All right, we're going to go uh live short, very shortly, like right now. Everybody good? Missy, could you please call the role? >> Mayor Naziato >> here. >> Council President McGawan. >> Councilman Kley. Councilman Ero
>> here. Councilman Guzman >> here. >> Councilman Deon >> here. >> Councilman Mazone >> here. >> Thank you. And I left off the part where it's our regular monthly meeting of the mayor and council. Monday, June 22nd, 2026, starting at 6:31.
>> I got lost in it because these library people don't want to be quiet after they get out of the library. If you're willing and able, can you please stand for a salute to the flag? Pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the
republic for it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Missy, could you please read the provisions? In compliance with the open public meetings law chapter 231 public gloves of 1975 notice of this meeting
was transmitted to the record and herald news and filed with the burough clerk on November 21, 2025 and is posted on the bulletin board outside of burrow hall. >> Thank you Missy. Uh tonight we have one presentation proclamation.
Roa Portugal where are you? Councilwoman Delray Con. >> Thank you, Mayor. Um, I'd like to read the mayor's proclamation for Miss Portugal. Whereas, Roa Portugal has been
a professional librarian for 50 years. And whereas Roa has been employed as a valued member of Rutherford Public Library staff since 1994. And whereas Roa has served as a senior reference librarian at the Rutherford Public Library since 2007.
Whereas in 2007, Roa was nominated for Book Pages annual spotlight award. And whereas throughout her time working for the Rutherford Public Library, Roa has used her unparalleled research skills in genealogy and local history to help
residents learn about themselves and their environment. Sorry, that made me tripped up. Sorry. And whereas Roa served on the Burrow of Rutherford's World War I centennial. remembrance committee in 2017
and whereas Roa's re research skills were integral in guiding the burough's World War I centennial remembrance committee. Now therefore, be it resolved on behalf of the Burough of Rutherford, Mayor Frank Nuniato wishes to express
our sincere appreciation to this extraordinary woman who has done so much for her fellow citizens throughout her life. Thank you, Roa. On behalf of the mayor and council, could you could you all Roa, could you please step forward with the rest of
your crazy crew? >> Congratulations. Thank you so much for your service. >> Oh my goodness. >> Congratulations. Thank you very very much. >> Congratulations. Thank you so much. >> I'm thinking about the picture.
>> No, you're fine. I just I'm like nobody can see my Have you been in enough congratulations? Congratulations for being done for us. >> Thank you. >> It's my home, too. Scissors down.
Thank you guys. >> Missy, could you u please do the review? >> The only item I have is going to be adding a consent agenda item under authorization. The porchfest date will be October 17, 2026.
Other than that, I have nothing. Yes. >> I ask for council consent. >> Motion. >> Motion by Councilman Guzman. >> Second. >> Second by Councilman Mison. There's only two of you down there. I should have figured
that one out. Any questions or comments? Seeing none, I have a roll call, please. >> Councilman Erico, >> yes. >> Councilman Guzman, >> yes. >> Councilwoman Deler Conn, >> yes. >> Councilman Mazone, >> yes. >> Thank you. Ordinances on first reading.
Councilman Guzman. >> Thank you very much, Mayor. I have ordinance on first read to repeal handicap space on Montrose Avenue. Missy, would 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 burough of Rutherford to repeal a
handicap parking space on Montrose Avenue. >> Like to move that the ordinance be passed on first reading and advertised according to law. >> I have a motion by Council Guzman. May I have a second? >> Second. >> Second by Councilwoman Delray Con. Any questions or comments?
>> Seeing none, may I have a roll call, please? >> Councilman Erico? >> Yes. >> Councilman Guzman? >> Yes. >> Councilwoman Delray Con? >> Yes. Council Mazone. >> Yes. >> Thank you. Next, Council Mone. >> Uh, thank you, Mayor. Um, this evening I
have a ordinance on first reading amending the mobile food truck ordinance. Miss, if you could please read the ordinance by title only. >> An ordinance to the burough code of the Burough Rutherford Save New Jersey regulating mobile retail food vendors within the Burrow of Rutherford
establishing licensing for requirements, operational standards, and penalties for violations thereof. Thank you. I'd like to make a motion to move the ordinance be passed on first reading and advertised according to law. I have a motion by council me. May I
have a second, please? >> Second. >> Second by counciloman del. Any questions or comments? Seeing none, may I have a roll call, please? >> Councilman Eric, >> yes. >> Councilman Guzman, >> yes. >> Councilwoman De Con, >> yes. >> Counciloman Mone, >> yes.
>> Thank you. Uh, next I have a U ordinance by the Councilwoman McGawan. Um, standing in will be Councilman Guzman. >> Thank you, Mayor. I have a salary ordinance. Uh,
excuse me. That'll be all right. Um, ordinance to for police captain, deputy police chief, and chief. Uh, Missy, could you please read the ordinance by title only? and an orders to amend and supplement an orders entitled ordinance regulating the employment tenure and discharges of
certain officers and employees of the bureau of Rutherford under the provisions of the civil service act of New Jersey number 3598-22 adopted on February 14th 2022 >> motion that the ordinance be passed on first reading and advertised according to law >> I have a motion by the council may I
have a second please >> second by council del any questions or comments seeing none may have a roll call Councilman Ero, >> yes. >> Councilman Guzman, >> yes. >> Counciloman Del Cohen, >> yes.
>> Council Mone, >> yes. >> Thank you. I will now open it up for hearing of citizens. Anybody wishing to speak? >> Hi, Wendy. >> Uh Wendy Armacost, you can come up. Thank you. Push back. So close. Uh Wendy
Armicost, 129 Maple Street. Um in 2022, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection added a requirement that municipalities are required to adopt and enforce an ordinance to control tree removal and replacement, to reduce storm water and pollutants, and to promote infiltration
of rainwater into the soil. This ordinance would apply to trees on public and private land. The ordinance was supposed to be adopted by May 1st, 2024. The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection has prepared a model ordinance which municipalities can tailor as they see fit. Where is
Rutherford's ordinance? I know the Sha Tree Commission has prepared an ordinance, but his status is unclear. I've been told it's with the state, it's with the lawyers, etc. But the bottom line is this ordinance is two years overdue. Lynhurst has one, East Rutherford has one, Wallington has one.
As far as I know, the ordinance hasn't even made it to the council for discussion yet. Meanwhile, trees are being cut down left and right all over the town, especially when homes are constructed or renovated. Besides being beautiful, trees are very important. They provide essential habitats for local fauna. They keep our houses cooler
so we use less air conditioning. And perhaps most importantly, and the reason that New Jersey requires this, is they retain vast amounts of water. There are enough homes and streets in this town that flood. Every tree taken down and not replaced increases the chances of flooding. Where is this ordinance? who
is making sure it's moving along in the process. >> Thank you, Wendy. Anybody else from the public wishing to speak? >> I'm now uh going to close it to the public and open up for any council comment. Councilwoman,
>> thank you. Um I do my understanding is that the ordinance is with the Shade Tree Commission. Unfortunately, our liaison for the Shay tree commission isn't here tonight. Um, but any one of us, I'll make a commitment to um speak to Matt and and try to understand and
then one of us can certainly reach out to you. Um, but I unless one of my council colleagues knows the status. I do know it's with the Shay Tree Commission, but I don't know the current status. So, um, you have my you have my word that one of us will get back to you once we can connect with Matt
>> Councilman. Yeah. >> Thank you, Mayor. um similar comments to my colleague, but uh I'll I'll defer to our borough attorney who I believe may have a little bit more information this. I spoke to him about this uh somewhat recently if he has any context. >> Yes. And and thank you uh for your comments. We
considerable amount of work has been done on uh proposed ordinance language. Uh we I think at this point are waiting on comments from the Shade Tree Commission. Um but you know once we get
some direction uh from them who you know I'm sure we'll have a lot to say we are ready willing and able to to move uh the ordinance so long as it's the will of the governing body. >> Councilman thank you mayor uh Wendy.
Thank you very much for coming in today and bringing this uh to the table and to our attention. Very much appreciate it. Um, I will uh definitely be poking my nose into other people's business here uh to figure out what's going on and where we
can uh where the delays are, if there are delays, what concerns may be about getting this done. But uh I certainly appreciate you coming in and uh I will be talking to some of my colleagues in our B administrator about this. Thank you so much.
>> Thank you. >> Anybody else? Thank you, Wendy. And as you can see, the attorneys will be working on it and we will follow through. >> Consent agenda items. Councilman. >> Thank you very much, Mayor. All items authorized to be consent by the council
will be enacted by one motion. These items are routine in nature. Motion. I have a motion by the acting council president. Any qu anybody? I'm sorry. May I have a second? >> Second. >> Second by council column. Any questions
or comments? >> Seeing none. I have a motion. Um, sorry. Could we go for a vote, please? >> Councilman Ero, >> yes. >> Council Guzman, >> yes. >> Counciloman Del Rone, >> yes. Council >> Mone, >> yes. >> Thank you.
>> Nothing on new business. uh comments. Councilman Erica. >> Thank you, Mayor. Um I first want to thank our DPW or police fire first responders for their efforts um with our recent World Cup games. I know as we've
all been aware uh our uh first responders and uh uh whole bureau staff has been taxed by uh these events and there's one of course imminently happening at Medlife Stadium uh as I'm speaking. uh are about to happen and I just want to express my sincere thanks
uh to everyone involved uh uh in the burrow for their work here. I think it's been fantastic and things have gone from a resident's perspective at least uh I think as smoothly as they possibly can. Um so thank you all for for your efforts here. Uh I want to remind everyone that the mayor's wellness bike ride is this
Wednesday, that's uh the 24th, leaving at 6:30 from Burough Hall and everyone's encouraged to participate uh and to bring a helmet if you choosing to do that. Um we uh in particularly are having fireworks this uh s uh Sunday,
June 28th at uh Memorial Park. We also have a special celebration for the 250th uh which I hope you all will come out and uh join us for. It should be a very fun event. U Thank you. >> Thank you, Councilman Councilman Guzman.
>> Thank you, Mayor. Um and regarding my assignments, I have nothing new to report. However, I would like to congratulate uh uh the small village that put together the dining between dining out the soccer tournaments from our volunteer committee, our DPW which
done an amazing job uh setting up the soccer. Um I'd like to special call out to Matt Arian for his efforts and always there to contribute to the burrow as well as our communications director. Appreciate your help. And last but not least, our chamber of commerce for
always doing an outstanding job. Um it was an amazing event, a packed event. It's uh what uh Rutherford stands for and it's something to be very very proud of. So thank you to all our services that took part and uh can't wait to till it happens again. Thank you very much. That's all I have.
>> Thank you, sir. Councilman Del Recon. >> Thank you, Mayor. Um in addition to our fireworks happening on Sunday evening, um our annual baby parade will be happening on Sunday morning. Um, you'll all be It's Sunday, right? >> Yes.
>> Okay. Sorry, everyone was looking at me. I got nervous. I was like, "What happened?" Um, so if you'd like to participate in the baby parade, it is one of my favorite events of the year. Um, you can decide whether it's a good thing or a bad thing that Ray and I will once again be ming that event. Jokes and
all. Um, we ask that you pre-register if you would like to join in. Um, you just have to sign into Recesk through the recck department or I'm sure you can go down to our um, our personnel at the recck department. lineup is at 9:30 on Elliot and then the parade will proceed at 10 am. So please, even if you're not
participating in the parade, um it is a wonderful, wonderful thing to witness. It really is uh quite joyful. And then as Councilman Ero said, we will have fireworks in the evening where my understanding is there will be food trucks this year, a beer tent, some uh cornhole tournaments. So it should be
really uh quite spectacular for the 250th anniversary. Um, with regards to the World Cup, we just received notice today that Bergen County is doing a World Cup ticket lottery for Bergen County first responders, which I think is pretty uh, wonderful. So, if you are
a first responder and you'd like to um, try to sign up for the lottery, you can go to bergenworldcup tickets.com and then you can enter the lottery that uh, that would be at that website. Um, all they ask is that it is you are a Bergen resident who is an active first
responder in Bergen County. So, if you'd like to try for that lottery, I encourage you to sign up. Um, I wanted to take a moment to uh congratulate our graduates. Uh, Rutherford High School graduates tomorrow. Um, but whether you
are a Rutherford High School graduate or a graduate that lives in Rutherford, um, we wish you well. We wish you luck and we congratulate you. These milestones are really quite meaningful. I wish everyone good weather tomorrow at the uh high school graduation here in town. Um
just looking at my list. Oh, I wanted to congratulate the Rutherford Arts Council on their very first and I hope of many uh ribs and riffs which was held on Saturday evening at Jim Dandies. Uh Ribs and Rifts was a live band. Um, it was
the instructors from Rutherford Rocks who were the live musicians who allowed participants to sing karaoke to a live band. It was phenomenal. Like I I cannot stress enough how good it was. Um, and it the the place was packed. So many
people sang. I did not. That was best for everyone, but I enjoyed it thoroughly. And um, I I am assured that they will be doing those events again. So, if you'd like to participate, if you love karaoke or you just want to hear some live music from people in town that you um will clearly recognize, um we had
Browneyed Girl by none other than Dan Meredith. So, it was really quite fantastic. Um, and finally, I just wanted to mention, um, because Bob and I spoke about it earlier today, as some of you recall, um, we were granted $600,000
grant, um, from the Department of Transportation going towards, um, improvements on Union Avenue, particularly with pedestrian safety and some streetscape stuff. Um, that process is a long one like most government grants. Um but the pro the point of the process we are at right now is um our
burough administrator is meeting with potential design firms. So part of uh the requirements of the grant is that we choose from five design firm uh we choose three we get three from five design firms for us to choose from um with regards to who's going to actually
design the project. So Bob has one more firm to reach uh to meet with but we are steadily moving along um which for me is very very exciting. I've wanted uh and I know that other council me council members have wanted uh improvements at UNI in Avenue for a long time. So, it is
underway. Uh we're just going through the process and I thank the burough administrator for that. And finally, um dining out was absolutely spectacular. I admittedly did not understand how we were going to play soccer games on Ames Avenue, but it worked and it worked well. Um I loved seeing my red-faced
nephew running down uh the street to go to his game. Um, so it was really special and I think a lot of people were disappointed that we couldn't do more dining outs, but I have to say if we were going to do one, uh, we really hit it out of the park. Wrong sports reference for the World Cup, but it we
got a goal. >> Okay. Um, that's all I have. Thank you. >> Thank you, Councilman Mison. >> Thank you for my liaison assignments. I just wanted to um acknowledge DPW's efforts. Uh weather's been a little crazy these days and we've had several large trees down and I know uh DPW is
always there to step up and to support our residents in our burrow. Um and they continue to do that. So I just wanted to publicly uh thank them for that. Um I would echo what my colleagues said about a very successful dining on the A. Um again to the chamber, our PIO, um
everyone who collaborated on promoting that great event, kudos. um as far as FIFA um police, fire, EMS, uh ongoing effort and uh we certainly appreciate it. Um looking forward to the 250th uh celebration uh this Sunday with my
colleagues and all of our residents. And finally, I'll extend my graduate my congratulations um to everyone from both Union School and RHS graduating. So, uh good stuff. Congrats to all. Thank you.
>> Thank you, Councilman. Um my report I have a couple of appointments uh Bri Aorio and Raquel Luna to the 2026 summer camp bus drivers. I'd ask for council consent. >> Motion.
>> Motion by Councilman Guzman. May I have a second, please? >> Second. >> Second by Councilman Mone. Any questions or comments? >> Seeing none, may have a roll call, please. >> Councilman Ero, >> yes. >> Councilman Guzman, >> yes. Counciloman Del Cohen. >> Yes. >> Counciloman Mazone.
>> Yes. Thank you. Um I'd also like to thank our um basically our our World Cup committee, our RFC, our Chamber of Commerce, uh Dan Meredith and Matt Arian for doing such a
great job during our dining out. Um, you know what? We we tried hard and I believe that we all came together and put together a great program that night to show this world when they come to visit us, we're a place to come visit.
So, I just want to thank them all. Um, we do have one more um item which is a close session for a legal update for affordable housing. You have to announce it.
>> Anybody want to speak to agenda items and agenda items only or run out the door? Which way you going? Thank you. Apologize for that. Um, now we're going to move into a close
session for legal update for affordable housing. No action will be taken. So, um, I'd like to make a motion. >> Motion. >> Uh, motion by Councilwoman Delray Con.
May I have a second? >> I second. >> Yes. >> I second. >> Yes. I >> where whereas the open public meetings act requires that a public body adopt a resolution at an open bin meeting before going to a closed session to discuss a matter which excludes the public as
permitted under section 7B. Now therefore be it resolved that the mayor and council will close meeting on June 22nd, 2026 at 6:55 p.m. 176 Park Avenue to discuss the following matter. Legal update affordable housing. Can I have a roll call, please?
>> Councilman Ero, >> yes. >> Councilman Guzman, >> yes. >> Councilwoman Del Cohen, >> yes. >> Council Maz, >> yes. Thank you.