this meeting is being recorded good evening on behalf of the governing body of the city of Pake we welcome you to the March 18th 2025 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 18th 2024 setting forth the schedule of meetings for the year 2024 2025 set 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 March 5th 2025 public notice and zoom instructions for this meeting were published in the Herold news and posted on the city of Pake website at www.city
of.com Council agenda instructions are also available on the last page of this agenda please be guided accordingly call please councilman monk Pres councilman Schwarz pres councilman Garcia pres council monz president and
council president sh president shall we all please rise I know you gonna say oh my God okay heavenly father bless this meeting and bless those that are on their way here um bless the
SI and that we make the right decisions today for our city and for our citizens thank you amen amen I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands
naice thank you Council thank the mayor uh mayor are you with us I am excellent we just uh concluded the pledge as I'm sure you're aware and we welcome your comments
oh okay um council president members of the city council residents those who are connected by Zoom I wanted to share that there were some concerns from parents in regards to the uh speed of vehicles traveling in front of our schools
specifically Madison Avenue by number six school it's a long stretch of road starting from Hoover all the way down to Monroe where you don't really find um anywhere where there are stop signs in between in front of the schools after
meeting with our police chief after discussing potential Solutions with the administrative staff we put up stop signs as well as the speed radar and we're moving forward with additional pedestrian safety signs we've actually
noticed that there is an immediate reduction in velocity of vehicles when the speedometer or the speed radar monitoring apparatuses are put in the uh portable ones so council president and my direction we are ordering special
speed uh readers that are more like Signs they go on polls they'll be fixed in different areas around the city specifically by our schools in order to further ensure that we have a reduction of speed in these areas we're looking to
lower the miles per hour in those areas from 20 5 m hour to 15 M an hour between the hours of 7:30 and 400 p.m. uh throughout our school zone areas as well as ensure that we have stepped up
patrols we had a number of uh close cases in terms of accidents I want to thank the chief and the captains and all those who have worked closely with us in order to implement these changes including the deputy Chiefs I'm going to share with you over this weekend as I
was driving around the city I had ident ified areas where there appeared to be illegal dumping and two of those areas were Hobart off of Dayton Avenue the dead end across from Muhammad Ali school as well as Oak Street between Maine
Avenue and Myrtle I reached out to our superintendent of DPW Mark Watkins and I want to thank him as well as the employees that came out immediately to address this dumping we are also putting out portable cameras at the suggestion of one of the super supervisors Mr Ry
Rodriguez um he stated whether we could perhaps get some of those mobile surveillance or the cameras that we get from the sheriff's at areas where we typically and often seen uh dumping I told I thought it was an excellent idea
and I reached out and I'm going to coordinate with the sheriff the B County sheriff and our police chief to put cameras and areas off of Route 21 by the river as well as specific areas where we have again had repeated
instances of dumping again I share and I believe I shared in the last meeting that the work continues from the Pake County Commissioners on the cover of bridge by Pake Avenue and by the McDonald Brook many have noticed the
trees that were cut by the island and the larger trees that were cut this was not at the direction of the city however we did reach out to get justification to ensure that it was necessary for the work and I was able to secure from the county and those doing the work there that each of those trees will be
replaced I know some were a lot older however they could not move forward with the work on good news it's $2 million worth of infrastructure work that we were able to secure from the county and not directly from the city as the covert and the bridge falls under the county
and so we're we're happy about the fact that the work's getting done at no immediate or direct cost to our taxpayers but we are sting to see those trees removed however encouraged that they each will be replaced I also wanted to share that the work at Pake stadium
has uh begun and should be finished by mid April perhaps even earlier it's $1.2 million read doing the football field I was able to speak to the chair of the athletic committee Daniel Rodriguez as well as president Judith Sanchez of the Board of Education and vice president
Maryanne Capers as well as commissioner Arthur SoDo who shared that not only did they or were they able to invest on a brand new playing field but also there's a brand new first time practice field right next to it all the seating has
been made new as well as uh The Dugout areas so these amenities is these opportunities for recreation have been not only enhanced but additional amenities are added and we look forward to seeing the children the youth and activities there over the summer I am
reaching out to the school to see if in redoing the racing track if perhaps we can create a mutual agreement with our Recreation Department to open it up for the public to use as you know we're getting a brand new rubberized running
and walking Track in Third Ward Memorial Park right around the baseball field we're excited because that would be our third public one one in proximity to every Ward and I've mentioned as I've driven around the park and many of you have gone around there one of the
challenges difficulties with those who are walking or running or with family or go there for Fitness is that they have to share space with the vehicles the cars and that's not always the safest but this will be an isolated area where families where children where adults can
go walk and run and we'll have markers that indicate when you get the one mile Mark obviously you may not be able to keep up with our resident Avid marathon runner councilman monk who does about 26 miles a day but if you want to try to I
just want to see if anyone was still listening all right as I was sharing it's just my way to find out whether there's still audio on this thing as I was sharing this it gets a little long and uh people to now as I was sharing it's we're very excited that should be
done before the end of the summer I do want to share that the Pake Valley uh Water Commission has has told us that shut offs will begin already they started the 15th of this month we're working with them to ensure the residents can get on a payment plan as
you know throughout the season council president members of the city council they put a pause on shutting off all the water even for those who are uh back or uh or owe payment for many months however that season has come to an end
working closely with them we're getting information out to the residents that they should call to make a payment plan if they need to catch up but Pake Valley Water will begin and also they share that they're doing work uh on the water pipes around marro stre which could
result in lower pressure and discoloration of the water residents are advised that if you do see or witness discoloration of the water you should run water at the lowest level of your home on cold temperatures for a few minutes and this should resolve the
issue if it continues or persists you should call 973 34430 I also wanted to share with our residents that over the past few weeks we've seen as we have a remarkably and beautiful diverse community members of our community celebrate Holly uh purum
and St Patrick's Day We wish all of the communities that observe participate and celebrate are many diverse opportunities to reflect the beautiful cultures that are representative in our city we wish you the very best and join with you in your
celebrations because we have a lot more to talk about that will be the extent of my report council president if there are any questions I'm available to answer thank you so much mayor I I see by the way you TR you we don't have the pleasure of having you in our Chambers
um if this is a vacation for you and Mrs La certainly wish you the best no no no vacation for me and Mrs Mrs Laura with the kids in their home I was invited to speak at a conference uh with over 5,000 individuals um to share just a
perspective on government and uh different aspects of community uh involvements including faith and otherwise and this was scheduled uh over a month ago so I came down to participate in this remarkable
conference with uh thought leaders and faith-based and non for-profit institutions be here for a few days and I'll be back but as you know my record stands as never missing a meeting since I was a councilman in 2011 to presid so I I thank God that we have zoom because
the the flight back to make the meeting would have been a little difficult we we appreciate uh with all the goings on uh that that you Eed out time for this meeting and and we certainly appreciate that always May one question D you were speaking about
dumping yes are we talking about uh drywall things like that or so there were concrete there were um tires there were car seats there were TVs but then there were other items there were obviously additional construction items
sometimes you can identify them easily and sometimes they wrap them up in bags you could find everything from a drywall that's been ripped apart and tossed in those areas our police have stepped up Patrol we have caught individuals we have given stiff fines we we hold them
accountable obviously um there are times where you're going to run into this whether it occurs on State Property that's a challenge council president as you know in your role as an assemblyman that we have property in the city that belongs to the state but is within the jurisdiction of the city so we notify
them and let them know but our DPW goes out with our dump trucks and they pick them up and we clean it up in the area sometimes these individuals throw out personal items and we find their their correspondents and we hold them accountable but uh again our goal is to
ensure that residents call us immediately when they see incidents of this you can of this matter you can call our non-emergency police number at 973 36539 and if you have any questions as to what you can throw out whether TVs or
appliances or things of this nature you should really call our Department of Public Works at 973 365 5654 and they'll make arrangements to pick it up appropriately but yes as to your specific question counsil president it was a number of items ranging from car
uh seats car parts Construction material drywall all of these things MERS of the council questions to the mayor very good sir mayor again I know you're staying with us in for our meeting and we thank you again for that
council president very quickly sorry the PA County um will be holding a tire pickup for all residents that are looking to get rid of tires I know sometimes it's costly all of these uh things that we have whether shredding
pickup or getting rid of any items that are hazardous we post them up on our City website so we advise everyone to go to City of Pake or Pake City hall.com and you will be able to see all of the dates listed for these services this will also help reduce uh any dumping or
unnecessary throwing out of items that should be scheduled to be picked up thank you sir thank you just as a last Point Council mon asked me to correct now that the is getting bettered 26 thank you no questions from the
council at this time we are up to hearing of citizens REM five on our agenda 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 njsa 10 4-12 nothing in this act shall be construed to limit the discretion of a public 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 obscene material make St fure 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 any comments
intending to harass or speak any offensive language the person who makes these statements will Rel relinquish there allowed five minutes for public discussion um if you'd like to address the council we certainly welcome you and please share with us your name is there anyone who' like to adjust the council
at this time yes sir yeah Jo conent good evening council president my first question that I have here is year 2025 calendar um my question if somebody can
answer me on this why do we have the mayor's name 58 times on this calendar my next question with this is that we have me messaging boards there was some new ones just purchased last
year um what are you using them for could Mr take could you explain I'm sorry the messaging boards that you have like you have one out here you have two more outside and you got them one across your street you got them all over what are
you using them for my next question that I have con brags Memorial Park planning to put a concession stand M what question is why do we need
a concession stand why can't you just leave it the way it is there a place where people can sit down you want to wait for the bus you got seats there you could probably clean it up put some flowers stuff around there put some lighting there and just
leave it alone you don't need a concession stand because that whole area got food food stores all around that area just leave it the way it is it's been there for years just leave it alone because we don't need the um as I as I
heard last year they wanted to use the veteran post to have the concessions stand doesn't make any sense hope I get an answer on this my next question is along basake Avenue by
the curb that cutting veteran trees down my question is why there's families that there's like 63 65 families that's from bake back in
1909 when their children went to war and they never came back so they dedicated the trees for their um lost uh son or nephew or whoever at the time so my question is I passed there the other day
I can't believe they're cutting trees down again um oh the Broadway Bridge the b dock what whatever you want to call it just this past couple weeks it was painted the question that I have why is
it being painted when it needs to be fixed it's falling apart you got the road on the top there when you come up to the top of it it's all it's all um deteriorating all coming
apart the walls are all separating and they go ahead and they painted it I don't know these are my questions I have good deal um I've got you down for five questions and see if we can answer them your first question on the City
calendar for 2025 the mayor's name is mentioned 59 times 50 times whatever it is certainly a lot of times um why is that that is done for reasons of of communication to the public as we all know the people
generally know three names of people they know their mayor they know their governor they know the president they don't know by now they never know Mr conent did you want to continue your question go ahead I can let you finish your question if you have more to
say people generally know those names it's to our advantage to the people of this municipality to know the mayor's name so that if they have concerns they feel good about calling him directly and he certainly makes himself available to everyone directly um and I will tell you based upon the success that we've
witnessed here in the city in the past few months and years under the mayor's leadership I think that all of us would agree that it is all very very helpful your second question was what are the signs for um the signs number one are both from the schools as well as from
the city from the city's point of view it allows us to publicize warnings in case of dangerous situations such as floods Etc and it also allows as a public service to the people to let them know what is going on in the city they might not otherwise know of the many festivals and cultural events that we've
got going on in this desert you want to know why leave why not leave Connie brag Park alone I guess there are two points of view here one would be to change it and the other would be to leave it alone and the people who want to leave it alone didn't win the discussion the people who want to see some changes
there wanted to be more accessible to the people more beautiful to the people invigor that particular area throughout the city certainly um your next question was uh why paint the uh Broadway Viaduct
area when we when it's only going to be repaired Mr Fernandez can you help us with that one yes council president so that was at the direction of the mayor he wanted to make sure sure that that area was safe especially for the pedestrians all the children that come uh up and down that
roadway and to make sure that everybody understood kind of the lanes of travel and especially when it's darker out that um Vehicles actually knew how to get in and out of that area with a with as much e as possible before I
let you go the mayor and his comments I know address the subject so forgive me for asking you to be repetitious on his behalf but can you tell us why the trees were cut down yeah so as the mayor stated he was very clear on that it's all part of a specific project to repair
um the the viaduct to get through one part of the C Creek to the other the brook and it's required as part of construction there's significant work that's going on all the way from the water main that's in the center of that Island all the way across uh to uh old
Ridge Road where they're going to be removing the actual um covert and re redoing it it's going to be brand new um as the mayor had said the um those trees were planted in memory of men and women of our Armed
Forces who died in 19 the 1900s uh in in history to make history come alive and now they're cut down what will be in their place the mayor was adamant in fact I was uh one of the individuals he made sure was aware of the situation so
that they were they are to be replaced um every single tree that's cut down is to be replaced and there's also discussions of any other additional Landscaping to beautify the area but the mayor Mak sure that at not only
discussing with our engineering department the County engineering department uh we reviewed the plans uh together regarding the replacement of those trees he wanted to make sure that that honor of those individuals was kept as well as just to beautification and
Landscaping of that area maintained at the end of the project um let's not lose fact that the the this cover was degradated and was falling apart and was dangerous to the point where it had to be replaced and like the mayor said um
in collaboration and communication with the county they're going to be repairing it and making it branded yeah thank you counc so they're going to be receding any of the ples that are there okay yeah in fact the mayor and I were reviewing the plans
and it said not only were they going to replace it but they were going to polish them as well so they said the plaques were to be polished and replaced mayor I don't know if I missed anything yes just if I may add um obviously you've already answered regarding the uh the trees it was necessary they they could not do the
work and leave the trees in place so we we obviously uh asked and then asked again for them to justify went through our Engineers we wanted it vetted we wanted to make sure that the work was necessary we tried to see if they can leave the trees and still do the work
they said no so again that's just because of the work but I will share this regarding the painting of the Broadway Bridge council president it was a bright yellow which is typical of areas especially high traffic the visibility of it it is intended to ensure that individuals know the
distance they should keep so that was to enhance um pedestrian safety if you would allow Cony brags Memorial Park I just want to clarify something there was a statement that was made by the gentleman at the microphone who said why not leave it as it was for those of us in there are members of the city council
who actually grew up and know the area there were never seats or tables in fact it it was just ground the fact that it has seats and tables that he's referring to is because of a change that we made I I wanted to
point out the irony of saying leave it as it was and not change it because what he's pointing to as positives were a result of change that we implemented this is typical it's normal for us to identify something and say how can we
make it better from some residents they will agree as you articulated so eloquently council president and others would disagree but I want to point that out that having grown up around the corner from there and I know the familiarity that others have with the area that never had seating or ballards
and never had flowers never had tables that all came over the last eight years so that was a change if the gentleman at the microphone is stating it should remain the same then I'm not sure if he means remain the same before we made the changes when it had nothing at all or
leave it now that we made the changes and perhaps I would propose that years from now with these additional changes him or others may come to the mic and say we like these changes and then if if I could I think his question batim was what were the messaging boards for I
think you answered for messaging and then lastly I just want to point out just to clarify that the calendar has different pages they flip it's not like there's 58 names on one page each page is a reprint with some additional information but you'll find the council
members names you'll find department heads names and as the mayor and each every time you flip it you're going to find it again so you may find in multiple the only thing I would add is he said it was 50 times Rick I was ad him and I won it 75 times not no I'm sorry that's a joke I don't know lost
count may I lost count I apologize I'm being factious to make light of it but thank you council president for responding I just wanted to clarify for people to know it's not like it's a multiple names on one page you flip it each month is a different page with additional information in your right council president people do call and
they see the mayor's number and they'll call for a number of things whether it's a tree down or an issue they may have thank you very much thank you mayor anyone else like to address the council at this time good evening council president I have the honor of moving
back to pic from Clifton New Jersey um welcome back thank you thank you we could have your name for the record sir y wolf thank you I just want to bring up something that I brought up before I don't know if there's anything to do about it we'd like to say p is a urban city more than any other city or close
to many close to any other city in New Jersey it's costing me to move back to P in terms of car insurance over six months $311 which over which comes out to a little over $50 a month for two cars I'm assuming that there's about 20
25,000 people like me we're talking about well over a million dollars a month I'm wondering if there's a break even point where the city could acknowledge that investing I know the city is investing
in Safe Streets and old likes but there are still too many crashes too many unsafe intersections too many robberies too many break-ins many not even reported in Pak and I'm wondering if a
certain amount of investment can ultimately save the homeowners of Pak the money that would be invested in even more that's my first point I also want to uh congratulate the finance Commissioner of pic I understand that there's a contract
tonight that's being approved for $10 million for garbage collection not including tips it seems to me that the garbage went down 30% I think in 2024 in 2023 it was well over $3
million over five years it seems to be going down to $2 million unless if I'm wrong I would like to hear about that I'm curious to know about the change orders that pop up regarding the parking deck which is turning out to be a very
nice project it seems I'm curious why there keeps every few months being a change order if it's a last minut a change or it's something in the budget that can't be approved sooner I also want to know if the costs that are in the budget that are in the agenda tonight for the parking deck does the
city anticipate those coming back through collections of people parking there or is this a cost that's going to be going forward to maintain the besides for the maintenance of the actual structure but this is going to be a cost that the city is going to be incurring
yearly in the six digits thank you so much very good thank you so much sir um you are not in any order uh in terms of car insurance um car insurance is a function of the
marketplace it is also a function of the government to some extent uh there is an oversight of car insurance that's done by the department of banking and insurance of the state um in terms of rates um there is no doubt that rates are much higher in urban areas there
have been many people who have accused the insurance companies of discrimination because they chose uh urban areas for that and there's a constant give and take back and forth um but that is beyond the city's control uh certainly in terms of it in terms of
the garbage removal Mr fernus how are we doing with that well I I wish the statements were true we probably would have been having a party here this evening if that were a fact unfortunately the the contracts
went up significantly about a half a million dollars a year so the $2.5 million for five years is an added EXP expense above and beyond what the original one was so uh the mayor the finance officer and myself have been
working diligently to look at uh how to balance that with the rest of the budget uh unfortunately and I wish that the covid pandemic results would have evened it out but it seems to be making it worse originally it went up
about 400 and change per year and now when we reach re bid it again into half a million dollars the mayor um after discussions with the finance officer um we had a discussion on locking the rate in for as long as possible to make
sure that this increase because in two years or three years we do this again we may get hit with another half a million dollars so the mayor was adamant let's make sure we stop the bleeding at where it is and um as the council knows when you're budgeting once we put it in the
original budget then it kind of Bal it kind of offsets itself uh throughout the other years because it's now established as an expenditure may I don't know if you want to expand Mr ba yes yes I think it's important I think it's important to note that that was the lowest bid that
we had that came in for over a million dollars this is something that's occurring throughout the state the cost of picking up garbage has gone up but I I think it's important to note and I want to commend the work of the business administrator our purchasing agent our
finance um representative connection what we're ready uh why don't we go to the next question um the gentleman raised and that is yeah he's Mr Mayor can you hear
us yes sorry council president I I promise I'm not gonna go long you don't have to kick me out of the zoom I'll try to make it short that's like the Overture music in the in the Academy Awards you just put exit but very quickly what I wanted to
share was that point council president um the business administrator is correct if we wouldn't have locked in these rates we would have been subject to even higher rates in two years again I must point out that was the lowest bid the one that was almost half a million
dollars more than previous years and we do not have an expectation that they're going to go low so to the extent that Mr Wolf said it is a savings longterm locking in rates longterm We Believe will result in savings because what we see is the trend that's
going to continue going up and other municipalities that do not lock in a rate now will find themselves with increased rates and no lower bid so I think that's extremely important to share but yes Rick I just wanted you to point out that the lowest bid was that number and we had bids that came up over
a million dollars M if we could ask in in conversations you've had with your May colleagues across the state have they H faced the same issues yes yes as you know we are responsible for um or we we
are required to go off for public bidding and have a government contracts we have to take the lowest responsible bid and they're all facing the same thing it's going up all over the state okay
um if we could go on in terms of the parking garage Mr Fernandez can you tell us address the issue of change orders which we're seeing quite a number of yeah so some of that was expected we have a contingency for those uh
expenditures we are still within budget uh and and the additional item that you see here this evening we're actually very excited about um the mayor was adamant that the citizens of p and those that visit the city should have the
state-of-the-art facility and what this this U item on the agenda is for all the equipment the scanners the the lift the the lights everything that comes along that are extras in the deck that it's
not the building of the deck that's why it has to be separate from the original of the deck which was budgeted for it is part of U you know our expenditures and that's on this evening for the entire mechanism uh for the parking deck so what you see here this evening is for
that mechanism that's going to have the ability to scan license plates uh scan your phone if you pay by phone you could pay by with a with you can actually have the normal ticket there's going to be uh counters and uh indicator lights so that
when you go to Every floor will know exactly which space is available and open uh and then the next thing you're probably going to see not at this meeting but at a future meeting would be all the electric vehicle Chargers that we are required to put in based on the state regulation and in the evening
hours when people might feel a little bit weary about having to retrieve their car at 11 o'clock at night uh so it's fully camera the camera system is going to be tied directly into the police department mayor want to make sure that there was
safety for everybody um especially the residents that will be permitted to park there overnight because I want to make sure that all the residents in the area were allowed to park in the deck overnight so the whole system will be set up uh with uh different uh rules
depending on what you're using it for so if you're a resident there's going to be a certain timeline for you to be able to use it without paying anything if you're a commuter it'll have a SE separate regulations for that as well as if you're just coming in to run into City Hall and run out uh or if you're an
employee so the system is state-of-the-art it has the capabilities to do all those distinctions between the users um so that's what we're working on May I don't want to I know that that was something we had a long conversation you want to make sure that happened so I want to make sure I don't miss anything
the only thing I would ask um Mr business administrator through the council president if you can just share that this is typical change orders when you have developments like this and they can range from an additional uh technology or and we discussed these before projects come in sometimes
there's something that arises in terms of material or they may find something in the ground that this is not something odd when we run into change orders or having to have a cost but these technologies that will allow people to know how many available spaces are important there will be a revenue
generating aspect to this in terms of commuters and those who are parking to uh go visit our business district and that Revenue will go to maintenance and to uh regulating the parking spaces in the proximity to the police department obviously with the surveillance enhances security to Hope alleviate hopefully
alleviate some of the concerns that residents may have very good and the last question the gentleman raised is in terms of payments uh that one makes to park there where do they
go Mel that's under the parking Authority agreement with the city of sake so the parking authority is going to manage the parking deck there's a Shar a shared income agreement between the parking authority and the City of Pake so all the revenue after
expenditures uh will go back to the city of Pake as currently all the parking lots Municipal parking lots do in the city of Pake so that's not that system is not going to change if anything it's just going to add more money to that agreement that comes back to the city
very good thank you anyone else like to address the council this time sir we have the gentleman here in the front see he wants to do it in Spanish council president Council I left my Spanish at home but I guess
he's an employee here at the city he's a crossing guard yeah thank you um currently he works on Liberty and Broadway as a crossing guarden and lives on 200 Penington for the past three years he's been avoiding
okay he's encountered several situations where he's um several drivers have attempted to hit him with their vehicle okay it's every
day and it's every day what when he leaves when he leaves home to go to work and on his way back I'm going to um I need you to uh translate for me please councilman council president council president council president for forgive
me for interrupting it is it is not just about to do to do what you're doing please continue ma'am oh you council president I wasn't not sure if you heard or if the audio wasn't clear but I'm my part the speaker identified the drivers as being specifically um Jewish and
attempting to hit him with the car I wanted to pause that and explain to you so you understand exactly what he's saying as I'm not sure if he meant that translation Council woman but I think it's important that we clarify because
we we were not tolerate nor accept any comments that would insult or disparage any group and maybe he needs to be clear on what he's saying but the council president should be aware of verbatim What the speaker saying as should all the council members where I'll confirm
with him so what he's saying is exactly who is he referring to president his words for btim was they all look alike forgive me I don't want to take it on councel him but I want to be clear that his translation is translative of btim because if he is
implying or insinuating something that is in any way insulting or discriminatory the council president should be made aware and he stated that he cannot point out but that when he takes out his phone for pictures the drivers all look alike and to which the councilwoman had asked specifically are
you referring to individuals on the de to which he said they all look alike so I believe it must be clear that the individual may have implied council president that he believes he is being harassed and targeted by vehicles from A specific group I believe he mentioned
the Jewish group I did not hear clearly but I believe and I think that if that is what he's stating councilwoman though I don't want to take the translation away and it is at the direction of the council president he must be made aware of this individual as in any way making any discriminatory remarks about any
group in the city May mayor thank you I'm going to go one step further uh with your kind permission members of the council um this is matter the gentleman identified himself as a employee of the city um
this is a matter it would seem to me between the gentleman and his supervisors whoever is appropriate it is not a matter to be adjudicated by this Council we appreciate the gentleman's comments but the gentleman must know that he is speaking on the record and he
could jeopardize himself by continuing this line of thought I would respectfully ask he sit down um rather than continuing to make his remarks which I think might put him in danger of employ okay excuse me is that ma'am is
that appropriately stated that is appropriately stated this is a matter that he should address with his supervisor uh and Broad statements that he's being targeted by people of Jewish descent people are Jewish are not
appropriate in this proceeding if you could translate ma'am further gentlemen um okay Le um [Music] yes sorry I I informed him that he is to address this with his employer um and he
continues to say that this is something that needs to be addressed because of whenever they're having meetings in the synagog so yes he is alluding to I would respectfully ask the gentleman to please step down that he is
in that he is jeopardizing his employe at this time okay for anyone else like to address the council at this time and it goes without saying that the gentleman's remarks were at best uh
disheartening and we hope that um the matter is taken care of administratively this is not acceptable in these Chambers not president fact that that he is making any statements at all regarding his employee yes Mr mayor council president we will have this addressed
immediately as always um we will not tolerate nor accept any disparaging remarks during our meetings or from any employee of any Group whatever concerns that this gentleman may have it is inappropriate and
unacceptable that any individual were to come to a public meeting and speak words that would Target or in any way uh depict any group in our city as somehow less than any other his remarks regarding a specific group that continue
to cause issues to his life I am very concerned about that I would ask our chief of police to follow up if there are any allegations that he's making that he is being targeted regarding his life but it is accurate to say that he is a representative of the city as a crossing guard and any issues that he
would have had there should have been a record of it to his direct supervisor visor however again I will reinforce what you said and stand firmly on this we will not tolerate any remarks of any group or any culture or any uh obvious
residents or family members of any group again that are disparaging hateful discriminatory in any way thank you mayor and just for the record um there have been rumors out there that mayor Laura and I uh are related by blood and
and I will confirm that that might be the reason for us having similar appearances anyone else that like to adjust the council see I move close second is a motion as a second ra call please to close councilman monk yes councilman
love yes Council Melo yes councilman yes councilman Garcia yes Council yes and council president sh yes thank you we're up to ordinances for second and final reading hearing is required number one proposed ordance 2478 5 an ordinance amending the
designation of restricted parking for disabled persons by New Jersey license plate number introduced at the February 20 2025 council meeting is there a motion please to open public hearing motion motion and second roll call please councilman monk yes councilman
love yes councilman Melo yes councilman SCH yes councilman Garcia yes Council MZ yes council president Shar yes thank you ladies and gentlemen if this time the council is deliberating proposed ordinance 24782 is there anyone who would like to
address the Council on this item and this item Only See No Hands close the public hearing second motion and second to close councilman mon yes councilman love yes Council Melo yes councilman Schwarz councilman Garcia Council yes
and council president yes thank you on the motion please is there maker so moov second thank you councilman monk yes councilman love yes councilman Melo yes councilman schw yes councilman Garcia Council yes council president yes thank
you ordinance is passed unanimously number two proposed ordinance 24792 an ordinance amending chapter 317 zoning article article four schedule of Regulation sections
317-1 adoption of schedule of the city of P code to promot tow houses units in R1 schu of the city of pic code to permit tow houses my repetition units in
R1 and R2 districts introduced at the March 4 meeting is there a motion please to open public discussion Mo and second R call please councilman monk yes councilman love yes councilwoman mow yes councilman Schwarz yes councilman Garcia
yes Council yes counc president yes thank you Mr fernandz what are we doing here uh so in its most basic it allows town houses to be placed as a permitted use in an R1 and an R2 Zone uh those are the only two zones within the city of Pake
that do not allow for tow houses and this would allow them to be a permitted use so now the R1 Zone would permit single family and Tow houses and the R2 would permit one family two families and town houses very
good is there a motion do we open public hearing on this yes we did I'm sorry m' speak no yes sir we just open we just open it okay thank you my name is Yosef wolf
um I want to commend that mentioned at the last meeting it mentioned the mayor in the ordinance itself so I want to commend the mayor for attempting to make home ownership and more affordable I think it's imperative on the counc to take weight that tow houses
are in essence the character of a townhouse is a middle class home and it's in in other areas of Brooklyn and very urban areas town houses could be luxury but in New Jersey town houses are
a middle class home and that allows people to be able to for afford home ownership and it also brings down housing prices of even um more single family character houses so I'm hoping that this would help home
affordability in Bic I do want to ask that the the city council about six months ago I think it was about six months ago passed an ordinance to make home affordability and to make rent affordability and they said
that any developments in Bic that have five or more units for rent or for sale have to have 20% set aside for low income not Workforce but low income and town
houses two points town houses the profits already are not substantial because you can't charge that much there's a nice amount of town houses for sale on Pennington they're not going that fast um if they price just a couple thousand dollars too high they're not
going to sell because it's a certain character of a house like I mentioned only for middle class the second point is the second point is that in pic most developments 90% maybe 95% of developments are for rental people want
to go to the bank and get funding for their projects they're able to show the bank that they're going to make money over the next 30 years when you're building a house and you're selling it you don't have that ability and you don't have that those profit margins over 30 years and that's why developers are
choosing to use the banks to build properties that they can finance and hold on to and use you know all the tax benefits of real estate for their generational wealth you don't have that when you build a house and you sell a house you
have capital gains even if you have long-term capital gains which you usually don't have it's it's not the same play and I'm asking the city council to re-explore this 20% set aside that they lumped in when they're trying
to make affordability M Mr Wolf I'm going to have to stop you and ask you that you be on the ordinance please okay this ordinance is to make affordability and pic and I think there's many many more aspects of this that can help I'm hoping the city council could examine
it I do want to ask if there's a single family house on the lot already does the city expect that the zoning or planning board are going to require someone to knock down that house even if there's a large lot on the side of the house I'm
going to have to direct you to the audience I'm giving you as L breath as I believe I can forgive me is the intent of this ordinance in the r one and R2 Zone to encourage people to knock down houses in order to build town houses or to allow them on
bigger lots that are vacant to build town houses or the third option is it both is it also that you can build a townhouse where there already is a single family or two family house yeah so it's a multifaceted
question but um the idea is not to tear down you know well establish functioning homes uh Mr Wolf discussed specifically finances and that's what's really going to come into play here I can tell you that in the R1 Zone it is uh where the
highest property values are within the city of Pake so to knock down a multi-million dollar home to build a couple of tow houses is not going to happen financially so uh we're envisioning larger lots of course
because it requires double the lot size of a single family so you uh just buying one normalized home in these two zones where the minimum L size 5,000 is not right you would need two of those lots
in essence to create tow houses so that's number one uh so number two it's meant more for the older the lab we've had conversations about upgrading our housing stock right homes that are falling apart lots that are empty um you
know I don't want to miss the a point of talking about what that creates for individuals that are in that zone okay because we always talk about inclusivity and not displacing individuals so I'll give you an example of kind of some of
the ideas that the mayor and I have been talking about right um you're a family that's starting out and you want to do that you're a professional that right now at this moment can't afford the larger homes and also the Aging population that we have within the
municipality that wants to stay in their neighborhood go to their same houses of worship be near their friends right but need to downsize and are giving larger family opportunities that's what a townhouse would do in these areas it is one of the most compatible uses of a
single family Zone that you can find in fact um it's a general practice that when you're creating let's say communities single family communities that tow houses are part of those
projects right we're just an old urban city that has already established locations uh but typically that combination of tow houses and single families is a common occurrence everywhere and um in an Administration
where the mayor has always talked about diversification of uses um integrating uses integrating uh incomes and allowing everyone to eny enjoy all the beauties of our municipality and this Council has
supported that Vision throughout the many proposals that we made this is yet just another opportunity to increase uh home ownership right because if we're doing multif family houses then the speaker is correct you're going to have
a lot of rentals right that we don't really have other uses that can incentivize home ownership like a townhouse incentivizes that type of ownership mayor did I cover I know there's so many points but I don't want to belabor the issue that we
discussed all I have to say is did open than is there I could have said one point that may not have been covered um I'm sorry coun the um I believe is owning ordinance only permits a single structure on a property so you could not
preserve the existing house if you want to convert the lot into town houses it would necessarily have to come down or the lot would need to be big enough that you could subdivide it and still maintain 5,000 for the single house and
10,000 for the town houses thank you councilman that is 100% correct we actually have a Prohibition of multiple uses on residential y Lots we only allow one residential primary use per lot in our ordinance
Mr ba council president the only thing that I would say after that comment is I I do want to thank the city council obviously and uh the work of the administrator often times residents hear these initiatives and I think the speaker had shared that there's been an
approach by the city council by the administration to address affordability issues but to make sure that we look at the city as a whole the business administrator articulated the compatibility of tow houses the speaker spoke about the middle class and how
important it is to not forget them when we are addressing issues of housing stock and opportunities over the past two years we've addressed issues that go towards assisting landlords Property Owners seniors families in need families
that are starting out those who are have many challenges and need affordable opportunities not every initiative will be accepted or uh or supported by everyone but I think when you look at all of the initiatives that we've put forward forward as a whole the residents
of the city can feel confident that this legislative body that the administration and residents that come up are constantly speaking we have sometimes taken or began approaches and I've heard the concerns of residents and walked them back to ensure that we can address
things and be pragmatic and responsible looking towards the future but I I just want to thank this city C Council sometimes people hear these initiatives presented at a meeting and don't realize how many meetings are happening before the council meeting the conversations
the phone calls there's a real issue regarding affordability throughout the state some would say throughout the nation but I am so grateful and again want to highlight the work of the city council of the business administrator Rick Fernandes of obviously the
attorneys and everyone working so hard to do our very best to ensure that we provide opportunities for every resident not just today but for years to come thank you thank you ma'am anyone else like to address the Council on this item and this item
only saying no hands I'm Mo to close the public portion second motion and second R call to close councilman monk yes councilman love yes councilwoman mow yes councilman short yes councilman Garcia yes councilwoman colz yes and council president yes thank you on the ordinance
please is the maker so move second motion and second R call please councilman monk yes councilman love yes councilman Melo yes councilman Schwarz yes councilman Garcia yes councilman colz yes and council president sh yes
thank you we're up to ran numeral 7 on our agenda Communications is there are there any questions please on items 3 through 12 and 14 through 16 no council pres seeing none is there a
motion please to accept items 3 through 12 and 14 15 and 16 so mov motion second roll call please councilman Mo councilman love yes councilman mow yes councilman Schwarz yes councilman Garcia yes councilman colz yes and council
president sh yes thank you separate vote please on 13 is there a maker motion and second roll call on 13 monk yes councilman love exension councilman Melo yes councilman Schwarz
yes councilman Garcia yes Council and council president sh thank you all matters list say are under considered routine and nature item 17 through 27 I'm sorry 17 through 25 are there any questions please on 17 25 s
none is there motion please to accept 17 through 25 excuse me 26 I amend that to 26 second motion and second on 17 through 26 councilman Mo yes
councilman love yes councilman Melo yes councilman schw yes councilman Garcia yes councilman yes and Council yes thank you special vote separate vote on 27 is there a maker please second on 27
councilman monk yes councilman love exension councilman melon yes yes councilman schw yes councilman Garcia yes Council yes I mean yes thank you uh resolutions please ran numeral 8 28 closes for a closed
executive session ma'am Mr Fernandez that I see councilman Monk Is your load on uh yeah the 2029 uh we're we're on resolutions on 28 we
just called for I I will accept your question at this point if you have 29 there question on 29 um I actually went to the website that's on the on the resolution um and I don't know why but
the contract 292 different contract showed up but I just a really more broader question is that when you when you tied in with a specific company when they install all the equipment um are you tiing it forever because of the software like you know
the the the hardware is so specific that you really they really have you tied up forever because you can never really switch the computer systems the software so the the software and actually that's a good question so the software is
separate apart from the hardware and it um integrates other software so we don't have to have that issue as an example we already started uh from the very beginning we're going to start with additional software because the city of
Pake has Park Mobile which is separate from their parking app and it has to accept it so to answer your question we don't have to use their app at all we can use our app uh there is a fee for changing it of
course to the other software so it can take one software or many different types of software to manage the programming um so if we did Park hero I think there's one that's called Park hero we can as a municipality if we
decide to add that as an additional app we could do that or if we stop the contract with Park Mobile and want to go to park hero we can do that as well right so it gives us some flexibility understanding that um there
is as always within this there's a maintenance program that always happens with all of the software irrespective of which software it is that you use so it's unfortunately that's the technology of today this day and age where you have
to maintain that with it support and things of that nature to make sure it continues to work thank you thank you councilman are there any questions please on items 29 through 37 lights at this time is there a motion
please to accept items 29 through 37 so Mo motion and second Ro call please councilman monk yes councilman love yes councilman mow councilman Schwarz yes councilman Garcia yes councilman colz
yes and council president sh yes thank you we are on ordinances for introduction first reading number 38 please in ordinance amending the designation of District parking for disabled persons my n Jersey license plate number is there a motion please to accept for sit down for second and final
reading at our meeting of April one so Move Motion second and second roll call please councilman mon yes councilman love yes Council Melo yes councilman Schwarz yes councilman Garcia yes
councilman yes and council president yes thank you payment of bills are there any questions on the bills as presented by the clerk s at this time is there motion please to accept the Bills second motion and second thank you roll call coun monk yes coun love yes
counc yes counc yes counc Garcia yes counc yes yes thank you administrator's report Mr Fernandez none this time good J thank you sir Mr Mayor you're still with us I'm sure yes yes council president um I
know that we have uh passport days that we're going to add additionally I I believe the clerk has some specific dates I'm not sure if she's already set them but we want to let the public know there's been an increase in requests for passports there will also be uh early
voting days that will be publicized on the website and put up on the monitors to ensure that individuals are aware that there are opportunities to uh vote whether in the local or the state elections for the primaries I want to share that and then if if the count
president the council members would allow there are 28 participants watching our council meeting and many more that will watch later on as they get posted online and as mayor I wanted to clarify something for those who hear this Council the
council president and the members of the city council have always allowed individuals to express their concerns and their criticisms especially directed individually at any one of us as representatives of government we are public
officials but we must be vigilant and immediate in our response in denouncing any hate speech and I want to be very specific now we live in a world where words matter and despite what some may think
to allow individuals to espouse hatred whether anti-Semitism or discriminatory remarks against any group can result in a real dangerous situation it may incite violence or response from
individuals for those who may have heard the comments though they were in a a different language we stand firm that we will not tolerate any discriminatory language any hate speech whether spoken in English
Spanish or any other language it is unacceptable in regards to the area of traffic I just want to point out there's been perhaps no other councilman more committed to safety measures on Pennington and a than
councilman monk who is very aware of accidents or those who may drive at higher speeds he's been fighting for signals traffic lights painting along with the other council members but issues of traffic or pedestrian safety
aren't specific to any group you can check with our police I can tell you for sure that every group and every individual has received speeding tickets uh speeding tickets traffic violations parking violations again I want to go back to this I have seen each and every
council member stand up to nip in the bud any insinuating whether directly implying or any blatant Communications that would pick communities against each other but in a world now where we are
hyp sensitive where someone who would make make some ridiculous allegation some inflammatory remark some statement against any group that may result in others targeting that group as government officials we have a
responsibility and a duty but from the very very depths of our soul and I know these individuals that I work with very well these are individuals of the highest character will not be tolerated by anyone so those who may hear perhaps review the video and say why was this
individual stop from communicating it's because one represents government perhaps this individual may need to seek out some additional help or clarify his remarks but we will always air on the side of caution when it comes to protecting the children families and
communities we are blessed to have a diverse community of different views different backgrounds different cultures different beliefs together we are a strong City but I must point out that whether it's a mark on a wall graffiti a
statement that anyone makes whether it be a public official an employee or anyone else in a position of Authority or influence words have consequences these are not to be taken lightly to stand on the microphone and
imply that A specific group is attempting to harm an individual whether with vehicles or otherwise you know you don't make allegations like that in public meetings and expect everyone to stay quiet and I think every resident in the city who stands up against division
because we continue to progress good things continue to happen because of our Unity but again I wanted to be firm and specific the statements of this individual they bordered if not bordered they were anti-semitic and if it was any other
group if any other individual of any background would have come up and spoken something about the African-American Community the Latino Community the South Asian Community any Community as a whole and St that this Community as a whole is after him or trying to harm him every
one of us would have stood against that as well because we stand against hate discrimination and intolerance and it's even more important today that we understand that there are those who would use platforms like these to espouse their views and spread them and
create dangerous situations and we must be reminded that there are children and families who live in our city and look to us to stand up for every community so I wanted to state that thank you very much for indulging those comments council members for allowing me to speak
that thank thank you Mr Mayor for your comments I know that they reflect the viewpoints of this Council and not not well close to all members of our great Community having said that is there if
there's no other business before the council at this time is there a motion please to adour move it second motion on second R call please councilman mon yes councilman love yes Council Melo yes councilman Schwarz yes councilman Garcia yes councilman yes and council president
sh yes thank you this meeting is the J