--------- Thank you everybody and welcome to the regular monthly meeting of the mayor and council Monday, April 28, 2025 being held at 6:30 p.m. And yes, I am wearing my wife's glasses because I can't find mine. Could you please read the role?
Mayor Nado. Yes. Council President McGawan. I'm I'm here. Mayor uh I'm so sorry and I'm present also. Sorry about that. Council Del Conn here. Council Gotronone. Yes. Councilman Kley here.
Councilman Ero here. Councilman Guzman. If you're willing and able, can you please stand for the salute to the flag? I alsy justice for all. Thank you everybody. We have um the provisions of the open public's meeting
act. In compliance with the open public meetings law chapter 231 public laws of 1975. Notice of this meeting was transmitted to the record in Herald News and filed with the burough clerk on December 23rd, 2024 and is posted on the bulletin board outside of Burrow Hall.
Thank you. We have two uh presentations or proclamations actually. Uh council president. Thank you, Mayor. Um can I ask the the mayor and council to join us down here at the Yes. In front of the desk, please,
everybody. Good evening everyone. Tonight, it's my honor to do the proclamation for the Rutherford Elks. Whereas, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks has designated May 1st through 7th as youth week to
honor America's junior citizens for their accomplishments and to give fitting recognition of their services to community, state, and nation. And whereas Rutherford Elks Lodge 547 will sponsor an observance during that week
in tribute to the junior citizens of this community. And whereas no event could be more deserving of our support and participation than one dedicated to these young people who represent the nation's greatest resource and who in
the years ahead will assume the responsibility for the advancement of our free society. And whereas our youth need the guidance, inspiration, and encouragement which we alone can give in order to help develop those qualities of character essential for future
leadership and go forth to serve America. And whereas to achieve this worthy objective, we should demonstrate our partnership with youth, our understanding of their hopes and aspirations and a sincere willingness to help prepare them in every way for the
responsibilities and opportunities of citizenship. Now therefore, be it resolved, Mayor Frank Nziato and the Burrow of Rutherford do hereby proclaim the first week in May as Youth Week and urge all departments of government,
civic, fraternal, and patriotic groups and our citizens generally to participate wholeheartedly in its observance. Can we please ask the ELK members to come up and [Applause] congratulations? Congratulations.
And now we have the uh administrators. 's uh budget presentation. Thank you, Mayor. Put this up on the TV at home. All right. Thank you, mayor. So, as uh you mentioned, tonight I'm going to present the uh calendar year 2025
budget, municipal budget for the Burough Rutherford, and also speak to our capital ordinances that are also on the agenda, which consists of our capital budget for 2025. Um, at the last meeting on April 14th, we introduced the budget. Tonight, I'm
conducting a public presentation of what that budget consists of. And on May 12th, uh, the there'll be a public hearing where the, uh, citizens have an opportunity to speak to it. Uh, our CFO will be present, and at the conclusion
of that public hearing, uh, the council will have an opportunity to, uh, vote and adopt the budget for the year. Uh these timelines are all compliant with New Jersey state statutes, so we're in a good place. In order to give you a snapshot of of
what the budget looks like for this year, we are uh looking at a a tax rate, municipal tax rate of 0.987, which is 98 cents basically per
$100 $100 of assessed value. Uh that is an increase of 1.96% more than last year. Uh if everyone recalls, we do have a uh we are restricted by a 2% cap with it with property rate uh tax levy I should say.
Um so we are well in you know compliant with that. Our ratables or are our assessed values for the year are up $6 million since last year. We're at 2.7 almost $2.750 billion in taxable properties here in the burrow of
Rutherford. And this year, the assessed value, the average assessed value of the homes in Rutherford is $439,500. Comparing ourselves from 2024, the rate last year was 0.968. As I just mentioned, we're at 0.987. So, a
little bit of an increase. The average assessed or average tax municipal tax bill for last year on assessed value would have been $4,25610. In comparison, this year that same house is 400 $4,33949. It's an additional
$83.38 uh in municipal taxes. Uh this municipal taxes includes the library levy as well. For those of you trying to understand how we calculate our tax rate, uh it's basically taking the amount to be raised by taxation. That's the amount of revenue that we're going to tax you this
year. Uh in this year's budget, it's 27,143,658, dividing it by that assessed value of ratables, 2.7 billion. Take that number, multiply it by 100, which gives you then the municipal rate. Then you can see how we take that in reality. Take that
439,500 of assessed value averaged home here in Rutherford by the rate of.987. Divide that by 100 gets you with a tax bill for the year $4,33949. That's on average about $36162 per month. Again, we're talking
just the municipal portion of your tax bill. Doesn't include the county, does not include the board of ed. Uh this portion of your tax bill is approximately 31% of it. The other 69% will consist of county schools, open
space, and the board of ed. Breaking it down even further, just looking at the 2024 levies versus the 2025 levies, what's been introduced in 2024. The total levies,
which is the property taxes collected, was 85,600,000 just about this year, you're looking at approximately 87,000, I'm sorry, 88 million in total taxes. Uh, if
you note the county and the county open spaces in red, it's because we don't have those numbers yet. I made an est projection of a 3% increase, but taking that estimate into consideration, you're looking at a a slight increase in the rate from
3.120 to 3.2. That's on $100 of assessed value. So, you can see a home last year assessed at $4395. They paid 13,700 in taxes. At this projected rate, we're looking at
$14,64 this year. approximately a $350 increase in the annual taxes. Looking at the pie chart, you just can see where your tax dollars go. You can see the largest portion of your tax bill is the school. It's approximately 59% of your tax bill. Uh
in blue is the Rutherford portion. You're looking at 29%. And then the smaller portions, you got the county, county open space, and the library. So, let's talk about the budget itself. You know, this year's budget is $40,759,410. Of that, we'll be asked to
raise 27,143,658 in property tax revenue. comparison to last year 2024 we collected 26.6 6 million this year 27.1 increase of $579,000 in compared to last year.
Again, these numbers include the library portion as well. Looking at the revenues within our budget, these are the main categories. This year, we're using $100,000 more in our surplus. Local revenues are up 330,000.
That's really the local fees, fines, parking revenues. You can see our state aid is down 144,000. Uh the reason for that is a year ago the state had some leftover COVID funding that they were able to distribute to the towns. Uh obviously
that funding has been exhausted. So we don't have the we can't anticipate that this year. UCC fees, that's usually that's the uh uh uniform construction code. That's basically the building department. You can see last year we anticipated
476,000 but we didn't realize that number and by law we can only anticipate what we realized. Fees were down last year and is still trending down this year. So we can only anticipate 385,000. Shared services agreement also down but not to be concerned that was an
agreement with uh Carlat. We share a public uh code enforcement officer, so you'll see a matching offset on the appropriation side. No damage to our budget. Grants, you see a big number down, don't be concerned about that. Last year, we
had the uh $5 million appropriation for Memorial Field. That's not something you get every year. Uh so that's not a concern. That's a an offset on the appropriation side as well. So no no harm there as well. uh our special items of revenue. You can see that's up a few
hundred,000. Uh that's really uh the funding from the liquor licenses that we've been selling, pilot revenue, hotel taxes, our metal ends tax sharing. So it was a good year last year. So we're able to do uh anticipate a little bit more this year. Uh then you see that it's
finalized with the uh receipts for delinqu taxes. That's funds from people who don't pay the taxes from the previous year. And then you get down to what's collected in taxation amount to be raised by taxation. Uh this first line is what Rutherford needs Rutherford Burrow and then what we collect for by
half of the the library which is 1.2 million. And that you total those two numbers and that gets to the 27 million that I've been talking about in the previous slides. Next slide just kind of shows you in the pie chart the revenues for the burrow. And as you can see, the
biggest portion is tax dollars, 63 and a.5%. Uh the second largest revenue item is our surplus. Third is our special items of revenue and then our local revenues. Just gives you a picture of
it's where where the budget is funded. Um this slide just gives you I want to highlight some of the specific revenues in these categories. Not all of them. Um it's not a complete list. So in the local revenues, you can see our court revenue is up. Uh you know, we've
seen an uptick in cases and fines and that's you know since COVID the courts have been kind of slow but they've gradually caught up and therefore our revenue has been gradually going up. Parking meters funding funding has gone up. Uh interest on investments we did
very well last year. Uh parking lot permits again another revenue that's gone up. Uh some of the special items of revenue I mentioned our metal ends tax sharing up significantly in compared to the previous year. Uh our pilot payments are gone up as well. Cable cable
franchise fee down and that's really due to people using streaming services now as opposed to to traditional Comcast and Verizon. So as that as you go to streaming services the burrow loses money. So I encourage you to get your Comcasting Verizon please.
uh hotel occupancy, you know, that's a good number to have. You know, people are are going out more now, going to the hotels, and you know, there's tax dollars that come our way every time someone rent reserves a room. So, encourage you to go to Rutherford Hotels as often as
possible. Lastly, uh the American Rescue Plan, you know, if you recall, that was uh funded during COVID. Uh we Part: 2
Go back. Okay. Local revenues. All right. So, I think I covered all that. Next, just grab that. Surplus. Uh, as I said, surplus was the second uh highest percentage on
our budget. And you can see we've been pretty consistent in our use within the budget each year. usually at 8.2% raise as high as 8.9 in 2022. Uh we've been pretty consistent. So I think that's a good pattern to show. Not really too
many dips and valleys right there. So uh I think we've been pretty prudent on how we've been managing uh that throughout the years. So I talked about the revenues. Let's talk about the spending side of the budget. You know, as you can see, uh
these are the main categories. of your salary and wages, they're up 2.6%. You know, funding for the library is up 2.7%. Our general expenses, this is our department expenditures just to operate,
you know, cleaning the parks and buying stationary, therefore on statutory expenditures, our insurance, our pension payments, you know, that is all up, you know, $631,000 or 3.71%.
professional services are down slightly. Our contributions remain the same. That's really our funding for the ambulance squad 55 kip. Our low sap to our firefighters. Uh you're looking at the miscellaneous that's down a little bit which is a good thing. Our debt
service up minor, you know, 85,000 3.5% overall. Our grants, I talked about the offset earlier on the revenue side. Here's the offset on the appropriation side. So really cancels each other out. So not a big concern. And then our reserve for uncollected taxes. You know,
each year we're required to budget funds in the event people don't pay their taxes. You never have 100% collection rate. You know, this is the funding. It's set by a formula based on the prior year's uh collection rate that we we have to budget for this year to make
sure our budget is fully funded. The next slide shows you, you know, the pie chart, you know, where your money's going. You can see uh general expenses is the big portion of the budget and then salary and wage. That's really just
what's keeping the burrow running uh dayto day. I want to give you I want to highlight some of this, you know, some of the general expenses for you. The first thing you see department equipment and support
2.83%. Not a big increase considering the rate of inflation right now. Everything else below that we have no control over. So when I tell you our budget has very little discretionary spending. This is the slide that I think
demonstrates that you know the insurance are the premiums what we get from you know the our insurance providers. Utilities are what they are. The PERS and PFRS, those are our pension payments. Those are numbers that were given to us by the state. You know, dumping fees, that's what it costs us
to, you know, to dispose of garbage. You know, social security fees to the utilities authority, sewage commission. You know, these are numbers that we don't have any control of. So, when you talk about we're going to cut cut, there's really not much to cut. The
department equipment and support is a bare minimum as it is. We provide a lot of services, a lot of programming and that is the area you know that funds all that. So you can see it's not a significant portion of our budget. I've highlighted the insurance
number which says 2.38%. And I want to share with you why I've highlighted that. Um we got lucky this year. That number really should be closer to 10%. because our our health care premiums are up about 12 13%. Our
you know property and casualty and liability insurance is up about 10%. And the reason why it's only reflecting 2.3 is that the insurance company had a an odd way of billing us in the past in 2023 you know the fourth quarter payment
was always due in January of the following year. Well, last year they made a decision. They wanted their quarterly payments within the year they're they're supporting it. So, we had to make five quarterly payments last year in a four month in in a 12-month period. Therefore, we had to pay more
last year than we did this year. So, we got like one quarterly payment less in this year's budget, which helped us out, thank God. But anyone who knows insurance costs are growing rapidly. Uh health care is is is out of control. Uh,
and so we expect that number not to be 2.38% next year. That number is going to be greater. So we, you know, I'm already giving you a heads up. We have some budget challenges for next year. Um, debt service, you know, pretty consistent, you know, for
the last five years. Um, considering that, you know, we issued debt to fund this beautiful building that we're in today. uh in 2019 before this building existed our debt service was higher than it is today. So I think uh you we're just demonstrating to everyone that you
know we are being very mindful and and how you know we do our planning here and uh we're trying to keep this number as flat as possible and to be uh as responsible to the public as possible. Speaking of debt, you know, I want to
speak to the two capital ordinances that are on tonight's agenda for introduction, which will be our capital programs for this year. Um, you know, as always, we we try and fund about a million dollars in in in street and sidewalk improvements. We're
targeting Fair View Avenue this year, Wood Street, and Irving Place. you know, you know, the the final decision will be made on how much we do based on the bids that we receive for the streets, but these are, you know, the three that we're targeting to get done this year.
This is in addition to what PCG is doing. They're ripping up, you know, you know, a quarter of the burrow and, you know, they'll have a whole repaving plan as well. So, there should be a lot of paving activity, uh, you know, throughout the year. Um, we have some vehicle acquisition planned. uh DPW
always got to keep them uh operating. They they provide valuable resources to us year round. Uh and whenever we buy vehicles for them, we always buy with in mind multi-purpose. Uh so the the vehicle the Ford F450 will also be used
during snow operations. Uh also uses a dump truck. So that that is a good purchase to replace aging equipment, recreation. you know, has requested a new K Cabota down there for Memorial Field as we expand programming and activities down there.
We got to keep them operating fully. And then the fire command vehicle, uh, we're looking to replace a 14-year-old SUV. Uh, it's it's done its time. Buildings and grounds, uh, always looking to keep burrow buildings, uh, in a good place.
We definitely need to upgrade our fuel depot. Um we had started charging uh our shared service talents a few extra dollars in recent years uh with this upgrade in mind. So some of that is already funded by the other two towns
that are are helping us. Uh we have some Tamlin Civic Center upgrades planned and uh and then we always keep a couple dollars to the side for some miscellaneous improvements that come up during the year that you can't plan for. They just happen. So in terms of
equipment, you know, fire department have to keep them uh you know their their equipment up to speed and up to code. There's about $129,000 in life safety equipment that they've requested recreation. Uh the K Cabota
gave them some accessories. Uh we will definitely use that in snow operations. We're going to do you know have a plow and a spreader and then also a broom added to that to help us wet the turf fields down there. Uh some new volleyball equipment. Uh DPWs asked for
some new automated carts for sanitation and recycling. Uh parking meters, we're in a lease to buy program with them. So that's another installment payment there. Uh as the burrow trees, we need a new wood chipper.
So we're funding that this year. And then you know throughout the year various computer equipment upgrades, you know, servers and stuff that are needed. We have funding for that. And then the last major thing is park improvements. 2.1 million is is is earmarked right
now. Uh really two million of that is really towards the completion of what we're doing down Memorial Field. Uh we've been fortunate enough to receive 8 millions from the state of New Jersey already in direct appropriations. Uh we need to show a little skin in the game.
uh this is our skin in the game that we are committed to finalizing uh that project that that they have been uh partners with. So that's the request tonight and then uh some improvements to the basketball courts down Wall Field. Uh we think it's timely as uh tomorrow.
As a matter of fact, the equipment is the new playground equipment is being delivered for Walls Field. So that install will probably take a week or so. So, uh, you know, your tax dollars at work.
Um, that's all I really have for tonight. Again, there's no official action being taken tonight on the budget. This is just a presentation. At the next meeting on May 12th, we will have a public hearing. Our CFO will be available if anyone has specific questions. And at the conclusion of the
public hearing, uh, the council will be, uh, able to vote on an option hopefully of the 2025 budget. Mayor, thank you. Council, thank you. And, uh, have a good night. You're going somewhere. Thank you for that,
Bob. All right, we're going to u move on to changes. Resolution number 113. We have revisions to amendments. The effective date will now change to May 5th,
2025. Also under consent, we'll be adding authorization item E to obtain the certification of eligibles for the title of police lieutenant. Also on consent agenda under authorizations, we'll be adding an item
F, a conditional leave of absence for Liam Simmons to be administrated in accordance with the applicable state and federal laws relating to military leave effective May 2nd, 2025. Nothing other. Thank you. Anybody
from the council of any changes? Seeing none. Missing mad. Sorry. May I have a motion? Motion. Motion by council president. I have a second. Second. Second by Councilwoman Quatron. Any questions or comments by
the council? Seeing none, may have roll. Council President McGowan, yes. Councilman Del Con, yes. Council Quatron, yes. Councilman Kley, yes. Councilman Ero, yes. Thank you. We have ordinances on first read.
Councilman Eric. Thank you, Mayor. Uh, this ordinance on First Street is amen amending our administrative code to better represent and memorialize our council agenda and procedures. This is a the followup to our discussion item uh from our last meeting. Missy, can you
please read the ordinance by title only? An ordinance to amend chapter 5 of the burough code entitled administrative code. 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 Councilman Eric. I have a second. Second. Second by Councilman Del
R Con. Any questions or comments? Councilman. Thank you, Mayor. I I just wanted to specifically thank uh our bur administrator, Bob, uh uh Bur attorney, Bo, and uh also our uh Missy for their input into this ordinance. Uh it was much appreciated and very helpful. And I
also want to thank all my council colleagues for their input and help over the past several weeks on this. Thank you, Councilman. May I have a motion? I mean, I'm sorry. Missy, could you please read the role? Council President McGowan, yes. Councilman
Deone, yes. Councilman Quadron, yes. Councilman Kley, yes. Counc. Yes. Thank you, Army. Next, we'll have uh Council President McG. Thank you, Mayor. Um this evening on first reading will be um an ordinance
regarding the capital pro um capital ordinance providing funding for various capital purposes for the bureau of Ratherford appropriating 130,000 for such purpose. Missy, can you read the uh ordinance by title only? An ordinance providing funding for
various capital purposes for the Burough of Rutherford and appropriating $130,000 for such purpose. Thank you. I make a motion to move that the ordinance be passed on first reading and advertise according to law. I have a motion by the council president. May I have a second? Second. Second by Councilman Kley. Any
questions or comments? Seeing none, may I have a roll call? Council president McGawan. Yes. Council Del Cohen. Yes. Council Quadron. Yes. Councilman Kley. Yes. Council. Yes. Thank you. Uh next is the bond ordinance authorizing various capital improvements uh for the burrow
appropriating 3.8 million. and therefore authorizing an issuance of 3.610 3,610,000 sorry bonds or notes um and finance part of cost thereof. Uh Missy, can you read the ordinance by title
only? a bond or authorizing various capital improvements in and for the burough of Rutherford in the county of Bergen, New Jersey, appropriating 3,800,000 therefore and authorizing the issuance of $3,610,000 bonds and notes to finance part of the cost.
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 the council president. May I have a second? Second. Second by Councilman Quattro. Any questions or comments by the council? Seeing none have a roll call. Council President McGawan. Yes. Council Del
Cohen. Yes. Council Quattro. Yes. Councilman Kley. Yes. Council. Yes. Thank you. Ordinance is on secondary. Councilman Co. Thank you, sir. Brief explanation. Um, effectively we are amending the ordinance which currently
allows for in the state of New Jersey what's classified as a class 7 cosmetic tattoo license to include class 8, which is an artistic body art studio. Um, I do want to include uh when we have a moment the explanation uh for a couple of questions that came up from the board of
health's meeting earlier in the week. U but Missy, could you please read the ordinance by title only? An ordinance to repeal chapter 69 of the burough code entitled permanent cosmetic establishments and to replace it with a new chapter 13 entitled body art establishments and to amend chapter 131
entitled zoning to permit body art establishments in certain areas under certain circum conditions. Sorry. Thank you, Missy. Uh, I make a motion to move the ordinance and be passed on second read and advertised according to law. Motion. I have a motion by Councilman Kley. May I have a second?
Second. Second by Councilman Delray Con. I'll now open it up for any um public comment on this subject and this subject matter only. Anyone wishing to speak, please step up the microphone. Seeing none, I'm going to close it to the public and open up for any council
comment. Thank you, sir. Uh, Bo, would you be willing to speak briefly on that email exchange we had regarding the three board of health questions? Yes. There was the one regarding the waterline with regard to the state.
Thank you, Bo. Thank you, Councilman. Thanks, Mayor. I just want to mention as the liaison to the board of health that I had talked to the burough attorney and to my council colleague about being involved in this conversation and
possibly still working on this on this language in the next you know couple months. So uh he said they both said that that was that was fine and that so I let's have that conversation in the next few months. Thank you council president. Thank you mayor. Uh,
first I'd like to thank my council colleagues. Um, Councilman Kley, thank you for shephering this process, taking all of the feedback that was given to you, um, and handling this with care and and doing due diligence. And I know that Councilman Ero um, helped you as well in
in some of the language in working with, um, our burough attorney. Um, and I I also want to acknowledge the fact that every member, every council member took time, particularly with this, to make sure that everybody was comfortable with where it was. And um, and so that took
longer than it should have. And and I know that I've had this conversation with some people already, but I am grateful that everybody put in the time and effort that it took to get it right so that we could move this today. Um, so I just wanted to acknowledge the good work of of my council colleague in
shephering this and bringing us back to to hopefully the a good beginning. Thank you. Thank you, Council President. Council, thank you, Mayor. Um, I too just wanted to acknowledge Councilman Kley in particular who's been ushering this forward for uh literally months.
And I think what makes Councilman Kley pretty unique uh for me as a colleague is that he is um relentless in getting and distributing information and answering questions. And I think that's a really important uh attribute in an elected official. So um I I really
admire him in in what he the work he's done here. The other thing I wanted to mention, um, while we all say and I do believe that we do not pass any ordinances to benefit any one business, I would like to acknowledge that, um, one particular business has been very patient as we've ushered through this
effort, and it's a family that's really committed to, um, bringing more art to the community. So, if you're not um familiar with the Pereas who own um the the current business that will be impacted and perhaps maybe they would be the only business impacted if other
shops choose not to come here um or it doesn't work out. But um if you haven't had a chance to visit Arcana, which is um or is it Arcana? I guess I it's Arcana. Um but if you haven't had a chance to spot talk to Anthony or Paula, you should. Um they have some really
beautiful ideas. they're residents of the burrow and they have some really beautiful ideas to bring the arts um more integrate the arts more fully into our community and uh with our children. So um I thank them for for bringing art in in their special way to the community
and I look forward to them educating us uh to the extent that folks like myself could definitely use more education on the arts uh for offering to do that um just because they love it. So thank you. Thank you. Um missing.
Council President McGowan. Yes. Council Del. Yes. Council Kron. Yes. Councilman Koko. Yes. Counc. Yes. Thank you. Uh next we have a uh or Councilman Guzman. um is not here. So, council
president. Thank you, mayor. Um on second reading this evening is the establishment of uh a handicap space on Arthur Drive. Um Missy, can you please read the ordinance by title only? An ordinance to amend and revise chapter 126 vehicles and traffic of the burough code of the burrow of Rutherford to
establish a handicap parking space on Arthur Drive. 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 project. Can I have a second? Second. Second by Councilman Delray Con. I'm now going to open this
ordinance up to the public for any public comment. Anyone wishing to speak, please step to the microphone. It's just for this ordinance. You you you're you're coming in next. Seeing uh none by the public, I'll open
up for any council comment. Seeing none, may have roll call. Council President McGawan. Yes. Council Deone. Yes. Council. Yes. Council Kley. Yes. Council. Yes. Thank you. You're up. Anthony Pereira, 134 Belfer Avenue. I
just want to thank all you guys for coming together. Make this possibility. Appreciate it. Thank you guys. Anybody else from the public wishing to speak? David Labbero 423 Styverson just had a
few questions. Um first has to do with the liquor license that's being passed tonight as I understood that that's associated with a business that's going to be a restaurant by our ordinance. So we're just wondering since it's not on the papers what restaurant that's associated
with. Uh second question is uh as far as the bonding ordinance that goes on there is listed about non-vehicle equipment. I think nonvehicular equipment and my understanding that was that when things
are bonded they're associated with the life expectancy of the equipment that's purchased. And in here it's got 13 and a half years almost. And then it's about buying things such as volleyball
equipment. I don't think that's something that we would typically bond. Um, computer equipment, I don't think really last 13 years. Um, a wood chipper. I just question about how many of these we already have because I saw out last night one that looked like
pretty new um on Pure Pont taking down some down trees. And then the other question I had, if you'll bear with me for a moment, oh, it had to do with something I was mentioned last
week or last meeting about utility costs. And so I have a question about us paying for lighting in the town. And if you walk down Park Avenue, you'll see we have various
lighting that is provided that uh is used to illuminate private property. For example, uh next to Steven Andreas, there's a lighting that shines onto their parking lot off
pole. There's lighting on Dairy that shines onto their parking lot. There's a new bagel place that has two very bright lights coming on now that come lot to their property that wasn't there before
it reopened. So, I'm just wondering if those are our lights and then if so, why are they illuminating private property or somehow I'm not sure how they would be needed for the private owners. So, those
are the questions that I have this evening. Thank you very much. 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 for administrator? Uh with regards to the
liquor license that is associated with Mambbo at Empanada on Union A. Uh with regards to the capital uh the bond ordinance, all this has been vetted through our bond council. He has made the determination the list of equipment
that we've given him is eligible under the law. And with regards to the lights and private property or PCG billing, uh, I'll check with PSG tomorrow and ask him to do a little research for me to see who's paying that bill. Thank you.
Thank you. Uh resolution separate from consent. Um resolution number 115 awarding plenary retail consumption license with conditions. Motion. I have a motion by the council president. May I have a second? Second. Second by counciloman quatronone. Any questions or
comments by the council? Seeing none may roll call. Council president McGawan. Yes. Counciloman Del Rone. Yes. Council. Yes. Councilman Kley. Yes. Council. Yes. Council President. Thank you, mayor. Next is a consent agenda. All items
authorized to be consented 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 I have a second? Second. Second by Councilman Delray Con. Any questions or comment? Seeing none, may have a roll call. Council President
McGowan. Yes. Counciloman Delray Con. Yes. Council Quadron? Yes. Councilman Kley? Yes. Council Eric? Yes. Thank you. We have nothing on new business discussion. Uh we'll move to liaison assignments. Council President.
Thank you, Mayor. Um first I I want to start with some I think amazing news. Um uh in January we did a uh town hall and some uh information sessions to the community as we worked with our uh grant
writing team at Bruno and Associates um and certainly through the Burough administrator's office and and all the related offices um to move forward with a Jake Law application for um a project known as
Tamblin together, which was uh creating a play space and on at Tamlinfield on the other side of town um that is fully accessible and really addresses the needs and the concerns um and the
efforts to reach every child in this community. and uh my colleagues were in great support and put a lot of great effort and I am ecstatic to share with on behalf of the access for all committee and the mayor and the council that we were recommended for funding for
the full amount of $536,000. Um this is this was an incredibly competitive grant. Um, I think it speaks volumes about how Rutherford stepped up in the surveys that we asked them to fill out, their honesty and their feedback which really
led and guided this application. And most importantly, when you look at just the sheer volume of folks who filled this out, I think it was a real bellweather moment to the funding um source about our commitment. And so um I
want to thank everybody who was involved in this. Now we wait for and now we've been recommended. Now we wait for the allocation. Um that's another process as I'm sure. Um but nonetheless uh the fact
that we are continuing um our commitment uh to creating uh playgrounds um that revitalize our parks and really address the needs of every individual in our community uh regardless of ability.
I think is is just astounding. Um and it can't come at a better time as we're uh we're rounding the corner on our 10th year um for access for all. So, Mayor, thank you for allowing me to share that good news with everyone. Um and there'll certainly be way more to come on this,
but uh this this was huge. Um this this next one I I just uh mayor, I'm going to ask for a moment of personal privilege. Um, you know, last week it it's hard for me right now because on a whole lot of
levels, but um on the way in somebody said, "I can't believe you're here tonight, Stephanie." And I said, "Well, two reasons. One, this this moment of sharing that our community is so committed to individuals with all abilities."
Um, and it is autism awareness month, right? So, we we are in the throws of this. Um and so how disheartening when the secretary of um the United States Department of Health and Human
Services chooses this month when we are focused on celebrating um and acknowledging the and championing individuals with disabilities um to make very I believe irresponsible
statements um about individuals with disabilities, particularly with autism, and and reference them as destroying their families. That's a direct quote. Uh that statement is categorically untrue. It is
hurtful. It's hateful. It's divisive. And it was not lost on me that tonight I was announcing that we were the recipients of this funding for an inclusive park to celebrate what makes us different, right? That's part of the
fabric of this community. And I thought, good on us. Good on us for not allowing people in positions of power to dehumanize individuals who need us to champion them. So, uh, let that just be a moment to remind
us that when we have these opportunities to talk about championing individuals that do not have a voice, this is bigger than just somebody sitting up here and trying to make some kind of whatever statement. It's about
being committed as a community to this ideology. It's more than a flag. It's more than a statement. It's more than some post on the way in the town that's whatever color it is telling people it's something we believe. And I'm so incredibly proud that we're going to
keep championing the good. So, um I lead with that because I think I've really tempered my anger actually. Uh it was a lot. But I'm tempered because in addition to getting this funding, the last few weeks have been a
real challenge for the McGawan family. And I listened to those statements about how someone is not they're destroying a family. And yet for three weeks I have watched a community lift my
family lift my husband and I, my daughter, my son. And I thought that is not that's not who Rutherford is. I am so proud. I am so honored. More
importantly, I am so humbled for the extraordinary kindness, love, care that has been bestowed to us. It was a dark few days. Uh, but the sun's coming through
the clouds. And so, mayor, I apologize for taking my time under my liaison, but I just I just really needed a moment to say thank you. Jeff and I have loved this place our whole
lives. I have never I have never experienced anything. I hope that no one ever experiences the why we got there. But wow, do I hope you experience the love. It was incredible. It is
incredible. So, for all the people who have cooked and have now spoiled my daughter to think that this is what real good food tastes like, uh, I'm in big trouble because we all know the cooking is not my gift. Um, and all joking aside,
um, I I am profoundly grateful and I will continue to give my heart and soul to this place because you've lifted me to a place I didn't know that I could go. So, thank you. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Council President.
And, you know, everybody stands behind. Thank you, Councilwoman Del Rico. Thank you, Mayor. Um, a few, um, items of business for the green team, if I may. Uh, the
repair cafe, uh, which happens quarterly, I believe, is happening on May 17th at the library. For anyone that's not familiar, the repair cafe is when volunteers, talented volunteers from the community uh gather with the green team to repair pretty much
anything you can think of in your home that's broken. Um I will be bringing my slow cooker, which my husband claims he didn't break, but is no longer working, and he was the last one to use it, so you do the math. But we're going to bring it there and hope that they could fix it. Uh it's from 11:30 to 3:30 on
Saturday, May 17th at the library. last repairs will be taken at uh 3M. The other thing I'd like to mention about the green team is just an acknowledgement um of the burough administrator and uh the department of public works, particularly Chris Sidler, who has partnered greatly with the green
team. Um, for those that aren't familiar, the green team has some of our uh, brightest and most committed uh, individuals, residents who are committed to sustainability and keeping this place beautiful and keeping the earth beautiful. And quite frankly, and um,
both Bob and Chris have given the green team a tremendous amount of time and attention over the past few months um, on some varying projects that they're really interested in spearheading. Not the least of which is um I know there's a lot of uh Facebook fodder about uh gas
blowers for leaves, but we do now have our uh Department of Public Works committing that when their gas blowers uh peter out, we will replace them with electric blowers. So that seems like a small thing, but it's actually a very big deal to the green team and their efforts. Um they're also working on a
community compost bin. Um if you have any questions about that, you can reach out to me or to the green team. basically it will be a central place where you can deposit your compost. Um and the burrow is going to allow us a small space or allow the green team a small space to put that bin. Um so
things like that again they seem small but um they really have a wonderful impact on the community overall. Uh similarly and it's somewhat uh connected to the green team. Um, as many of you know, uh, the burrow in particular, a resident named Jim, uh, Jim Linselada is
a representative at TANK, which is the Teeterborough Aircraft Noise Abatement Advisory Committee. Uh, the mayor appointed Jim to replace Paul Griffo, who had been a wonderful representative for for quite some time. I've given uh quite a bit of attention to Teeter
issues um because the green team has raised it as well. Jim and I had a pretty long conversation at the end of last week and he's pretty excited about um really digging in and helping us get some remedies to some of the noise issues. And and a piece of advice that
Jim gave that I would share um is that your complaints matter on the TANK website. It's not necessarily the number of the complaints. So it wouldn't matter as much if I as a resident complained every day myself, but it's the breath of complaints. So, if we can get multiple
residents to file those complaints online, it's pretty easy to do, and I can put the website in my newsletter blurb this week. But Jim um really stressed that the best way to address uh the noise concerns related to Teeter is
to file those complaints. They um the committee does um really look to those as a as a barometer for um how unhappy we may or may not be. So, I'm I'm really looking forward to partnering with Jim. Um, I I would be remiss in not calling
out Lois D. Tomaso, who is a resident that has given this a lot of attention for far longer than I have, and Jim is well aware of partnering with her as well. Um, and I think that is it. Thank you, mayor. Thank you, Councilwoman. Councilwoman Quroom. Thank
you, Mayor. I don't have anything on my liazison assignments, but I do want to return to uh my council colleague Stephanie McGawan's great news today. I'm thrilled that um we we got some positive news about the upgrades to Tamblin Field. I
grew up close to Tamlin Field and it's always it has never gotten as much attention as Memorial Field. Um and I'm just thrilled. It's it's it's a special place for me. I'm thrilled that we're going to do those upgrades in the right way and I think thank you for all your
hard work and passion about this. Um, you did it the you know the survey was was incredibly helpful, incredibly informative and really showed the need and the support in town. I think that was important. I also want to to to also
agree with you that I was blown away by the support that that that came around your family that supported your family in the last few weeks of hardship. Uh the small town was just so incredible, so loving, so giving. And just watching
that was was very powerful. And I saw how it lifted you up and it lifted all of us up who were worried about you and your family. And I'm glad that you mentioned the horrible hate that's going on in this country right now because I've seen there there's just
been so many attacks on vulnerable communities and vulnerable people by this administration. And I've seen so many on the news, so many small communities like Rutherford rising up and defending people and protecting people and
blocking, you know, local families from being deported or asking for their return and succeeding in getting their return. And then when the the secretary of HHS said something, you know, he wanted to set up a registry for autistic
people, which is the most horrifying thing I can't even imagine. But people rose up and people came to the defense of, you know, members of their community who they love and who they value and as you said so
eloquently, you know, who really contribute and are just, you know, beautiful, wonderful, incredibly valuable people. Everybody rose up. Everybody was horrified by this. And he rescended this. He reversed himself. They reversed
themselves. So activism works when when communities rise up to support our vulnerable members and our valuable members. It works. And I just want to encourage everyone to keep it up and to keep the faith that this kind of hatred that we're experiencing right now. Um
does not have to be be what we turn into. We are better than this and Rutherford and other communities like us are showing that. So thank you all. Thank you Councilwoman. Councilman Kley. Thank you, sir. Nothing on my uh committee assignments this evening.
However, uh just a brief moment of introspection and and uh kudos to my colleague, Councilwoman McGawan. Um I know you've been under great duress over the last few weeks, but the fact that you still shepherd through this project that benefits the community the whole is
a testament to who you are. And so, just kudos again on that success and the success of your little ray of sunshine poking through. Thank you. Thank you, Councilman Councilman Ero. Thank you, Mayor. Um, I also want to echo my colleagues um excitement and
enthusiasm for this great grant application and fantastic news and also for your strength during this difficult time. It's been inspirational um to all of us and to me personally. Um I also want to congratulate Grace Craze, which is a new chuterie place that opened last Friday. Some of us were there and I wish
them the best of luck. It was a fantastic grand opening. Um I want to remind everyone that Mother's Day is coming up. It's uh Sunday, May 11th, and a lot of local businesses are having um special promotion, celebrations, things like that. So, please check that out. And also, congratulations to the Rutherford Library Foundation, which is
having their gala on Saturday. Uh I hope that's a great success and a great fundraising opportunity for the foundation. Thank you, council. We're going to move on to me. Uh I have some appointments tonight. Uh,
Thomas Frederick, Nicholas Valentine, Valente, I'm sorry, and James Verdino, temporary DBW seasonal workers. Um, please see the attached memos. I'd ask for a motion on that. Motion. Motion by council president. May
have a second. Second. Second by counciloman del. Any questions or comments? Seeing none, may have a roll call. Council President McGowan, yes. Counciloman Deler Con, yes. Council Clone, yes. Councilman Kley, yes.
Councilman Eric, yes. Secondly, I have the summer camp staff for 2025. Please see the attached memo. I'd ask for a motion. Motion. Motion by council president. I have a second. Second. Second by Councilwoman Quatron. Any
questions or comments? May roll call. Council President McGowan. Yes. Councilwoman Del Cohen. Yes. Councilman Clatron. Yes. Councilman Kley. Yes. Councilman Eric. Yes. Thank you. I'll once again open this up to the public for the hearing of citizens regarding
agenda items and agenda items only. Anyone wishing to speak? Seeing none, I'm going to close it to the public and open up for any council comment. Seeing none, um going to ask for an motion.
Motion by council president. All in favor? I have a great night. Try to get some sleep. Council president