##VIDEO ID:BlYsROJQskE## Missy could you please call the rooll I'm sorry welcome to the regular monthly meeting of the mayor and Council Monday January 13 2025 being held at 6:32 Missy roll call Mayor nunziato here council president McAn presid Council Del con here Council Quon councilman kley here councilman ero here Council here thank you if you're willing and able could you please stand for the salute to the flag iice thank you missy could you please read the provisions in compliance with the open public meetings Law chapter 231 public laws of 1975 notice of this meeting was transmitted to the record and Herald news and filed with the burough clerk on December 23rd 2024 and is posted on the bulletin board outside of Barrow Hall thank you we have one presentation tonight if the council could please step down in front of the Das Mr griffle could you please step forward you first I want to personally thank you for your service and handling tanic as much fun as I know you had I'm you are going to be missed whereas Paul Griffo is a Rutherford resident who was given back to his community for decades and whereas Paul and his wife Marie raised their sons Joseph and Peter in brother and whereas Paul was a founding member of One of rford1127 communities local to Toro airport and whereas Paul served as tanic co-chair since 2019 whereas as co-chair Paul was able to ensure Rutherford's quality of life matters were properly represented as well as a quality of life for residents in our surrounding towns now therefore be it resolved on behalf of the bu of Rutherford I mayor Frank denato wish to express our sincere appreciation to this extraordinary man who has done so much for his fellow citizens throughout his life thank you again for your service [Applause] Paul about thank you congratulations unless you guys would like to get a picture everybody thank you again Paul e uh we're going to hold the engineers report till next week um changes missing yes on page one under resolutions we'll be removing resolution number 49 other than that I have nothing thank you anybody else from the council have anything seeing n may have a motion motion motion by councilman Guzman have a second second second by councilman Del con Missy council president mwan yes counc Del con yes coun kley yes Erica yes coun Gman yes we change our format around uh ordinances ordinance on first read councilman Guzman thank you very much mayor um ordinance on first read is establish a handicap space on Dean Court Missy would you please read the ordinance by title only an ordinance to amend and revise chapter 126 vehicles and traffic of the burrow code of the burrow of rord to establish a handicap parking space on Dean Court a motion to move that the ordinance be passed on first reading and advertise a according to law I have a motion by councilman Guzman we have a second second second by council president any questions or comments yes sir uh councilman excuse me uh what add do you have the address for that 16 Court 16 court okay thank you um I only ask because um that is a heavily trafficked area for parking for Lincoln School uh drop off some pickups in the morning and afternoons um so it gets a little cluttered right where it intersects with sty so as long as it's back up on the kind of dead end it makes a lot of sense so thank you any other questions or comments see none may I have a council president McAn yes councilman Del Coen yes Council M cley yes counc ero yes councilman Gman yes seeing that there are no citizens um we're going to move on council president good evening tonight we're moving the consent agenda items all items are authorized to be consent by the council will be enacted by one motion these items are routine in nature motion I have a motion by the council president may have a second second second by councilman Guzman any questions or comments seeing none may have move um council president McAn yes counc Del con yes councilman kley yes coun ero yes counc kman yes council president McGowan reports thank you mayor uh first I just would like to read into uh the meeting minutes um on our January 3rd reorganization meeting um during our consent agenda I intended to um abstain from number 20 um under our consent agenda and I am not certain if I did or did not do so so I wanted to make sure I read that into the minutes today to go forward of my intention um and I hope that that can be reflected um in the minutes for approval on the 27th uh secondly um many residents uh actually I I first I want to address my Council colleagues um many of you received um communication from the access for all Comm uh committee uh the past few days uh regarding a survey um specific to park usage in our town um and this is uh with regard to some work that um we have been doing as a burough with our uh Grant um our grant writers and the reason for this um survey that was sent was twofold one was to really Garner uh the information from our residents and their feedback specific to park usage and the need for accessible play Space um and so I wanted to share with my Council colleagues that um there is something uh known as Jake's law um and Jake's uh law refle refers to Jake's Place it was a playground in Cherry Hill it was created in honor of Jacob Cummings nastro who passed away due to complications of heart surgery at the age of Two and a Half he was born with hypoplastic heart syndrome and the park was a a preferred place for his physical therapy um Jake's law eventually um utilized Green Acres funding to assist counties with creating space es that were for uh that were fully accessible that um enabled all residents uh all children to play um and over time that funding has now been um expanded to municipalities and uh for those who are familiar with kidspot that was something that we as a burrow took the initiative we saved for multiple years and we took the initiative to repurpose um one of our most centralized playgrounds um at Memorial Field to be a an inclusive inviting accessible play space and and we did that um with access for all and and um our rec advisory committee and um other many members actually of the the community so I am happy to share this evening that we are now pursuing that grant funding um under Jake's law and uh so a couple things I want to share with every everyone that may be watching and certainly to my Council colleagues um the survey will be open until January 27 at 12:00 pm um I want to thank the school board um and the superintendent Mr Hurley who will be uh forwarding that survey out to all of our families and our schools I want to thank our rec department I want to thank um our information officer for getting this information out I really want to thank Rose in guante um who worked tirelessly on putting together this survey and really doing the research to make sure that we would be in compliance with all of the requests needed for the grant um and uh and and quite frankly everybody up here who has been uh championing the idea of inclusive and accessible play spaces um and certainly my exess for all committee that was out there going door Todo with paper copies of this over the summer so we're we're making making progress I also want to make the community aware that in accordance with um the preparation of our application we will be holding a meeting this Tuesday January 21st um so I guess that's a week from tomorrow right okay just lost check of time so my apologize uh my apologies for saying this Tuesday so next Tuesday January 21 at 6: PM right here um in the meeting room at the police headquarters um we will have our engineer here and we are going to reveal the type of play spaces that we're looking at and we're going to ask for feedback and and this is really um an opportunity for members in our community particularly uh members that have felt unrepresented um in our disabilities community and any family with a child that has um enjoyed their time in this play Space to come and see what we're thinking about and give us um and encourage you to give us meaningful feedback um this is our commitment uh this council's commitment this community's commitment to revitalizing our parks for those um that want to know where might this space be uh for those of you who've been waiting a long long time it's meant for tamblin field and so the thought that we could have two amazing play spaces on both sides of town for all of our children would just be extraordinary um and so um I want to thank everybody for the work they've already put into this Bob thank you for for um keeping this conversation going with Claire and with Bruno and Associates um and I want to thank my colleagues in advance certainly councilman kley uh who is now our liais on to Recreation and to councilman ero who is our buildings and grounds councilmen um and I invite them to be a partner with access for all and all of you in in championing this cause so I'm opening to any questions from my Council colleagues um mayor with your permission in case anyone has questions before um I finish my my committee no it's been a very robust response so if anybody has any questions please feel free to ask thank you councilman Guzman thank you very much mayor um first first of all uh I'd like to thank my Council colleague here for uh championing this uh very very important um project that uh will give a lot of Happiness to not only to to the entire buau at the end of the day and I I applaud you for seek for seeking out this grant um in order to get this underway and get it done and also I applaud you for uh going out to get public comment on this that that means a lot and it shows the people that uh we we definitely want to hear what they have to say and this is so important um to to many individuals especially those that are are not able to go into a regular playground and not be represented it's just heartbreaking so thank you once again for championing this um as far as the grant process is concerned um what is the deadline for um applying for that Grant it's the middle of February I think it's the 15th thank you very much um I don't have anything else I just wanted to make sure that was on my radar thank you very much thank you anybody else councilman thank you um first of all congratulations on this effort I think it's really exciting and um I recall speaking with a new access for all members um who I met otherwise who shared that um as much as she loves kid spot it doesn't quite meet the needs of her special needs child so um I'm excited for that family in particular but other families like her as well I think my only question um or request would be that you also in some way partner with the green team um I know that you mentioned buildings and grounds but I did meet with the green team last week um at their monthly meeting and they're very interested in working in collaboration as we build out any of our fields to make sure that we make any adjustments that are the most sustainable that's not to suggest we're not going to but I'm sure uh Julia seagull and others would be uh would welcome the opportunity to help with that any other council members see none so mayor in closing I just want to put on the record that um for municipalities the type of Aid we're looking at is between 500 and 700 $150,000 this is a substantial grant that we are seeking it is not a guaranteed Grant um and so it is competitive um and so we are um a we are aggressively going after that um and uh just as a a point of Point um you know we use Ada um very frequently um and sometimes I feel like we just assume Ada equals wheelchair right we are the American with Disabilities Act this is this goes beyond that that's that's why Jake's law was so important it went beyond um the the regulatory code of ADA and it really got to the heart about en ensuring spaces that were inclusive and accessible and purposeful um and so I thank both my colleagues for their comments and I would welcome of course any any assistance and help and perhaps um any of your committees that you are Lia on to you can encourage to come and participate on the 21st that would be fantastic thank you thank you councilwoman councilwoman Del con thank you mayor um speaking of the Green Team I just wanted to mention a couple of things that came out of their meeting um the green team is always looking to increase its size so if anyone is interested in working on a variety of projects um focused on sustainability and otherwise um please do reach out to me or you can reach out to the Green Team directly it was interesting to me I I had dinner with a resident who's actually quite involved with town but he didn't really know what the green team does so I thought that I would just share um some of the things that they work on are the community garden um they work on anything related to uh augmenting recycling they do the repair Cafe in the library uh they do our styrofoam collections um so they do a variety of things um and they're volunteers and they're all better for our town and our environment um with that in mind they are exploring partnering with a company it's a nonprofit company that um focuses on food waste so at some point in the near future um you may be hearing from the Green Team in some capacity to gauge interest of residents um basically we would be uh getting a a bin a disposal bin that's the size of a garbage can um that we would need to have somewhere in town and of course we would have to discuss where that would be but then it would allow uh residents who are interested in composting to um have be provided with vessels to do that and then they can deposit um those in the uh vessel provided by this organization so that is just um something else that we will be doing um I'd like to congratulate the new uh Chiefs and lieutenants from the fire department we attended um their swearing ins I guess it was the weekend before last but it was after our last meeting um and I'd like to congratulate our our new Chief and wish them well and luck and safety in the coming year um and finally um at our our last meeting where we uh swore in uh councilman Gman and councilman Erico we did not have an opportunity to congratulate them so I just wanted to just say some very brief words um first to councilman ero um I was a big part of um encouraging councilman ero to throw his hat in the ring for lack of a better term and um my motivation in doing that is that John brings to this day us such robust experience in a variety of areas and I think it's really important for our council members to bring a variety of skill sets and talents that they may acquire either through their personal or professional experiences and John brings us both he also plays the bag pipes not that that was a motivator but it's just good to know so um I want to congratulate John on um a very successful campaign a very focused campaign and also to share with him um that I'm really proud to have him up here with us he's already hit the ground running he is a collaborator he is a team Builder and I'm just really excited to have him here uh to councilman Guzman um I continue to value your very thoughtful responses to very difficult questions your investment in this community and your investment in this day so I am very excited that you are back with us again um and I just wanted the chance to congratulate you both that's it thank you thank you Council M C thank you uh two brief things first in uh response to the mayor's veto letter of the um zoning ordinance revision to include tattoo parlors uh we will be effectively putting it back up for discussion at the next meeting to kind of follow the new procedural rules um and I will be asking for support to to instruct the buau attorney to kind of rewrite and include the planning board's commentary and assuage some of the mayor's concerns uh so I just want to put that on the radar go about this the right way so nobody can claim anything was rushed and and whatnot uh second uh I do want to put the word out and request uh volunteers for the rent board uh we are appointing or reappointing two of uh our regular members this evening um we do have two open spots and two Al alternate spots available uh these ideally are open to both landlords and tenants um so if you have an interest in volunteering and get involved in the bureau uh this is a great opportunity we meet four times a year really well organized um it's very helpful to those people in town on both sides of of that coin um I do have one question uh for the bureau administrator if we could just get this kind of clarified uh several members of the Rutherford Irish Association approached me this week about um they had attempted to apply for the permit for the flag raising uh later in February and they were told that they needed a sponsor can we just get clarification on exactly the process by which cuz I know we had several discussions with the bureau attorneys and I'm not sure that there was a specific process by which um we could move forward on this so there isn't a process the this the prior Governor body made a decision that there be no more flag raises moving forward the only time there would be a flag raising is if the burrow sponsored an event like we did for uh Pride last year the Barrow conducted a flag raising for the pride event uh if the Barrow wants to do a a flag raising for the Rutherford Irish the burrow would have to do it we don't solicit thirdparty requests it would be something we do on our own and we would host the event okay and that would require Council uh approval is that the effect so I yes theor okay thank you anything else councilman so as to my point for the V that's all I requested it's exactly what we're doing now and I made that very clear um councilman Del con your opah request was received and I'm getting you the information so there is nothing there uh so councilman ero you're up thank you mayor and thank you councilman Doren for those very kind words um I just want to add that the board of adjustments which is the zoning board for Rutherford is having their first meeting of this year uh next Tuesday that's the 21st at 700 p.m. which was after uh Council president's meeting that she just discussed uh the Zone the board of adjustments is a very important board uh in Rutherford I've served on it in the past on the council aison for it this year um the decisions that that board makes have an impact on how our neighborhoods look um in a disproportionate way that might not be obvious if you're not uh familiar with what the board does so I would encourage everyone to uh attend the board everyone who is on the board uh is a volunteer and they're volunteering often times uh many hours of their time every month to uh the good work that the board does so that's at 7M uh next Tuesday the 21st at burough Hall in the old council chambers that's it thank you councilman councilman Guzman thank you very much mayor um councilwoman Del C thank you very much for your kind comments much appreciated um I'd like to uh take this moment to congratulate our newly sworn in police officers Regina masag and Robert zenco I wish them well at the Academy and can't wait to have them on board so um that's um we're very very thrilled to be able to have these new police officers um that's all I have mayor thank you thank you uh we're going to move on to my my reports May can I just clarify the issue on the flag raising sure so um our our ba uh Mr keski has very well articulated the policy but I just want to confirm and make sure understands that there's a special treatment when it comes to religious requests that we cannot take on a religious request without taking on all religious religious requests so the advice and as I understood the um resolution when it went up is that we're not going to entertain religious requests in terms of flag raising so uh just wanted to make that um understood thanks B uh to my reports first off I'd like to thank the bur administrator uh the police chief and our public information officer for handling the uh information flow well flow is a fluid word there um regarding the water main break that happened over the weekend and the way it was communicated to the community I just want to thank you for making sure we stayed on top of that I have a couple of I have several appointments first I have Michelle cillo provisional appointment to clerk 2 effective January 14 2025 in accordance with the rules and regulations of the New Jersey civil service commission I'd ask for Council consent May Mo motion by council president may have a second second second by councilman Guzman any questions see n Roll Call council president mcowan yes Council Del Cohen yes coun kley yes coun ero yes coun Guzman yes thank you next I have eron Petrino provisional appointment to assistant purchasing agent effective January 14 2025 in in accordance with the rules and regulations of the New Jersey civil service commission I'd ask for Council consent motion motion by council president May second second second by councilman Del Cohen any questions or comments seeing none may roll call please council president McAn yes Council Del con yes councilman kley yes yes C Gman yes thank you next I have n Natalie gagliardo provisional appointment to clerk 3 effective January 14 2025 in accordance with the rules and regulations of the New Jersey civil service commission I'd ask for Council consent motion motion by council president may have a second second second by councilman Del re con any questions or comments seeing none may roll call council president mcowan yes councilman delber Coen yes councilman kley yes cman ero yes cman Gman yes and next I have will fi recreation basketball season seasonal Stafford at $15 per hour all ask for Council consent motion motion by council president second second second by Council D con any questions or comments see none may roll call council president mcowan yes councilman Del con yes councilman kley yes councilman ero yes coun kman yes thank you and finally I have the 2025 committee board appointments the uh you can see the attach roster I'd ask for Council consent motion motion by council president there a second second second by councilman C any questions or comments see none M roll call council president McAn yes Council Delbert con yes councilman kley yes councilman ero yes councilman gozman yes thank you I now accept the motion to adjourn MO motion by council president may have a second all in favor I have a good night everybody