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Video-1: youtube.com/watch?v=ME-g4YWUuHU

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Good evening. This meeting is being held in accordance with the New Jersey Open Public Meetings Act. Annual notice of this meeting was published in the Union County Local Source and a New Yorkstar Ledger. Said notice was posted in the municipal

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um building. A copy is on file in the burough clerk. Fire exits are located in the directions I am indicating. If you are alerted for a fire, please move in a calm, orderly manner to the nearest smokefree exit. The burough clerk is

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directed to include this statement in the minutes of the meeting. Mr. Clerk, the roll call, please. >> Councilman Petroski, >> here. >> Councilman Johnson here. >> Councilman Robin, >> here. Councilwoman Lions here. >> Councilman Patel here. >> Councilman Castellins >> here. >> Mayor Signarella. >> Mr. The clerk, greet us in the opening

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prayer followed by the pledge of allegiance. >> You're here, right? >> Eternal God, grant us thy help in all our duties and perplexities. We ask for thy guidance. Give us thy protection in our dangers and sorrows. Grant us thy peace. Amen.

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>> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. There are no communications for review this evening. There are no proclamations

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or presentation this evening. I have a motion that the minute meetings be approved. >> Mayor so moved. >> Second. >> Is there any discussion? All in favor? >> I. >> Thank you. I have a motion that the

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bills and payrolls not be read and pass for payment. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Any discussion? All in favor? >> I I >> have a motion to to I have a motion to open the public portion of the agenda

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items only. >> So moved. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I like to speak, please come forward to the microphone. Please state your name if you would like to be included in the record. We are going to purchase it for 1.2.

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So my question is why are we spending close to 400,000 more for a property a few months a few months later? Mr. Mayor, I'm happy to answer your question if you want to just do your questions and then we'll um we'll tackle at the end of your time.

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>> Well, proper procedure is to go through the chair as bylaw. >> Mr. Ramirez, I'm happy to answer your question. If you want to finish your questions, then I'll answer at the end of your time. >> So, this is how we're doing this. We're not going to >> You have to wait for me. >> Are you done with any more questions? >> I've got a few more questions, but

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>> Well, go ahead. Why don't you finish their questions? >> Well, I mean, you can't answer this question for now and then we can continue. >> The mayor is just asking that you read all your questions and then they can answer them in turn. >> Well, last time he had a problem

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answering one question. So, before we continue going mo asking multiple questions. >> You have so many minutes. Answer your questions and we'll answer you. >> Okay. So, you don't want to answer more than one question at once. >> Well, Mr. Sure. >> Yeah, if I may. Uh, Mr. Ramirez, we

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happy to, but we're trying to respect your time. Since you have a finite amount of time, we'll allow you to ask everything you want and then at the end, since we don't have that limitation, we'll answer. If you want me to occupy your time, I'm happy to do so. >> But it's probably best if you get your questions out since you have the opportunity now. >> If you disagree, I can do that.

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>> I'm asking the mayor. I'm not talking to you. I'm talking directly with the mayor. >> I spoke through the chair and he granted me the ability to speak to you. So, >> you heard the council. I'm asking the mayor. Listen, you heard the councilman. >> You want a question answered? He might take six minutes to answer it. Then your time will be up. Do you understand?

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>> Okay. Well, last time you had a problem answering one question. >> I don't I I don't recall what you're asking, but finish your questions. >> Why are you changing the uh the way that we used to deal with this? >> Finish your questions and then we'll answer you. >> So, I mean, I've been attending a lot of these meetings, and this is the first

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time that you've actually changed the uh way that this is run. I mean, even the uh slimy piece of [ __ ] mayor that we had before was able to answer the question. So, why are we >> why are we doing this now? >> You know, chair,

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>> is this something that you made a decision on? >> So, is this something that you made a decision on or somebody told you to answer it this way? I'm not >> Okay, go ahead. You have two minutes in 19. >> I do have two minutes. Thank you. >> Yeah, you're disrespectful.

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>> You are disrespectful. >> It's okay. I have the choice to be where >> do you want to be respected? >> That's why we're in this beautiful country. >> You want to be respected. >> If you find the facts disrespectful, then that's your problem. >> It's not facts. You're you're you're disrespectful.

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>> You're calling names. The what you just did disrespectful. The only thing you guys are doing and and hi Mike, how are you? The rage bait that you cause and what you're doing, that's the only thing you're getting my time. Disrespectful. >> Getting back to my time. Let it go. You

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got you have a finish your time. >> So my question is let's deal let's start with this one. Why are we spending last year around November December we were going to purchase the lot on East Westfield Avenue for 875 plus they were

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going to give us 18,000 a year for either two or three years. Now we're spending 1.2 million on a lot. And I remember last year you said that the reason we're doing this is because you weren't able to find parking when you

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wanted to get a haircut. We have 50 parking spots at the huge sixstory parking garage for Meridia. Nobody's bothered to label it. The residents don't even know it exists. If we were so desperate for parking, we would be

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taking care of that issue first before we spend 1.2 million on a lot. So my question is why are we spending that money? >> Mr. Chair, may I uh may I speak? >> Uh why don't you wait till the 40 seconds? >> Go ahead. I'm done. I'm done. You can

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start. >> Thank you. You may take your seat and I'll uh >> No, I can stay here. This is still my time. >> Sure. For 28 seconds. Um so uh first and foremost uh what's on the agenda tonight is an allocation for a bond ordinance. Um it's not saying that we're actually

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going to purchase a lot for for 1.2. Um the contract price remains at 875. Uh so it that hasn't changed. Um there's an allocated amount that got into consideration um closing costs and potential

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um issues or last time there was some beginning of due diligence that um indicated that there might be tanks. So what we're going to plan on doing is having that tested to make sure there's no contamination before the burrow is even going to do anything about that. So what you see as 1.2 is uh kind of like a

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worst case scenario number when you're budgeting for for these things. you kind of put like your max and then what it ends up being, there'll be a separate ordinance for that uh with the final number. So, uh as far as your question, why is it 1.2 as opposed to 875? It it's intended to remain as 875. The number is

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a margin uh so that we don't have to amend that and come back twice. So, that's the answer to that. >> So, you're adding a $400,000. >> Your time is expired, sir. >> It's okay. I can still talk. >> Oh, you can't. The time is up, sir. >> I just did. Thank you.

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>> Thank you. Have a good evening. Anyone else want to come speak? My name is Joseph Verdon. [clears throat] I live at 336 Bender Avenue, Rosel Park. I'm also the commander of the American Legion Post 60 in Rosel Park. I'm here

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to speak to the veterans of the town if they need any assistance with the VA or any other paperwork to come to the Legion and we will help you out as long as you bring in your DD214 and that's that. Now, I would like to

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talk about that lot across the street from the uh post. I counted the spots on one side is 22 spots and the other you can't park because they have the, you know, the

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drive-thru, but you could put another 20 around 50 spots that will take. What I'm saying is we have night life here at Rosel Park Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Uh Dowlings busy, Costa is busy. We have uh

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affairs going on upstairs and nobody can park. You got to keep going around and around. So, I'm in favor of whatever you're going to do with it. I don't care how much it costs. The town needs it. And that's why I'm here to support whatever you want. I'm with you 100%.

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And that's that. No bickering, no nothing. Just get it done. Thank you so much. >> Uh >> thank you. While I'm here next week, I'm doing a uh fundraiser barbecue at the Legion on Saturday and I want to give

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you complimentary tickets all of you to come. Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you, Commander. >> Chair May. >> Yes, >> Commander. Thank you so much. Um when we're examining this is exactly what you're talking about. Economic development requires parking. So, thank

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you so much. Appreciate that. >> Thank you, sir. That's okay. >> We got good. >> Thank you. >> Thank [laughter] you.

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>> Thank you so much. I want to take Mr. Verdun's time. Pock is clear. >> Now you get a new five. >> I get a new five. You know me. I don't need five minutes. >> So, uh, Russell Olden, formerly 526 Roosevelt Street, Rosell Park. Moved out

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of town about 15 years ago, reinvested into the town, opened my restaurant, Dallas Irish Pub and Restaurant 13 years ago. 1500 square feet. We're currently 4,500 square feet. have uh put a lot of money into the downtown.

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Appreciate everything you guys have always done for me. I grew up in this town. I love to see this town move forward. Um I understand um Mr. Ramirez's concerns upon pricing and the right times to buy things and and such.

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But for years, for 13 years, I I tried to keep my restaurant here. I tried to keep my business in town. We were flooded with IDA. I was presented with an opportunity to move to another town, bring my business there. Very, very good

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opportunity. My partner and I sat back and decided, no, this is my town. This is where I grew up. We spent the money. We invested in the town with the promise of the town um mayor and council over years that we want to build the

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downtown. We want to make it better. We want it to thrive. We decided to invest in town. I will um second Mr. Verdun's comments. I won't speak on behalf of other restaurants, but I will tell you the downtown is

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starting to pick up a little bit with the Meridia Apartments. As a restaurant, we're seeing people coming into town and staying in town. There's a coffee shop two doors down from me that's doing very well. There's a gym directly next door to me that's doing well. That's all a

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result of the development that's being down that's being done downtown on the fact of buying a property. I am not a financial guy. I don't sit up there with you guys. I'm not Andrew. Congratulations on your last day. Did I

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jump the gun? Sorry. Um >> you guys know what you're doing. If this is what you think is best for the town, it's it's what I feel is best for the town. What I will say is I will echo Mr. Verdon's comments. Fridays, Saturdays, and Sunday nights. I will not speak on

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behalf of Nola at Costas, and I will speak on behalf of Mr. Verdon because he just said it before me. It is impossible to park in our downtown. >> Mr. Ramirez, you make up a good point. The 50 spots that are in the in the Meridia building, it's a good point.

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People don't know it's there. There's there's no markings for it. It's confused. Is it done? Do you have to pay for it? We could maybe look into, you know, some signage and let people know that it's there. Give them that option. But those spots that close to us are

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valuable to us. They're of value. I have had 12 to 15 customers park there not knowing that it's a private property and towed out of there. And they come into me and say, "My car is towed. It's it's

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a private property. You didn't know that. That's that that property there will be used. In my eyes, it will be used by the public. The the the meter system in this town needs to be fixed up

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a little bit. I think that's been addressed in in, you know, the last couple months. I've heard that there might be, you know, some fixes coming to that. That needs to be addressed. But I will tell you, if you address that issue with the parking meters and such, people

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will come and stay and shop and and be in our town. And that's what, no offense, I don't live in this town, but I run a business here that supports the Roseell Park Police Department. It supports the fire department, which is really why I'm here, because I'm going

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to stay for the open public portion. My business supports this town just as much as this town supports my business. We need our customers to have easy access to the businesses and the properties that are here. If you continue to build

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it and there's nowhere for them to go and there's nowhere for them to park and it's a hassle for them to park, it's not going to work. And I would hate to see you guys waste I got 40 seconds left. Andrew, I did use my full five minutes. I would hate to see you guys waste the

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last 10 years that I've been doing this and and not see it through. The apartments are filling. The businesses under the apartments are filling. We need places to park. So that's it. I'll echo what Mr. Verdon said. Between me, the American Legion, and the other

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businesses that are there, I won't speak on their behalf. It's needed. The parking is needed. That's it. >> Thank you. I don't have free tickets right now, [laughter] >> Mr. Chair. May I? >> Yes, >> Russ. Um, I wanted to just address a

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couple comments you brought up. Um, the first thing with the parking at the Meridia garage, um, I spoke with the chief about this. Um, it was brought up before and it's a fair point. We do want it signed. Um, the developer agreed to put up signage. They have not done so at this point. Um, I will follow up with the chief, but that is something that

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we've requested a couple times over. Um, as regarding the meters, I agree with you. It's it's the flowboard system was terrible. Um, also spoke with the chief about doing something about that. He met with the representatives. They just got bought by another company. I believe it was Park Mobile. And I believe they're

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in the process of switching over to that which is more the the standard in other municipalities with good downtown. So, we hope that that gets addressed both from a ease of use and secondly from a revenue perspective. Um, the revenue that we brought in last year in parking was atrocious partially because the

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parking system is just bad. Um, and then, uh, regarding businesses and and the parking, you're 100% right. We cannot develop our economic engine, which is our downtown, without appropriate parking because it gets frustrating. I mean, sometimes if I can't find parking, I got to go somewhere else, and that's just the

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reality. So, that is the intent here. Uh, and regarding the price of the lot, um, speaking with Wells Fargo's representatives, they essentially they have a a practice of selling below market price when they sell to a municipality. if they were to put it on the market, the price would be higher than what we would be acquiring it for.

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So, that is uh you know, I guess, you know, we're talking about numbers and whatnot, we're getting a a below market value on it. And due to the revenue that we'll get from the Wells Fargo drive-thru and the metered parking, it will pay for itself based on the the calculations we've seen and give us a benefit. So, just wanted to address

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those items. Thank you so much. [laughter] >> Thank you for your comments. >> Yeah, there you go. Anyone else? Uh, good evening, mayor. Good evening, council. I don't give my name. I just take the names of elected officials that

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uh need to be uh addressed. Um, I don't know what I just walked into, but whatever we're trying to pass here tonight, I'm against the whole thing. I'm against everything. I don't know why we're rolling back this questions the re responding in real time. I I I do not understand that. Here you have an

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opportunity to do the right thing. You have an opportunity for the world to see you doing the right thing which is communicating with your residents, communicating with people who who bring valid concerns, things that they deem of public interest. So to not have a comm not have communication like that,

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rolling that back, mayor, I am speaking to you. I don't know why we're doing that. I don't know why you're allowing I don't know why you're giving your balls away like that to be quite frank. I expect a mayor to be the one to run the meeting and make the good decisions. It doesn't even seem like it's your

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decision. It it just doesn't feel like it is. And through the chair to Councilwoman Lions, I don't know what that comment was. I know what you guys are doing. I don't know. I don't understand what you're saying. I come here. I film these meetings. I told you guys I was going to be coming to these meetings, right? We've we've entered a

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relationship. I'm in a relationship with Rosel Park right now. So, I'm going to be here and I will encourage all residents to come up and ask questions. The camera should never be an intimidating factor. It should never be an intimidating factor. If you're a good elected official, this is a chance to be

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highlighted, to be a good elected official to show that you care about public service and you're dedicated to, you know, your role. You know, I'm not really sure what the what the what that remark was about. You know, and for the record, you know, I have not given my name. And I know you weren't attempting

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to be intimidating by saying my name, saying Mikey. I know that. I'm not going to make a claim here and say that you were attempting to intimidate me. But at the last meeting, the lawyer did in fact, when I said, "Why is the lawyer getting involved?" Because he's the one who was screwing up the entire process of the meeting. Totally getting involved

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when he shouldn't be. And I counted at least four or five times where he was out of order. Wasn't following Robert's rules of order. He wasn't getting the permission from the chair to speak. just just decided to speak and as if he's running the meeting. That's a problem. That's a big problem. But what he said when I said, "Why is the lawyer getting involved?" He said, "Because I'm giving

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legal advice, Michael." It's a it's an effort to to be intimidating like as if like we're we're looking into you. You know that that's the kind of stuff that's abusive. That's abusive is what that is. I have come here. I have not given my name. So I don't think we

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should be saying, "Oh, I know who it is. It's Michael. It's Michael." you. I don't don't think that I don't think that that it it's it's not encouraging to see that at all. I didn't know it was your last day, Andrew. I think this council is in serious trouble without you. When the other guy, Kleinman, is

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here, these meetings are are a mess. Absolute mess. Complete mess. You run the show. You're the one who knows what's going on around here. But I don't see Robert rules of order being properly followed either. I haven't seen that. I've seen that uh be neglected. And I I

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can kind of tell you're trying to brush up on it a little bit and I appreciate that because you know rules and procedures and these things they do matter. Um but I don't appreciate like what what that even was what that remark was. Here I come to film these meetings and what if you would mind explaining

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what like what was that remark all about? >> May I go ahead? >> So um first off is just uh regarding um the respect factor. um if you want to rewind the tape and uh like I said to

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him um which I appreciate your respect and I res I respect your demeanor and the way you approach us that to me means more than anything. Now if you come in in upset or if someone comes in upset that's fine but the remarks that were

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being done is it that's intimidating that's bullying >> for just because we sit up here we don't we don't get abused sir >> so and I apologize if I said your name but you are a public entity correct >> so if I follow you I I don't follow you

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but I may one day um but I appreciate you I like you I know your name so everyone knows knows your name cuz you post with your name. You don't post under >> Donald Duck. >> Correct. Correct. Although I could. Um um but the point >> and I and again with all due respect I

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say that I would I will never do that again. I apologize. >> But I I like I >> I said it in a way of just >> Exactly. That's why I'm not trying to make >> I didn't even want to say guys and you guys are doing that. I'm just saying in in the overall thing because I do appreciate you coming. I do appreciate

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you challenging people to come out. This is open. We want people to come. We want to see the faces. We want to see the business owners. We want to hear the input. But we also want to be able to be freely to speak and say the truth

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manipulation in the residents want to be able to speak freely. They want to be able to have a communication, a conversation because the problem is, and this isn't just a Rosel Park problem. Now it's a Rosell Park problem, but this is all over the state. When you guys answer after the person has used their public comment time, then we don't get a

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chance to respond. Then you have to wait two weeks to come back for a followup. That is not good for public service. What we're talking about with a back and forth, which you guys were doing, is also known as a conversation to take the time out of your day. Right now, I was late because I had work. I

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have a full-time job. I've never once went to a meeting where I didn't go to work that day, you know? So, I apologize for, you know, not being dressed better and being a little late, but I mean, you know, I just I don't know what to say other than these conversations, they're there. It's it's very important that the

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public has the right to be heard like that, to be able to have a conversation. Mayor, I expect you to take a step forward, not to stay in line, not to fall in line. I expect I expect you to take a step forward. These are your meetings. These are your meetings to run. These meetings belong to the

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public. Let's not let's not make a mistake in that. comment, sir. When you're ready, I'll comment, >> please. >> So, look, I've I've not missed a meeting in close to six years. The five minutes to three minute rule, we've had different ways we've been doing it,

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right? Some people like I'm going to say, earn the respect when they come to the mic. Okay? And then sometimes we don't know how many questions somebody's asking to stay within the five minute or the three minute rule. In the past,

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we've asked finish your comments, put down your three questions, we'll we'll we'll answer the questions. We can't get into a going from a five minute to a 12m minute back and forth. So, that is some

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kind of we're trying to keep a control. That's why if you see something different, it's never been one way. It's been a numerous way. Mr. Ramirez if he would asked three or four questions and just said I've had people and prior

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mayor I'm yielding my time and we would answer but we didn't want to go within 10 minutes. So look you and Councilwoman Lions went back and forth. We're we're past the five minutes. I'm give you that. I'm not going to give you 20. You respectfully you understand that. I

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don't see anybody else lining up. No, I appreciate we're we're trying to do that to just answer the questions and if somebody through the chair wants to answer the comment, we'll try to do that. We're trying to stay within the five minute limit. >> I understand and I do I I truly do appreciate that response. But the

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problem that I had at the last meeting was the mayor the lawyer is getting involved and saying don't answer questions right now. Wait till everybody else has has done went through public comments. If you get to answer after the person has spoken, maybe the next person can have more information so they can have a more valuable input.

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>> We're going to try to wrap this up, but you're right. Sometimes there's stuff that are in books and people try to oblige and go to it. Look, some things are written and that's way maybe he wanted to follow it. And we do have we have policies we want to follow, but there's also wiggle room, right?

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>> He needs to follow you. That lawyer needs to follow you. Thank you. >> Thank you, sir. >> Thank you. Anyone else want to come home to speak? Seeing no one further, may I have a motion to close the public portion on agenda items only? >> So moved. >> Second. >> All in favor?

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>> I. I have a motion to accept the reports of department heads as submitted. >> So moved. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> Mr. Clark read ordinance 2862 by title.

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>> Yes, mayor. Ordinance 2862 is an ordinance for second reading and public hearing an ordinance amending chapter 10 section 4 subsection 4.1 of the code of the bur of Rosal Park entitled recreation fees enumerated. >> I have a open have a motion to open a public hearing on ordinance 2862.

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>> Mayor so moved. >> Second. >> All in favor? I >> I >> if you like to speak speak about ordinance 2862, please come forward to the microphone and state your name if you like it and include it on the

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record. >> George Ramirez uh ordinance 2862. So I remember either last year or two years ago this came up to a vote to increase uh I believe it was about 900 to a,000

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and Mr. Johnson I think made a motion to see if you guys can give a discount to first responders and veterans if I'm not mistaken. And now a year or two later, we're now

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increasing it to 1,500 a year for the afterare if I'm not mistaken for individual, which basically means within two years or three years max, you guys are increasing it roughly 600. So that's

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what 66% of what it used to be. Why are we increasing it that much? And have you guys considered giving a discount to first responders or veterans now that it's 1,500 a month? That's it.

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>> Councilman Johnson, you want to >> Well, um, Mayor, the only thing I I could say is uh about this because I'm I'm not going to talk about the prices. I'll leave that for you. Uh, but um, Mr. Ramirez, the 20% uh discount is still

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in. If you look at a lot of the things uh the changes are where the crossouts are and so it's not crossed out at this time. If you look like under on page seven of of 41, it still states the 20% discount for the first responders are is in place.

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>> But as far as the the percentage rage, uh I would leave that to one of you guys. This is not my uh this is not my I didn't sponsor this >> I can can this for the budget reasons

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right can you speak >> this is uh this was presented by the uh recreation director to uh enable to run all the programs. Uh I think he might be increasing some. They're looking to expand it to uh include uh prek this

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year. So uh there's going to be some additional cost in that end with um [clears throat] having to have more counselors with the younger children. >> Okay. Thank you. See, seeing no fur, anyone else would

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like to speak on this ordinance. >> Can we ask Ken, what's the percentage uh increase right now? I didn't get a chance to to do >> Councilman, >> do we know I'm from last year? >> Right now, it says uh 1350 to,500 just uh just so I could just have an

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estimate. It doesn't have to be totally uh spot on. Just Okay. >> See, no one no one further. May I have a motion to close the public hearing on ordinance 2862? >> So moved. >> Second. >> All in favor? I.

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>> Mr. Clark, please read ordinance 2864 by title. >> You need to you need to adopt. My bad. >> Oh, did I skip that? No, I didn't. >> Oh, yeah, I did. >> You need a Yeah. Yeah. Surprise. Last meeting. [laughter]

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>> A motion to adopt it. >> May I have a motion to adopt ordinance 2862? >> So moved. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> You got to do a roll call. Any discussion? >> Any discussion?

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>> Roll call, please. Councilman Petroski. Yes. Councilman Johnson, >> yes. >> Councilman Robbina, >> yes. >> Counciloman Lions, >> yes. >> Councilman Patel, >> yes. >> Councilman Castellin, >> yes. >> Six in affirmative. Mayor, the ordinance is adopted. >> Mr. Clerk, please read ordinance 2864 by title.

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>> Yes, mayor. Ordinance 2864. I told you I'd give you a surprise last week. [laughter] Ordinance 2864 is an ordinance for introduction ordinance amending chapter 7 section 17 subsection 17.2 two of the code of the bur of Rosal Park entitled preferential parking zones locations and hours.

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>> I have a motion to approve ordinance 2864 for introduction and fix the date for second reading public hearing on August 20th 26. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Any discussion? >> Yes, mayor. I could just highlight what

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this is about. It's uh Horth Street and Rosewin Street. We had a couple of residents reach out um since Horththornne and Rosen both start permit parking at 400 p.m. till 4:00 a.m. They had trouble when they had guests coming over. So, we are changing the time from

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4:00 p.m. uh instead of 4 p.m. we're doing 12:00 a.m. to 4:00 a.m. every day uh for both of the streets. >> Councilman, thank you very much. I know I got an inbound on this, too, but thanks for steering this. This is probably something we should have done a while ago. It's just uh kind of

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universal throughout the that side uh with West Clay with other streets that are they have the same timing now. >> Thank you. >> Yep. >> Any other discussion? >> Please. Uh Mr. Clark, please call the RO. >> Council Petroski. >> Yes. >> Councilman Johnson. Yes. >> Councilman Robin. Yes.

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>> Counciloman Lions. Yes. >> Councilman Patel. Yes. >> Councilman Castellins. >> Yes. >> So, six votes in the Affirmative. Mayor, the ordinance is introduced. >> Mr. Mr. Clark, please call. Please read ordinance 2865 by title. >> Mr. Mayor Ordinance 2865 is a bond ordinance to authorize the making of

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various public improvements in the acquisition of new additional or to replacement equipment and machinery, new information technology equipment, new communication and signal systems equipment and new automotive vehicles including original apparatus and equipment in by and for the Bur Rosal Park in the county of Union State of New Jersey to appropriate the sum of

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$5,14,000 to pay the cost thereof to appropriate various grants to make a down payment to authorize the issuance of bonds to finance such appropriation and to provide for the issuance of bonding anticipation notes in anticipation of the issuance of such bonds. >> I have a motion to approve ordinance

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2865 for introduction fix the date second reading uh and public hearing on August 20th, 2026. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Any discussion? >> Yes, mayor. I have a question about the property 30 uh 31 East Westville A. Um,

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last time when we had the close session, we talked about the property having uh tanks down below. Um, do we know how much I know we we won't know till we actually, I guess, start digging. Um, do you know how much it will cost and

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what's down there before we even buy the property? >> No, I don't know, but Councilman Castle has some inbound to that. We've been talking. He could >> Sure. Um I wasn't here when when this was going on last year. My understanding was that

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um from what the original um due diligence found that there was two houses on the property at some point. They had like traditional um heating uh tanks is what it appeared to be um that were probably decommissioned at some point. Um to my understanding there was

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no actual diligence done at that point. Everybody just kind of like okay let's walk away. Um, so typically, and this I know from my my real estate experience, typically what we would do is uh take a soil sample first. So you take a boring down to make sure that the soil has no contamination. So they'll do different areas around to make sure that there was

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no spills. Um, back then, and this happened in my own house, most of the times when people decommissioned these oil tanks, they wouldn't remove them. They would just extract the oil and throw sand in it and then just let it be. Um, if that's the case, uh, which is likely to be the case, uh, an extraction

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of a tank like that, 550gal fuel tank is about $2,000, uh, per tank. Um, and then whatever the cost of patchwork is, assuming that there's no contamination. If there's contamination, different story, blows it open depending on the extent of it all. Um, I don't believe

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that anybody here is interested in going that route if there is such a a situation. Um, that's why the due diligence would be done first. >> Okay. So if there is contamination, we will be we're not going to go through the sale. >> So obviously that's for this board to decide. Um if it's the matter of sometimes it's like a a localized thing

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that happened decades ago and it could be residual. There's like levels uh that find like parts per million in the soil. If it's a simple thing, then it can be a minor cost. If it's a more serious thing, it's a bigger cost. I don't think anybody would like to proceed at that point. Um from my understanding, but we

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will know before we decide. >> Okay. >> Mayor, I do have a question actually. Question for the clerk. Um Andrew, I I remember when this came up um initially, wasn't there money set in escrow by Wells Fargo for any testing or possible remediation?

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>> No. >> Did they do any initial sampling at the time or No. >> No. >> Okay. >> They didn't. >> I thought there was a discussion that they were going to Okay.

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And then are we doing that now though? Are is that going to be put in? You're >> talking to the wrong person. Yes. >> Just council. Go ahead. Go ahead. >> Uh just to clarify, right, this is um early early stages. The only reason this is here is to appropriate the money in

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the event that we were to proceed. So there's nothing like we're pretty much trying to pick it up where it was left off of and then do things the right way forward. Um but very early stages. This is just setting aside money. We're not even borrowing this money at this point. What we're authorizing is just having the money aside in case we're going to

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proceed with it. If we end up saying no as a collective body, we're not going to proceed, then we just don't bond for that. >> Council Johnson, do you have something? >> No, no, that's fine. I'm I'm I'm all right with uh us bonding because I think last year I think that was one of the

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concerns that I shared uh with the budget because we was planning on paying outright paying for it. >> So, I'm already I'm actually uh okay with that process. Yeah, Councilman, I agree with you. It's it's the more uh financially prudent decision, especially with the revenue that we'll get from it. It'll pay for itself instead of just

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putting it out of our surplus and putting ourselves in a bad >> That's what I was just trying to convey last year. Thank you. >> I agree with you. >> Anything else over here, folks? You good? >> Roll call. >> Yeah. Roll call. Yes, sir. >> Councilman Petroski? >> Yes. >> Councilman Johnson?

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>> Yes. >> Councilman Robina? >> Yes. >> Councilwoman Lions? >> Yes. >> Councilman Patel? >> Yes. Councilman Castellins. >> Yes. Six hosts in the affirmative. Mayor, the ordinance is introduced. >> Mr. Clark, please read ordinance 2866 by title. >> Yes, mayor. Ordinance 2866 is an

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ordinance for introduction, an ordinance amending chapter 22 of the code of the burough roal park entitled fire prevention and protection so as to regulate recreational fires within the burrow. I have a motion to approve ordinance [clears throat] 2866 for introduction. A fix the date for the second reading and

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public hearing as August 20th, 2026. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Any discussion? Mr. Clerk, please call the role. >> Council Petroski, yes. >> Councilman Johnson, yes. >> Councilman Robin, yes. Counciloman Lions, yes. >> Councilman Patel, >> yes.

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>> Councilman Castellins, >> yes. >> Six votes in the six votes in the affirmative. Mayor, the ordinance is introduced. >> Mr. Clerk, please read ordinance 2866 2867 by title. >> Yes, mayor. Ordinance 2867 is an ordinance for introduction. An ordinance

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amending chapter 28, section 1, subsection 5 of the code of the burough Rosal park entitled placement at curb suitable containers. I have a motion to approve ordinance 28667 for induction and fix the second date

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for second reading and public hearing as August 20th, 2026. >> So move >> second. >> Is there any discussion? >> Yes, mayor. Uh we had spoken just before the meeting with a couple members of the audience, Councilman Patel and I. And uh under section one uh subsection C there

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is a a mention here plastic bags of any type shall not be utilized as a suitable garbage container for purposes of this chapter. Can we clarify does that mean in the question that members of the audience had does that mean that they can't put plastic bags out? They have to be in actual containers, garbage

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containers. >> Mayor, can I Yeah, >> this one I know. Thank you. >> That is what that means. >> So everybody has to have a container. >> Correct. Was there an issue prior? What if somebody doesn't have a container? >> This that's an existing part of the code that's not being changed.

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>> That's an existing code. >> So that's been enforced. >> It has been enforced. >> Yes. >> Are we talking about black bags? >> Yes. >> Correct. >> Exactly. >> Or white bags or blue? >> Mayor. >> No. All but but black bags, white bags,

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any any bag. They have to be in a container. That is the >> That was the construction. Mayor, just uh from my prior experience with a a maintenance task force before, um I think there there's like a thing with raccoons just ripping it open and making a big mess. So that's why a lot of municipalities require it. Rodents, you

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know, require it in a in a bin. It could be in bags, but in a bin rather than open to feral animals getting >> That's correct. >> Any other discussion? Mr. Clark, please call the role. >> Councilman Petroski, >> yes. >> Councilman Johnson,

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>> yes. Councilman Robbina. >> Yes. >> Counciloman Lions, yes. >> Councilman Patel, >> yes. >> Councilman Castellins, >> yes. Six votes. Affirmative. Mayor, the ordinance is introduced. >> All matters are listed with an asterct considered to be routine and non-controversial by the council and will be approved by

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one motion. There will be no separate discussion for these items unless a member of the governor body so requests which the case the item will be removed from the consent agenda and consider this normal sequence on the agenda as

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part of the general's orders. Mr. Clerk, please read all resolutions by title. >> Yes, mayor. Resolution 16126 is accepting the resignation of Ben Scotty from the position of plumbing sub code official and plumbing inspector. Resolution 16226 is appointing Ben Scotty as a part-time covering plumbing

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subcode inspector. Resolution 16326 is appoint is appointing Angelo Carza as a plumbing as the plumbing subcode official and plumbing inspector. Resolution 16426 is accepting the resignation of Dena Doic from the position of college counselor. Resolution 16526 is accepting the

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resignation of Olivia Reeri from the position of adult counselor without a teaching certificate. Resolution 16626 is promoting junior records clerk Joan Brennan to the position of senior police records clerk. Resolution 16726 is approving the insertion of a national opioid settlement fund grant as a

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special item of revenue in the 2026 municipal budget in the amount of 612 $6127. Resolution 1682526 sorry hopefully did I mess this up all the way? No, just a few is accepting the 2025 municipal audit report. Resolution

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12 16926 is approving the corrective action plan for the 2025 municipal audit. Resolution 17026 is rescending resolution number 9125 awarding a contract to DLS Contracting Inc. for the project 2025 Sidewalk Program in an

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amount not to exceed $100,000. Resolution 17126 is authorizing the purchase of concrete repair systems from Ocean Construction LLC pursuant to Educational Services Commission of New Jersey Co-op contract number 22/23-33

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in an amount not to exceed $100,000. Resolution 17226 is approving the insertion of a recycling tonnage grant as a special item of revenue in the 2026 municipal budget in the amount of $5,55.84. Resolution 17326 is revising the

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schedule of 2026 regular meetings regular meeting dates of the mayor and council. Resolution 17426 is approving the time due calculation in terms of final payment for William Centenno. Resolution 17526 is approving the timed due calculation and terms of final payment for Andrew J. Casayas.

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Resolution 17626 is appointing Nicole Vez to the position of recreation secretary/clerk within the Rosal Park Recreation Department. Resolution 17726 is appointing Maline Kandro to the position of municipal clerk. Resolution 17826 is urging the state of New Jersey

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to ban algorithmic rental price software. Resolution 17926 is authorizing the treasur and tax collector to issue a check in the amount of $1,495 in corre in connection with erroneous payments applied to property taxes instead of sewer utility fees for

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various properties. Resolution 18026 is authorizing the tax collector to issue a reduction and or refund on one sewer utility bill in the total amount of $1,944. Resolution 18126 is authorizing the tax collector to issue a reduction and or

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refund on one sewer utility bill in the total amount of $198. Resolution 18226 is authorizing the extension of the grace period for payment of third quarter property taxes for the year 2026 until August 31st, 2026. And resolution 18326 is amending the 2026 capital

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budget. >> Do any members wish to have any items removed from the consent agenda? >> Mayor, I just have a question and uh Andrew, maybe you can answer it. Um the one where we're amending the the meeting schedule. Is there a specific change

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because I don't see anything bolded. >> So it's uh so that that that reflects the the what the meeting schedule will be. The two changes are the second meeting in November. I'm sorry. The second meeting in September is being moved from the Thursday to the Wednesday. Okay. >> And then the second meeting in November,

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which conflicts with the League of Municipalities, is being moved to the Monday following that meeting. So, the Monday of Thanksgiving week. >> Thank you. >> I have a motion to approve resolutions remaining on the consent agenda. >> So moved. >> Second.

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>> All in favor? >> I Uh, now we're going to borrow council committees. >> You're excused. Have a good evening. Hey, Councilman Robbina,

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mayor. Well, good evening, Mayor, council colleagues, and residents of Rosel Park. First, I'd like to thank our first responders, Lieutenant Koka, and the DPW for their efforts during the severe windstorm on July 3rd. Thankfully, there were no reported injuries and crews worked quickly to

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clear down trees, roadway obstructions, and restore power throughout the burrow. Also want to thank Director Shaw, Chief Reno, Sergeant Company, Officer Lizo, and Manny from Valentino's for going above and beyond to assist residents and support operations at the Casano Center

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uh during both the outage and the recent heat waves. Throughout this stretch of extreme weather, keeping residents informed regarding cooling center availability, uh restoration updates and heat safety information has remained the top priority. The Casano Center continues to be an invaluable resource for neighbors uh seeking relief from the

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summer heat. On Saturday, July 11th, I had the privilege of attending the dual Eagle Scout Court of Honor for Troop 56. I joined family, friends, and community members in celebrating Roosevelt Park's newest Eagle Scouts and future leaders, Noah Seaffort Smith and Declan Kley. Achieving scouting's highest honor

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requires years of hard work and dedication, and I congratulate both young men on this tremendous accomp accomplishment. I would also like to thank the Roso Park Fire Department and police department for their continued partnership during our community cooldown events. Community cooldown is one of my favorite summer

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traditions in the fifth ward and Tuesday night's kickoff saw an outstanding turnout. It's been wonderful to see many families come together to enjoy themselves and cool off during the summer heat. Our next event will take place this coming Tuesday from 6:30 to 7:30 across from the high school.

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Additionally, I'm pleased to announce the installation of a new little free library at Aldine Park. With this addition, residents now have access to three Little Free Libraries throughout the fifth ward, helping promote literacy, neighborly connections, and love of reading.

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As chamber liaison, I continue to encourage residents to support our local businesses and take advantage of networking and grant opportunities available through our regional partners. Looking ahead, the chamber will host its summer social at Kennallworth Hotel on Thursday, August 6th. The event is free

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to attend and I encourage our local business owners and entrepreneurs to join us. RSVP information is available on my Facebook page and the Greater Union Chambers page. Finally, I want to thank everyone who attended and contributed to this year's Independence Day celebration. This year's event was

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one to remember as we simultaneously celebrated Roosevelt Park's 125th anniversary and the 250th anniversary of our nation's founding. Thank you to Mayor Signarelloo, my council colleagues, our Union County Commissioners, municipal staff, volunteers, vendors, and most

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importantly our residents for making the evening such a tremendous success. As a reminder, please join us next Thursday, July 23rd for our family swim night at the Clark Pool. Full details are available on the burough social media pages. Link for Roso Park residents and

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families to RSVP is on Monday's post. As always, I'm available to assist residents with any questions, concerns, or ideas. Please feel free to reach out to me directly. 862-22360019 or by email. Uh email has changed. It's journal.gov.

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And uh before I conclude, I just wanted to wish Andrew uh well on his future endeavors. Andrew, it's been a pleasure working with you, learning from you. I appreciate how you've always been fair. Uh your guidance and leadership and um

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thank you so much. Appreciate you. >> That's all. Mayor, >> thank you, Councilman. Councilman Patel, >> um no formal uh report, but uh Andrew, thank you. Hopefully, you could build a lot of um skates park in Beyon. We didn't have [laughter] >> We didn't I already built one.

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>> Yeah, I know. I know. We That's something one of the kids asked me. So, I remember us talking about it in Rosen Park, but we don't have the space for it, but hopefully you could build more. Um, that's pretty uh the other thing I guess I wanted to talk about is the the property in the downtown the 31 East.

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Um, originally I was against the buying that property for the amount. Um, but seeing the commander and the business owners coming down and asking us that this is something that they require, uh, made me change my vote. So please come

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out if you have any suggestions. Uh happy to listen to any opinions uh too. So thank you. That concludes my report. >> Thanks Council Patel. Councilwoman Lions. >> Good evening Mayor and council and residents of Rosal Park. Um I just

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wanted to uh just encourage everyone just continue definitely to come out and like uh Councilman Patel said and I said before, we definitely want to hear from you. We want communication. Um, and we want to hear your concerns. Um, and we are here for you. Um, I had a great

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month so far. Um, I actually was able to uh go to the fireworks July 1st that we did have here. I just want to commend everyone that came out. We had a packed house there and it was hot and everybody came out and was so excited for it. It was just very inspiring. I wasn't able

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to stay a lot. Um, but it's awesome to see the kids and family and just enjoying summertime fun. Uh, it's always awesome. Um, and I wasn't able to attend the cool down, but that looks so like so much fun. I just commend you for that, uh, Councilman Rebana. That was just,

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it's so great. Um, I just wanted to actually uh, also acknowledge Anna Feeder Rico. I did speak about her a couple times before. She is uh she turned a hundred this year and um the mayor and myself were able to go to her

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home and give her a proclamation from Rosal Park just honoring her and spending time with her. Um I am so grateful for residents that did reach out to me, a neighbor of mine, uh Mrs. Bodner. Um she actually reached out to me and said there's a woman in Rosal

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Park that needs to be honored and I said my pleasure. her and I was able to spend some time with her, give her some some of her favorite food from Costas. Um, we were able to get her some chicken um some chicken cutlets and manotei and uh

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also some devil dogs. Um but yeah, she enjoys that. Um, but she's just a pleasure and um, I did even post some some videos of her and she's an inspiration and her her motto is really just to be nice to people and to be kind because they'll they'll be, you know,

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it'll come back to you. Um, but I hope to see her soon and I keep in touch with her just so just to make sure she's doing well as as well. Um, and just uh, so last night we did have our summer nights open mic. We went from doing it

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pretty much all of July to one major uh show uh last night and we were uh we had a storm in the beginning. So, I just want to thank everybody that was on board. We have a team of people that are just communicating and seeing if it was safe to go. Uh we had a storm coming

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through, literally flying through. We had the fiery sun that's happening right now. We even had a power outage. But I have to say, these kids came out, they sang. Um, we have the bands coming out from Land's Music, which is our music school right here in Rosal Park. And I

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just want to commend uh Juan. He is just an amazing young man. He um he's self-taught and he literally has a school going and he's inspiring adults and kids to really bring out their giftings. And he set up everything. I just want to thank him. I want to thank

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uh Rupen Shaw, uh the DPW, our uh Rosal Park PD, uh the mayor, and also uh Councilman Petray for coming out. Thank you guys so much. Um and just for the kids that came out, uh I have to say when the power outage came happened, we

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tried to actually connect everything. Um, but then we have uh Charlie, if anybody knows Charlie Munz uh Guzman, he actually came with his guitar and he was encouraging the kids because they got upset they weren't able to sing, but we did it in uh by candlelight really. Um,

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but then he got everything to to work out. Um, but I just want to just applaud you guys and cheering you guys on and just really tell the residents, come out to the events that we have because they're not for us, they're for you. Uh, so please check our schedule and um, yeah, if you need me, rions

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rosalpark.net or.gov or did we at.gov. [laughter] >> Okay, it'll get to the same place. Uh, 9087268773. Thank you. >> Thanks, Councilwoman. Councilman Petroski. [clears throat] >> Thank you, Mayor. First of all, I want

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to send my condolences out to Lawrence Smith, Giovani Flecker, and Laura Seaffir. On June 24th, I attended the uh recreation committee's summer kickoff. Uh Tina, great job as usual. Um I was

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very surprised. We had well over 100 kids there. It was packed. Um and then I want to thank Tina uh by talking to her son and we were able to get the fire department to come and wow, it was a big hit. I think every kid got in line. Um

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they uh sat in the fire truck, went through the apparatuses there. Um again, it was a good very good turnout and I uh I I thank Tina for having it. Um in that on uh June 25th, I had a meeting with

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the business administrator, Al Marella. Uh we kicked a few things around, talked about a few uh things in town. Um, I personally want to thank you and I I know there was other people involved, but I want to thank you for getting

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their uh passes for the fire department. I mean, I really appreciate and um, you know, like I said, a couple thank me, but I did let them know it. I you know, you >> idea, Councilman, >> I I appreciate and I know you had something to do with it and Don McFino

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and all that, but I do want to thank you. Um, so I was very happy to hand him over to the chief today and he'll give because you know I go to the fire department meetings every month and that's the first thing they hit me with their passes, their passes and

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everything. So uh um so I'm I can go to the September meeting and not worry about them. So I do thank you very much for that. Um on July 1st I attended the fireworks. Okay. Oh, going back to the June kickoff. Mayor, I want to thank you

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for showing up that night and Rosanna, I know you did a walk by, but uh it was a pleasure talking to you that night. Uh um going back to the fireworks, uh it seems it was great. I got a lot of compliments from residents. Um very hot

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day um and everything. um the two girls that we have singing, they do a f fantastic job um and everything, but uh everything went well. I want to thank the fire department, uh the Roso Park uh police department, the DPW for

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everything. And uh um like I said, I I thought everything went well with the fireworks. Uh July 2nd, we had a capital budget meeting to go over get ready for the budget. Uh uh this week uh this

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meeting last night I attended the open mic and uh Rosanna great job. I'm so amazed how these kids perform. Um a former uh councilman and uh a person that used to show up all these mean Jake Majiraa

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always used to say Roosevelt Park got talent and they proved it last night. I was um it's fantastic um and everything. Um, Andrew, uh, thank you for your many years thing. Um, I can actually say I voted for you

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the first time. >> You're the only one left. >> I know [laughter] I'm getting old, I guess. Okay. But, uh, and I'm I hope you don't mind. Uh, back then there was a lot of controversy because you were a Republican. >> Still am.

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>> Yeah, I know that. Uh but we uh took parties aside and I knew how much he uh growing up in this town and how much he cared about this town and uh I took a chance and voted for him and I' I've been happy every time. I mean anytime I

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had any issue, you always there for me um and everything. But I can also say uh Maneline I I voted for you also for this one too. So, that's two people I vote. Um, um, uh, council, uh, former mayor

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Hokasen, I know, uh, me, we voted for Andrew. We got him in and, uh, you did a great job then. >> Thank you. >> Right to the end. I I appreciate. >> Thank you. >> Um, if you need to contact me, you can get me at jetrosky rosepark.net

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9086667821. And that's my report. Thank you. Thanks, Councilman Petroski. Councilman Castins. >> Thank you, Mayor. Good evening, everybody. Um, wanted to cover a couple of things that have happened and, um, talk about some, uh, new legislation

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that that's, uh, going to impact us. Uh, first of all, uh, thank you everybody for your feedback. Um, Jimmy, for example, now we are going to.gov. Thank you for bringing it up, man. You see, this is we're a responsive council. When when we hear good ideas, we we'll listen. And, uh, there's other things you sent in there that we, uh, we're

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incorporating. So, thank you everybody. Your feedback does not fall on deaf ears here and that's something that I appreciate very much about this body because I've worked in government before and there are bodies who have deaf ears. So, thank you so much for uh for your suggestion and and happy that we uh we transitioned on July 10th. We moved over

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to our.gov. Uh if you email or if you go to net, it'll still redirect you. Um but we are a.gov site now. Um so that's the first thing. The other thing um just just quickly touching on economic development. Um that is a passion of mine. Uh I I chair the special improvement district in in Rawway. Um

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it's something that I'm passionate about because that's where my business was located. Um and looking at a downtown parking is always the first thing for businesses to thrive. So I'm very happy that this council has um has also listened and and we're moving forward with this. Uh we're a long way from

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getting it done, but it's it's a step in the right direction. Uh and after you do the development, you have to start focusing on the economic part of it because without you know, one feeds the other. So very excited that we're at this part of uh Roso Park. Now, um next I wanted to highlight the uh Roso Park home improvement program. For those of

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you that don't know, um there are uh loans uh they're forgivable 10-year loans. Uh believe up to $30,000. They can cover important things like roof uh redunds, uh to do redo your roof, to uh do plumbing work, things like that. Um if you follow the guidelines, it is a

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forgivable loan and it's an interest free loan. If you are interested in that, uh please uh look at our website. We have information on there. They're administered through uh cgph, but um you find all the information at the roso park.gov website. Um

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next, I wanted to talk about the uh there's two legislations, one's at the federal level, one's at the state level, and I wanted to bring to council attention, and um we're probably going to hopefully have more conversations about this. The first one is uh 21st Century Road to Housing Act. Um, this went into law Friday night. Um, it was

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an incredible bipartisan bill. Um, it's probably the only thing with such a majority to get passed at the federal level with Democrats and Republicans agreeing on everything pretty much. I mean, I think there's like 10% of the legislature didn't vote for it. Um, the president did not sign it, but he didn't

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veto it. So, statutoily, it went into law on the 10th day. Um the 21st Century Road to Housing Act does a lot of different things, but there is a provision on it that incentivizes local municipalities uh to take on some of that red tape that that happens that has

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been slowing down uh residential development. I'm not talking about the buildings. I'm talking about more like single families, multif two families, things like that. Um and the federal government is actually incentivizing local municipalities to enact some of these changes and in return we will have access to more funding through CDBG. Um,

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obviously more money for us that we don't have to charge our taxpayers for is always a positive thing. So, I'd like for us to explore that. Um, I'll bring this up at the land use board and and um, you know, ask about what we can integrate if any and we can examine, but that is a really really fantastic thing. And then there's another piece of

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legislation at the state um, actually let me just hit a couple things. uh the Road to Housing Act um it actually uh I don't know you this this would hit the news but it makes it so that large investors can't buy single

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family properties anymore. Um which is a big thing because we're talking about how they were competing with with regular mom and pops. Um so that's a big thing. It changes rules on manufactured uh homes which is going to benefit and lower the cost on those. Uh and instead of being single stories now those will

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be able to be uh two stories. So, it's a hodgepodge of different laws that tries to uh modernize our housing and it helps with affordability or that's the intent. And the last one is um Assembly Bill 3877 and Senate Bill 2960.

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Uh they have both passed New Jersey legislature and are now at the governor's desk for signatures. Uh those bills uh in large part are asking municipalities to uh call for a special re-examination of their master plan um and tackle things like two family homes

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and three family homes in certain zones as well as accessory dwelling units. Um and it actually does a very important thing. It incentivizes municipalities by giving us more funding for infrastructure projects like uh road work. Um and there's a provision in it

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that if you do some of these things, you can get up to 10% more state aid to the school district of the municipalities that do this. So, this can benefit our schools, which I know um can use the extra funding. So, I'm going to be, you know, keeping up on all these things as

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soon as it gets passed and hopefully we can look at these and see what kind of uh things we can adopt. Um and it gives us priority for funding for different uh projects. Uh they'll rate you essentially based on how how much you integrated into your master plan that the new law requires. um the more you

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do, the higher ranked you will and you'll have access to funding from the state uh first. So those are all things I'm keeping an eye on in in this period and I wanted to bring to the council's attention and I will be bringing more to us here. Uh and then just wrap just to wrap up my comments. Um Andrew, thank you so much. I know my time with you

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here um on council has been short, but we've been on the land use board for years and just me dealing with the burrow been dealing with you for a long time and uh you're a very fair person. You're a very smart guy and uh we will definitely miss you. So, thank you for your time and thank you for your service. >> Okay, Council Lines, you forgot

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something good. >> I am sorry. >> 30 seconds. 30 seconds. >> I have your name right here and I didn't, but thank you so much. I I saw you out in the hallway, but um just to everybody's been saying it and um >> and nauseous [laughter]

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>> with the smoke or Sure, we'll say that. >> All right. Yeah. But I mean, please keep in touch. Um, but just from when I started uh here, you were just a huge wealth of information and a help and and you know, I appreciate you and everything that you do and I'm wishing

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you the best and please keep in touch, please. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right. So, I uh en enjoyed the fireworks. I think I've been going to most of them since 1994 was our first year we had the fireworks.

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I think this year was they were awesome. I was attending the fire um department um function Tuesday night. Well attended. I'm glad we didn't have a last Tuesday. The kids would have been chilly. I open mic was nice last night. It was pretty amazing, Councilwoman that

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I think 90% of the kids sung and that's when the light the power went out and whatever. Uh we got through right. The guys got through like you said. We uh we saw uh Anna, she was amazing. I told my wife that we'd be going there. I'd be stopping by for 10, 15 minutes. I came

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home an hour and a half later. It was nice. Good time. She was just amazing for 100 years old. Um remind everybody the farmers market is open. Uh they've had two or three uh first couple Wednesdays hot, but a couple new vendors

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there this year. Um some pastries and donuts. Uh empanadas. Um and um the hot dog guys there this year. So check out the farmers market every Wednesday up to Wednesday before

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Thanksgiving. Um um so for everybody on council, remember that show, call a friend. Uh phone phone a friend. Andrew gives you one call. Phone a friend. [laughter] Uh and look, >> I already changed my number. I >> I'll brief I'm going to briefly talk

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about the parking lot. I do know over time that res um excuse me the uh businesses in town have uh needed this. I think it's a good thing and I think we all agree that uh if we find something uh we're not going to touch it. This is

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a good thing and let's embrace it and and move forward. Other than that um that's the end of my report. Uh may I have a a motion? Oh, excuse me. Mr. Clerk, please read my appointments for the record for mayor appointments. Yes, mayor. The mayoral appointments this evening are as follows. They require no

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confirmation of councel. Appointing James Company as class 2 member of the municipal land use board effective July 20th, 2026 to fill the unexpired term of Andrew J. Caias set to expire December 31st, 2026. And appointing Jessica Bonfonte as a member of the Rosal Park Recreation Committee effective

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immediately to fill the unexpired term of Sal Campanella set to expire December 31st, 2026. >> Thank you, K. Thank you, Andrew. May I have a motion to open the public portion on any subject? >> So moved. >> Second.

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>> All in favor? >> I. >> If you'd like to speak, please come forward to the microphone. Please state your name if you would like it included in the record. >> Good evening. Uh Jimmy Matthews live here in Rosal Park. I just wanted to bring some attention to something I

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noticed today in the bill list that gets published with the agenda. Uh there was a an item there indicating a purchase of a a surveillance camera that's of the type that usually is placed permanently in

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some uh traffic monitoring place and it continuously records and automatically picks up license plates and sends it to a a third party company. It's a national company that um it's uh they're a cloud

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system where that that's stored. Um so my question I guess I just want to make sure everyone knows that that's happening. I mean it's not really a normal kind of surveillance to do in a public place like on the road. Um, it's

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$8,500 I think of what it was. And it's uh I mean I can imagine there are some kind of public purposes that are that that kind of thing could be used for maybe even locally, but it's hard to

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imagine one that would be like a real use. And I don't know if that was something that u was really discussed as like for some specific reason like we should have this thing. Um, I mean it it raises the question of, you

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know, if I decided I wanted to put a camera on my lawn that monitored every car that drove by because everyone's speeds on Fate would have uh and I wanted to, you know, write letters to them and do do that kind of thing. I think I would probably not do that because it seems like some kind of

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violation of privacy of the people that are driving past, but like that's what this system does. I think um I actually don't know all that for sure. So, uh I'm just going based on the information about who the the brand is for that

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company and um so I'd be happy to be correct on that. So, um, the flight camera. >> Yeah, Mayor, that was a recommendation of the police uh, chief to put that on the agenda and put that bill is. There's

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license plate readers, you know, throughout the state that just help with policing. That's all it is. Thank you. >> George Ramirez, 500 East Clay. First of all, chairs. Nice. Thank you, Mr. Duck.

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Uh, so I just want to start off by saying that the my questioning about the parking lot isn't that we shouldn't buy it. It was why we're have on the books now 1.2 compared to the 875 uh just a few months ago. Uh, second of

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all, I'd like to say that respect is earned and trust and trust is earned. All right. I've been attending these meetings for two months, two years I should say, and there have been a lot of instances where the public is told one

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thing and you guys do something completely different. You know, I could name a handful of things. You know, the DPW was told that there was no issue with the DPW lot. Meanwhile, it's super contaminated with cancer-causing

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chemicals as well as super elevated uh levels of mold. Uh, I questioned if there were any uh dumping that we didn't know about at the DPW yard and the attorney, the previous attorney told me that every

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uh dump was basically had a bill of lighting and it turns out that the EPA just a couple months later determined that there was illegal dumping going on there. Uh, what else? We were told that the pilot programs, all of these

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apartments were going to be paying paying their fair share towards the schools. And even a gentleman here that's in the crowd was told that the schools would be getting money from it. Last year, they got zero from it. Uh

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what else? You guys approved three marijuana dispensaries, but it didn't mean that three dispensaries were going to go up. Meanwhile, they did go up. Two of which are in miscount. uh Miss Lion's ward. Um there's a handful of things. I

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mean, we have uh Mr. Castelins's over here who had a meeting at a uh property on a Sunday that was never disclosed to put a board of ed building there. So, there's a lot of issues going on in town by you guys that doesn't represent the

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people of Rosal Park. You keep telling people, "Yeah, call me. We'll have coffee." or you know we hear you but when there are people here and there's a packed house for instance for the DPW yard or for the marijuana

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you guys just do whatever you want and not what the people want. So that is the issue that I have all right and uh let's see just keep going on trust Mr. Castelins, last year around

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April, you promoted your Panthers Promise that you described as a registered 501c3 uh nonprofit and you solicited money from people to help out with that nonprofit. Do you have an IRS

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determination letter from that? And that's it. I'll forfeit the rest of my time for an answer to that question. >> Sure, Mr. Chair. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. Um yeah, so I uh I started a scholarship program through my business

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uh at first to seek for a um nonprofit. So I whatever you found and I'm pretty sure it says on there uh soon to be registered. We were uh working on that and we actually registered. >> No, it definitely didn't say that. Um, I gave out uh two scholarships from my business to uh two high school graduates

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from Rosa Park High School. Continue to do it every semester and I'm doing it through my business at this time until we get around to actually doing it. We never collected any donations uh because we never finalized the registration, but I have been paying that out of my business as a contribution to to Roso Park graduating seniors and I intend to

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finish that at some point when I have some time. But I do continue to make the payments. >> Okay. Well, you advertised on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube that it is is a registered 501c3 organization. I have videos and posts. So, you're saying

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that's not true? >> Correct. >> Okay. Thank you. Bill Cross at 412 Galloping Hill Road. First, Andrew, I wanted to thank you for all your help through the years. Anytime I sent you an email or called you, you

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you were right on the spot. I appreciate it. Wish you the best wishes for your next position. >> Thank you. >> Um, I understand the reason that you gave for garbage containers. However, I can put garbage out in a

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container. If there's no top on it, that's not going to do any good. The raccoons, the rats, the possums, they're still going to get to the garbage if they want to. So, it makes no sense. All you're going to do is have more than

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half the town go out and buy garbage cans and get Walmart and Home Depot richer than they already are. The next question I have is in the past there's been a couple of times where

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I've hit the time limit and have been informed your time's up. Same with George. He's been informed his time is up. Yet a gentleman comes in who's not even from the town and runs overtime constantly

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and his big thing at the last meeting was let's get a be better chair. So he starts moving furniture around. It's disrespectful. Disrespectful to you. Disrespectful to all of us sitting out here watching. That's all I got.

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>> Got four this time. Got four minutes. >> Probably not going to use them all. Russell Holden. Again, not a Roseell Park resident, owner of Downy's Average Pub and Restaurant 17 Chest Street, Roseell Park. So, I try to come to meetings every once in a while. Um, I stayed for this public portion because I

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I had a couple thank yous that I haven't gotten out in the past. Um, about two months ago, we had our uh 7th annual Rosel Park Police Department golf outing. I just wanted to give a couple thanks to uh Officer Thompson and

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Officer Gaylord who helped me run it this year. Every year I have a couple volunteers that help us with it. Uh we raised over I believe $15,000. Don't quote me on it. I I don't know it exactly. So, but [snorts] it was somewhere in that vicinity.

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I guess I'll secondly I'll keep the uh Andrew Casayas congratulation parade going. Andrew on behalf of businesses in town, you've always you've always been there for us. you you've you've always done the right thing. You've sat me down and said, "No, you can't do this." And I've said, "Andrew, but I've lived in

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this town. I have a business here." And you said to me, "That's great, but you can't do that. You have to do it this way. You have to do it that way. These are the proper ways to do it. And I appreciate you always doing that for me and and you know, giving me the guidance in town for to to get things done." On

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that point, I'm here to not be last minute Russ as I always am. I wanted to let mayor and council know that next agenda meeting I'm going to put forward my letter for our closure of William Street. It's probably the 15th time

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we've done it since we've opened. It's our uh 13-year anniversary. Don't quote me on that. This year we're looking for local businesses in town council come in, speak to us, understand what we're

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doing, why we want to do it. And this year, in honor of the 125th um anniversary of our local fire department, we're going to look to run a 50/50 with the Joseph Nan Association, which is one of the uh oldest Irish organizations in the state on behalf of

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my uh uncle Greg Powers that passed away, who is a longtime Rosal Park resident and fireman. I know many of you up there know him personally. Um, so that 5050 that we're going to run at the event as well as hopefully a little

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while after that would benefit the Rosel Park uh fire department in his name. So I just wanted to let you guys know I will be putting that letter in and asking for approval. If you have any questions or concerns, please come and see me. Everybody knows where I am hopefully. But that's pretty much all I

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wanted to say. Appreciate it. Carl Hoginson, 318 Hemlock Street, Rosell Park, New Jersey. It feels good to be on this side of the fence this time. Uh, a couple quick things. Um, going back to the parking lot, uh, as you know, I'm a retired police officer

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from Rosal Park and back in the days about 30 years ago, the state of New Jersey gave me local municipalities the right to for parking on municipal streets and so forth and so on. For years, we had parking spots 11t from

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a crosswalk, so forth and so on. So, this time when this when the burrow redid Chester Street and everything, they did it underneath title 39. Right. So now you can't park 25 ft, so forth and so on. Actually, when they did that, you lost parking spots.

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Okay, it's about 11 or 12 that I can think of off the top of my head that when I used to walk the beat, they were there. Now they're not. You also know that on the weekends, nights, I go out collecting for my veterans, I go to different municipalities, different areas, and a lot of people I talk to is

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the problem is parking. It always has been and always will be. Okay. Uh you have the uh we talked about the uh marijuana places that are opening up. The one that's right on Chestnut and Westfield. If I want to go there,

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there's technically no parking. Okay. So, that lot I think would be a safety factor for the people. But now, uh you actually lost parking when you did on under title 39, which is now legal, which is fine. And uh last but not

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least, uh I had the honor of many uh eight, 10, 12 years ago uh to hire him. Um there's not many things I mean there are quite a few things that I could say I was happy that I did as mayor and one of the things was

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uh Andrew. Uh he was my right-hand man. Uh, yes, there is times that they should call him mayor because he does um he I would have given him more money as as more like a babysitting type thing. Um,

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he takes care of he needs to get done what has to get done. He knows his rules. He knows how to work with people. He knows how to talk to people. So, I was privileged and honored and Andrew, uh, good luck going over to to Bayona

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every morning on the turnpike, but [laughter] I appreciate your time and service in the in the communications that we've had back and forth over the last years. So, God bless. >> Thank you. [applause] >> Seeing no one further. Oh. >> Oh, I'm sorry.

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>> You've done that to me almost every meeting. You've done that to me. >> Um, that's why you should ask, is anybody else want to speak? Simple stuff, you know. Um, >> you are correct. >> To the one resident who's upset that I gave

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the people a first class chair and he can't win over everyone. Um, to the other resident who said, "Sweet, I'm in a nice chair." You know, I guess we're back to even, you know, you can't make everybody happy in life, but, you know, the more things that uh make the public

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feel like an equal, I think, are important. It's nice to be comfortable. I'm shocked that one of that this chair was sitting over there and not one person thought to themselves, well, maybe let's give the speaker a nice chair, too. I truly am shocked by that

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stuff, you know? Um, just sitting right over there just waiting to be comfortably sat in. Um, it's little stuff like that. It's like just can It's a disregard for the public in my opinion. Have an extra chair.

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Let's give the public the chair to sit in. It seems like a no-brainer. Um, every town's a little different with the way they run their meetings in terms of, um, I noticed in Rosel Park we don't let the public speak during the introduction

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phase. I think that's abominable. I think that's the time that the public should be giving input, not when it's time to adopt it, when we've already figured out how we're going to move forward with it, you know, because at that point, your decisions

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are kind of pretty much made up, you know. Um, if the public has an opportunity to speak during the introduction phase, I think it would be great because then you could have the two weeks to consider the things that the public said and maybe it would feel and actually be an impact that people

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come out and show up, you know. Um, I appreciate the two gentlemen back here because I've been to four meetings and they were both at three of them. I love that. I love that residents take part. Um, I agree with the speaker Jimmy on these flock cameras. Uh, this isn't

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good. This is just this is surveillance state. We live in just live in a police state. It's all it is. You know, it's unconstitutional to be taking all of our information like that and doing of course the police. Of course, it was the

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police's idea to do that. I mean, why wouldn't it be? And who's it for? Who's it for? Domestic people, right? Just like Homeland Security. Who's it for? It's for us. It's for us. There's no reason to do

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that. It really degrades what police work is supposed to be. It It's a It's a far cry from what it used to be going doortodoor knocking and being able to investigate things because now what's happening with these systems is and especially with the AI stuff, they're

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like arresting people based off of um these these things that'll say, "Oh, it's 85% chance that it's this guy." and they go arrest that guy and he spends two months in jail, loses his job, can't pay rent, all because of an error,

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systematic error because we refuse to do old school police work. So that's a disgrace. That's a disgrace. I am very much interested in the what the resident George said about the 501c3

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because usually when residents speak in that manner they looked like he was about to maybe show proof of what he was talking about. So that interests me. That gives me the feeling that you're just lying just directly lying to the public.

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No, no, I'm I'm still talking. But I would be I would be eager to want to answer that as well because if you are stating that there is no record or no post or whatever the gentleman said, you're lying to all these people.

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You're lying. You're a liar is what that means. If if so, you know, I make these videos, we have a chance to highlight good work and we have a highlight to get rid of the people who lie to the public

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and abuse their role in public service. >> Mr. Mayor, may I? >> Thank you, sir. >> Thank you, >> Councilman. >> Yeah. Um, no. So, I announced uh last year that from my real estate business, I would be doing a donation to a Roso

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Park graduating senior of a $500 per semester scholarship, total of $4,000. Um, last year, I wanted to make sure I got it done in time. So, when I started advertising this, I said, "This is a soon-to-be registered 501c3 organization." I never took any donations. I put out a uh what's called

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like a donation pledge like hey if you're interested in donating to this once we form it as a 501c3 register your information and once we're formed we'll reach out because of the timing of everything I paid that first uh scholarship from my own business account out of my pocket um and this is the

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second year I've done two graduating seniors every check has been coming out of my business account as a donation from my myself um so I guess my the point is like okay it's a soon to be rich But but my question is what are I mean you're highlighting that I'm

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donating money and that's wrong or or like lying. I I I understand the lie would be the Well, the wrong thing would be and what I would agree Yeah. Yeah. What I would agree is if Well, hold on one second. What I would agree would be wrong is if I collected donations to a

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organization that isn't registered. That would be wrong. So it's no back and forth. I'm just stating what it is. >> So yeah, and I'm not lying. So >> but he let you speak. Sure. >> Give him the same respect. >> I can show you the checks I've cut to the graduating seniors. How is it that

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if I make a donation from my business to graduating seniors out of my money personally to them, how is that a bad thing? >> All right. So, yeah, that's what it is. >> Sure. That's all. >> Rage bait. Rage bait.

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>> Anybody else? >> I'm going to do it. >> Okay. The last time a clerk did this, somebody got sued. [laughter] >> Did you research? >> How much time you get? [laughter] same grace as everyone else. [laughter] And I know the Bayon Council President's

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watching. Hi, Melissa. >> As long as you started out nice. >> We'll see. I got a lot of problems with you people. Been here a while. >> You get more with sugar than salt. >> Andrew Casayas, uh, formerly 166 Berwin Street, Rosal Park. Currently resident

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of Planefield. Currently the clerk. Uh, good evening everybody. Uh, I I I'm doing this I I very much appreciate everybody's comments. Um, I kind of wanted to do this because this is where I started. Um, uh, the fact the first person that I saw when I ever came into

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this room was former Councilman Jake McGera who came over to me and said, "Who are you and why are you here?" Um, former councilman then and God bless him, he's uh, he's since passed, but he was the first person. And actually that meeting I came here and I wrote down my address because I couldn't I was so

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nervous I couldn't remember it. Um, so the the context of it's intimidating. Uh, this seat is much lower than you. I'm realizing this now. Um, but I came to actually complain. Uh, and I made a complaint that year because the burrow didn't put the flags at half

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staff for 9/11. Um, and what struck me and kind of what kept me coming back is the mayor at the time, Mayor Dior, I'll give him credit, um, said that he was wrong and it was an oversight. And every council member got off the deis after that meeting and apologized. Um,

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and that's incredible, right? It really is an incredible thing, especially for a young person who was nervous to say their name. Um, it was a great thing. Man, the clock goes fast when you're on this side. Um, I want to say thank you to Mayor Hoginson who, you know, it's

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been already been said, uh, did the hard right thing, not just because it was me getting hired, but, uh, I know that it was a hard thing to do for a new, relatively new Democratic majority to hire a former Republican councilman to be the clerk. But my goal every day was

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to prove whatever critics are out there wrong. And that's what I take to every role that I'm in and what I will take when I go to Bayon because there will be a lot of critics. But we will we will work we'll work it, Melissa. We will work it. Um and uh I want to thank all the council members I've ever worked

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for, including this group. Um it's been an honor. Um I thought I brought a little bit of a unique perspective having been a council member. I tried to impart that on all of you. Um now my experience is not everybody's experience, but I could tell you that uh

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outside of this job that I've done the last 10 years, being a council member was tremendous. It's the best job I will ever have had. Uh, and I truly believe that as time goes on. Um, and then I just want to say something about the clerk's role. Um, it's something that's

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very close to me. You know, out of college I I went for the classes or actually in college I went for the classes. Uh, when I was a councilman here, I went for the classes. I got certified. Um, and there's statutory duties of the clerk, right? There's there's I think there's five. Um, but

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one of the ones that's very interesting is you're the keeper and the custodian of the seal, right? And I view the seal as kind of the keeper of the soul of the town, right? Um, this is crazy because I'm usually very sarcastic. Um, so it's

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it's hard to be a little bit emotional, but um I want to thank the town, right, the people in Rosal Park for letting me do this cuz I got to keep a piece of the soul for all this time. Um,

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and I thank you for letting me do that cuz it's truly been an honor and a privilege. And I did this in under four minutes and I didn't cry. But uh, thank you. Thank you all very much.

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[applause] [applause] [applause] >> All right, let's >> All right. No one I see see uh seeing no one further, I have a motion to close the public portion on agenda. Uh wow.

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on uh agenda items only and uh >> no any on any subject [laughter] any you got me there's another >> res you didn't put that in there right yeah >> moved >> second >> second >> all in favor >> I >> I

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>> uh there's no matter for close session have a motion to adjurnn so moved >> second all in >> favor I I see August 20th