The following is the agenda for the regular council meeting of the Burton Lakes mayor and council municipal corporation of the county say the meeting will begin at 7:00 p.m. on May 13th, 2026 in the municipal building 2517 consistent with the open public meetings
act. The meeting will be open for public comments and shall be in accordance with the terms and conditions of the bird municipal code. >> Please stand for a question. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the
republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Please bless this mar council as they deliberate on the best of Pompton Links. In accordance with the open public meeting law NJSA104-6,
adequate notice of this regular meeting setting forth the time, date, location, and purpose of this meeting was provided by posting notice on the bulletin board of the municipal building by transmitting notice to all persons requesting same and pursuant and apply of the New Jersey statute govern legal
notice and advertisements by electrical electric publications on the official website in the burrow of popular links. We've changed that statement. >> It was for the last meeting. I don't know if that's supposed to be on. >> Okay. Just checking. Roll call, please.
>> May >> here. >> Council President K >> here. >> Councilman D >> here. >> Councilman Cruz >> here. >> Councilman Hen >> here. >> Councilman Sant >> here. >> Councilman Benus. >> Yes. with us is our Tony Maro, our
administrative and Michael, our police chief Anthony Rodriguez, and our chief financial officer, Matt. >> Okay, I have no presentations and updates today. So, we're going to go right into the budget. Liz, whenever you're ready. of 26
26-27 be resolved by the burough council of the burough continent of the county to say that the budget hearing before set forth is hereby adopted and shall constitute an appropriation for the purpose stated of the sums therein set
forth appropriations and authorization of the amount of 12,715,681 municipal purposes 120,317 17 for open space, recreation, farmland, and historic preservation trust fund and 664,739
minimum library tax. >> Okay. Before we open it up to the public, we have our CFO here, Matt Volley, and he's going to speak about our budget a little bit. Sure. Or either one. I don't care. Well, uh, we're here tonight for the, uh,
final adoption and public hearing for our 2026 municipal budget. Uh, at the, uh, last meeting in April, we had our finance and budget presentation, uh, for the public. That presentation has been posted on the Burough's YouTube channel,
uh, the Burough website, and on our local access channel 77. Uh uh if any of the governing body members have any questions, concerns or need additional information for the adoption of the budget, uh now is the time. Otherwise, uh we would thank the finance
committee and the governing body for their work on the budget and uh thank you for your consideration for the adoption of the budget. So, thank you >> and for the public's concern. You know, we take the budget very seriously. This is a a long work of progress and like we've mentioned in the past before. A
lot of our increase here is because of the state mandates of health benefits and pension costs that have risen. Um almost $800,000 for our town this year, which is a huge number for a small town. And it makes it very difficult to try to balance a budget when we have to make up
that that difference. So a lot of our increase with the taxes this year are from that unfortunately. And we're not the only town fighting this right now. There's a lot of towns and a lot of communities in the same situation where the pensions and uh the health care costs are just out of control. So, you know, I'm hoping the state is going to
take a look at this because we can't keep moving forward this way every year from here because I understand just like everybody else, I pay taxes and I don't want to see my taxes go up a lot either. So, it is a tough time. So, with that, I'm going to motion to open the meeting for public comments on 2026 municipal budget.
>> So, move. >> Councilman Cruz. >> Councilman Hinton. All in favor? against. Anyone from public like to address just this uh munable budget? Seeing no one motion to close the meeting for public comments on ordinance 2026. >> Motion.
>> Uh Councilman Santers. >> Second. >> Second. >> Councilman Hinton. All in favor? >> Motion to adopt the 2026 municipal budget for second reading and final adoption. >> Motion. >> Councilman Hinton. >> Second.
>> Councilman Cruz. Roll call, please. Council President, >> yes. >> Councilman Sanders, >> yes. >> Councilman Bay, >> yes. >> Councilman Cruz, >> yes. >> Councilman Hint,
>> yes. >> Okay. Motion to open the meeting for public comments. >> Second. >> Council President Kent. Councilman Cruz. All in favor? I. >> Against. Anyone from the public like to address? Good evening. My name is George Paul of
11:04 Kfax Avenue, but I'm sure you know that by now and you're bored to hear it. All right. 16 years of damage was caused by a deteriorated storm drain pipe at 11:02 Kax Avenue. The burl did finally step up to cap the thing on September
13th, 2025, but no repairs to the damage to properties. SIP risk on February 25th, that is the joint insurance organization has requested documents to move forward, but
as of this past Monday, they have not received any. Why? Why is it that why is the burl dragging? The burough has received documents to the administrators to the bureau and directly to the mayor over the years.
According to Cyprus, there's only one document and that's H2M engineering which was heavily contested when it was issued. I'm seeing this as foot dragging again. February 25th and still no documents
whatsoever. A copy of the storm water management plan. Why hasn't the town provided that? A copy of the tort claim notice. Why hasn't the town complied with that? A copy of the
engineering report completed in 2023. Most of us didn't know there wasn't such a report. I I can't understand why. You know, you you How do you run a burrow if you're not going to start responding to these things and getting them settled?
I thank you for your time, but I'm I'm really This is just foot dragging and it's it's unforgivable. My family's in danger because of the wash out and the undermining of retaining walls
and the my shed's about to collapse, but apparently nobody here really can address that. Thank you. >> Thank you. Anyone else who would like to speak? Please step up.
Hi. Okay. Um, >> just need your name and address. >> Oh, okay. Never did this before, so I feel a little like nervous. >> Don't worry about it. >> Okay. U My name is Michelle Angelo. I live at 168 Styles Court. Um, I'm somewhat new to the town. I've been here
for 3 years. Um, so I was just wondering when we had our big snowstorm back in January, was January. Um, I understand that I do live on a corner lot. A lot of snow was piled up in front of my property. Again, because I'm in a corner
lot, it had to be I don't have a picture. It had to be like at least four or 5 ft of snow. Um, because of the plows pushing the snow. The snow is heavy. Um, and being so high up, it ruined the curb. Um, originally, I do
understand there were some broken pieces on the curb. Um, however, it it had lifted up and I I do have pictures to like prove that it was lifted and like I totally understand. I want to work together with the town to understand that like when we have snowstorms, it's
going to be piled there. It's the easiest thing. Community and safety is first. Um, and then when the snow had melted, we had saw this. So, I did go um I did go down here. I did speak to somebody. They gave me um two cards to
call. I can't tell you how many times I called. I've called several times. >> Did you just tell me the names on the card? >> Um John Lindberg and Sal P. >> Okay. >> Um I've called several times. Um I didn't get an answer and I don't want to throw anybody under. >> No, I just want to throw anybody under
the bus um or anything. So then I decided to send emails. Um, I do have to say, um, when I looked online because I wanted like additional people to email, um, Dan Roberg, >> Dan, I'm sorry. >> Dan Roberg, I think his name is
I do have to say he's the only one who did. >> He's our DPW supervisor. >> He's the only one that followed up with me. He said that um, understandable about it. So, the other day he he did go and he he picked up the pieces of the curb. So, I said,
"Good." Like, "This is so good because I also have um a lot of neighbors and their dogs that walk." And I do think that's dangerous to have cement pieces there. So, he said that he looked back from 2013. He said that he does see that the curb had um some cracked pieces and
even though the snow plows pushed it, he he admitted to that and seeing that, he says that he they're not responsible for fixing the curve. So that's why I'm here to see if like we could work together um on a way of fixing this because I do
feel being on a corner lot. Hopefully we're not going to get that snow again for a long time. I know it's going to happen again. I also don't want the same thing to happen again because of the snow being so much snow being pushed um in the pile and I do have a picture. >> You anything you want us to see? I just
ask you to bring it to the clerk and she'll pass it. >> Okay. Okay. So I do have like the picture. >> Yeah. Just give it to Liz over here. >> So, >> and I'll answer at the end. >> Okay. Okay. So, that's all. I was just hoping we could work together. It's a fixed day for safety.
>> Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Anyone else from the public, please? >> Paul Bulby 120 Roma House. Um, I'm speaking tonight on behalf of the Elks. I am a trustee at the Elks and we are in the process of replacing the
for one of a better word manual sign that we have on the corner of Parent Avenue and uh Jefferson uh with an electric sign and um there are five charges that we are responsible for paying. One of them is a
$2,000 permit fee. Um, I don't know if that's escrow or if that's uh permanent uh fee that we have to pay, but if it is, uh, I don't know if I can bring it to to you guys or whether I have to go to the zoning board. But is there any way that
a $2,000 fee can be waved for an organization such as the Elks, which is nonprofit and uh and and a local organization who does nothing but benefits a community? >> Thank you. Anyone else from the public like to address?
Seeing no one, I have a motion to close the public session. Motion. >> Councilman BGS. Second. >> Councilman Santers. All in favor? >> Against. >> Okay. Yes. All right. So, I'm going to let my attorney respond to some of this,
but Mr. Pop, you failed to mention we had a meeting Monday with you and the administrator and the uh the Jet representative trying to work out your problem. And at that meeting, it was brought up to your attention that a form was sent uh to you that you haven't filled out in over a year and they're
waiting on that form. Now, you said you didn't receive it. I can't. It didn't come from us, so we didn't send it. So, you need to get that form back right away. The other forms I I I'll ask Michael, do we know anything about those? >> We're working on responsive documents, but we just met with the resident on
Monday, so we, you know, we're trying to do it as expeditiously as possible. So George did give me some stuff tonight uh hand delivered. So we're going to deliver that to the GIF tomorrow. >> So for the council's uh understanding we had a meeting just two days ago with Mr.
Pab, myself, Michael, our GIF representatives. Things were brought up, things we needed from him, some information that we'd like to see if he had um and we told him he could actually physically bring it into our administrator. He would make copies and he would get it out. I guess he did some of that today or yesterday. So it's very hard for him to come in here today and
ask this question when he did this yesterday. Okay. And we're also waiting on some paperwork from him. >> Paperwork I told you at the meeting. >> No, can't talk. Can't talk from there. >> You want to say the whole point of telling me I got to provide a document I never received. >> Mr. Popoff, you're now uh in uh
discussions with the insurance carrier. And like any other insurance claim, an insurance carrier has questions regarding uh causation and valuation and extent of damages. Uh I'm going to instruct uh this body to no longer
engage in any conversation regarding this because now this is an insurance matter. The insurance carrier is involved. We don't know exactly what the insurance carrier ultimately is going to conclude. Um and certainly nothing that has taken place today should be
considered an admission of any sort. Uh but uh due to the fact that Mr. Popoff is a resident, I think that we all understand that uh to the extent possible uh the administration was uh seeing if there was anything our insurance carrier cannot or cannot do with respect to this matter. And Mr. the
pop off's communication at this point in time should be directed through the insurance carrier because ultimately that is the entity that's going to have the ultimate say uh and and may or may not make contribution to resolve this issue. Um I I can certainly sympathize.
I'm not saying this uh to to be current or rude. It's just the way that you know insurance disputes are handled and it's not fair to uh expect responses now that we have the insurance carrier involved. The communication should be with them
and uh certainly I think that we could fac facilitate the insurance carrier being responsive to Mr. Popoff. Uh but this isn't the forum for that type of communication. >> Okay. Thank you. Uh Michelle, thank you for bringing that to our attention. So, uh, the person you would want to talk to
is the person you spoke with that he's our DPW supervisor. I'm going to ask our administrator, Michael, to reach out to him just to understand what the situation is. Or maybe you do already. I don't know. >> Yes. Uh, Miss Angelo, uh, did email me or I got a copy of an email. I forget
explicitly. Uh, my initial reaction is according to burrow code, the curb is the responsibility of the homeowner. Um, but uh we try to help out in in good faith repair curb damages where we can. So I will follow up with the DPW
tomorrow and see if it's something that we can fix. Um, and I'll have uh our DPW reach out to Miss Angelo tomorrow to follow up. >> And I and I can sympathize with you. I live on the corner not too far from you. And when we have those large snowstorms, those corners uh tend to be a pile up of
snow. And I've even had to say, "Do we have to pile snow in front of my house?" But look, I understand they're doing a job and they have to do it. And it's sometimes difficult to find a place to put that snow. Um, and uh, we've kind of instructed them to get the snow off the streets first, make it passable, and then they're supposed to kind of go back
a little bit after the after the storm and find other places to push the snow. Um, okay. And meanwhile, like our administrator just mentioned, he'll have conversation with the DPW person tomorrow and see what we can do with that. >> I appreciate it. Thank you so much. >> Okay. Uh Paul, um correct me if I'm
wrong, but we can't. Can we wave permitting fees for individual groups or not? >> Uh by resolution of the governing body. >> All right. So, we could make a resolution if that's something this group is interested in doing and waving just the permit fees. The other fees I'm not aware of. I don't know what you were talking about with the other fees, but
um that would I would suggest you talk to Liz for the next meeting. Uh we'll put it on the agenda and then we'll have discussion from council about that. Okay. Okay. Motion to approve the following minutes. Uh, regular meeting minutes, April 22nd.
Close session meeting minutes, April 22nd, 2026. I have a motion. >> Motion. >> Councilman Sant. >> Councilman Hint. All in favor? >> I. >> Uh, authorizes the bills and claims as listed below. Can I have a motion?
>> Motion. >> Councilman Sanders. >> Second. >> Council President Kent. All in favor? >> I >> against. Uh, consent agenda. Anybody need anything removed? >> Um, just 2614 and 2615.
>> 14. Okay. Anybody else? Nope. Okay. Um, can I have a motion? Oh, go ahead, Liz. I'm sorry. Yeah. >> Where's the mayor and the power of consciousness?
Senate agenda proposed resolution for May and Burough Council. Burough complex does desire to remove resolution for individual action from that agenda. Now therefore it resolved that the following resolutions on the consent agenda are hereby approved. Resolution 26-198
through 26-216. We're going to remove 2624 and 26 250. >> Okay. Can I have a motion? >> Motion. Councilman Cruz. Council President Kent. All in favor? >> I. >> Against. >> Okay. 26-14.
>> They're both the same. I'm just curious as to what the payments are for. Is it for uh new work that's going to be going? >> Oh, just let her just let her read it first. Go ahead, Liz. You want to read those? >> 2614 authorized change order number three for Willowfield improvement. In 2015, it is authorized final payment
application six for Hersfield. >> Okay. Mike. >> Thank you. Thank you, Councilman. Uh yes. So 26214 uh authorizing change order number three for Willowfield Improvements Project. This is a change order that uh came up
in the field with our bur engineer and the contractor. It's in the amount of $10,500 and it has to do with installing uh additional irrigation along the parking lot between the new T-ball fields and the parking lot that's
existing. The initial plan that was approved uh within the bidsp specs did not have irrigation in that area and we felt uh that with the high traffic uh or the high pedestrian traffic uh of those that are attending games and practices
that without irrigation the grass would get damaged very easily. Uh so we're just we were just looking to maintain uh for the future that area. So uh it was within our budget appropriation for the project. Uh, so it's within budget and
recommended by the engineer. >> So just out of curiosity, heat because there's a lot of traffic during season. I do agree with that. Um, is this going to cuz I've seen irrigation systems, it it helps a little, but in hot days, warm
weather, and heavy traffic, you it doesn't really survive. I mean, I know we're spending $10,000 on this. I mean, I'm not I'm not a engineer to say different. Um, but I would hope that it does work cuz $10,000 is $10,000 only to find out that the foot traffic is
heavier than he um uh assumed and um on very hot days grass doesn't spread too much with heavy traffic over it. So, I mean I'm just just wanted to put that out there. We all know how Hersfield I mean Willow is at this point and um it is there is a lot of traffic and not
much not much less down there but traffic. >> Thank you. And as Councilman Hinton may know, um, our DPW reached out recently to the Little League because there's been complaints of the Little League driving vehicles on the new grass areas.
So, we've we've talked to them. We've talked to the soccer folks. We're trying to get them to understand that they can't drive vehicles, ATVs, equipment on this new grass, that they can do everything that they can do to try to not do that. We realize that sometimes it's unavoidable, but we just felt that
uh we should put them on notice perhaps uh just because it's brand new. We don't really want it to get damaged. >> Is there anything we could do to section that off? >> It's fenced right now. We did actually just today we ordered additional fencing through the DPW that we're going to put up to further block it. Uh and I'll get
into the project in my report, but it's looking like about 2 and 1 half to 3 weeks, uh the kids will be able to go on the field. >> Okay. But >> you want to do Hersheel pork and chicken? >> Uh yes, thank you. Uh so this actually is not a change order. This is the final
pay app for the project. Uh so the project has been substantially complete down at Hersfield Park for the storage building. Uh this final payment app is for $6,400. Uh Councilman Hinton and I and the DPW met over there about a month ago with
the uh contractor. Uh we determined that there were a few change order items such as baby changing stations in the bathrooms. We're looking at automated locks on the bathrooms that keep the bathrooms open during the day but lock it at night, not needing staff to go
down and open and close every day. Uh a spotlight in the attic and uh some shelving and other uh you know uh items. But uh the project is complete. Uh the construction official is looking at
issuing the uh certificate of occupancy and the recreation commission uh and I are going to be working together to get them back in the building for summer camp. Um >> and those are all good improvements that we're putting in. Those are >> right. And uh I would like to note though that Councilman Hinn did bring up
two architectural issues in the field and we are working through those right now. Uh but that doesn't hinder our payout. That's more of a a response that we're looking for as to why they did it that way. We feel that it's too late to to make any of those modifications that
were mentioned in terms of uh the attic entrance and whatnot. Uh but we are looking at the stone right now. So I will let you know about that. >> Okay. >> Uh but thank you. >> Karen Murphy would be very happy. >> Yes, she Okay. 2620214 and 26 215. Can I have a motion?
>> Motion. >> Councilman Cruz. >> Second. Councilman Hinton. All in favor? >> I. >> Um, Mr. Excuse me. Can I miss make a comment? I didn't want to pull it, but on 26 212, we hired four seasonal
workers for Department of Public Works. And I was going over the uh applications and I noticed that one of the individuals is a um comes from down tree service. Good. So, we have an experienced tree climber um and bucket
operator. So, alls we need is the the bucket and the chip chop >> and to make them full time. He sees that. >> He's only part done. >> Oh, well, we can make him full. >> Sure, we could do that. >> But, uh he's experienced in tree work, so >> good. >> That's a plus.
>> Okay. Ordinances, Liz. Ordinance 2616, an ordinance amending chapter 14, refues and recycling section two, article 2, the recycling center of the municipal code of the burough cont. >> Motion to approve ordinance 26-16 for introduction.
>> Motion. >> Councilman B. Councilman Cruz. Roll call, please. >> Council President Kent. >> Yes. >> Yeah, sure. >> Councilman Bay. >> Yes. >> Council Cruz. >> Yes. >> Council. Um, Councilman Hinton has a
question on that before. >> It's just introduction, but Okay. >> Okay. But why were the weights of the containers increased? >> Okay. >> If I may, uh, they actually were wrong. They were the wrong amount. So Dan as part of uh some sort of work he was
doing with the state or whatnot uh had a look in our code and uncovered that our code actually had the wrong gallonage in pounds in terms of our recycling pickup as opposed to what we advertised to the public. Right? So we advertised that the containers uh must not exceed 45 gallons
in size weighing no more than 60 lbs. That's what's in the calendar on the website and all of our mailings. But the code actually says less and that's uh we haven't been practicing that out in the real world in many years. So we felt that we just wanted to revise that. >> Just wanted to catch up. Okay.
>> All right. Thank you. Uh yes on that. >> Thank you. >> Okay. 267 >> 2617 employees of the burough consolation county in the state of New Jersey. >> Motion to approve ordinance 26-1617
for introduction. Motion. >> Councilman Sant. >> Council President Kent. Roll call, please. >> Council President Kent. >> Yes. >> Councilman Sans. >> Yes. >> Councilman Bay. >> Yes. >> Councilman Cruz.
>> Yes. >> Council. >> Uh, Councilman Hinton has a question on that one also. >> Go for it. >> Uh, question is, I noticed the property maintenance officer has an hourly wage and from what I understand, he's on salary. Is that a mistake on this form
or uh >> uh I thought he was number Mike is he >> No, it's actually a mistake. So, thank you. We'll fix that for the next meeting. >> My vote adjust. >> Thank you. Good catch. >> H how how would the the change be?
>> He's sal he Excuse me. He's salary. >> No, no, I understand. But how I think we should place on the record exactly what we anticipate the change being. >> Uh the change will be to amend the salary ordinance. uh to change it from hourly to salary >> and that is
>> for the property maintenance office. >> Property maintenance office. What line? >> Uh next to last >> on the bottom. >> Okay. >> Property. >> It says $15 an hour. >> He's not hourly. He sees I mean he's
>> salary salary. >> So then what would the salary be? >> You know it. Okay. >> I do. it it would be between 10,000 and 20,000. >> Okay. So, the minimum is going to be 10,000, >> right? >> The maximum will be 20,000. This is
first read, so that change uh is of non-issue. But when we publish it, that's how we ought to publish it. So, we ought to be uh yeah, we're just going to put 10,000 in the minimum column and 20,000 in the maximum column. take them out of there
or before I publish it. >> This has a question. >> Yes. Yeah. The >> corrected. >> It has to be published as corrected. >> Okay. >> Okay. And uh well, you do have hourly and salary interdispersed on the columns. So, all
we're doing is changing the designation. $15 an hour is going to be changed to $10,000. $25 an hour is going to be changed to $20,000. Okay. >> Okay. Good. And why was the uh four Michael why was four of them in bold print?
>> Those are those are the ones that were changed. >> Okay. >> Right. So the bur administrator you had to increase because of the shared service agreement with the burrow of Emerson. The deputy municipal clerk was given an increase last year. So we had to raise the ranges. Um,
>> and then rec Secretary and Shade Tree Secretary must have just been behind the time get the thousand. >> It must have never been updated. So, I figured let me take the opportunity to update it. >> But they're getting paid or they are. >> They're paid what everyone else is paid. Yeah.
>> So, it pays to be on finance. We look at these things. It's >> why you're on finance. >> Ready? >> Yeah. Go ahead. 2614 an ordinance to amend chapter 10 a animal control section 12 feeding of animals subsection
12.2 being wild animals of the revised general ordinances of borrow capital. >> So before I make a motion I think we're bringing in our animal control person next meeting or >> Thank you mayor. So uh Lisa Perry our animal control officer uh did speak to
Liz and council president Kent within the last week. Uh we've decided that given the limited uh meetings left for the summer and everyone's schedule, I think the Bloomingdale Animal Control uh is going to table at some of our events
such as National Night Out, Pompton Day, uh the summer strolls, but through the bid uh and do it that way. So, I think that's the way that we're going to do it and we're looking to set up a schedule at some point. >> Okay. Motion to open the meeting for public
comments on ordinance 26-14. >> Motion. Councilman Santers, Councilman Beg. All in favor? I >> against. Anyone would like to address just this ordinance? >> Seeing no one, motion to close the meeting for public comments on ordinance 26-4.
>> Councilman Hinton. >> Second. >> Councilman Beg. All in favor? >> Against? Motion to approve ordinance 26-14 for final adoption. >> Motion. Councilman Beg. >> Second. >> Councilman Hinton. Roll call, please.
>> Council President K. >> No. >> Councilman Sley. >> Yes. >> Councilman Day. >> Yes. >> Councilman Cruz. >> Yes. >> Councilman H. >> Yes.
>> 2615. The ordinance amendments article 2 administration section 42 police department subsection 4255 awards program of the municipal code burden l >> just to remind the council before we open this. This is what the chief had
brought to us last time about his awards and how he'd like to add some and change some. I don't know if you want to add anything to that. >> No. Thank you for the consideration. >> Okay. Motion to open the meeting for public comment on ordinance 26-15. >> Motion. >> Council President Kent. Councilman Hinton. All in favor?
>> I >> against. Anyone like to address just this motion? >> Seeing no one. Motion to close the meeting for public comments on ordinance 26-15. >> Motion. >> Councilman Hinton. >> Second. >> Council President Kent. All in favor?
>> Against. Motion to approve ordinance 26-15 for final adoption. >> Motion. >> Councilman Hinton. >> Second. >> Councilman Santers. Roll call, please. >> President. >> Yes. Councilman. >> Yes.
>> Council bag. >> Yes. >> Council, >> yes. Council, >> without a doubt. Yes. >> Okay. Under my report. First, I have an appointment mayor to appoint with the advice and consent of the burough council. James Greenfield as an alternate number one commissioner to
fill an unexpired term December 31st, 2028. and Jess Paul Palibu is an alternate number two to fill an unexpired term December 31st, 2027 to the recreation commission. Can I have a second? >> Second. >> Councilman Cruz. All in favor?
>> I against. Okay. Under my report. Um I had a interesting meeting with the uh uh D commissioners uh two two of them assistant commissioners, a bunch of mayors, a bunch of political uh senators and assemblymen about the flooding. And
there was some newer uh people, newer newer mayors wanting to know why we don't lower Compton Lake before a flood. Um, and they were wondering that was causing all the issues, which I've known cuz I've been doing this a while and a lot of us up here know that lowering a
10-ft lake, which is basically what that is, really doesn't make a difference. And they did a a slide presentation on it, which was very informative to the new people, especially that explains out of the floodshed area, that lake is 0.04% 04% of the whole flood area. So
it's a very very small percentage. At that same meeting I brought up which I've been bringing up for the last 5 years that we should be lowering the reservoir which is 47% of the flood management area. When the reservoir spills at 302 that's when it
starts spilling over. And once it spills over all the water fills up our rivers and that's where we get our flooding. If the reservoir is already spilling water and we're getting 10 in of rain, they should be lowering that reservoir 5 in at least. So, we'd get 5 in of time
built up in that water. A reservoir that large would take days to get to that 5 in. That buys us days, not hours. Of course, when it comes to the D and and political people, they like to do studies. They like to think about things. They don't make decisions very
quickly. Um they said well we might get an Army Corps of Engineers study to do it which is how the dam was built 20 years ago. Um so there was good conversation at least about it. The other thing I brought up which uh again a lot of the mayors were not aware of when I brought it up on the on the call
when we want to do the cleaning of our rivers what we call desilting and d snagging we have to apply for permits to the D which can cost between $30 and $50,000 for a permit. And each town has to apply for a separate permit. So, we can't do it as a group. I've been
pushing for years. I should be able to apply with four other towns that surround me for the same permits. And then Senator Pacio, who represents us, even came up with a better idea. And he said, "Mayor, are you telling me we're paying the state money to clean their rivers because they own the rivers at
the end of the day?" And he said, "Yes." He said, "I would go as far as to say it would be permit by rule." And what that means is we can go do it whenever we want, which makes great sense. Uh um I can tell you we one of the commissioners on the call from the D was the licensing
person and the permitting person and she said she would look into this at least try to group permits so that numerous towns can apply for the same permit but maybe even take it a step further. Think about it if we could just go work on these rivers whenever we needed to on a permit by rule. How much better? And I I
mentioned to all the mayors and I'm not blaming anybody for not knowing because the dam is in our town. So everybody who's flooding from us down assumes we're doing something here in Pompton Lakes to cause the flooding that's going downstream when I have no control of the dam. The dam is done by a computer model out of Trenton. Okay? So it has nothing
to do with us. Uh but if every town was to clean their rivers all the way of debn snagging and desilting the water would flow all the way to Newark Bay. The problem is one town decides they're not going to do it and that's where the backup hits and then the water starts backing up to all the towns backwards.
So, it is a very important thing and knock on wood with all the great work the flood advisory board has done and and our town has done, we put money aside every year to clean our rivers and lakes every year. Um, if we didn't do that, if people know who've been here a while, we used to floods once a year at
least, sometimes twice. We haven't flooded in a couple years, and that's impressive for a town. I can tell you, I get calls from the major news channels when the heavy rain's coming because they always assume PMPON Lakes is going to flood. the last five years I've said we have no flooding in Palm Lakes. Call
somewhere else. Um you know so these things are important especially you it's this is the time to talk about it. It's not when the flooding happens because nobody's listening when the flooding happens. We have to be preemptive to do this. So I even offered to have the next meeting here in Pmpton Lakes. Bring all the mayors here, all the politicians
here, all the D commissioners here. We'll take a walk. We'll go look at the dam. We'll show them everything. And so we'll see where they go. I appreciate the fact that Senator Curado and some others put this meeting together to try to understand this, but again, I've been doing this a while. We've had meetings like this in the past before. Sometimes
they don't go too far, but they have to make some moves. Flooding is becoming a real issue. And I can tell you the the new governor, by the way, flooding is one of her top concerns. So, this is where this is coming from because the governor cares about what's going on. And and by the way, the governor when she was our congresswoman was here in Pmpton Lakes twice checking our flooding
and seeing how things were going and understanding why we were flooding here. So I give her credit for doing that. So more to follow on that. >> Mayor, can I make a comment? >> Sure. >> Um I don't know. I wasn't at the meeting in that conversation. It's not necessarily
I agree with you 100% about the lake is not deep. It's not a lot of f. is when that dam is closed and the lake is allowed to rise and then they open up the dam, then you get the surge. If they
opened it up ahead of the storm and just let the river flow the way it was, when the storm comes and the water goes at a certain level through the dam, you wouldn't have that surge. It was the surge that really caused a lot of the damage especially. >> Well, no. They're they're saying and
they have models to prove all this that the dam was built to operate open and close. Open and close. Open and close. And they've refined that in the last couple years so we don't get as big of a surge, but they can't just leave it open flooding all the time because sometimes the water has nowhere to go because it's
already flooded downstream somewhere. So when that water comes out fast, it has nowhere to go and will end up flooding because it's not moving. You know, we people know in flooding that where the rivers meet, sometimes the water starts flowing upstream because the water pressure from one stream is pushing too hard. And if that happens, we'll start
flooding up. So that's all done by computer model. When that was put in by the Army Corps of Engineers, you know that we have no control of that and we have no say on that. And they're always going to model that gate to open and close. And I remind everybody, we call it a dam, but it is not a dam. It is a floodgate control. It's not a dam made
to hold water back. It's it's an actual floodgate that opens and closes. But the surging, you're right, is is a major problem with Chicago. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Um, we uh we had a nice program with the prosecutor's office and and the chief of police, which I'm sure he's going to talk about, called the ride, which is going to hook up uh police
officers with mental health professionals when things happen and there's a call for that kind of need. Uh so we can kind of simmer down or close quietly get down uh conversation with somebody who's in need or in help. I appreciate the prosecutor, the head prosecutor of P County Candy came here,
made the presentation. It was a nice presentation and I thank him for doing that. I mentioned the meeting I had with with uh a resident about the uh flooding in his backyard. We had a design standards meeting which is basically a meeting with the planning board, redevelopment board, some council
members uh about how we'd like the future of our downtown to look. Not how tall or wide, but colors and schemes and windows and things like that. We're going to put it all into one area where people can kind of come to town, pull out this guide to say, "Oh, this is what they're looking for." So, we're in the
process of talking about that. Um, I attended a beef steak for Carl Padulla. You know, good or bad, what you say about Carl. This was a man who was always involved in this town from very beginning. Okay? He cared about this town. And the people that make up Pompton Lakes are are made of are like
Carl Padulla. You don't always have to agree. He ran against me twice for mayor. He was a friend of mine and he he always did good for this town. So, you know, I'm glad to see that was a nice beef steak for him. Uh, design senator's replacement, I think. Oh, I also had
another meeting with uh if you know the wall across from the library there where uh the sidewalk is and there's a retaining wall that's owned by the county. That wall is going to have to be replaced. It's it's uh not doing well and they talked to us about how they're going to go about doing that. It is a
large project. There will be a street closure of one side or the other or both of Wanuku Avenue for maybe a month, maybe more. Um, there'll be some pileings to put the piles in to make that stand. So, there's more to come on that. That is a that is a county project. They're going to redo that
whole wall and then a whole new sidewalk on the side there. But, it it's a major project for a busy downtown that we have. So, more to come on that. And that is my report. Council President Kent. >> Thank you, Mayor. Uh, and thank you for sticking up for Pmpton Lakes and their flooding. And we've been the flood board
did submit uh I believe an email to you supporting exactly what you just said and so it's good to hear that it's uh it's been listened to and hopefully they're going to take some good action on that because we we've been talking about that for years. >> We have. Thank you very much on that. I'll let I'll let the flood board know.
>> Good. >> All right. Um, I want to thank uh our administrator uh Michael Carelli for putting a very uh very nicely understandable YouTube uh
presentation on the budget. Um it was very easy to understand why the numbers are the way they are and where they came from. Uh we didn't have that many many years ago. It was very difficult to understand and follow. I have to be honest with you. Um but it was very good. So I want to thank you. Uh if you're not happy with the budget, then
you should really be calling the governor's office and asking for some monies to offset some of these costs that we cannot and do not control, such as our healthcare and such a not receiving any municipal aid and on the pensions there. There's something that
we just can't we just can't do as as the mayor said and that's coming right out of Trenton. So that's where problem is. Uh we received uh DuPont quarterly site reports, you know, years ago. Um just I don't know if some of the newer uh
council people know this, but we used to have someone look at these reports and and talk to Dupont about where they're at on their site. And I was just wondering, can we maybe possibly think about resurrecting having a meeting with them? So understand, I mean, I understand it. That's what I used to do,
but I mean it should be done by a professional. >> Yeah. Unfortunately, since the CPA left and D left out of our office here, right? >> They don't really have manpower to come down. We can ask you can try. >> I I would I would just ask that you know we have someone maybe just once a year to talk about because the quarterly report is very complicated if you don't
understand it's all about groundwater and it does it could it doesn't really directly impact us but it does impact that a very large parcel that's in links and I think it'd be nice to be back on top of it again. I would just we we do that and they used to sit with um the
the folks in uh used to be DuPont Nells Kamores but but I think that's I think that's an important project that we could do and I also um so thank you. I appreciate that. And then I I I know we sent a letter. I want to thank our attorney um Mark Simra for sending a
follow-up letter regarding the $75 million settlement. I'd like to know when your report is ready if there's any response to that because I do believe that we are owed uh money if somebody's going to be paying out. We were the ones that were damaged. Our our residents
were damaged and I I'd like to know where we stand with that. But you don't have to do that now. You can do that. It's pretty important. >> We're not getting any response, but uh as I had told Mike, uh we're putting on a monthly tickler. So that letter is going out every 30 days until we get a response. So we're going to at least
flood their mailbox. Okay. All right. And emails. Okay. Well, I thank you because I want to I do they owe us a response. They're an agency that should respond. >> They at least respond to a letter. >> Well, letter. Exactly. I mean, we're 13,000 >> just for the public's concern. There's uh money accepted from DuPont to the
state for rep representation of the damage they did. And I've been fighting for many years along with a lot of people up here that we should get a piece of that money somehow. The governor's office is in charge of where that money goes and it will never come back to Pompton Lakes. Um they'll go to other projects and last time we got the
money it went down to Dunes down in Wildwood. Uh so you know there should be some type of law passed that the towns that are half the polluters in it should get some of that money. So >> absolutely absolutely >> especially when the state of jets and and >> tells you >> and stands in the position of government to collectify.
>> Yeah. >> Exactly. So I just want everybody to know that we're we have we're not getting up. Not yet. and and we shouldn't give up. So, thank you. Thank you, Mark. Um, all right. And some lighter stuff. Uh, our OEM SER members are training on the ham radio and I think they are also doing some
additional um training. If anybody is interested, they should read out reach out to Deborah Ross or myself. Um, if you're interested in doing any C training, our first responders, just so everyone knows, there's a save the date
June 30th. Looks like County Community College is doing a training session for first responders and DRCC teams. So, it's I believe it's free. Sounds like a wonderful um opportunity to update you
on some of the latest stuff regarding wellness for first responders and basically some of the things that you I guess that you experience how to handle. So, that's always nice to have and it doesn't cost the burrow anything and it's a good resource to have for our
responders. Um, I spoke with Lisa Perry. I did on the shears, our animal control in Bloomingdale and we did discuss the concern about feeding and not feeding. Um, and the reason I did vote no uh is that because I do feel that we we first
should have our deer study finalized. We should have a count on the herd and we should have a a a more active educational program. I that the fact that we're waiting till the summer is because it's it's a very generic u educational
program. Uh, I think it's important that when people also if there's a fine in in the um ordinance, I don't want to see neighbors calling up against neighbors because they're doing something and that does happen. So, and
uh she did agree with that. So, anyway, but it's it passed. So, but we're still going to train for and ex and go through the training for for everyone. They should understand the deer population, how that works.
And um so, oh, and um uh Mike, did we ever get the deer study results back yet? >> Uh thank you, Council President. Uh we're still waiting on the state of New
Jersey to issue the grant agreement, which is about a year past due, excuse me, as Councilman Hinton knows. Uh, so we are following up with them uh monthly, but we have have not gotten the grant agreement yet. >> Okay, you did. >> Thank you. >> Oh, okay.
>> Does this involve Excuse me, council president. Does this involve the drone footage that they were supposed to? >> Yeah. >> Yes. Our forest health canopy survey was completed uh I think in the fall. Uh but we are waiting on the grant agreement. We can't move forward with the project until we get the grant agreement. So
that's the reason for the hold up. >> Okay. All right. >> It's not going to be done with a drone. It's going to be done. >> It's We didn't We're not getting enough money to do a drone. >> No, I think it's a manual. >> It's going to be a headlights and count at night. That's the amount of money
that we got. We didn't get that much money. >> Okay. >> Right. >> Okay. >> All right. Well, thank you for the update and that is my report. >> Okay. Thank you. Uh Councilman Beg, >> thank you, mayor. Um I attended the April uh prevention coalition meeting. Um they booked Zion Given from 5:18 for
an assembly with our high school students. Um that will be uh presented this Friday. It's about mental health awareness and substance abuse issues. Um the following day, Saturday, the following day from then, uh this Saturday, May 16th, is the Walk for Hope and Diamond Classic. Um these events
correlate with mental health awareness month. Registration for the walk is at 9:00 in front of the high school. Please come out and support the cause. Uh sorry, and support the cause. Um, I also attended the April historic pro prevention meeting. Uh, the prevention is currently working on the library with
the library board to come up with the celebratory event for the country's 250th anniversary. So, more to come on that. Um, they have digitized the Palton Lakes 1929 directory. Now, um eventually they'll have this up as part of the virtual museum which is on the historic page through the burough website. Um,
recreation didn't meet last night uh last month. However, they have several events that they want wanted me to announce. So summer camp is from June 19th to July 31st from 9 to 12 at Hersville Park. Registration is now open. Registration for Camp Go in Oakland is now open and open for our
residents uh in middle school 6th through 8th grade. The camp runs from June 29th to August 7th. Um the local PBA 161 5K run walk is on June 6th at 9:00. The race will start at Hersville Park and registration begins at 8:00. Um the 4th annual Pmpton Lakes Pride
celebration is June 27th from 1 to 4 on the library lawn. Um our first concert will be Saturday, May 23rd on the library lawn from 7:00 to 9:00. This is a uh big band concert and they'll be honoring our veterans. And then the town's first summer stroll hosted by the bid will be Thursday, May 21st in our
downtown area. There will be food, local vendors, kids activities, and family fun. Please come out and support our local businesses. >> Yeah. >> And the road will be closed right and Wiku will be closed. on Wanq closed. So, and do you know when they're closing Wanq on Thursday? >> It's before 4:00, I would assume.
>> I wanted to say it was around 4 or 4:30 because of uh school dismissal. >> School dismissal. Okay. So, we closed around 4:00 4:30. >> Yes. >> Thank you. >> Um I attended the Tamwide River cleanup hosted by the Pompton Lake CPC. >> Um it was a great day. We had
approximately 55 participants. Uh we collected a lot of garbage and debris from our lands and waterways. So thank you to all who attended. Um I also attended the arrive together presentation held by the state county prosecutor's office, our police department, and a member from CBH care, which is comprehensive behavioral
healthcare. Um arrive, I got this down now. Stands for alternative responses to reduce instances of violence and escalation. I did look it up. Um arrived together. It is a New Jersey initiative that pairs police officers with mental health
professionals to respond to 911 behavioral health calls. The programs uh aims to deescalate crisis uh connect individuals to social services and reduce arrest or use of force. Um the program operates via co-response, teleaalth or non-law enforcement models.
Um one aspect that I did find remarkable is that 97 97% of the cases do not result in the use of force and 98% do not result in any arrest. um this partnership will be a tremendous asset to our community. So, thanks for bringing that, AJ. >> Appreciate that. >> Um I attended our trails maintenance day
this past Saturday. Uh we had a quick meeting beforehand to discuss the future of the Ed Merrill Trail and who would be maintaining the Morris County uh greenway in the future. So, thank you to Lauren Venon for her constant support of our trails. And then lastly, um I attended the Chamber of Commerce dinner meeting last night held at Tony's Pizza.
Um at the meeting we discussed shredding day and the painting of pots uh for Mother's Day were great successes. Um they are giving out five four $500 scholarships this June to graduating students. And then the next pit buck sale will be this Saturday in the high school parking lot from 10:30 to 1:00.
And that's my report. >> Thank you and thank you for reminding me about the river cleanup. It was a great event. Thank thanks for the organization of environmental club. A lot of members, a lot of good food and a lot of garbage picked up. So all all good things. So, thank you. Um,
uh, Councilman Cruz, >> two things before I begin my report. >> So, they're going to have the big month Saturday at the Diamond Classic and everything else. >> Okay. I'll remember that when I talk to them next time. >> Yeah, I just heard that, too, cuz they have the walk at the same time as the >> So, the feeling is that the walk will
pretty much conclude right about when Bid Bucks sale will start. Parking for the walk will be in the pontole as of now. >> Diamond Classic, it starts at 10:00, right? Diamond Classic JB starts at 10 and Varsity 12 >> and Brother Bruno's Pizza is going to be down there now with the food truck.
>> Oh, there going to be a lot of rushing around that morning. >> Yeah, it's going to be We're going to be all over Pleasant. >> And just to add to the uh River Cleanup, that's great. The numbers. Michael, did the owners of Pump Square ever put a garbage can across the street from Starbucks? >> Great question. >> No, I'll follow up with uh South Pole.
>> Yeah, cuz I'm pretty sure it was just as bad when you guys were over there because the kids are constantly throwing the garbage over the wooden fence. That's it. >> Yeah. Thank you. That'll be good if they did that. All right. Thank you, mayor. Uh good evening, everyone. So, I'm going to start off with the board of education meeting. It was a regular meeting Tuesday night. It was uh a usual
meeting. Nothing really stood out. Uh finance approved bills, personnel, they had resignation and appointments, and they are down to four superintendent at this point. So, they're hoping by at least mid to late June, they'll have somebody selected because they need to give them the time to give their 60-day
notice to the district they're leaving. Um there was also discussion on a program called safe roots program. Um I'm just sharing it here because they do work with uh the burrow and the district and a variety of things from um sharing
safety tips for bicycles um safe walking. Um they do a lot of programs. It was one of the members just discussed it briefly. He wasn't 100% sure of everything, but I felt it was something to look at because everything that they offer is free. All right, moving on. I have a board of
health report. >> Nice. >> Okay, so we finally met, you know, for the second time, I think. So, I'm just going to go over the numbers for some of the uh diseases reported. Nobody needs to run out of the building. Okay, so for COVID 19, we had 85. This is Pompin
Lakes only. uh hepatitis B1, hepatitis C3, influenza 18 and over three, influenza under 182, other reportable diseases too. They didn't specify the name.
Uh let's see if there's anything here. Uh monthly request questions, these are public health inquiries. We had 25. Distribution of COVID kit kits was 10. And the township distribution of services provided by flyers, clinic information, etc. is 25.
And uh lastly, blood pressure walking screenings, we had seven reported by the board of health. And the last item I'm going to discuss is the board of adjustments meeting. Uh they approved bills. Uh this is for application BOA25-08
and the amount of $499.50. This is Collier's Engineering and Design Professional Services. For legal is Maraziti Falcom Fal Falcone LLP Legal Services. This is also for application BOA25108102 uh for the amount of 637.50.
It was a very short meeting. They had one application BOA 26-01 which was approved and will be under resolution for final adoption. and BOA250-02 which is the only resolution and that was approved and that'll do it for my report. Mayor,
>> thank you. Uh, Councilman Hinton. >> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, let's see if I got my dates right. I attended the Little League parade. >> Said that already. That was >> That was the last time. >> Yeah. >> Okay. My date was wrong, >> but it was a good time.
>> Good time. >> I attended the river cleanup. That was pretty good. Um, I just walked around Hurstfield Park, picked up a whole bag of garbage just making the loop uh through the parking lot. So, um, that was and there was quite a few people
there. So, that was excellent to see that. Um, attended the PLPD arrive program. Now, I want to thank Councilman Beg for spelling that all out because I was
going to put the chief on the spot and I >> got have it written down. >> Oh, but um that was very informative and there was a question I had about the blue envelope program and um to learn that our police department does
implement that also. That's a program where um you can probably explain it a little better, chief. >> Now you're putting me on the spot. No. Yes. So, so the blue envelope program is a program started uh and initiated by a
prosecutor's office, but um if uh let's say an individual is uh autistic but highly functional um they are able to carry this blue envelope uh which all our officers know about in the county,
all all officers know about in the county. So at this way if they happen to stop them or they encounter them um they can then see that the person um might have some maybe social anxieties um so that the officer knows that uh this
person is not just ignoring them or or not like so he understands that there's an issue and that he can better handle the situation and uh and um handle it appropriately. There might be emotional problems. There might be the driver might be acting erratic, which the
policeman right off the bat is going to be defensive. So handing the blue envelope >> puts the officer at ease and puts the driver in both in a safe position. >> So if I carry a blue envelope in my car, it's right there. >> Um I think the officers in town would
recognize you. You have a blue car. You don't need a blue. That's true. I'll hang it on the mirror. >> There you go. Um then we had our seniors meeting of which the mayor attended and uh he had a nice presentation for uh the seniors and
it was very great of him to come there and uh seniors had a few questions for him and he was able to uh answer their questions. Um attended the feast day for Carl Padulla. Um yes it was welld
deserved and uh he was a great resident of our town. Um we I attended the uh police hearing on Monday for an issue with the police department. Um and that was taken care
of. Uh had a shade tree meeting. Attended that. We're planting 17 new trees. Um Albany Avenue where all the new uh paving was just done. There's quite a few trees going along there. That's a beautiful spot to plant.
>> And we're having uh se three more replacements trees that were planted last year died and they're going to be replaced also. >> Um then I was going to bring up the bid bucks, but Councilman B took care of that and that is my report. Thank you.
>> So um those trees are picked by you or residents were requesting trees too. Was it both? >> No. Um Kayn, our new arborist on our shade tree commission, she picks the trees. Um we used to give the residents,
we do give the residents some idea what they if they have an idea what they want, but the final selection is done by the shaker. >> Okay. >> Uh Councilman Sanders. >> Okay. Thank you, mayor. I also attend the Rotary Beef steak. It was a soldout
event to honor Carl. Um, the Bloom and Dell Fire Department does a great job with the their beef steak. You uh they feed you until you can't eat anymore. It just the beef just keeps on coming. So, they they do a great job. Uh, I also
attended the arrive program. Um, and then I attended both board of ed meetings and the uh special meeting for the budget. So the budget will be going up um 3.2
uh 3.29%. Um in the budget uh they will be doing out of the capital reserves. They will be doing a $2.6 million uh project at Hersfield up for upgrades
um on the bleachers and on the track. They will be doing f uh fencing around Pump Lakes High School. Lincoln School has site improvements and total cost of
those projects is $2.621 million. Um in that 3.29% their healthc care also went up um $2 million. So there was a big big um
trying to cut cut cost and stuff. So they had few retirees. Uh they did not bring back one teacher and they cut the uh culinary room bid um project for this year because the bid
went over over the budgeted amount and the generator at the high school was cut out of this year's budget uh because the uh until the electrical uh up their upgrade is um finished. Uh, the date for
the tree ceremony dedication for Carl Pardulla will be June 2nd at 7:00 p.m. at the board office. And uh, that is my report. >> What time is that? >> 7:00. >> 7:00.
>> Yeah. Before their board meeting. >> I just want to remind the public since we did talk about the budget. Um, this council sits up here which did a great job with the budget. We're only responsible for 22% of every dollar you spend. The school is responsible for about 61% of every dollar you're
spending. And what's left over, which is about 18 19%, is the county's responsibility. All three groups are independent of each other. They have no say over the other groups. So when you figure out when you look at your dollar, we do a lot with only 22%. That's our fire, our police, our first aid, that's
everybody, our office staff, everybody in that 22%. >> Uh just have a quick question. Sure. So, by any chance, do you know what the generator was that part of the referendum or not? >> I believe it was, but they don't want to they don't they have to get the upgrade
of the electric in the high school before that uh goes, but that was part of the referendum. >> So, the delay right now, is that for a full school term, full school year that they're delaying it? Did they mention if that's going to >> Well, the delay is because they can't get parts.
>> Okay. So, it's a supply chain type issue. That's >> that's the only reason why I was asking because I know they're doing a lot of the internal upgrades to support a lot of the equipment and I know the wiring was a big problem and the generator was obviously needed to be replaced. So, okay. I was just >> they ran they ran most of the electrical pipes to the school for where the
generator's going, but the gen actual generator won't go in until the upgrade. Okay. >> Until they know where Yeah. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Attorney, you have a report. >> Uh, yes. Uh, Mr. Mayor, uh I know that uh Mr. Hint had made an inquiry
regarding uh the railroad crossing maintenance issue. Uh I don't have definitive answers. Uh but I do have a a pretty comprehensive history. Uh and I'll be able to explain what we've done so far and what we're doing. Uh I think
that everyone knows that the reason why uh the burrow was responsible uh for maintenance was because uh the original railroad crossing was at the burrow's request. Uh and the railroad said, "Okay, but you're going to have to
maintain it." Uh and there was uh an agreement that was not very well defined indicating that we were going to maintain it. Uh and at some point in time uh approximately 1990 uh there was a litigation that involved
uh the burrow and the railroad company because the burrow uh wasn't really happy with the manner in which the railroad company uh was notifying us and allowing us to participate in the the
maintenance issue. uh that lawsuit settled and we know that that lawsuit settled with an agreement uh that they would notify us 30 days in advance with a an approximate estimate as to what the repair costs were going
to or the maintenance costs were going to be. Uh not because we have records but because there was a newspaper article because it was a a published litigation matter. uh our records uh may I haven't found them yet uh may
end up including the settlement agreement uh as you know uh back at that point in time I think Ken Petri was the burough attorney uh and then Joe Ragno obviously succeeded him and and and passed away.
Uh there are uh a number of files that are offsite. Uh and from what I understand, I'm not to expect that they're going to be in any great order. Uh there are several boxes there that we're we would have to go through
uh in order to see if those records if the settlement agreement is really the key instrument that I I would be looking for. Uh we reached out to the railroad uh to talk to their attorney. We have not yet established contact with them to see if they have a copy of the settlement agreement. Um, and we have
been in communication with Liz, who has the indexing for the off-site storage. Uh, but before we incur those expenses, because we do know, I don't think there's a reason to distrust a public newspaper. Uh, and I
>> That's a statement right there. representation about a settlement. >> Yes. Let let's let's let me finish this the the uh the statement. Uh and we are talking about something decades ago. Not not today's day day and age. Um uh I
have good reason obviously to believe that you know there was a settlement. uh I wouldn't have anticipated that uh they would have invalidated the obligation because the original agreement we do have and that's relatively clear. Uh I asked Liz to show
me to please show me what the last maintenance bill was. I I could I mean I don't know how much it was. Maybe someone here has a recollection. Uh but if we're talking about something that's in the hundreds of uh dollars or if it's something that's in the low thousands,
uh I could see this taking, you know, 15 20 hours of attorney time to go through boxes of information. And uh I think that we probably should understand what that amount is before you authorize me to spend that money. Uh but we do know and and I do agree that that agreement
does indicate maintenance. I I confess that it's ambiguous, but that's the way things were written years and years ago. Uh uh I know that uh the newspaper article had expressed some content about the fact that it was with respect to the
mechanisms and the driving surface that we were going to be responsible for, not the rails. Um and that's where we're at. Uh we but we have definitely spent time and rolled up our sleeves on it. Uh, and we just and I even spoke to, uh, Jessica Sprag,
who's Joe Ragnar's daughter, to see if they had any other records that were there. So, uh, I I certainly, uh, tried to pursue a diligent answer. Uh, but that's where we're at right now. We're just not at the end. >> I could understand your research. I can understand what it would cost in
attorney fees for you to do that research. But we're talking since then hundreds of thousands of dollars that we've been paying, the taxpayers paying for this maintenance agreement on one rail crossing. We have four rail
crossings and just specific for this one. I mean nothing on the one towards Oakland. >> All right. But that was an agreement in 1990 that was made with the council and attorney at that time. >> Well, I understand that. and and and and it was at our request as opposed to
having an obligation imposed upon them uh by another body of law. So, uh I understand that. I I certainly understand what your concern is. Sure. >> Uh I don't anticipate us finding anything to the contrary, but you never
know. And uh if if this body wants us to continue working on that, we certainly can. I would suggest that my office and we've also issued an open demand. We were in communication with
the abbudsman with the superior court to see if the court had filings. >> Does the court have filings? Oh, they should, right? >> They're not maintain something that long ago. I I I'm confident of it. Uh but we're trying. And moreover, I don't suspect that they would have a
settlement agreement. If it was a court order, they would have it. But settlement agreement is usually between parties outside of court and very rarely unless it's in the form of a consent order would the court maintain a copy of it. >> But we're seeing if they have a file and if they do we're asking them to pull it
so that we could see it. Uh so that was another thing that we did that I forgot about. Um, other than following up with the court and following up with the attorney for the railroad, >> uh, I would suggest that I refrain from
going through any records and having records pulled. There's even not that it's a lot of money, but the stuff does add up. >> Sure. >> Uh, they'll charge us, you know, a couple hundred to pull the files out so that we could go through them. Uh maybe it makes sense for us uh to have the
last maintenance bill pulled so that we could see how much money we're talking about. Maybe it makes sense to pull maybe the last 2 years polls uh bills so that we could have an idea as to how it's trending. And then depending on where we're at, we'll share the
information that the burrow has on the expenses. I'll share any additional information that I acquired from either the court or the railroad. and then I could get further directions to whether or not you want to authorize the additional services. >> Mike, we can get um those bills, right? >> Yes. >> I think that's a good point.
>> Question. >> Yeah. I just have a question. >> So, here's how my mind works. Okay. Just stop paying and then if they really want their money, they'll tell us here's why you need to pay and they'll let them do the work and give us all the agreements. >> It's tough for a town to break the law.
We're breaking law on the bank. >> Well, I I I have a couple thoughts on that. Well, and I don't want to discount the fact that that is a legitimate strategy considering um >> Thank you. Oh my god. Thank you very much. >> That's what I had said to Michael originally. So,
>> but the burrow did it once before. Uh we were sued. We incurred the legal fees associated with that and we don't know what the terms of the settlement agreement are. Uh usually uh if an attorney wants to put an end to a
dispute, they're going to have a fee shifting provision in that settlement agreement that says if you breach this and we have to sue you, you're going to pay for our attorney's fees. So, uh we may not be saving money because if that provision is in the settlement agreement and we discover the settlement agreement
uh after the litigation, then you're not only going to be paying for your own attorney, but potentially paying for their attorney. So, uh, >> well, what >> what council president is talking about if we stop paying, they have to prove
that we supposed to pay. They would have to come up with the settlement agreement >> or they could just take us to court and sue us. >> Well, then prove prove that we have to pay. >> In court, they will. And then if there's a settlement that says we have to pay their fees, >> well, just show us the settlement agreement. >> They might not do that. They might just say, "We're going to sue you and then you pay our bills."
>> Or not an attorney. >> Or we may end up, if they don't have it either, we may be relitigating a case that was litigated and we lost the first time around. Uh apparently, you know, I wouldn't say lost, we agreed to settle.
Uh that doesn't mean that history has to repeat itself completely. I still think that probably the the the best thing to do is let's circle back in a council meeting or two, I think, would probably be the next one. Let's see how much money we're truly talking about in in
today's dollars. >> And then I have the indexing for the boxes. We we could start to take a look and see if we could find something. I would think that uh if uh Mr. Petri's files are there that the settlement agreement
should be there somewhere. And you know, I don't know the total number of boxes, but >> I'm not sure we have peaches. I think we have rags. >> Yeah, I don't know if we have peaches. We have ragos. I know because I delivered Ragnos, but >> but they were in the same office, right? So maybe uh Ragno inherited Petri's
documents. >> Okay. >> All right. So, we're going to move forward, but he's looking into it. >> Well, Petri is still with us. We can give him a call. >> God bless him. >> He's Is he Does he live in town? >> No, >> but he's still alive. He's still with us.
>> Okay. Uh, >> if someone knows him and wants to give me the number, I'll be happy to give them a call. >> Okay. >> Is there anything else here? >> No, that's it. >> Minister's report. >> Thank you. >> No problem. >> Thank you, mayor. Uh, as you know, the Willowfield improvements project is
substantially complete. A final change order for irrigation was approved at tonight's council meeting. Uh we are coordinating with the burough engineer in Verizon to relocate the guywire uh connected to a standalone tree that's in the field area. So we are working on
that. >> Uh once uh Verizon repurposes the guywire by anchoring it diagonally to the ground, we're going to have Downs Tree Service come back and uh grind the rest of the tree. Uh so we look forward to that. Uh and then again in addition
the borrow submitted a grant application to the P County Open Space Trust Fund for the proposed Willowfield playground which is planned for the area south of the uh garbage refuge enclosure. Uh so we are waiting on the county
to announce the grant awards for that. Uh you'll see in the capital plan being introduced at the next council meeting. Uh we do have the soft costs for the Lakeside A phase 1 improvements project which consists of the resurfacing of
Lakeside A from Jefferson A to Van A along with pedestrian improvements, curb repairs, and the the removal of the existing chain link fence with the installation of new guide rail in the area of the former Mueller property. Uh so council president Kent was asking
about that. Um in addition uh the burrow is uh working on our capital plan which will be adopted in late June. Uh we have authorized the burough engineer to prepare the final design and bidsp specs
for the lakeside a project and we are under a time crunch with the NJ dot in terms of awarding of a contract for that project. Um, as you know, we had Daws Highway, then we had Albany and Waterlet. Now we have Lakeside, and next year we're going to be under a time
frame to award the uh Albany phase 2 project, which is uh considered as part of the NJ DOT municipal aid program application. So, we're waiting to hear on that. Uh the replacement of the Herschfield
Park pedestrian bridge is expected to be complete within the next four to five weeks. Uh the county and burrow are working on a cost estimate to resurface the remainder the remainder of the walking paths within Hersfield Park. The
county is going to be resurfacing to a certain extent beyond the uh entrances to the pedestrian bridge, but we're going to be responsible for the rest. So we are uh looking within our capital plan to fund that for this year. Uh so we're working on that with the B
engineer. And lastly uh as not mentioned prior, the grand opening ceremony for the civic center is scheduled for Monday, June 8th at 4:00. Uh members of the Meridia Capidagly team will be in
attendance along with various community stakeholders. Uh we will have a new building dedication plaque and light refreshments will be served. So we're going to send an invite out uh to the governing body at some point in the future. Um that's all I have. Thank you. >> And just remind the public that we uh
received the finally got the money for the library. Right. So that >> Yes. Uh thank you. So, uh, for those of you that don't that don't know, we got what's called the congressionally directed earmark for the Pontton Lakes Library project, uh, which consists of
the repairs to the brick facade, uh, on the exterior of the library. Uh, so to date, we have $750,000 in grants between the the federal government and the county. Uh as of last week, the state of New Jersey office of
historic preservation planning department signed off on the project uh to move forward. So now we will be considering a proposal from our historical architect for the bid specs and final design at which point we will
be able to go out to bid. Uh and I will note that the bid process will be administered uh through what's called called a qualified process where we uh preemptively select qualified historical contractors to be able to bid on the
project and then we further select the winning bid based on our budget and qualifications. Uh so we're looking to uh narrow down the scope of candidates that are able to do the work because it is a historic building. Um, and something that the state of New Jersey
pointed out was that the building is not on the nationally register of historic places, but could be, and they're interested in maybe doing that. So, uh, I think they're going to be re reaching out to us at some point about that. >> I think the issue was years ago they didn't want to have to follow all the
stringent requirements that go with that. >> But unfortunately, when you get these grants like we did, you have to follow them anyway. So, um, but there's other, uh, things to consider, too. >> Okay. Any questions for the administrator? >> Yeah. Yeah. You I'm sorry. Yeah. Michael, um, what date did you say
regarding the, uh, link road because I'm going to open space meeting tomorrow night and I want to just reiterate that date when this when that whole project is going to start. >> Uh, well, there's no start date. The project has to be awarded by the fall. Uh realistically, >> if we're really rushing, it's a late
fall project, but in all likelihood, it's going to be a spring project. Okay. >> Uh but we are doing everything we can. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> And just on the pedestrian bridge, is the four to five weeks more to do the walking path, the repaving? Is the bridge itself done?
>> The bridge itself is mostly complete. I think there's a few other items they have to do, but for the most part it's the um >> Is it accessible now to the residents or the kids to cross over? Still closed off. >> It's still closed. It's more of a reclamation and restoration. >> Still fenced off. Still fenced off,
>> but they're close. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> And I'm trying to get the county with Mike's help to maybe move their paving up a little bit to those big holes that are in the front when you first walk in. >> They can help us with that. >> Okay. Thank you, Mike. >> Thank you. Question. um Short Street
that was on the paving list. Is that going to be paved or? >> Well, as the governing body knows, as part of the capital plan and budget process, in lie of a uh in lie of a regular road program that we do cooperative purchasing paving on, we opted because of the deadlines with DOT,
we have to do Lakeside A and this governing body funded the soft costs for the replacement of the DPW facility. So, we moved up the DPW facility over some roads. So, next year as part of the budget process, uh we'll consider
additional roads, but no, it was not included. >> It was supposed to be, but >> but we ended up changing that. >> We voted from the council side to do the DPW correction, >> which you you voted on >> as part I voted also, but I didn't know that was eliminating Short Street. >> Yeah. As part of the as part of the
budget workshop meeting and the budget presentation. Um, also I got a call from residents about uh grass cutting in u cole park also Dupont uh park. Um is there a shortage of manpower? I mean they
finally gotten taken care of but I think those residents had to contact you to get that done. Is it uh we is there an issue here or something or what's going >> No, I think the guys were tied up with the civic center and now that that's done I think >> the civic center is complete. Everything
is done 100% done. Uh so now they have the focus to do these other projects. >> The furniture for the historic committee, >> right? And some signage and stuff, but for the most part, the guys are back out cutting grass. Um the resident on Howard Street, the grass was cut the next day
and Katie Cole Park the same thing. But I, you know, I talked to them and made sure that it's on the radar >> and both of them were very pleased once they contacted you and got it done. Thank you. >> Thank you. Any other questions? >> Chief got better report. >> Actually, yes. Just real quick, I had
just one question. Is the bridge expected to be open for the PBA 5K or is is going to be closed? >> It'll be closed. >> It still be closed. Correct. Okay. >> Because it's June 6th, right? >> Mhm. >> Yeah. That's too >> That's too early. I don't think it'll be I mean, you might get lucky, but I >> I think they got to do like a reroute.
So, I thought Okay, I'll let them know. >> Um, so good evening. Thank you. Uh so during the month of uh April, the police department um remained very active across uh all our divisions while continuing to maintain uh our proactive enforcement and community engagement
efforts throughout the burrow. Um the department handled 2,16 uh incidents during the month. Uh while our officers responded to over 1,50 dispatch calls for service, um our uh
investigative activity increased significantly with officers generating 99 uh investigative and operations reports during the month of April. Uh patrol operations remain busy throughout the month with officers
handling several uh significant incidents including multiple school-related investigations, domestic violence incidents, uh overdose response calls. Our officers also continued uh proactive traffic enforcement and uh
quality of life enforcement efforts throughout the burough. Our detective bureau remained highly active managing both new and ongoing investigations including theft investigations, domestic violence investigations, uh attempted motor vehicle theft
investigations, and uh they continue to work along a long-term missing person's investigation uh which involved uh coordination with uh state and out of state agencies. Uh our police department also continued several important operational projects
during uh the past month including communications upgrades, accreditation preparation and advancement of the next generation 911 conversion project which is mandated by the state. Our community engagement uh remained uh
a priority throughout the month. Uh the the the department participated in the Little League parade, the DEA National Takeback Day, and also Take Your Child to Work Day. And uh we continued to uh we continued our outreach efforts with
our uh senior citizens uh community uh where we uh discussed uh fraud prevention and public safety concerns. As for traffic safety and quality of life enforcement, our efforts also continued throughout the throughout the throughout the burrow. We had uh
directed enforcement in uh the ponhole parking area which resulted in 58 summones being issued during the month and the department completed additional uh traffic studies uh throughout the month in response to our residents and complaints. Overall, the department continued to
remain proactive while balancing increased operational demands and continuing to provide professional police services to the residents of Pmpton Lakes. Uh, I'd also like to recognize the men and women of uh the Palm Lakes Police Department for their continued professionalism and dedication
uh throughout the month of April. Um, thank you all all uh for all the councilmen for bringing up uh the ARIE program and uh for everybody who participated. Um, you got 100% right. Stands for active uh response to reduce
instances of violence and escalation. Um uh it's in partnership with the Pay County Prosecutor's Office and also CBH. Um I think it's a great program. When I became chief, I uh I uh it's one of the first things I did. I went to the chief
of the state county prosecutor's office and I asked them why are why isn't our town involved? Um what what this does, it's um it's going to bring a representative uh onsite to our police department on a weekly basis who's going
to be able to handle referrals um that our officers when they come in contact with a member of the public that's dealing with any of these instances. Um what it also does is in real time if a representative is available and somebody
is dealing with uh uh an event that they need uh maybe immediate uh immediate care or immediate response, we will now have that uh option at our fingertips. So I think it's just a a great program. Um so I can't wait. uh should be uh
should have some meetings uh in the next couple of weeks and uh I'll get my representative assigned. The representative that that uh was here uh is going to be our long-term representative, but but she's she's having a baby, so she's out on maternity leave, so I'm waiting for the for the new one to be
>> and she's local, right? >> Yeah, she's local. She's already uh she's also the representative, I want to say, in Waniku, Bloomingdale, and West Milford. So even if she's not so I think if we get assigned like a Monday if she
and she'll be here on site every Monday if we have an instance on a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday she should be at another site where I would be able to contact her or a member of our department contact her uh to facilitate if we need an immediate response. Um that being said I just want to shift
gears um into uh the New Jersey ebike law. And the reason why I bring this up because I want to start pushing the message out to the community. Uh I sent out uh uh basically a public safety notice so to say uh throughout our school district and they sent it out to
all the parents, but I thought I'd bring it up uh so I can advise uh our residents um that don't have uh children in the school. We did push it out on our social media, but I want to let them know um about this new law which uh takes effect uh shortly.
All right. So, so this law, it's a it's a New Zeal New Jersey law regarding electric bicycle ebikes. So, this is uh it's going to be a significant shift that will directly impact many of uh many of the people in
our community. Ebikes are no longer treated as bicycles within the state of New Jersey. They are now regulated similarly to motor vehicles like mopeds. So some of the changes age requirements under 15 they are not permitted to
operate an ebike. Ages 15 to 16 they they now must have a motorized bicycle license. 17 and older uh must have a valid New Jersey uh driver's license to operate
one of these vehicles. There is now licensing registration insurance that are going to be required. So all ebikes in the state of New Jersey must be registered with the New Jersey Department of Motor Vehicle. Liability insurance is required
and they must be operated by a properly licensed rider. Helmet requirement. All riders must wear a helmet regardless of age. What is required when riding? So, if you are operating one of these
vehicles, you're required to have a driver's license or a motorized bicycle license. You have to have the vehicle's registration and proof of insurance. Additional restrictions. Any speed modification kits, they're
prohibited. Certain online ebike sales are also restricted. Violations may result in summons and fines. So, important deadlines. The grace period for these regulations are July
19th of 2026. after that full enforcement begins after that date. What that means for our residents, treat ebikes like motor vehicles, not bicycles.
Ensure your child meets age and licensing requirements. Plan for registration and insurance. And as a parent, you may be held responsible for your child's violations.
So getting down to our our approach in the police department, our initial focus is going to be ed education and outreach which we've started uh I've sent this memo uh to the superintendent which he put it out to schools. We put it on our social media
page. Uh the burrow also put it out on our social media page. So, we're going to keep pumping this out so that everybody uh gets the message and um you know, our initial focus, like I said, education outreach uh and then we
will uh once the once the law is in effect, uh we will then transition to full enforcement uh after the compliance period. So, if they're riding on Cany, >> our goal is to address safety concerns
and high-speed misuses and to keep our kids safe and pre prevent avoidable accidents. Uh, unfortunately, as you all know, we've definitely had avoidable accidents uh with our young children. uh you know, one of my son's best friends was
involved in very serious uh accident on on one of these uh motorized bicycles. Thank goodness by the grace of God, he he he's okay and doing great. uh um but you know uh these things can be very
dangerous and I think the al the ultimate goal of mine as the as the chief of police and what I want I'm sure you have the same uh vision here is that um as long as these vehicles are operated appropriately and properly by
the by the laws governing our state and governing this I'm all for it but we want them to operate it safely. We don't want uh our children to be operating in a manner that puts them at risk and puts our residents at at risk as well. So, uh we're going to keep getting that message
out there and um you know um yeah, that's all. >> So, let me ask you, Chief, if uh you see somebody on a bike, can you just stop them for appropriate thinking he's out of age? Is there is there a reason you can is that is it like a motor vehicle stop where you have to have a reason? >> Yeah. So, if our if our if they're
operating the vehicle the proper way um where they have their helmet on, we um and they're they're we think they're of age, we would need a we would need a reason to stop. We would need a reason to stop them. Um uh >> but if you see a younger child that you
think is younger, is that a reason to stop or not stop? Yes, it would be a reason to stop and then we could ask we would ask them then for their for for their proper credentials but we would need a reason to stop. >> It's like a motor vehicle. >> It's like a motor ve and then >> no questions. No questions.
>> And then you know I as a as a fellow parent myself um with young children you know now that these now that these are looked at motor vehicles your child is going to be required to have a license. your child's going to your child have registration insurance.
Um these penalties become, you know, pretty hefty. You're talking about uh mandatory court appearances. You're talking about your child possibly uh delaying getting a license if you were to be found guilty of not having uh a
license, registration, or insurance. Um, I could tell you if you don't have insurance on a motor vehicle, uh, you know, you can you could be facing, um, uh, significant fines and things of that nature. So, you know, that's why I I
think the goal is to to to make the parents aware because ultimately it's not going to be the it's not going to be the child that's going to be paying for the 13 or 10 year old child that's going to be paying for someone. It's going to be their parents. >> But what I'm trying to get at is if we see a 10-year-old on a on one of these, you're going to just pull them over. correct or not?
>> Well, yes, but I think what's going to be hard is if the 10-year-old is wearing a helmet and has all the proper and appropriate equipment and I can't tell it's a 10-year-old, >> the problem, >> then I'm not going to we're not going to pull pull them over. But, uh, we have to have some probable cause to believe that
they're violating the statute. Um, so again, if they're driving above the speed limit, if they're not if they're driving on the sidewalk, if they're not driving in the roadway, like this is a motor, this is a motor vehicle, just like a motorcycle. Now, >> I the lot of complaints I get from downtown are they don't stop at the stop
signs. >> Yes. >> So then they if if our officers observe that, they're going to stop it. Uh, if they don't have this the proper identification, uh, they don't have their proper registration, the vehicles will be impounded. there's going to be
costs associated with impounding. Um, so you know, >> just today in New York, I don't know if you guys saw it, they all the bikes that they had taken in that were illegal, they ran over with a big backhoe and crush them all. That had to be 500. >> There was a couple of hundred. I saw that. >> Is there any type of like like on a
moped there's a little license plate? Is there anything like that? So you can run a plate or they're just >> Yeah. So I if it it it they should be it DMV should be issuing a plate that's going to have to go on there if they're registered and insured. Okay. >> My understanding >> so they see something without a plate
that's justification to pull them over. >> Yes. So my understanding too and I haven't gotten confirmation because this is kind of new is that there might not be anybody insuring these vehicles uh to begin with. So effectively, if we do see
them uh on the road, if there's nobody really insuring them, then they might not be on there. But I don't know how true that is. It's all I think we're going to hit with it on uh like I said on on July 19th when it goes into effect and it's going to be a little bit of um you know on the job
training on what the DMV and what's caught up and and things of that nature. But again, I approach it to be education and you know, even even when July 19th comes, you know, I think our officers I know our officers are going to take the approach of education for a little bit.
We're not going to just on a on July 19th line up and start uh No, >> it's education. >> Yes. Start going after the kids and the parents. We're going to, you know, we might stop them. We might say, "Hey, call your parents. Come get the bike. You're not riding it anymore." It might be a little
inconvenience there, but I think that's a better inconvenience than getting a summon and pounding the bike and everybody having to come to court. >> So, is that going to be on our website also? >> We can put it on if it's not. And maybe we should put it on town sign saying new
ebike uh rules are going in effect uh to visit the website to uh >> I know they just put uh I know they just put this uh exact thing on uh on the social media >> uh just the other day.
>> Okay. Any other questions? >> Yeah. Go ahead. Go ahead. >> Either one. >> So I I just wanted to highlight so I see that fraud substantial increase on fraud. Um, as far as the NIBRS code
it is, where's fraud is 26A-26F. So, going from March to April and I'm just curious to know what type of fraud are we seeing specifically here. Is it fishing phone calls? Is it um I would imagine for credit cards they're trying to get that information over the phone.
Is there a target age group that they're focused on? Um, so a lot of the fraud that we deal with in prompt in in in Compton Lakes is, you know, we have a lot of the scam calls, a lot of the scams with the elderly. Uh, our detective bureau, uh, you know, that's
one of the reasons why we went to meet with the seniors and we did a presentation for them on what we're looking at. So, that's a large large amount of of of what we what we get. Uh, you know, the kind of scams where it's an emergency, we need you to give money and and then all of a sudden they pass
the money. Hey, you gave too much and they do like a bait and switch. Next thing you know, they're out they're out of the money. Um, >> it's just a big jump. That's the only reason why it caught my attention from three in March to Yeah. 10 in April. >> Yes. Yes. I I think it's just the time of the year, too. I don't know about everybody else, but lately I've seem to
be getting a significant amount of extra like phony calls uh in the last like month or two, too. Um, so it's just that it's that it's it's that uh feel like it's that time of the year. Taxes uh we're just due in April. So I feel around that time too. It's like an
uptick because then you start getting the phone calls where like you violated your taxes and if you don't make some type of immediate payment, they're going to come arrest you type call, you know. >> Um >> another one going around right now is the easy pass. Your easy pass violated call. Give us your information.
>> And they make it look pretty professional sometime. Now they're doing like text messages where they're saying this and you have to contact us immediately. So it's like right now. So, ready for >> Yeah. I just wanted to ask you on the ebikes, the kids going to have to take a like a motorcycle test like when you get
a motorcycle license, you go down to say Wayne and do an actual road test. Do they have to do that test also or not? >> So, I'm not I'm not uh I'm not burst in what the what the DMV is requiring in order to get that motorized license. Um,
but I'm sure it has to be some type of written test, especially since it's um you have to be 15 to 16 and if my memory serves me right to get I think the the moped license is
around the same age and you had to take uh >> you had to take you had to take a written test and uh to get that license. So, I would assume it's going to be I assume it's going to be somewhat similar to that moped license test.
>> And ebikes not on sidewalks anymore or uh >> never see bicycles aren't supposed to be >> bicycles aren't even supposed to be after 8 years old, right? >> Yes. Right. >> After 8 years old. >> So, they would be in the bike lanes then or they could be in regular traffic.
>> There is no bike lanes. It's traffic. Yeah. >> Regular traffic. Yeah. >> Regular traffic. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Okay. Any other questions? Nope. Okay. Uh what are we up to? Workshop. >> Thank you, mayor. Uh so, as a followup
from the April 22nd council meeting, uh we took some of the feedback that the governing body had imposed on the civic center rental agreement. Uh so I did talk to our insurance provider, our police chief who will provide some input
today, and our DPW. Um so we went back, we looked at some of the fees. Uh so to go through some of the changes, we're implementing or we're recommending to implement a 4hour minimum for rentals. Uh you can there's a flat fee
for the 4-hour minimum of $350. Then the renter as proposed can rent for an additional up to six additional hours at the civic center and that rate is at $50 per additional hour. >> A total of 10. you could rent it for 10
hours and that includes setup and setup and cleanup, too. >> Um, you can't go beyond the 10 hours. So, that's the first recommendation. We did keep the hours of 10:00 a.m. between 10:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. Uh, again, there's a 4-hour minimum. So, if you want to have a party from, you know,
2:00 to 6:00, that would be sufficient enough. I did talk to the DPW because they are going to be the folks that are going to be helping us clean up the building. uh we're recommending a kind of a soft launch. We don't want to have two parties during the day or two
parties per day. Uh so we're recommending to maybe uh phase that in over time as we do this. Uh so that was something that came up at the last council meeting. Uh we also uh are recommending to reduce
the security deposit from $500 to $300. And the reason for that is the fee can grow with those addition up to additional six hours. So we felt we didn't want to place an extra burden on the resident. So we did recommend lowering that fee. Um we looked at uh
some of the provisions about pets and smoking. We included prohibitions on vaping in the building. I did talk to the DPW. Uh we are going to be installing signage on the building regarding smoking and vaping. Uh so we did look at that. Uh at the last meeting
we talked about the insurance requirements and uh you know the uh requirement of providing a certificate of insurance. Uh the question came up of what if you don't own a home. I'm told by our risk manager there's a website
that you can go to and we're actually going to put that on the application that you can go and get this certificate that you need to be compliant. So that's something that came up. I did talk to the burough clerk. We talked about the alcoholic beverages whether or not hard
alcohol could be uh implemented. We did call the uh alcoholic beverage control down at the state of New Jersey and they did confirm that only beer and wine are allowed. Um and furthermore, if there's some sort of event such as a wine
tasting event or you know a fundraiser for a local nonprofit, they would have to get a wine festival permit by the state. Um, but a BYOB, regular wine and beer is allowed and we don't need to do anything other than codify that in our ordinance uh to be able to do that. But
no hard community group, I'll just stick on Little League for example and they have an event. They can have beer and wine or they can't have beer and wine. >> They can have a BYOB if it's a fundraiser. However, as stated in the agreement, you can't have catered alcohol. So, you can't have a vendor
come in and cater the event or bring food and alcohol. It only needs to be a Bob and that's in accordance with the ABC. So, >> all right. I just don't want to uh have town sponsored groups having parties
with children there that are sponsored by the town. >> Well, it would be a fundraiser that they normally would do. >> Yeah. You know, that's a gray area. say to have a meeting and what happened for a meeting on a Thursday? >> We don't allow that. >> Well, what's the distinction though? How do you disting?
>> Oh, there's a distinction between a meeting and a party. >> Okay. So, if they said we were having a a meeting on Saturday from 2 to 6, >> well, we would use our discretion on what that exactly looks like. >> Okay. >> Um, but that's something that maybe
we'll have to deal with. Uh, >> but you would permit a BYOB for like a family party, right? >> Yeah, like a a baby shower. and and a family party would have children present. I I'm not sure that you'd be able to. >> But that that's not a town event where Little League is us.
>> Yeah. Little League would schedule to have it for a meeting, not through this agreement. >> Correct. >> Well, yeah. Now, I just want to verify. I'm just using Little League. It could be any group. See, say any group says, "We're having a meeting on Saturday from 2 to 6. We're going to bring your own alcohol."
>> Then it's a party. >> Anytime you got alcohol, it's a party. It's a party and they need to classify that. Nobody, you know, we're not getting hammered, you know, >> but I'm not understanding the need for the the >> if they say it's a party and they're having a fundraiser, I got no issues
with it. If they're having a weekly meeting every week on a Saturday and they don't mind paying, they're going to have alcohol every meeting at a on that's a town event by us. >> When you say town event, how's a town event? >> Say they're having a regular monthly meeting in our building. >> Okay.
>> That's not a party. if they sign the agreement every >> I understand that there's a distinction but I don't understand why we are focusing on the distinction >> only because then you know I've been involved in these groups where it becomes a drinking festival meeting instead of a party festival meeting and
now now they're saying well we'll just go to the civic center every Thursday and we can drink there >> but my understanding was is that we were and I don't know if the language is still there but we were looking to have someone >> here >> that would monitor what is going on. So I think that would cover,
>> you know, based on what was found. If you're a meeting and there's alcohol present, I think that's something they would report back and then we would have to address that with >> and then we're focusing on the behavior >> on the behavior. Exactly. Right. Right. Right. >> And then you can only the agreements are only for Saturdays and Sundays.
>> That's correct. Correct. >> Yeah. So any during the week you can have any type alcoholic beverage. I'm saying if they switch the meeting Saturday and I'm picking on Louis could be >> but that person whoever is going to monitor that they will report back if such >> activities occurred that didn't call >> but I like the word party. I mean we
shouldn't be what I'm all I'm saying is if they're saying we'd like to have a meeting then that should be a different standard. It it's not a party. >> Well the alcohol the beer and wine's only allowed on Saturday and Sundays. Um, but to go to Councilman Cruz's point, we were thinking with the DPW and
the borrow clerk and I about this monitor and how we're going to do it all while the meantime we were working with the police department to put in cameras. And we felt that with this camera system, which can be easily accessible via app on your phone, which we have all throughout the town and our parks and
whatnot. We felt that it can be monitored offsite while not incurring extra costs while also realizing that the police department's right next door and if there's an issue that we see on the camera or someone reports the police department will be able to go right over
there. >> Um so that's something that we looked at to maybe save cost. There's going to be an upfront cost to that but in the long run it's a savings. And so that's something on the form that they they fill out, they have to acknowledge whether or not they're going to be bringing their own alcohol. Correct.
>> It's on the first page. >> Okay. So, so they're going to regardless what they classify the gathering as, they're going to have to indicate when there's going to be alcohol there. >> And if they say they're not, and they do, that's a problem. And we will keep the security deposit and they'll probably be banned from using the
facility. Okay. In the future, >> and it's still at the discretion of the burough at the end of the day. >> Right. Right. Right. And the police department is going to be aware as the process is going to be. They're going to have to come to the to the PD. They're going to have to get the key. They're going to have to sign it out. So, we will always be aware that someone's in there. Even with, you know, the cameras
there. So, it's not going to be like a surprise. Someone's just just going in. So, if during the week we see people having a party, it'll end it'll end quickly. >> I I I know that, you know, Mike and and my
office has been in communication. Um my uh initial thoughts, I'm not sure if if Megan can express this to you. Uh, I I thought that the ordinance should make reference uh to
uh adherence to uh rules and regulations that would be implemented by the administration so that you could actually change them and modify them as time goes on without having to go through the cumbersome
process of of the governing body either passing an ordinance or or a resolution. Uh and uh we just have to make sure that whatever rules we enforce that we're enforcing them universally, equally, and
objectively so that uh if someone gets offended, they don't really have a legitimate claim to make of any sort of bias. >> And then the only other concern that came up was parking. Uh, I'll let the chief maybe talk about that, but as mentioned at the last meeting, if the
maximum max maximum occupancy of the building is only 60 people, studies have shown and in all likelihood, it's usually a one for two or one for three or one for four car pool. So, you're only going to have about 20 to 30 vehicles at the most. Um, depends on
what kind of gathering it is, but it's on the weekend. Uh the lot is in all likelihood not used and the police chief and I are going to work on assigned spots for the police department because our fear is that these vehicles attending these gatherings would block
our police department from doing their you know daily tasks. So >> yeah, so for many many many years we've had a lot of uh groups that were assigned during the weekends. So, um, our our we work 12-h hour shifts, 7:00 to 7:00, 7:00 a.m. That's predominantly
where our patrol shifts come in. So, sometimes during during, uh, the weekends when these groups were here, you come into work and there's there's no spots to, uh, to, uh, park. So, uh, like the borrow administrator was saying, uh, you know, I' I've reached
out to to, uh, Dan and Mickey as well. Um, we're going to be, you know, labeling the spots. So, hopefully it's it's uh it's going to be very self-explanatory. There's going to be a fence that should be going up uh around the parking lot about the Meridia
parking lot. So, where we park our cars now, people won't confuse that for regular parking. It'll be labeled police parking. And then the hope is uh we'll identify our uh uh specific police spots that'll be labeled police spots, police personnel. So this way there's no
confusion and then you know my officers will know that's where you need to park and then saying uh you know the public when they come they'll they'll see that and they won't won't park in park in those spots. So, >> and I'm assuming we have written into this agreement, especially in the winter time, we have the ability to cancel the
meeting at any time or party at any time. >> Uh, right. For, you know, a snow event or whatnot, >> anything, even a power outage. >> Right. Right. Because let's not forget that the building, uh, as renovated is intended to be used as a sheltering place. Uh,
>> so like a flood emergency, if there's a party planned that Saturday, we might have to say no to that part, >> right? And we have the discretion anyway if it's not in the agreement. So pending no objections or questions, we have an ordinance on for the next meeting and we'll hopefully be launching
this, you know, in sometime in mid June. Uh so thank you for your time. >> One more time. >> I had a question. Thank >> um my question the last time was about the cancellation policy and I'm reading the cancellation policy here and on the first line is a little confusing. If you
want to see where I underlined on the first line, it says last 50% but in parenthesis it says 25%. Will be returned on um if cancellation is made at least 30 days prior. >> It's meant to be 25%.
>> Right. And that goes to the >> So the wording in front of 25% was wrong. It says 50%. >> Correct. Uh so actually the mayor brought that up last time. the cancellation policy as proposed. Uh if a cancellation is made at least 30 days prior to the scheduled event, uh the
rental fee less 25% of your uh application fee will be returned if a cancellation is made at least 15 days prior to the scheduled event. The rental fee less 50% will be returned. And then all fees are non-refundable if a
cancellation is made less than 15 days prior to the scheduled event. And that's a standard clause. I found that in many towns. Uh so that was something that was brought up last night. >> So that's just a typo on the first >> and I'll fix that. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Are we talking about the solicitor or not?
>> Yes. Uh yes. So thank you, mayor. >> There will be an ordinance on the next. >> Thank you. >> And and we'll talk about how how to structure it. Um it may be two ordinances I'm thinking, but we'll show and develop it. >> Perfect. Thank you, mayor. Uh yes. So
the next item uh for tonight is a uh memo from the burough attorney regarding the solicitor uh discussion that we had at several council meetings. Uh so we have attached uh draft ordinances amending the burough code to both
restrict the permissible hours of operation for both charitable and commercial door-to-door solicitation. The proposed amendments restrict those hours of operation uh to 10:00 a.m. to 7 pm Monday through through Saturday and
prohibit solicitation entirely on Sundays and national holidays. Uh so I was just going to let the burough attorney finalize that for everyone. Uh so Mark, if you want to. So as we had indicated uh we know that uh ordin uh
ordinances have been upheld with uh less restrictive timelines than what we're proposing. Uh we know that uh some ordinances had been struck struck down by the court as being
unconstitutional for being a little bit more restrictive than what we're proposing. uh and we uh discussed and bantered around what uh no uh restriction you'd feel comfortable with. There is no reportable decision we were
able to locate that uh prohibited uh the uh solicitation on the Sundays and the federal holidays. However, we are aware of the fact that there are a number of uh towns around us that do prohibit it
on Sundays and the court did talk about, you know, providing uh some uh measure of uh privacy uh to the public. Uh but, you know, first amendment rights are the most sacred rights uh in our
constitution. Uh, and I can't predict whether the court's going to agree with our version being uh, constitutional or not. It's not a bright line. Uh, it uh, has varied. It obviously varied across
different states because of different time zones and lighting conditions. That does play a role too. Obviously, time conditions play a role uh, potentially at different times of the year. Um, but uh I know that we strived to uh balance
uh privacy with the rights of uh free speech and I understand that that's where you'd like to go. Uh I don't think there's anything unreasonable about it, but I can't guarantee that a court's going to agree with us. That's >> so we start there and see what happen. >> Fair enough. >> The only question I had is uh I'm seeing
a lot more of this. If if someone's trying to sell you something and you're in your front yard and they say, "Can I come speak to you?" Does that mean they need to have a license? If you say yes, you can come speak to me. >> If they're going door to door, >> they're not going door to door. What I'm noticing is say they want a roofing
company. They see outside your front yard and they come up to you and say, "Can I come speak to you?" And you say, "Yes." Then they say, "Oh, you need a new roof." Blah blah blah blah blah. >> Yeah. But I think by that point, if they're out there, they're not just randomly. >> Well, they'll say, "I'm working on a roof around the corner." >> Yeah. But it's still soliciting service.
That's if it's your I mean there's uh that's going to be a very facts sensitive uh determination. If it's someone that's putting a roof on next door, I don't think any of us would think that there's anything uh soliciting about it per se. Uh >> around the corner down the street, you
know, >> if I was at your house and I saw someone wearing a neck brace, I may, you know, do the bony cousin Benny thing, you know, did you pull on your property? Yeah. I don't know. That would be soliciting. >> All right. They ask they say, "Can I ask you a question?" >> Well, like Mark, sometimes I get this
like some for instance um they're working on a big project at somebody's house and they've got asphalt and now they've got extra asphalt. >> So now they start going door to door asking people, "Do you want me to pave your driveway?" >> Well, they >> I had it happen with the roof the other day. I've had it with asphalt. I've had that happen. >> I don't think that they certainly should
be doing that. But >> by the time that even is brought to anyone's attention, it's probably going to be, you know, they're going to evaporate, right? So >> yeah, I say my neighbor wants a really big glass. >> Yeah. I don't I don't think that we could uh predict all the circumstances
that we we could potentially address. >> All right. So we're all good with that? >> Yep. >> We're going to try something happens then we're going to Okay. >> So then Mike, you have the ordinance. There's nothing more for me to >> Right. So we'll have both draft ordinances on for the May 27th meeting. Thank you. >> All right. Before we go to open s I just
Liz was kind enough to put together a list of a lot of things going on. Uh, Walk for Hope this Saturday, May 16th, from 9:00 at the Pompton Lakes High School. The Diamond Classic, which was mentioned, Saturday, May 16th at 10:00. Memorial Day parade, Sunday, May 24th,
12th noon at the uh ceremony at the um the bridge starting there, and then a parade down through town, ending at the VFW where there'll be free hot dogs and beer and drinks for the kids. Uh, civic center grand opening. We mentioned May Monday, June 8th. Police awards
ceremony, Tuesday, June 9th, 6 pm at St. Mary's Carnival across the street. National Night Out. Tuesday, August 4th, 2026 High School. Summer stroll. This is a new thing happening in town that they're trying this year. They're going to close down parts of Wanuk Avenue.
Bring I think Councilman B mentioned it. And they'll have vendors and the restaurants will come out. You can eat dinner in the streets. There'll be music. The first one will be May 21st. The next one will be June 11th. The third one will be July 16th. And then the summer concert series, which is open
to the public, free. Bring a lawn chair, sit at the uh library to hear the music, all different types of bands. June 25th, July 9th, July 23rd, August 6th, and August 20th. Okay. >> Hey, can I just add one thing? >> Sure. Pontton Lakes uh Junior Police
Academy July 13th to July uh 17th 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Applications are available in the police headquarters if anybody wants to send their uh child there. >> Great. Is that on the sign the >> the library sign?
>> Yeah. >> Not sure. >> We can ask Karen Mer to put up. >> Yeah. Or Mike or or Liz can do it, I think. Right. >> No. >> No. >> No. You guys are not locked out. But but for the record, our sign is reaching its end. It's getting old, man. It's getting old.
>> Maybe next year's capital. >> I'm just going to go steal Oakland. I love their sign. So, I like their sign. Um, you know, their signs are not cheap anymore. How much did Oakland pay for theirs? >> $100,000. >> Yeah. $100,000. >> 100,000. >> Okay. Motion to open the meeting for public comments. >> So, move. >> Councilman Cruz.
>> Second. Second. >> Council President Kent. All in favor? >> Against? Anyone from the public like to address? I see a hand in the back. Oh, okay. >> He's closer. Go ahead, sir. I'll be quick. Go. All right. There you go.
>> Sandro Mancini Dor Street. No, he's he was talking about making the license for the bikes and all. What about these uh these other things that uh >> Well, they call the scooters and also they have skateboards.
So, I mean, you know, how you going to do that? >> Yeah. I'll answer at the end, but yeah. Okay. >> Okay. So, that's the only question I had. >> Okay. >> Cuz you were talking about it, I figured. Let me ask him. >> All right. I don't have one of those bikes, though. >> Okay.
Again, there were nothing to say, but there were a couple things that came up >> just came up in >> which I'm trying to help out with >> Alabama Ringwood Court on the um city center occupancy. I know you
mentioned 60. >> Now, was that performed by the fire inspection bureau? >> Construction official. >> The construction official, right? Because depending on what kind of party it is and depending on what kind of seating arrangement, okay, fiber venture code in New Jersey governs that. For
example, you have a setup like this, you're going to have greater amount of people allowed in the room than you would if you have rectangular tables. And if you don't have rectangular tables and have round tables, it's even less of a per person occupancy of the room. So
really what they've got to do, and they did it even at the firehouse, I did an evaluation of the room in three different settings, round tables, rectangular tables, and seating like this that you would have for a meeting where all the chairs are lined up. So I would suggest we get them involved as
well with the construction and take care of that before uh that becomes an issue. Um on the scholarship, thank you. You know, the Rotary ran that beef steak for in honor of Carl, but to establish a scholarship, and that was not mentioned tonight. And I think
that's very important. Okay? It was to establish a scholarship in his name as we did for former Councilman Bay who was a Rotary member as well years ago. And that will be given to a high school senior every year. Okay. The proceeds of whatever is uh allotted to that
scholarship. The other thing on the railroad for a burough attorney as you were speaking you mentioned something about a litigation that happened over there. We had a very serious accident there around that time of 1990. It was a car and I don't remember the mechanics of the
accident. I don't think it involved a train, but we ended up, I think, doing an extrication for one of the persons in the car. And I don't know if that figured into this litigation that you were talking about, but uh it could have. And I just wanted to bring that to
your attention because, uh, I do think I remember it was Petri was the attorney. We're trying to figure out who the mayor was in 1990. I think it might have been John Murray. I'm not sure. >> The other pardon me. No, >> it's an honor. It's >> on the wall.
>> Um, the last thing is the townwide cleanup. >> It went very, very well. I did mention to Councilman Bake that perhaps next year, and it's not my idea. I've seen other towns doing it now. Don't just make it a river cleanup, make it a townwide cleanup. Because there's areas
of our parking lots, like you go into that west side lot along the railroad tracks, it's just, you know, there's it's covered with litter. Uh, the railroad tracks at Kennal Road covered with litter. If we could get the whole town involved, get the bid involved for the businesses to get out there and clean up behind their stores and around
their businesses, might even make it, you know, a better clean up. Um, I had this year the uh the um ability to work with Mr. Mrs. Joe Jennings. I usually do the stretch of the river cleanup from the Wanuk line
down to uh down to Car Street. And this year I had their help and we we turned out eight bags of debris along that with a set of license plates uh which I I retrieved and I brought to our police department and I understand that uh the
owner was called to come in and get the plates and he admitted to throwing the plates there in the woods and our police department wrote him a summon for littering. So we not only did a great cleanup >> but we also brought revenue into the burl. So thank you to the police department again.
>> Thank you very much. Have a good day. It made my day by the way. >> Anyone else would like to address? Just step up. >> Paul Baldby 120 Roman. Al, thanks. She took my comments about the Rotary away, but
that's good. I just wanted to make sure that people were aware that that the beef steak for Carl was sponsored by the Rotary. And by the way, anybody listening, we're always looking for new members. Um, just a further clarification on the issue with the Elks. Um, uh, there are 1, two, three,
there are five different fees associated with our application for the electric sign. Uh, the first two are first three are minor. Therefore, uh, an owner's list, a permit application, a lean searchs are $10 a piece. No big deal. There's an application fee of $350, and
then the $2,000 permit application, and I'm not quite sure the difference between the two, but it's the $2,000 that we're looking to have waved. So, just for clarification. Thanks. >> Okay. Thank you. Anyone else in the public like to address? Please step up. David at corn7 Federal Hill Road.
Uh yeah, few things. Yeah. uh for for the walk of hope as as we were talking about a million times. Uh you probably saw on the main drag
the uh flyers for it. So last Tuesday, Ryan Gossker and I put up the uh flyers in the stores, restaurants and whatnot. Uh, so Chief and Dan, you can't say Ryan and I didn't
do anything around here. So So that saves us a lockup. >> Okay. Uhhuh. And uh and also uh
Yeah. And uh for the for the uh civic center, I was I was just thinking as you said that beer and wine are only allowed on the weekends that then
as you were finishing up then and I uh just thought of it last minute that then suppose if you had a small Friday night wedding then then why can't be and wine be allowed in there if so if if he had a
Friday night wedding for instance and uh uh and for the truth ceremony for Mr. Padola it's going to be at the uh border
bag office chief. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Okay. Yeah. I wasn't sure if it was here or somewhere else in town. and and also the beef steak we had Saturday night and
so with some a bunch of us here were there and and I was sitting next to Scott and Steve and and I said to Scott If this was a Phillies game, he's a he's
a Philly swam Mike. And so if this was a Phillies game and and you had some box seats for the game, tell you right now, you'd be having a lot of steak. So you won't have to go to a bar for
dinner or late night drinks or midnight snacks or whatever. And uh um and um what else did I have? and and the uh the ceremony for the
civic center if I heard right June 8th 4:00 >> June 8th uh 4 to 6 yes >> oh 4 to 6 okay and I
think That covers everything. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Anyone else from the public like to address? >> Seeing no one motion to close the public session. >> Councilman Hinton, Councilman Cruz. All in favor? >> Uh talking about the scooters. So I
think and I'll let the chief respond to but I think it's only the state guidance that we've gotten so far is on on the ebikes. It's not on scooters and all those things. But you want to add anything to that? Yeah, I'm I'm still uh waiting to see if there's going to be more guidance on that on if they're going to be
even even included. Right. So, >> but just to understand that even the the scooters themselves cannot be on the sidewalks either, right? >> Correct. >> Nothing can be on the sidewalk. So, I think that needs to be clarified as well that although you don't have that, >> I see them on sidewalk. >> Yeah, they are. >> Well, they're on the sidewalk. They're all over the place, but they can't be
there either. some of those and then some of the some to his point some of those scooters uh where they're souped up and put on they they go >> they move >> very very quick. >> Okay, Al, thank you for all the comments there. Uh I think the reason that we only do the rivers and and maybe I'm
wrong about this, but we can get on that property. It's not private property. If we start going on private, we're going to have to ask people like I I know what you're talking about. that that railroad's a mess over there. But we and I'm sure the rail landlord would say yes to it. But that's a process that we'd have to talk to the landlord, get the written permission to go on the
property, blah blah blah. So, and is that right? >> Yeah. I mean, a few years ago, Maria and I started calling it the townwide river cleanup. We do >> um and got the bid involved and they cleaned the pontoon and different areas like that. So, we're trying to keep it as a townwide event. >> Yeah. And I and I think that's great
news. You know, I'm glad to hear you picked up all that garbage. Um, and you know, maybe there that's why we had the lawsuit was because of the accident that happened there. Who knows? That might be part of it. And I'll have Mike look into the whole fire marshall. Uh, talk to the fire marshal also. Okay. Um,
David, thank thank you for all those comments. Uh, I think uh Scott's eating steak either way. That's all I'm going to say cuz I sat right next to him eating a lot of steak myself. Uh, did I get everybody? Okay. Oh, on the Rotary. Yes. Thank you guys for mentioning what the Rotary is for and what they do. Great. another great
organization in town that's a volunteer group that does good work and you know and everybody who's been through graduations we have a lot of scholarships here in town and they're all because of the volunteer groups raising money to give out those scholarships so you know I go to some other communities they have the
corporate ones and then that's it we have probably less corporate but so many local ones it's amazing to hear so it's nice to see >> okay with that mayor uh >> if I may just make a comment uh I would ask that Mr. Bulby have the Elks Lodge uh send a letter to Liz requesting the
waiver of the permit. >> Y >> um so we need that letter. Thank you. >> We need that letter. Yes, I I think I mentioned that to you. >> Uh approves the floor. Any pers? >> Um yes, I have a few. >> How would I know? You had >> Well, it's early. Yeah, we start these meetings early. So, um number one, I
just want to thank the meeting. Uh recently the MUA had a water problems on Ringwood Avenue and the truck traffic from Tilcon was rerouted down Monontlair A. Um there was a lot of speeding going on. Uh the chief put the sign there. The
chief put an officer there with radar and I just want to personally thank him for doing that for the Monlair AB and the neighbors. >> You're welcome. Um, also on the U Joe Grill Field on that guy wire, uh,
Pete Artieri from the Shry Commission who did work for Verizon uh, has also been working trying to get that guywire removed along with Michael working through the engineer. So, I want to thank Pete for that. Um during that time
that MUA was working on the water and the trucks were coming down, I called uh Tilcon and um I spoke to the assistant plant manager Addison Marciano and uh I want to thank him. I asked him if he
could clean Monontlair a with the street sweeper and within 10 minutes that street sweeper went up and down Monontlair. So, I want to shout out to Addison and thank him for and Tilcon for for doing that. Um, question on Meridian. They got the signs that are
put up. Were they approved by bid or they were just uh >> they were approved by the U redevelopment and and the bid uh got the notice that they were doing, but the bid has no say really on the signage. >> The bid has no authority in the matter. It's a zoning. It's both redevelopment,
right? site planner, whatever it is, and also the zoning officer. >> I'm not sure what what signage we're talking about. >> Just the signage of the building, >> the store signage. >> Oh, okay. Yeah. No, that would have been approved by site plan. >> The plan of redevelopment. >> Okay. So, bid really has nothing to do. >> No. >> Okay.
>> But compliance from what the zoning officer? >> Well, they have to follow our ordinances, right, for >> But who checks it? >> Well, I I would think that actually the resolution for the uh >> for the site plan approval >> had a signage. they did right plan and that would have been approved.
>> The answer to your question, Councilman, is the burough engineers responsible for the site plan. So, he would be the one to verify the sign is compliant with the original site plan. Uh, so I'll follow up with that. >> So, really bid has nothing to do with that. I know that >> Bid has no teeth on in any ordinance. We
write the ordinances. The bid kind of just gives us input >> overseas. The >> doesn't even overseas really. They kind of just reach out to us and say, is this right or is this wrong? >> All right. And another question I had with that site, um, they just did the sidewalks along Wiku Avenue and I see
five different openings. Looks like appears they're going to plant trees is uh, again, that's part of the redevelopment agreement that was written into the redevelopment agreement. So that was voted on by redevelopment and we voted on the agreement. So whatever is in that agreement, they have to do.
>> All right. So shade tree has no >> shade tree was part of the conversation when they did it but the the agreement is made by redevelopment and voted on by the council. >> Okay. Um lastly I just want to say from 2008 to 2026
um your approval and even before I guess you were not mayor in 2008 correct? >> No I don't think so. We were Adam geese eggs along the way. >> Thank you mention >> and um so far we've over that time
period 361 nests and over 1,865 geese eggs adult. >> So that's over almost 2,000 less geese it >> in the town of Pump the delays over that time period. >> And Mr. Hen, Councilman Hinn is part of
that been part of it for a while >> and the mayor has been part of that also >> and it's an important group. I will say that. >> So, I just want to thank all the volunteers for handling those geese eggs. Almost 2,000 geese. >> That's what >> as a victim. >> And that's all I have.
>> Thank you. I just want to add for there was a little mix up with the um with the water main break on who's responsible for closing down the roads. And the first day it was a little um scattered, I will say. And I think after the chief and myself and and the administrator kind of all talked, they narrowed it
down. They got the road closure much better and it worked for everybody at that point. The way I understand it, the contractor, whoever's doing the work on any road is supposed to bring the equipment needed to close down roads, the signage, all these things. And the first day, it was a little hazard coming
in. You had traffic going in one way and coming out the same way. >> And it wasn't our police department that did that. It was the uh thing. >> Just one last question. >> Oh, was one more. Um, do you have any information from Tilcon as to when they're going to open up the road out to
Union Avenue? >> They keep telling me this year. This year? This year? >> That's what I thought it was this year. >> That's what they keep telling me. >> All right. But you have no information. >> I can reach out, but it has they would reach out if they're not. They would let me know. >> I appreciate that. So, I just want to we talk about the
town and, you know, about the condition of the town and um I just I don't know if anybody watches the real estate, but I I like to watch how many homes are sold, you know, and and the prices are high. We have homes now over a million dollars, over a million dollars on one
house on my street, uh one for 1.3. And you know, about 5 years ago, you couldn't give them away. So, we doing something right up here is what I'm saying because and I do I want to thank the school system because I think if you have a wonderful school system, you are
done definitely going to have a very solid town and um with the downtown uh items that we've been doing with our cleanup with our, you know, river cleanups with with the participation. Um we have a solid police department. I'm very proud of our police department and
all they do. They're very community-minded. um you know when when you watch channel 12 sometimes you panic at some of the things that happen to people when they're walking down the street. I don't hear that kind of thing. So all in all I I'm very happy that the town I think is
doing really really well and I I want to thank the the chief on on all that you do with us and I think I have to say I think we're doing we're doing the job that we need to do and we have to continue to do and we don't stop. So I want to thank everybody >> also if I can add to that and the mayor
brought you no the mayor brought this up plenty of times. Adding to that is the volunteers for all our absolutely committees and commissions. >> Absolutely. >> We have a great town of volunt volunteers. >> I have one thing uh the traffic study
did it have how many accidents do we have by Ramapo and Hamburg at that traffic light? Would it be a good idea to have alternate um signals for when you make that lefthand turn from Ramipo onto
uh Hamburg? Yeah. So, I know uh the county gets involved because they're they're county roads. Um so, I think when they put those lights there, they're the ones that do the study and kind of make the recommendation of of what what needs to
be in there. Um, I can certainly find out the answer to your to your question and and and get back to you if uh if they uh come out and do like some type of re-evaluation in that in that instance and I can follow back >> years ago. We brought that up years ago and they said there wasn't enough
traffic making the right to warrant that, but we can relook at it. Okay. >> Yeah, I can certainly make a phone call down there and find out what the process is and I can uh email you and the rest of the council. >> Thank you. Anything else? Okay. Motion
to adjurnn into close session. Motion. Councilman B. Councilman Santers. Who made it? Uh uh. Council Council Santers. Councilman B. All in favor? >> Against. In close session, we discussed uh personnel and conflict.
>> Contract. Litigation. >> Litigation. Okay. In litigation. >> Motion to >> It was litigation, not personnel. Oh, no. Yeah. I'm sorry. >> Okay. >> Sorry, ma'am. >> Motion to address. >> Motion. Motion. >> Councilman's uh Beg, Councilman Cruz.
All in favor? I >> Okay, everybody safe. >> Good night, everyone.