good evening on behalf of the governing body of the city of Pake we welcome you to the February 6th 2024 city council meeting in accordance with chapter 231 public laws of 1975 adequate notice of this meeting was provided by resolution of the municipal Council adopted on June 13 2023 setting forth the schedule of regular meetings for the year 2023 2024 that notice was published and posted on the city hall bulletin board by the office of the city clerk please be first further ADV this public meeting will be conducted in person the zoom stream provided is for viewing only and is offered as and is offered to the public as a convenience on January 9th 2020 on January 209th 2024 public notice and zoom instructions for this meeting were published in The Herald news and posted on the city of Pake website www.city of.com Council agendas instructions are also available on the last page of this agenda please be guided accordingly call please councilman monk councilman monk I believe will be joining us uh via Zoom councilman love present councilwoman mow present councilman Schwarz present councilman Garcia councilman Garcia will I believe be joining us by and council president share President should we out please rise heavenly father we want to thank you Lord for allowing us to meet this evening we ask you to please guide us in the decisions that will take place this evening in your beloved name we're pray amen I Al to flag United States of America the indice council president if I may um Renee who's always with us with it his uh grandmother passed away that's why he's not with us today we can just hold uh a moment of silence I know it's been thank you thank you mayor the council can impose on your good offices to extend to his family yes from the council I will thank you sir good evening ladies and gentlemen for those of you who are at home for those of you who are joining us physically in city council chambers Welcome to our meeting if you do not have a copy of our agenda please feel free to go on the internet to the city's web page there you will find um all of the information that has been provided to the council by the administration including reports resolutions ordinances Communications Etc um again everything that the council received is available to you we hope you'll take advantage of of that we are on R number four of our uh of our agenda mayor's report mayor thank you again for being here as always thank you council president members of the city council and residents as well as department heads that are all joining us I want to begin by sharing that on Saturday January 27th Pake had a family festival with first lady Tammy Murphy at school number 23 which is also known as the Dayton Avenue educational complex and at this family Festival over 1500 people attended this event which had more than 45 organizations that provided a variety of services and resources for excuse me for expected and new moms and families including Health Care housing support food assistance Child Care covid vaccines New Jersey Motor Vehicles Commission Services Representatives over there from New Jersey assembly from our assembly M sh's 36 legislative office as well as different departments from the city of p and the Board of Education it was a huge success and many families were uh served so appreciative for this as well as on Tuesday January 30th I join the city clerk M Weatherly Frias and we handed out Civic engagement awards at a ceremony at Pake High School auditorium these certificates recognize the first high school students who completed the Board of Elections training program to become co-workers just to remind individuals the city of Pake developed a pilot program working with our Clerk and the uh the board of elections in the county with the approval of the state to allow high school students to work the elections this uh provided us with an opportunity to meet a gap because there was a deficit in terms of individuals that were available to work elections we were relying so heavily on individuals coming from other municipalities to work the elections in Pake unfortunately in the general elections they were opting to work in their own own cities so our clerk did not have enough individuals to work so we met and brainstorm and came up with an idea to recruit our young people hoping to encourage them to be more civically engaged to participate in this most sacred and wonderful Democratic process of voting we also thought with the advancement of the new voting screens the smart screens many of our seniors our senior citizens as well as uh some elected officials and Comm McNair don't know how to deal with technology so oh I didn't see you there commissioner McNair I'm sorry so but having the high school student MC but everyone else is figured out but having but having the high school students there to try to navigate a lot of these smart devices it was extremely beneficial and many of the young people came out just to see some of their uh fellow students working and came out and voted so we were very excited to be the very first city to do this program as a pilot program and we're enthusiastically optimistic that many municipalities will jump on I think our clerk received messages from other municipalities that they're interested in uh emulating or following in our footsteps because we were so successful and I think we gave out Madam click if my if I may impose upon you how many certificates did we give out that day 43 and AD the 43 how many agreed to return for the next election in work now I also want to share that on behalf of the city clerk she did bring Jersey Mike sandwiches to everyone and I'm not saying that's the reason why they wanted to work but apparently the students said they were fed quite well during the election times but again I will reiterate I think it's beneficial to encourage our youth and also our youth they they bring a certain amount of enthusiasm and warmth and when people come to vote you want to be encouraged you don't want to be turned away you want individuals that want to go the extra amount and say hey I didn't see your name here let me check with the clerk let me make sure because we want everyone who is eligible um to be able to vote and we were so appreciative of the young people as well as those with experience that work every election so I think for the first time we had just enough and we look forward to having enough individuals for every election I also want to take this opportunity to highlight the naac CP on February 3rd we held the Black History Month ceremony and flag raising with President Sher Greer as well as speakers councilman Terrence love um also there was uh Reverend Pastor Devin from uh I think it's um I think it's Mount Zion Williams Chapel thank you thank you commissioner McNair what you lack in technological understanding you make up for in uh understanding our C also I wanted to share mess with her for a bit she knows why so council president we had a very successful and well-attended African-American history month event led by the NAACP there was a wonderful performance by the students of our schools they sang uh songs and I believe the speeches and words that were shared inspired and reminded us to a call of ensuring that we acknowledge not just the contributions of the past not just obviously the participation in the present of developing and making sure this nation is successful and progresses but a vision for the future and an acknowledgement of such a wonderful and remarkable uh group of individuals that have helped to make this nation what it is so we were very grateful for that I also wanted to share that some of our upcoming events February 11th we will have our seventh annual Super Bowl party for the homeless at dignity house every year we have a wonderful participation from different organizations and youth and we uh we encourage anyone who wants to participate the homeless individuals who we often Rescue out of extreme temperature conditions on this day like they often have access to during the week they'll be able to shower have their clothes laundered but on this day Barber's volunteer to get free haircuts at dignity house so we're very excited we just watched the Super Bowl just as you would watch it at home with your family we provide this opportunity for this organization I also want to share that on Saturday February 17th the Pake youth Council will be hosting an open house inviting 8th grade and high school students to join the Pake youth council members are able to build their leadership skills participate in community service projects and develop their personal growth and harness their skills to become leaders in our community I also want to share that I'm Fair February 18th the Asal art design contest will reach its deadline the city of P has been awarded a grant to transform an intersection with a painted mural and eye-catching curb extensions the city alongside Easy Ride are calling for all artists and groups to create a design and have the chance to win a $3,000 award applicants must be over the age of 16 and attend a mandatory informational webinar on February 7th at 7:30 the deadline for entries again is February 18th 2024 and for more information and contact um You can call Easy Ride at 201939 4242 201939 4242 extension2 three I also wanted to share that our purchasing department is ordering large washer screws to prevent the veteran banners from sliding off our our purchasing department is ordering large washer screws to prevent the veteran banners from sliding off today we have counted I think we were at four before we are now at five that have fallen uh from the over 200 that have been up for over a year and so I know though that's a small number we are cognizant that some have fallen so we're moving forward to having this addition and then I want to conclude with this morning at 5:30 in the morning myself and and councilwoman Tanya Melo were at City Hall we were both here at City Hall live on univ to discuss the progress of the city initiatives respond to uh to surprise questions that they did not tell us they were gonna ask however we were both on the hot seat and I was so proud of councilwoman melo's responses and her representation of the city council her most informed uh responses retorts and positions of the progress of our city she did a fantastic job the UN vong had reached out they have interviewed newars Ross moraca mayor Ross moraka they also uh mayor bwitch they went to Patterson to the mayor they did five cities we were included in it at 5:30 in the morning and uh it was it was a wonderful experience giving us an opportunity to highlight some of the uh Advan and progress that we have been able to put forth as a collective body so thank you Council Melo and I also want to thank uh the business administrator as well as our administrative executive assistant upstairs Sona p and uh Renee Renee who unfortunately can't be with us coordinated the entire interview and process and location they highlighted different areas of the city and we were glad though some of the images they shared when they spoke of some of the chall were not images at faake but me me and uh and Council M were gracious and didn't point out those those inconsistencies but we were excited to share all the wonderful things that are coming up council president that is uh the conclusion of my report if there are any questions from the council we' be more than happy to uh respond thank you thank you mayor thank you for your your in-depth report as always um the banners that had previously fallen down they were all retrieved they're all going up back already yes thanks to wonderful and committed residents of the city of Pake some of them have been brought back to City Hall given to DPW and U and put back up but we have found that especially during storms and sometimes strong winds a few of them continue to fall so these new washers will be added as attachments in order to secure these banners and keep them up may was fascinated as I have been by by The Proposal which you implemented so incredibly well in terms of using high school kids at the polls um any problems occur any issues occur at all actually with our city clerk she confirmed that we had no issues at all in fact some of the concerns that we had in previous years uh we found that we were not faced with the same issues because the young people again they were so familiar with the technology they received the training and kudos to the clerk's office for most diligent and efficient training of these young people but they were able to direct individuals they followed uh the instructions they received if someone wasn't on the list they were referred to the clerk's office people would explain who's allowed to vote and who's not allowed to vote and I think their their youthful enthusiasm really helped in terms of not only conveying the right message but making sure that people understood we're here to facilitate assist with the process but that this most sacred process is an independent one and they were very clear to not cross any lines and we were grateful to have the young people involved this was the first time this was done it was so here in our area we we were researching again I'll point to the fact that we were facing an issue a problem where we didn't have pole workers we put it out online we put flyers up at different places shoppr right houses of worship we send mailers out through the schools then we met and said how can we resolve this it isn't the money I think they raised the salary how much were they getting paid a day $300 at that point I know it was a lot of money because a councilman Dr Terence love and councilman Marissa colom went to and said can we work it and we were like no no we we know you read the raises online but no you couldn't work it they tried to have the hot lunch also yes they were like is it possible for us to work the election we no you're on the ballot this year you can't but all jokes aside we decided what what was the age group we asked that we were wondering why we didn't get more people technically you can work it at 16 most counties allow at 18 and we realize we have 18 year olds in the high school we're constantly telling them the boat could they work it as a work program for the school get paid and many of them take uh Civic uh engagement studies in the high school could this be an extension of their coursework so we checked it we vetted it with the county we reached out to the college Community College to see if they could earn college credits for it and we were excited that they came back and said this is innovative great and we see it consistent with the law so we were able to work together to come up with this plan again with the city clerk reaching out to the council many department heads and together we came up with a solution that put us at the Forefront of solving an issue that we've seen many municipalities face especially when it comes to elections extraordinarily thoughtful and and Innovative and taking that that that jump that so many others would never consider really just an amazing thing um questions for the mayor yeah just just a comment um I think by doing that it also combat the other situation you said lack of volunteers I think that's one of them but also qualified volunteers right because there is a level of Reading Writing and understanding what you're doing um with those instructions because we the city can be in a lot of trouble if the the the machines are not broken down correctly and documented so I I think that um alleviated us from a lot of that situation with having kids right out of our own school who we know are very proficient in in their own right so I just think it was a great idea and councilman you br bring up a good point about the youth and the students one of the issues and the clerk can speak to it when individuals were coming from other municipalities and we were grateful when they were working here the challenge would be and I'll give you an example if someone said my name's not on the list and they would go well where do you live Summer Street if you didn't have a point of reference because you don't know the area you would go well you're just not on the list and that person may not vote whereas our youth that are familiar with the city would go well you probably vote at number seven school have you checked there let's call the clerk and see where your name is that extra step is the difference between someone deciding I'm g go home or going oh thank you for informing me where my name would be found CU some people move and then they don't update the address so they end up staying at their old polling sites and they'll think they were removed but they weren't removed they just have to go to the old polling site Vote provisionally or go to the clerk's office the fact that the youth were so willing to give that additional information that helped out a lot excellent if I if I may um Council also another thing Council first forgive me was that 5:30 a.m. 5:3 when you came in this morning oh yes please forgive her we've been up since 4 this morning trying I bonus in now tell us no you have to understand I have a a three-year-old so I'm usually up at that hour anyway so but with the three-year old oh yeah not outside the house no no absolutely I will there's not a lot of difference with hanging out with a threeyear and hanging out with the mayor 5:30 there's a lot I was crying about the cold I was hungry similarities if there no other remarks want to um comment on that and um and something that we will also address is to engage our youth because one of the things that we usually say our youth is not coming out to vote I think this is the perfect bridge to kind of make that connection to engage them um because now they're seeing they're involved and they also remember they spread the word and they go home and speak to their parents and also incentivize their family members to come out and vote so I think that's a great initiative so thank you again thank you m with the council permission R numeral five of our agenda or minutes of the November 9 2023 city council meeting are there any additions or corrections to the minutes presented by the clerk seeing no lights at this time is there motion please accept the minutes of November 9th presented by the CL and second roll call please councilman monk okay yes yes hear me yes sir yesc we heard yes thank councilwoman Melo yes councilman schwar yes councilman Garcia yes Council col monz yes and council president sh yes thank you we're up to R numeral six of our agenda hearing of citizens in accordance with the open public meetings Act njsa 10 col 4-1 at SEC the council opens every public meeting for comments of the public however in accordance with NJ njsa 10 col 4- 12 nothing in this act shall be construed 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 council will not entertain any comments from persons who communicate OB seed 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 orn 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 if you would if you uh do not have the pleasure to be in council chambers and you uh in fact we change that law if you are at home we hope if you've had any questions you've submitted them to the clerk already if you have they will be read and answered publicly if you have not we respectfully remind you that we will only entertain question questions from the floor and city council chambers is there anyone who would like to address the council please yes sir good evening council president good evening Council good evening mayor my name is yose Wolf I live in 71 Spring Street I wanted to ask the council if they can advise there is a public school on benh Halton on the corner of and Waverly in paic and there is no parking in front of the school during school hours vanen Halton Avenue is a very busy street for most of the day um at the hours of 7 between 7:30 and 8:10 and when it's pickup time later around 3 o'clock it's very very difficult to Traverse the street there's people trying to cross the street there's two crossing guards and traffic including trucks buses and vehicles get backed up and my concern is that even though no one's allowed to park in front of the school it seems that some employees of the school are allowed to park in front of the school and that hinders drop off and pickup in a safe manner for the parents and it really obstructs traffic that's trying to flow down Manton Avenue um I want to know the school has a right to block off parking but then allow their teachers or employees to park on a public Street while in front of any private residents or any institution in the city the owners of that institution or that house cannot block off parking I think parking should be blocked off for the parents to drop off there's an entrance right there on manalon and I think it's a safety issue I think it's there's people turning around cars it's extreme neck at those hours I want to hear about that if that's possible I also want to ask the city council and the mayor and really if it's possible tinted windows in the city of basic tinted windows are from my understanding unless you're have an issue with sunlight they're legal on the front windows and on the windshield but in the city of Bic there is a plethora it's un inundated with vehicles that have tinted windows I think it's a safety issue I think it's a quality of life issue you see them all over it's almost like a very very very big minority of the cars in pic have tinted windows I'm wondering if the city police which are allow to pull someone over for having tinted windows if they care to enforce this I think it's a real safety issue um that's all for tonight thank you good job thank you sir um we will uh be in touch with the police chief to see if there's any kind of uh of improving the area uh by the public school um there is no question that when schools are dismissed in paic City it is a mess but then again it's a mess in any urban area when schools get dismissed I don't want to say we're special or different I don't want to say that we should not make an attempt to correct it we should and we will um how successful we be realistically is another story in terms of tinted windows you're absolutely correct sir this is a state issue not a local issue um and unfortunately like most other police departments it is a low priority uh but certainly there's no reason why conversations can't be held with the police chief um and with his officers in terms of uh getting the offic to be more sensitive to the issue and anyone else like to address the council with this yes sir evening AR ma7 Howard um as I was came coming down here um I come down via bus and there's numerous cars parked by bus stations ever since um for a long time and um and that whether or not um person is waiting for a bus you can't see the bus you have to go inside the street in order to see that bus there's numerous parking um throughout the entire city of sake and there's cars parked by the bus stations and it's illegal and I'm wondering if the city can do something about it because it's really really frustrating for a lot of residents in whether or not um they're from this city or coming to the city um and working in our city uh to see their buses so can we if we can get something done um and force the cars uh to be out of those spots because it's really a safety hazard thank you thank you sir again something that we uh can try to look at anyone else like to address the council oh M forgive me I didn't see you please Brenda wheeler 17 Vineyard plac in faake I just have a few questions um one if a if a citizen is throwing trash out of their car what is it if we see it what is it that we can do about it number two um can we make our city a little cleaner than what it is because I think that store owners um should be held liable if it's trash in front of their store uh often times I'm walking down Broadway and it's a mess Walgreens it's a mess I have even spoken to the store owner at Walgreens I rather go to the Walgreens on Van hton and Clifton it's a lot neater than go right here in Pake which is right down the street from where I live um I just think that we need to do a lot better with our city and cleaning it and holding um owner homeowners and store owners responsible for their property thank you thank you so much excellent points as as as usual ma'am um and regarded will again uh so much of this seems to be uh oriented to our Police Department um specifically in terms of enforcement um or code enforcement in the case of commercial stores and we'll continue to have conversations with the mayor and his administration in terms of uh steps that we can take small steps but meaningful steps to amarate the situation so thank you anyone else to address the coun yes yes Joe kenti good evening um question that the mayor brought up before I brought in another Banner this morning to the DPW and I just dropped off tonight one of the F banners that was on Broadway um council president my first question here um Colonel Johnson Spar located at 190 Harrison Street I brought it up at the last meeting too there um question with this property here is I recall when I used to go down there I don't know if you guys are familiar with it but you when you walk all the way in back of the clock over to the right there's a little piece of property that's Fen in and nobody knows who it belongs to so I want to bring that up to your attention maybe somebody maybe uh fernandz the business administrator or somebody could look into it um my other question towards that is that is a is a great idea your plan splash park which they need to upgrade that that area anyway because like I said at the last meeting is that you gota you used to have a lot of gang members a lot of drug dealers and it was really bad over there um yeah I would like to see all that uh all we've done and most of all um looking at the pictures at the last meeting on the when you walk into the entrance on the left hand side there's a flag pole I would like to see the flag pole put up uh the flag on there and I would like to see a a plaque put up for Colonel Johnson you know not uh destroying his name that's what I would like to see there my next question is along the curbs there's a lot of trees that have been taken out never put back I would I don't know if there's any programs for trees but I like to see trees along the curbs be put back up it's possible some funding or something for that and my last question that I have is all around this city you have cars parking the front lawn in Legally there's some maybe a handful that's legally they went to the boards and they got permission to do it but there's so many of them all over the city can even keep up with you know there's listing of many of them these are my questions I have tonight thank you Mr consente again um let me first thank you for uh you're pushing the uh this issue of the banners um as a result of it and as a result of Investigation by the administration and Mer um it sounds as if we've got the best solution possible by anywhere um with these new uh gramms and screws whatever they are which will uh allow us to have those banners flying at all the time also appreciate your great comments about splash parks right I think many of us would argue that if we could put a splash a splash park every where where there's gang infestation we'll get rid of those gangs exactly absolutely Sensational idea and I think you know so many of our children will look forward this summer to uh to a mini vacation and those good uh again we thank you very much for uh for the points that you raised all right anyone else like to address the council please no hands I move to close the public portion motion and second to close R please' councilman monk yes councilman love yes Council Melo yes councilman Schwarz yes councilman Garcia Council MZ yes and council president sh yes thank you have to REM numeral 7 on our agenda ordinances for second and final reading uh propos ordinance 2433 d24 let me first advise the council that uh the second and final hearing will be on February 20th um that being the case it has been our tradition to uh when it first appears correctly or not to entertain it so that people will not be inconvenienced so with the council's permission proposed ordinance 24 33-24 an ordinance amending the designation of restricted parking for dis persons by New Jersey license plate number the second and final reading is to be set for February 20 2024 is there a meeting please to open public discussion motion and second thank you roll call councilman monk yes councilman love yes Council yes councilman Schwarz yes councilman Garcia yes Council monz yes and council president sh yes thank you ladies and gentlemen if there is anyone who would like to address the Council on proposed ordinance 2433 you may do so now you may also do so at its second and final hearing on February 20 Ben if you would like to speak now we certainly entertain your comments seeing none at this time um also Associated on February 20th if you would like to attend the council meeting where this ordinance will be heard for second and final we invite you to in the meantime seeing no hands is there a motion please to close public hearing so move motion and second roll call please councilman monk yes councilman love yes councilman Melo yes councilman schz yes councilman Garcia yes Council yes counc president yes thank you is there a motion please to set down this proposed order 2433 at our a second and final meeting to be held on February 20 is there a motion please motion and second thank you roll call councilman monk yes councilman love yes councilwoman Melo yes councilman schw yes councilman Garcia yes councilwoman go monz yes and council president sh yes thank you ma'am uh we are up to Communications Roman numeral 8 on our agenda items 2 through s are there any questions please on items 2 through S seeing no lights at this time is there a motion please to accept items 2 through 7 motion and second R call please councilman monk yes councilman love yes councilwoman Melo yes councilman Schwarz yes councilman Garcia yes coun yes and council president sh yes thank you we are up to our matters to be to be considered routine in nature items 8 through 15 are there any questions please on 8 through 15 15 seeing lights as their motion please to accept 8 through 15 so motion second and second thank you roll call on 8 through 15 councilman monk yes councilman love yes councilwoman Melo yes councilman Schwarz yes councilman Garcia yes councilwoman col monz yes and council president sh yes thank you sir separate the motion please to accept 16 motion and second on 16 only roll call councilman monk yes councilman love exension councilwoman Melo yes councilman SCH yes councilman Garcia yes councilwoman col monz and council president sh yes thank you up to REM nine of our agenda resolutions number 17 is the resolution authorizing closed executive session of the city council um to discuss pending litigation contract negotiations and Personnel matters ma'am no counc no it Mr Fernandez no counc thank you sir Mr Mayor sir none at this time thank you sir members of the council seeing none on items please for the council's consideration items 18 through 30 are there any questions please on 18 through 30 yes council president councilman mon thank you an item 20 contract for heating and air conditioning um in the second to last paragraph it says that the is a lumpsum 20 it has the lump sum of $30,000 for scheduled seasonal maintenance and it has the standard hourly rate then at the end of that same paragraph has a total contract price price not to exceed $90,000 your concern is to disconnect councilman mon correct Mr Fernandez yeah so the the $330,000 is for work that we already know is going to happen it's part of the maintenance schedule and then the additional is for work as damages occur items uh Brak that are out of the normal maintenance we need to put a number to make sure this is based on previous contracts um and it's over a three-year period over the last three years that we had uh the same um agreement this 0,000 hourly for the work it's hourly for any work that's outside of your normal common maintenance uh but not to exceed I guess the 60,000 uh that would be in place if like an item broke down and they needed to replace it and the work the labor and parts that would take to put that in councilman mon is that satisfactory to I I I hear I just don't see how this reads in this resolution it says the lump sum of 30,000 oh that's for scheduled seasonal maintenance correct that's for I'm sorry that's correct it's work that we already know that's part of the initial contract to maintain the system so so the additional 60,000 is every year or over three years that's not to exceed amount right that's the not to exceed amount if there's an issue with the system the councilman asked if that if this was every year Mr Fernandez no so th this one is for this one's a one-year contract so it's $60,000 not to exceed and what happens if a $50,000 part goes that's also included and not to exceed $60,000 everything you know they have to maintain this regardless can't go over $60,000 um no matter what happens I'm trying to understand the question M May right councilman it exed will exceed the $90,000 house to come back to the council for disposition oh I didn't understand that yes of course got it okay okay also is this um this is a company that we've been using in the past yes so we're lucky enough that this award is to the company that actually installed it um I don't know if the council recalls during the co pandemic we received U monies that were specifically for upgrading this entire system at at a very significant cost and we were lucky enough that the bidder the lowest bidder and the maintenance is the actual company that installed the entire system so we're anticipating that we won't reach that number but we need we need a gauge we need to have a number that we can rely on not to exceed so that we can conduct um the maintenance and continual Rehabilitation of the system got okay fine thank you thank you on item 28 that's 28 sir yes gu Council pres resolution authorizing the grant of an access and use easement to Thor 153 lyen Street um and the paperwork here it doesn't like lay out exactly what we're giving here is this a a strip of you know a two foot strip of land or are we giving away an acre of land here in this uh e what are we doing here uh so it's actually a portion so if I could just uh maybe draw mental picture for the council this is where Oak Street Liberty and Lyndon come together and it's a very wide portion of the street it's very it's excessive for the road Network that is necessary there was an application that went before the planning board uh for Thor equities that are completely redoing this old Factory uh they wanted to beautify the area and include like an entrance to the building that would add maybe a monument a seating area some Landscaping if anyone's down there you'll notice that right across the street is the um TR electric uh station for psng right because it's not the prettiest site in the world and the idea is that at their own cost they would beautify this area that would not interfere with the road Network because of the large turning radius that's at that location so this would grant them the right to do this uh beautification and Landscaping but not lose the city's rights if we needed to use it for any purpose that's why we went with an easement versus a purchase of the land that way if um there were any engineering issues or things that we needed to address we still had the right as a municipality uh but at their own time they would beautify that entrance to that building but the the resolution doesn't speak to that of what their goal is to use for this piece of land in the resolution it says in the third in the fourth paragraph um whereas the city recognizes the necessity and benefit of granting an easement to the Thor for the purpose of exclusive access exclusive access and use of a portion of the right of way from the Oak Street for the development and the use of Thor's property it seems we're give an exclusive which means if we ever want to take that back we lose that this resolution clearly says exclusive and it's used for the development of their property to enhance um you know create something for public you so so you're coming in really muffled at least for me so I just want for everyone Mr Fernandez right what I understand from your question is it's exclusive for them and the fact that no other private entity can use it but the easement the fact that we're granting the easement always maintains our rights that's why it's an easement it's for their purpose to do do this beautification and for their specific site plan approval that they received from the planning board uh but it does not the fact that it says that it's not that the city loses its rights we're granting them rights but we maintain our rights okay and with the passing of this resolution if they change their mind tomorrow say you know what let's make our building larger does this give them that right or this not okay okay that's that's why we made it an easement and not a sale if we were to sell it they'd have to first of all they'd have to go back for planning board approval for their site plan because they're revising their site plan uh but they would have the right to do so if this wasn't an easement if they wanted to do what you just said based on this easement they would have to ask us permission before they can even make that application because now it's no longer an easement and we would lose the access rights to that area that's why we kept it an easement for all the reasons that you just said okay okay thank you my last question has to do with resolution sorry resolution 29 and 30 of how do we come up with the dollar amount for this interlocal Services I it's like down to the penny down to the dollar here it's not a round number how is is there a formula that we use to come up with these numbers Yeah so basically what happens is there was a base salary and there are and the reason you see little sense and things like that is that what we do annually is we put a cost of living increase uh within that that youy pays that's why you see dollars and cents but it all started as a round number that then was um throughout the years with these cost of living increases so that the city would keep so that the city would get paid uh based on the cost of living increase ises and not have to absorb that cost individuals that are being shared okay understood understood I'm sorry I appreciate thank you for that Clarity I'm sorry I did have one other question and that was going back um to item 22 coun if you can speak a little bit further away from your phones it's oh further away is that better is this better yes okay I'm sorry um item 22 a resolution for emergency sanitary sewer repair so the in the notes from the engineer he stated that we went over his estimate because of the police officer I know we we've had this conversations in the past I don't remember what the outcome was of why are we paying for the work that needs to be done on city streets are we just going from one pocket to another pocket or or can we just use an officer that's on duty um you know to uh for the services of closing off a road while they're doing sanitary work or you know emergency work so typically when it's an emergency um it's an on-duty officer and if the emergency CES to be an emergency uh it would then be at a city rate uh which is an ordinance that was recently passed by this Council as a result of negotiations between right the city and the police uh Union that's correct council president um but this wasn't this wasn't just for police services there was a sinkhole that formed over the existing sewer M that added to the work so if if all it's so let me just look at see what they wrote on there but I'm telling you that there was additional work that was necessary because of the S call forming which might have led to additional hours by police that weren't anticipated but the cost included additional uh work that was created based on the S sinkhole formation council president if I may Mr I know that the question was in terms of why don't we just assign an existing police officer I know we had this conversation in previous meetings and I would just like to remind the uh councilman and the council members along with the um the residents that once we assign a police officer to a road job they are obligated to stay at the road job so we have a certain number of police that we need in the city to respond to emergencies to calls so often times especially depending on the hour we may call in a police officer to be exclusively assigned to a road job because they can't abandon the road job to respond to a police call let's say there's an alarm at a store or an issuance someone's home so that's the reason why we don't take an officer we staff police according to the stats that the chief receives and the needs of our community so if you have a road job that expands we can't necessarily afford to take two officers that are assigned and put them on the road because that's two less officers that can Patrol the city or respond to calls that's why we have two separate approaches to Road jobs and to those that are already assigned just want to clarify and if I may just to read out what the council has before it the repair of the sanitary sewer was $113,000 and the off-duty traffic control was 2592 which came up to the 15592 that you see before you just so you see how the cost broke down and counc know this is the result of negotiations between the various police unions and municipalities throughout the state and it's pretty much a universal number so so then let me just understand this so when do gives us a estimate for cost in the past that did not include police traffic control it was always on top of it or that's correct these emergencies they give us a quote for the work and then we have to look at the job and establish what the necessary Patrol is like the mayor stated the the police chief or whoever he assigns to that role reviews the request and the emergency and like I said most of the time it's starts off with maybe somebody on duty because it's an emergency and then it morphs into the whatever the job continues to be like once the assessment is made in this case a sinkhole and the size of the sinkhole you may need two officers to close both sides of the streets so it's really hard to estimate that that's going to happen since you're not going to know that until you assess the emergency so once they come in and they assess if it's a sinkhole if you have to close not just one block it depends on what road so a sinkhole on Dayton Avenue or Main Avenue is a little different than a sinkhole on brinkhof or on Harrison because of the traffic that occurs and then you may need two officers off duty so that often occurs thank you anything further councilman no sorry thank you no thank you very good are there any other questions please on the resolution itions sing none at this time is there a motion please to accept items 18 through 30 motion second and second roll call please on 18 through 30 councilman monk yes councilman love yes councilwoman Melo yes councilman Schwarz yes councilman Garcia councilwoman yes and council president sh yes thank you pay payment of bills item number nine item item 31 would be nice to include Also let's go for 31 and proposed ordinance amending the designation of restri parking for disabled persons made by New Jersey license plate number is the motion pleaseed to accept for set on for second and final reading at our meeting of February 20 motion second and second thank you roll call councilman monk yes councilman love yes councilwoman mow yes councilman Schwarz yes councilman Garcia yes councilwoman col Mon and council president SH now can we do the payment of bills having paid my taxes I don't want to do the bills are there any questions please on the bills seeing that at this time is there a motion please to accept the bills as presented by the clerk motion and second thank you R call please councilman monk yes councilman love yes councilwoman mow yes councilman Schwarz yes councilman Garcia yes councilwoman col monz yes and council president sh yes thank you administrator's report Mr Fernandez none of this time sir thank you so much Mr Mayor to Windows our police are aware sometimes statements are made that individuals say I see a vehicle in the city tted windows and assume the tickets aren being given out I can tell you that our chief will attest to the fact that many tickets AR given out but just to be clear that there are different laws for different vehicles and sizes in terms of what can be tinted sorry thank you madam clerk what can be tinted in terms of the back windows and front windows I also wanted to share that one of the questions that was posed was what can you do if you witness someone littering out of a car and what you can do we do have an anonymous tip line to the police you can videotape with your phone if you send it to the police and obviously they will go through it with our attorneys but it has happened where police have issued tickets via the mail they will look up the license plate in terms of egregious violations of littering or dumping they will utilize resources like detectives to get access to cameras in the neighborhood and witness The Dumping and then they will go after the individuals in terms of the license plate so we would encourage everyone to report whenever they witness dumping in our city in terms of how we address it we have a program called Clean Sweep Clean Sweep occurs throughout the year in different locations we're cold police DPW will go to different areas they will give out violations they will clean the area themselves and we've been doing doing this for well over six years straight I know that the statement was made and I won't go into detail but I've gone to the municipalities and I know that the commercial areas in one city may be worse and then one week they clean and they look better I try not to ju suppose our city to others but I will share that many violations are given out of stor owners and I agree the stor owners must be held accountable but I I don't accept the premise that they're not being held accountable because we we receive the violations our code goes and they go to court we have had some repeat offenders council president city council and we continue to send out code and give out the violations but I would like to add and I know that the Urban Enterprise Zone had come up one of the best initiatives to the Urban Enterprise zone is our DMC our DMC program which is the downtown Merchants Corporation that's where we hire individuals to clean up the sidewalks clean up the streets they go out there and we've been able to expand this year so there will be an additional presence and we've expanded to the length of all of Main Avenue so we'll be able to address areas from turkun all the way to Highland so we're extremely excited this year now it is a seasonal thing so we will share that there are more individuals out there in the spring and the summer than the winter the winter becomes a challenge because of the temperatures because of the snow because of the wind often times you can clean up one day and then the very next day gets uh filled with cardboard or litter but we will remain Vigilant and share with our DPW and then I just wanted to share that uh as of today and council president and city council and no where was excited to share this we planted over 700 new trees over just the last three years we're extremely excited about additional trees all over the city we continue to invest in trees our DPW orders the trees we receive grants for trees but sometimes unique situations residents donate trees they want to volunteer to plant a tree our DPW do it and they dedicated for something we have a list of trees that you're allowed to plant so we can be consistent especially since in the wisdom of this Council an ordinance was passed that uh trees could only be planted if they grow to a certain height because of Storms and down trees that were taken out um electrical Rines but I do want to share that with the public because I think it is of great benefit to our communities and then lastly in terms of the parking in front of homes I know that uh we have zoning boards we have boards that consider whether a front lawn can be turned into a driveway sometimes while people are putting ination and we consider issues of parking they may get a little Z enthusiastic but we will respond obviously with our code and our police but there is an opportunity of course to put in when an indiv individual wants to transition their front lawn into a parking space with that said that's the extent of my report thank you council president City Council Members thank you so much mayor with the council's permission councilman schs um if the city just has a comment on there the fact that we put in 700 trees is awesome um if we're actually looking to encourage people to donate trees perhaps our website should make some reference to it that it's something that we have available and you get a plaque on it and whatever yes I think that's a great idea right now we have it on the website but it's not on the front page so we're going to reach out to it to see if they can do it and I think it's it's such a wonderful act and it's a beautiful way to remember a loved one or to honor a memory in the city thank you thank you mayor thank you councilman Schwarz with the council's permission that bring their business properly advertised before Council most at this time motion and second toour call toour Mon yes yes councilwoman mow yes councilman Schwarz yes councilman Garcia councilwoman colz yes council president sh meeting is returned thank you