The following is the agenda for the regular burough council meeting of the Burough Cons mayor and council municipal corporation in the county of Miss. The meeting will begin at 7:30 p.m. on October 22nd, 2025 in the municipal building, 25 Lennox Avenue, Compton
Lake, New Jersey. Consistent with the Open Public Meetings Act, the meeting will be open for public comments and shall be in accordance with the terms and condition to the Burough Municipal Code and bylaws. Please stand for reflection. I pledge algiance to the flag of the
United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all. >> I would ask everybody to keep in memory Andy Silverstein and who was a longtime planning board and redevelopment and
board of education member who had passed and Ellis Marles who was a longtime councilman here also passed. two people that spent a lot of time and energy helping our communities. We have a moment of silence for them. >> Thank you. In conformance with the open public
meeting law, public law 1975, chapter 231, adequate notice of this meeting setting forth the time, date, place, and purpose of this regular meeting through notice posted on the bulletin board in admissible building mailed to wall requested and paid for same and published in the suburban trench. Roll call, please. >> Mayor Sarah
>> here. >> Council president >> here. >> Councilman Cruz >> here. >> Councilman >> here. Councilwoman Kent >> here. >> Councilman Quinn >> here. >> Councilman Bennett >> here. >> With us this evening is our burough
attorney David Rutenberg and our burough administrator Michael. >> Thank you. Before we get to our presentation, it's my honor to invite our commissioner Orlando Cruz up to do a little uh something for us with a nice big check. >> Always nice to get a big check. >> Absolutely. Thank you. Uh well, once
again, good evening, mayor, uh honorable council president, and council members. Uh, I'm here. Uh, well, for those of you who don't know me, I'm County Commissioner Orlando Cruz. No relation to Councilman Bobby Cruz. I don't know if that's a good thing or not, but >> we're cousins. >> Yeah, we're cousins. There you go. Um, for us at the county, Pton Lakes is more
than just a burrow. It's a community that reflects the heart, resilience, and pride of its residents. So, the county tonight is proud to stand beside you in support of that spirit every step of the way. I'm honored to present the bureau a $100,000 grant uh from the P County Open
Space Farmland and Historic Preservation Trust Fund. The funding will support the muchneeded upgrades to the Pontton Lakes Library, helping to preserve this true local landmark which has served this community since 1912. The library, which you know was
commissioned by Miss Emanuel Einstein in the memory of her husband, has been a cornerstone of education, literacy, and community programs for more than a century. The recent renovations have modernized the building, but structural challenges remain. This grant ensures that the library's historic charm and ar
um architectural integrity are protected by uh with this with these dollars and they'll be protected for generations to come. Uh Pate County continues to work on projects that put people first. As you guys are well aware of the Liberty, a new senior and veterans affordable
housing project that represents far more than brick and mortar. place where residents will find comfort, safety, and dignity. Prior to prioritizing our veterans and local seniors, this $19.6 million project that will be managed by Christian Healthcare Center will offer not only quality living space, but also
supportive services to uh services to residents to live healthy and fulfilling lives. Um, when it comes to everyday life, we also have obviously the Pmpton Aquatic Park, a place where families can explore, neighbors can connect, uh, and enjoy the beauty of nature right here in
Pompton Lakes, right in their own backyard. So whether it's bird watching, fishing, hiking, this is a reminder of how much open space means to us. With that being said, on our county website is a link to a open space survey. Uh, this will guide future decisions on
preservation, recreation, and investment. We are uh encouraging everyone to please go on our website, click on the link, fill out the questionnaire. Uh we're encourage um again encouraging everyone to participate uh here in Pmpton Lakes.
It's not just about programs and projects. It's about the people. So this survey will help us ensure that every resident has the opportunity to live, work, and enjoy all that this community has to offer. Uh together we will continue to make Palton Lakes a place where everyone can thrive. Thank you again for the time and mayor. I'd like
to present you with the check. >> First of all, thank you for for coming down. Um, you know, you're picking one of our one of our gems of our town. It's our library. It's been a long time standing and anything we can do to make that better. I'm going to ask Michael, our library director, why you're coming up, too. Uh, so we appreciate all the time
and energy you put into this and the money we get from the open space. Open space goes a long way in our community with many different projects that we're working on. I would always ask as much open space can come to Pop Lakes is the best because it really helps us do projects in a small town. So, we appreciate the time and energy.
>> Thank you. Thank you guys. Thank you. >> Oh, is the board here? >> Yeah. Come on up. [Music] Right. You guys can take this and cash it.
>> Thank you, mayor. Thank you, council members. >> Thank you. [Music] Okay, now I'm going to ask uh Collier's Engineering Kristen to step forward and talk about our community engine energy plan presentation. >> Yep. Good. Good evening everybody.
Kristen Russell with Kier's engineering and design and I am um your actually your municipal planner. Um one project that we have been working on recently is your municipal community energy plan. Um about a year ago, Compton Lakes received
a grant to prepare um this document. And I'm going to tell you a little bit about the background. Um, in 200, uh, a couple years ago, the the state adopted their own community energy plan,
and that sets forth their goals to make New Jersey more energy um, efficient, to reduce emissions, and to be more responsible to our environment. They can't do that on their own. So they are asking municipalities to create their
own let's say mini community energy plan to select how each municipality will play a role in that endeavor to be more energy efficient by 2050. Um the document that you receive at the
beginning it goes over some demographic information. I'm not going to get into all of that. Um then we get to a section called the work plan. So, the BPU, who is the giver of the grant, um along with sustainable
Jersey, has prepared, I'll say, a menu of initiatives that towns can pick from things ranging from solar to EV to um building um efficiencies like um
rainwater capture and um using LED bulbs instead of um tradition traditional old light bulbs, that sort of thing. There's probably 30ome items on this menu that municipalities can pick from. So, Pumpton Lakes put together um a group of
um municipal representatives who worked with me and came up with a list of nine initiatives that they found were appropriate and possible for Pmpton Lakes to pursue. Now,
I'll go over each of them, but I want to let you know that putting them in here does not necessarily obligate you to do them if your priorities change or if the money is not there or anything like that. There's no penalty for not
pursuing them. The reason that we list them and go into some detail about each of them is that once they are in this document, you're you'll be eligible for implementation grants. So projects that you already have your eye on or things
that you even think you might want to do are now once you get to them, you're now in a really good position to ask for funding to support that endeavor. So, the choices that were made are
things that Pompton Lakes um the representatives on this team thought are possible, thought are desirable, and thought, "Yeah, if if the opportunity presents itself and we can get funding to do this, it might be a good thing for
Pompton Lakes." Not every town picks the same thing. I'll give you an example. a sunny beach town might have great opportunities for solar where a town with a lot of tree cover might not. So that's why each initiative is looked at
through a local lens to decide what really makes sense for your town. Um I'm going to go through each of them at a pretty high level because I don't want to um spend all of your evening going into the nitty-gritty on this. If
you have any questions about any one in particular or broader questions, I'm I'm happy to take them. So the state plan, this the state energy plan sets forth their initiatives by categories. So the
first category or they call it strategy is to reduce energy consumption and emissions from the transportation sector. Pumpton Lakes picked several from this strategy. The first one being to improve municipal
fleet efficiency. Um we are aware that the DPW has 18 vehicles and the police force has 19. And so the steps toward improving fleet efficiency will revolve around um
somebody in DPW keeping an annual inventory of the vehicles. um coming up with a five-year procurement plan. And there's um basically a website that helps you calculate whether or not the cost of a
new efficient or electric vehicle based on miles driven and stuff like that will be worthwhile for your needs. Um and so the DPW representative will um work with that software and where it's efficient
to do so. um con will will consider um upgrading to EVs, plugins, whatever is a step above what they already have now. That will go with the normal turnover of vehicles anyway. It's not saying that
you would buy a whole new fleet in 2026 or anything like that. It would be a gradual process. Another initiative in this category that was selected was to install public EV charging infrastructure. Um that just simply means inventorying
possible public or municipalowned parking lots, finding a spot that can receive that um electricity in a reasonable way and um going forward to install um some EV chargers that will
serve as a demonstration because the third initiative in this category was to encourage workplace EV charging infrastru structure and that would in involve some outreach to businesses, maybe businesses that have
substantial parking lots and encouraging them to go and add one to their parking lot, whether or not that's for the use of their employees and the public as well or however that works itself out. The second strategy that um the state
established and that Pompton Lakes um selected initiatives from is to accelerate the deployment of renewable energy and that basically has to do with solar. Pumpton Lakes does have um about 3,100 roofs that are considered solar viable.
That means they get enough sun to make it worthwhile. Um and so the first initiative that was selected was to adopt supportive zoning and permitting for private solar. This would be an ordinance amendment that basically puts
in place the steps the regulations so forth in your zoning code for rooftop solar. Um then two related the next two related initiatives are basically to encourage other encourage people to to do this. So
the first being an solar employee benefit program. So that would mean partnering with a solar provider, coming up with a package kind of like a package deal for um municipal employees that might you know uh
uh a matter of efficiency by you have now this larger population of people who you're advertising to in a in a um in a collective way. Um, and let's see if we can get a handful even of municipal employees interested. And then on a
broader scale, if that works at the m at the municipal employee level to broadcast that to the community at large. Okay, we're partnering with solar provider, solar installer, um, Mr. Sunshine, and they've come up with a
great deal for Pmpton Lakes, and here's a flyer to tell you more about it. you could click on this link and ask for um you know specific information related to your home. The third strategy is maximizing energy efficient energy efficiency and
conservation and that's related to um the build the cost of energy in buildings and um the the um efforts to make buildings more energy efficient and have lower cost in municipal operations.
[Music] The first initiative is called just that, upgrade energy efficiency in municipal facilities. Um, Pumpton Lakes intends to achieve sustainable Jersey Gold Star in energy which requires
reducing greenhouse gases by a certain percentage over several years. JCPNL has a program where they where they will work with um municipalities and help and audit your buildings and
tell you where your um opportunities are to become more efficient. Um I don't know the details behind how how they do that and what they look at, but they will come and it's I believe it's free of charge. they will come in, help you audit the buildings, and then you can
make a decision from there as to where you get a high rate of return um on improving um your buildings. Again, that sort of serves as a demonstration because um once that is done, a similar program is available to
residents and it could be, you know, advertised or shared through the municipality to tell residents, um, hey, JCPNL, um, can come out and tell you how to make your house more energy efficient, whether that's with lowflow, um, faucets
or changing light bulbs or really old appliances that could be energy star, a bunch of different programs. Um then strategy number four is prioritizing green design in construction. Um and this is kind of the
um the the big the the the biggest dream perhaps we can call it of Pmpton Lakes and that is to implement a green building policy. creating the policy isn't necessarily um a big dream, but if and when Pumpton
Lakes builds new buildings, um the the goal would be to have it to have energy efficiency and green building um part of that plan from kickoff. Um and then using that, you know, lead by example type of thing. Um that's a longer term
vision. Um, I know that there is um a possibility that the bureau um could be constructing new new mun municipal buildings, but nothing is on the immediate horizon. And so that's kind of let's create the policy now so that when
that time comes, it's all set up and we can um you know, we can be be ready from the beginning. Um those are the nine initiatives that Pompton Lake selected. And I did for I think I forgot to mention that we did have a community
meeting um maybe two months ago. Um it was right act actually actually out in the um vestibule before one of your meetings and kind of grabbed the public as they came in and said oh look this is what we're doing and talked to a couple people about it um got their input which
that um is a requirement of the grant that we be sure to involve the public and I would also invite the public to give feedback tonight um if there's anything that um they have questions about. Um, so we're now at the stage
where this body can um vote to adopt this document. Um, and once you've done that, when the next round of implementation funding becomes available, which I believe is early next year, um, any projects that you're ready to start with, you can immediately um,
pursue that funding. Again, nothing here. There's no punishment if some of these things can't be pursued or your priorities change direction, but it's a really good start for for um for setting yourself up for success.
>> My question just um so first of all, thank you for coming and doing the presentation. Uh you know, some of the things you're talking about are long-term goals, some things are short-term goals, you know, and I think some of them we're even trying to, you know, do right now with all our buildings. We're adding EVs to every parking group that comes in to build any
type of project. They have to add EVs. It's a state mandate, but it also helps our our town. Y. So, those are the short-term goals. You know, we do the rain gardens. We do those things right now with our flood advisory board and those things. The the longer term goals, and I I I know even last night at the planning board meeting was brought up about trying to get a green roof on that
new building that they were putting up. So, you know, those are we we are part of those conversations and, you know, we look forward to trying to work that, but this is a long-term goal like you said and we'll hit we'll itch away at it. If we can get some funding, it would help. >> So, that's why I I appreciate the idea that we can get some funding, which is great. Yeah. >> Get me.
>> Yeah. It was around funding. So, how's the funding work? Is it a fixed percentage based on project scope? >> You mean the implementation funding, right? >> So, well, so there's not just like one implementation grant. There are many grants from as I understand it many
sources. So that the answer to that question could vary considerably between one grant and the next and in all likelihood um at least for larger projects you would be pursuing multiple grants to kind of piece them together and have enough money. So some might be
at federal level, some might be at um you know sustainable Jersey state level um and some you know grants are some grants at least at the federal level are in flux right now. So you we might need to wait a few years until we're confident that they're going to be there
but this is still applicable at that point. >> So one of the other things we have done is we had bought in Jersey Central a couple years ago before our our administrator and they did do an evaluation of our building. Yeah, I have I have it. You got I think it was I want to say 2012. I have it in. >> Yeah, it was a while ago.
>> Yeah, >> but uh and res and residents have taken advantage because it is free. I think it is free. I'm not sure of that. Um it is free. So, we've done like those are small things that we've done to work on that. >> Yeah. >> Any other questions for >> Okay. Thank you. Thank you so much. >> Thank you.
>> Okay. We have a motion to open the meeting for public comments. >> Motion second. >> Councilman uh Councilman Cruz. All in favor? I against anyone from the public like to address please step up >> all boldly 120 rom following up on what
our engineer just discussed and I think I may have brought this up to council and the the public previously but JCPNL does have currently a home energy audit uh for private residences. It's free to anyone who has JCPNL electric which of
course we do. I had a woman come out and did a incessment in my entire house. And when she left, she left me with a brand new light bulb for every bulb in my house that was not LED. I had I got must have got 30 or 40 light bulbs, um uh
power strips, um uh shower heads, um all for free. Um so, uh she spent about an hour, an hour and a half going through my house pointing out, you know, here you could do this with insulation or that. When she left, I had a box full of stuff uh that JCPNL
gave me for free. Like I said, power strips, light bulbs of all different kinds. Uh candle bulbs, regular bulbs, fluorescent bulb, what used to be fluorescent showerheads, uh all kinds of stuff. So, I encourage the town people in town to do that and get all this free stuff. I mean, you're paying for it
indirectly through your your electric bill, but God, call them up and go on their website and they they have a way you can just sign up and they'll come out and send somebody out to do a home medicine and leave you with a bunch of good stuff. So, keep that in mind. >> Thank you. >> Anyone else?
>> We still requiring uh name and address in order to speak? >> Just name. >> Just name, not address. >> I'm asking for the name so I can call you. >> Excuse me. We can >> we're permitted to ask for the >> I understand that you can ask and
>> someone did refuse last meeting and you still demanded it. >> I reached out to my attorney. So what what you don't want to give your name? Is that what you're saying? You don't want to give me your name? >> I'm not going to give my name. I'm not going to give my address. >> So I'll call you. >> Sure. Okay. >> Is that funny?
>> Yeah. I have to call you something when I respond. That's all. >> It's funny because you have to call me something when you respond. Go >> ahead. >> Interesting. Okay. Well, last council meeting, Mr. Mayor, you uh uh advised by the lawyer had uh
forced the speaker to give their home address as a condition of expressing their first amendment right to redress her government. You took that footage and then uh you had it published on the internet for the world. That's gross.
You know, I'm uh tired of talking about it, but uh it seems to be relevant even today. When I had recorded Chief Clark uh and now Chief Rodriguez uh when Rodriguez had blown the stop sign and Clark had said
the nonsensical things he said, I exercised my Fourth Amendment right that day not to uh identify to the police when they had asked. They did everything they could to circumvent that right. and uh ended up iding me. And for years after that, I heard from numerous
people that Chief Clark was mad at me, angry at what I posted, and that he was planning on retaliating against me. Lots of people. Some people from the police department, some people who still at the police department, some random citizens. Lots of people heard about
this alleged retaliation. It wasn't just me. It worried me. I even filed a uh report with the the state county prosecutor's office over it. Over the next year, there were police that were parked outside my house in a
parking lot pointed towards my house constantly, almost every day. Sometimes just a few hours, sometimes all day. And this went on till close to about the time Clark left.
I understand that retaliation is real even in Pompton Lakes. So, I can understand why someone wouldn't want to dock themselves on speaking against you. Uh, I made a a post about this outlining why I think it was wrong. Seemed to spark some controversy in town. I
happened uh and later on last Thursday, I happened to be uh picking up pizza from Tony's and I saw that Paladori was having an event over there uh meet and greet. I thought it was a good time to introduce myself to her and we hadn't spoken before. I thought uh I could get
some insight on some of the things that I've been bringing up to the council. And uh I have to say we had a really nice conversation. Uh and I think we were on our way to finding some common ground that night. Unfortunately, Councilman Cruz was there
too. He'd been lurking behind the entire time listening to our conversation. at one point decided that Jen couldn't handle the polite conversation on her own and thought it would be best to explain to Jen what she could and couldn't say.
When I told Councilman Cruz that we were having a conversation and asked him not to interrupt, this infuriated him, shattered his very fragile ego. He turned around and stepped up to me, got very loud, exclaiming he could be anywhere he wanted and say whatever he
wanted. I continu continuously asked him to leave me alone, and he just got closer and louder. I finally asked him why he felt the need to be so loud and aggressive, and only then did he finally turn around and went back to his own
conversation. At this point, my nine and 5-year-old daughters were a bit shaken up by all this. And unfortunately, uh, Jen and I were never able to finish our productive conversation. We had left. Sad that this is the state of
Pmpton politics. When you feel the need to use fear and intimidation as a response to speech, [ __ ] tyrant. Keep on violating people's rights. To be honest, I don't even think you know what those rights are.
keep on using intimidation as a tactic for free speech. Mayor, I'm going to let you know I'm uh going to be uploading my own copy of this meeting to YouTube. So, before you speak tonight, I'd like to see if you have the balls to give
your name and address. [ __ ] you. Anyone else from the like to speak? Please step up. [Music]
Hela Zablaki 6 Butler Street. Mr. Sarah, doing something for 20 years doesn't make it right. Mr. Rutenberg, past practice doesn't contravene the Constitution. I'm exercising my First Amendment right
to speak. I'm exercising my Fourth Amendment right not to identify myself to government officials absent a crime. From now on, I will say my name only when I speak at a council meeting. And about the apology,
well, that was wishful thinking. I didn't really believe you'd apologize. Mr. Sarah, you mentioned veterans preference. Can you explain what that means for filling the chief's position? Another clarification.
I'm not asking about pending litigation. I'm asking about current agenda items and decisions this council is making. Regarding Officer Rodriguez's comments about the certified public manager program,
he said he was taking the course with lots of people like business administrators and fire department captains. Irrelevant. He said his predecessor recommended him. Now that's relevant.
Derek Clark and Anthony Rodriguez are facing serious allegations about discriminatory, abusive, and often illegal behavior for years. Clark's recommendation, like his wildly unfair assignment of
overtime, is more proof of that special treatment. I'm actually surprised Officer Rodriguez brought it up. I'm happy to hear that officer Rodriguez wants to send other officers to take
this class during work time. I assume he's made the department aware of this. Regarding overtime, in 2024, lieutenants and captains could finally earn overtime.
21 officers earned overtime pay, ranging from $57 to almost $37,000. The average was $10,000 651.
$10,651. Derek Clark approved all overtime. Officer Rodriguez made 36,935. Is 2024 the same year that officer Rodriguez was the highest paid employee in the police department, making more
money than the two higher ranked officers, captain and chief in spite of being a lieutenant, a lieutenant for the first half of that year. How does that happen?
Mr. Sarah, if you have numbers and facts that explain $20,000 gaps in annual salaries, please explain that to the taxpayers. And something more substantial than Mrs. Ablaky's
information is inaccurate. It's not. And the burrow follows state guidelines for OPRA requests. The town is not even close to following proper OPRA guidelines. Until there is a credible response to
months of questioning, this sounds like a yearslong scam of the police department and the taxpayers of Pmpton Lakes. [Music] >> Thank you. Anyone else from the public address?
Good evening, George Pole of 11:04 Kfax Avenue. But I'm sure you know that by now. 2 and 1/2 weeks ago, the pipe that was ruining my property at 11:02 Kax Avenue, right next door to my property, was
plugged. Since then, we've had several conversations, but no answers. Nothing to do about permit costs. When can I start repairing my property? Who's going to cover the the costs? I have seven quotes.
Uh my discussions with Mr. Carelli haven't even come close to these numbers. I don't know where he and his engineer came up with his numbers, but it's just they're ridiculous. I also want to find out
um when is the next step. They said, "I can't start until they totally fill the pipe." The pipe's just been plugged. It went in. Matter of fact, I think it was done by uh DPW on a Saturday morning at 7:00 a.m.
So, I'd like to see some progress. You know, I I've asked before, let's not do this all sequentially. We need to get stuff going. The weather's deteriorating. I don't want to go for another year without my property being fixed. It's dangerous. My family's in
danger. I don't see why I have to be put through this or my family. Michael, >> I hope you can speed things up. Thank you, Michael. >> Anyone else want to talk about lecture address? I see a hand back there. Check.
Excuse [Music] [Music] me. Ed Merrill 50 Ringwood Corps.
[Music] The reason I'm here to speak is um to make note of the passing of former Councilman Ellis Marles. For many years, I was the Palton Lakes environmental officer.
One of the pure pleasures of my job was working with Councilman Ellis Marbles. By any and every measure of the term, Ellis Marples was a true public servant. In all of the many years that we worked
together, if I had ever asked Ellis what was in it for him, he wouldn't know what I could possibly be talking about. In that sense, Ellis was old school.
He wanted to know what problem would be solved and how many people would be helped. Many of the things that we worked on together had never been done before. That didn't bother Ellis.
He had no fear of new ideas. His main concern was could we do it right? Ellis was available whenever and wherever you needed it. Given the nature of my job of overseeing
the environment, so often what needed to be seen was well off of the beaten path. Ellis was never afraid to get his shoes dirty. Hopefully, I have been able to share a
little bit of Ellis for those who never knew him. People who knew Ellis will never forget him. I certainly know that I never will. Ellis, have a good rest now.
You have earned it. Goodbye, friend, and good night. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Anyone else from the public would like to address? Please step up. [Music] Mike Simone, not afraid to give my
address at 25 West Linux. Um, two things. Ellis, um, I'm glad Ed brought it up. Ellis was my running mate for quite a few years and, uh, we served on the council for quite a few years together. A very honorable man. He was
very proud of his service in the army. We always would tease each other about the Army versus the Air Force. And I will tell you that he was responsible for a lot of the playground improvements in town if anyone is not aware of that. So Ellis, sorry that we lost you. Um
Lois, um my condolences to her if she sees this. Uh good man was lost and I'm sad to say that you know he was my friend and he's gone. The other thing I was going to mention to you is um in the middle of town,
I tell you the the traffic in this town or I should say the drivers in this town are nuts. And I'm not saying it's residents or non-residents, but you you walk or drive through Monu Avenue and people just ignore everything. Ignore
crosswalks. They ignore speed limits. They uh they actually don't even stop sometimes at the stop signs. I was just wondering if it would be worth a study or a discussion with the county to lower the speed limit on Waku Avenue. I know that's dramatic because
it's only 25 now, but maybe going to 20 uh maybe having a few more signs up with additional enforcement if if the police have the manpower to station somebody out there for a whole day. I bet you you would find a bunch of people that would not be happy at the end of the day. So I
would just suggest maybe if it's possible to look into some measures whether it's lowering the speed limit, further enforcement, some combination of the bunch Avenue is going to get worse and not better as the developments proceed. Uh just last night the planning board we approved changes
to the uh Washington building. So you know as that all happens, it's just going to get worse and people just don't seem to care. So for what it's worth. Thank you. >> Thank you. Anyone else from the public like to address? >> Seeing no one can have a motion to close the public session.
>> Motion. Councilman Ben. Councilman Hinton. All in favor? >> Against. >> Paul, thank you for your comments. I agree with you. I might even get it done for my own house just because the idea of saving some money on energy is a is always a good thing. And I think the presentation we heard today kind of supports that. Um, our second reader,
uh, who didn't want to give his name, um, I was not at the event. I do not know what happened there. Uh, you know, it's there's always two sides to a story. I can tell you the times I'm around Mh Councilman Cruz, he's polite and and courteous. Um, but I was not there, so I
don't know what happened. Um, so I'm going to leave it at that unless Councilman Cruz has anything he'd like to say. >> Okay. Uh, Mr. Blocky, uh, the veterans. Yes, I mentioned the veterans. When he went up for his lieutenants test, I think it was, he was, uh, moved up in rank because he was
a veteran. um when you you get points to move up if you're a veteran. Uh thank you for all your other comments. That all has to do with the police department. How they run the department, how overtime is run, and where it comes from has nothing to do with this council up here. It's set by the police department. As long as they don't go
over their budgeting numbers, that's what they do. Um who's paid more or less, I don't know. I don't know who works more hours, who works less hours, what their circumstances are around that. Um, but that's all I can uh give you on that unless uh AJ, anything you want to add to that?
>> No, I can't speak for Okay. Chief Mark's decision. >> Okay. Uh, Mr. Popoff. Uh, we're getting we're moving along. Okay. I understand there's a difference in uh numbers. Uh, that has to be negotiated between you and Michael. And Michael, I'm going to ask that we kind of work that through and
see, you know, see where how we can make that work because I agree we should try to get this done this year. But, you know, we have to be close to the numbers also. That's the other part of this. Um, the pipe itself uh Oh, yeah. I'm going to go back. >> He has something like >> Oh, go ahead. >> I was just going to say uh Mr. Pav uh
provided me with what I need tonight. Uh was waiting for that. Uh we are in contact with our contractor to come and fill the easement pipe that runs to the lake. Um so I will be reviewing this, meeting with George in the coming days and making some progress. >> And and the filling of the pipe will
happen. When do you think that'll happen? >> Very soon. very in the next week or two. >> Uh very soon in contact with our contract. >> All right. So, you know, we're still working towards it. Let's try to get it done. I agree with you. We want to finish it. Get it. I don't want to see you here anymore. I want you to be happy. I wanted to get it done. So, let's try to finish that.
>> Oh, come on. Take that person. >> Uh uh Ed and Mike both with Ellis. You know, I'm one of the few people up here that worked with Ellis on the council. You know, my first year was with Ellis and I learned a lot from him when he was here. You know, he cared about the people. He was the guy that would go sit down and talk to people sitting in the
audience. He was vital in our open space putting that together. I think our councilwoman count's going to speak about that. The playgrounds of course the veterans. He always started his report about the veterans. That was his biggest thing. He is sorely going to be missed. And I can tell you even in his advanced age when he left Pompton Lakes
he stayed in politics where he went into I think it was Sussex uh and kept being involved. He was another one of those Pompton people that wants to make the town better and to do that you have to be involved. So, you know, he is sorely missed and uh you know, uh prayers go out to him and his family. Um Mike,
speaking about the uh crosswalks and the drivers, of course, we all know that Wu Avenue, you know, is can get dangerous sometimes people not stopping. We can bring it up with the county, Mike, and see what they say about the 20. They're not I don't know how keen they'll be on that, but we can at least try. Uh I'm
going to ask the uh chief also to uh maybe do some more monitoring of speeding there and the crosswalks. I know we haven't done a crosswalk uh whatever they call that study or staying whatever that's called. >> Crosswalk detail >> detail uh in a while. So maybe we should bring that back to remind people you're
supposed to stop at the crosswalks. And and part of that goes with education to the kids also during lunchtime. You know, I don't blame the kids, but they're out and they're coming to lunch and they're just crossing the street anywhere they can. They're not really crossing at crosswalks, you know. So maybe there's some education that has to be done at the school level to remind
people when you come in out of lunch, go where you got to go, but you really should be crossing at the crosswalks. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Motion to approve the following minutes. Regular meeting minutes October 8th, 2025. Close session meeting minutes October
8th, 2025. Can I have a motion? >> Move. >> Second. >> Councilman Bennett. Councilman Cruz. All in favor? >> Uh authorizing bills and claims as listed below. Can I have a motion? Motion >> Councilman Benning. >> We have a second.
>> Second. >> Councilman Hinton. All in favor? >> I >> against uh resolutions. Anybody need anything pulled? >> Nope. Okay. >> Where's the Mayor and Burough Council of Burough Council consent agenda
consisting of proposed resolution? Mayor Burl County School of the Burough Council does not present resolution for individual action from that agenda. Now therefore, be it the following resolution on the consent agenda. I give I approve. Resolution 25-346
through 25-354. >> Motion to approve the resolutions. >> Motion. Councilman Vettin. >> Second. >> Council President Paul Dorton. All in favor? >> I against. Look at that. No ordinances. Crazy. Okay. under my report. I want to thank our planner uh for coming down.
You know, that's important information that you get. It gave us for the residential side of it and for the town side of it. Um you know, we are working towards some of those goals uh to try to uh limit our greenhouse gases, but some of those are big asks. You know, we're not going to go buy a whole new fleet of
cars and and we'll look at the future, but homeowners themselves can do a lot in in what to make their homes more safe. And like I said, I'm going to look into it myself because you're going to save money at the end of the day on your own bill. So, it's not a it's not a bad thing. I um attended the car show. Great event always as usual. The chamber does
a great job in putting that together. Um you know, it was a beautiful day and uh a lot of cars out there, a lot of people walking around. And you know, I spoke, it's funny because you see the same people over and over again at the same at the car show all the time. And they like coming to Pmpton. They tell me all the time it's one of their favorite
places to come and do the car show. Unfortunately, because of the rain date, it got bumped back a week and there were other car shows going on that they travel in this circuit. So, we lost a couple cars, but we'll be back to our regular date uh next year and hopefully it'll be bigger and better than ever.
Okay. Under my report for meetings, I attended a meeting with our administrator. I attended a meeting with the flood advisory board uh uh about services we'll be moving forward with. I had an ordinance committee meeting with uh Councilman Hinton and Councilman Cruz
about some ordinances we might be changing. Um I attended the planning board meeting which I'm sure uh Councilman Quinn will speak about. Another long meeting but a good meeting and a and a nice plan that was presented. I think you know it's the kind of improvements we're looking for
in town. Um I want to remind everybody that uh and I'm sure Councilman Kun will remind everybody October 26th is our Halloween hunt. 7:00 p.m. at Hersfield. come down. You should bring a flashlight with you and it's open to all ages up till middle school. Don't forget
November 4th is election day because we will not meet again before between that. Um and November 11th is Veterans Day and we will be having a ceremony here at 6:30. And that is my report. Council President Paulori. >> Thank you. Um first I I do want to acknowledge the fact that a mistake was
made and an apology should have been given. We were wrong in stating that you did not have to be forced to give your address. that you were to be asked. It was an oversight. I will apologize for that. Um,
I also attended the car show. Mayor and council are invited every year to hand out trophies. It was a beautiful, beautiful day. Um, we did have about I think it was 165 cars. So, there were other competing events, but it was still a really nice turnout and the weather was absolutely perfect. So, I thank the bid and the chamber of commerce for
hosting that. Uh, I also attended a candidates forum that was held by the Pmpton Lakes High School PTA for the board of ed candidates. It was run very professionally. It was the first time they that this particular PTA had done
it in years. They used to host one every year. Uh, so it was really good to see the candidates come out because we do have five individuals running for three seats and and everyone did really well. the questions were um very diverse in covering enough topics to give enough information for voters to be informed.
So, I thank the PTA for hosting that. Um I've also see on the agenda tonight that we do have a resolution to close the street for toys for tots. Michael, if it's okay, I'd like to sit with you for a little bit this next week um and just talk about some of the formalities as
far as vendors and and some things that we have in place that we've done every year. So, if you have a few minutes, can we go over that? >> Thank you. >> Okay. And then perhaps we can even have the flyer drafted so we can start sharing it because I see that they're starting to share the holiday stroll flyer. >> Okay.
>> Okay. Um and then uh someone uh Pastor John from Pompton Reform Church reached out and made a point of asking if we could bring some attention to the public that they do host a free community dinner every month. Residents, non-residents, anyone that would like to come out and enjoy a
meal at the church for free. uh is always welcome to and they are asking uh that it be made uh public that those meals are made possible by donations of corporate organizations or other private entities in town or residents that are interested. So if
anyone would be inclined in participating in that they are looking to help offset some of the costs for that dinner. So you can go reach directly out to the church for more information for that and we thank them for doing that. It's usually very well attended. Um, I look forward, Michael, thank you for
addressing my questions about the mural. That will be on workshop for the next meeting. >> Yes. >> Okay. Thank you for that. And prevention coalition. Uh, the next meeting is on the 27th, the evening of Monday. It is in the bid office on Wanqav. It's also
available via Zoom. All you have to do is go on the Prevention Coalition Facebook page and you can find all the information for that. here in Burough Hall on the 25th from 10 to 2, they're doing a prescription drug takeback day. So, uh if you have prescription drugs
drugs in your house that are no longer being used and you would like to uh get rid of them in a safe manner, they can be brought here through the prevention coalition. And also, they printed their October tip. As I had mentioned in the last meeting, they were working with the high school students and Dr. Chris Bolinsky to bring a health and wellness
tip. This time it was about uh getting enough sleep. So, please visit the Facebook page and and look at that. It's a really nicely done. Um, also just to add some input on uh one of the comments that was made in open
public session. So, I had asked about this a couple times in some of those alternating streets that go beyond I think it's uh Wanukq a the side streets along Wanqav. I had to go to the BFW today before the meeting
and I was making a left-hand turn onto BFW way and there was traffic coming this way and that way. I had the ability to make the lefth hand turn and as I got halfway down the hill there were which you can't see from around the building. Um a line of cars coming up the hill at
the same time which put me in a situation where the car oncoming car up the hill was not able to go in reverse and back down back into the parking lot cuz there were three other cars behind them which meant that I had to go into reverse back onto wanqab with cars behind me. So, we have a member from the
planning board that spoke tonight and open openly acknowledges that as we continue to approve buildings, traffic is going to get worse and driving is going to get worse on that road. So, if there is something we can do, specifically that road, because it is of all of those little side streets,
probably the most traveled one, and it is not possible how it's even legally a two-lane street. I don't know, maybe you can shed some light on that. It is actually not possible for two cars to fit on that road. >> Pretty sure uh council it's a there's an easement and it's private property. So
that's why it's not regulated at least by us or by title 39 on it being a oneway. >> Yes, it is privately owned. But is there nothing that supersedes the fact that it is actually presenting a hazard? I mean what what would you do in a situation if you had to put your car in reverse to
reverse back on to want to queue out and if someone gets hit from behind or causes an accident? >> Yes. Yes, I I agree it is an issue. As for us enforcing that legally, it would be I think something that maybe the borrower
would have to look into, but I we can't do it as a producer. >> So, we don't own that road off of Wanuku. Can we not change the regulation on Wanic Qab to permit left and right turns or or left turns or whatever coming from one way so that we
>> force it somehow to be a oneway without actually changing that road. >> So yeah, it's I was going to say it's a county road. So the county would have to be involved in in putting signage up if they even were to approve something like that into into that roadway. Well, to
speak to that resident's point, I I think traffic is going to get exponentially worse. So, if it's bad now, I can't imagine how that situation is going to get better. So, if there's anything we can do to look into that. Um, and then a followup also on speeding. We talked about perhaps moving one of the lighted signs to the area where it drops from 35 to 25, was that
looked at? >> Yeah. So, the the um the the uh two of the signs from the Cali were moved today. The one that was I'm talking about the one on Kax, >> right? >> Yes. that was moved closer to the border of Oakland. So now when uh residents are
coming into into town, they'll they'll they'll see that. >> So it's that speed reduction spot where it goes from 35 to 25. We now have >> Yeah, it's a little bit past that. I I think it was uh from what I saw was maybe like uh 3 400 ft from where you come into from from where you come into
town is where that sign was placed at. >> Okay, perfect. Thank you. That was good. Um and I look forward to seeing everyone at the Halloween hunt and don't forget to vote on November 4th. Thank you. Thank you. Um, just to follow up with our acting chief, uh, part of that issue as we know is the school when they're
getting out of school and everything's lined up coming up that way. I know we can't address it. I know it's private property, but maybe and I know you had a conversation already with the school recently. Um I don't know if that came up in part of your conversation but it's probably worth visiting that with them
again about you know the man they have individuals kind of directing traffic and I don't I know it's their own property and they can do that but it makes it a little dangerous sometimes. >> Yeah. So they have come either teachers or some other individuals that they just hire a security one to do crossing all
that stuff. But the definitely a large part of the traffic is to release the Windsor school um at least at the at the school hour and then you have uh all the teachers that kind of contracted with the BFW to park to utilize their their parking lot as well. Um so that's why
you have that big influx when when the school releases. was 7:00 p.m. I don't know what time the teachers get out. But >> actually, same thing happened to me like literally a week ago. I was going down and I had to back up. >> But the question I have is is are they allowed to be their own flag men for that traffic as long as it stays on that
property to send them up the hill? >> Yeah. So the the the I've never seen the teachers sending the cars specifically up that driveway. Sometimes they send uh the buses. Usually the buses go back back around and then they go back out to
exit over by the railroad tracks. Um if there are cars getting through there, I don't believe it's the teachers that are there sent in there. Pretty have a they have a pretty uh efficient system at least the last time I checked. Uh it's been a while since I've been down there,
but they usually do a good job sending them back up back. So then you can agree with me having experienced it yourself that during times of high traffic having to put your car in reverse and reverse back on to want to queue out presents a safety issue. >> 100%. Yeah. There's no no uh argument
with what you're saying in that point. I think it's for us as a police department to enforce that with the with a property owner. >> Well, explain what title what that means. Title 39 means we as a police department are not allowed on that property to >> Yeah. So, we can't. So, it's a title 39 property, which means it's private
property, which title 39 are the traffic codes that we that we use that are that we go by by the state of New Jersey for like speeding, failure to stop and yield, fail to stop at a stop sign. And if you were to get issued a ticket, it would be under title 39. Since that is
private property, we don't have any forcement mechanism to uh en enforce those types of things on that roadway >> on the roadway >> on that on that specific roadway. So for an example um when the AM parking lot or
the Acme parking lot before that that was all private property. In order for us to have agreements with them so that we can enforce certain title 39 statutes, we would have to enter into an agreement or they might even have to apply to the state. So that can be a title 39 parking lot and then that would
that gave us the ability to enforce enforce certain statutes in that area. >> Okay. So recently we we did pass something prohibiting certain left-hand turns out of the Meridia property onto Wanakuv. Could we not do the same thing on the other side of the street? I mean that's
>> that was done through redevelopment though. It wasn't done through this board or or the planning board. >> Okay. But I mean there's there's a solution here. I'm just asking if we can look into controlling the traffic off of Wanqab if we don't have a say on what happens on BFW way. >> So I'm sure there's certain types of mechanisms for that. I'm just not aware
of them. I think they they come from either at a council level or a county level where it comes to that where the police department is not involved in in that setup. >> Okay. Thank you. Uh before I get to you, Councilwoman
Kent, I'm sorry I forgot to mention I mentioned in the beginning uh the passing of our our Andy Silverstein who was a big uh supporter here on town. Like I mentioned in the beginning, he was on the uh board of education for 15 years. He ran our planning board for at least 20 and he in the last uh 10 or so
years. He was our chairman of our redevelopment uh property. He was involved in the town for a long time, a lifelong resident, and he's going to be surely missed by all the boards. He really put a lot of effort and time. Remember, he wasn't paid for any of those positions for many years, so he is
going to be missed. Uh, Councilwoman Kent, >> thank you, Mayor. Um, I find it ironic that the Paya County Open Space Trust Fund tonight of all nights comes and gives us a $100,000 check because I
along with Councilman Ellis Marples went to many of those Bose County meetings along with Mrs. Don Coast uh and a number of in uh local or uh lo local residents trying to get the open space trust fund passed. And that was back in
2000 when all this issues became you know how to how to get state money, how to get green acres money, blue acres money, open space money when we never did have an open space tax. And I have to I have to tell you that Ellis was instrumental in doing that. If people
think that it was an easy task to get some of these projects done, I can assure you it was not. But Ellis was a dear friend to me and to this community. He served on Palm Lake Towns for the many years and he did retire to Sussex County. His wife did pass, but she was a
loved lady and she was a member of our women's club. He was a true leader. He was a statesman and he was a councilman and a liaison to many of the environmental uh programs that we have including for the flood advisory board, the creation of the Hersfield Park
recreational playground equipment which he genuinely referred to as the swing sets and he was also uh very involved in establishing the groundwater and aquifer protection ordinances um in helping us fill the shade tree
vacancies at the time. and he supported 100% the south end committee which would eventually turned into the open space committee and the environmental protection committee which Ed and I served for many years. Also, he was a big part of the Pay County Flood
Organization where we would meet in in Wayne uh along with uh one of the um uh Wayne mayors at the time, Scott Romano, and uh and and that was to help us with our flooding down in the South End. His
unwavering support allowed for the creation of the open space tax that we are now a huge participant in, and we have received grants ever since that passed. uh a few days before his passing, he was he called us. He called me and we did go
to see him in the hospital and he was very sick and but he had a very happy uh message to me. He said he loved Pontton Lakes. He loved the people that he worked with. He certainly loved the people in Sussex County. He was a very active member of his clubs, veterans,
Republican clubs. And he uh was running on for the board of ed and 82 years old. That's pretty good. So, he never stopped, but his friendship and his dedication to the PM Pmpton Lakes community was will always be remembered. Anybody who met him knew his dedication
and you gave a perfect uh description of what Ellis was about and I just wish he rests in peace. Um, okay, our DPW report. Let me just grab that if you don't mind. So,
Dan Dan, uh, I apologize. Uh, [Music] can't find it. Why can't I find Well, one of the comments that uh our
superintendent had is that to help us save money, uh one of the things that the county uh has is with the open space uh group, they have uh instead of having the grand falloons do some of the um I
guess entertainment at the Pontton Day that we use the county uh environmental group. Evidently, they they they give us free information. So, I I would ask that maybe uh Karen Murphy and and the um recreation committee, I'll I'll share
this with you and just take a look at that because they're they are quite expensive. They're a few thousand dollars. If we can do something like that for for free or for what we pay for already, that that would be really really really helpful. So, that that's one thing. Uh there are a couple of
roads that are going to be paved. Oh, here it is. I'm sorry. Here it is. Uh Watervele paving project. So Waterly uh road paving project that has started. We are now cleaning out our basins. You'll see the uh vacuum truck going
into some of the uh basins and they do that as part of our storm water management act and as so also to make sure that the storm drains are clean. So they we do not uh at wind time of heavy rain the water flushes down out into the uh rivers and it doesn't back up and
flood our roads and they're w they're working their way I guess from the south end and they're going towards the north. our Joe Girl field improvement project which is a part of the Paya County um grants that has started and uh we're looking forward to finishing that up
hopefully before it will be done before uh baseball and the Hersfield storage project building he said we'll start in a few weeks so they are ready for that I think one of the uh things that uh Director Murphy asked is that we get some of that material out of the current
storage >> we're getting her a new storage >> you're going to get a new storage okay that she did ask that at at the com at the um open space meeting. Okay. I look forward to the pumpkin hunt this this coming Sunday. Um I want to
congratulate the Chamber of Commerce and the Pmpton Lakes bid for the huge and successful car show. This past Sunday, I couldn't attend, but I looked at all the pictures and I heard all the comments and it looked wonderful. And um it's a shame it had to be moved from the
previous week, but it still was very successful. It always is and I'm sure I'm sure it always will be. Uh I want to thank the Pontton Lakes Police Department, uh Captain Rodriguez, the CERT members, uh Al, I'm sure you were part of that with the CERT, um and the Bloomingdale
Search and Rescue team. At 3:00 in the morning, I received a phone call that can you come down to Lakeside School? We have a suicidal resident and we need to find him. So at 3:10, I threw some lipstick on and put a pair of pants on
and went down there and I met with some other s um members and we toured uh different parts of the town to try to to write find this poor young man. Um we were there till about 5:30 in the
morning. And I have to tell you, I I was absolutely amazed how professional the the Bloomingdale and the rescue teams were. Um, and they're they're very sophisticated. They've got a whole search uh type of program that they put
on your phone. So, by using my phone, they could track me while we were touring in my car all through different wooded areas. Uh, we stayed on the road, but they were they were wonderful. And I want to thank Deborah Ross and I said Captain Rodriguez and all of the uh
other people that were involved with that. It was a very and it was very successful. We did have a drone. They spotted the young man when um I guess around 6:00 in the morning and they did bring him in and gave him the help he needed. So, it it ended up good. Uh I
also attended the open space meeting a couple weeks ago and we talked about buying the additional playground equipment. And it's funny because when we we did the original playground equipment, um the price was $35,000 for that huge uh piece of equipment. It's
now like a one one piece of equipment and the installation is like that kind of money. So we're we're going to talk about Mike. There were some questions about the pricing and they were not happy with some of the they felt excessive pricing on some of that and
the um the material that they're going to use for the the base and the way that they came up with the design. So I'm going to ask that you and I sit and meet with the vendor on that before we decide to buy anything. mayor just unfortunately there was a lot of
questions and they were very good questions. So the other thing that they the open space group wanted to do is put up two pickle ball courts in uh Councilman Hinton went out with um Mr. Shakitano from the the group and they
they looked at areas. However, when the engineer came up with a price they were talking about $400,000. That's quite a bit of money to do for just two small pickle ball courts. Again, when we first did the tennis courts, I think they were like $150,000. Now everything is
$400,000. So we, you know, the the the money is just out of it's really out of control to try to give our residents something. So what we've decided to do, and I think it's it's a good thing, is that we're going to restripe the existing tennis courts as they are for
pickle ball use. that that'll give our residents a lot more pickle ball time. It's and it's a big it's a big sport with many many people >> and the school has Okay. >> Oh yes. And that's the most important that the school because the school uses our tennis courts and they are Pompton's
uh park uh courts for their tournaments and for their their seasons for the girls are in the September through uh November and the the the boys um play in the spring. So, it's a very it's very important they have the right kind of courts to use, but they did approve it.
So, thank you, mayor, for bringing that up. Um, the other thing that came up at the open space meeting was the lightning detection system. I brought that up at the last council meeting and um we were told that the current system by that was
that was already installed by the board of ed should cover all of the fields which would include Joe Grill and Willowfield. However, Bobby I think there was a misunderstanding about the alarm system.
So this is so what happened was uh uh our OEM coordinator uh Aliv evangelistic came to the open space meeting and during the public session he mentioned how this whole system is going to work and we figured out that the it's not the
system that we need it's the warning it's the alarm system because it it not only gives you a a siren type of thing but it also does a like a a blinking yeah something that blinks that you can And um so we went back and we went and
uh M uh Councilman Cruz I want to thank you for your going back to the the superintendent of the school. So I think we have a better understanding how this works and I think so and I think it's something that that open space because it is open space uh properties and
Willowfield is definitely was purchased with open space. Um they are agreeable to up to $12,000 to come out of the open space fund to purchase this. Now I don't and I told them I will bring that to the mayor and council. I don't know if that
expenditure can be used for that. That's something we'll have to discuss with uh with uh Michael but they they feel that it's a part of the the it's a it's a part of the whole it should be a part of the whole uh field system you know
because it the minute it it rings and and you see this you have to you have to leave there's no question about it and there have been deaths to to people and injuries serious injuries because of lightning. So anyway, that's something that we're going to have to bring up and
we won't vote on it tonight or anything. >> And we've had a discussion in that uh if open space can pay for it fully or maybe only 50% because it's matching. >> Yes. And that's why I said or you know like we we can't purchase everything you know for other things but because it's a part of the field operation and it will
be down in Willowfield and Joe Grill can hear it. So uh but that up to only up to that amount. So we we can talk about that but that's what they want. All right. Thank you. And the name of the turtle ribbon cutting at Hersfield
Park is Kevin Skully. Oh, I'm sorry, Kevin Shelley. And the two second grade winners were Nola Nolan Thompson and Sophia Bullzonei. Um, and we are going to have a a ribbon cutting on Tuesday
evening. I believe that is the 28th of October. So, you're all invited to attend. Um, I attended the Shade Tree Commission meeting. The fall planting will be starting this month. Um, I also want to thank the Pumpkins Lakes Police Department for the traffic study done on
Kfax Avenue. I know we had residents come here and I thought that was very warranted and and I'm I'm curious to see how we're going to proceed with that. I think that's an important one. Um, Mike, where are we where are we going with the DuPont D settlement agreement?
Uh, with that letter >> shop tonight. >> Okay. Thank you. Uh parking on Lambert Street. Last month or last meeting, we had residents, some wanted oneway parkings or one side parking. Um and
some said they didn't want that. So, we took a look at that. I took a look at that. What I found was one very large truck and a resident who owns a big truck and a trailer with a boat and it's parked in this very substandard street
and the street the homes were probably built in the 1900s. So it doesn't it's not very conventional for for parking for a lot of people. And um needless to say, this large vehicle with a boat parked there overnight, it really does
impact on anybody getting in and out, including the residents. So anyway, I would like to see that addressed. Um, I know I spoke to uh, Captain Rodriguez on this matter and I know you've had some kind of meetings on it, but you know, I
I think we have to address you can't just park a boat and a trailer in front of anybody's house for >> Well, there certain requirements within our ordinance and they fall within those requirements, right? >> Well, if they do if they do, then you I mean, if they do, I think we have to take a look at that because I wouldn't
want this big boat and trail in front of my house for days on end. and they you really can't get in and out of that street. So anyway, something I think I know you had a meeting on that. I'm sorry I wasn't there, but I think we have to take a look at that in order to make sure the residents have access, you know, with that the fire trucks and the
ambulance can get in and out. And I do I know uh Michael you mentioned something about doing something with Summit Avenue. Again, I would in expediency you were talking to maybe doing an engineering uh study. I'm just asking
that if there were if the study that was done in September of 2024, there was no incidents, there were no accidents, there was only less than 5 m an hour. Uh the cars were clocked less than 5 miles an hour over the speed limit. So I guess
maybe 27 28 m hour. Then I just want to know how how do you justify the um how how do you justify that that engineering study because that's that's that's quite expensive to do. Um, and there is a report and there already did an engineering study with the with uh,
Captain or Chief Clark. Chief Clark and I do have that and he was he he basically said Chief Clark said that there was really not a really not a
problem. So, I just I don't I'm very conscious about spending money. I I'll spend money, but I want to make sure it's done uh where we really need it because anytime you hire the inter the engineer, I get a $250 bill an hour. I
want to make sure we do that right. And that is my report. >> Okay. Thank you. Uh Councilman Quinn, >> thank you. Uh I'm glad to see the DuPont uh settlement will be workshop later this evening and I hope that everyone on
this day is will join me in putting as much pressure as we can on the state in order to retrieve at least some of the money that's been set aside to the state. Uh I signed checks uh Michael the uh survey
I brought to your attention will that be presented tonight? No, probably at the next meeting. >> Okay. Uh well, I look forward to it. It was an environmental study. Uh it has a couple things that we've been talking about the last few meetings in it and uh very eye opening. Uh I also attended the
environmental protection committee. Uh the board of education forum at the high school. I attended the bid meeting. Uh last night I attended the planning board meeting. A project was approved for the
Washington building on Wanuku. Uh they will be taking off the second floor, replacing it uh with new steel and uh expanding it very slightly to accommodate eight residential units. Uh
the same amount of units will remain downstairs for the commercial area. There are still variations, but the variations have been lessened. Although not as much as maybe we'd like, but any increment is great. Uh it it will be a
big improvement to the uh town and uh the the the look of the downtown. Uh in addition, uh the flood advisory board needs members. Uh and from wreck, Halloween hunt at
Hersfield, Sunday, 7:00 p.m. Holiday Stroll, December 6th. Breakfast with Santa December 13th. Pickle Ball has two uh sessions, one starting November 1st, the 2nd, December 13th. If interested, call 973715-5234.
And finally, walking club Tuesday and Thursday, Lakeside uh school in the hallways. Thank you. >> Thank you. Uh Councilman Bennett. >> Thank you, Mayor. I want to thank our Bur administrator, Mike Carelli, and our DPW. the new signs in the south end uh
look great. Thank you for taking care of that. Um also want to thank uh Mike Carelli for getting us reclassified reertified rather as a New Jersey film uh ready community. Um the car show well attended. I actually entered one of my cars this
this year first time. Didn't win anything but it was a good experience. Uh and I'd like to congratulate the Poppy Lakes High School marching band. They uh placed first in the Wayne Valley competition a couple weekends ago and then last Saturday they performed at
Metife Stadium um on the field. It was pretty cool and they won fourth place overall but with a uh special award for the best color guard. Uh RDA was cancelled. Redevelopment agency did not meet this week this month and historic
commission meets uh next Tuesday. And that's my report. >> Thank you, Councilman Cruz. >> Thank you, Mayor. Um just quickly I would just want to send my condolences to Silversteana and Marbles family um before I begin my report. Um the ordinance committee met on Thursday
10:16 um to discuss a number of issues or things that have been reported by residents. Uh one of them in particular will was ordinance 1013.5 which is chicken ducks and other domestic poultry file. This was to address concerns with roosters in town and we received a few
complaints on those. Um the next one was um regarding fences and retaining walls and this is uh code 190-16 and the zoning code. Um basically we were looking to see or discuss uh increasing the size of fences in your
backyard. Currently it's set at 6 ft. It was proposed 8 ft 8 ft. Um but at the end of the day that was still left up for discussion for the workshop. The other item for discussion was Lambert Street. This was discussed already at a at a prior meeting. Obviously, there's there's concerns right there obviously
for some of our first responders being able to enter that street if there's cars parked on the left and right side by side. Um, an engineer has provided two options and I'm pretty sure we'll discuss those in workshop. Um, but we're still looking to uh hopefully improve and make it safer obviously for the
first responders to get there. And let me see and then the one last item I just want to remind everybody. So, ordinance 10-2 10-12.2 to feeding wildlife animals. We were discussing the deer population in town. Um in addition
to that is also feeding the deer. Please note that feeding the deers is illegal. Um the state, correct me if I'm wrong, Michael, but the state is going to be providing um or initiate a survey of the town, right? To kind of conduct a survey of
the town to see where we are with the deer population. I think at that point once we have more information and we understand the numbers that we have in town, we'll be able to move forward and see what plans they have in place to hopefully address those. And a lot of that with the fence height had to do with the deers as well, the deers entering the property, damaging the
property as well. So, all of this is going to move to workshop and we'll be discussing this further. Michael, I'm sure will have more information regarding this. And that'll do it for my report. >> Thank you. Uh, Councilman Hinton, >> just making notes, Mr. Mayor. Um, first
I have a reading. A motion to approve and request Councilwoman Paul Adori to close Lakeside Avenue in the intersection of Lakeside A and Waniku A through to Lakeside and Kfax A between
the hours of 11 a.m. and 200 p.m. on Saturday, December 6th, 2025. Rain date December 7th, 2025 for the annual toys for tots train. Police, first aid, and fire departments
have been notified. >> Can I have a second? >> Council President Pauli, all in favor? >> I >> um let's see. Um I did not attend the open space meeting. I asked excuse for
my big birthday celebration and um and thank you for excusing me. Councilwoman Kent had a report on that. She did very well. Um but just on another note on the pickle ball courts in the town of Wayne, I was shown pickle ball courts that are
raised up. They're not paid. So, I don't know if that's a cheaper way to go, a more viable way to go in a flood area. >> It's by the board of education across the street. >> I brought it up to Michael. I think he was going to look into it. >> Yes. >> So, it's another
>> Thank you. >> way to go. Um, Councilman uh Cruz just mentioned about the feeding of deer. Uh just want to let everybody know that make them aware that it is deer breeding season now and for the next month they'll be running across
the roads. So uh be careful when you're driving. Um I attended the fireman's open house which was a pretty nice little event. I hadn't been there in a long time. Um I learned quite a few things. They they
asked me if I wanted to dress up in a fireman's uniform. I said if I had the pleasure of carrying ex- Councilman Mike Simone up a ladder then I would try it. But uh he kind of uh nixed that idea. So
but um it was very educational. Um talking to ex- Councilman Mike Simone uh I brought up about speed bumps in town and he's very wellversed on it. He talked about bumps humped and raised tables. So, there's a lot of different
ways we can go. I know that we've had this conversation before. Um, I just come out of Tony's Pizza yesterday and almost got ran over. Um, to the conversation of people speeding through town. Um, all of us have been up Route
23 around the Kindle lawn curved area and they have what they call little ripple bumps. Now, it's not a big bump, but if it slows traffic down, if we can look into it through the police department and with the county, um I only sit here trying to solve problems.
That's all. I don't I I might cause a problem or two, but I try to solve problems. >> I didn't say that. >> Huh? >> I didn't say that. >> No, you didn't. But we've had our discussions at the podium before, Mr. Mayor. Um so I mean if we can look into that um I don't know how or procedure
that we do look into that but uh we need to solve this problem. Um doors highway somebody was talking to a resident and kid flew down there had to be doing 6065. So we have this issue all over town. So
uh it really needs to be addressed. Um I had a senior's meeting on the 16th. Um, I had brought up with the seniors about bumps, humps, and tables. Uh, a table is a wider raised pave area, usually in a
sidewalk area, I think, or a crossing area. Um, and none of them had any problems with having them installed in the roadways if it made it safer for pedestrians and uh, traffic. Um then I
had an MUA meeting just a reminder that um Sunday night started the hydrant flushing and they'll be flushing the hydrants for at least the next two weeks. So um once again if you have brown water run your cold water [ __ ] it
until it clears up. Um, at the senior meeting they talked about flu shots being given by our nurse over at St. Mary's on the 22nd and on Mondays here at the council. Uh, they're in mispill.
>> Do they have a time for that? >> Um, she didn't give me a time when when the nurse is here. Michael, do you know when the nurse? >> 4:00. I think she gets here 4:00. >> 3:00 >> 3r. >> Okay. That's >> I just want to make sure it's not all day. So, it starts >> right. Right. test for flu shots. Um,
then we had to thank you, Mr. Mayor, for letting me come to the ordinance committee meeting. Uh, talk with Patrick and, uh, it's usually his job, but I was able to, he stepped down and I stepped in. Uh, very interesting, very, uh, learned, uh, a lot. Um,
first disagreement I had with Councilman Cruz about the the height of the fences, but uh that's what we're supposed we're supposed to discuss things and come up with solutions that are best for all the residents. Um, we talked about the
discharge ordinance in town, the feeding of wildlife, especially deer. Um the survey that was just done was understory destruction by overpopulation of whitetail deer. At a later date, we're going to have a deer actual count in
town to see if per square mile what the number is and recommendations from the state as to what to do. Um just on the news tonight before I got here, there was four coyote attacks in Saddle River.
When you have an overpopulation of one animal, predators come in to cut. It's a food source. So, um, >> don't they have a deer hunt in settle for settlement? >> Um, yes, they do. >> Oh,
you want to keep going? >> No, don't. >> Okay. All right. I attended the car show. Car show was a uh very good event. Like the mayor had said, it was our rain date, so it conflicted with the Puquanic um car show. Um I had a negative comment
and a positive comment, mostly all positive comments. Um I was able to hand the trophy to my brother as a positive comment uh for he took second place for his Corvette. >> So uh that was that was an honor to do
that for him. Um, on a negative note, um, I saw a political sign on one of the cars for the race here in town. Now, as far as all the years I've been going to the car show,
that shouldn't be politics involved in that. And I just thought it was a poor taste. uh whether Republican, Democrat, or independent, it doesn't matter who was running or what, but uh I just thought it was poor taste to have a
current political race sign on a vehicle, >> but it was on a private car, right? It was on >> It was on a private car. Yes. You I won't say who the individual is. We know him. But um I just thought that it was not appropriate. Uh Mayor, you came later on in the in the day. You may not
have seen it. >> No, no. Yeah, I don't think we can regulate private cars. >> Well, this is this is a public event put on by bid and bid can regulate that. >> Well, that would be up to the video. So, I just wanted to make that concrete. Um
the MUA meeting I attended, I just talked about the hydrant flushings. Um and we talked about the police traffic control um for uh when they need it. And uh and the other thing I had was uh oh
also um Councilwoman Kent was talking about our fall tree planting and uh from what I understand it's going to happen tomorrow. >> Okay. >> So I was called by the uh the tree grower and uh let's see. Oh, also I've
been talking about the um railroad crossing at Skyler A. I've been in discussions with Michael and uh Michael came up. They finally sent the paperwork to him and um if the way it looks where I asked him and he said yes that he'll
have the attorney review uh possibly that contract. Uh right now it's been we've been paying for an inspection of the Skylar Avenue crossing since 1962. I figured it's somewhere over a half a million dollars that we paid to the
railroad and I don't see why we're doing that. So, um, is this contract goes for infinity or are we going to be paying the railroad millions? Now, we don't pay for an inspection of
the crossing down at near the Oakland line. I just forgot the name of the road for for the apartments. Oh, >> and uh from what we understand, we don't pay for the crossings on >> on Waniku and Ringwood Avenue. Of
course, those are county roads. So, um we're looking into it and hopefully we can come up with a solution to uh what I think is a waste of money. >> I agree with you. So, and uh that is my report.
>> Okay. Thank you. Attorney's report. Uh just briefly, mayor, I uh you know, I understand uh first I just want to recognize and acknowledge the um the efforts of the administration to um meet their obligations under under
Oprah um with um you know to provide timely and complete responses. And to the extent there are concerns raised about those responses, I think it's good for um everyone up here as well as the general public to be aware that there
are, you know, based upon the sort of over requests that are made where it involves personnel records, there are competing and conflicting obligations that they uh that the administration is under. them. We have an obligation to be
completely transparent to the public, but we also have an obligation to protect the privacy of our employees. And so when certain records are requested involving personnel matters, involving payroll matters, there is
quite a bit of redaction that needs to be done because quite a bit of that information, I mean when you ask for payroll records, people are entitled to know what the burrow pays their employees, but to the extent they have, they make withholding
decisions, uh what taxes they're paying, what health insurance they have, Those are private decisions that they make and so it requires us to redact that information. We have to protect that information. Just as we were talking earlier and some concerns were raised
about privacy interests of of the good folks here that come to these meetings, we also have to protect the privacy of our employees. And so I just want to I just want to say that, you know, again, the the administration makes its best effort and I can tell you they're on the
phone with me to to do everything that's required of them under the Oprah laws. But at the same time, we do owe owe an obligation to our employees to protect their privacy. And that's that's a carveout in OPRA and there's very very strong case law that supports that. So
just, you know, I just wanted to put that on the record. That's all I had unless there are any questions. Thank you for that clarification. >> Thank you. Uh administrator report. >> Thank you, mayor. Uh so please be advised that the Albany a and waterlet a improvement project uh again which
consists of the resurfacing of Albany a from riverview road to riverdale road and the full length of waterlet a uh has begun. Uh the first six weeks will consist of storm water management, drainage and concrete and curving work. Uh milling and paving is expected to be
complete in the month of November and residents will receive a second notice prior to the milling and paving dates. Uh the project work hours are 7:30 to 4:00 p.m. and no major traffic detours at this time during this preliminary
work. Um our contractor will be striping the Hersfield Park uh basketball court this Saturday. Uh I did have concerns about timing with the Halloween month. Uh the paint does dry within 10 minutes. Okay. >> Uh so we will be okay. The court will be
strapped and ready to go for the hunt. Um so we're looking forward to that. As Councilwoman Kent indicated, uh we did hold a pre-construction meeting on the Hersfield Park phase 1 improvements project, which again consists of the renovations to our storage shed at
Hersfield Park. Um we're in the process of color selections right now. Uh we're working with the rec director, the DPW director, our architect, our contractor, uh to, you know, put together a good selection for a permit to middle to the
burrow. Um, as was indicated before, I am working with the rec director uh to relocate all of her materials inside the storage shed. Uh there seemed to be a consensus that we would need a new uh container uh to to place these items in,
but I am working with Karen to try to consolidate and throw out some old items. Maybe we can save money on a new storage container and try to consolidate some things. Uh so I thank Karen for her work on that. Um the construction will
begin on November 1st. Uh the project is expected to be substantially complete by the end of the year and punchless items throughout the remainder of the winter into the spring. Uh the county's pedestrian br pedestrian bridge replacement project will have minimal
impact to our project. Um and we are working with the burough engineer to come in after the bridge replacement and the storage shed renovations to hopefully pave the walking paths uh next year. Uh we do have excess funding for
this project. We had budgeted $450,000 for this storage shed. Again, at the time we were looking at a two-story building. We came to realize that we could only do a one-story building. Uh so we do have significant surplus on this project. So we do believe that
walking pads um fitness equipment will be uh be able to be funded by this excess equipment that we will not have to issue new debt, seek open space funding or local open space funding. So that's good news. >> Um
let's see. Um I am excited to announce that we are launching a new weekly digital newsletter for the borrow uh which will be sent out every Friday morning to to our residents. Um we have put together a
registration process for the email. It's going to be an email newsletter. Uh that's going to be on our burrow newsletter page on the burrow website and we're going to post it on social media tomorrow. very short to the point events, meetings, public safety updates.
Uh if anyone has anything, please contact me. Uh and you know, we're looking forward to it. We did have a newsletter years ago that I put together. Uh we did have over 2500 subscribers at the time. The list has since been lost, but we are looking forward to getting back to doing that.
So, thank you for your support on that. Uh Meridia, as you may have seen, is now mobilized for the civic center. Uh they're siding the building right now. The inside has been substantially framed. Uh we're looking at electrical and plumbing work. The HVAC system is
being replaced. Uh the attic has been built, very large attic for storage uh for the burrow. Uh so we are looking forward to that progress. And then uh as mentioned at the meeting at the last council meeting, uh we do have a representative from the Payic County
Division of Economic Development uh the new director Gian Carlo D. Leonardo uh will be at our next meeting to offer his support to the community and uh provide an overview the county services that that's available to us and to the business owners.
Uh to follow up on two points from the meeting. Uh the council the councilman's point about the uh drainage fee to the railroad. Um, we've been paying $700 per month for this drainage fee that they call it to the New York Susuana and
Western Railroad Corporation. It looks like this fee was subject to litigation in 1999. Uh, so we're going to work with Dave to figure out exactly what that decision was since it was such a long time ago and, you know, work with the councilman on that. Um,
>> good. And then just to circle back on the VFW way uh issue of traffic, uh we we had brought this up prior. another another private condominium association wanted us to interject in their road
safety procedures and it got us thinking about you know how would we help them in that regard and um I think maybe not a solution but just what would be the process that we would have jurisdiction over that road and again the captain
mentioned title 39 uh the private property owner would have to convey the road to the burrow either in fee or by a deed of dedication and then the governing body would need to formally accept the road by resolution and then the deed would be recorded with the county and it would become a public
road. Uh the problem with that is uh it may require a subdivision or site plan approval by the private property owner which comes with costs and if the road becomes public it acts as a lot line and the subdivision may be required at that
point. And then the third point is we the burrow might not want to accept conveyance of a public road if it's not up to current road design standards. You know, we would be on the hook to make sure that the road is safe uh to the public and we may have to have do improvements to the road. So there could
be a cost to that. So that could be something else uh that that would be considered. Uh but you know it certainly could be done and we are going to look at it. So that's that's just the process on that. >> So let me ask you a question about that then. If if we would have to if we were to to take ownership of the road and we
would have to maintain it to current standards, how is it not the obligation of whoever owns any roadway to not make sure to make sure that it's not up to current standards if they are allowing public pass on it? >> Uh yeah, that would probably result in
property maintenance department. Uh so we will look at that as well and I was thinking about that before too. Um but we have some options. So, I think we'll report back on the matter. >> So, if the property owner doesn't want public access up and down this road
because of the issues, she can say she could put something up a barricade and say, "Don't come in." Is that correct? >> I believe so. But >> yeah, it's like a driveway. It's basically like a driveway. >> I would defer to to Dave, but it's a private driveway. >> Yeah. If it's a private driveway, they can do that as long as there's no
easements or rights of way across it. which there are not >> understanding that there are no might in the absence of that. Yeah, they absolutely can. They can >> maybe that's something we should just not have people drive down there because it is dangerous. >> Well, that would be their choice though. It's their
>> we have no say on it, right? It would be up to them. >> Well, if if it's not held to current standards, right, and there is an incident where someone is injured is then that falls on the property owner. >> That would Yeah, that would absolutely fall on the property. But we can certainly >> as Michael said it's a property
management issue as well. You know if we think that they're um that it it's actually a hazard that the property owner is maintaining then you know property management you know we we can we have to say in that um whether you
know whether they need to address something but it's really their liability. It's not us. >> Okay. So, I took a a tour of the um of the new uh civic center, and it's coming along very nicely. Uh it's a lot, like Michael mentioned, there's a lot of
storage up there that we're going to save some money on by taking where we're paying to put our storage and put it up there. We also at it wasn't part of the the plan that was put in place, are replacing the avian heating system, and there is going to be a little heat put upstairs to make sure the paperwork
stays nice. It's going to be a women's locker room, two new bathrooms, um a new kitchen, two two new meeting rooms, new walls, new furniture, new floors, new windows. Um you can see see now if you take a look when you leave, they're putting siding on the building. It's going to be a nice looking building when all said and done. So, I appreciate the time that they're putting in. We did
have to push them a little bit, but we're there and they're doing it. Um any questions for the administration? >> Yeah, just another question or a statement. Um the five different driveways going down towards the VFW, none of them are public roadways, are they? They're all private driveways.
>> Well, some of them are completely private. Some of them have easements between the two groups. Um you know, one owns half, the other half owns another half. >> Right. But any of the five are not public >> roads. I think we have an easement. I
think we own half of the max. But the other >> easement on which one? >> On Max driveway going down. I think we own a part of that. >> Oh, okay. All right. Down towards the foot bridge. >> Yeah. >> Because that's access also for kids, >> but by the railroad track, the railroad owns part of that and the property owner
owns part of that. BFW is owned by the school and I think uh somebody else. I'm not even sure if the VFW has an easement. I don't know. >> Can we figure that out? Can we can we get a better understanding of each one of those rows who owns it and and you know the width and whe they're up to code or not up to code or
>> so this came up at a bid meeting last year you know because the bid's looking to invite business and to have good amenities and discussion into it on you know can the bid pay for the paving of these roads or alleyways and we came to find out that the burrow only owns one
alleyway/road and that's right next to the former town and country deli uh and we did pave that last year. Um, but any and all other roads or alleyways are not owned by the burrow. >> That's on the other side of the street. >> Yeah, >> that's not accessible by vehicle,
>> right? Alleyway/ro, you know, e either or. We looked at everything. >> So, those four skinny roads, >> those are not borrowed. >> They're all private. >> There's five of them. >> Yeah, five >> on that side. >> One of them, I believe, is a one way already. >> Now, who tracks? >> How about the tracks?
>> Okay, so that's also privately owned. The one tracks? Yes, I think uh owns half and the railroad owns half. >> So, a private owner took the initiative to make their own one way on a road and put up signs.
>> Yes. >> Okay. >> Yeah, I can confirm we own none of the >> I thought we own part of the max. >> I don't see that. >> And that's legally enforceable to put up your own traffic signs and >> No, it's not it's not legally enforceable because it's not title 39 can't be enforced. So, if I want to
drive the other way down, I don't understand. This doesn't make sense to me. >> Can say, "Hey, stop doing that." >> I feel like maybe there's a better way that we can do this. >> We're going to look at it. >> So, really cop is the only one that we >> that's a burrow road, correct?
>> And the alleyway between the uh bank and >> those alleyways. Yes. But the only road burrow road is back >> on that side. >> All right. Any other questions for administration? >> No. Nope. >> I just have a question for uh our attorney. So, I'm not sure why or how or
when it became a a law that you you don't have to give your name or an address. >> Well, it's not a law. It's just, you know, it's really more in the in the wake of Daniel's law that was that said, you know, we're going to protect the
addresses of judges and police involved uh individuals involved in police enforcement. The practice of which is pretty much a a universal practice of asking for name and address at public meetings. And I think there's a good argument for it. I think it gives the the board the ability to understand the
person's perspective on something that um and this all came up again the first time here um last month um that started changing the the practices of some of the municipalities and acknowledgement of Daniel's laws and uh as you know
acknowledging that perhaps the fourth amendment does does give them the right not to state their address so or or their Okay. So, um the practice has been I guess over the last 2 or 3 years um to
you know municipalities can continue to ask for that but not to not to press or require it. And as I said I looked into it since the last meeting and that's uh that's what I found. >> So it's not a law it's >> not it's not it's not a specific statute but it it's it's you know constitutional
law is an evolving thing right? >> Um the law is a living thing. So, so you know, we come to we come to say, hey, you know, maybe our approach on this has been wrong. Maybe we need to rethink that. And so, people have have rethought it and they're they're you know, they're
just not requiring that now. >> So, we still can ask, but they don't have to say. >> Correct. >> Okay. Cuz I've never I've never seen it in the New Jersey municipality book. >> We all go to this thing watershed moment
where the statute was no >> changed. It's >> it's a policy. >> It is. Yeah. And I I you know, I can't say that there are cases on it, but I imagine there are I imagine you could find cases if you were you were to really look. I pulled my partners and uh
they said, "Yeah, you know, all of our towns have started, you know, have had this." And so, >> okay. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you. Um, uh, workshop amendment for the fire bylaws.
>> Thank you, mayor. Uh, so I have been provided a copy of a new set. >> Freezing. There's the air blowing. >> Turn this off. I'm freezing. >> I can't believe you got it this cold. I love it, but I can't believe you got it this cold.
>> It was hot. >> Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't forgot AJ. his report. >> Yeah. >> Oh, he's just blowing. >> It's just blowing. It hasn't stopped. >> Can't even like >> hasn't You can't think. >> I'm sorry. Uh, acting chief, you have
you have a report, too. I'm sorry. Go ahead. Before we do the workshop, >> so real quick, I just wanted to reiterate uh the cooperation uh for the missing a missing endangered adult. So, I wanted to, you know, just take a m minute minute to thank uh Bloomingdale
Search and Rescue, their big help. Thank Shay County Sheriff's Department. They always come out and assist us uh with a lot of their assets. Also, uh the state police and sir, um you know, CIR definitely came out in the middle of the night, helped us out. Um and it
ultimately ended up with us, uh finding an individual uh at Daybreak. So, >> and and you know, I've been to numerous of those events. You know, it's it's a community group of people getting together with SER and police and fire and first aid and other towns involved. It's a whole thing going on. It's well
orchestrated. It's well organized and they have it an agenda of how they're going to do this and they follow that agenda. And the last couple that I've been involved, they've found who they were looking for. Sometimes it takes a day or two or three, but they know what they're doing. So I my kudos goes to that whole group and a lot of them are volunteers to be honest. A lot of them
are volunteers. >> Yeah, it was all hands- on deck. We had to call in a number of our officers as well. Um, but everybody worked together and we ultimately found the individual and got them and got the individual help they needed. >> Okay. Thank you. All right. Now, yeah. Workshop. >> Okay. You have a question? Sure.
>> Yeah. Could I just have a question for the chief, sir? >> Chief in charge. Um, just talking about the community energy plan and just an observation that I've made through the years. Is there a reason why police cars
sit out in the driveway running? It could be for a number of reasons. So, you know, when we have our officers that are working, you know, our officers work 12-hour shifts, um, if they come in on an arrest or they come in to quickly use
the bathroom. Um, when we turn off all our cars, it's filled with a bunch of electronic equipment. Um, so we have computers in there. Uh, they're logged in to multiple different programs that they need to to function throughout their day. Um, so it could be that or it
could be just a cold day and they want don't want to get into a freezing cold car um because that's their essentially that's their office for 12 hours, >> right? Um, so I would say, uh, those are the the main reasons, but obviously if
they're going to be, uh, in the building for an extended period of time, which usually that could be for an arrest, uh, they may or may not turn it off, but those would be the the reasons why they're usually. >> Yeah, because I noticed that there's
multiple drivers all the time of police cars, and I don't know like who has a key. Does the key stay in the car? is and I was just curious as to why the cars are >> Yes. So know so all our vehicles the way they're set up um so for instance when we go to calls and things of that nature we have to get out of the we're getting
out of the car we're responding and the car stays on uh especially if we're on like a main road if we turn the car off and our lights don't stay on. So the key always comes with us the key fob and then uh the way it's set up is that if somebody were to happen to get in it
they can't leave unless you have unless you have the fob. Yes. >> Okay. Just curious observation I made. >> They're talking about energy and cutting cost. So, >> thank you. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Go ahead. >> Thank you, mayor. Uh, so we've been
provided a copy of a new set of bylaws from the Pmpton Lakes Volunteer Fire Department. Um, several changes have been uh adopted by the fire department and are now uh up for recommendation and approval of the
governing body. Uh so just to go through some of the changes that were officially voted on. >> Why don't you just start first Mike that have that they set their bylaws and how they do that has you know they've had their own set of bylaws that they're doing. >> Right. Well Dave I'm going to we'll finish with that.
>> Um so so the fire department voted on April 7th 2025 uh at their department meeting for several changes. Uh change number 25 uh which is included in your packets um has to do uh with page number
seven uh uh section one article 3 officers of the fire department. Uh they just further codified and clarified uh the administrative officers of the department uh shall consist of one administrative secretary. I think there
was confusion between the department secretary and the administrative secretary that's paid. Uh so the department's just you know further codifying and clarifying that and then change number 20 uh six which is on uh page 19 of your packet uh goes on to
further clarify uh section two article uh article 7 uh regarding the recording secretary of the fire department and just further clarifies the duties of the recording secretary uh as part of the fraternal officers of the fire
department. And then change revisions, changes number 27 and 28. Uh the fire department is including uh the burrow's social media commenting policy as part of their bylaws. And they have also um
included our most recent uh ordinance number 25-06 which governs workplace conduct and policies uh that we adopted earlier this year. Um the fire department uh from my understanding also took the opportunity
to uh retype the bylaws. I guess the bylaws were from the 1960s '7s8s whatever it may be. Uh so they took the opportunity to rewrite those. Um I guess there were some questions about that and you know I'll defer to the burough attorney uh to maybe give a summary you
know the process of how the fire department approves their bylaws. maybe restart. >> And this is workshop, so we're not voting on anything right now. This >> No, that's correct. That uh I think what the fire department is anticipating is that we're workshopping it this evening
with the hope of having a resolution at the uh at the next meeting um approving their uh their revised bylaws. And so, as as as we were saying, the fire department has historically and to this day, they they write their own bylaws.
Um, and they have a process that they follow when they revise their bylaws. And there's a section in here that addresses how those revisions are done. And what happens is they meet, they vote on it, they well they they they propose
these changes, they post them, they post them for a month, then they vote at the vote on them at their next uh meeting of the department. And then if you know whatever is approved that comes up to this council then for us to us to
approve um prior to their their adoption. >> Um so that's happened. My understanding is that the department did approve the substantive changes that Michael just went through. They did, you know, if
you've if you've seen the old the old bylaws, these were typed, I think, pre- select IBM selectric. Um, so what they've done is, and I I did a a sidebyside comparison today and saw no
substantive changes other than the ones that Michael referred to, they put it into a Word document. And you know there's good reason for that because now when they revisit it they can make changes without having to retype it or just attach addendums and the like. So
um I did go through it. I did not see any additional substantive changes. I would hope that if there are concerns within the department that there are changes that perhaps I didn't do it word by word. I do the section by section and uh they they all look consistent with
one another. um that they would address that at their next meeting. Um but uh from my perspective, yeah, the the changes speak for themselves. I think they're they're they're you know, I have no concerns about the uh that the
changes they've made. Um and uh and so they will be up unless you know we can we can talk about them but uh uh in the absence of some question or some concern um they will be up for uh approval at our at our next meeting
>> which is a month from now. So theoretically if the fire department wanted to bring the changing to word back to the the uh group they still could do that and bring it back. they could because because they meet um uh
they meet between now and our next meeting. So, um so any concerns within I I I would I would think would be addressed there, but as I said, I I didn't I didn't I didn't see any basis that anything that that raised any red flags to me. >> And you know, the the changing of just
for the newer people, the changing of the bylaws, you know, times change and things change. So, I you know, I'm I'm taking it's good responsibility on their part to try to stay with the times and change things. and we added our own ordinance to kind of oversee that a little bit. I'm glad they included that in in their bylaw. So, that's good.
>> So, any questions on that? >> Nope. >> Okay. Next. Okay. Uh next on the agenda is a uh letter a public comment letter that was prepared by the burough attorney uh dated October 10th, 2025
uh submitting official comment on behalf of the burrow for the uh Dupont Kamor's uh NJ D settlement. Um so you know our thoughts was you know to share it with the governing body to share the letter if you had any questions or concerns.
Um, you know, barring none that we would submit this official document for public comment. Um, and I'll defer to Dave for any further. >> Yeah, you know, I I forget whether this came up at workshop or during my attorney's report um last at our last meeting, but you know, we there's to the
extent that, you know, there's been a lot of a lot of discussion of the DuPont settlement. Um the the the settlement actually it's a consent order, judicial consent order was published in the New Jersey Register on September 2 and that
opens up a 60-day window for comments to be provided. And I just thought that that provided, you know, that's that's really the formal official way for us if we're going to if we're going to make comments on this, you know, it's it's fine to make resolutions and to reach out to folks, but if you're going to
make an official comment that's going to go on the record and be published in the New Jersey Register, um that's the way to do it. And so that's um you know based on our conversation at our last meeting I did put together a draft letter for you to look at u and consider
and and um I think you have that. So um and you know we raised in there that you know um that you know it's been a history of unchecked contamination traumatic impact on the bureau um as a means to correct this perceived
oversight. Burough Council urges the department to consider a revision that articulates its commitment to share a small percentage percentage of each of those um each of the natural resource damages to be paid to the state with each of the four impacted municipalities
and those include you know Greenwich Township, Carese Point, Farland and of course this burrow. Um, as we talked about at the last meeting, um, the natural resource damages to be paid to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection that are
specific to the damages done here in Pompton Lakes are $75 million. So I don't think it's too much to ask of the state that um a portion of that be sure shared with the burrow to acknowledge
the the trauma and the burden that it's been on on this burrow both you know a financial impact it's had on it the the you know the emotional impact it's had on the burrow um and I've also incorporated in there the idea that you know there be also an avenue opens up
where in the event we we see a need for either remediation or or uh rehabilitation um that we we be able to to go to the state um and and seek you know whether it's in the form of a grant or something
from those monies you know seek a portion of those monies. So two avenues and and and lastly just asking them to to give us some accounting you know on some sort of you know whether it's a quarterly or an annual basis on you know where does that where's that money going this is this is 75 million for while we
while we acknowledge that the the resources you know in the state of New Jersey and I think in most states those those resources are considered the property of the state >> um in fact you know I mean there's there's no >> in a sense it's a legal fiction because
those aren't resources that the state was using. This is this is they consider it just a a damage to a resource that was there. And even though they suffered no real damage because because the groundwater wasn't being used for anything, they weren't selling it. It's kind of an opportunity cost sort of
thing. >> Um um just based upon that, we ought to be able to to, you know, share in that. again, you know, it's really it's really this burrow that's borne the impacts of uh of DuPont's actions and so and
inaction. So, uh we ought to we ought to seek some sort of acknowledgement and they they shouldn't over oversee that. >> And this and this is the way to do it by the the period the 60-day window period. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> We've done it in the past. You know, I've reached up the chain to many different politicians, but this is the
official way to do it. And and by the way, the residents can also write letters to during this 60-day window also in support of this idea. And I know some residents have they sent me copies of it. So this is the uh the way to to do it. You know, this is the best avenue.
>> Just a quick question on that. So at the board of education meeting, I say about two weeks ago, I did mention this is part of my report and superintendent also was very interested in the letter. Um surprisingly, everyone there was not aware. >> Yeah, most people were right. very
surprising to see. So, upon submission of the letter, can a copy be sent to the superintendent? Because then he's going to make that probably part of his communication out to the residents so everybody's aware of what's going on and we may have more residents that are willing to submit letters to our great board.
>> So, if that's okay once we're ready to send it, if we could send a copy to uh the superintendent. >> I think he's willing to if that's okay. I'm not sure if that's >> It absolutely is. Um just be conscious that the window is closing um pretty quick. So, I think it's, you know, the
first couple days of November that window closes. >> Well, I'm pretty sure as soon as he has it, because he already followed up with me on it. >> Well, I think we're going to vote on it tonight, the letter, and as soon as we vote on it tonight, then or well, just a stroke pole kind of. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. >> And then, uh, we'll pass that right over to him, but and then maybe you could
reach out to him, let him know that the window closing November 4th. Okay. >> Um, if he wants, he could just use the same letter, right? Same letter. >> Absolutely. Any other questions, concerns? >> I think that's a great idea. >> Yeah. >> Thank you. >> All right. All right. So, we're all in support of the letter. >> Yes.
>> I'm in support of the letter for sure. >> As a child who grew up in the plume, >> it's going on out tomorrow then. >> Excellent. >> All right. Then we'll get it out and then we'll take it from there. Okay. Great. >> Uh motion to open the meeting for public comments. >> Motion. Councilman Bennon, Councilman
Cruz. All in favor? Against? Anyone from the public? Step up. Paul Bolby 120 Roma AB the uh street between Kfax and Lakeside blue house red shutters it's white trim with a white trim in front of it just in case anybody was interested. Thank you. Um I want to
thank Liz uh because I had brought to her attention on behalf of the Rotary that at Rotary Park uh the two benches the backs of them were yellow and they were starting to peel and they were looking a little rusty. And I called Liz and I sent her some pictures and already the DPW took care of it. I must have
scraped the old paint off and painted the new yellow on. That looks great. Thank you very much, Liz. And thanks to the DPW. >> Great. Thank you. >> Okay. Anyone else? Please step up. >> Mike Simone, 25 West Linux. Um, I didn't want to run over time before, so I
didn't ignore uh Andy, but I also wanted to talk about Andy Silverstein and the fact that he was a very, very longtime member of the planning board. In fact, uh he and I actually started almost the same year and uh he continued well past when I left to go on council.
Great guy, very very pomped and dedicated. Became part of the um uh the whole bid process and the redevelopment process. Always had the town at heart. So, thank you Andy for what he did and
my regrets to Nikki um on losing the touch. two good guys that had Pompin to heart their entire lives here. So, there's that. Um, quick comment on the issue of access to the westside parking
lot that you were talking about by BFWA and all the access driveways. We've looked at that at the planning board and at the bid and the whole process of redevelopment. That's a it's a very difficult thing to deal with because it's not just the access. You
can have the one access by max, but every one of those properties at fronts on Wanuk, the property goes back almost or maybe up to the river. It's not like there's this big open area that the burrow owns in the back. So you could get all the accesses you want, but I
think and I would, you know, leave this to the attorney to make a decision, but once you get back there, if if you don't own the property to the left and the right and the left and the right, you're still stuck. So by taking a road, anything, like if you were going to consider the VFWA becoming a municipal
road, regardless of the fact that it's too narrow, that it may not be built right, that it's a risk, it goes nowhere because it goes back to private properties. So unless the town comes up with a way to, I don't know, reanalyze the whole
Westside parking lot, you we're kind of stuck. And um I would just want to make sure that we don't invest too much money into looking into what probably is going to be a dead end. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> A dead end. >> I think I got that.
>> Yeah, I got that. That was quick. You said constitutional law is always changing and you're right there is things that are constantly changing for you not to recognize last meeting that you do not have to give up a your fourth amendment right in order to
express your first for you not to rec I don't understand that that's very very basic and these are when constitutional laws are easy these are when our rights are Crazy. We still have an unconstitutional social media policy up. You said you were going
to look into it. It's been over a month. What's going on with that? I don't think that any of you have seen that social media commenting policy and don't recognize that in one way or another
it violates constitutional rights. The fact that it's still up there is wild to me. It needs to be taken down until something can replace it. We shouldn't have something up there that blatantly violates constitutional rights posted anywhere.
It's wild. Take it down. Replace it with whatever you need to replace it with. But something that goes against our constitutional rights doesn't belong there. I think you guys all
need an education on these things. I think that it's very important that you learn about them. You swore an oath to the Constitution to defend these rights. You did this before you took office.
If it was important enough that you had to swear an oath to it before you took office, maybe learn a thing or two about it. Thank you. Anyone else from the top would like to address? Seeing no one can have a motion to close
the public session. >> Councilman Hitten, somebody over here, I think council presidenti. All in favor? >> I against. Uh Paul, thank you for, you know, giving kudos to DPW. They do they work hard and I'm glad they got to it right away. Mike, thank you for the
comments about Andy. Of course, he was he is going to be missed. I agree with you 100%. I've been doing this a long time like you and we know that the issues in the back of that parking lot make it very difficult to even do anything back there, let alone have one property owner go across somebody else's
property lines and put up fences and things could get ugly that way quickly. So, it's going to take some time and we'll have to look into that. Um, our third speaker, I'm going to ask our attorney to look at our uh um social media policy and you tell me if it's
right or wrong and that we'll get back to it. >> I do have some thoughts on that. >> Okay. >> So, >> all right. Great. Thank you. Um, >> approach the floor. Anybody approach the floor? >> Yeah, I I I do. Sorry about that. I just want to take a moment to acknowledge the
gentleman and uh to share my apologies to him and his family for the unfortunate outcome of our interaction. I do not like being labeled a bully. Um considering that I spent the majority of my time here in Pompton Lakes working with kids and dealing with HIV reports
and dealing what goes on in the school system, that does not sit well with me. Um I just want to make this public here. I don't want to hear private because he does deserve that. Um, so again, I just want to extend my apologies to him and his family. >> Thank you. Anyone else?
>> Um, yes. I just made a >> The check that came from the county, it was mentioned it was mentioned twice. >> 150. >> That it was 100,000, but when I read the check, it was 150. It was 150. I didn't want to correct him, but it was >> okay.
>> It is 100,000. That's why say 150. >> 150. >> 150 is for open space park projects. 100 is always for historic preservation and we did get a grant for historic preservation for the library. Uh brings our total to 700,000 for the library
project. So it definitely is 100. >> But did the check say 150? >> The check said 150. >> Then that must be incorrect. >> No, we're going to hold it to that. >> We want the extra 50. >> Okay. Any other person? >> Yeah.
>> And uh just uh election day is coming. Get out there and vote. Okay. >> Motion to adjurnn into close session. So moved. >> Councilman Cruz. Councilman Bennon. All in favor? Thank you very much everyone.
>> Okay. >> In close session we discuss discussed uh litigation. Um and we have a resolution to uh read. If you want to read that resolution. 25-355 appointing
DB employee solutions LLC DBA as the difference call to provide HRA services. >> Motion to approve resolution 25-3555. >> Motion. >> Council President Paul Dory. >> Second. >> Councilman Hinton. All in favor? >> Against. >> Okay. Motion to adjurnn.
>> Um just one thing. >> Is this privilege of the floor? Uh, no, but Michael said to remind him, >> uh, Friday about the phones. >> Yes. Oh, yeah. Okay. >> We switch phone providers from Verizon Wireless to AT&T FirstNet. It's a
governmentmanaged network that you will never lose service on. So, for those of you that have a burrow phone, we're having a switchover this Friday between 10 and 3. If you're not able to come, your phone will still work and we'll schedule a secondary session. But
actually, good point. We're saving. We've uh cut our bill in half by doing this. So that's >> No, that's just a phone that's not our laptop. >> Correct. >> Do you want to just take it? How do I make the new one work for all the customers? >> They're going to switch it for you and everything. You don't have to do nothing.
>> It's just a carrier. That's all. Just switch it. >> No, the passwords and everything are still the same. >> Yeah. Yeah. Okay. >> Well, we got a new phone. >> You're going to another iPhone. >> Same phone. I'm getting the same actual phone. >> A newer iPhone. >> Newer. >> Newer. >> Yeah. Oh, so then the lock screen things
will all be different. >> Yes. >> But all your passwords and everything will transfer over. Nothing changes. >> Liz, did I do the >> I got both for the motion to >> you. Fix it for me. >> Yes. >> You want it now while we
>> No, we we're not cuz Randy >> Motion to motion second. >> I didn't get a first. Who is the first? Council president Aldori. Councilman Cruz. All in favor? >> I. Okay, now we're on. Okay.