Thank you everybody and welcome to the regular monthly meeting of the mayor and council Monday July 14th 2025 being held at 6:31. Mission could you please call the role? Mayor Nazi here. Council President McGawan present. Council Debor
here. Council here. Councilman Kley here. Councilman Erico here. Councilman Guzman. Thank you. If you're willing and able, please stand for the salute to the flag to the flag of the United States of
America. 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 Burough Hall. Thank you, Missy. We have no presentations or proclamations this evening. Um, but I would like to give um the council the opportunity to um give
their condolences to the Frasier family. Reverend Frasier um unfortunately passed who's also a councilman within our community and he was a long-standing member of the council as well as a uh very positive
force within our community. So, I'll start with the council president. Thank you, mayor. Um, first I'd like to extend my sincere um thoughts and prayers to the Frasier family and and the entire community of
which uh Reverend Frasier was a part of. Um I consider him to be a beloved Rutherford institution. Um I was one of the very fortunate people that would consider Reverend Frasier like a mentor. um as a newly elected person, he sat
down with me and he helped me understand the importance of um reaching out beyond my own circle and taking the time to listen and understand different perspectives and how seriously I should take the role of advocate when sitting up here and
that it was less about me and more about about us. Um and those are some pretty amazing lessons just in that perspective. Um, I think he was and will be um remembered as uh a son of
Rutherford for sure. Um, and his light will live on in his beautiful family. Um, and certainly in this community and I hope we can hold true to the ideals that he kept as an elected member. Um, I believe he served two two separate terms
as a councilman which um, most of us sitting up here would know. uh if you make it through one, coming back a second time around says a lot about how much you have to love love the place you live. Um so thank you, Reverend Frasier, for your service, for your humanity, and
and just for being a friend. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Councilman. Thank you, Mayor. Um I had the pleasure of really knowing Reverend Frasier through his children. um uh his family is uh permeates throughout this
community in some really important ways and I'm not sure I know a family that consists of individuals with as gifts as great as as the Frasers. Uh whether it's sports, the arts, music, um their overall contribution um to the community
and to the world is one that's so full of soulfulness that it only could have come from uh having him as their dad. So, um, to that entire Frasier family, I I'm sure it goes without saying about how proud we are to have them as part of
our community, to have him as a leader. He was also quite integral in the civil rights movement here in Rutherford, uh, which holds a special place in my heart. He was very special to the civil rights commission. Um, so when you see any of the Frasers around town, um, you have
the benefit of knowing that, um, from him came great gifts and great responsibility. um they are true community leaders in their own right and um he will be terribly missed but the beauty of a person like Reverend Frasier is that um I'm very confident his legacy
um will be here for generations. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you mayor. Unfortunately, I did not know Reverend Frasier well, but of course heard many legendary stories about him, about his heroic deeds, about
becoming a council person at a time when that was very difficult for an African-American man. And, you know, just his dedication to the community, his his love of the arts, um, that was passed down to his children. And so I just want to give my condolences, but
also my congratulations to him and to his family for a life well-lived and for serving this community. Thank you. Thank you, Council Councilman. Thank you, Mayor. Um, first and foremost, my sincere condolences to the
Frasier family. Um, Reverend Frasier, we had the honor uh to meet several times over the last few years, beginning with the Civil Rights Commission. Um, and I speak to his sons and his family when I say that that was a very, very good man who raised very, very good people. And
you see the legacy being passed down now to their children. My two young girls go to school with um, Maddox and Desmond to mention a few of his grandchildren. And they are just wonderful, wonderful people. So, Reverend Frasier, wherever you are, I thank you for your service to
humanity and to our bureau of Rutherford. Thank you. Thank you, Councilman. Thank you, mayor. I didn't know Reverend Frasier well, but I did get a chance to meet him, and I would say that his reputation um precedes him for humanity and humility and for his service, which
is saying quite a lot, I think, in today's age. So, I join my colleagues in expressing my condolences and also thanks and congratulations to his family for his uh tremendous life of service and contribution to this community. Thank you. Um, in addition, the uh
family has reached out to ask if we'd um be willing to honor him with the rename of um Elm Street to uh Reverend Frasier Way. and we are currently in the process of
ordering the uh street sign and we'll be um working with the family to pick a day that best works for them. So again, thank you all and thank you Reverend Frasier for being a
light of this community. We'll move on now to Brian and the engineers report. We go right to Beach to finish uh the curbs and sidewalks then and hopefully paving for both Silvin and Beach occur
uh later on this month and to wrap it up in the first month in uh first week in uh August. Uh I'm coordinating with the burough administrator. The uh fitness pad, the concrete's been poured. Uh it's
been seal coated per the manufacturer spec and the um so that's ready and then the vendor I think is being solicited for the actual installation that's proceeding. Uh the final set of uh permit docks have gone down to NJD
for the remainder of the north area uh for the fall construction of the uh memorial improvements. And we are getting price solicitations to uh resurface uh the leisure lane with a colorized um
uh concretebased surface. It's like you'll see the honeycomb surface and we are we'll have an exhibit ready for the mayor and council to consider uh the color scheme or whatever uh other aesthetic improvements they want to do that. But we are making that
solicitation. So then you have a walkable surface from basically five and six uh uh west to the river and then back down to um uh River Road, the end of it there. And so that's what we're
working on for the burrow. Uh and the bid package is under review for the 2025 road paving program with NJ dot. And as soon as we get their review comments back, we'll coordinate with the burrow uh clerk and the administrator for bid
dates to open the the project uh uh public bid. Thank you. Thank you, Brian. Anybody have any questions for the engineer? Seeing none. Thank you, Brian. Missy. Yes. We have a few changes to the agenda
tonight. Under the consent agenda, we'll be moving the appointment of Robert Stafford, special duty fireman to part department number five. Also, we'll be placing under consent agenda adding an item I the street
closures for the National Night Out on August 5th, 2025. and we'll be removing the close session. Thank you, Miss. Anybody else have anything? Seeing none, I'd ask for a
motion. Motion. Thank you, council president. I have a motion by the council president. May I have a second? Second. Second by council del. Any questions or comments? Seeing none, may I have a roll call. Council president McGowan. Yes. Council del. Yes. Cut your own.
Yes. Except for the minutes um from last session where I was absent. Thank you. This is just a This is just uh approving the changes. Sorry. Yes. Councilman Kley. Yes. Councilman Erica. Yes. Thank you. We'll move on to ordinances.
Councilman Guzman is not here tonight. Council President. Thank you, Mayor. Um, this first ordinance is about repealing a handicap space uh that is in current existence. Uh, Missy, can you please read the ordinance by title only? An orders to amend and revise chapter
126 vehicles and traffic of the burough code of the burrow of Rutherford to repeal a handicap parking space in front of 14 summers. Thank you. I'd like to make a motion to move that the ordinance be passed on first reading and advertised according to law. Thank you. I have a motion. May I have a second?
Second. Second by Councilman Quattron. Any questions or comments? Seeing none, I may have a roll call. Hold on. Council President McGawan. Yes. Catherine Quron. Yes. Am I missing somebody? Catherine Kley.
Yes. Council. Yes. Yes. I quite well. Thank you. Uh we have one ordinance on second read. I'm sorry. Uh I missed that one.
Council President. Thank you, Mayor. Uh this next introductory uh ordinance on first reading is about establishing restricted areas and municipal buildings. Missy, can you please read the ordinance by title only? an ordinance to establish a new chapter
in the code of the Burough of Rutherford, chapter 84, entitled restricted areas and municipal buildings. Thank you. I'd like to make a motion to move that the ordinance be passed on first reading and advertised according to law. I have a motion by a council president. They may have a second. Second. Second by Councilwoman Delray Con. Any
questions or comments? Uh mayor, um would it be okay to have the burough administrator just provide a little additional context for the public? Robert Thank you. Appreciate it. Uh yeah, the purpose of this ordinance is just to clearly
establish uh what spaces are deemed public space within burrow buildings. Uh a lot of the offices in Burough Hall are just kind of wide open spaces. Uh but we have confidential records on our desks and uh
personal information. So uh just establishing what is available to the public, what part of an office is available or private for employees or restricted use only. It's in order just to protect the employees and or and also to protect uh your private information
as well from uh people who may be coming in with ill intentions. So thank you. Anybody else? Council President McGawan. Yes. Council Deone. Yes. Captain Cochron. Yes. Councilman Kley. Yes. Council Eric.
Yes. Thank you. Ordinance is on second read. Council President. Thank you, Mayor. On second reading this evening is the financial agreement with Rutherford Senior Housing in connection to propertified as block 75 lot 2 on the tax map of the burrow and more commonly
known as 67 Kib Avenue. Thank you. I'd like to make a motion to move that the ordinance be passed on second reading and advertised according to law. I have a motion by the council president. I have a second. Second second by council on del. Uh at this time I'll open it up to the public for
any public comment on this subject and this subject matter only. Anybody wishes to speak? Seeing none I'll close it to the public and no for any council comment. Seeing none council president McGowan. Yes. Council delic. Yes. Council clutch.
Yes. Council Kley. Yes. Counc. Yes. Thank you. We're going to move to hearing as citizens. Anyone from the public wishing to speak? Please step forward to the microphone, say your name and address, and please keep your comments to five minutes or less.
Hi, how you doing? Is this on? Yes. Yeah. Uh Denise Cordini, one Walnut Street. Um I am here this evening on behalf of the Rutherford chapter of Indivisible um which is a national grassroots
organization um by part uh sorry nonpartisan whose mission is to counter the destructive momentum of many of the actions of the current administration in Washington. Um, we're asking today that you take
action in response to the rise of unmasked, unidentifiable law enforcement, ICE overreach, and the targeting of immigrants and political dissenters, which have included students and lawful residents of the country um
before they come to our municipality. It's not a federal or a big city issue. Raids have been recently reported in Asbury Park, Neptune, Edison, and they've even occurred as close to us as West New York. Um, we need action to
protect our community from this. We don't want masked anonymous enforcers damaging the rapport that our local police department has earned within the community, even human and duck ones. Please thank her for saving the ducks.
Um um we don't want any person or group to fear interacting with the police should they be forced to assist in any of these unconstitutional acts. Um we don't want
them tainted by any actions that might occur within our borders by ICE or any other federal agency acting in a manner inconsistent with the constitution. We are asking for two things. To pass an ordinance requiring visible face and
identification for all law enforcement operating in our municipality, uh, including federal agents, and to ban the local police from having to cooperate with any ICE operations happening without warrants or clear
legal juris justification. you know, anything that they are legally entitled to do, we should be helping them. But anything outside of the Constitution, absolutely not. Thank you. Thank you. And
Laura Ninja, 54 Lincoln Avenue. Uh I'm also here on behalf of Indivisible. Um, I of course am more long- winded than most people. Promise less than three minutesish. So, I'm here to speak about ICE, uh, what is happening across the
country and here in New Jersey and what Rutherford can do about it. Um, to start with, I wasn't really aware of what is going on. So, I looked up some information, which of course, even if half of it is true, and I believe all of it, is pretty horrifying. So, no doubt
many of you know that ICE agents are often unmasked and unidentified and they are frankly violating the constitution. Here are some of the things that they're doing. They are targeting immigrants, international students, researchers, leaders of organizations, protesters,
and even elected officials. They are conducting immigration raids at homes, workplaces, at mandated immigration hearings, and other settings, which is to say targeting people who are not accused of a crime. They are detaining, arresting, and/or jailing people for
minor infractions even after they prove their citizenship with valid documents. They are disappearing students and visa holders solely for their political views. They are arresting protesters who are exercising their first amendment rights.
They are deporting children who were born in the US or andor splitting up families with children. They are treating people with unnecessary cruelty such as preventing access to critical medical care, food and water, or even a bathroom. They are mistreating detainees
from specific minority groups such as LGBT people. They are accusing people of assaults on law enforcement when video evidence contradicts this. So, speaking for myself, I always thought that New Jersey was one of the best states to live in in terms of human rights. That's
what I read. But right here in Newark, New Jersey, we have the Delaney Hall detention facility, which is a privatelyowned detention center where basically all of the above is happening right now. Uh it's in fact said to be true that ICE is targeting cities run by
Democratic mayors. The ACLU, of course, is uh taking action. They're trying to pass the Immigrant Trust Act, which would allow New Jersey residents to access public services without fear of deportation. In the meantime, however, Rutherford has an
opportunity to protect protect its immigrant communities. After all, this is a town that holds the multicultural festival and raises the gay pride flag every year. And I'm sure there are other activities I'm not thinking of right now. So, what can Rutherford do? Rutherford
can pass an ordinance requiring that federal agents such as ICE carry visible identification. Rutherford can prohibit local police from cooperating with ICE operations, especially those conducted without warrants or justification. Rutherford can work with schools,
universities, and hospitals to establish or reinforce local sanctuary policies and rapid response systems to potential ICE actions. I'm going to guess that almost everyone here has friends, family, or neighbors who fall into all sorts of these
targeted categories, whether they are immigrant minorities, students, protesters, gay people, or what have you. Do you think they deserve this treatment? I don't. So, I'm wondering if the governing body will be addressing this issue. Thank you.
Thank you, Laura. Anybody else from the public wishing to speak? Hello, my name is Ralph Niccastro. I live at 92 Wood Street. Um, I moved here a couple years ago. Um, and a big draw was all the giant street trees everywhere. Um, I really love it about
this town. Um, recently, uh, a developer purchased a property and they took down a very, very large tree, very beautiful, perfectly healthy tree. Now, it's on, it was on private property. It was not a street tree. So, are of course allowed to do that, but the state has required
towns to adopt an ordinance um that would provide guidelines for the removal and replacement of trees. And I don't believe Rutherford has adopted this yet. So, I just wanted to find out if that was something that was going to happen.
Um we let the public speak and then we respond. Anybody else from the public wishing to speak? Carlos Alonzo, five Chestnut Street here. Uh, I am up here today to ask you if you
could please reconsider the street signs on Chestnut in between Union and Erie A. As of right now, uh, the signs are three-hour parking, period. In other words, resident and non-resident. And for myself, I don't even have a
driveway. So, it's You know, it it would be very helpful for me and my family if we could change those signs at least to resident and and just enforce the three-hour for non-residents uh to stop all of the parking from the train and bus uh
visitors and commuters which are taking up all of the street space for us. So, if you just reconsider that section, I appreciate. Thank you. Thank you, Carlos. Anybody else from the public? Petro 86 Hobart Avenue. I I'm directing
this to Mr. Ero. He's proposing about having Airbnbs put in town for the World Cup. I'm a totally against this. I don't want strange people coming in and out next door to my house if that person decides to rent it. I just think that's a total mishandling of the rules in this
town. This a small town. If they have problems getting residents from the World Cup, that's their problem, not Rutherford's problem. That's number one. Number two, these are old problems that we've had in town that have never been fixed. Again, Washington Avenue down by
the river, the fence is down. I didn't tell the chief, I didn't tell the bar administrator, I didn't tell Councilman Delray Con because this has been an up and down battle. Somebody's going down that riverbend. I was told it's a debt issue because we're not putting any more
money into the fence. This is what I was told. Now, you all know I walk the track a lot. I was walking the track to the north end is a disgrace. You got old football sleds. The grass is growing over it.
They're old and they don't want them. Get rid of them. They're garbage. We have the old lampost that they took down from the new field laying there on the ground. Somebody broke the glass lenses. There's glass all over the field. We're concerned about safety. That's a safety
issue. The football has a a trailer there that they use for storage. Half the time that trail is open, it's closed. If nobody's using it, that should be locked. That's another safety issue. As you walk east, coming up the ramp, up the walkway, going to five and
six. Diamond six, the brand new field. Home plate is sinking. If a girl comes around home plate and run around third base and run, she can break an ankle. That's how indentation it is. And the the river bank, the bank to the wall,
you know, to the track, there's nothing but dead trees. Can't we get the prisoners to come down and clean up that mess? Going up a little further, Jackson and Eerie. I watched a meeting on Bergen County what they're planning on doing
for World Cup. Rutherford has no plans. They're not even in their plans for that. Any lawyer, we have three of them here. If anybody gets hurt really bad there or gets killed, the town's in deep trouble because that we know it's a hazardous there and everybody's just turning their backs towards it. I think
that's something that's got to be addressed. Get Senator Silo involved. Somebody's got to get involved with that. One other thing down now, I was told years ago by a friend of mine, a lawyer, never take Green Acres money. We took it. the powers that be at that time took
it. Every mo Sunday morning at 7 o'clock Tryon Field, a bunch of guys are playing soccer 7 o'clock in the morning yelling, screaming, "Yo, I think that's uncalled for." As a resident down there, I don't want to listen to that. I'm a sports fan. I love sports, but I think that's
wrong. It shouldn't start. A resident actually put a sign up on their lawn, quiet out, and everybody just ignores it. I spoke to recreation. He says, "I gave a permit out for 7:00." That's totally wrong. Thank you. Thank you. Anybody else from the public
wishing to speak? Frank Wilson, 171 Montrose. Also like to give my condolences to the Fraser family. I did know the rev and um even had to escort him out of the chambers a couple times. So, I did know that. Um first question I have is and it
pertains to the no kings event that we had. Um it's freedom of speech and I all agree with freedom of speech, but there's a tab here that the residents have to pay for as far as I know is $4,373.90 for police protection.
Um, as a resident, I don't know why I have to pick up partially of this tab that if you want to have a rally in there, whoever organized it, it's your right, but you should pick up the tab. Also, why should I and the rest of the town's people have to pick it up? It's
over here. So, if you guys want to see it, tells you how much we were built. Okay. Next question I have, which is pretty bad one, has to do with Oprah. I'm glad the attorneys are here. Also, I put an open request in for some conversation
between council people and what I got back was 39 pages of redacted information. Okay, there's X's. There's not not a thing here that's readable. Not a thing here that's readable. X is all over the place.
Okay, there's 18 that are or attorney client privileges. Another 21 that says inter agency advisory. Now according to Oprah, it says between a client their attorney may for the purpose of seeking or providing legal
advice. Oprah specifically includes records covered by attorney client privileges as exempt from disclosure. However, the mere presence of an attorney client privilege material in a document does not automatically exempt the entire document from disclosure. Every page is disclosed. is got blacks
out. Public agencies are expected to redact the privilege portions and release the remainder of the document that is not protected by the privileges. Public agencies must also provide a sufficient explanation for claiming the attorney client priv exemption. There's not an exemption in here. There's no
reason why all of these are redacted. As far as the attorney client privilege, just because our burough attorney is CCD or one of the chain of five or six people, I don't believe entitles it to attorney client privilege. In that case,
burrow attorney, do I have your attention for a second? Do you have a client privilege log? Because if all these 18 pages are attorney client privilege, you should have a log stating that. We don't do the dialogue. Frank, I'm just saying. I'm just throwing it
out there. He could I don't need an answer now, but it's pretty rough when I open request something and 39 pages have nothing but white pages and X's and blacked out when it's conversations between council. My next question is, do
I have to open request the entire 2024 and 2025 messages to see how many are going to be redacted that the public is not allowed to see? This is it. Everything that I requested,
I am not allowed to see one bit. And 18 of them say attorney client privilege. So that's my my my thing. I It's like there's a shadow government going on here. What don't you folks want us to know? If all of this
has got nothing but blacks outs and X's and everything else you could possibly imagine in here that we can't see. That's it. Thank you very much. Thank you. Anybody else from the public wishing to speak?
Katherine Marshall, 58 the Terrace. Um, this is spur of the moment, but because somebody else brought it up, as you know, um, the people in my community have problems with parking due to the workers downtown, the restaurants downtown, everyone who attends the
Williams Center, um, and people who commute. And I know there was a conversation that was going on about creating resident parking, and I just like to know if that if and where that stands. Um perhaps there are some streets in town where we could implement
that. Um thank you. Thank you. Anybody else from the public wishing to speak? Seeing none, I'm going to close it to the public and open up for any council comment. Anyone wishing to speak? Council.
Sure, I'll speak. Um hi everybody. Um uh Miss Cordini and Miss Ninja. Um, I am excited by the presence of Indivisible in our town. I see all that you're doing. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to make all of the events. Um, and
I am particularly struck by your request because today I was in a meeting for work and my colleague was late because ICE was raiding outside her child's daycare in the city and she was so torn up by watching it that she um was very had a very difficult time joining us.
So, um, it is very close to home. there is no re no resident or community that I think is protected from it. Um I don't like to make promises that I don't know I can come through with. So I I I hear your asks and wonder how they come to fruition, particularly with enforcement
when it comes to ordinances. The big question I've learned to ask is how do we enforce that? Right. So, um I just wanted to acknowledge that you're here. Acknowledge that I agree with you. Um that we don't know if or when it will come to our doorstep and I think we do
want to take measures to keep our residents safe. Um but I don't want to pretend to know what the right solution is for a community of ours. But you do have my commitment and I hope you believe me that I will uh look into it and um let you know what our collective
thoughts are in that regard. Um, Mr. Dcastro, I I wanted to acknowledge um that you got here and you came here and you talking about that tree on private property. I'm going to I assume um Councilman Kley, who is the liazison for the Shay Tree Commission, will speak to that issue, so I don't want to speak
on his behalf. Um Mr. Alonzo, we had a chance to chat a little bit before the meeting and I know your particular issue, which um Councilman Guzman's not here, but usually parking goes to him as the liaison for police. Um, but your particular issue is why is that one sign
three-hour limits only as opposed to three-hour limits just for non-residents? So, um, I can email Councilman Guzman or the Burough Administrator and make sure that that question gets answered because I know our chief is good, but I'm sure he probably can't speak to specifically why that sign exists on that street as it
stands. Now, um, Mr. Shuro. Um I I would we should chat after because I I'm be curious to know who told you we're not putting more money into a fence that is a safety hazard. So I'm interested to hear that feedback if you can let me know after.
Um you and I have had a lot of conversations about that fence and I know DPW keeps fixing it and it keeps getting broken. Um so clearly we need another solution. I'm not sure what that other solution is as I sit here. Um I hear you also on on your concerns about
the track. I think the field is is both DPW and parks and all of those things put together, but I will send that list to um to Mr. Sidler who runs DPW and see what he thinks about all of those various things. Um I do agree that we
can probably have our folks do a little better if those safety hazards are are existing. Um Mr. Wilson, um I hear you on the no kings. I've I've I've I've seen that feedback floating around uh
the interwebs about paying. Um and I think it's a very a tough a tough balance when you're trying to balance folks first amendment rights during the desire to keep people safe if they need to be safe. And so our bureau made a choice to provide extra security, not
knowing what would come of that rally. Um, I did swing by there and luckily the investment we made we didn't need because it was so peaceful and so easily um ended. But I think at some point part of being part of a community is our our
burrow decided that they wanted to take precautions in the event of a problem. Again, luckily there was no problem, but I think that's just a cost that we all share for that reason because in the event of we would want to know that we were prepared. Um, but it does have to
coexist with the first amendment right to gather. Um, so that's where I stand on that. With regards to uh attorney client privilege, I know a couple things about it and it can be very frustrating even as an attorney to receive document upon document that's redacted because there's a privilege. Um, I've also made
my own oper request. So, I've received documents that have been requed for privilege. Um, I do know there's a process in place for appealing that. Um, I do know that our bureau takes privilege pretty seriously and I also think that um, creating narratives that
there's a shadow government is a very generous thing to do um, when you're speaking in public because chances are um, the documents you received and I I don't know exactly what you asked for, but the documents you received um, probably did have privilege information. I know there's the deliberative
privilege as well, which is what you were saying about the inter agency privilege. Um, so I I just want to caution against phrases like shadow government because I do think that is um problematic. The good news is if you want any information from me, you just
have to ask for it. Um, if an email is not not privileged, I'm happy to forward it to you myself. So um, we should talk more about the information you're seeking and I'm happy to help you get it if I can. Thank you. Thank you. Anybody else? Yes. Thanks, Mayor.
Um, thank you everyone for coming and giving your feedback. I won't address every single speaker, but I do appreciate you all coming. Um to Denise and Lori, uh I appreciate your passionate remarks in um defense of our
immigrant communities and basically anyone who is vulnerable to being swept up in this in these raids um and and not getting process. I am an attorney in New York City. I do immigration work. So, I
have clients who um go to, you know, asylum hearings, go to naturalization hearings, and I have colleagues who who unfortunately recently have had um clients who have been swept up in these raids in New York City. So, it's very
very personal to me and I see the tragedy. I speak to people to family members who have lost who have lost contact with with their family. um because of these raids. So, I do think I do think ICE is going too far. Um and I
think it's a problem and I agree we you know we have a vibrant immigrant community in in this town and a lot of there's a lot a big immigrant community in um the district that I you know that I'm in in 11. So, there's a lot of of wonderful im immigrant families there
and I do think we should think about what we can do before it comes here. Um, and what makes sense, you know, I agree with my council colleague that we have to, you know, we we may have preeemption preeemption issues with federal law and
there may be there's complications when you when you try to pass ordinances that deal with federal agencies. So, it's something that I really care about, know a lot about, and would love to talk to you further and everybody who cares about this further and and my council
colleague of doing something that we we should start the process of doing something that that protect that that sends a signal that we're protecting and we care about and we're concerned about all the vulnerable people in this community because we need to stand up for them. Um, I just want to say quickly
um to Mr. Castro, I went to a shade tree commission hearing recently and this is a very important issue. I agree the trees are something I love the most about this town. Um, as many of us do and I do I will also defer to Councilman Kley who I'm sure has some some words
about this um since he is the leaison. But I think it's very important that we do move forward with this ordinance. I know it's very complicated though. Um, and I think that's it for me now. Thank you. Thank you. Councilman.
Thank you, sir. All right. So, a couple of points. Uh, Miss Cordini and Miss Iner, I applaud you for speaking up. Um, we've had personal and private conversations. Denise specifically. Um, you know where my heart lies on that and I can assure you that we will do everything in our power to kind of look
into this and figure out what we can do. Um, because I wholeheartedly agree we are not in a good state at present. Um, Mr. Diccastro. Uh there is indeed currently a ordinance in the well I won't say the ordinance is in the works. Right. So there's been three municipalities that have actually moved
one through. The most recent of which Caucus is having their last discussion moment. I am working with Councilman John Derbasio out of C Caucus. They have in my opinion probably the most efficiently crafted one that actually tiptoes along that private property
line. Right? That is the sticking point is you trying to tell somebody what to do with their property. Right now the gist of it is to your point from the state is that if you need to take out a large growth tree for a swimming pool or similar there are going to be recommendations that you replace with
foliage that accounts for the water removal and storage uh on an equivalent basis. Right? So the first two that passed down in South Jersey were radically efficient in th in that regard. They faced a lot of backlash for trying to charge fees for permits and the research and the uh to my one of my
colleagues earlier said like how do we enforce that right that becomes at a a cost of manpower so to speak right you need somebody from the buildings department or similar to go and take a log right and say all right you're taking these three trees down you need to put up you know 16 of these you know
uh lily bushes or similar that would account for the the water removal system um caucus is actually toying with the idea of doing it for free, right? So, that is an incredible feat, right? There's you're going to have the physical labor involved with it and we're not going to be Caucus is not
going to be making any money back. Now, they have a different tax system, right? They catch a lot of revenue from the train stations out there, from their commercial um offerings, all that sort of stuff. We are in a much different state when it comes to our budget, right? We are solely reliant on residential taxes and a handful of tiny
little commercial pieces of input, right? So, it is a long time coming for sure. Um, this is my second year on the Shade Treat Commission and so it's been a sticking point for as long as I've been on the council. Um, and it has just purely been that sensitive subject about trying to tell people what to do with
their own private property. I feel like C Caucus has really figured it out. I'm waiting for their kind of second read and the final visions to be able to share that with my colleagues and get their input and then start down our path. We have a basic footprint there from the first two municipalities in
central New Jersey. Um but again it is a long and sticky road. If you would like but like Councilwoman Croaton did please come to a Shade Tree meeting. I missed the one that she had attended but a lot of information comes out there. Chairman Sasso is absolutely phenomenal. He is Caucus' deputy uh superintendent for the
DBW. Incredibly knowledgeable knowledgeable man. Rutherford resident right. So he is all on board with this as well. Um any questions feel free to stop me after the meeting as well. Happy to talk you through it. Um it's on the way. It's just like anything in government, it takes a long time to get it just right so you can bring it up
here and vote for it and, you know, ideally not get screamed at about it. Um, speaking to that point, uh, Mr. Chiro, always appreciate your input on everything. Um, I hear you loud and clear. I know there's a bunch of those things that are kind of in phase three of the parks plans. We had talked about
a few things a couple meetings ago, which may maybe you weren't in attendance for. I always know you do a hell of a job getting here for us. Um, but if you want, again, we can talk through some of those bits and pieces. But appreciate the safety concerns. My kids play down around those parks all the time. I didn't realize that about the uh football box, you know, that's a thing. Like when those kids get have a
laugh and they lock a kid in there, like it's like, oh, take the door off the refrigerator type thing that we grew up with, right? So, thank you again for bringing this stuff to our attention. We can't be everywhere all at once, so this stuff helps when you come up and speak. Uh, Mr. Wilson, um, the Oprah requests that you filed were specifically for just a handful of us, not everybody on
the council, which was surprising to me. uh both for cannabis and tattoo. Um that cannabis one was uh explicitly explored last summer uh when Miss Corkran filed the Oprah request. So we can talk about that again if you like. Um and again over the last almost 5 years Dale I've been doing this. There's no shadow
government. That's a really odd thing to say. Um I do want to point out that it is to my knowledge that you are running for council in the fall. So if this is a way of you know generating or drumming up fodder for that effort let's let's have an open communication because if you are going to be a colleague of ours let's
all right perfect thank you very much um let let's have a conversation about it like you and I have had many conversations I I could use I could use the same Frank no come on come on disgusting Frank so is your shadow government comment sir so was your shadow government comment
guys stop anyway I would love to have a conversation with you, Mr. Wilson. I've always offered that to you. If you want to choose to continue to do it up there and say ludicrous things, by all means, you have my permission to do that, too. Um, so, M. Marshall, thank you. The, uh,
parking thing, as um, Mr. Alonzo had alluded to, we caught him a couple of minutes early ahead of the meeting. Um, so, Councilwoman Delray Con and I more than happy to look into that and figure that one out. Obviously, we will defer to the chief of police and Councilwoman Guzman for exactly why and how these things exist. Um but again we will do
the work to look into it. So thank you all very much. Thank you. Thank you mayor. Um I don't want to be duplicative of my colleagues comments uh almost all of which I share. Uh I I do want to specifically thank everyone for coming out and and uh participating. I
think it's extremely important and much appreciated. Just two brief things. U Mr. Dcastro your comment about the state requiring the adoption of this ordinance. Uh I'm familiar with this ordinance and I have discussed this as well. I'm not sure I would read it to say the state is requiring us to adopt uh anything specific, but uh I am glad
that uh you brought this up and I know that my colleagues are working on that. So, I'm also happy to lend my thoughts and look at that more specifically. Uh and then briefly, Mr. Sherro, you you mentioned short-term rentals and Airbnb at the beginning of your comments. Uh we are working on this and thinking through this, but I appreciate your perspective on that and we will u take that into
account. I've also heard that feedback from a number of other people. So, thank you. Thank you, Councilman. Um Mr. Wilson, the uh there's a uh the special counsel who handles the Opus. Um if you want to schedule an appointment through the
clerk's office with him, that's not handled by Mr. Bruno. Okay. Okay. We're going to move on now. Okay. Um thank you, Mayor. Um so I just I just wanted to uh reiterate, yes, I agree
with so much of what's been going on. and I have colleagues many of whom are far more engaged in some of these areas than I am. So I of course will defer to them but I I do want to make I I want to address two very specific things um with regard to um the request from
Indivisible. First of all, thank you for coming and sharing this and and um it has been my experience over the years up here that when there are these matters that are happening outside of us, right? Um, this is one of those moments where I say how privileged we are to live in this community because we have these
matters that are happening around us, right? And it raises our level of fear and concern of which I I I personally believe are warranted, right? Um, but I I want to put a pin in that thought for a second. I want to just change the
narrative for a second because often when people are listening to this um you know who are not in this room who are not really following the spiritedness of this dialogue or the responses. I I want to take a moment to acknowledge
how fortunate we are in this community to have Chief Russo and to have the police department that we have um and their not just their extraordinary commitment to our community. But over the many years, we have had a plethora of
situations that have happened outside of this burrow in the world at large. And we've had this level of raised concern, fear, genuine fear, and the number of times we've turned to our
local municipal police department and and I've been privileged to serve with Chief Russo for my entire tenure up here. Um, uh, Chief has always been responsive. He sat with us. You know, it's it's interesting. Um, I had
somebody outside of town say, "Oh, well, he must agree with everything." And I said, "See, that's the difference. It's it's not about whether he's agreeing or disagreeing with our position. My experience has always been that when we've asked um John or our OEM team to come together, it's always been about what is in the best interest and safety
of our community." And so that's where I talk about how privileged we are, right? And I don't want that to get lost in this message because it is very easy for to get caught up in the the the frustration of what's happening outside of here, which is what I clearly hear
from you and and I echo and appreciate immensely. But I also just want to I I want to reassure our residents that in this community there is an open dialogue that's happening with our uh police department and and my evidence of that,
right? Because I always think about how do I know something and do I have evidence of that? The way I know that there's evidence is when when there was a conversation that there could be a protest that was happening in our town. The again the dialogue wasn't, you know, oh my gosh, put up barricades, throw up
things, we're going to stop it. It really was how do we keep everybody safe that's participating in it because they have the right to to protest peacefully. Um and then also the other conversation that we don't often talk about up here and that is not about the people who are
doing it the right way. It is are those bad actors who target commun uh uh communities like ours and protests like this to try to make it something else to suit their narrative. Right? And so I wanted to take a moment because I agree with everything that
what's being said, but I just I don't want that to get lost in here because it is there's something to be said about the fact that I could pick up the phone and have a conversation with Chief or any member of this department, its leadership and our OEM team and and and
Bob and quite frankly this entire uh leadership structure of department heads and they come together and it is it is always with how do we you know keep us safe, right? And so if if that's our guiding principle, if that's our north star, then we're off to the right. We're
going in the right direction, right? So there's something to build upon is really what I wanted to share. And I didn't want that to get lost because there's always going to be somebody out there who says, "Oh, they don't care about our police." And and I can't I can't say that is farther from the truth. Not in this community. And I
won't allow that narrative to exist. So I want to put that on the record. Um the second is about the parking. And uh I am not I I'm admittedly I'm not privileged to driving up and down these streets trying to pick a sign and I'm not going
to do that. But what I will say, the one thing I did learn about this along the way um in a million of these meetings when we talk about uh the fact that we put up those parking signs for those three hours uh to try to stop uh folks
from parking on those streets because of uh utilizing mass transit or the train, the bus, whatever. Um do not assume that everybody who does that does not live in this town. And so residentonly parking, as it was explained to me, you could
say, "Well, we're going to make it resident only parking." It doesn't mean resident from your street. I could still be taking the the train but live all the way on the other side of town and I'm choosing to park in front of your house, right? And so that threehour window
mentality is to force people from taking advantage of of residents who live in that space. So that's what I know of it. I'm I don't know that I'm speaking directly to the sign in question here, but I I did want you to be aware that when we when we talk about residentonly
parking, it doesn't mean in front of your house on your street, right? It means anybody in the burrow can park anywhere in the burrow. And so that it doesn't always necess uh necess necessitate Thank you. um decreasing the challenge. We we might actually create
another one that we don't know about. Okay, I've spoken enough. Sorry. Thank you, ma'am. Thank you. We're going to move on now to resolutions. These are separate from consent. Council President, thank you, mayor. Uh resolution number
158 authorizing burough administrator to terminate the shared services agreement between East Rutherford, Carlstat, and Rutherford relating to the construction code official. Motion. I have a motion by the council president. May I have a second? Second. Second by Councilwoman Quatronone. Any questions or comments?
Seeing none, may have roll call. Council President McGau, yes. Council Done, yes. Councilman Quron, yes. Councilman Kley, yes. Councilman Erico, yes. Thank you. Next is resolution number 161, award of contract for building envelope repairs at Burough Hall in the
amount of 412,000. Motion. I have a motion by the council prom. I have a second. Second. Second by Councilwoman Quatron. Any questions or comments? Seeing none, may have a roll call. Council President McGowan, yes. Council Deone, yes. Council Clro, yes. Councilman Kley,
yes. Councilman Eric, yes. Thank you. Consented agenda items. Thank you, mayor. All all items authorized to be consent by the council will be enacted by one motion and these items are routine in nature. Motion. I have a motion by the council
president. May have a second. Second. Second by councilman Bel Ray Con. Any questions or comments? Seeing none, may I have a roll call? Council President McGowan, yes. Council Deborah Conn, yes. Counciloman Cotron, here it is. Uh, yes on all but the open
and closed meeting minutes from last session. Thank you. Councilman Kley, yes. Councilman Ero, yes. Thank you. Uh, we have some new business discussions. Um, as I stated earlier, the first one is the Reverend Ray
Frasier street dedication. Um, I assume we're all in agreeance on that. For just for the record, can we just put it on I know that you referenced it earlier, but since we're having a discussion, is it okay just to put it on the record that the idea is to um with
the consideration of uh naming Reverend Ray Frasier Way on Elm Street uh to honor the former councilman. Correct. at a time that is uh that works with the family
upcoming. Yeah. Upcoming. So, are we uh mayor, are we then asking since it's a discussion item, are we asking for council consent tonight to move forward with that consideration if that's so uh what would you like to change that and move that to a consent
item? I'm totally open to it. I would um I I first I'm just going to look down the deis to see if there's any council members that may actually have additional questions, but I am uh barring anyone raising their hand. Mayor, I would be comfortable making a
motion to name Elm Street and Rutherford after Reverend Ray Frasier. I have I have a motion by the council president to name to rename Elm Street after Councilman um Reverend Ray Frasier.
I have a second. Second. Second by Councilman Delray Con. Any questions or comments? Seeing none, roll call. Council President McGowan. Yes. Council Del Con? Yes. Council Kron, yes. Councilman Kley, yes. Council, yes. Thank you. Next item is the possible
amendments to the fees and enforcement of tattoo establishments. Yeah, I'll I'll discuss that, mayor. Thank you. Um, this is a pretty simple uh amendments to the body art establishment ordinance uh or tattoo
ordinance that was passed earlier this year and shephered by Councilman Kley. Um these amendments originate from the board of health who just want to make sure that the um license fee structure
and inspection regime is consistent with other similar establishments in town. So uh this these amendments would raise the um initial fee for a license to $500 from I think it's $ 250 now. Um and
would it would be 500 for renewals which are every year and then there would be a late fee schedule um the f you know the first month the the the license renewals are due on December 30th 1st of each
year. Uh if the um license renewal is a month late up to a month late it would be a $100 late fee. Two months late it would be $200 and three months or more it would be a $400 late fee. Again, that's consistent with the current late
fee structure in town. And finally, um they the board of health would like to reserve the right for inspect to inspect the bodyguard establishments as frequently as they deem necessary to protect the health of residents. Again, consistent with current uh regimes. Uh
so that's the proposal. Thank you, Councilman. Thank you, sir. Uh for what it's worth, these were discussed and brought before us by the board of health when we passed the ordinance on second read. Um councilwoman Quatron and I had discussed this. Uh we had asked that or the bureau attorney had asked that we waited for
the initial ordinance to hit the e-code and thus this is why it is coming up after the fact. Uh Councilwoman Catronone and the board of health have my full support on this for what it's worth. Thank you. Anybody else want to share anything? Council President,
just questions. Um so the the discussion so the requests being made are those that are being made by the board of health for us to consider to move forward with creating an ordinance for or for amending the ordinance.
It's an amendment. So this was discussed as uh we would make this an amendment um earlier on in the year when the first ordinance. If we go back and look at the minutes, um we at the time had opted not to to just move forward uh with the ordinance as a whole and then it was requested again by the board of health's
attorney. Um we looked at in writing, we went through our burough attorneys um came back as an okay once the initial ordinance had hit the E code. Um so that's where we stand and it's bringing it in line with everything that they have currently on
the books. Um so that's it. is um okay um so it's increasing the fees I mean we're at this time we're we're talking about a business I'm assuming so the fee already exists at that level for
for whatever reason when we initially wrote the ordinance that we passed months ago um it was half the for but forgive me for asking because I'm I'm clearly not getting it I apologize sure Since there's only one organization in
town that falls under this and we just approved it, what are we getting in line with the So, there are currently fees and and processes involved for nail salons and other similar, you know, organizations
that are governed like this. Now, this one falls specifically under body art shops, right? Right. So it is its own silo of a ordinance and for whatever reason at the time of its first and second read we had the numbers that didn't coordinate with the board of health by the time they had come back to
us with the like hey can you do this and bring it in line with everything else we have on our books. We were we were didn't want to push it down the road any further and so we had all agreed that like we'll just make an amendment uh as and when we get it our ducks in a row. Um, council, may I continue? I'm sorry.
Councilwoman, can you um So, now that I kind of got those two. Okay. Can you help me with the last one that you referenced about It sounds like a governance thing. It's it's effectively uh using random inspections as opposed to
appointment-based inspections, which is in line with much of the rest of the again, we didn't have that written into the initial ordinance. Um, we had learned about it after the board of health had reviewed and come back to us. So, I was more than happy to make that amendment. Oh, okay. We learned something new. This should be what we
do. And the the current language in the ordinance that we did pass says an inspection, an initial inspection in the first 90 days, right? But doesn't mention anything about random. And and my last question really is to the B administrator. Is there any areas
of concern that you would express whether or not we should be considering this request or or making the request to the attorney to begin pursuing those amendments? Uh, no concern from me.
Thank you. Anybody else? Okay. Um, I guess they'll get with the burough attorney and start working on creating the ordinance. Um, mayor, would would we make um would
we make a motion to have the burough attorney move forward with drafting the amendments for the existing ordinance if the council woman's willing to move that tonight? Well, it's a discussion item and that would be the next step.
Okay. I make a motion to have the burough attorney begin drafting um amendments to this effect. I have a motion by Councilman Quattro. May I have a second? Second. Second by Councilman Kley. Any questions or comments? Seeing none, have a roll
call. Council President McGawan. Yes. Council Deone. Yes. Council Quattro. Yes. Councilman Kley. Yes. Counc. Yes. Thank you. Uh now we're going to move on to the uh liaison report. Council
President, thank you, mayor. Um I I had the good fortune with um the the burough administrator to meet with the director of the Kip Center uh last week. Um we had a a productive conversation. We talked about some concerns at the Kip
garage, particularly that have been brought up by our seniors regarding regarding the cleanliness of the stairwell. um and also um the maintenance of the elevator. Um and I I just want to thank Kathy Babiello for
being such a great advocate for the members of Kip and for this community. She gave us some great feedback. I also want to thank Bob for uh taking the meeting and and really helping to facilitate some real quick, easy fixes that I I think she was able to bring
back to to her membership to ease their concerns about their safety. Um, and gosh, I I think I'm I'm going to cut it short for that tonight, mayor. That is all I have. What?
You're welcome. Councilman Del Con. Thank you, Mayor. Um, I just wanted to thank um all those involved in the festivities for July 4th. Um, I had the pleasure and um of of co-ming the baby
parade with Councilman Guzman, which is not a assignment I took lightly. Um, we told some terrible jokes and had some wonderful uh residents coming out with their children. It is happens to be that and the um parade at Halloween are
probably my two most favorite events in town. Um, so thank you to the recck department. They put in tons of extra time to plan those events for us and it takes a lot of coordination. Similarly, the fireworks that evening um were so well attended. There were probably
thousands of folks there at Memorial Field and um once again the wreck department along with DPW, the police department, the fire department as well as our ambulance uh EMS corps are always there on hand to make sure that everyone is safe. Um and it was a really really
beautiful day. So, I just wanted to acknowledge and thank all of those that make it possible for our community. It always takes a little extra work to put on big events and it's not lost on us. Thank you. Thank you, Councilman Quattro. I have nothing this week. Thank you.
Thank you, Councilwoman. Councilman Ko, thank you, sir. I'll keep it brief. Uh, one little update from the arts committee. Uh for those of you that have written in and inquired about and their disappointment in the um youth art month banner display, we are resurrecting it coming into the fall. So we are going to
be target for an October uh posting. You will start to see the marketing effort uh probably late summer as everybody comes back from their summer vacations and things of that nature, but I want to put it on everyone's radar because it obviously was very greatly missed, which was made us very happy on the arts committee. Um and again, my kids will
have their artwork right up there alongside everybody else's. So, uh, get your pens and your color crayons and inks out and paper and, you know, paint something down the shore and have it ready to fly high, uh, come this fall. All right. Thank you. Thank you, Councilman Erica. Thank you, Mayor. I want to join my
council colleague, Councilwoman Del Ron, in thanking the rec department and the DPW, police, fire, uh, first responders for the Fourth of July celebration. I just want to share a brief anecdote that I think uh, underscores how fantastic these professionals are. During the fireworks, um, uh, a girl, I think she
was maybe seven or eight, uh, came up to me and I think she had was lost. She she couldn't find her parents or her family and was, I think, scared from all the sound of the fireworks. Uh, and I directed her to, um, a nearby police officer. And, um, the way that they, our
police officers and first responders and the fire department all all cared for this girl who was lost and scared uh, was really fantastic and very moving. um they gave her water, they made sure she was safe. Uh they did everything they could to find her parents um and and were asking around and and making sure
that she was as safe as she could be and and happy given the circumstances. So, I just want to really thank our professionals for that. It's I think these small microcosms that underscore how fantastic our bureau is. So, thank you for that. Thank you, Bob.
Thank you, Mayor. Um, I just want to take this opportunity to uh acknowledge something that uh what many may not know. So, I think we're we're all aware how fortunate we are that we have uh a person in in John Russo who leads uh our police
department. Uh what many of you may not know is that for the last five years, he has dedicated himself to various leadership positions with the new New Jersey Chief of Police Association. For the last year of that five-year
term, he served at that organization's president. Uh, a year ago, I was honored and privileged to attend that swearing in with Mayor Nuni and council president uh, McGawan at a very overwhelming
ceremony. Um and it was quite evident uh how John is respected uh by his peers not only here in the state of New Jersey but uh there were national uh figures there as well. Uh this organization is not
just simply a a social organization. Uh this organization represents over 500 chiefs of police throughout New Jersey and they have a mission uh to improve leadership, to provide training, to be at the
forefront of law enforcement initiatives, uh to be at the forefront of crime legislation. And watching John over the last year uh be at the top of that organization was
quite impressive. Uh he has met with state leaders on these various issues. He has testified before our state legislatores. he has gone nationally and internationally uh to learn and to teach
uh these these law enforcement issues that that that are are facing the men and women of our department and those throughout our country. So, I just kind of want to take this opportunity because a week ago or two weeks ago, that term ended and and John's five-year
commitment to that organization, while officially over, uh I know John will never be not part of that group and he his hands will be with part of that organization for a long time to come. So, I wanted to take tonight and make this opportunity to congratulate John
Russo on his career achievement. Thank you, Chief. Thank you for your service. We've uh we've been through a lot and you've done so much for this town. So, we just really appreciate it. Move on to my mayoral appointments.
Uh Erin Pricino, assistant purchasing agent permanent status effective July 15, 2025 in accordance with the rules and regulations of the New Jersey Civil Service Commission. I'd ask for council consent. Yeah. Uh motion. Motion by council president. May I have a second? Second. Second. Second by Councilman Delray Con.
Any questions or comments? Seeing none, may roll. Council President McGowan, yes. Council Del Cohen, yes. Council, yes. Councilman Kley, yes. Councilman Eric, yes. Thank you. Next up, I have the summer camp staff bus drivers. Laura Carter,
Carmo, Sierra, and Carlos Durant. I'd ask for council consent. Motion. Motion by council president. May I have a second? Second. Second by council quattron. Any questions or comments? Seeing no may have a roll call.
Council president McGowan. Yes. Council Del Cohen. Yes. Council. Yes. Council Kley. Yes. Council. Yes. And I'll now open up for another hearing of citizens for agenda items and agenda items only. Frank Wilson 171 Montrov. This is a
rebuttal. Mr. Wilson, this is for agenda items only. Well, it's an agenda. He brought it up. No, it's not on the agenda, sir. So, that's a conversation you guys could have offline. Okay. Well, I believe it would be agenda if he brings it up brings it up here.
It's not, but you could feel free to speak at the next council meeting regarding it. Next council meeting. Okay. Um, we no longer have a closed uh session, so I'd ask for an adjournment. Motion. I have a motion by council president.
All in favor? I. Have a great night. Thank you. Yes, of course. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank