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

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I'd like to call this meeting to order. Let's call the role. Councilman Garrick >> here. Councilman Akamando. Councilman Alamando is unable to be here this evening due to his employment. Councilwoman Sanchez >> here. So please

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>> please rise for the salute to the flag and please remain standing in memory of Leonard Klein, father of our township engineer, Robert Klein to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God,

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indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Adequate notice of this meeting has been sent to all council members and to all legal newspapers in accordance with the provisions of the open public meeting act chapter 231 public law 1975.

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The public is hereby advised that any statements made during a meeting of the township council of the township of Sbrook not be privileged or protected and that persons or entities who take issue with such comments or are offended by saying may and have to pass or legal redress to the courts. Any member of the

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public who addresses the council speaks for themselves and not to the council. Notice is hereby given that beginning January 1st, 2026, the complete text of all legal notices required to be published in the township of Saddlebrook shall be obtained or viewed on

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Saddlebrook websitej. us. In addition, the New Jersey Secretary of State will be establishing a legal notice hyperlink page allowing members of the public to hypine hyperlinks for every municipality. A hyperlink to the Secretary of State's

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website will be published on the municipal web page as soon as SAM is available. >> Okay, we have some present. We're going to start off with presentations before we open the meeting to the public. So, I'm going to turn it over to the mayor for those presentations. Mr. Mayor, thank you, Council President. Uh,

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tonight we have the honor of recognizing uh Tommy Hayes, Tommy Purple Hayes. Uh he's been a lifelong resident and he's done an enormous amount of volunteer work and helped out. I'm going to read he's got so much here that I

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have to really read it to >> to uh give it credit give him all the credit he deserves. But that time, why don't you come up? Come on. Come on up. Okay. uh in Saddlebrook. Tom's journey of volunteerism began in 1988 as he

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first joined Saddlebrook Little League as a baseball coach. He moved up the ranks and coached kids from 6 to 12 in little league. He also served as an umpire and chief for a couple of years. He then moved to Babe Ruth League for

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four years coaching 13 to 17 year olds. In 1990, he volunteered to help Lou Varlli form the challenger division in Saddleberg Little League. The effort brought eight teams, over 100 kids with various handicap to learn how to play

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baseball. Tom is very proud to be part of this special league and coach these kids. He began the VP, he became the VP, vice president of the challenger division. Over the years, he saw our daughter Tracy, his

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daughter Tracy, I got this from his wife, and many others develop into real good players. As these players reached 20 21 years old, they aged out of little league and needed another source to keep playing.

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Again, he and his friend Louelli helped transition many of these young adults into what was now called the over 21 special needs baseball. Due to his dedication, in 2026, he will be embarking on his 38th year of

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coaching baseball in Saddlebrook. Tom loves his drumming. Also, he started playing over 45 years ago. He was intrigued by people participating in drum circles. He wanted to bring his experience to light and make the drum circles into bigger events. In 2005, he

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wanted to expose the kids in town to a drum circle. As plans were being made, something happened that changed everything. Hurricane Katrina swept through many southern states, causing billions in damage in our country. Tom decided to make his first Saddle Brook

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drum circle fundraiser. Along with some help from his friends on October 29th, 2005, he initiate initiated the very first drum from heaven. Drums from heaven. Most drum circles have 10 to 30 people participating. On the first

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fundraiser, there were approximately a hundred people in attendance. The results brought in $1,500 to be given to school children in Louisiana for school supplies. Seeing the success, Tommy was inspired to do more. He started doing three or four of these fundraisers in a

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year, later on reducing it to twice a year because it was a lot of work. After 20 years of drums from heaven fundraising, the past this past October 25th became his last endeavor. It turned out to be the

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biggest one ever, raising $6,000 for the beneficiaries. One of them was a 10-year-old Saddleberrook girl with special needs. Over the past 20 years, this charitable effort has raised over $132,000.

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He did 40 fundraisers during that span. Many funds were raised for Satderbrook families in need. Tom has also been volunteering at St. Phillips, the Apostle Church, playing percussion in their church music

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ministry for over 20 years. Sometimes he has worn two or three hats at one time involving his volunteer work. So, as it goes, Tommy has given half his life to benefit others, and we are all very proud of him. We have this

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>> outstanding citizen award plaque presented to Thomas Hayes in recognition of your time, talent, and being a beacon of hope and generosity in our community. With much gratitude, Mayor Robert Dway and Township Council. >> That's beautiful. Wow.

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Oh man, that's that's beautiful. Thank you. >> Yeah, brother. >> Oh boy, that's really something. Thank you. >> I have some things I I wrote down uh because I don't want to forget. I'm a little nervous.

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I don't want to repeat what that came from. My wife, huh? You >> did a good job. >> Um, all right. First of all, I I'd like to thank Mayor Bob White and the council for this recognition.

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It's my honor to receive this award, if that's what you call that, award. Um, the journey began in 1988. like uh my wife must have wrote the letter. Um when I started coaching my son in little

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league um I managed him you know through little league and Babe Ruth and uh in 1989 uh Lou Varelli introduced the uh Challenger League to me and asked if I would help with that. Um that was a

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life-changing event. Um getting involved with uh not just my daughter but so many kids with disabilities um of different sorts and uh just seeing them out on the field um meant a lot to me. Um at its peak, I

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think you mentioned this, there were 100 kids in in various uh with various disabilities that we had. We had eight different teams at the time. It was it was really something to see. Um this year I'm beginning, correction, my 39th

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year. Um I never thought I'd be doing this for that long. Um but after all these years, I must say it's it's worth the effort watching the youngsters uh you know achieve their

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skills and more importantly seeing them smile and having fun. There's a lot of coaches that are doggy dog out there and I know some little league people know it. Um, our our thing was just to have fun and that's what we did. In 2005,

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like you mentioned, that's when the drums from heaven was formed. Um, this brought people together in a unified effort to not only drum and dance, but to do fundraisers for a variety of causes over the years. After 20 years of

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these fundraising events, um I did my last one, as you said, in October of 2025, and it turned out to be the biggest one to date, um raising those $6,000. And happy to say one of the

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beneficiaries was a Saddlebrook girl, a 10-year-old girl with special needs. It always meant a lot to me whenever I did a fundraiser that if it was people that you were raising money for, it felt good. If you're doing it for an organization, you might get a thank you

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letter, but uh when you're doing it for people, it feels good to do that and to be appreciated. So, it was always something that kept me going. Um like you said that we raised 132,000 over the years. Um, it was 40 events,

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but 60 different people or organizations benefited from our fundraising. So, I am proud of these accomplishments. Um, and I want to say about volunteering, I think it's an important part of our lives to volunteer.

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Being able to help others is a positive experience. There are many, many people who talk the talk, but never follow up on things that they say they'll do. So, it takes determination and a lot of patience to follow through on any volunteer effort.

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I'm proud to say that I think I walk the walk. To close, I'd like to thank Almighty God for giving me the attributes and the will to make my contribution to society. I'm happy I was able to get things done and hopefully make a difference in other

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people's lives. I pray that God gives me good health so I can keep doing what I do. So, I'd like to thank my family and friends for their support over the years. And for those that came out tonight, I really appreciate that. Again, with deep

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appreciation, I thank the mayor and the council for this award. Thank you. Tommy, you want to bring your family up? One, two, three. going to go on a little journey. The next presentation we have

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is for our clerk, >> Peter Leico. >> Thank you. >> Peter's been working for the town. He's an institution here. Seems like he's been here forever. not that long working for the town, but he's

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a former mayor, council person, board education. So, he's been public life a long long time, but recently he he u he's done 25 years as a clerk and he was recognized by the Burton County

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Clerk's Association. So, we have a plaque the council and I presented to Peter Leiko on the occasion of your 25th anniversary as our municipal clerk with recognition of your unwavering support to the mayor and council and for invaluable contributions

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to our community. With much appreciation, Mayor Robert D. White and Township Council. Thank you, Mayor. your face. >> Yeah. Thank you again. Just like to take this opportunity,

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thank the mayor and council for this recognition. Um, as the mayor said, I've been involved, I would say probably over 50 years. Start in 1972 with the board of education and it's been a privilege and an honor.

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Serve the people of Saddlebrook. I think that's the best part of being a clerk. People come in, they need help, they're looking for direction, and the clerks are usually the first people, first contact for the residents. So again,

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it's been a privilege to serve um as clerk in this town and to live in this town. Thank you. Do you have >> do you want to do with that as

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>> Yeah. Yeah. >> Next we have uh K Operation K9 Beethoven. They're going to they're going to do a presentation. Um they're a group that helps veterans um that are in need where they come back

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uh with PTSD and other types of uh disorders and they uh they provide them with service dogs and uh for companionship and and for uh any help they might need. So Ed, go ahead. You can better.

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>> My name's Ed Evil. Congratulations, Tom Pete. >> Awesome. Um, I'm a member of the organization known as Operation K9 Beethoven. Uh, generally what I do on my end is I help them review a lot of the documentation and stuff from our

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veterans when they apply for a potential of getting a service dog. um this uh organization um retrieves animals from shelters and rescues and stuff like that and have them evaluated and when they determine a dog is acceptable for training to be a

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potential service dog um they will send them to a trainer make that evaluation and then at second to that is then try to find a veteran to match with it. Okay. um as we can just imagine it's probably easier to find the dogs than it

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is to find a veteran that is um will admit that they would get help from a dog. So, it's quite a challenge. So, generally what we like to do from you guys is if you're aware of any kind of veterans that may benefit from having a service dog, please have them contact

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our organization. Um this is the founder, RP Cortez. He's the president and founder and he's going to tell you a little more about the three different levels of of dogs that they take care of. >> We're not breed specific. Uh we just take take them out of um shelters,

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rescues, and uh we train them and um we pair them with a veteran also. Um and we also have a therapy dog team. We go to special needs schools. We go to hospitals. We go to uh VA homes. Um we

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we with with Mayor White a couple times uh at a mass for for at the VA home. Um so that's really what we uh that's really what we do. So >> do we use up our three minutes?

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>> Well, you're not on the clock, but can you introduce us to our uh our K9 friends here? >> Please do. >> This is the this is Beethoven. He's the founder and why we're doing everything. Um, he is a service dog and a therapy dog. He started out as a therapy dog and now he's a service dog. And that's

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Maddie >> and with Don. >> And this is Chase with Barbara. And then Luna with Louise and Gary. So that's it. >> He speaks only German.

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>> Thank you guys. >> Thank you. Thank you for coming in and telling us what you do. Yeah, we you have Yeah, you have some pamphlets. You might be able to get >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Sure. >> Okay. Thank you for the opportunity for

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let us explain what we're all about. Okay. >> Sir, if you know the if if you can tell me because some people don't know if if you know the difference between an emotional support animal and a service animal. >> Um >> there's a hell of a difference really. >> Barbara, appreciate one of our trainers.

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So a service dog has to provide a task um for the person. It could be medical alert um something like diabetes, seeing eye dog. Emotional support dog is mostly for somebody at home. Emotional support dogs do not have the same right as a

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service dog. Um so they are different things. Um our therapy dogs are um have an insurance policy. So that way when we do go into the VA, hospitals, nursing homes, the schools, we are protected in case something happens, you

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know, the dog may scratch or, you know, if they have a bad day, so we are covered. So like I said, a service dog provides a task. It has to be a task train. Like I said, high blood pressure, some people have POTS, um, with the veterans. Um,

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>> crowd control. >> Crowd control. um you know somebody with anxiety that's also like a PST >> PTSD >> PTSD dog um that crowd control they kind of create a barrier so you know if somebody gets nervous they kind of

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create that barrier for that veteran or that person that has that that way you know they don't like two people too close to them >> and to answer that question um service dogs they're they're working when they're a service dog when they have the best time service they're working so the

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owner further service dog would ask that you don't approach the dog unless you request >> whether you can or not. Okay, that dog is there for protection most of the time. With the other type of animals, they're there for emotional support. They want to get fluffed up. They love they love to love it. So when we go in the veterans home, for example, that's

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what they're there for. They're there to bring joy and happiness to all these that could really use it. >> So I understand Beethoven knows when we go into the VA hospital, RP does tell them go say hi. So they are have a command. also chases a dual ser service

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and therapy dog. So he also gives permission I give him permission to go say hi. Um if he is working then he's not allowed to go say hi to anybody. >> Thank you very much. Appreciate the info. >> Thank you. >> Thanks for your service everyone. >> Thank you very much.

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We'll take a couple minute uh break uh before we open the meeting to the public in case anyone wants to take pictures outside. >> You want to take a picture with the dogs? Okay, I'm going to call the me I'm going to call the meeting to order uh again

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and entertain a motion to open the meeting to the public >> motion to open the meeting to the public. >> By Mr. Garrick, second by Miss Maer. All in favor? >> I I no objections. Meeting is now open to the public. Anyone wish to address the council, please come forward, state

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your name, address, and John Manzo 179 market saddlebook. I just want to say congratulations Pete. I've known him forever and we refer to him as books Google you you got an answer you

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want an answer and you get it almost immediately you know and he's irreplaceable you know I don't know what's going to happen to the town when he retire but congratulations be >> thank you

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>> next anybody else want to address the council Thomas. >> Good evening. Um Thomas Van Winkle, 128 Lincoln Avenue. I want to congratulate everybody who is recognized tonight. Um Pete Loco uh been here forever as was

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said before seems like. But no, you really do an amazing job um for the town. It's really not much there. It's really hard to put into words like what you've meant to to Saddleberg and you everything you've contributed to our town. So hopey we get many hope you're here for many many more years to come

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and hopefully you don't retire too soon. But again congratulations um congratulations to Tommy Hayes um on his recognition. I mean I been very fortunate to go to his drum circles over the years as fundraisers. He really is a very sincere person. Really is always out for the looking out for the greater

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good of of of others. Um and also uh congratulations to to the to everyone from um Operation K9 Beethoven and all they I want to thank for all they do all their all their work as well. Okay. Um let's start with the mayor's youth group

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update. So looking back since the last meeting we uh participated in the Easter celebration. They the the kids helped out. we have um with the uh photo area, the a garden and also the library uh

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craft area that they had. So, it's great collaboration, great partnership going on between a multitude of different um organizations to make the Easter celebration the success that it was. Um I also want to acknowledge Tyler Posey and Raphael Gonzalez for all their help

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in capturing everything that they with their photos and and videos as well. They really did an amazing job of that. Um trying to think what else but mayor's youth group. Okay. Looking ahead um the mayor's youth group we're inviting them

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to participate with the green team um this Saturday. They're they're doing a workshop which I'm sure our green team chair probably I'm assuming is going to come up and talk about. Um they're going to have a workshop about uh light pollution star and then we're have the star night this Saturday night. So we

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invited the youth group to attend that. Um, our green team chair, Steve Maraconda, did attend the last mayor's youth group meeting and spread the word about that. Um, the mayor's youth group is also going to collaborate with the green team to do the cleanup at Tsentennial Park and they're also going

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to clean under uh the Route 80 uh under underpass on um Saddle River Road. So, they will be doing that Saturday, April 25th at 11. Um, we're also going to have our regularly scheduled mayor's youth group meeting here in the council chambers on May 16th, uh, which is the

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third Saturday in May at 10:30 here. And we're also planning on possibly, uh, participating in the Memorial Day parade on May the 24th. So there there's a lot happening. We with the marriage youth group, they have we have such a great group of kids um, really to really care about serving others and and giving back

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to our community and community service. That being said, thank you very much. Thank you. >> You you could come up and do you want to do it? Uh >> yeah, you know what? You you can talk a

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little bit about it and uh Sarah's got a actual presentation on it. Uh Steve Maraconda, 24 Harrison Avenue, chair of the Saddlebrook Green Team. As Tom mentioned, we have the green team Thursday really. We have some events

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coming up. Um I have some flyers over there. This Saturday uh well because this week is light pollution awareness week or international dark sky week. So we're just um spreading some awareness about that. On Saturday, I'm doing a presentation at the library at 3 p.m. Free Grumpy's Pizza if you want to come.

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I'll be talking about light pollution and then at 8:00 PM we're going to have a like an astronomy star party. What's too loud? >> Yeah. >> Yeah. This thing's Yeah. And then uh at 8:00 PM we're going to talk. We're going to have a star party. We're gonna have

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some telescopes and stuff. That'll be at Smith's school. Um so feel free to come to that. We have flyers over there by the meeting agendas. And then uh the following Saturday, the 25th, we're going to team up with the mayor's youth group and do a cleanup for celebrating Earth Day. So we're gonna start at

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Tsentennial Park, which is, you know, at the corner of Saddle River Road and Plat Avenue. And then we're going to go across this thing is crazy. >> This other way >> better. That is better. All right.

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Awesome. Thanks, guys. So then yeah, Saturday the 25th we're going to do a cleanup since Tsentennial Park and then across Plat A under the highway. There's some some stuff there. And don't worry, we're bringing waiverss. We're gonna It's going to be

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great. All right. Thank you guys. >> Thanks. We have another mic that one doesn't keep doing it. >> Uh Jerry Taylor at 318 Sheep Avenue. Uh Township Council candidate. Uh I have a

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couple of questions with a previous ordinance. Uh the one with the temporary signs 1794-25 where it states in there no bigger than 9 square feet as far as the sign goes.

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And then that you're you're you're saying about a $500 fine, yada yada. But right now on the corner across from the from Cougler's funeral, we have signed that's definitely a lot bigger than a 9 square ft. And with that being said,

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what happens to all the uh congratulations to the students and happy birthday signs that get put up on the lawns and and what about the u the stork the stork sign? That's more than nine square feet. So, why did we change

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this sign all of a sudden? Why, if somebody could answer that, why we have nine square feet versus previously? >> Well, we we'll give you your three minutes and if someone wants to respond, it's not fair to you that we take up your time. So, >> yeah. Oh, all right. Okay. All right.

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And secondly, hopefully that'll be answered. Secondly, with the old town hall, is that a done deal as far as somebody bought that property and all? Yes, it's if you went past it, it's being torn down as we speak. >> Well, that I haven't been down that way. I don't go down that way. It's too much

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traffic. Um, is it public knowledge how much we paid we got paid for that? >> Yes. >> And can we say it? >> 1.6 million. >> One. That's all. >> No. >> 1.6 million plus >> right there. There's additional

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conditions. 40 indoor parking spaces indefinitely and they have to maintain the structure. So they're building a 40 uh underground indoor parking space which has an estimated value according to our engineer between one 1 million

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and $1.2 million. So that's added value to that. They're also going to keep as open space the triangle part of the property, maintain it, landscape it, and put a uh town sign up

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>> sign still going to be a digital sign. Yeah. >> And they also agreed and they already did it. They relocated the monument and redid the area where the police monument is now located. So there was significantly other benefits and the

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anticipated ratable for the property based upon today, you know, we all know taxes go up every year, but based upon today's number is slightly over $320,000 a year. >> Now, what about as far as the traffic though? Right now, you can't get over

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the hill going to the light now and then you're going to add on more units. Plus, what about the police department? Where where are they going to park? Don't don't don't take this wrong, but there was a detailed presentation made before the planning board, I guess maybe two

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months ago, where all that testimony was provided, traffic studies, where the police were going to the park. Okay. >> All of that. I mean, to the council president's point, I don't think it's right to take up all this time going through planning. >> Well, I definitely Well, I definitely

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would love an answer on the temporary signs because we're in a political season right now. Okay. Thank you. John, just um I know we've got some more comments. Uh maybe maybe some more comments, but could you talk about the the sign

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ordinance and uh its temporary nature, the size? uh it wouldn't affect any of those temporary uh you know congratulations Nicole for graduation. >> First of all this ordinance as you indicated it's for temporary signs not for permanent signs. Permanent signs are

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still governed by the ordinance that's in existence. I don't know what requirements are the zoning is presently but if those signs that you're referring to are up and they're permanent they must be permitted otherwise the zoning officer would violation. As to the temporary signs, what we did is we did a

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study of surrounding time uh communities to see what they typically allow in terms of the size of temporary uh sign. Some were less than 9 square ft. Very few, if any, were more because on commercial properties, they don't look bad. But on residential properties, many

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communities as to why they reduced the size to 9 ft felt they were unsightly and took away from the aesthetics of their neighborhood. So 9 square feet is is pretty large. I mean I can't speak to Saddle Brook, but I know in the communities community where I live and

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communities that surround it where I drive through nine square feet we cover graduation signs. We cover birthday signs. Uh we cover political signs. So uh 9 square feet I mean it's not there's no science to it. Could it have been six

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square feet? Yes. Could it have been 12 square feet? Yes. But they felt nine square feet was the appropriate size to restrict it to. >> Okay. And just uh to put in perspective, I can't see from here, but I would think that the TV monitors that you're looking

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at are probably about about that, maybe a little less. So, we're talking about on private property on your uh you know, on someone's lawn. That's a that's a pretty damn big sign to have on a lawn. Chief.

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>> Good evening. Robert Kougler, resident of Saddlebrook. Um, I just want to publicly acknowledge and thank the mayor and council, the police department, especially Mayor

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Bob White and all the council members that were on the council since the inception of the police memorial. Um this year will mark 26 years that we have publicly had a ceremony.

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Yes, in 2020 and 21 because of co it was very limited but for 26 years we met at that monument. It was dedicated in 2001 but this year is going to be very special. when I come here to basically

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publicly thank the mayor and council for your support, police chief John Zattoo, members of the monument committee because it's a very meaningful ceremony and I'm sure all of you know it, but maybe the public starts to know it right

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now that that monument has now been relocated to the front of the police department. It looks beautiful. Not only is the monument there and where it rightfully should be, but obviously the police department wasn't there in 2001,

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but it stands there today in front of the police department. And the grounds are very beautiful. They just laid pavers and every year on May 15th, we have a ceremony and it's going to be a very meaningful ceremony like they all were.

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But being in front of the police department, I just wanted to to say that uh and I've been involved being down there many times since it's been relocated and it looks beautiful. It's a beautiful monument. It's a beautiful testament to the men and women who served the police department. I'm very

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honored that I was a member of the police department for many years and very honored to attend that ceremony for the for this inception for 26 years now. So publicly, I thank you for your support. I thank Mayor White for uh arranging for the uh not only the

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relocation but the pavers and making it beautiful. I look forward to this year's ceremony and many ceremonies to come. So, thank you very much. >> Just remind Chief, can you just remind everyone Chief Just remind everyone the date and the time. >> I'm I'm sorry I don't hear well and

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>> there's a big echo in here, but reminds me of my father, right? Um, but uh it's May 15th. Usually it's May 15th every year. It'll be 12:00 noon on May 15th. I think the mayor was going to announce it at the end. So sorry to but it says fourth guest

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Mia Copa. >> Thank you chief. >> Good evening Rodriguez. Council President, if I can just be allowed one extra minute. I just want to thank Podico for the great job over 50 years when I just came over three decades ago.

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One of the first ones I met, Pete, very helpful. Uh, I spoke to the mayor briefly not long ago and I'm just here to officially um tell him directly as a candidate for mayor

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that I would like to debate him at least five times, five different topics that he can choose from. We could do it right here just oneonone cameraman pico checking the time one hour. You can choose the topics.

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One of the topics that I can propose, but you can come up with yours once a month. It could be low-income housing development and overdevelopment. What is the vision that we have for the town? What's going on? Another topic can

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be the taxes and water rates. What is the portion that commercial and industrial properties got to pay? And what is the portion for residential?

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On the same topic, we can touch about the reevaluation. The re revaluation by the state law is every 10 years. A company came right here and sold the idea that with a reassessment every two years, our taxes are going to kept low.

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Is it working? That's something that we can talk debate it because at the end of the day after 12 years as mayor you might get reelected and you can pick up some of my ideas and if I get elected as mayor I might pick up some of your ideas and the benefit beneficiary will be the

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residents of Sadderbrook you will be a better sold another topic could be the raw program share serves why the raw program when I was sitting a sitting councilman I wrote an ordinance that any utility company that break any road,

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they will have to repave it the entire street from corner to corner. But I can see that it's not being enforced. Sharing services. Why not to get together with other towns? One, two,

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three, four towns by sold by the bulk. We can we can actually make contracts with the garbage. We can get give contracts with recycling to lower the cost. Then based on that development

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overdevelopment low-inccome housing like on Roso Lane 60 homes that are low-income housing why don't we discuss about safety in the future where why don't we discuss about sewer pipes pump station infrastructure schools impact if

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any emergency services another topic can be too many but I just I know I'm going to be running out of And this is the problem with the four minutes. That's what I hope that we can go into a debate on a forum. But just real quick on the

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topic that the Mr. Attorney just discussed it. They just sold it for $1.6 million 60 units. >> We were here. We were told one. >> Mr. Rodriguez, your time discussion. Mr. Rodriguez, your time. 10 seconds. Your time is up. >> 10 seconds. >> Give you 10 seconds. >> Next town over a block from Saddbrook,

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they sell one acre, 58 units for $5.5 million. I believe that when we sold it for 1.6, we should have kept 100 by 100 for the police parking space and sell it to a proper price and then build our own

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parking space. Thank you very much for your time. But hopefully, mayor, I hope to hear uh from you. You can call Mark Cougler. We'll set up the day and the time. We're all >> Thank you. >> Thank you, sir. Uh Tommy Hayes, 227 Floral Lane in

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Salber. I just wanted to uh say one other thing since people are announcing events that are coming up. As you all know, America will be celebrating 250 years this year. So, I don't know how many years we've been doing it, mayor,

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but as long as uh I know you've been doing fireworks, um my drums from heaven team has been entertaining everybody in the park before the fireworks. So, we are planning on being there July 3rd. Um

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if people are coming uh and coming to sit and watch the fireworks, come a little early and see what we do. Um, it's a a good feeling to beat the drums and dance a little bit and loosen up and forget about your troubles. So, July 3rd

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when you're coming out for the fireworks, come a little early. The the fireworks are over the lake to the left of the parking lot. That's where we do our thing. So, you're all invited, Saddlebrook. Come and see what it's all about. Thank you.

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>> Thanks, Tommy. Sylvia Zotterelli 236 land a I want to start off Mr. Hayes, I don't know you, but congratulations, Pete. I do know you. Very welld deserved. Congratulations. I just I'd like clarification

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on the sign issue because my daughter gets every year across the lawn a happy birthday. Is that not going to be allowed anymore? If anybody has a baby, are they not going to be allowed to put the the stork signs up? Is each letter going to be considered a sign? And are

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the consequences going to be the same for all of the signs that are in locations that they shouldn't be? Like there's two right now. There's one on Saddle River Road and May. It's for a detail company. Have no idea who it is. Nobody notices those. There's one over

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by Franklin School, but uh it's a happy birthday sign is an issue. >> That the happy birthday signs are not going to be a problem. >> They're not going to be >> They're They're not going to be a problem. >> Okay. Um, in regard to the other signs,

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uh, the signs that are kind of put next to the sidewalk, uh, those are not supposed to be permitted. And we'll, um, make sure or I will make sure that, uh, our property maintenance official on his rounds takes care of that. that those

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are kind of uh you know it's one of my pet peeves is that people just put up these little signs saying you know car wash year or detailing that they're not supposed to be there that those are not permitted. So uh I will get the uh I will get the property maintenance officer on that. So I appreciate the

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information. Anyone else wish to address the council. Seeing no one will entertain a motion to close the meeting to the public. Motion to close the meeting to the public. >> Mr. Garrick, second by Miss Sanchez. All in favor?

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>> I. Any objections? Seeing none, unanimous. >> Council President, there were a couple of misstatements that were made if I may be allowed to provide the correct estimation. >> Sure, we'll do that now. >> Uh, first, with respect to comments regarding public service when they do

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work on our roads, uh, it's the same ordinance that every town in New Jersey has. You can't compel if public service takes a 4x4 hole in the road. You legally you cannot require them to pave the whole street curb to curb. They have to do a certain percentage of the road

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based upon the percentage of their road work. They either have to do half the road or they have to do curb to curb. In many communities they they switch and trade. When the town has its own road program, they may say to public service, "We rather you do this street and then

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they do the whole road curb to curb and then they do a half a road on the other street." But in any event, that's that's controlled by ordinance, any ordinance that a town has as what was stated here that if they did any work, you could make them pave curb to curb. I could

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assure you public service would never in a million years agree to that. It would be illegal to try to make them do that. They would challenge it in court. You'd spend more money fighting it than it would cost to pave the road and you would be unsuccessful. As to the uh re-evaluation

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that he talked about, it's not every 10 years. I sat on the Bergen County tax board, so I'm very familiar with the tax laws. When the ratio of a town, you're supposed to be assessed at 100% of value because the sales property values go up,

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they go down. We're in a real estate boom right now for residential properties. So, when the value, if you're assessed at less than 15% of the true value, eventually you will be ordered by the county tax board to do a

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re-evaluation. Sometimes they last 10 years, sometimes they only last 5 years. It depends upon the fluctuation of the market. The benefit of doing the annual assessment is that if you have properties and it's typically intended

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to impact a commercial properties that if they were assessed 10 years ago and let's say just for example they were assessed at a million dollars and today they're worth $4 million. If you didn't have the annual assessment, you had to wait for a townwide re-evaluation until

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they had were assessed at their true value. So essentially residential property owners were bearing more of the tax burden. The annual evaluation was never intended nor is it capable of reducing property taxes. Its focus is to

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make sure every property owner is assessed at 100% of their value to the extent that they can and also to reduce the number of tax appeals which of course has a negative impact on the town in terms of defending them and in terms of having to fund them in case they lose

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the case. And I think there was uh oh and as to the sale of the uh municipal property that was advertised. I know some of you who have been at these meetings have probably heard this but that was publicly advertised on two occasions. Real estate agents were

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notified that that property was was for sale. Nobody was willing to purchase and develop that property for anything less than over 120 units which was unacceptable to the community. Yes, they would have received a lot more money if

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they allowed 120 units, but they refused to do so. So, what was negotiated basically was a developer who came forward, agreed to all the requirements that you may have heard me mention before, including others. You know, there were a great deal of restrictions

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on the development of that site. No entrances off of Harrison, all indoor parking, so nobody had to see vehicles. and it and it was negotiated openly and fairly and that was the highest and best price that could be obtained based upon the solicitation from other developers

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who were not interested other than overdeveloping the site and one last thing I'm sorry now that I'm thinking of what he said in terms of the affordable housing that was statewide a plan was put in place had the individual been coming to the meetings we had multiple

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presentations by the attorney who handled that every town is required to have a plan in place. They were required to have it in place. Uh I believe it was March 15th. Was that by March 15th, every community in the state of New Jersey had to have an affordable housing

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in place. We met that deadline. It was a lot of work by this governing body to get the number reduced. It was a lot the the uh affordable housing called for a lot more units than was was eventually agreed to. The plan was accepted by the courts and this now this community has

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now received what is called immunity from a builder's lawsuit where a builder could have came in without this plan in place and forced an overdevelopment of a site. Think I covered everything. >> And we just saw in in the paper this the other day that Westwood is getting hit

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with the builder's remedy suit of 300 units on a site that definitely cannot handle 300 units because they didn't have their plan in place. through the chair. I apologize to to interject. I think one important point is uh to add on just one last piece is uh as it

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relates to the sale of the old town hall is that there is also zero tax abatement, no pilots, no breaks, no nothing as a terms as it comes to taxes. They pay 100% of their assessed value. There's no deal in regards to the taxes of that property.

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>> We actually, you know, people uh when the Ed's property was sold, uh it looks nice. I mean, everyone said, "Wow, that looks really nice." So, we did reach out to that developer who developed over there and said, "Hey, you want to take a look at uh across the street. I personally was hoping that they could

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build almost like a mirror image of that. I thought it would look uh look good for the town." Uh but there was no interest. We had another developer come in like you said uh with u 120 or 140 units. Another developer gave a whole presentation but uh was not as good as

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as the one that uh we ultimately decided upon. So, um, that's it. Uh, in terms of, uh, let's see, council comments. Well, we'll start with the mayor. >> Thank you.

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I have a proclamation about autism awareness month. I just want to before if I forget, I just want to address Sylvia. I saw those today and I did call the police department. I called the chief. Um, but you know, you bring up a good point. I mean, any of these ordinances are only as good as if they're enforced.

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So the police department, the building department, they have to force them. So with that being said, uh I have a proclamation recognition of autism awareness month. Whereas globally since 2008, autism awareness day is April the

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2nd and is ob observed throughout the month. The day often features educational events for healthcare workers, teachers, parents, and children with autism. Autism is a neurological disorder that interferes with the normal function of the human brain and can affect anyone regardless of ethnicity,

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gender, or socioeconomic background. Symptoms and characteristics of autism may present themselves in a variety of combinations and can result in a significant lifelong impairment of an individual's ability to learn, develop healthy interactive behaviors, and

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understand verbal and non-verbal communication. A variety of public and private organizations and agencies strive to provide quality care, support, and service to children and adults with autism to help enable them to live as independently as possible and reach

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their full potential. So now, therefore, on this the 16th day of April, 2026, I, Mayor Robert D. White do hereby proclaim April Autism Awareness Month and I urge all residents to become educated and informed about programs, services, and opportunities to help support

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individuals with autism. My comments, I'm going to start with the budget. I'm just just going to ask our BA Jimmy Holmes to talk a little bit and give us a little update on where we are, where we're at with the budget. >> Yeah. Uh thank you, mayor. Uh the budget

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uh is set to be uh presented and um cons not considered but presented and discussed by the council at the next workshop meeting in May. I think that's the 7th and uh we're doing some final touches to it with the CFO and auditor. So that'll be forthcoming. >> Thank you. Um capital improvements, we

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got a lot going on. Uh the tree streets, the water was done, it was tied into Wilson. Uh the four streets, maple, uh spruce, uh large, and pine were all tied into Wilson, which helps with water

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quality. Uh now they're going to be be uh paving those those four streets. Um and they they're starting now on pine with the with the concrete work. Um also, Third Street was paved last week. Um, Mayo Street Park. Uh, the tennis and

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pickle ball courts are going to be lined, I believe, next week. Um, we've already got some some people calling want want to with the nicer weather. They want to use the courts. So, that should be done next week. Uh, Kern Street Park is just about complete. It's

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just the uh the ground surface needs to be finished. And I think they're going to be doing sidewalks over there. Um, correct me if I'm wrong. And also the splash pad. They started uh they're starting to demolition the house, but they're at this point they're

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uh doing a speesos asbestos uh removal. Um and they're getting prepared to demo it. Um ordinances. We have a second reading for um on water meters, the large industrial type water meters, the

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2 and 1/2, the 3 in uh meters. uh we're raising the price on that because they've gone up uh tremendously and just to catch up with uh we don't really put too many of them in, but when we do, we want to make sure that we we get the

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we're not we're not uh you know, we're not losing money on the deal. Um past events, I want to congratulate uh the winners recreation teams. Uh we had uh the fifth and uh seventh grade boys

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basketball champions that that came in down somewhere now I can't find it. But anyway uh they came in also the cheerleaders came in the the minis they won the the the nationals and the global

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event that they attended. Uh they had an undefeated season. Also the wrestling we did that on a separate date. Uh the wrest all the wrestlers that made the state tournament uh were were also there was a pizza party and they were also uh given proclamations as well. Uh the

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spring uh Easter celebration was uh was April the 4th. I want to thank everybody that participated. It went very well. Uh the library was involved. The women's club uh the mayor's youth group. I thank all them for helping out. uh our

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projects and activities coordinators uh Shannon Akamando and Christine Januario. Uh the Little League Little League parade and opening day was uh Saturday, April 11th, this past Saturday. Went very well. I thank the fire department for participating. Uh the police

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department, DBW, uh all helping out there, keeping us safe. Uh today, the seniors center, they had the senior prom. It's the second year they did it. It went very well. Um, great job. I stopped by there. Seniors

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had a good time with that. I want to thank uh uh two sponsors, Ferraro Spine and Rehabilitation and Maser uh plumbing. Jason Maer uh donated to that. Um some upcoming events, uh softball opening day is this Saturday, April the

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18th at Veterans Field. It goes all day from 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Also, as uh Steve Maraconda said, we have the light pollution seminar at the library 3:00 to 4:30 and later on that night, the astronomy night star party 8:00 p.m. uh

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to 10:30 p.m. at at Smithfield. I want to thank the uh Tony Vietti and the board of education for allowing us to use the the field. Um mayor's youth group, we have the cleanup. This was mentioned at Tsentennial Hill Park on

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Saturday, April 25th, 11:00 a.m. Uh, Tsentennial Park, uh, tree planting, the compliments in Columbia Bank. Uh, they're going to plant a tree there on April 27th at 10:00 a.m. Last year, they they, uh, planted a tree over by Kern

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Street Park. Uh, May the 15th is our police memorial, as the chief mentioned, at Sataba Police Headquarters. Uh, 12:00 noon. Uh, and afterwards we're going to meet at the VFW for a lunch uh across the street.

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Um, thank you, Chief, for the compliment. It really did come out very nice, but it always belonged there. So, and it uh it looks it looks better there, too, cuz it's closer to the building. It doesn't look so where it was too close to me. It was too close to the street where it was. Um, some other

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things, uh, summer wreck camp. Um it go it's going to go this year for a month June 29th to July 31st. Um so if you want more information about that you can call the recck department or go to uh the wreck Facebook page.

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Um Lyster Avenue. I just want to just want to mention that um you know we're considering doing resident parking only. We've had residents there complaining about the parking and uh Sheffller Foods uh some of their employees parking on the street and uh so we're we're

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considering that. But uh we tomorrow we're going to be sending out surveys. That's a short street, but we just want to make sure that the residents there know what they're getting into with the resident parking and the stickers and uh you know, it's it's it's easy for us to do, but then you know, there's issues

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there because uh issues in the sense of that, you know, what do you do with somebody that has a visitor? You got to provide some kind of placard for that visitor, an overnight visitor that parks. um you know you if you change

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cars and you don't get the sticker and you know they're going to have the responsibility they're going to have to come to police headquarters and and you know pick up the sticker. So there's you know there's a little bit involved in it. I think it could work but you know I just want them to be aware and want them

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as a you know the whole block to want want to do this. There's a couple of people that are really pushing it and I don't I don't think it's necessarily a bad idea. Um, also the Walmart, uh, the Saddle Brook Mall, the police department's been, uh,

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we have, uh, Lieutenant Buchek here tonight, but they've been monitoring that. They've met with the management company, they met with Walmart, so they're trying to stay on top of that. And also the, uh, building department, with the, uh, with the dumpsters, you know, they're not enclosed. And they've

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been trying to keep them on their toes with that. And as I said, you know what? It's only as good if the the police and the enforcement has to be there. Uh you know, whether it's the building department, if you're not enforcing it and not looking at it, they're going to take advantage. That's just human

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nature. So, um we have to stay on top of that. Happy Mother's Day to everyone has made a 10 Sunday. So, thank you. >> Thank you, Council President. Uh first and foremost, I want to congratulate Pete. Um, I heard another hat was added

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to your uh your list of names there. Google. >> Yeah, for sure. >> Historian, Paco, let's see, board of eder accounts. I could go on and on and on, >> but the one I cherish the most, it's friend. I thank you because you're

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you're a great friend, mentor, and you make our life so much easier. >> I thank you. >> Oh, my pleasure. Um, and also to Miss Tom Hayes and his family. Thank you, Tom, for your your love and dedication to our township. Um,

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uh, you certainly have walked the walk. That's for sure. And, um, as far as, uh, the mayor handled you, you know, mentioned everything that's going on, but we do have a, um, townwide garage sale May 15th, 16th, and 17th.

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So if anyone would like to register, it always helps with advertising. Go to our website and uh get yourself together. Okay, that's it for me right now. >> Thank you. Amazing. Mr. Garrick. >> Uh good evening everyone. Congratulations to the honores. Tommy

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Purple Hayes, Pete Lee, Operation K9 Beethoven. Um Tommy always does a great job um raising money uh for so many organizations, so many individuals. Uh Pete obviously uh you know it's no secret everything that you've brought to

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the township for for decades and uh I consider you a very close friend. So uh the honores uh congratulations. Uh I also want to recognize uh the mayor Jimmy Hamsy and all the department heads. I know they're working uh very hard on the budget. Um I met with Jimmy

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uh this past week. I know he's crunching numbers every day to try to get that number down as far as he can get it. So, I appreciate that, Jimmy. Thank you. Uh, and and finally, happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there. Thank you.

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>> Thank you, Garrett, Miss St. >> So, um, I would like to congratulate all the honores as well. Pete, obviously, thank you for all your dedication and service to the town. Um Tom Hayes, uh what you have done is

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commendable and you have definitely made a difference in so many lives and it does take a special person to do what you do. So thank you. Um K9 Beethoven, I think that's a really nice service to offer the veterans. So I

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will definitely be spreading the word on that because I I think that's great. Um, as Stephen and the mayor mentioned, uh, the light pollution presentation at the library at 3 pm and the star party at, um, 8:00 PM at Smith on April 18th. U,

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they should be great events. So, if you can join us, please do. Um, and with that being said, I do have a proclamation that I'm going to read um, from the mayor in recognition of light pollution awareness week. Um whereas 8%

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of the world's population, including New Jersey residents, live under light pollution, hindering the experience of natural darkness, which is vital for ecological and health benefits. This emphasizes the urgent need for heightened awareness and action. And whereas light pollution in New Jersey,

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including Bergen County, poses economic and environmental challenges, wasting approximately $3 billion yearly. And whereas studies further demonstrate a 17% increase in light pollution in urban areas in New Jersey over the past

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decade, exerting adverse effects on wildlife, disrupting ecosystems, and contributing to health issues among the population. And whereas the township of Saddlebrook acknowledges April 13th through April 20th as light pollution

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awareness week, aiming to raise awareness about light pollution and promote responsible outdoor lighting practices. Now therefore, on this 16th day of April uh 2026, Robert White, mayor of the township of Saddlebrook, in recognition of light

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pollution awareness week, encourage all Saddlebrook residents to adopt practices that contribute to the pres the preservation of our natural night sky, fostering a healthier environment for the well-being of both humans and wildlife.

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Thank you, Miss Sanchez. Um, >> you have something else? Sure. >> I'm sorry. One more thing. A very happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful mothers out there. >> Before I forget, happy Mother's Day. So, I'll definitely forget

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um the recipients of the presentations tonight. Uh Tommy I've known for a long time. He actually is a neighbor. He lives around the block from me. does an awesome job with the drums from heaven and with the challenger league uh for years. So, God bless him for all he's

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done. Um do we have uh the Ed Eel with the K with the K9. Ed's another guy who seems to be uh relentless. He's just got an engine that never stops. Um he just keeps doing it

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and uh it's great. uh whatever we can do obviously to help our veterans there uh should be high on our very high on our present on our um on our list of people that we we need to acknowledge and we need to assist.

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Um who else? There was somebody else that got a presentation tonight. Who was it? >> Was it? >> Oh, wait. I gotta tell you, I've been on the council. It's going on 18 years. Uh, and

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before that, I was just a pain in the butt that came to the meeting and got yelled at and yelled at people. Um, Pete is somebody that you can call pretty much any type of I've called him on Saturday, Sundays, he doesn't care.

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Uh, and regardless of whether what party you're in, whether you're Republican or Democrat, independent, didn't matter. Pete treated you with respect. He answered your questions. If you needed something, he got it for you. So, he

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doesn't play party politics at all. And that's that's one of the that's one of the reasons I bought this guy. So, thanks for everything you that you do. Appreciate it. Um, so just want to make a quick comment. As

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Andrew has mentioned, sometimes it's very difficult. You sit here, new council comes on, new mayor comes on. I was in both positions and you have to build up trust with the clerk, different people that you're working with. Sometimes it forms into a

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very special friendship. Sometimes you wonder how you even got involved with an Andrew Simluca, but seems to work out when he calls. But uh the main thing is we all work together and that goes I've always been

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in awe going back to my schoolboard days with PTAs. The volunteers we have in this town or volunteers second to none from emergency services coaches uh they keep programs going civic organizations.

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We now have the green team that we started. So again, my thanks to all of you helping out sound Brook. Thank you. Um

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I just wanted to say we we got a letter from uh Mr. Ibrahim about the uh railroads and we're going to talk about that just so you know that we didn't just uh not think about what you what you wrote to Mr. Abraham, who was

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concerned about the uh the noise uh horn honking, the uh the noise from the uh transfer of the the freight trains going back and forth. Um I I intend to bring that up at our next work session. He mentioned something about a quiet zone.

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I had no idea. It's some kind of uh it's something that we might be uh able to get some kind of dispensation from the feds because they they control the railroads. So, it's very it's been very difficult. As everyone knows, the town gets cut off when freight trains come

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through. Um, and we've tried for years to do it and we've contacted them to do it at in hours, which doesn't really have major effects. We don't like them doing it at 7:00 in the morning, 5:00 in the afternoon. Those are horrible times during rush hour. And that's happened. I

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believe it's been a little better. Uh, we've been able to do that. Just getting them to fix the railroad tracks on Midland Avenue took years really for them to look at it and acknowledge that there was a problem there, but they finally did it. So, they move

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people say local government moves slow. Well, if we move slow, we're like uh Usain Bolt compared to the federal government. So, uh Mr. Ibraham, we didn't forget about you. We will be talking about uh your uh issue on uh at our next uh meeting. I'm going to defer

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a couple of things to Mr. I'm going to ask some questions actually to our professionals. Uh Mr. Scapesy on one of your uh points that you made was about the um the rolling reassessments.

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Okay. I did say your name right. >> I think you said Scabzy. >> What? >> Scatino. I I probably got a somebody I probably Holly Scapesy asking me uh for money the other day. >> Scatino, I apologize. Mrs. Scatino, have

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you seen a decrease since we've been doing the rolling assessments? One of the reasons that we do it is to um elim not eliminate but reduce the amount of tax appeals. Have you seen the number of tax appeals uh decrease since we've uh

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enacted the rolling reassessment? I I can't speak specifically in to this community because I don't we have a separate tax attorney, but I know in in other communities that I do that I am involved with the tax appeals, the towns that have the annual assessments, they

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do get less appeals, but even more importantly than that, most courts move very slowly, but the tax court moves exceptionally slowly. So what happens is if a a property owner, typically a large commercial property owner, by the time their case is heard,

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it could be up to five years that they're looking for a deduction for. And when five years accumulate, if they're successful, some towns get hit with having to refund over two or three million and it causes a significant

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strain on the municipality. So the annual assessment, not that it eliminates that from happening, but it greatly reduces the likelihood of a town having to fun uh pay a multi-million dollar refund to a uh commercial

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property owner. >> Thank you, sir. I'm going to direct my next uh query to uh our engineer, Mr. Client. First of all, condolences on the passing of your dad. Um I know that that's a horrible thing to go through.

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Uh can you give us uh an idea about the timeline and the the progress of both the street pavingings and our uh numerous uh recreational projects and give us kind of a timeline of when it's going to start, when it's going to end,

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things like that. To the best of your uh to the best that you can do it. >> Uh sure. First off, thank you all for the uh tribute to my father to start off. Um he was uh his life was something to celebrate. He was 96 and mostly

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healthy. Um but thank you for this review uh to start off. Uh as far as the projects, um I'll start off with the playground at Kern Place. The the playground itself is is built. The

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surfacing has been poured. Uh contractor just has to do some cut some uh sidewalk, redo the sidewalk, uh reinstall the benches that were there, a couple miscellaneous things, and then that'll be done. Speaking with him

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today, he thought it will be ready for use by the end of next week. Uh Mayill, the tennis courts and pickle ball courts contractor is out out there uh doing the color coding. Uh again, if all goes

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well, weather cooperates, they'll be able to finish for you uh in time for use by the end of next week as well. Um the spray the spray park uh as the mayor mentioned,

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the demo of the house has begun with asbesus abatement inside. Soon enough, you will see it um the outside of it also removed and then they'll begin uh with the work of installing the spray

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park. All the equipment is in the town's possession. Um I am hoping things go well enough that it'll open early summer. I'm really hoping for Memorial Day. We'll see how it goes. Um

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Third Street has been paved. Uh the tree streets are currently we're the contractors currently out there doing a lot of concrete curb replacement. Also, uh ADA R compliance on the um crosswalks

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along Sheepus in preparation for PSEG to pave the roads uh sometime uh next month. As far as PSEG is concerned, they are it's looking like they're going to probably be paving roads most of the month of May. Uh we're going to get a

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schedule. We've we've ironed out the roads that they're going to do and we're trying to set up a preconstruction meeting with them next week and get a schedule from them what's going to be paid when and and when they're going to start.

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They're also going to be shortly starting uh the what appears to be the last gas main replacement project. Um at that point, most or all the town will have had its gas replaced. Something that

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probably wouldn't have been done if they had to pave every street curb to curb. Um instead, you know, they would have gone to other towns and done gas replacements instead. they were able to do it here and and that's a good thing having new and

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modernized gas means throughout town. Um that that last project will we have a pre-construction meeting for that scheduled next week as well and we'll get a schedule. Um fifth fifth street park will be under

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construction probably sometime this summer. Um, what do we have? Flora Lane is another road that that will be under construction fairly soon. Uh, we'll have to work out, you know, schedule with the

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school and all so that we don't interfere with them. And I think that's basically it. >> And again, P PSA is picking up the paving for the tree streets. >> Yes. >> Okay. God bless you.

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>> Okay. Uh I'd like to uh congratulate uh now Captain Joseph Cameleri, veteran. Um just recently promoted to captain and Lieutenant Anthony Deanzo. Recently promoted. Um, you know, you're

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old when kids uh that were uh your kid went to uh [ __ ] pee-wee uh football with are now captains and lieutenants in the police department. So, man, I've aged. Um lastly, uh Tommy Hayes mentioned about volunteerism, and I got

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to tell you, volunteerism is is very important. I look out and I I look around and I just see a sea of volunteers. I mean, I'm just looking out there. Uh Jerry Taylor out there, he was on the board of ed for 12 years. Uh thankless job. Sylvia's been a president

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of board of ed, currently on the board of ed for for a long time. 12 years. Um Chief Wenszel, chief of the fire department. John LaGuardia, coach. Tommy Van Winkle, um with the the

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mayor's youth group. Steve Maraconda with the green team. Sarah with the ambulance corps. Who else am I going? Lieutenant and sergeant. Oh, I was wrong. I gave them promotions ahead of time. I got Buch. Are you a captain now?

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>> He's not even a captain. Okay, so it's Lieutenant >> It's Lieutenant Cameli and Sergeant Deans. I'm sorry. >> Let's just say I'm ahead of my time because in a couple of years that's the way it's going to be. But uh did I miss anybody? I mean, everyone here has has

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volunteered. It's uh it's a great feeling uh to get it to to do it. Um and we couldn't survive. This town uh luckily has a great group of volunteers and that's the way we get things done.

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So um and thanks to everybody out there to all the volunteers and uh we will go into ordinances. Sir, Mr. Clark. >> Sure. >> Ordinance 1802-26. Final reading. An ordinance amending

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chapter 203 entitled water of the code of the township of Santa Brook regarding certain fees charged by the township of Santa Brook County of Bergen, state of New Jersey. >> Motion to give it a second reading.

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>> Motion. >> Motion, Mr. Garrick. >> Second. >> Second, Miss Sanchez. All in favor? >> I. An ordinance amending chapter 203 entitle order of the code of the township of Saddlebrook regarding certain fees charged by the township of

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Santa Brook instead of New Jersey. >> Uh motion to um open the meeting to the public on this ordinance. Miss Mer. >> Second. >> Second by Miss Sanchez. All in favor? >> I. >> No objections. Meeting is now open to the public on

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this ordinance and this ordinance only. The no takers, I'll entertain a motion to close the meeting to the public on this ordinance. >> Motion Miss Sanchez. >> Second. >> Second, Miss Maser. All in favor? >> I. >> Please read the resolution.

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He resolved by the township council, the township of Saddlebrook, that the ordinance entitled an ordinance amending chapter 203 entitled water from the code of the township of Saddlebrook regarding certain fees charged by the township of Saddlebrook, county of Bergen, state of

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New Jersey. Let's now pass on second and final reading and that the township clerk be directed to set ordinance or title arrive in the press together with the notice of the date of passage. That ordinance according to what? Okay. Is there a motion to approve or to adopt I

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should say? >> Motion to adopt. >> M Garrick. Second by Miss Sanchez. Roll call. >> Councilman Garrick. >> Yes. >> Councilwoman Sanchez. >> Yes. >> Council Measer. >> Yes. >> Council President Sim.

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>> Yes. Guess we'll go into the um consent agenda. I just wanted to make a correction to the minutes of February 19th. Um, it indicates that I had said something about the average speed on Fifth Street when we

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did our our uh speed study was 5 miles an hour under the posted speed limit is actually the average speed that they detected was 5 miles an hour over in the speed limit. That's why I am in favor and we are looking into getting a u

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speed hump on Fifth Street at near uh the park over there. U we're working with the working with the engineer and did we send out the survey over Jim? Did we send out the surveys uh on the speed study? >> No, that's

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>> okay. So, we're going to get out a survey to the residents that are around that area, the ones that will be affected by it. I believe from 46 to President and then I think some some of the it's because it's going to be near third uh near uh Capitol. Uh we got a

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couple houses on capital. We're going to be sending it out seeing what what they think about it. I think it's a good idea. I think the numbers bear it out. Um so u with that correction uh we'll make a uh anyone have a motion to approve the

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does anyone let's see uh not part of consent agenda is the uh March 5th special meeting. So other than the March 5th meeting >> payment of bills >> what's that >> and the payment of bills >> and payment of bills. Um is there a motion to approve the consent agenda? >> Motion >> second.

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>> Garrick second. All in favor? Well, you know what? Take a roll call. It's mine. So, Councilman Garrick, >> yes. >> Counciloman Sanchez, >> yes. >> Council Meer, >> yes. >> Council President Sim, >> yes.

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>> We have the U now part of the consent agenda, March 5th, 2026 special public meeting minutes. >> Motion to approve. >> Motion. >> Motion by Sanchez. >> Second. >> Second by Mr. Carrick. All in favor? >> I. And you I'm sorry D roll. I

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apologize. >> Councilman Garrick. >> Yes. >> Councilman Sanchez. >> Yes. >> Counciloman Mer >> abstain. >> And council president. >> Yes. >> We have the payment of bills. >> Motion. >> Motion.

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>> Second. >> Sanchez. Second by Mr. Garrick. Roll call. >> Councilman Garrick. >> Yes. >> Counciloman Sanchez. >> Yes. >> Counciloman Maser. >> Abstain. accused. >> Council President Simuka.

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>> Yes. Okay. Consent agenda is done. Uh any old business? Uh new or or new business? I know we have separate the agenda. It says old business, new business. Council comments. This town

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generally has since I've been on here kind of glums them all together. So, uh, mayor, you have any other things that you wanted to make get out that you didn't say before? >> I just wanted to mention too, you mentioned the volunteers. Johnny Leguardio is also on the planning board,

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too. So, uh, and the biggest volunteer we probably have out there is Thomas Van Winkl. All the events that he goes to taking photos and everything. So, we really appreciate it, Tom. >> Thank you so much for all the time you put in.

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Uh I just want to mention just briefly about this whole the ordinance with the signs. Um you know what the big signs become a problem because

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4x4 is you know 4x4 you know we we thought about saying well maybe we'll allow a 4x4 but we thought about that but the the 4x8s are ridiculous honestly. you know what on homes and people don't want it

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and I'm telling you it becomes a sign war um you know this candidate gets a sign you know in a good location now the opposite you know the the opposing candidate he or she feels like they got to get a

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sign in that same location and so now they're knocking on doors and and you know people what I found is if you you know if you ask somebody, they feel pressured. They really do. So, they might not want to sign, but but they'll put it up. You

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know what I mean? Because you kind of put a little pressure on them, and it's not fair to them. Plus, when they're put up, a lot of times they're put in a location where they obstruct the resident's view or a neighbor's view from pulling out of the driveway or something because the signs not in a

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good location, not in a good spot. Plus, those signs are very, very expensive. Yeah. you know, 4x4 signs that $200 a sign. You know what the 4x8s are like double that. It it just becomes

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to me it it just becomes ridiculous. And uh look, I know I I had to pay for somebody's I had to pay for somebody's sprinkler system because the guy that I had putting the signs up ended up going through somebody's sprinkler system with the stakes. So it, you know, and he didn't know it because at the time it

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was, you know, it was around October. They already shut the, you know, the water off of the sprinkler system, but in the spring when they put it on, it was a geyser, so you know, I had to pay for it. And uh, you know, I remember

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like, okay, I got a rock there. Went through the It's just, you know what, I just think overall it's better. You know what? And and a 3x3 sign is big enough. You know what? If you want to put your face on there, you want to put your name big, 3x3 is it's it's a foot shorter

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than a 4x4 on each side. So, I don't know. I I think it's good enough. That's just that's that's my feeling on it. Anybody else with older new business? Okay. Okay. So, uh I'll entertain a motion to

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um open the meeting to the public on the agenda items and agenda items only. Motion >> second by Miss Major second by Miss Sanchez. All in favor? >> I see none. Meeting is now open to the

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public on the agenda items. Seeing none, I'll entertain a mot. I'll entertain a motion to close the meeting to the public for agenda items. >> Motion. >> Motion by M. S. Second by Mr. Garrick. All in favor? >> I.

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Um lastly, we are going to uh go into obtain a motion to go into close session. Uh Mr. Catino, can you just give us an idea about the uh or either you or Mr.

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Holsey? We're going into close session. Is that for that's for litigation. So can >> litigation and personnel hopefully it will be uh less than 20 minutes at which time the meeting will reopen to the public. You'll be invited back in if you're still here and further action may be taken.

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>> So motion to go into close session. >> Motion to go into close session. >> Cinches. All in favor? >> I >> oppose. See none. I want to close. We're back in session.

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>> Come on, hurry up. Get in here. Okay, as people come filtering in, we are back in session. Mr. Leico, do you have anything to for us to do? Resolution approving settlement agreement under lease.

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Whereas the township and township set the public works and John R. not desire to uh further about July 28, 2025 in Burton County Superior Court

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plaintiff and tax defendants have negotiated and reached settlement in accord with the settlement agreement and release attached to approved and incorporated by reference. And whereas the township administrator and township attorney have reviewed the settlement agreement and release with regard to

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this matter and recommends the approval of Shane. May therefore be resolved by the mayor council of the town of Cabra, County of Bergen, state of New Jersey that the settlement agreement released attached here too and incorporated herein by reference with regard to

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within matter reference matter be hereby approved and be further resolved that the township administrator be authorized and directed to execute the attached settlement agreement and released on behalf of the township defendants be further resolved. that the

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township clerk behind and directed to forward a certified copy of this resolution and settlement agreement and release to the township's insurer and be further resolved that the township attorney being is hereby authorized and directed to forward a

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certified copy of this resolution and settlement to Debbie Kerwin esquired the attorney representing John Brucato upon its passage. >> Okay. I entertain a motion to approve this resolution. >> Motion. >> Mayor Sanchez.

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Motion. Second by Mr. Garrick. Roll call. >> Councilman Garrick. >> Yes. >> Counciloman Sanchez. >> Yes. >> Council me. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Council President Sima.

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>> Yes. Resolution passes. Next is uh next resolution Manuel Brena, Matthew Esther, Greg Jacob and Michael Snowitz are employees of the township of Santa Brook whereas therefore mentioned employees through

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the union representation teams for local 560 H grievances and demanded arbitration through the New Jersey Public Employment Relations Commission 2025 2025 434

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2025 435 2025 146 legend September 15 local 560 and four affforementioned employees wish to is obvious grievances and resulting demand

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for authorization. Whereas the township's labor attorney has recommended that tax settlement agreement and lease is in the township's best interest. Whereas the township does not admit any liability or wrongdoing whatsoever to

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the settlement agreement at least has taken this action solely as a matter of business judgment and not the recommendation of the legal counsel. Therefore be resolved by governing bodies of the township county of Bergen state of New Jersey that the township

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hereby approves the attached settlement agreement and lease between the township and teams local 560 setting all outstanding issues as more fully set forward agreement and it's further resolved by governing body

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state of New Jersey hereby authorizes the mayor or his designate to execute the settlement agreements and release for the township personnel and your legal counsel to take any action necessary to effectuate the terms of this resolution.

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Okay, >> we'll entertain a motion to approve this resolution. >> Motion. >> Motion by Miss Sanchez. >> Second. >> Second by Miss Mer. Roll call. >> Councilman Garrick. >> Yes. >> Counciloman Sanchez. >> Yes. >> Councilwoman Mer.

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>> Yes. >> Council President Luca. Yes. Okay. Any final comments? I just uh I forgot to mention Christine Wenszel, who's a longtime uh board of ed member and uh volunteers to uh live with

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Herman, which is she should get paid. She should get paid for that. Uh with that being said, I'll entertain a motion to adjourn. >> Motion. >> Motion by Miss Mer, second by Miss Sanchez. All in favor? >> I. >> Happy mom's day.