[clears throat and cough] It was over here. I just fell out of my Pretty good. >> Ready? >> Yep. Yep. >> Good evening. This is the Ridgewood Village Council Public Workshop. The date is February [clears throat] 4th,
2026. The time is 7:35 p.m. Adequate notice of this meeting has been provided by a posting on the bulletin board in Village Hall, by mail to the Ridgwood News, the record, and by submission to all persons entitled the same as provided by law of a schedule, including
the date and time of this meeting. Roll call. >> Council member Mortimer >> here, >> Deputy Mayor Parin here, >> Council Member White >> here, >> Council Member Windrad >> here, and Mayor Vanos >> here. Will you all please join us in a salute to our flag?
>> I aliance 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. >> And let's go right to public comment.
Public comment is three minutes per person. At one minute, the bell will ring and then I'll say times up when time's up. Have the bell. Ann loving Ridgewood resident. Uh first of all, I'd like to thank you uh for
broadcasting the budget meeting which we watched on Monday night. Very interesting. The meetings are run really well. I appreciate it. Um, I realize that every department head is bringing in a wish list and that it's probably been paired way down by the village
manager and I appreciate that. But I especially want to mention that I appreciate that Councilman Whites always questions things. This is really important. Um, and in spite of the fact that the mayor in particular kind of ridicules him and jokes with him about
this, he does it. And I appreciate it because, you know, wish lists are meant to be paired down and these things should be questioned, additional expenses or seemingly exorbitant expenses. So, thank you, Councilman Weiss, and thank you all of you for the
meetings being broadcast. Regarding that, um, seemingly the meeting about parking in the downtown was not broadcast last night. If it was, my, uh, peers and I couldn't find it. And that's a shame because it would have been a
really good thing to be able to for all of us to see it. Now we're just going to have to rely on reports from people who were there. Thank you. >> Thank you, Ann. [clears throat] >> Good evening. Cynthia Halibby, Rididgewood resident, and I'm speaking
tonight on behalf of the Conservancy of for Rididgewood public lands, of which I am the president. I'm pleased about the item on the agenda for you to consider accepting the $6,000 gift from the conservancy. The funds will be used to
finalize the hardscaping under the pergola at the children's sensory and butterfly garden. It will both enhance the garden and make the surface area safer for our visitors. Since the conservy's inception 13 years ago, we have worked hard on our mission
of enhancing Rididgewood public lands, and well over $100,000 has been raised from our generous sponsors and invested in our community. Year after year, residents and friends have generously responded to our annual appeal, and to
them, I say thank you. The consery is very proud of the many projects so far. One very important one was working alongside the parks and recreation department to rellandscape and open up the area around the war memorial at Van
Nest and making that a very popular place for community events. The butterfly garden is proving itself to be a magnet to Rididgewood residents. From children using it as an outdoor classroom to people appreciating the beauty of the plantings to artists who
paint them and to couples who are marrying there, most importantly to the countless pollinators which swarm there [clears throat] spring and fall. And the consery obviously is proud of the fact that they continue to be a co-sponsor
along with Green Ridgewood for the big spring event, the daffodil festival and Earth Day celebration. Yes, >> but it comes to I think about this um lacking from this are the number of hours our volunteers have contributed in
manual labor which leads me to wonder should the conservancy, the women gardeners of Rididgewood, the um new name Ridgewood Beautifification Team and other volunteer groups try to add their work hours up and then at the end of the
year submit them to whoever it might >> [clears throat] >> wondering maybe these numbers could be used towards grant money. Just a thought. >> So, I thank you for your time and I think we're all looking forward to the spring. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, Cynthia.
Anybody else? John Fry, Irving Street. last night the parking meeting um that was good. I was there for the first hour of it till I had the opportunity to spend some time in the hallway with you Paul. But indeed um I thought it was
also very good that the few questions that were asked at the very beginning the setup of the meeting and then Keith you did a great job um MCing the meeting and moderating the questions and creating that dialogue between everybody. Um, I would like to see more of that and more meetings and creating
that back and forth um, conversational tone. Um, this is always a challenging environment for that, but I would like to set up meetings with all of you to have that happen more frequently and I think that that would be extremely beneficial to the entire community.
Obviously, we also know that we have our friends at Kensington and the challenges that we have going on there as well as the other ordinances that are all before all of us. And indeed, I think that the it's going to be passing off to the planning group and the planning
and that part of the process. I would like to see that if we could make those as virtual meetings. I realize that the planning group doesn't have PL virtual meetings on a regular basis, but because of the significant interest that's occurred across the town, I think that we have high numbers of people that are
very interested in what's going on in these. We should make those also as virtual and incorporate them. It's going to be a process that's going to take them. It's going to be a lot of their time over the next year or two years as all these ordinances fall into place. And let's let the entire town become
more engaged in them. Thank you very much. >> Thank you, John. >> Anybody else? [clears throat] >> No, [laughter] >> you get special time. You're going to use separately.
>> You get your own You get your own time. >> You're the only one I would say that >> you're an agenda item. That's why. >> Anybody else? Seeing no one, I'm going to close public comment. Um I will mention significantly that there is a Mr. Halipe who is
watching. [laughter] So I just want to mention that. Um uh John um as I mentioned last night >> [clears throat] >> um you know I know I am happy to come and meet with um with as as I said with um you know groups of people from the
neighborhood that abuts post Kensington. I'm sure that several other uh council members would like to do that. Of course, we can only go two at a time. It's kind of like a Noah's arc of council members. Um, so, you know, you've got my number. Stay in touch. We'll figure it out. Thank you.
>> Who else? >> I just want to add one thing. So, wow, it's working very well tonight. So, um, to my friend Ann, I do appreciate the very kind words. Um, as you know, fiscal responsibility is one of the reasons I'm here. It's one of the reasons I get so excited about serving on the council. I will say I've never felt ridiculed by either the mayor or anyone else on this
day. Um, we have our disagreements. Um I I they're always respectful and and the fact that we have disagreements is is what democracy looks like and I'm happy with that. Um but again, thank you so much. But um but I do Paul take nothing personally. I I I think your comments tend to be uh right on point. Um the
humor misses every now and then a little bit, but the but you know, my wife says that >> but the intent is always good though, Paul. I appreciate it. >> Thank you. Thank you. Absolutely. Anybody else? >> Yeah, John, I'd like to say that uh anytime you want to meet my emails online, happy to do that. And as Cynthia, thank you for all you and the
conservancy do. It's a beautiful work. >> So I also want to add so big big big huge thank you to the conservancy and everybody who donates to it. Also women's gardeners. It would be incredibly beneficial for you to add your hours up on shade tree um part of
our annual tree report and in our grant application we do do that. Like so we add all the hours we sign in the students and we come up with it. It'll make us more grant worthy. It will also help us in the budgeting process. We are very well aware that volunteers, volunteer hours and donations offset our
budget. And sometimes it's sort of shocking to see like after a mulch Monday or a beautifification, how many people show out when you translate it to hours. That'd be great. And and Mr. Fry, just to echo, OPMA only allows two of us to come. I very much enjoyed my walkthrough and I think everybody would
do what I did last week with you guys. So, just invite us in pairs um and make sure we each know who's coming and we will be there. >> Anybody else? >> All good. Let's go to our manager report.
>> Thank you, mayor. Um just a few things tonight. Today we accepted or yesterday we accepted the bids on the Shedler remediation. That is an agenda item tonight uh that we will discuss in a short while. Um Mr. Fry and Mrs. loving
both referred to the parking meeting last night. Thought it was a tremendous conversation. Um I think what was most interesting to me and understanding the challenges of parking downtown is the groups of
folks who have concerns about this issue who represent different constituencies. and what we have downtown. And it was clear yesterday during the meeting with the business owners and I think it was even more clear last night with some
business owners but mostly residents um and other interested citizens was that we have four distinct constituency groups. The first are business owners and tenants who are trying to acquire parking that is closest to their place
of business to encourage people to come there, patronize, be provided services, to purchase something, to enjoy a meal. The second are the residents who do not have assigned parking in the central business district but who live there who
lie their head on the pillow at night you know potentially above a storefront but do not have an assigned parking space and that becomes a burden to living in the downtown area. The third constituency group are the employees who work in the downtown who need to find
adequate parking in order to staff their shift. And the fourth distinct group are the commuters who use the downtown to either take the train or secondarily a bus to another location. Um it's interesting because all four groups
while equally important have competing interests and competing desires. Um from the cost of parking downtown to you know the restrictive hours uh on Park Mobile. Uh there there was an array of discussion about a variety of different
topics. very pleased that Walker Consulting, who's conducting this study for us, uh was able to hear all that and absorb all that right from folks who have this experience each and every day here in Ridgewood. And I think it was very healthy. Um I do want to just
address um the virtual hybrid access to that meeting. Um we worked very hard with Bob Rooney to try to come up with a date. Um, representatives from Walker had to fly in from around the country for this
meeting. Um, and last night there was a planning board meeting in this room which is set up to broadcast and to have hybrid access. While we have done it downstairs, it is an IT challenge to set up all of that um, technology on the
lower level. Um, and I know that there is also a desire to want to broadcast more meetings. John, and I I respect that. I come from a municipality that broadcast their planning and zoning board meetings, so I see the value in that. But here in Ridgewood, you know,
it's it's staff time. Um it's funding to pay the staff to be able to broadcast those meetings. And in talking to Matt, we have some legal challenges about picking and choosing which meetings hit the standard of interest that we would
move to hybrid. Because while there may be hundreds of people who are concerned about Kensington, there could be one person who's worried about their nextdoor neighbor being requesting a variance from the zoning board, let's say, and they want to opine but can't physically get here. And how do we say
no to them, but yes to another group that just happens to be larger? So, there's some legal issues with the land use boards and the accessibility. Matt and I have had those conversations. Um, I I don't have an answer for you here tonight. I'll be I'll be perfectly honest with you. Um, but we do only have
three staff IT people who um operate the system. They're obviously here three times a month for council. Um, just this month and the end of last month, they were here four additional times or will be here four additional times for our budget meetings which we broadcast. So, it's very hard to ask that those staff
members to be here every night that there's a meeting. Um, and that's one of the challenges. Now, Neil Gone, who's our new director of IT and MI and GIS, he and I have started to talk about this and there are there is staff over at GIS that we may be able to train to um
increase our ranks of folks who can help us from an IT perspective to broadcast these meetings. Uh, but that's an ongoing discussion just just so you understand that the status of where we are. And had there not been a planning board meeting here last night, that meeting would have been in this room and would have been able to have been
broadcast. Um, with regard to the central dispatch, so we had our central dispatch management meeting at the end of January. Um, I'm not sure if I'm I'm pleased or upset that I was elected as the chair of the central dispatch
management committee for 2026. Um, but looking forward to working with the new business administrator in the Burrow of Glenrock, Steve Neil, uh, who comes to Glenrock from Waldwick. Um Steve sits on that management committee with me along with Steve Szari from Rididgewood um and
Jackie the clerk in uh Glenrock and we're working to do some really good work this year and recruit some additional municipalities to join the central dispatch operation. Um and lastly I just want to let everyone know that we received two grant
reimbursements this week. One is for South Pleasant Avenue and the project there um in the amount of just under $52,000. The other was um 67,702 and that was for the North Monroe Street resurfacing. Um in light of receiving
the payment for South Pleasant, I met with our new engineer James McGrath today and I directed him that when the snow melts uh that he and his team are going to need to evaluate South Pleasant Street to determine what the future of the bike lane will be. um whether we move the bike lane outside the area of
parking um or whether we eliminate it completely. Um but he and uh Chris Piera who led this project are going to review that and come back with recommendations so we can change that in the springtime. Uh we're just not exactly sure what that recommended change will be. Uh just a
few announcements. Uh the village is continuing to sell parking permits uh downstairs in the lobby. If you do still need a parking permit, please bring your driver's license and a copy of your registration for each of the cars that you wish to purchase a permit. Um, snow removal, just another reminder, all
sidewalks and residential districts, snow must be removed within 24 hours of the snow falling. Uh, the suspension of rear yard garbage collection continues and will continue until further notice.
Uh Sean Hamlin, who is our supervisor of sanitation and recycling, has been out inspecting properties. We still have a lot of ice on long driveways and we do want to make sure that we are keeping our employees safe. Um so please
continue to put your garbage on the requisite day curbside so that we can collect it and keep a safe environment for our employees. Bulk refuge collection uh both on the east side and west side will take a plate will take
place on Wednesday, February 4th. Uh the collection will be limited to five bags only. That's actually today. That happened already. Um but just keep in mind that for bulk refues, we are currently not collecting furniture, appliances, or other large items um
until further notice. Please place bags curbside on your driveway apron, not in the street. And again, this is just to protect our employees until we have some snow melt throughout town. Uh, the Ridgewood High School Jamberee 2026 celebrates their 80th show, Lights,
Camera, Jamberee, on February 5th, 6th, and 7th at BF Middle School. [music] Visit rhsjamberee.org. If you would like to purchase tickets, all village offices and departments will be closed on Thursday, February 12th, in observance of Lincoln's birthday and
Monday, February 16th, in observance of President's Day. There will be no garbage or recycling pickup at the recycle and the recycling center will be closed on that day. Please check your village calendar for garbage and recycling pickups for those two weeks as they will change due to the holidays. We also encourage you to sign up for the
recycling coach app which will remind you about these changes to garbage and recycling pickups as well as weekly pickups and upcoming village council meetings. February 11th, next week is our public meeting that will start at 6:30 next week as opposed to 7:30
because we plan to introduce the budget that night in addition to the affordable housing ordinances that are on for second reading. So, we are starting an hour earlier that evening. February 25th is a council work session, begins at 7:30, and our last budget meeting will be this coming Monday night, February
9th, at 5:00 p.m. That concludes my report. Mayor, >> thank you, Keith. Let's go to council reports. Frank, >> I don't have a council report, but um my daughter's birthday this weekend, so I just want to say happy birthday, Ella. >> Nicely done, Siobhan.
>> Sure. So, I only had um two meetings. Um so, the fields committee meeting met yesterday and I'm pleased to announce to the whole council that it was pretty much a happy moment talking about um our software application and how beneficial it's been. And so we've done really well
with NY's hire of David Wild for the planning and the scheduling and um the board of ed because it's a dual committee. Uh London Mkei also got a big shout out from Pascal. So the users are finally very happy feeding the system um working through the intricacies and it
was just in general an incredibly pleasant thing to hear about how well that application is working for scheduling and it's not being managed on pieces of paper. Um, we had a discussion of many things. We didn't meet in January, so we just got caught up. Um,
we reminded the sports groups to submit their annual documentation, and there were really no other outstanding issues. Our next meeting will be Tuesday, March 3rd at 8 a.m. Um, and I I do just want to say that with the discussion of hybrid, um, several of my committees do
meet via hybrid. So um this obviously Evan and I ran on access here but um on my committees I run hybrid for fields for stigmafree for access. So if anybody wants to come to any of those and see us in a different way you're more than
welcome. If you have trouble finding the link just let me know. Um but we always love it and pajamas are welcome. Just don't turn your camera on. Um and lastly I wanted to just give a shout out that the tickets for the book at the library lunchon went on today. Anna Quinnland.
This is a big deal for our library. The tickets are on sale. They're selling quickly. So, buy them and please join us um with the friends celebration which is always lovely. And on Tuesday, um we will be meeting with Shetry downstairs in the garden room. So, anybody is welcome to that. That's it.
>> Thanks, Siobhan. Evan, >> none of my committees have met in the last month. I'm sorry, in the last week. Uh but I too would like to wish Frank's daughter a happy birthday. >> Thanks. Here you go, Pam. The planning board met last night and we considered the ordinance that the council
introduced last month to um vacate property at the center of Grand View Circle. And um the reaction of members on the board was well this is a no-brainer. >> Thank gosh >> why would we not do this?
>> So um the council will be receiving a letter from the planning board saying that they are in agreement. Uh, Green Ridge Rididgewood meets tomorrow night uh downstairs in the senior lounge and uh let's see, Central Business District
Advisory Committee. We'll meet February 12th even though the village hall is closed. We will be meeting by Zoom 8:30 in the morning and uh it's obviously open to the public. So, if you would like to join us, we will the Zoom link
is on the agenda and um we will be discussing parking. We discuss parking a lot. So, I'm sure we will be rehashing what uh the meetings that Walker had with us. >> And and just so you know, Grand View
Circle was an issue that came up I think my third day here. So, as easy it was for the planning board to say it was a no-brainer, it took two years plus worth of work to uh get the residents on board, but um it is definitely the right decision uh to
vacate that property and not have a landlocked piece of municipal property that really serves no purpose for the village, >> right? And they brought up that, you know, to have property that you can't maintain is a liability. >> And thank you, Matt, for figuring that all out.
>> A lot of help from my friend >> [laughter] >> All good. And I have nothing to report, but I will also wish Ella Mortimer a very, [laughter] very happy birthday. Um, she may be my
she's certainly one of my favorite members of the Mortimer family. And we will leave it at that. And we're going to change the order. We're going to move uh item D1, the request for Ramadan crescent lighting up to now. Makmood,
would you come up and join us? And if you could just make sure that the microphone is on by pushing the button and the green light is on. >> Can you hear me? >> We can. So if you would identify yourself, who you are, your name and
your any title that you have in relation to this. >> Uh my name is Mahmud Hamza. Mahmood like when you're in a good mood. My mood is good. So I hope everybody is in a good mood now. H I live in 528 Amsterdam
Avenue. Been living there now for 34 years. >> And I have something to share with you. Can I read it? >> Sure. Uh you may. Why don't you Oh, well go ahead. just read your read your letter. Go ahead. >> Okay. So, first good evening to all of
you. I think um I thank you very much for everything you're doing for the village. H I'm speaking on behalf of the Muslim community of Rididgewood, many of whom have proudly called this town home for decades. I'm one of them. We love
Rididgewood, its warmth, its sense of community, and its beautiful diversity. We are proud to stand shouldertosh shoulder with our neighbors celebrating together at Christmas at the manora lighting and at any moments that bring
the whole village together. These shared traditions are what makes Ridgewood feel like home. Tonight we come with the same spirit. We would love the opportunity to share one
of our own happy customs with the wider community by adding a crescent lighting as an expression of culture and joy meant to share, not to separate us. For many of us growing up, the sight of the
new crescent moon was a moment of excitement. The new moon indicates the beginning of a new month for Muslims, Christians, I mean Jews, and Chinese. We all have the lunar calendar. As
children, we would sit with our families listening to the radio. Yes, I'm old enough to just be listening to the radio at some point or watching TV, waiting to hear whether the new moon had been seen.
That simple announcement meant a new month had begun, a moment of anticipation and happiness. Sometimes it marked the start of Ramadan. Sometimes it signaled
is a holiday, a time family generosity and celebration. Around the world, cultures mark time and season in different ways and they express joy through different symbols. In here you have in Christmas you give
gifts. In our culture we used to give money. So the day of the Eid everybody is ready to visit the grandma and we count at the end of the day how much money we got. Okay, [snorts] to be clear, the crescent in
this contest is not a religious symbol. And this is something very important I want to say. It has nothing to do with religion. It has to do with just the moon. It is a cultural one tied to the lunar calendar. Like other traditions
that follow lunar cycles, the birth of the new moon simply marks the beginning of the new month. We are committed to work closely with the management and to ensure any installation is tasteful,
safe and fully consistent with the character and the values of Rididgewood. Thank you for your time, your openness and for the continue for continuing to make Ridgewood a place where neighbors celebrate not only side by side but
together. Thank you. >> Thank you Makmood. It is a pleasure having you here. I'm going to open this up to council for comment. >> So, I know we were talking about Grand View being a no-brainer. This one to me is an even bigger no-brainer. Uh mood, as always, thank you for all you do for
for the community. Um, every time you're here, I'm I'm happy because you always bring happiness with you. Um, you know, we do a minora for Hanukkah, we do a crash for Christmas. There's no reason why we should not do a crescent for Ramadan. Um, if you would afford me the honor and you need an extra set of
hands, I'd love to help you put it up. Um, but I'm an enthusiastic guest uh for all of our Muslim neighbors and friends. And again, just thank you for yet again being another being a pillar of the community and bringing yet another really good idea to us. >> Mahmood, you say it's going to be
tasteful, but the picture you show is beautiful. >> This is really um a work of art. I look forward to its installation. >> Thank you. >> I think it's going to make a beautiful corner even prettier. Um, if you want to
have a kickoff event, too, I I think we would welcome that. You know, if you want to do any type of social gathering when it's first mounted, let us know. I know it's just the request is just for its display, but um, similar to these others, if you want to have an event, let me know. It'll be it'd be good to work with you again.
>> And I'd probably say yes as well. Um, I'm excited to see it because I think the picture was beautiful and just would be an honor um to have it here in Ridgewood and so wholeheartedly I say let's do it. >> Thank you very much. Thank you.
>> Mmwood. Um Evan said as you walked up he whispered to me that when you walk into the room you raise the level of what's going on in a room and we are so happy to have you here. Um and and as I had
mentioned to you previously, this was going to be a layup. Um that being said, I have I have a um a question and it was something that we had discussed, which is can you lay out for us the time frame that this will be
up for? I know you said it will be up for Ramadan, which is 40 days. So what did and and you talked about having a u a ceremony of some sort ahead of time. So why don't you lay out for us when this would be up?
>> Okay. So you know Ramadan is a month and you know we would like to and this is a would like to you know like the beginning of the month to the end of the month. Okay. And but you know we can work it out. I >> I I don't see any problem with that time
frame. I mean we keep the Christmas tree up for more than a month. So again let us know tell us you when does Ramadan do you know when Ramadan begins? >> Ramadan will start. >> Yeah Ramadan will start February 17th >> and the Eid is March 21st.
>> So the 17th to 21st. And I know you talked about having this up for a few days before >> Yeah. >> Ramadan begins to have some kind of a ceremony. >> Yeah. A simple ceremony. Yes. Yes. Yeah. And we would like people to come. It's
not a Muslim ceremony. It's a vigual ceremony. So we would like to, you know, make it clear to everyone. Islam for us to have fun. Like, you know, when I go to the Christmas lighting, when the monora lighting, I feel the joy being
with the my neighbors. And I think that's our objective too. We want people to come and feel the joy with us. And and because I want everyone to feel the joy, would you just tell us a little bit about Ramadan and what Muslims do during
Ramadan and why they do it? [clears throat] >> Ramadan has two sides of it. The social part and the religious part. Yes, we fast. We don't eat or drink. uh from an hour before sunset to sunrise to sunset.
We're supposed to be very polite, very patient during the day. But the most important thing is we have to be generous, care about the community. H as a matter of fact, it's recommended that we open our houses for people to come.
And the word we say the worst table is the table where you invite rich people to it. You want people to come and you want to show that you care about the community you're living in. So this is the social part of it and as that's why
if you know we feel when we kids we're enjoying it because of the time the house is open that the kids you know we were singing in the street you know and um we used to eat things we don't eat them all year around you know like in country
like in Egypt nuts are very were very expensive we only have them in Ramadan okay here you know we have them all year round but imagine you know I remember you know grandparents have nuts and give you nuts when you break your fasting and we're all you know joyful about it. So
it has a religious aspect of it but if you go to different countries it have different cultural part of it and even among the Muslim community where this is the part we start to enjoy you know that it is it is not the same for everyone the baseline is the same you're fasting
but how you celebrate it is different >> but the part about the fasting fasting from an hour before sunset or sunrise until sunset is a very long time I know that that can be very arduous I know that in in summertime to not be able to drink water for what is a very very long
day. Why why do Muslims go through that kind of sacrifice? Okay, that's a good question. Okay. Now, as the lunar calendar is 10 year 10
days uh shorter than the solar calendar, so Ramadan keeps moving. 33 years Ramadan comes in the same time again and by the way that's a trick you can tell somebody's age when did he start fasting and then you can right away figure out
you know how many cycles but I think it is and I did fast in July was very hot then the time you start thinking about life and your relationship that you're not just to satisfy your needs you have love
for something else you're willing to give something else that's you know dear to you and amazingly you go to work you have the food in front of you and nobody's looking so if you want to eat you can eat nobody's going to tell you
anything but you do it and you feel a rel a different relationship you have you feel lighter as a matter of fact the first couple of days and the most difficult one and the hardest day thing in Ramadan is not the Best thing is to
control yourself and that's the hardest part. You go you have you know I go by the machine every day and when and when it's not Ramadan and I don't even look at the food in the machine but in Ramadan you go to the machine I look at it I say I wish I can
take something right now. >> Well thank you for that explanation. Um I have been to many ifar and um I I know that that the warmth that we find there is what we are going to see um at Van
Nest when the crescent symbol is placed there and we all look forward to it. So please let us know whatever we you need from us to assist in making this a reality. We're very excited that this is happening on our watch. South Korea.
>> Thank you very much. And as I said, you're my family. >> Thank you. Thank you very much. Have a good evening. >> And now let's go to boring stuff. >> Mayor, mayor, moving on to our agenda items. Um, tonight under Ridgewood
Water, we have the deputy director of Ridgewood Water, uh, Bill Burewas. Unfortunately, Rich KBY had a death in the family today. So, Bill is sitting in for him tonight, and he has four items to review with the council. Good evening, Mayor, Council, uh, Keith, and Heather. Uh, I don't take offense
that you consider this boring either, Paul. [laughter] Put that on the record. [clears throat] Um, I got four items on the agenda for today. Uh, the first being a professional service contract with WSP Incorporated. They are Rigid Waters,
hydrogeeologist, and engineering services. They take care of NJP permitting, oversight of well contractors, and rehabilitation of Ridgewood Waters wells. This is an NTE not to exceed of 109,000 for the
calendar year 2026. Um, we recommend WSP because they're very familiar with our unique water system. The next item on the agenda, >> anybody have any questions on the first one? >> Nope. >> Good. Good. >> Thank you. The next item is phase three
of our security upgrades at various water facilities. This is through the ESCJ co-op. It's uh the final of three phases at our last four POS plants. It's with a company called OSI open system
integrators. They take care of our smart door locks, our security cameras, and integration with the SCADA at water headquarters. The amount is $311,493.82 not to exceed. Questions? >> Let's go.
>> Okay. The next is an amendment to chapter 145 of the Bridgewater code. This is uh a rate adjustment. This is an 8% increase to the volume rate. Also an 8% increase
to the facility charge. What this means is an overall increase of 11.3% to the average customer. That is uh an annual increase of 8752 to a customer using 7,000 gallons per
month. This was reviewed by Rafelis. This is our independent consultant. They reviewed it. They found it to be not only reasonable and appropriate. Um they also stated it is in line with industry standards and they have one other
statement on this that's in the report. Um >> I know Bill we talked about this at the budget hearing as well. So >> yeah it will be talked about next week too if there's any further questions. >> So just uh through you mayor this would need to be adjusted by ordinance. Uh so our proposal is that we would introduce
this ordinance next week um so it would align with the budget calendar um and be in in line with the 2026 Ridgewood Water budget um as it was presented and as it will be presented for a vote next week. >> And and I just want to say because it's a work session for clarification it's
important that the timing goes hand inand because a budget increase and this increase will be an increase to the the overall residents. So we don't want to be discussing what your tax potential increase could be and something like this because to the household it's all
additive and we understand why. So to Evan's point we had a a more robust discussion about that in budgeting but to the public the timing is important because it's an expense to the general public >> of course >> and I do just I do just want to echo Bill's statements. This this adjustment
is on par with what Rafelis had projected moving forward. Um between the PAS improvements and then the general operating of Rididgewood Water. Um you know this this rate increase is in line with the projected rate increase that have been discussed by Rididgewood Water
with the village council in the past >> and starts in the third quarter. Right. >> That is correct. Third or fourth quarter depending on pass. >> Anybody else? >> Let's go. All right. The final item is to authorize the refund of an overpayment on a water account. Um, this
customer actually made payments on his water account after selling the house. So, he figured it out. Um, there's actually three properties he paid twice. So, you'll find attached not only his bank records, but also our internal
records proving same. Uh, just a refund. >> Everybody good? >> Yeah. >> Thank you so much, Bill. And final item, uh, happy birthday to Frank's daughter. [laughter] >> Have a good night everybody. >> Final item. I thought that was all.
>> Well said, >> Keith. Under budget tonight, we have the authorization of a shared services agreement for cosmetology inspections from the Rididgewood Health Department to the Bureau of Norwood. Uh, the this has been ongoing since 2022, and we are
due to extend this contract. The proposed amount of time to complete this these inspections on an annual basis is less than 35 hours. Um, and the fee charged to Norwood is $48 per hour for regular business hours, $72 per hour for afterhour calls, and we charge an annual
$500 administrative fee uh for inspection hours, which is in line with other shared services where we charge that administrative fee as well. >> Questions? Excellent. Let's go. >> Okay. The next item is the acceptance of a donation.
Excuse me one second. Hold on. There we go. Next item is the acceptance of a donation from RBSA for field renovations at Veterans Field. Um, RBSA has
presented the latest field renovation project uh to the parks and recreation department and they also made a presentation to the parks and recreation and conservation board at its meeting of January 27th. Uh, this would be an improvement to the 90 foot baseball
diamond as well as both the northeast and southeast softball fields within the Veterans Field Park. Uh the varsity baseball diamond um as well as both softball fields are heavily used through the spring, summer, and fall season and require renovations to restabilize the
playing surface for safety and to adhere to regulation standard for play. Um the baseball field improvements will include laser leveling of the fields to proper elevations regarding infield and baselines, adding pro-choice conditioner to the playing surface, adding premium
bagged clay to rebuild the pitchers mount and the batter's boxes, and install the new pitcher mound and home plate. The softball field renovations will include squaring the fields and resetting the bases, rebuilding the pitching lanes and the batters boxes with premium mound clay and pro-choice
conditioner. Uh the proposals that were submitted um and that RBSA is going is planning to use is the same contractor that we used at Haw which is John Redmond of New Jersey Sports Field of Edison, New Jersey. The cost for this for the all three fields combined is 26
$26,900. Uh the work will take place later this spring and will be supervised by our park supervisor Matt Andrula. Uh this is a donation and we're asking the council to consider the paperwork that's before them tonight to accept this donation and move forward with this project at Betsfield.
>> I'd say thank you to the RBSA. >> I think we all echo that. >> They just keep coming through. >> Thank you RBSA. It's great. >> I think that's well said. They keep coming through. So >> yeah, and their presentation at the PRC board was amazing. just like how much
passion goes into making sure that the fields um look so nice which is more of a safety issue because currently I guess that because the clay settles that it actually goes up so the ball can pop up and this will make it level so it'll
actually be safer as well as more um beautiful to look at. So really personally having sat through the entire presentation want to give them a big thank you. >> Yep. Well good. Let's go. >> Okay. Okay, going back up to budget item two, rescend and replace resolution 2621, annual maintenance for software
for the finance department. Uh there was a typo in the resolution uh that was originally presented to council. So what we're looking to do is resin that um and replace it with a not to exceed amount of $33,37753. And again, this is for the Edmunds uh
software that we use across departments. >> Everybody good? >> Let's go. Okay, the next item is, as I mentioned earlier, the Shedler remediation project. Um, we rebid because the original bids that were received all exceeded the estimated
cost. Um, we rebid and received bids yesterday on Tuesday, February 3rd at 10:00 a.m. Believe it or not, there were 30 plan holders that picked up uh bid specifications for this project. 11 returned bids yesterday and the bids
ranged from a low of $2,635,151 to a high of 6,34,23460. Uh the summary spreadsheet is attached for the council's consideration, but the apparent low bidder is Northstar Environmental Services of Claremont, New Jersey. Um with a low bid of 2.6
million. uh the village has discussed uh with the representation of Northstar to ensure that they understand the scope of work for this project um and our engineering department is confident that they understand the scope of responsibility here. So moving forward
just to set next steps now that we know what the cost of this is going to be and that the low bid is $2.6 million um we need to uh work on the financing aspect of this. Um, we currently have $1.1 million that was allocated by the
council um, previously for soil testing and for the first steps of remediation. So, that money is appropriated and available for this project. Um, we are currently in conversation with the Bergen joint insurance fund about the
claim that has been filed with them for this particular project. And we are also in discussion with them about the possibility of obtaining a lowinterest loan through the joint insurance fund as part of a package to um assist the
village with this project. Um so I spoke to Dave Grub uh who is a actually a former council me two-time council member here in Ridgewood. Uh but he is also the executive director of the Bergen GIF. Um he and I are going to have additional conversation tomorrow.
Um but I think the intention is between any claim that we receive on this in addition to the loan that is what we are going to need to utilize to bridge the gap of the 1.5 million in order to do the remediation at the Shler property. So if there's a general consensus
amongst the council uh that that is the path forward um I will open up more uh specific conversations with the Bergen joint insurance fund um and talk to the leadership there uh to pursue that path and um put this together and then I
would anticipate um that we would be able to award this contract at the March 11th council meeting in order to move forward with the project. >> Questions? So Keith, just to clarify for everyone that this money is solely 100% to take out the dirty dirt for
remediation. So independent of anything else at the Shel. >> This would this would not have anything to do with park development. Um this would have to do with the remediation of the contaminated soil um and the ground preparation. >> And that's it.
>> Yeah. >> Other questions or comments? Well, again, just to follow up on that, I I I think that no matter what would happen in the development of the park or not a development of park, the
remediation needs to happen. >> And so, because the remediation needs to happen, it's worth the money to do it. >> Yeah. We we have an approval from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection uh to remediate this property and and we're obligated to meet the uh
criteria of that approval. So the the park development project should be viewed as a completely separate and distinct work effort from what we need to do here with regard to the soil remediation. And um I'll just say I've been involved in these discussions with Dave Grub and some of the other board
members and um they are very sympathetic to our situation. We haven't finalized anything, but we are discussing some uh package of grant money and and lowinterest loan that I think is um the
most advantageous way to get this project completed for the village so that we have a clean piece of property uh from which to work with. >> Everybody good? >> Yeah. I I just want to say clearly this is extremely expensive and I'm not going
to echo completely what Frank said, but um I think the whole community recognizes the dirt is dirty. It needs to be removed. This has to happen no matter what. It's a fat toa complete. I do want to thank you Keith and everybody for looking for alternate sources of
funding. Um $2.6 million is expensive. It's a sunk cost. It's needs to be spent and we are grateful that we have approval to remediate it so we can begin this process. Um I don't want to seem insensitive and I'm hoping Evan echoes.
It is a lot of money. Um and we um I don't even know if the word happy to do it but we it needs to be done and I'm happy to correct remove the dirty dirt and deal and have clean have the lands cleaned up. I think relief is the more
appropriate at least amongst the staff >> just in terms of the cost. >> It's a lot. >> While it's a tremendous amount of money, the fact that we've gone through two rounds of bidding, I think we got 11 or so bids the first time and this time,
this is the singular lowest bid from both rounds from 22 or so submissions, right? Um, and it's by a decent margin. >> And and the the difference between or the delta that was estimated early on in
this project to now is that trucking and disposal fees have soared during that time period because I I I did drill down and ask a lot of questions um of the engineers on this project as to how we were came up with the original number or
where we are today. and they they were able to illustrate the increase in the trucking and disposal costs. Um they've increased quite quite dramatically. >> And my concern would be that they would continue to rise, right? >> So the longer we >> the longer you wait, the more expensive it could become. >> No. And I'm relieved that the decision
to rebid it was good. That was definitely good. >> Um I'm I'm certainly in favor of um fixing the situation that we have with the contamination. Um, I am anxious about the pressure that's puts on our
capital budget and if we wanted to save money, we would put off installing artificial turf. [applause] Anybody else? >> Let's go. >> Okay. So, I just want to just to set
expectations here and for the public's edification, this will not be on as an award of contract for next week because we have to have the financing in place before we can award the contract. So, I would anticipate that we'll award this contract in March. Um and we will with
the council's approval tonight, we will get on the phone again tomorrow with Dave Grub and we will chart the path forward with um a combination of some claim money um which is yet to be determined and uh and the balance with uh with some sort of loan from the uh from the Bergen Insurance. >> You clearly have the support of the
council to begin those discussions. >> Very good. Just wanted to be clear. >> Yep. >> Okay. Um, next on the agenda is the donation of the concrete patio children's sensory garden at the stable uh through the
fundraising e efforts of the conservancy forward public lands. Cynthia uh explained this better than I could at the beginning of the meeting. Um but they have uh done a design um and it's planned to be installed by B&B uh Mcate
Construction uh of Wayne, New Jersey. Uh this includes the demolition and excavation of the area as well as the installation of stamped concrete, pressure washing, and the application of sealant. Uh the price for this project is quoted at $6,450. >> And I'm just going to start this off.
Cynthia, >> we can't thank you and the conservancy enough for the beautiful work you do, for the contributions you make. Um, you again, I keep quoting my mother-in-law, many hands make light work and and this is a big deal. Anybody else?
>> No. Agreed. Cynthia, just thank you so much and to you and the entire conservatory uh conserv conservancy. Really, really great stuff. >> And as a spokesperson for pollinators, I'd say thank you. And lastly on the agenda, there is a
request um with regard to the local recreation improvement grant uh for a community garden at Habernickl family park. Um we've sort of changed our focus this year uh with the DCA recreation
grant. Um we did the um did the skate park. We've done some other you know true active recreation improvements with this grant. Uh this year, Nancy Boss and Katie Fry from our recreation department um have sort of redirected uh this grant
uh to a new community garden at that location and the grant amount that we're requesting from the state is not to exceed $75,000. >> Question. >> I'm very glad to see this because the community gardens that we have behind the stable get flooded all the time. Right. >> That that came up in the discussion as
well. >> Yeah. And um what I'm a little unclear about is where the community gardens will be at Habernick. Is >> I can answer that because we talked about during PRC. It's where the barn was. >> Where the barn was. So not where the the
existing uh vegetable garden is. >> That that's Stacy's property. That's hers. >> So it would be next to it where the the the >> Okay, good. Because it'll get plenty of sun because I wasn't sure if it was going to be down in the Dell. >> I question PRC. >> Okay.
the existing health barn garden would stay intact and then this would be built adjacent to it but separately >> and and are the beds raised? >> I don't know that. >> So, one of the things we could Yeah. So, I'd love to know that from the community garden the lower beds have, you know,
older gardeners don't love that. So, if we could have some raised beds. I know that when we had the community gardens at Shedler, that was the plan before we pulled them out. the um the gardening population, which is works twice as hard as anybody, um has really wanted to have raised beds.
>> Certainly a discussion we can have with with recreation. >> Yeah. Um one more thing, that was an old barn and it was painted. >> Um we should check for lead in the soil. [clears throat] >> I have a feeling if we check we may find something. So,
>> well, we did. >> We did soil sampling up there. I I I have to go back and look at the report um and make a and take a look at whether or not the the barn area um was tested specifically. Um but I we can we can do
that and and if not before obviously we built a garden um we would uh we would do the appropriate testing. I can tell you that the existing garden for health barn was tested and there were no issues. >> Great. >> Everybody good? >> Okay, that's all I have. Mayor, >> thank you. Let's go back to public
comment. Cynthia O'keewood resident. Um, I had a couple of questions. I don't know if you're going to answer them, but I'm going to ask them. So, um, for the soil remediation at Shedler, the lowest bid
was 2.6 million. That's almost double what the 1.5 million bond was. Um but what happens when you said you made the comment that engineering confirmed with Northstar that um they understood the
scope of the assignment. I mean I would hope so. That's a little scary to me that like, you know, there's groups bu bidding six million and this they came in at 2.6. So, how does it work when
they realize they can't do it for 2.6? Are there change orders? Are they going to come back and ask for more money? Are we beholden to them to, you know, like I don't know how that process works. If someone can explain it, it would be really helpful. Um, because it's very concerning. It's
a, you know, an awful lot of money. Um, you know, the burm was also intended as a safety protocol, as a risk mitigation from cars coming off the highway. So, you know, it's also very concerning that
there doesn't seem to be a risk mitigation plan. Um, and then finally, you know, we had asked as a neighborhood for some consideration. um that you would let us know in advance
um when work is being done, you know, that would require like trucks coming in and out because it is contaminated soil. But in you know, there was tree removal. There was um I guess a number of workers on that property that had big excavation
equipment. we have pictures and the neighbors all wrote to you and asked for consideration and we were told I'm sorry we don't have we don't do that for other projects so we're not going to do that for this project so we're sitting ducks
in this neighborhood with children boarding the bus right across the street from the property and there heavy equipment you know it's just not acceptable that you can treat this neighborhood like this and marginalize this neighborhood when there are going
to be hundreds or thousands of dump trucks coming in and out of that property. And then to have us be told that like, well, we don't do it for other projects, so we're not going to, you know, go out of our way to to inform
you is just astounding. Okay. Astounding. So, I would like to know what how are you prepared to um communicate to the neighborhood what this plan is going to entail in advance
so that we do know what's going on and we're not just looking out the windows and wondering what's going to happen to us. Thank you. >> Thank you, Cynthia. Annne Loving, Rididgewood resident. Um, it's interesting to hear former Councilman Grub's name being mentioned
because he's a South Irving Street person or he was at the time. South Irving Street. Um, brings up another former council person. I asked a while ago when Lorraine Reynolds photo is going to be on the board. It's now 13 months since she left
office. Framed photo really needs to be put up soon. Thank you. >> Thank you, Anne. Good evening, mayor and council. Boyd a loving Rididgewood resident. Change order. That scares me to death. 2.6
million. The new sheriff in town, Mr. McGrath, should tell this group, "We are going to accept no change orders on this project." Change orders are what really kills the taxpayer. that we go out for bid, they submit a bid, and then all of a sudden these change orders start to
roll in, and some expert tells the council, some staff member tells the council, "Well, we've got to do this." Can we please have no change orders on this? Can the new sheriff in town indicate that the council does not have the stomach for change orders? And let's just put an end to the change orders
right off the bat with this new sheriff. Uh the old sheriff seemed to just submit change orders left and right. It sickened me the number that came in. So hopefully we can stop that this time. Uh there was some comments made about televising or broadcasting meetings. Uh
Heather is probably the only one in this room who has attended meetings for as long as I have. And I recall that there used to be three people in this room. There used to be two camera people and a person in the back. Emergency services volunteers. They were being paid, but
they were emergency services volunteers. Then we went to this new system where we put the automated cameras in. And Heather, correct me if I'm wrong, but weren't there no people in the room? There was nobody in the control room in the back or was there one person in the back? Okay. So, there has always been
one person. Um, is there a way that we can do this with nobody so long as it's just being broadcast that there is no need to uh get people on the phone or get people on Zoom? Are there some meetings that I think there's some
meetings that if I was a member of the public I just want to be able to see I'd be able would like to just see a board of adjustment meeting. Can we do that without having participation? Is it legal to just broadcast it or do we always have to have it so that the
public can participate? If there's a way we could automate the process so that it it just shows what's going on in the room and you have sound, is there a way we could do it without having a staff member present? I just like to to experiment with that and and see if that is a possibility or if there's some
reason we legally can't do it. And again, if we could stop the change orders, that would really be helpful to me. I just 20 years of going to these meetings and hearing about change order after change order after change order. I I don't know why we accept that. Thank you.
>> Thank you, Boyd. Anybody else? Seeing no one and there's no one on hybrid access, I'm going to close public comment. Would anybody on the day is like to respond? >> If I may. So, with regard to the Shedler project and the bids, uh, Cynthia, we are bound by
the local local public contracts law. Um, and under the local public contracts law, municipalities are required to award bids to what's called the lowest responsible bidder. So there is always a level of due
diligence on projects unless it's a known vendor who you've dealt with before where either engineering um or a consulting engineer vets the low bidder to make sure and asks them the requisite questions to ensure that they are
capable of doing the work which then defines them as a responsible bidder. Um, we have no ability unless there is something at fault with the bid um or if we find that the bidder is not responsible uh by doing our due
diligence to reject somebody's low bid um simply because it's the lowest bid. Um I am confident um in talking to James and in talking to Matrix that this company is going to be capable of doing
this. Um, while we're on this to Mr. Loving, um, there is no ability to tell a company that we won't approve a change order. That is not in concert with the local public contracts law. And a great example of why you would need a change order is the Walnut Street lot. You
know, we had put out to bid that we were going to remove nine underground fuel tanks. And when the contractor got into the ground, there ended up being 11 underground fuel tanks in addition to a concrete um base that was in there that
was unexpected. So it's within the level of reasonleness for that contractor to come back to the village and say this was not in the scope of work. This is beyond what we bid on and what we were awarded to do. And thereby within the um
percentage allowable under the local public contracts law, we are going to submit a change order because there's additional work that was unexpected. Um we can't predict whether that will happen at Shedler. We can't predict whether that will happen on any project that we award an outside bidder to.
However, we don't like change orders either unless they're reducing the cost. So in this case as in in every case um you know we impress upon the contractor that within the scope of work um and unless there's something really um beyond the scope of work of what was
awarded that we are not anticipating having any change orders relative to the project. Um, with regard to the risk mitigation plan, uh, Cynthia, you know, we were very clear at the November 13th meeting, um, that we were going to take
a hard look as part of the park development project, not as part of the soil remediation endeavor, uh, that we were going to work with Suburban uh, to come up with a design uh, that protected people who were using the park um, in
place of the Burm. And I can tell you that as of today, we were continuing to have those conversations. Um, they're in the process of refining those plans. Um, and I can tell you that without getting into the specifics until they're presented to the public, uh, that there are risk mitigations relative to the
proximity of the highway that are being incorporated into that plan. Um, as far as when the work is being done, um, I'm not sure exactly what your reference is, but at that meeting on November 13th and in subsequent conversations with your neighbors, we've always advised you that
we would let the public know when the work is going to start. We've always said that we were going to let the public know when the work is going to start. The entire project is going to be directed as far as street traffic goes by the Ridgewood Police
Department. Um, Chief Lions after that meeting with the residents came to me and suggested that we actually have a police officer on site during the workday. Um, and that's his recommendation uh to my office as far as being able to manage the trucks coming in and out. Uh we are looking to have
the shortest route off of Route 17 onto the project onto the property and off of the property back onto Route 17 so that it does not disrupt the neighbors. Um we have opened up dialogue or the police department has opened up dialogue with Dr. Schwarz about the possibility of
just a block away reload [music] relocating bus stops which parents will have ample time and we will inform them or the board of education will inform them well before the work starts that their bus stop might be relocated um by a block in order to not have the buses
interact uh with the construction zone. Um and all of the work that has been done in including the tree removal has all been overseen by our LSRP. Um so every safety measure that is required um even when we were on there and we
abandoned the project to relocate the AR provides the LSRP was represented on that site to ensure that the contractor was doing their due diligence and they will do the same with the soil remediation contractor once this is awarded. Um and Mr. loving with regard
to the televising of meetings. Um there's a lot of new equipment back there that Dylan can explain to you far better than I. Um I can tell you watching him set up for these meetings and watching him stage these meetings, there's a YouTube as aspect of this,
there's a Swagot aspect of this, there's a Zoom aspect of this. Um, I don't believe there would be any way of being able to broadcast meetings without having a staff member here um to make sure that all of those um avenues are being able to be provided in order to
watch a televised meeting. That's all I have. >> Thank you, Keith. Anybody else? >> Heather, do you have an update on the photo? Do Do you have an update on the photo? >> I'm working on it.
>> Okay. Thank you. Um I I did want to say two things that um from my perspective with respect to the communication with the Shedler neighbors, I'm unaware of a lack of communication revolving heavy equipment. So if you want to send that to all of us, we've seen everything that
we we haven't seen that happen. We're also going to, as Keith said, we're going to continue to communicate and continue. But you said there was heavy equipment and the only thing that we've announced was the tree removal and the testing. So, if you have an incident where you weren't communicated and you'd need to let us know, I think we would
all welcome that. I do just want to add to the um discussion of hybrid access just because I run it the most frequently. We still do have the issue that the whole council's sort of aware of that occasionally we get an interloper, not a very nice interloper and the police have to get involved. So,
we do take our security, you know, we have someone unexpectedly show up and do something inappropriate with the streaming. Um, so that's just one of the things I've learned because I'm running it across multiple committees. It is a concern that I would have about being unmanned here. Um, and that's it.
>> Anybody else? No. With that, I will entertain a motion for adjournment. >> So moved. >> Second. All in favor? Hi. >> Hi. Hi. >> So,