretches they'll leave the long stretches okay so so it doesn't mean the full reconstruction just we're as needed right but we call it full reconstruction because it includes curves and it includes sidewalks if not it wouldn't be it would just be a resurfacing okay so I'm taking a look I'm taking a look at let's see I see okay I see what we're saying here I'm looking now at the actual paperwork attached to this and it's p pretty much specifies the curb is including one side both sides it's specifically tell what it's what it's covering got it okay good perfect thank you thank you councilman councilman Schwarz please yes where it says we're you're getting a traffic a new traffic system typically that would include walk signs or just the um traffic lights so it depends um I believe the one on pan Brook is going to have the traffic walking signal uh traffic beacons depending on where they're at sometimes they have them sometimes they won't but I could tell you that the one on Baken Brook had a walking traffic signal and that would uh either remain or be replaced with a walking traffic signal on the intersection so it really also depends on the intersection any other questions hearing none is there a motion please forgive me to accept items 17 through 29 move it second motion and second councilman monk yes councilman love yes councilwoman Melo yes councilman Schwarz yes councilman Garcia yes councilwoman colz and council president sh yes thank you we're up uh to REM numeral 10 ordinances for introduction and first reading number 30 proposed ordinance amending the designation of restricted parking for disabled persons by New Jersey license plate number ordinance for second and final reading to be scheduled for July 16 2024 is there a motion to accept please M motion second call councilman monk yes councilman love yes councilwoman Melo yes councilman Schwarz yes councilman Garcia yes Council MZ yes and council president sh yes thank you on number 31 please proposed ordinance amending chapter 149 article 3 of the code of the city of pic entitled m food establishments to provide for the towing of unlicensed mobile food establishments ordinance for second and final reading to be scheduled for July 16 2024 is there a motion to accept some more motion and second R call thank you councilman monk yes councilman love yes councilman Melo yes councilman Schwarz yes councilman Garcia yes councilman go monz yes and council president Sher have this one that noise councilman Sor it was y it was well accepted ma'am uh we're up to number 11 payment of bills and there any questions on the bills please seeing no LS at this time Mr motion please to accept the bill list Move Motion and second thank you R call please councilman monk yes councilman love yes councilwoman Melo yes councilman Schwarz yes councilman Garcia yes councilman colz council president share yes thank you administrator's report Mr Fernandez uh none at this time very good thank you uh mayor's report Mr Mayor sir just briefly on behalf of the administration and all of us together we want to wish School number 11 congratulations they will be celebrating a 100 years they're GNA have their Gala and to all of the staff all of the past staff and all of the students that went through are uh are with me Cru School number 11 congratulations it's exciting for the city we recently celebrated our 150th and they've been sharing that they are now 100 years old to school so we're very excited thank you mayor if there another comments from members of the council is there a motion to aurn please motion and second roll call please to aurn councilman monk yes councilman love yes councilman Melo yes councilman schwar yes councilman Garcia yes councilman G and council president share yes thank you this meeting is adjourned