I call to order the meeting of the mayor and council at burough River Edge February 13 2025 regular meeting River Edge Library 685 Elm Avenue and zoom 7 PM ask everyone to stand for a moment of Silent reflection and player for all
those people throughout United States but especially in California who have experienced so many disasters and more to come councilman glass if you'd lead us in the pledge over here IED Al to the flag of the United
States of America and to the for it stands one nation God indivisible with liy and justice for all statement of compliance with the open public meeting act this meeting complies with the open
public meeting act by notification on January 6 2025 of this location date in time to the town news and the record and by posting of the same on the municipal bulletin board and the burough website and following notice of the same with the municipal clerk Madam clerk roll
call President mon Cohen and Council canella are ABS prior notice Council Larry here coun Benson here Council here counc here here um approval of the minutes could I
have a motion and second to approve the minutes of the mayor and Council regular meeting January 23rd 2025 so Mo second all in favor please say I I all right so we have a wonderful uh occasion
today uh one of our residents uh Mary donu is going to be 100 tomorrow but she has given so much to River Edge to uh Burton County to the state of New Jersey that we are honored to recognize her if Mary could come forward with her entire
family and Sheriff could GNA ask the council to please stand we're gonna do is we're going to put Mary right here thank you and if everybody can be behind her that way you would show up on uh Zoom back up
carefully there you go all right and um could I have the council stand with me actually no with the camera you might as well stay Spirit yes so um Mary you have done
so much for the community you have um been a Trailblazer in so many ways and we are the beneficiaries of all the so many wonderful the things you've done and so we have a proclamation to honor you on your 100th birthday which is
tomorrow correct correct wow that's wonderful okay whereas Mary Donnie who has been a resident of rivered since 1952 where she and her husband Gerald raised their eight children they were part of the founding parishioners of St
Peter's Parish and whereas Mary has been blessed with 17 grandchildren 27 great-grandchildren do we get that number correct all right good whereas Mary will attend uh attain the age of 100 on February 14th Valentine's Day
2025 and whereas Mary's many accomplishments include being an elementary school teacher elected the first councilwoman in River Edge in 1983 County Committee Member for more than 50 years member of the Democratic
National Committee and chair of the national Hispanic caucus whereas Mary was a founding member of the Riveredge Democratic Club a longtime parishioner and Elementary School teacher and a CCD teacher at St Peters long-standing member of the River Edge historic
commission and the historic Newbridge Landing commission she also dedicated 26 years as the head of the language Department of the premis Catholic High School whereas Mary has served the riverid community with the highest Dignity of integrity and professionalism
and is an Endor ing example of all citizens whereas as mayor and Council of the bur River Edge desires to express its appreciation and recognize you on this date now therefore be it resolved that I Thomas papalam as the mayor of River Edge am proud to issue this
proclamation to Mary donu to honor her as such an important milestone in her life and join with her family and friends and wish her the happiness and continued good health thank you Mary thank marry uh anything you'd like to
share yeah we give this H actually would you hand that one over to it that's easier did put that in your lap Mar I remember I remember when we first moved to River Ridge yeah that the riverge public library were two shells on the
police department really I remember that can you imagine in yeah there were two shelves and this was what year 1952 so look what we've done in all
these years it's been wonderful I think that uh the library is the heart of the community and I'm I've been very very proud to I've been a service to the library and thank you very much for this
evening well uh could we get a picture with you sure our Council you yeah there a couple of people like you accounting Freeholder to oh we didn't it was left out we can correct it you were the first female County Freeholder right not the first no not
the first female just the first female um Democrat Democrat Freehold can we that so we're gonna I'm going to correct that and then I'm going to hand deliver it to your house wonderful also a candidate for state senate right Mary yes were you a candidate for state
senate mom yes I was okay well we'll add that Mel could you do me a favor could you send me an email with any of those things that you think we left out because I like Mar do okay good that' be great is there anybody like to say a few words about Mary before we take a
picture and move on Mary is an exceptional person and she has lived a good life good and true life an honest person of Integrity kindness
Devotion to her community and to her family and an all around good skate over there Council to get a picture take that picture take a picture we'll come back in maybe two portrait no two
landscape you want me to it so she can get in no you give yes and we'll fix it sh that with my thank you let's would you put that there here we
go okay all right thank you everybody close in yeah take this away take this take this away absolutely that's not all I would edit it out anyway Mary okay everybody
great yes please and we'll take a few more pictures thank you thank thank you thank you okay my family say with you guys one two three cheese cheese oh now
you turn your head one two three cheese cheese good thank you very much you're welcome thank you so much than you thank you very and we'll fix it and uh and I'll drop it off sorry we left off
the mayor thank you very much council members thank you very family is coming in every single pull that chair over [Music] okay um our first order of business is uh reassessment update Mr anino we
appreciate you being here with us tonight uh mayor anino he is both our uh tax successor and right uh title I got right correct correct and uh the mayor of um
South yes uh so mayor uh thank you for being here and thank you for being our tax assessor uh if you could um take it away well first of all thank you very much um I don't know how much you're gonna thank me after the news I got to
give you but first of all South hackin Zack is a small town we rotate the mayor every year so all the trouble that I'm gonna cause this year I'm gonna pass along to the next person but um on a personal note I remember Mrs Donahue from when she was a Freeholder at the time both freeholders
and she was so warming and caring to all the people of Bergen County she would take all of us younger guys in and kind of nurture us so I think what the mayor and council did was very nice and um I'm sure her and her family appreciate it so
it was nice to be a part of that yes but now just a quick update I just want to thank you all for the time to present this I wish I was able to be there in person but I have a council meeting my own um in a little while well the reassessment is just about complete uh
we are at the days we're ready to send out the letters and we're looking to mail them tomorrow and with the holiday I'm sure the residents won't get them till Tuesday um now the res the letter is going to inform every property owner of what their new assessment is and I
believe I handed you two pieces of paper and and you'll see the sample letter it starts with appraisal systems at the top and it's very much of a basic letter but it'll give you your 25 assessment and it'll also give you an estimate of
what the taxes will be based on the 24 budget now we know it's not going to be that but just to give you kind of like an even playing field so you know exactly what the impact of the reassessment is so what I strongly encourage every resident to do is after
they get this they could go on their website appraisal systems website which is clearly listed and call and have them review the tax record with them the one bad thing is we only got into about three4 of the
homes about 75% of the homes which is kind of low usually we St we try and hit about 90% but we didn't get into as many as we would like now the other piece of paper in front of you is a worksheet and it starts the title is of
the River Edge so basically I'm going to give you a little background information and interrupt me anytime you want we our current tax rate is $3.9 3.96 5 to be
exact after the that was the current rate for 2024 now 2025 it's going to start at $231 before there's a budget increase so now obviously everybody wants to know how did I Faire in taxes so in the whole
town we had roughly see 57% of the residents are going to receive a reduction that's roughly 1,846 residents there's 91 properties that are what we call tax neutral that's between Zer and $100 so they're right
there there's 1,200 almost 1300 properties 1,287 that's 39.9% are going to receive an increase over $100 now if we go further down that sheet you'll see properties with tax increased breakdown do you guys see that
yes okay so between 100 now again between zero and 100 is 91 residents between 100 250 is 113 residents between 250 and 500 it's 194 so that's that's about 23% 24% right
there the part that's a little concerning is there's 300 residents that going to have an increase between 500 and 1,000 506 residents between 1,00 and 2 2500 and 103 residents above
2500 now the reason now I kind of think everybody's okay if they have an increase less than $300 not that they like it but it's palatable and um there's there's reasons for it um the reasons are basically
you'll see it a little highlighted where it's mrin I just want to stop for a second one of the things I want in this presentation for the public to understand is that there is no new tax dollars yes so and this is very
important for people understand whether you got an increase or a decrease correct me if I'm mistaken uh uh in this kind of initial letter it does not mean an extra Penny went to the burrow our
budget was struck this is simply making the um the the overall tax uh assessment fair for everyone because everyone is brought up to their true property value mayor you stole my
thunder that's exactly what I was going to say it's um we bring every property to market value which what we call is 100% now out of that number the bur does not collect one penny more as you know the the tax rate is a small portion is
based for the burrow expenses then you have your local school your Regional School in your County taxes so whatever that has to be raised whatever number amount that is that's we're not raising any more money we're just raising the
amount of money needed to run the governments and that's why I wanted to interrupt you there because we were talking about uh an increase this is simply someone being brought up to their actual value compared to their nextd door neighbor people down the block and
the people on the other side of town so that now everyone's paying their Fair share when at some time due to uh maybe a u a renovation or something like that they were not properly assessed so they weren't paying the full value that that
their neighbors were well exactly there's a couple of examples I could give one is now the last reassessment we had was 13 years ago so assume somebody took an appeal during that time neighbor a takes an appeal two homes are identical neighbor A's house goes from
300,000 to 250 50,000 neighbor B doesn't do anything just because they don't know or they're not aware well now let's say that house that goes to 400,000 well neighbor B is going from 300,000 to 400,000 neighbor a is going
from 250 to 400,000 so they're gonna neighbor am you know the one who went out more is going to say wait a minute my taxes were less than my neighbors yeah but you filed an appeal which kind of lowered yours and now we had to corrected and that's one of the things about the annual
reassessment we're going to constantly be making adjustments to make sure that everybody's fair and equal during the term of the process uh I should indicate on average there's about a $111 reduction the average here this is kind
of stunning the average assessment in 2024 was $397,500 but again that wasn't at market value now the average assessment for this year for residential homes is $674,500
so if that home was assessed at 397 and went to 674 you're saving $111 $10.92 to be exact so and again majority properties are going down 57% are going to see a
reduction but I'm always concerned about the increase so what would the increases be it could be somebody filed an appeal it could somebody did a ren a now I don't know if many of you were aware of it but if you take a permit out for
kitchen improvements or bath improvements excuse me you don't always have to take an improve perit out for that as long as it doesn't allow changing gas or water so a lot of people may have updated their kitchens and their bathrooms Renovations without getting uh
permits therefore we won't know about it so we're unable to assess it so you'll see a additions appeals uh the other big part and again it's 25% of the home if we didn't get
into the house if the inspectors were unable to get into the house they're automatically going to assume that the bathroom is upd bathrooms are updated and the kitchen is renovated and you probably have a finished basement depending what type of
house that's doesn't B well for the homeowner so we ENC we when they originally started about a two months ago we sent out a letter to all the homes we did not get into it was more than 25% at that time encouraging
everybody let the property owners in uh let the inspectors in there's a lot of people that talk and they think don't let them in this way you know they won't assess you if they don't see what you have no that's not the right answer let them in so they could give you an
accurate assessment I believe interrupt you there just to underline that point and especially for those who might be watching this um YouTube video um later on this week or next week or to come so by law if I understand it correctly uh
the um the inspectors had to assume that the most modern and the highest number of um um value value is in there so you're actually U do not help yourself by keeping them out you hurt yourself
because the law is very clear that the assessor must assume that the house is in pristine condition and and therefore has to be taxed at the high side mayor their guidelines are to the highest possible use the property could be in the neighborhood so that pretty
much says it all but if you think we have 3,200 homes roughly and we got into 75% of the homes that's 800 homes that the assessments we can't confirm that the assessments are totally
accurate it's kind of ironic because we got about 831 properties that went up over $500 between 500 and $2,500 the rest I'm sure all new homes
or new additions because they take this before the added assessments were put on so if somebody put a house on that was just completed in 2024 we go from the beginning of 2024 that's how we measured January 124 to January
125 so I believe we're going to get a lot of people coming into the hearings once they see their value I'm hoping what I'm not hoping for is they don't they ignore it come when they get their tax bill
what went wrong well we have you for two bathrooms and you only have one how were we supposed to know that well can you correct it and I'll get my money back no after May 1st there's no way we can make any changes to the book that's the problem it's not a
retroactive thing so what's important being said here is that when they get the letter they have until May 1 to ask for an appeal well the appeals have to be in by May 1 but the first thing that they'll do and the reassessment company's wonderful they're going to set up
hearings so on the letter it says a number to call to review your assessment they'll review your assessment with you in person or you could do a virtual if anybody wants to write it down the number is 2011
493 8530 and a lot of people do do the hearings virtually I won't suggest just a telephone call because you know you're not seeing the person you know I would say do it virtually or have the person meet with you
one-on-one and if they don't get into the home they will send another inspector out right away we have to have this into the county by May 1st that's when the book closes so and if we have more hearings that's not a problem because we have up
until May excuse me by March 1st we have to have this into the county by May 1 we can change any assessment and we could do it through an Assessor's correction but if somebody comes May 2nd there's not a lot we can do there's absolutely nothing the one
thing I would encourage everybody to do when the Neighbors come to you in you're going to get phone calls I'm going to get phone calls give them my number and give them appraisal systems number most important appraisal systems I'll explain to them the whole process just what I went through with you but
appraisal systems are the ones that ultimately make the recommendation to the town and my cell phone number you may or may not have it it's [Music] 20 906 24 69 Yeah the more people we could reach
before this goes in the better off we are again I'm worried about that 25% I don't blame you I also see that the letter says that if they want to schedule they can also do it online 24 hours a day seven days a week so they can either call Monday through Friday
from 10: to 4 to schedule uh for an assessor to come in or they can schedule it online yes I always forget that part I'm still a dinosaur you know and they get logg in in a password on their letter yes so they should hold
on to that oh yes and um I mean all all I really think you're going to see that number go down of people that went up I think you're gonna see I hope people take uh to Heart what
you've said and that those 800 or so residents who did not or could not allow an assessor to end that they they do that before May 1st so that they get a fair and just assessment same here now next year when we do phase two those 800
homes will be the first ones we go to reinspect again just to make sure we get right so excellent any member of council have a question for Mr anavin I have a question sure hi thank you than you for for taking us through
this it's very helpful I just have a quick question and my apologies if you explained this before where do you get the assessed values for this year do you use some tool great question we use the market data I should have mentioned this and I'm sorry um probably because I kept
cutting you off well mayor you gave me more information and I was taking a lesson from you uh we take all the sales from 23 and 24 the assessment date is October 1 24 in other words up sales up to that date is what we use to value now
we price out the homes according to our New Jersey state appraisal manual and every home is done according to that standard the land is done from basically they take the sales of homes you remove you divide the town up into
neighborhoods and from there you'll say Okay um neighborhood one the house sold for make it easy 150,000 the house is worth 50 ,000 therefore that lot is worth 100,000 it's called the land residual technique so everything we do
comes from the market data now for the commercial properties we use a blended Market data you know the the sales Place prices but we also use the income approach the courts hold that the income approach is the most reliable source to Value income producing properties so
that's kind of how we rebuild it we use and for the homes we use the sales you know again direct sales and what it cost to rebuild a a house and if you go on the website ASI NJ you'll see it has a list of all the sales and has a list of
everybody's assessment in town okay thank you so and and just so Zillow right Zillow is the standard that a lot of people go look at to see how much is my homew do do do do you follow the same methodology very different
methodologies I don't what Zillow does but I could tell you Zillow is not that accurate um you know for higher or lower I mean I'll give you an example my mother when she passed away we you know just went on Zillow to see what it was worth just for you know kicks they had
her as a one Family Home and property was wrong so it's I'm not sure where they get I think they just say Okay this house sold over here it's X number square feet so that must be worth that over there uh Zillow is a ballpark number though so it's never a bad thing
to you know if somebody comes in and says gee my house is assessed a half a million dollars but if Zillow says it's worth half a million I would't exactly believe it you know just thank you no thank you anyone else another quick question thank you man
sure um it says that we have one Farm um but it has a value of zero and it says that we have two industrial properties um I'm wondering what qualified for that category and just some commentary I'm
encouraged to see I guess that the assessed value of the commercial properties and the multi-dwelling units in the um burrow increased significantly the total value assessed value of commercial properties
increased it looks like almost 80% uh Euro yeah yeah yes you'll see the commercial properties increased a little if you look all the way to the right you'll see the shift they went up
02 and the uh apartment buildings went up 05 and if you look at the second one the residentials actually went down slightly compared to the last three assessment now let me explain the categories class one is vacant two is
residential one and two families three a and 3B are farms I'm not sure why they're showing one because I I know we don't have a Farmland those two industrial properties those are the ones I think it's the one by the river and I believe there's one over on
the other side by closer the hackin saac yes so and that we do have a total of 141 commercials I think the biggest increase you'll see here is well this the regular commercial but look at your apartments went from like
roughly 91 million to 167 million so the commercials required an increase um but your hes that's a smaller percent increase than the assessed value of the
Residential Properties the M yeah okay yes all right but they still had a slight shift towards them where the residential
shifts on average went down you know so it's going to be um I think the commercials came in very well the new apartment buildings are very look there's two types of apartment buildings
you got like the ones that are brand new on Kinder Road those little apartments they came in very well they're they're doing very well their income stream is very high then you got the garden Apartments which are you're are stable you know they do okay they do
good the events have increased but some of these newer apartment buildings like they're building in hackensac like a two-bedroom by the old record site is I believe it's $4,300 a month rent for a two-bedroom plus $150 per
car if you want to have it covered if you want to park in a general lot it's free we don't have any of the apartment buildings in that you know that that type you know but um so for what we had
which you know I'm going to say there older other than the one on the new one on kindak road you're basically dealing with older apartment buildings 50 years old and they don't have that same Revenue
stream that the newer ones will have and Condominiums do you consider those a single or yeah thank you thank you man uh anyone else question or
comment Mr enino a wonderful presentation uh thank you very much um you uh you and I spoke earlier today I think you might be coming back again sure right um we'll we'll coordinate that through our business administrator
just in case uh we we have the public uh are having a lot of questions it it may it may be good if if you're available uh in in a couple of meetings and mayor if you were want to meet if you want to meet with the public on a Saturday or Sunday I'm available sometimes to give
everybody the opportunity like on a special day so you know everybody's there but I think the most important thing is let everyone know the letters are coming tell them any don't answer the questions and I'm not trying to say be mean but just say please at this
stage we're not done with the job yet that's why we're asking for your input to make sure everything's correct please let let us know we'll make sure it's correct okay excellent well thank you no thank you have a good night everybody
have a good meeting you happy Valentine's Day yes Happy Valentine's Day take care bye bye okay nv5 yes um we have here from nv5 are
Rachel laalia SEMA chandan and will goo this is the firm that is looking into the DPW complex namely to rebuild ass salt shed that is pass it its lifespan
as well as building a new mechanic spay because of the size of the fleet being able to be repaired in the current DPW facility and possibly the actual DPW facility itself this is for design and Engineering Services not build right
correct yeah is it Jason why don't you come up to pull a chair pull a chair let's see if we can't for there Jason you can move that pack those packets good even good evening thank you
that you might want to just move a mic more Center thank you good evening Mr Mayor and Council I appreciate you guys taking this time to let us introduce ourselves 75 and present our qualifications to you again my name is richel laala I am the a
director of architecture at mv5 with I have the senior project manager s Ching architecture at mb5 and with me I have principal engineer will barite Cil of5 and with the public uh our superintendent of Public Works Jason
molo is sitting with them uh as the overall head of construction well maintenance and Construction in in town go ahead so I just wanted to briefly go through our our qualifications packet which we have put together for you guys
um to review and go through a your leisure but I just wanted to do a brief introduction note um that this package is been tailored just as as specific as it's related to the instructions for uh Mr Molita as he's requested um when he
originally reached out to mv5 in December of 2024 indicating that he was looking for architecture and engineering services for signning construction for a replacement of their existing salt shed structure and lo structures so as a
whole nv5 has been in business for 50 years we have um multiple offices across the country closely we have a office in precip New Jersey which is where we all are local to to we have other offices that are located in Connecticut and
Philadelphia York area as well um you can read about our our our qualifications and experience but our disciplines that we have include site civil engineering architectural Construction Services utility engineering uh Structural Engineering
landscape architecture environmental engineering and permitting grage FL design uh water resources and each H site remediation and has Hazmat materials testing underground storage tanks ecology and special
endanger space species studies Le and as Festus evaluation and Remediation cultural resources and archaeology and we do sustainable and the certification projects as well so that's just a a broad overc scope of of
the offer that we have for any architectural services um but more specifically I wanted to discuss projects that we have done in in the past that could be relative to and currently we are working on for What specifically we've been asked to to look
at for DPW so uh that being said we've worked on a variety of Soul shed structures and maintenance buildings across different agencies including ngj doot and we've actually been spearheaded
task with coming up with the prototype for their salt shed structure at at nine sites we've worked on five Turn Pipe Authority maintenance yard facilities and we worked across a variety of higher education and park atmosphere
maintenance infrastructures some of those are are listed in here but if you look for additional qualifications or any Project Specific information we can provide additional at that um again some of these structures on these sites include salt shed structures material
maintenance buildings um sorry material Brew buildings material storage buildings vehicle storage buildings fuel Island facilities Emery standby generators um we've also included uh site
utilities geotechnical uh investigation on past projects Landing analysis and and design storm water management and Regulatory and agency permitting I I can read through everything but I think you don't need to
no um so that being said again it just to give an example some of these projects you could if you want to turn to page see here seven eight they list out a numerous listing of NJ do projects that
have similar structures at what you have over at your DPW themselves the capacities of these Salt St structures ranged from 880,000 or 10,000 t to8 100,000 tons so we have very small Su
structures to very large projects um across the state and I think what we've come up to a capacity of about a thousand so very manageable for your site so just for the public uh we have a
th ton salt ship right now we have a 500 that we're looking to bring up to a th to remove our um temporary storage sheds that are no longer going to be allowed on our permit because of EPA yeah the new DDP regulations D the if I can I
probably should started off with this a little more if I could just bring a light to what we're trying to accomplish here um in the last five years our salt shed has been falling apart okay um we've been patching it and uh pretty much it's on its last Light now there's
nowhere to go last year we started funding engineering started funding the project for professional Services um during the planning and during talking to numerous past and present council members we're trying to look also how we
can maximize the space um to um move our mechanics over there to uh I guess a building that's more up to today's standards um for the chemicals and materials they're using in in turn that would help us also get uh Vehicles more
inside of our old building so they're not sitting outside um during this process um I've I visited for the last two years probably four five probably seven locations whether it's nv5 that did it
or other um architectural firms um they were all brand new locations so I asked them you know who did it how they do it what the time frame was budgeting you know did they meet the qualifications or criteria that you guys set for and the
one name that came to mind was mv5 everybody kept saying from the B yard up in wage um to the C caucus yard Municipal caucus yard that they've come in on time and on budget on everything they're very on top of
everything um they don't they don't go out the bid unless it's all ready to go and it hasn't been looked at four or five times you won't have a problem with change orders as we all know that's about and uh pretty much they we'll make sure you know we are all notified on on
situations and problems so it was the only firm that I got a full 100% um approval from all those other pretty much entities than so you've done your due diligence and that's why they're in front of us
today yes cool we've also met with them and Rob CA who will be the site engineer for this project who's already started on the application um I again this project um will go on the size that the DP allows us um right now we are in a
flood plane flood zone um so there's a lot of Permitting that has to go on a lot of approvals um to see if we can get or not get so they're working on that side we've had meetings with Rob and nb5 together um will is also a civil
engineer which will be assisting in any way that you know we need him obviously to assist or anything on the environmental side or any of that correct yes sir so that's why will a so they a little bit of
everything and that will be aist cool continue um stole my thunder Jason but no one can steal the Thunder like Mary apparently uh to add to what what Jason
was saying that was my one my comment next was a lot of these projects because we do have um the capabilities to take what we had Lessons Learned and and apply them to the next project we've had successfully done 75 to 80% of these projects with
less than 10 change orders um as we've had a couple with us Jason said two change orders and and so small that it's it's a minuscule cost at at best the team that we we utilize for these projects is the same throughout the
design and construction so that there there is the the same continuity throughout the projects and I think that's one of the big things that sets us apart from other AE firms is usually there's a handoff period between design bid and construction um we work hand
inand with one project maybe run through um one senior project manager and the next and we have uh checks and balances back and forth my role also includes qqc manager on all projects that comes out of the office from the architecture department so
I will be always overseeing anything that does go out the door as the last step before pried um as Jason said we've had multiple projects that have come in um on time um with especially at this period
of time where there is uncertainty with long lead items with issues of change orders for increase escalation of prices we've helped try to mitigate some of these problems by having what have we learned in the past and how can we make sure we identify to the
client ahead of time this might be something to spearhead in eventuality of the construction of the project H what else what's your ownership tell us about your ownership I know you've been making a lot of Acquisitions
right that unfortunately I cannot answer um ownership of the company yeah or we publicly tra oh okay okay yeah that's okay there's a there's Acquisitions every other day so I I find out
sometimes we bought another company um just so you guys know I manage the Northeast for TRC okay most of what it's uh one of the biggest uh Global Engineering thingses in the world
okay so you also now this year in my budget to be able to afford all this I am asking for Professional Services I I did put money into Capital this year to move forward with this I did notify and5 so you all know if Council does decide
to go with them that they would have to wait for everything to sign and everything until the budget is approved and adopted in any questions obviously here to the budget are ratified to the counil asked to the council and answered okay in our uh
packet there was a um drawing of salt shed mechanic Bay one mechanic Bay two are you going to be addressing that now or is this just an introduction to nv5 so this is really an introduction to mv5 because we have to see where the permitting allows us to go we don't know
what the D size of the building they going to allow us to build in a flood zone or any of that any of that information at this point okay we really have to see what comes back before we can really and when why we hear from them that's all depending
on Rob and how fast theep gets the looks at it and gets gets back to us before we okay any members from Council any council members wish to ask question so you don't have any in-house
geot technical you sub contract MEP though so we do have MEP in house um but what I guess what I wanted to highlight here is that for again the the depth and breadth of of projects we try to use more local um
Engineers sometimes for projects for this type of of atmosphere um in one of the projects that we have we are utilizing our New York MEP so there is no MEP that's on this project that's been partnered on all of the past projects so we thought it was best to
use whom we've been working with um we've we've been partnering with with our two Consultants on these infrastructure projects for the last five 10 years and we've been partnering with these consult that go to
for for for local projects yeah okay and what about so you said you have geotechnical in housee yeah I see it but structural you also it would sub that out so structure the structural engineer PBA we have been
working with for 40 years um they have worked on every single project in this packet with us successfully where they B fair fair fielded okay we do have Structural Engineering
also in house in pipany they more do uh Bridges we do have building Structural Engineering in nv5 corporate they're more located in New York and in uh North Carolina right now um again I keep hearing about new acquisitions so that
might change I think they're trying to get more into the Northeast but again as we said that we wanted to put our best team for you for this project but site civil you have four capabilities s c corre okay just so you also know Rob was also
brought into this project because he did start you remember all permitting that BG field and everything else so there is still an open permit on that that it's working on so okay for us to submit an application
we need a concept level design right we've forwarded him a layout a quick concept layout to just so we're all on the same page we've already had a meeting with the de with nv5 and
Rob engineering um to go over what looking for it to get a hardship waiver at this point because we are in a flood zone pretty much he's working on that and mv5 will give him any of the information or assist him in anything he
might need I know you just explained that you sub out structural typically on this type of project um so maybe this isn't a fair question but would would these structures need to be on piles that's a question well
I mean um it's an option it's more expensive option so uh know that we don't know that at this point yeah so that would be the reason for the Geotech because they'll be able to look at the soil engineering and the borings and give and and from there we made the determination
if it's piles or mat footings or or you know a slab on grade that's a thick and slab so that's the reason for so you would sub that that type of oh no you would do you would do Foundation Foundation recommendations in housee correct okay
yeah so we would we would ask to do again this would be in and how we looked at the project is the first would be making sure that feasibility wise dup allows the structure to be accomplished secondly would be what is feasible for the site so that would include any soils
engineering any geotechnical information any Hasma information like if there is any any issues with um some some connections to the to the existing salt shed structure itself get all of the information up front so that we can have
an assessment report written on okay this is the type of of soils that are there and then go to structural engineering and start coordinating and what kind of hasat might be included towards this project okay would any type of um environmental
investigation be required yes it would be that would be part of an investigation phase so for worker safety it would be important to make sure that any removal of the structure any any soils removed from the site would need to be tested thank
you good y any other questions we appreciate you coming tonight thank you for your materials and Jason will continue to coordinate and appreciate it thank you thank you for your
time J can stay okay uh in the plans you should have all gotten a look at um the de this Jason only gave you one option but it's gonna speak to two Jason
if you would now oh oh before we begin um so we have we have decided that we're going to we we're not going to have uh
hn um re redo the days we're going to do that later and what we're looking towards is July yes when the council only has one meeting and after that one meeting in July we that's when the construction begin so um and the deis
would be refurbished at that time so when we return to the building end of March beginning of April um we're going to be at the old DE it's in a little shabby condition but you know that's the way it goes uh and then um that will be uh that will be done also around the
same time that we're doing the ADA compliance along Tenny uh that construction that that's going to gut the side and bring us up to um ADA compliance and uh so so those things will be happening simultaneously and
Costa will Costa Associates will be leading in that okay Jason if you could speak to uh the de so the de uh I I looked at the de and we're trying to figure out um what the the max we can fit on it at this with the size of the
room um as you know that room is narrow and it pretty much has a ramp that comes from one door to the flat board I know I do this all the time but I want to put context especially for people at home uh the reason we want to maximize the de is because it's not simply used for the
council right it's used for luse and luse has nine members with two alternates 16 and then you have all the professionals so um so we need to build it not just for the council even though it's called Council chamber we need for
it to serve multiple purposes also uh other commissions and committees uh meet in there so uh we're we're trying to make it more functional correct so the only way that the day to work is the style that it's at now the U um we tried
to do Straits but it just won't work with the the way the doors offset from the floor to the door going to the police department we got about a foot drop there so with the ramps and everything that had to be put in um for
the egress um we wouldn't be able to run the is straight so you have one behind the other so it had to stay the way that it is is now with the Horseshoe what we looked at is obviously um the right side where the clerk always sits there was a
table there so we're looking to bring that out six feet um on that side and then the opposite side on the Tenny road side the left side we have an ADA ramp there's two ways or three ways we can go we can leave it the way it is now with
nothing there put one seat there so the the ramp is in between the windows so you don't see it from the outside or you could put another six foot extension on that side with the ramp going off so you can fit a maximum of 13 people up on up on the Das that is
the max there's no other way I can try to get anymore um in that location um now there's two theories we can go we can either refurbish what's there and just do an add-on that means keeping
countertops and just refurbishing the whole look and extending the dees or we can just redo the whole day so everything matches now there is a price difference it's not that extreme um it goes from anywhere between 15 to 20
grand just on a refurb to 36,000 on a on a brand new di so I guess the question is for this council is obviously we're going to extend the one side the six foot side um where the where the clerk
sits we just need to know if we if you want us to what what extent do you want to extend the ten AV side and what extent do you want how far do you does this Council want to go with the D do you want to just do it as a refurb that
will be a little cheaper or do you want to go with the full nuts and bolts well yeah uh so yeah so let's Jason only for the benefit of the council Jason and I've had some conversations I've actually gone up
there and talked about it um the the de um the issue as Jason brought up is the ramp to make it ADA Compliant okay so right now whoever sits if this
was the deis pretty would be sitting in the far right seat facing out stage right okay there is a ramp going down okay now if we extended 3 feet we have to push the ramp Out 3 feet if we extended six feet we have to stick the
ramp out six feet the ramp is six okay so um and of course that means no chairs to the far right where the windows are so do the question I think to to organize a little bit better is do we
we're going to leave stage left which is where clana is that we're going to extend six feet so do we want to add Symmetry and do another six on the right or do we want to pull it back a little bit to just three or not at all after having a lot
of conversations with Jason I I'm inclined to say either the three or the six extension because if we're going to do it we should do it also after a long conversation I think it might be better for an extra $10,000 for a Das that's
going to last lastest 20 years just to pay that amount but those are just my thoughts and I've had lots of time to think about it you have not so it's your time to ask Jason questions how many people can we see without the extensions nine nine right
now and the problem is we added a ramp because there was just a step up that wasn't a it wasn't so now you've lost where they used to put the table because you can't put the seats where the seats used to be so the best idea would be extend it now I would personally just go
three feet on the one side just do one seat so the ramp is in between the windows because you're going to have to put a railing as well which we're already getting so it would look more symmetrical instead of pulling two more
seats in then the ramp all the way out where the where the railing there'll be halfway out until where the people sit this is in addition to the the clerk side right yes the clerk side's already I would I would say just extend that to six feet that's
already I think the biggest factor is do we do you do it all the way or do you do it halfway I think that's what it is will the effect if we extend six feets with the r the number of seats for the public yes that's yes that's
why yes but we we've lost seats in that one in that one row we haven't been putting them up unless we're really packed those seats have been gone because to walk from that room or to walk from that door to the door behind the deis the seats are sort of in the
way with the ramp so you got to always kick around them as it is now we've actually set it up as a test to see where the ramp how it would fall so that's why I'm also pitching three feet because you're bringing that ramp back and then you can actually have I believe
it was three rows on that side we keeping one was there right you're not removing any rows you could do if you if you do three foot you are removing two rows there was five so you are five yeah you are kicking out two rows now if you do six feet you you're pretty much
removing you only have one row in the back because you won't have the separation between seats this would be a row of two yeah I've been there only two times so two two on that side on that side right so think it this way hold on
let me just do quick drawing okay where that okay so this is the seats it's a row of two and then there's like a row of 10 and a 10 and a 10 so you'd have these rows of two okay and these rows of
10 okay so with the ramp we're going to lose this much but if we do two seats and the ramp then we pretty much lose all of this this essentially becomes handicap seating so if Casey should come this where he would park his wheelchair especially because there's an outlet
there for him to plug in is that there is that what's shown on your yes now I ask so on my screen which we got um as part of our packet this is two seats but Jason is recommending we
just do of course we need two for the clerk side just do one on the um on the Tenny side and that will pull the ramp in three feet okay remember more it's the more area that you take the
occupancy level might drop as well when they go in there and they re do that so you might be losing occupancy level as well for fire safety yes so I don't I don't know most likely that's going to happen but I don't know so every seat
that you remove or every every square foot that you change whether you put a ramp or you put a solid something in there it might change yeah so but as you can see right now we have an occupancy of
zero yeah and that I'm just bringing up everything so it's it's out there for you guys and so you also should know because this hasn't happened in quite a while I mean most of my time as mayor I have not been in the council chambers we I became mayor and then we had covid
came back from covid and the building began to fall down so uh but uh on the rare occasions that we would have a large group we always had a contingency plan just in case we had to move it to the fire department or something like that which becomes somewhat difficult uh
because now we tend to do a hybrid um in person and and online not for us we have to be here in person but for the public um so you know so I so I guess what Jason's looking for is some guidance um
I would recommend to the council that we do six feet on the clerk's side two feet I'm sorry three feet on the um Tenny side and uh we get an option for six feet on the Tenny side and that way you
would still have time to decide and we would I would recommend that we not go you know cheap on this that we do this uh for an extra $10,000 to S I think we do it correctly because it's we're going to be it's going to get a lot of use and
it's going to you know we can price it out and ask them for a concept Drive sounds good I agree all right so we have a consensus here we go I have one question has nothing to do with the Das but the
room um since we're going in person to set it up for hybrid I was with it looking at potential Concepts and the one that makes the most sense is to do a similar setup like here that to the left you
would have your TV screen and then you know have the camera and run the the wiring to to the laptop um the only thing is I I can tell you right now that won't work okay the reason is because I've been in those seats I've been in
the two end seats and the problem is this is this is a straight setup which Jason and and I looked at and we looked at several different configurations and when you have a straight setup you can do this but when you have a use setup it means who's ever the council person is
that decides they're constantly doing one of these things and it really makes it impossible which is why I had recommend we do drop from the ceiling a uh a 63 inch or 75 inch TV uh two of them one that faces the public one that
faces the council or put one there and one there one behind and one on the wall so um but yeah you can't because we've tried that in fact we had a pull down screen right here on the Tenny side and
it always meant during budget meetings that these four seats had to empty out and they had to yeah I totally agree the only thing is how high is the ceiling I don't know it's pretty high right yeah and and maybe but it'd be dropped down from it you know and it'd
be tilted slightly or it can just be on the two walls one on the back wall and one on the front wall yeah I've seen I've seen Council uh Chambers one on like you're saying front and back and I've also seen a dead middle one yeah that's angled so the council sees it all
the way around and then the public SE and they're just dead in the middle the only problem with the dead middle one because we're pushing out we'll put several members of the council and of the public at a greater than 60 degree angle and on those LED screens right um
you know becomes distorted so it makes more sense put against the back wall and the front wall and we move the seal or we move the seal up or down something like that just say but I I I think you bring The Tech Guys in and and you know okay yeah because
that because like if you if we did the side wall it needs electric and data but the front and back wall they already has electric there so they just have to run the data cable and yeah just so you know
the council de will also have um HDMI cables that'll be to the one so whatever you're showing up there I notice all you guys have laptops you can be able to just plug right there and it'll automatically go right to your screen so
necessarily you don't have to look up here or over here you'll be able to have it directly in front of you as a person's talking with it it'll just be a duplicate display and you might say why do we need an a screen in the back wall it's because if we have the public come
on and or we had EO tonight um you know we we would want to be up so on the that's why they would have to be big I don't know if that's that might be 90 but maybe 90 on each on the front back because of the distance uh for we'll
maximize whatever we can on the wall I think that's the best way to go okay and that also would occur would that occur that would also occur in July um that had to occur before because you're going to run a hybrid up to July
so you're going to have to get that in there before ju before you guys go back yeah there's other screens that they have to put in the lobby so they're they want to do it all at the same time like we still have a few weeks so we might be able to do it when we get back which
actually leads me to another Point um we were talking today um we will not be in back in the building for the budget meeting and I don't know that we're going be able to use this facility would we then fall into the emergency be able to do the budget remotely because we will not
be back in the building for the budget meetings because they the first and second Saturday in March and we're looking for what probably end of March beginning of April at the soonest at the soonest um so we're we're Ann's going to
see if we can get in here but I don't know if we can get in here because the library simply is not open I would want to research that a little bit more okay you an off the cop answer no no no so you look into that can I just ask one thing if if is the
department heads going to have to be in here if everything because when I usually do budget meetings and I know with the other department heads that do budget meetings they usually do them in their office so they have all the information just in case something's asked which a couple years now things have been ask we go well I don't think
they have to be in person we have to be in person correct Okay so could do okay okay that doesn't even have to be a person or all right all right um okay
really she was Ill the other day yeah but that was a one time exception not always the the VA and the clerk don't have to physically be in the meeting the council members have to be here so that the public can see them okay oh that's even better than that I'm not getting any more taking
it know so I'll get you guys that information on the day rest of it excellent job thank you thank you Jason why don't you take those extra um no would you give them to Ann and Ann if you can make sure they get to uh Lisa
and dear okay okay could I have a motion and second to open the public on any item of the agenda second all in favor please say I I okay Neil is there anything you want to if you do want to ask a question on
the agenda please raise your hand well if he does raise his hand we'll come back to it can I have motion second to close the public on any agenda second all in favor please say I I okay we have monthly reports that are available land use tax collector Environmental Protection and green team
two reports from them January and November uh historic commission and Library board for the public upon request first reading oh um there will be a change to one of our uh resolution resolutions and when we get to that uh
please remind me okay uh first reading a motion that um motion that follows in a moment could I have a motion that the following ordinance be introduced and passed on the first reading and setting February 27th 2025 at 7 p.m. or sooner thereafter as the
matter be heard as the time and date in the River Library is a place in Zoom as a virtual platform for hearing onet ordinances now we have three ordinances we're going to move all three of them at once uh because this is a first reading
and our ba will explain what we hope to achieve so it'd be an ordinance 25-4 an ordinance to amend chapter 206 of the revised General ordinance of the bur BGE um entitled fees or
ordinance 255 an ordinance amending the code of the burough of River Edge to establish chapter 309 entitled public buildings ordinance 25-6 an ordinance amending the revised General ordinance of the burough of River Edge chapter 79
entitled Department of recreation and cultural Affairs could I have a motion and second and then we'll have an explanation in questions so second all in oh no uh it's been moved and seconded it is now for debate but before debate
and inquiry uh Madame uh uh business administrator would you please explain what we hope to achieve with 0405 and 06 sure uh 25-4 it increases the legal escro for zoning applications this had been reviewed and recommended by the land use
board um 25- 05 establishes areas of restricted access in municipal buildings throughout the buau to protect uh Vital Records and this is an action that is recommended by the municipal joint Insurance Fund and
25-06 it reorganizes the department of recreation and cultural Affairs as the department of recreation only it abolishes the cultural Affairs committee which hasn't been able to meet in over a year due to a lack of a quorum and it renames the Recreation Commission as a
recreation committee to be consistent with the authorized duty of the volunteer group question inquiry comments um mayor I will abstain from ordinance abstain and recuse myself from ordinance 256 okay so when we come
to the vote I'll say all those who say yay you'll say yay except I will abstain from anybody else questions or inquiry and comment all right um uh this is a first reading so it will be by
acclamation all in favor please say I to 2504 255 or 2 506 and if you need to abstain please say at that time all in favor say I I I need to abstain In from which ones
256 okay we're cute okay but you're you're saying yes for 20 for the rest she can stay seated for that right yeah stay seated for that okay you don't need she just need to get up there no all right great so uh Ann are you clear on
the vote were there any extensions or Nays uh there was an abstention no Nays very good okay um so second reading and hearing on ordinances now I'm going to move both of them to open to the public
but I will move them separately uh for adoption okay the following ordinance published here within our first read by title only on January 23rd 2025 and posted on the bulletin outside the clerk's office ordinance 25-2 and
ordinance amending chapter 2011 of the revised General ordinance of the B rge entitled escro deposits ordinance 25-3 and ordinance to amend chapter 206 of the revised General ordinance of the bur of River Edge entitled fees so I need a
motion and second to open to the public some second all in favor please say I I okay we are open to the public Neil any questions officer Lee any questions all right all right like can I have a
motion in second to close to the public so move second all right now um are you staying on the DAT for both of those so I'm St from 25 300 so wait stay wait wait stay seated so we're going to do 252 could I have a motion and a second
to adopt ordinance I'm sorry wait uh Miss apella would you please uh inform the public what we hope to achieve in 252 252 updates chapter 2011 um to be consistent with the various esro deposits that exist under
the fees chapter which is chapter 206 of the bur quote so for consistency okay any question from Council any debate all right could I have a motion and second to adopt uh ordinance 25-2 so move it's been moved and seconded all in
favor please say I all right now could I have uh a motion in second to move or to adopt 253 don't move second could you tell us
what we hope to achieve with this yes 253 updates all the fees for various Recreation program so that the programs can remain self-sustaining is there debate comment inquiry hearing none uh
I did a did I didn't do an a roll call for 252 did I okay so we're gonna go back to 252 in a minute we're going to do a roll call for 253 yes wait hold
on when steps down you only have three council members 253 correct there's only three council members here I'd make four you don't count you don't have a vote unless there's only it's ti What only if there's a tie you get the vote so it would be the doctrine
of necessity that she would have to vote I was just about to say that but I don't have to say you can just only play a lawyer on okay okay roll call yes
canella I'm sorry Council M Larry yes councilman Benson yes Council class yes just miss she's she you know you say her name and then she says I I recuse sry all right all right pretty
come back up uh so did I get a motion in second for 252 I don't think I did right yeah did to adopt yeah I did okay but I failed to ask for a roll call roll call please for 2502 yes yes counc GL yes councilwoman
yes all right very good resolutions by consent now here we're going to have a correction so if everyone would take a look at John Frank I don't even know how to say
that okay great to uh Josh uh renit RIT renit RIT Josh okay so um that one will be 20 uh 25- 76 will be as amended could I
have a motion second to move 2573 through 2581 second been mov and seconded is there inquiry or debate okay now pretty you're going to be so you just wait I'm going to ask
everyone for a yay and you're gonna say yay accept Iain okay all in favor please say a i i good are there any abstentions for 2582 so say which ones
you you would say I except for not this grp not this grouping ah okay and it's a refusal not an obset it's a refusal okay very good so just say I I all right so it's unanimous okay
could I have uh the finance chair is uro right now yeah yeah so you're on the finance right so uh could I have councilman glass uh read into the record uh payment of the bills 2582 payment of buils at a regular
meeting of the mayor and Council of burrow River County of Bergen state of New Jersey held on February 13th 2025 be it resolved that the mayor and Council of B Riv approve the following expenditure current fund 8,
88,888 General Capital fund $423,900 fund $110,100 trust other $257 n4.9 open space $ 6,678 39 payroll
$1,261 16 developers escrow $2,277 Recreation trust $1,340 some well you say so moved so moved second
it's been moved and seconded all in favor please say I I any and I abstain from abstentions or Rec recusals I abstained from these check numbers check number 656
65622 65631 656 45 65653 65662 65722 65725
65735 check 207 check 4363 4358 4364 4377 4378 2940 2942
1740 and 61 all right okay um any new business before the body any member of council wishes to raise old business uh meeting format for non-statutory B so we've determined that statutary bodies and if I get it correct
it's the council it's assistant budget committee it's the uh historic um preservation preservation and it's the environmental commission Board of Health and the board of oh and the Board of Health and any
any luse any L use so that's six so we'll have to make sure that they're aware of that um so those must be in person uh once we return to council chambers uh so they have someplace to meet but now what the council has to
decide is what sort of direction or policy will set for nonstatutory bodies such as um green shade tree Green Tree shade R uh we uh traffic and safety
traffic and safety I think what the choices are is we could just let them decide what they want to do which I don't think is necessarily a good idea that they um can be um iners or remote
hybrid becomes problematic because they don't have access to the electronics to make it hybrid then it becomes problematic so uh what say you the council how many communes are non
statory four four wreck uh shade tree traffic and safety Green Team but Green Team yeah so it's really just three I would recommend that we simply tell them that they can remain
remote and would that be okay I think that'll be with that I wanted to ask um Mr shanian a question uh with the non-statutory Committees um if they don't have a quarum they can't take any official
action correct correct but well it depends on their if they have bylaws for their committee but under but they can meet nevertheless and share information corre so I'm thinking that that we as a policy uh direct the non statutary committees that they
should meet whether they have a quarum or not to at least share information because if not then they there have been times where uh and beautification is one and any where they might not meet all year because they never make a quarum so
um as as a policy I think the non-statutory should always meet for whoever is present share information because since they're not statutory anyway um and um sharing information like you know U when are we going to go
do planting I don't think that requires a warant they don't mayor they don't really have any um official power other than by what the council has uh has the governing body has deemed to them so because of that their their job is essentially making recommendations to
the governing body they're they don't really take their own actions so they never really have to have a quarum right even better is the council comfortable with that you're saying May that they should meet in person they should always well
remotely or in person because it uh well no we're telling everybody they can meet remotely they should need even if they don't have a quarum because they're a non-statutory commitment okay they should not person just me on online okay okay even if they even if right you know
so that uh at least information and action not action but um organization take place is everybody good with that all right any other old business could I have a motion second to
open the public on uh for any comment at all second all in favor please say I I okay uh officer Lee no no question no question Neil any questions give me a moment just in case
he wants to you got to raise your hand if that's what you're interested in all right well I think not then could I have a motion second to close to the public so Che all in favor please say I
all right uh any Council comments so our fire department um has been doing a phenomenal job uh they recently helped out in a fire outside of town the mayor of that town who's I'm blanking on right now uh I was at a meeting on Saturday
and she wanted to go out of her way to thank me on behalf of her town for our town for the great job that our fire department did um with the apartment fire I think 27 people lost their home sadly um we uh just had an incident
earlier today um uh in makota yeah and we had one in River Edge where um there was an electrical fire uh we shut down kkak for a little while and um they lost power to
the building uh it was in the north part of town where delord forest and State Farm is um and they've been doing phenomenal training I was with them uh at um well hopefully I'll say it right Rosen bom
Rosenberg uh Shiva North Jersey um uh training that they had invited hackin sack and uh New Milford and ordell um uh maybe pamis and uh went over that
very large complex so that they could familiarize themselves if there was ever a need so they're doing a phenomenal job and we we are really very very grateful and the police department also so in uh working hand and glove with the Fire Department fire department working hand
and glove with the police department um Danielle fedi yes the mayor of bagota Danielle fedi she was um she was wanting to thank River Edge and its fire department for their assist um so I
wanted I wanted to add those two things H anyone else all right could I have uh motion second to adjourn the meeting all in favor please say I I meeting is adjourned