Can you hear me? Okay, loud and clear. We can hear you. Great. Adequate notice of this meeting has been provided by resolution number 300-2024, sending a copy to the newspaper officially designated for 2025 by way of resolution number 2-2025, following a
copy in the township clerk's office and posting it on the municipal bullet on the municipal building bulletin board. And the mayor hereby direct this statement be included in the minutes. Mayor, give me one second. You look if you're looking for great I have it right here. You want me to just read it? Yeah, I'll be great for every
meeting also. No, I will not get the duty of reading this every meeting filling in for the mayor because I forgot to print out his cheat sheet. Township administration present at tonight's meeting. We have Jaclyn Hashmat, township manager. Doug Rousion, township clerk. Kristen Dorcha, deputy
township clerk. Scott Sammon Township Attorney Ron Goodman, our volunteer cable master. For the public's information, we are currently holding a hybrid format meeting. We have people in person and on Zoom. If our Wi-Fi at the municipal building has an issue or the Zoom meeting drops, we will aim to retrieve the connection and continue the
meeting. If you haven't yet, please sign up for website updates and township alerts on tenej.gov. The next regular council meeting is June 17, which begins at 6:30 p.m. with public portion beginning at 8. Tomorrow night, we have our community
pool ribbon cutting. 6 pm, 700 commander walk, rain or shine. Join the township's historic preservation commission in renaming a portion of Alicia Avenue between Evergreen and Pinewood Place this Friday at 6 p.m. at the corner of Alicia A and Pinewood Place. Of course,
we have our annual Memorial Day ceremony this coming Monday, May 26, at 11:00 a.m. on the Municipal Green. Please don't forget, I had a lot of announcements on here for you, mayor. Sorry. Primary election taking place on June 10th this year. Polls are open from
6:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Mailin ballots have been mailed to those registered. The clerk's office is open until 9:00 p.m. tonight. For voter registration, we have John Macallum in the lobby. For anyone watching at home that needs to get that registration in, you have some time. If you are a pole worker working
this primary election, join the clerk's selection team in council chambers on Thursday, June 5th from 6:30 to 8 p.m. to meet fellow pole workers and enjoy refreshments together before the big game day. We also have our pride flag raising on Saturday, May 31st at 11:00
a.m. at the vote park flag polls and council met in close session tonight to discuss the following. Potential sale of township property personnel contracts affordable housing, cannabis, legal issues andor oh, sorry, not cannabis, legal issues andor opinions regarding
any items on this open session agenda, litigation updates, and Oprah. Mayor, the floor is now yours. I apologize. Thank you, Mr. clerk. Okay, we're going to start the presentation if correct. Uh the first is our 2025 police chief for a
day, Sier Haywood, but I think he's out on a call right now on patrol. Is that correct? I don't see him here, so he must be pulling over bad guys or bad women. Okay, so I guess we'll skip that and maybe we'll either hold it for the next meeting or if he gets freed up from that call. Um, next certificate
recognition. Zeta, help me out the pronunciation. Five beta sarardi. Um and I'm going to ask um deputy mayor belove the jackets. Yeah, she's coming down. Okay. So, we have a certificate of
recognition for uh Zeta Fi Beta Sorarity. Um and ladies, if you'd like to come up, I'd love to to have you. um the Gamma Alpha Fi Zeta chapter on their 2025 blue classic scholarship award
brunch. Uh the town council of Tene. Um we want to thank you for the work that you do in Tene and in Bergen County, the community at large with young people, nurturing our future leaders. And for the benefit of of uh
everyone, uh Zeta Fibeta sarity is a historically African-American sorority that was founded in 1920 by five women from Howard University who envisioned a sorority that would raise the consciousness of their people and encourage the higher standard of
service. So we congratulate you on all the work that you're doing locally in our in our township and in our county. Congratulations. Yes. Oh yes. Okay. Official one. We'll have that. Okay. Great. Can I get one picture?
Thank you very much. Perfect. Thank you so much for coming out. Yes. Mr. Clerk, are we introducing the capital budget tonight? Do I not am I do I see anything in the agenda? No. No, we the budget was
introduced last meeting. Right. We're adopting. I apologize. There's not a separate The hearing is unders. It's not a separate that was question. You are considering the bond ordinance this evening which is attached to all of that. That's the ordinance. So it's not a separate item. It's under the ordinary hearings for all the ordinances. That's
what it's considered. The bond ordinance this evening which is ordinance. Let me just be specific. 2022 2025 22-205. Yes. The budget we will see again on June 17. Got it. Okay. Excellent. Okay. On to work session. I'm sorry. In the recognition for Dr. Mary McClary, he was
not able to be here. So, you're going to be in touch with him and get him as good. Absolutely. Okay. On to work session items. Miscellaneous old business. Mr. Mayor. Yes, sir. Just a quick question for either our manager or our clerk. And I'm sorry, I should have asked earlier. Do
we know how long channel 77 will be out again? Um, it probably will be about another 6 to 8 weeks because we are still doing construction in the engineering office. So I have had DPW staff has been concentrating on our pool opening and then they are going to pivot and finish
uh more construction there. Um so it will be out for uh quite a few more weeks until I get that resolved. Oh no, I was just curious because a couple residents asked me how long channel 77 is. Yeah, the wiring is 777. Um well because I do have the staff
working on the engineering office in concert with the uh contractor. though they are assisting with kind of multiple projects at the same time. So actually I didn't even know just to clarify because for some reason I thought the So it's out because of the engineering construction. Why did I think it was by
the No, the wire the um I think we've talked about maybe moving by court but the actual wiring that uh we have it connected is in the engineering office. Got it. Thank you. That's for that's for public access. I'm sorry to interrupt, Miss Manager. That's channel 477, but
it's also our wedge or website streaming. So the streaming service that we've had for like 15 years, hang um that is connected as well to the hub upstairs which we had to unplug to do this remediation. So we're relying on
Zoom. We share it to YouTube and Facebook. And of course we have our excellent and new business communications committee reports by council leaison. I'll jump in. We had our Cedar Lane management group meeting last week and we just pregamed the
Memorial Day celebration which starts at 11:00 a.m. on Cedar Lane. Anybody else on council leazison of committee reports? Um I just had a request from PPE. So the the trash cans and the parks, the raccoons are getting into it
and knocking them down and they were looking to see if we can look into and I guess using the clean communities grant to maybe fund this. Um, I think they had a price and I don't remember what they were off the top of my head. Um, with the cover so that way if they do get knocked over the the food doesn't go all
over the park. Okay, sure. I'll look into those and get a get a sub price. They actually had more information. I'll get it from um Alison with an overview. Anybody else on I have two. Oh, sorry. Go
ahead. Sorry, Mr. Mayor. Did you call on me? Yes, council. Okay. Um, sure. Two um reports here. First, from the senior citizens advisory board. I shared all this with um Jackie already, but I want to make sure you all heard this as well. Um first, they have some serious
concerns about safety in the Roa Center lot. Um the circle, that rotary area that um connects the road center to Queen Anne Road, there used to be a divider there. Um it was removed recently and as a result you now have
traffic flowing in from Queen End Road into the Roa Center parking lot. Um I believe incoming traffic is allowable but there is a clear do not enter sign to leave the road center and go out towards Queen Anne Road that many people have been ignoring. Um so um many
members of the senior citizens advisory board have felt very unsafe. Um they don't think people are following that sign. um they would like to request that we have um police patrol the area, maybe some more clear signage that you cannot exit the Rotary to go to Queen Road as
an outlet. You must go out through Palisade Avenue and um they would just again they don't feel safe in that area and they would like to have um us take a look at that more closely. Um second, they want to request a town hall meeting with um with all the township department
heads over the summer. They think it would be really helpful for the that community to hear from township departments about what are the things that they're doing um especially as it relates to incorporating the needs of our our seniors um in their planning. Um next um they did I brought this up a
couple of times. There's a corner an intersection on Beverage and Tene Road where there is a I guess a tall tree that's providing foliage that um limits visibility and so they'd like that to be um looked at. they can't make um turns from Tene uh from Beverage onto Tene
Road safely. Um there's also a request to look at the Cedar Lane benches um in that square area next to where um Bishoffs used to be. Um they feel like there needs to be some beautifification there. Maybe the benches could be
painted um etc. Um and finally, um similar to what council member, uh Goldberg, um shared, there are some serious concerns about overflowing garbage, um in Brooks Park, in um Argon Park. Um also, they're concerned about
um animal feces being left um around without being picked up. Um so that concludes the the report from Senior Citizens Advisory Board. Uh my second report is from the Advisory Board on Community Relations. They met on Monday. Um they would like to get an update on
empathy training as soon as possible. Um I know we had to cancel the the dates we had set aside. Um and apparently several people had, you know, made adjustments to their schedule and so that was a bit frustrating. Um and so they just want to make sure that when we schedule it the
next time around that we're very firm in those dates um and that we get that scheduled as soon as possible. Also, they um Doug, lookout, they're going to send you a proposal. They have um some small uh uh requests for um expense coverage for some ABCR paraphernalia as
you know when they represent um at township events. Um they just want to have like a tablecloth and some um a little bit of ABCR swag, maybe a couple pens or something like that that they'd like to invoice for. So, um that concludes my ABCR report. Thank you very
much. Sure. Okay. I just have a one report. I just wanted to remind uh everyone based upon the Ten Historic Preservation um commission um hosting a street uh street renaming and dedication to Ulissiz K. Uh Mr. Kay was a Tene
resident um and uh he was a worldrenowned uh composer and musician. Uh so we're inviting everyone to come out for that street renaming on Friday, May 23rd, uh at 6 pm uh between Alicia Avenue uh on Alicia Avenue between
Evergreen and Pinewood Place. Thank you, Dr. Yeah. And um Memorial Day uh Patriotic Observance Advisory Board, it's the ceremony that starts at 11 o'clock. It'll be on the municipal green and then we go up uh to Cedar Lane for
Cedar Lane Management. Um that starts around noon or 12:30. Um also the second group of the military tribute banners have been hung on Cedar Lane. Um and also I believe on Tene Road. So uh take
a look um for those. Um there is a uh general up there from Tene now. We're very proud of that. So um uh everybody take a look for that. Okay. Excellent. And on to council
listed items. Proposed resolution affirming Tina's commitment to protecting the rights of all residents and upholding democratic principles and the rule of law. Deputy Mayor Belchure and Councilwoman G. Please go ahead. Thank you. Thank you. Uh Mr. Mayor, uh so we have um many of us know that there
are a lot of things that are happening around our state uh in our country regarding um citizens knowing their rights. So, myself and Councilwoman G um want to share this uh as a resolution. Um I it is in your package, but I'd like to read it. Affirming TX's commitment to
protecting the rights of all residents and upholding democratic principles and the rule of law. Whereas the township of Tene is a diverse, inclusive, and welcoming community that values and respects the dignity, safety, and contributions of all its residents
regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, nationality, or immigration status. Whereas every person in the township of Tene is entitled to basic rights and protections under the Constitution of the United States and the laws of the state of New Jersey, including the right
to due process, freedom of speech, equal protection, and freedom from unlawful searches and seizures. And whereas the state of New Jersey through the office of new Americans and other agencies has affirmed the rights of immigrants and residents and documents such as know
your rights publication which outlines protections during encounters with law enforcement and immigration authorities. And whereas New Jersey immigrate immigrant trust directive provides that local law enforcement officers may not
require uh inquire about immigration status nor participate in federal immigration enforcement activities except under specific and lawful circumstances. And whereas the township of uh township council recognizes that
fostering trust between local government and residents is essential for effective governance and public safety. And whereas the township affirms that no resident should be targeted, profiled, or discriminated against based solely on
perceived immigration status, national origin, or language. Now therefore be resolved that the town council of the township of Tene County of Bergen, state of New Jersey, as follows. One, commitment to rights and liberties. The
township of Tene reaffirms its commitment to protecting the constitutional and human rights of all people residing or in or visiting the township. Two, promotion of of democracy and rule of law. The townshipo upholds the rule
of law. democratic engagement and access to justice and opposes any policies or actions that undermine civil rights, freedom of expression or due process. Three, CI uh civil immigration enforcement. The township shall continue
to act in a manner consistent with the guidelines issued by the New Jersey Attorney General, including the New Jersey immigrant trust directive. Four, public education and resources. The township shall work with community
organizations and relevant state agencies to disseminate know your rights materials and support public education about legal protections especially for immigrants and vulnerable populations. Attached is a know your rights immigrant
rights flyer that has been issued by the state of New Jersey Department of Human Services that shall be published on the township website in English and in Spanish and made available through the office of the township clerk. Five,
protection against fraud and exploitation. The township encourages residents to report fraudulent immigration services and supports the role of licensed and accredited legal service providers. Uh it will also
promote resources such as the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs to report scams. Six, commitment to inclusivity. The township will continue to advocate for policies that promote inclusion, equity, and participation for all
residents and civic life and the deci and decision-making. Be it f further resolved that a certificate uh or certified copy of this res resolution is transmitted to the New Jersey Department of Human Services Office of New Americans and made publicly available on
the township website to reaffirm TX's ongoing dedication to justice and inclusion. I would ask that I move that this would be accepted my by my colleagues. Second. Mr. Mayor, if I could say something really quick. I just want to say thank you to Deputy Mayor
Belchure and Deputy Mayor G for proposing this initiative because this is about protecting people, especially communities that are feeling very threatened right now and vulnerable, especially immigrants and Latinos and so many other communities that are feeling threatened and this is a very brave thing to do because you have Donald Trump actually threatening to go after
officials that do this sort of thing. So, you absolutely have my support on this and thank you so much. I just want to say thank you for including it in Spanish as well. Um, and you have my support as well. Excellent. Okay. And we'll go to the next. Um,
wait. Nodding has to move it. Yeah. Roll down the roll quick. We had a second from Councilman Pagan. This will be adding it to tonight's consent agenda as Oh, sorry. resolution. It's all good. It's all good. Um, this would be resolution
168-2025. Um, because we added 167 earlier this afternoon for the CSX thing. So, this is being added as 168 with a second from Councilman Pagan. Councilwoman Goldberg, yes. Councilman Pagan, yes. Councilwoman G, yes.
Councilman Cat, sorry. Deputy Mayor Belchure, yes. Deputy Mayor Organ, yes. Mayor Schwarz, yes. Added. Okay. Proposed 2025 budget. Councilwoman Gilbert. Uh, I was just putting it on the agenda for the public because, uh, Deputy Mayor uh, Oregon said that she wanted it for
the public, so I was just helping Um, proposed 2025 budget. Deputy Mayor Morgan. So the same. Okay. Proposed resolution return of Edon Alex Don Alexander, council members Goldberg and Pagan. Thank you. So I'm
just going to uh read it and then move it to the consent agenda. So this is called resolution celebrating the return of our neighbor Edon Alexander. Whereas on October 7th, 2023, Edon Alexander, a 19-year-old American citizen, Tennifly resident and graduate of Tennifly High
School, class of 2022, was kidnapped by Kumas, a designated terrorist organization. Whereas for 584 days, Edon was held hostage, separated from his parents, Yael and Adi, his siblings, Mika and Roy, and the life he had only just begun to build. His strength,
dignity, and hope never wavered. He endured what no one should have to, yet he remained a source of strength for all who followed his story. Whereas throughout that time, Edon's name became a call to action across Bergen County. And he reminded us that even one hostage is too many and
silence is never an option. Whereas for Bergen County, this was never a distant story. It was not a headline. He is our neighbor. His captivity was felt here and his return is nothing short of a miracle. It reminded us of the strength of family, the power of community, and what becomes possible when we refuse to
look away. When one of our own comes home, we do what we have always done. We dance. Whereas Edon's courage and the unwavering accuracy of those who fought for him reflect the values that define Tene. And his story is one of resilience, compassion, and collective resolve. Whereas Tene knows the cost of
terror, and we remember resident Sarah Dooker. We remember what it means when someone is stolen from us. And we remember how we welcome joy with reverence and our sorrow gives shape to our gratitude. Whereas return is a reminder that even after the longest nights mornings come. He is not a metaphor. He is a son, a brother, a
grandson, an American and a Jewish American who endured what no one should ever have to. He is our neighbor and he is free. Whereas the burrow of deer together with the burrow of tennifly and communities across New Jersey have recognized Edon's return by resolution
as a moment of relief and celebration. Now therefore, it be it resolved that the township council of the township of Tene joins the burrow of Tennifly and Demerest in celebrating the safe return of Edon Alexander and hereby joins them in proclaiming May 12th, 2025 as Edon Alexander Freedom Day. We have further
resolved that a copy of this resolution be sent to the Tennifly town council and mayor and the Alexander family alien mika and Roy as a sign of our continued solidarity and support and welcome home. I so move it to the consent agenda. Second. So this is again this is added to the
consent agenda. Did you want to make any comments or want you had some wording? You just saw this or do you want to motion to bring this to the resolution to the I just made a motion to move it. Second. Thank you. I'm ask do you want to move this to the consent agenda and discuss it later or do you want to have
any comments that you want to discuss? Well, I I'm just saying this is the first time I'm seeing this. Are you okay discussing it later? Uh, I'm Yeah, I'm okay discussing. Roll call, please. And the cassette agenda 169-2025. That was a motion from
Councilwoman Goldberg, a second from Councilman Pagan. Councilwoman Goldberg. Absolutely. Councilman Pagan. Yes. Councilwoman G. Um, welcome back, Edon
Alexander. I'm so happy you made it home safely, but I have to abstain as this is an international affair and I I I will not um I I vowed in the past that I will not um introduce resolutions that have to do with international affairs. Debut may belchure.
I'm seeing this. I know this was walked in just a few minutes ago. First time I saw it was a few minutes ago. And I I would have to abstain as well because I I'm not going to um vote on something that's international that could potentially have wording that might offend um you know or be something that
would be um problematic for you know all residents. Deputy Mayor Organ. Yes. Mayor Schwarz. Yes. This is to bring to the resol to the Yes. to bring to the consent resolution. We'll pull and discuss it then. Thank you very much.
Okay. Um, township manager report. Thank you, mayor, and good evening, council and township residents. Um, as we've mentioned many times, the Tina community pool ribbon cutting and um our event is tomorrow evening, rain or shine, from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at
700 Commander Walk. With over 750 residents registered, we are excited to kick off Memorial Day weekend with our new facility up and running. Thank you to our DPW for their endless hours of renovation and groundskeeping and to our recreation department staff for their
organization throughout this registration period and detailed oriented process. We are also accepting applications for additional lifeguards. So, if you know anyone in the community that is interested, please reach out to our recreation department for more information. Our youth advisory board is
hosting a cultural fair at Boutique Park this Thursday, May 22nd from 5 to 7 p.m. Uh, this is a friendly reminder to our composters. The BLM mural is scheduled to be repainted on June 1st. So, the overflow parking lot by the Roa
Center will be closed. Composters should refrain from drop offs that weekend because the lot will be closed late afternoon on Friday throughout Monday morning. Our recent community meeting in reference to the Sagamore Park detention tank is posted on our website for residents to view. National Police Week
was last week from May 11th to May 17th. During this week, we pay with special recognition to those law enforcement officers who have lost their lives in the line of duty for the safety and protection of others. Um, as mentioned previously, our Memorial Day ceremony is this upcoming
uh weekend, May 26th at 11 a.m. on the municipal green. Our annual pride flag raising ceremony will take place on Saturday um May 31st at 11:00 a.m. at Vote Park Sports Plex Sports Plex flag polls. The township will also be working
with several several groups to coordinate events throughout the month of June. The township of Tene reaffirms our commitment to creating a safe, inclusive, and accepting community for all. We will also be preparing our Jun Junth flag raising ceremony and event at
the ROA Center. This will take place on Thursday, June 19th, starting with a silent walk at 8:00 a.m. Flag raising at 12:00 noon at the Vote Sportslex and then a jubilee in the Rotus Center from 1 to 3:00 p.m. Please refer to the flyer as there are additional details for you.
A friendly reminder that the township offices will be observing Junth. So, Township Hall offices with the exception of DPW, police, and fire will be closed on Thursday, June 19th. Our next community cleanup day is scheduled for Saturday, June 14th, 11:00
a.m. to 1:00 p.m. And sign up is available online and also via a QR code on the flyer. July 4th parade and festivities are also being planned and the flyer and details will be posted very soon. The TAK Farmers Market continues on
Thursdays through October at the Garrison and Beverly lots. And our next shredding event is June 6th from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. in the Township Hall parking lot. I encourage our residents to come early as the truck does fill up very quickly. A zoning subcommittee
meeting is scheduled for May 30th at 9:00 a.m. And we also have our ADU community meeting which is scheduled for June 26th from 7 to 9:00 p.m. in council chambers. The Tina Police Department is now accepting applications for the 2025
Junior Police Academy starting Friday, June 27th and continuing from June 30th through July 3rd. Applications must be submitted by Friday, May 30th. Also, another reminder that June 17th will be the only council meeting in
June, so please update your calendars. This week is EMS week, so we thank TAC first responders as well as Holy Name Medical Center first responders that dedicate their time for the well-being of the Tina community. For some project updates, uh the Heric Park improvements
continue and we uh look forward to a completion the end of June. The parking area at Heric Park is going to be part of next year's paving um paving project, so will be paved at that time. Bike lane improvements are still on
schedule uh for during August before uh while school is closed and the Argon Park tennis courts is scheduled to start next month with a completion date early September. The Phelps Park tennis courts will be reopened tomorrow and there will be some surface painting scheduled in
about a month. Andreas Park pickle ball courts restoration is underway and due to open by the end of this month. We are working we are ma we are making uh great progress with the pedestrian bridge um over Palisades Avenue. We met
with the structural engineer to finalize the updated plans that CSX will review. Then we will be able to go out to bid for the priority repairs that will give us about 5 years until we have to do a full replacement with ADA upgrade. The Bellav drainage project is scheduled
to go out to bid early next week and the Bell a rain garden is scheduled to go out to bid next month. The Sagamore Park improvements, we will have a concept plan um for the next meeting in June for comparison on
next steps on that project. Um some previous action items that I was asked to follow up on as an update to the parking signage on Decar Avenue. Three parking violations have been issued to date and the police department continues daily patrols in the area to ensure parking
compliance. Last meeting, the issue of traffic congestion and bottleneck areas in Tene was discussed. Our traffic bureau and township engineer has reached out to Nancy Dargas at the county to discuss improvements to Tene Road from Cedar Lane to Trion Avenue. They also
discussed the addition of painted mediums um and additional roadway striping for Tina. I will continue to update on our progress with the county. Benches for Sagamore Park will be included in the design. We're currently
working on the preliminary concepts and expect to have those uh for next meeting. I know I report on many updates, but specifically our project updates. I have moved to the front page of our website and is labeled capital projects. So you can see all of our projects listed and
updates periodically on that page. Friendly reminder to sign up for our township alerts. And also since next meeting is right after Father's Day, I'd like to wish all of our dads a great day. Thank you so much, Mayor. Excellent. And looking forward to seeing you tomorrow night at the ribbon cutting.
And if we could just say I I don't know if everybody heard every project that the manager just mentioned, but she has so many balls in the air and she's juggling so many things and also racing to the finish line to get the pool um completed in time for the ribbon cutting
tomorrow and for Memorial Day this week. Um she's got a lot on her plate and she's handling everything. So, thank you so much for all that you do. Thank you, Karen. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. So one thing I want to uh discuss that was was a late
addition from today that on the agenda is resolution 1672025. This is a resolution ratifying the execution of the preliminary engineer engineering agreement with CSX transportation. Um so as many of you
know we are uh looking to do some emergency repair work on the pedestrian overpass uh pedestrian br pedestrian bridge by Windsor road palisate a um we are as part of that because the br the overpass goes over CSX railroad CS CSX
is uh required to essentially inspect the work and make sure that it's safe obviously they don't want to see it collapse uh on on their their railroad So as part of that we are required to enter into an agreement with CSX to allow them to do that. Uh they uh as
part of the agreement CSX is entitled to reimbursement from the town for essentially the the the expenses that they incur looking into and and doing work on on on our project. Uh they've estimated that cost be about 18,700. It could be slightly more could
be slightly less slight slightly less slightly more. That's their estimate based on their experience. Um this resolution uh authorizing this I should say no work can begin until we uh until we enter into this agreement uh and pay and pay them this this sum of money.
This resolution was meant to go on the agenda in April uh 22nd meeting. Um it is I'll say entirely my fault that it did not go on the agenda for that meeting. I just sl it slipped through my office and we just didn't put it on put it on the agenda. Um, frankly, I would
not have realized that we that we missed this if uh Councilwoman Goldberg hadn't raised the issue to me. So, I want to thank her for that. Um, so because we expected and planned for this to go on the agenda back in April, uh we didn't realize that it wasn't on the agenda. I had authorized the manager at the time
to to sign the agreement uh thereafter, which she did on April 24th. Uh we then realized uh I think you know yesterday or today u I think it was yesterday that um uh this resolution hadn't been put on the agenda. So that's what we're doing now
is essentially to ratify the uh execution of the agreement um ratify the signature that the manager already already put on it and to authorize the township to um uh to pay to pay out this $18,700 which is also on the bills list for tonight. Uh so we're essentially
doing now what we uh should have put up to the council for its consideration two months ago. And just because this is a unusual way of doing it, I just wanted to explain the council and members. I have two questions. Yeah. Um first of all, I've been asking for um few months
now. Um in writing um what is the status of the reimbursement for the residents for the State Street Bridge from that agreement? So the this is the this slightly different thing. This is the uh agreement that you found I believe it was last year related to the 19 the 1925
or so contract between CSX and the township which entitles the township to reimbursement for work being done on the uh uh the underpass and the the state street bridge. Um we had sented a copy
over of that contract over to CSX months ago now. I don't remember exactly how long ago was. It took them say a significant amount of time for them to find their own copy within their archives. Um we confirmed that it is that it's related to you know State
Street and rel and it's related to the the underpass. Um I'm you know going to work with with Issa. Uh Issa doesn't know this yet. We haven't talked about this CF, but you said so. We're going to be working together to come up with a list of of the of some of the expense of of the expenses that we have incurred uh
from CSX related to those projects over the years. And then we're going to once once we have that, I was going to come back to the council for its blessing to essentially write a demand letter to uh to CSX demanding that they reimburse us for anything related to that. And before I get to the other not related question,
um, so for the underpass, we went into litigation with them in 2002 to 2006 and won, correct? And they were forced to pay for that underpass, right? Technically, we settled, but yes, they it was it was a win for us. Yes. Okay. And then my other question is kind of backtracking. So we're a Faulner council
manager system. So what procedures can we put into place to make sure that this doesn't happen again? It is I'll say more uh the practices are more with my office I think than than anything else. Um I'm going to I'm gonna I don't I guess I don't know the answer
yet but I'm going to come up try to come up with a system to make sure that uh these agreements I think go through multiple layers uh of of review and to that way we make sure that nothing is just getting signed off on just I mean is there a workflow or something that we can work on? I'll say probably but it's
it's going to be internally within my with my within my own office. There's nothing there's nothing I think I don't think there was anything that the township uh uh messed up with this. I think it was the the the fault is entirely mine on this. Sorry, Mr. Attorney. What what fault that we didn't list this in the April meeting were you
talking about the contract for the for State Street? This is No, no, the that this wasn't listed in April that this I Well, I guess it's a two part. It's two parts. one that it wasn't listed in April and two and two that I had without realizing that it wasn't approved had authorized the manager to to go ahead
and that was the issue that the check was you were just saying the check was cut without that was the yeah two both both parts to it I think you're forgiven I think the township is just so excited that we can start work on this bridge and finally open it after so many years of being closed and um I look forward to
whatever form of ribbon cutting we can have as we walk back and forth to Vote Park over from outside of town. Okay. So, I would I would like for the next meeting um I'm actually not going to be here. It's my son's 8th grade graduation, but the meeting after then, please um a a memo about the process
because um the Faulner Act is kind of the basis for our government. So, it is a big deal. You the process for this the resolution or this the process to make sure that we have a system in place so this doesn't happen again. Not a problem. We'll do. Okay. Um on to the ordinances. Mr. Clerk, can
you please read that the ordinance into the record? And we have three ordinances. Ordinance number 3-2025 amending the township code to revise development regulations regarding
fences. We have ordinance number 21-2025 authorizing to exceed the municipal budget cost of living allowance aka cola and to establish a cap bank for year 2025. Last but not least, we have ordinance number
22-2025 bond ordinance providing for various 2025 capital improvements by in the township of Teneek in the county of Bergen Shave, New Jersey, appropriating 12,315,000 therefore and authorizing the issuance of 11,687,100 of bonds or notes of the
township to finance part of the cost thereof. Thank you, Mr. Clerk. We'll now call on anyone in the audience. Then we'll go to Zoom. You have three minutes. Please go ahead. Anyone? Anybody? Just on the ordinances.
Anybody just in the ordinances? Councilman S, former Councilman Senic resident to provide some context on ordinance 22 uh which authorizes $1.7 million in borrowing. We already have about $50 million in bonds and $22 million in
notes. Uh this would bring up the total uh closer to 83. We'll be paying off uh about $3.5 million in bonds which are mostly very very low interest rate bonds closer to 1% and these are likely to end up being notes uh at at closer to four
or four and a half or 5%. But also we need to look ahead. Uh there's a $100 million capital plan and there's $88 million in borrowing in the years ahead. Um with 5% as a set aside with some grants, uh this could be 70 to $75
million in borrowing in the years ahead. Uh we could see by the year 2030 that we have debt totaling $150 million. And not only would that debt likely be higher in in total in double the the amount that we currently have uh but it would likely reach a point where the the cost of
financing that debt would be double to two and a half times uh the cost we have now. The other consideration is that this impacts the budget and the budget increases. The budget increase of 7% for this year as a manager reported will be about $323 per household. Uh next year
is estimated by the CFO at 14.4%. 4% about another $700. 2027 is estimated at 16.7% another $800. That's an $1,800 increase to the average household no matter where you live here in Tene. Whether you live in the Northeast, West
Anglewood, Phelps Park, uh Country Club, uh that's a very very very big increase. And the question is how are we going to pay for that? I would love to have all these things, but the question of where we come up with the money to pay for that and are we going to use the T
township taxpayers as a piggy bank is a critical question. And I think the number one uh question is what is the strategy to pay for this? How are we going to go forward building up a debt profile that is significantly larger than what we have
now and with budget increases of about 40% between this year and the next two years? My number one suggestion is come up with a plan. Attacking Councilwoman Goldberg is not a strategy. It's a tactic and it's not a good tactic. We need to get
help. We need to get outside input from the bond council. We need to get outside input from the auditor and come up with an overall holistic big picture plan working with our professionals the manager and the CFO and coming up with a plan that says which things can we
afford to pay which things should we be burdening the taxpayers for my question is not and I think the question this council needs to ask is not which do you want to take off it's how can we pay for these things and as a taxpayer you need to be looking not just at
but at every member of this audience at every member of the public and say how are you going to pay for this? Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Stone. Anybody else in the audience like to speak on these ordinances only? Okay, Mr. Clerk, do we see anybody on Zoom? We have Chuck Powers.
Yes. Can you hear me loud and clear? And do you see me? I don't. Why is that? I have um comments about 32025
and 22 2025 tonight. I assume that the reason we keep on not being able to do more than table the fences ordinance is it remains unclear
whether or not that ordinance pertains to every fence already in existence in this town which would require a permit or only as the syntax of the ordinance
would suggest only cover those which are newly newly created. And that issue is made more confusing by
the letter in the agenda from the zoning the our new zoning officer. I hope that someone will clarify whether or not this applies only to new fences or to everything that's in already a
fence in the town. Please clarify. The second issue is as anyone who's paying any attention in the town either to this agenda or to teen voices or to many other social media, there is a raging
discussion going on between two members of this council about what it is that is included in the capital budget. And you have just heard a very good uh ex Jesus of the of
the issues associated with the capital uh budget and it what is included in it and therefore what it is that we would be approving on notes and bonds going
into the future both now and for the next several years. Mr. S's suggestion that we really understand what's there, how we're going to pay for it, whether or not the the time frames for it is
correct, lead me to believe that the only rational thing to do tonight, given all of the uncertainties created by the two memoranda from our from two of our members of the council, is to say,
"We're going to table this and bring it back when we take on the entire budget on the 17th of June. Thank you very much. I am bringing in Keith Kaplan. [Music]
Hello. Can you hear me loud and clear, sir? Three minutes. Thank you. Keith Kaplan, Tene resident. um want to speak to ordinance 3-2025 which appears to keep popping up on the agenda only to be tabled simply because it never changes. Um I spoke
with the zoning officer and his letter is uh clear enough uh after speaking with him. The intent of the council when the ordinance was originally changed was that uh residents should not be forced to uh need to get a survey. You had
people that were trying to do a very minimal project. It costs very little to put up uh your average fence, but they were forced to get a survey in order to do so. So, the idea was they pay for a permit fee, but not get, you know, the
full zoning permit that would require a survey. However, the zoning officer is correct. any uh building permit that they issue requires a survey because the uh UCCC and the code from the state
level says that it does. I asked him if there's another way to do it. He said as long as it's in the building section of the code, it's going to require a zoning permit, which in essence would require a survey, but it doesn't need to be in the
uh building section of the code. It can be in the miscellaneous cost section. Look, we kept the fee in there because government likes getting fees, and I'm not going to argue against that. Government is going to want its fees no matter what. But the idea that we
shouldn't force people to go and get a survey in order to just put up a simple fence around their property because they want to keep their kids safe and they want the animals to play outside or whatever the reason is is a valid thing that this council did and it doesn't
deserve to just go away with ordinance 3-2025. What I would suggest and which is congruent with the opinion of the zoning officer is to permanently get rid of uh 3-2025 come back removing the cost for
the permit from the building department section put it in the section for miscellaneous expenses. It keeps the exact same structure that we have now. It keeps the same payments coming in and it does what the council in years past,
which was even before I was on council, put in place, which is that you don't need to go and get a zoning permit and the concominant uh survey in order to just put up a simple fence because people respond to incentives. And if you
make this very difficult for them and requiring an extra $1,000 on a $1,000 fence is going to be making it very difficult for them, you're going to have a lot of people that are encouraged to just ignore the rule. Let's put it in a different section. Let's do it the way
that it makes sense. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Kaplan. No one else on Zoom. No one else in the audience. The hearings are now closed. Um, we can start from that side. You know, we'll start from this side. Any comments? Okay. Um, Council McGomery, any
comments? Um, I I'm just going to kind of speak to my email. I think it's just kind of easier. Um, so first of all, I don't I don't do threats. I didn't do threats on November 24th, 2024. Um, so I don't do threats now. Um, but if anyone wanted
dialogue, you would have reached out to collaborate. Thank you, Deputy Mayor Belchure, for doing that. I appreciate it. Um, not threatened me about getting in line. that confirms what I already know. So, everyone here is accusing me of offering no practical alternatives for the capital and operating budget.
Um, but the facts are very clear otherwise. You've included $500,000 for a splash pad in the 25 budget, but I was able to find that was bonded in 2019. I'm still not really sure why it hasn't had a shovel in the ground in six years, though. Um, additionally, I found an
additional $500,000 in the six-year capital plan for the prefab bathrooms that Councilman uh Kaplan pushed really hard for. That was in the 2024 capital ordinance or was already done. Um, that's the $750,000 appropriation,
improvements and upgrades to various parks and playground facilities, including but not limited to, it's all there. Between 2024 and 2025, taxpayers are going to absorb se over $700,000 um in capital spending for the TAC community pool with zero public
documentation what work is being done. I have asked multiple times and I haven't gotten that. Um residents are learning more about the pool from Facebook than this day is which is a real problem. And the tax filings and DNO insurance for the swim club and the wind down
operating costs. Yes, the council voted on that, but nobody was told that we were covering private nonprofit obligations. So, which brings me to the transparency rules. And yes, I resigned from the budget subcommittee. That's why I resigned on March 20th after the
transparency rules were uh rescended because if the public can't come to a budget subcommittee meeting to see how their taxpayers are spent, then I don't need to go. I can sit there and be transparent myself. So now this wish list, the budget proposes nearly $12.7
million in new capital spending. Let's be honest, $10.5 million in debt, 1.2 covered in grants, which if you look at the state proposed budget by the governor, most of that's going to be cut next year. So we really need to have a plan here. The rest is backed by trust funds. And you cannot use all $1.5
million of most. That demands a public hearing, possibly even a referendum. We paid $3 million in debt service in f in 2024, five in 2025, and I still don't know what that Passback Valley water thing is, but yes, everyone, we are bonding at more than 2% interest. That
was five. Um, next year, the most generous assumptions, we're refinancing $22 million in bond anticipation at 4.6% and Tene is going to owe at least $5.2 million in debt service in 26. That's on top of the 5.5 we're paying this year. So, in two years, we're going to have
spent more than $10 million servicing our existing debt while watching the balance grow. Let me just say it again for everyone. We are spending the equivalent of the entire capital budget to pay interest, statutory minimums, and rollover debt. And nobody can tell me how we're paying it back. Somebody
please tell me how are we paying it back in six years. If if all of this happens, the forecast is $185 million. What are you going to say to the seniors on a fixed income? What are you going to say to the single mothers? What are you going to say to
the middle class people hurting because everything is being cut from the federal government? And you're you're we're just putting more on them. There is never going to be a 0% again. This is guaranteed to raise taxes for everyone. Where is your empathy?
Thank you very much, Council Gilbert. Mr. Mayor, I'll just keep it simple because I know um Mr. You asked previously to discuss why we might be voting for the capital budget or not against the capital budget. Uh two simple reasons. There's multiple reasons why I'll be voting against the capital budget. But two simple reasons. Number
one, we're spending too much money. And number two, this is part of the largest tax increase in Phoenix history if it passes. So that's why I won't be voting for it. Thank you, Mayor. Um Deput I just a couple of things. uh you
know I I think we we as as a governing body I think as leaders we we have to we can look back and and and um kind of like you know quarterback on the fact that there were many years where there was 0% increases and we sit
here and say why where was the wisdom in that uh however I think we as leaders have to be solutionsoriented uh not point fingers but figure out how can we solve for this? How can we solve for this? And a couple recommendations
I'd just like to make um to my colleagues um and the mayor. And that is uh two years ago when I um first came on to the council, I recommended that uh and we stood up, you all agreed to a a grant infrastructure task force um and
it was for the the sole purpose of identifying grants from an infrastructure perspective. And um during the the um tenure of our last manager, he he did that. He we we invited uh many of the um uh leaders
from our um township government um offices and we did successfully find grant money and we uh submitted we applied for them and and and Jackie graciously has continued that um meeting. We've however been uh meeting
more on a quarterly basis uh roughly about every three three months. So I I would recommend to my colleagues that we step that up that we find uh Mr. manager, a means by which we can meet maybe on a monthly basis to be more
proactive about looking at grant opportunities and actually grant matching and maybe perhaps I know I I'm sitting on the task force but perhaps we may want to bring another council person on uh to to look at different means by
which we are maybe not um you know identifying grants and making sure that we are are are getting what's due us. The second recommendation that I'd like to make is that we seriously look at a workshop format when as a working
session when it comes to identifying our debt service, looking at bonding, looking at grant matching. We do a great job during our our budget uh season where we have our department heads that come in and they present their budgets
and so forth. But I really feel that we have to get down granular granularly to a level of looking at, you know, bonding, looking at our debt service and and so forth. And of course, you know, our CFO should be there. Of course, even
our auditors uh potentially would be there. But I think that we have to find solutions. We we cannot we cannot afford to point fingers and say we should have, could have, would a. We should look at what can we do now. Thank you. Thank you
very much, Deputy Mayor. Deputy Mayor Morgan. So, this is not a fun year to be on council. It's um you know, borrowing money used to be free. Um there was no interest. Now there's interest. And um we're not getting the same money from
the state that we did and things are expensive and healthcare is expensive and we do need to raise taxes this year. And we also have this capital budget that we're trying to pass and it reads as $12 million. But if you look at
it and you break it down, and I'm not saying that 8 million is a great number, um but it isn't $12 million. There is money in here for grants that we have to lay out and there is a $1 million placeholder for ball fields. That money
combined with PSCG money, if we used it from most funds, whether it required a hearing, um I don't believe it would require a referendum, it would absolutely require a hearing, which we just we have hearings here all the time. Um if we didn't have the money for it, we wouldn't be spending the $1.5
million. So, you would take that out. And then if you look at the police radios, um the 1.025 million there could come from forfeite funds. Any of the police items up there could. But if you look at the at this budget and you look at the um
the items that are here, I I've asked this over and over again. If you're not going to vote for this budget and you call this capital budget irresponsible, what would you cut from this budget? Would we cut firearms for police? Would we cut police cars? Would we cut the radios for the police department? They
can't hear each other right now from certain parts of town. We need to get on the county radio frequency. Would we cut fire uh turnout gear for the firefighters so they wouldn't um be protected when they ran into fires? Would we cut the extra money that has to
go to the ladder truck that this entire council approved um years ago? Would we stop repaving the roads? There's $2.8 million built in here for the roads. We're very proud that we've been repaving them. Do we stop doing that? And do we stop repairing the the sewers?
Um, do we stop upgrading the parks? We've been doing that and everybody loves the parks and we love the new fields. Do we cut that because because we're saying we can't afford it and we don't want to bond for it? I don't know. People People borrow money to fix up their houses all the time. We're
essentially borrowing some money to match grants to fix up things in the town. Are we going to do that? And then you take a look at the library here. This budget is waiting to add additional money so that we can furnish the library and we can open it up. There's the
bridge going over to Vot Park that we've been waiting for and we finally got permission to take care of that uh for the DPW to upgrade traffic lights. So, they're up to code. We're required to do that. And then there are some uh utility vehicles for the DPW who have been
working so hard. And yes, there is a line here for a municipal pool. Um, but the the pool at Vote was costing us a quarter of a million dollars every year for a pool that was a little bit bigger than this room. So, now we have this
huge pool that the entire town can can um can uh gather at. So, it it's not easy. Um, it is expensive. It's something that we can bond for over time. We like to keep we like nice things. We like to keep our our
infrastructure up. We like to protect our employees. We need to give them health benefits. We like to keep them protected. So, if someone on this council can tell me what they would cut from this budget, I'm happy to listen. But, it's been drilled down and it's
it's been um taken down to $8 million, not $12 million, but $8 million. Um, and I don't see what putting this off would do. We can't table it one month. We have one meeting a month for the next two months because the election because the
um primary was moved. So, that would be two meetings because it would have to be reintroduced and and by then um we would be late in introducing it and in bonding it. So, I'm I'm voting for this budget. I would love to hear and there there are
two members here who said that that this was um or one who said that this was irresponsible. All I wanted was an answer, not just a no, but what would you do? What would you pull from this budget to make it responsible and I don't see anything here that could be
pulled. Thank you very much, Deputy Morgan. Deputy Mayor Morgan, you saved me um several comments. So, I'm going to jump right in. Um, there were lots of talk about I'm not voting for it because it's too much. Let's talk about GR. And there was talk about grants. Let's talk about
grants. Grants are excellent. But what New Jersey does is very simply give you a $750,000 grant to rebuild the handicap playground. So, as long as you pay a portion on top of that and matching or something. So, there are millions of
dollars in this capital budget that we get in grants, but we need to also spend money. Mr. Schwarz is spending $14,000 a year in taxes. What I'm asking him to do is protect his quality of life and spend 14,383 or
$328. Or I can say we're going to we're not going to vote in this capital budget or we're going to vote this capital budget down. No one's getting roads. No one's getting fire gear. No one's getting parks. turning down the grants because the grants cost the money. But at least now your $14,000 won't go up $300. You just won't get much for your
$14,000 other than potholes. So costs go up and we need to either borrow to build and improve on our infrastructure every single year or say we can't have those nice things. We can't have those nice things anymore. or that firet truck that
you called to come to this town to come to your house, it's delayed because it's actually in the shop and we didn't replace it. So when we floated an $ 8.5 million budget two years ago, which had new fire trucks, new ladders, it passed because we need firet trucks and because we need fire ladders. That is the cost
of living. You want to go down to different parts of this country where your property taxes will be a third. Absolutely. But you're not going to have the Tene Police Department respond within seconds. You will hear sirens in this town when you call the police
department. As it relates to what are we going to tell the seniors? What who are on fixed income? The seniors in this town. This is one of the best towns to live in as a senior between what they can do at the library, the road center, and all the services. We have shuttle buses that take seniors to doctor's
appointments, not Uber. Our shuttle bus on our dime to which we're proud to spend that dime. What do we tell the single mothers? We're actually telling the single mother on Bell Avenue that we're spending a million dollars, a million and a half dollars to fix the flooding in her house. That's what we're going to do. Now, to the last question,
how are we going to pay for it? For eight years, we had a zero budget for a variety of factors, but the biggest factor we had was increasing revenue due to development. Unfortunately, in New Jersey, not just in this town, that town, the other town, virtually the
entire state, you need to build, build, and build. You need to increase your revenue because when you wake up in the morning, your expenses are increasing. And when you don't increase your revenue, you wake up in the morning, your expenses are still increasing. So, we need to build build and build. We've got a very robust schedule coming up and
we ask everyone their support to bring those developments to town to bring in the revenue or don't. And then we'll either take it from your pocket or from no one's pocket and not have anything nice at all. So, with that, I'm going to make the motion. I'm going to ask Mr. Mayor, before you do, I'm sorry. I
apologize. I didn't see Mayor Cat, please. Go ahead. That's okay. No, uh, I just listen, I I obviously um, great points that you just made and I agree. It's it is it is a very, uh, tough budget to stomach to be honest with you. I mean, we we have to also remember that
we're in the service business and this this is the product that we provide. You know, residents pay a lot of money in taxes and they want nice parks. They want nice roads. They want a fire department to come. Um, I'm sorry, Mr. Can I just say same?
Yeah. Um, I meant to address this in my report. It's on my mind. So, for ordinance 32025, Dr. Powers asked about the um whether this is applying to all fences or new fences. I meant to clarify this. Uh, we looked into this. It would be it would only be applying to new fences.
Any current fences would be grandfathered in. So, it's only if you're new a new fence uh and you get a new a new permit for it that would it would apply to you. So, it's not like everyone needs to come and make an application. Just want to clarify that one point. I think we'll separate
this. I'm sorry. Correct. Um, Anyone make a motion for new? I'll make the motion to approve number three. Second.
Second. First from Councilman Pagan on number three. Second from Deputy Mayor Oregon. Councilwoman Goldberg. Councilman Bean. Yes. Counciloman G. Yes. Councilman
Catz. Ordinance three. Councilman Catz, did he drop? I see you. Hang. If you keep when you hit the hand raising multiple times, it actually makes it a little more difficult. That's why no one's calling on you, Mark. Everyone knows the harder you
click on it, the more likely it is you're gonna call on Doug. Good. We all know that. Ellie, this was uh you you just got back with us. We're doing ordinance the fences. Yes. So, just on the fences, am I able to say comment? I'm sorry that I have a very roll call.
Okay, fine. I'll take that. I'm a Okay, go ahead. Was that a yes? Yes, that's a yes to P to ordinance three. Just to be clear, if I I agree with C with Councilman Kaplan. So, is it a is
it a No, I agreed with him, too, and voted no. I agree. Council's a no. I'm a no. It's a no. Mr. Clerk. Deputy Mayor Belure. Yes. Deputy Mayor Organ. No.
Deputy Mayor. No. Sorry. Deputy Mayor Mayor Schwarz. No. And three. Mr. Clerk. Make that pass. That fails. Dead. That that fails. Okay. Ordinance number 21 to 25. I'll make the motion to approve the
cap in 21. 2125. Make Wait for Can the CFO just explain to the public kind of what this is and what the impact is for this year, whether we're using any we have anything banked from last year, which I don't think we do, and if there's going to be
anything banked for next year, just so everyone understands. I'd have to pull up the budget document, but while I do that, let me explain the cap bank. So, every year there is an appropriations cap bank by law because everyone says, "How are taxes going up?" It's 2%. There's a 2% levy cap and with
exceptions, asterisks, and there's a 2 and a half% appropriations cap. The appropriations cap also has exceptions. Should the appropriations, how much we want to spend, increase more than 2 and a half%. We can use additional bank, which
is equivalent to a home line of credit. That's the best analogy I can come up with. Council um typically introduces and adopts that ordinance, the cap bank ordinance. So, for example, this year we have a lot of appropriations we did not expect to go up so high. Health benefits
um are one of them. insurance, pension, and that bank allows you to use money you haven't used in the past two years to fund the budget. There's no additional money being taxed. It's just there as a safeguard. If you don't
introduce and adopt a cap bank and your appropriations are higher than 2 and a half% and you have no bank, you literally have to start laying off people or cutting expenses. No auditor or CFO worth their salt would advise the governing body not to adopt it. Again,
it is a um it is in in case of emergency break glass. Uh but in the meantime, I'm just going to pull up the budget that was introduced so I can give you that number, but we I believe we did use some bank. We have thankfully always had bank left over, but I'll pull it up if you want to go on to the next ordinance.
Wait. Um so does this mean that so like next year do we can if we don't hit the cap, can we get the bank back as like revenue? Like how does that work? It doesn't count as revenue. It's literally there to just allow you to spend more in the appropriations cap. After two years
though, if you haven't exhausted your cap, it's literally forfeited. It's not money physically in a bank. It doesn't count as revenue. It just gives you more leeway, more spending room in case you have appropriations that, as we discussed, that go up and above above
and beyond the two and a half% with exceptions. Thank you very much. U Mr. Cler, please call the roll call on 2125. The motion was Schwarz. Was there a second? No. No second yet. Is there a second? The C. Second. Deputy Mayor Morgan. Roll call,
please. Councilwoman Goldberg, yes. Councilman Pagan, no. Councilwoman G. Yes. Councilman Catz, no.
Deputy Mayor Belchure, yes. Deputy Mayor Oregon. Yes. Mayor Schwarz. Yes. That mot ordinance passes. Ordinance number 2225 for the bond ordinance. I'll make a motion to approve ordinance number 22 of 2025. Second.
That was moved from our mayor. Second from deputy mayor. Counciloman Goldberg. No. Councilman Pagan. No. Councilman G. Yes.
Councilman Catz, yes. Debbie Mayor Belchure, yes. Deputy Mayor Oregon, yes. Mayor Schwarz, yes. Thank you very much. I pass this and the meeting is now open to good and welfare in which you have three minutes to comment on anything you like. I'll start
with in the room, please. Good evening, council. Thank you for allowing me to come up. Um, I just wanted to respond to the proposed resolution for welcoming home Oh, sorry. Uh, Elan Ogoric, Tene, New Jersey
resident, originally from Brooklyn, New York. Um, thank you for bringing up the resolution to council. Eden Alexander's release after 584 days in captivity in the worst conditions is indeed a moment of profound relief and joy for his
family, the Tennifly New Jersey community, and supporters worldwide who march weekly to demand his freedom and that of others. The continued hope for the safe return of the remaining 58 hostages, of which around 21 are still
alive, is something we will continue to hold on to until the last one is home. May efforts being put forth bring further reunions and healing for all those hostages, their families, and all around the world.
Eden, welcome home. Our hearts are a bit fuller. Thank you, Mr. Mr. Schwarz. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Ronald Schwarz, 698 Larch Avenue, Tina. Uh, I want to speak tonight in support of the resolution that was introduced tonight
by Councilwoman G and Deputy Mayor Belure. I think it's 168. Um, two little vignettes. Uh tomorrow Lisa and I will be going with a number of other ten residents down to Delaney Hall in Newark to bear witness
uh to what is going on there uh ice out of control uh completely. Uh many of you know uh that I think it was last week um the mayor of the first the largest city in in um New Jersey was arrested in a
public area by ICE agents wearing uh camouflage uh and wearing masks to hide their identity. The mayor was in a public place and he was arrested wrongfully for trespassing. that uh complaint is now being dismissed because
it was a a bogus complaint in the first place. Uh and but now one of the Congress people that were there with the right to entry in that Delaney Hall is now being charged with um assaulting a police officer. ICE is completely out of control.
Also, um this past weekend, Lisa and I, um with the League of Women Voters canvased, um up in the northeast part of Tene to try to get people out to vote, uh in u on the June 10th primary, but also to find out what individuals in
Tene thought in that area were the most important um issues facing New Jersey. spoke to one guy who was out working on his lawn, who was in construction, and he almost came to tears when he talked about his co-workers who have been here in this country for years and are paying
income taxes and state income taxes and sales taxes. uh how ICE went up into an apartment building in Englewood without warrants uh with masks on their faces also and pulled out one of his friends from an apartment building in Englewood
uh without a warrant and that person has not been seen since then. His family is trying to find out where that person is has not been able to do that. I think this resolution speaks for the people of Tene and I uh to protect our neighbors and I would hope that you
would pass it. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Schwarz. Dan. Okay. I'm Deanip from 708 Walk. I'm here in an emergency. I'm not prepared to speak tonight. Um but before I start in
the complaint, I want to thank um Jaclyn Hashmat, our new township manager for doing that contract with Donor Freo landscaping to provide care and maintenance for the 671 and
662 Pomanderwalk properties. When Tina doesn't do it, I've done it for the past ever since Tene has purchased the lands. I won't take up my three minutes to go into that. But what I am very upset about is why did I walk outside of my
house today, look down the street and see a pile of wood chips at the foot of Pomander walk on the riverfront. In a flurry of emergency emails to the new uh superintendent of DPW,
uh Surabekian, he said, "The manager informed me about the wood chips that were to be spread along the riverway." Well, who asked the manager to spread these wood chips? I I hope it
wasn't the Greenway Advisory Board. I have had issues with them um over years. I was a founding member going back to 1990. I don't have three minutes to get into it. What I can say is I live in the flood plane of the Hackinack River. As
such, I am very well familiar and I follow and I research the rules and regulations from the Department of Environmental Protection and I obey them all to a tea. What is the plan for the wood chips?
Where along the riverway? Is it the greenway that goes through the leaf transfer station? Was the plan to go through the 671 Pomander property? That's entirely off limits. Why it's off limits is another 15minute discussion. I
don't have three minutes to to say that. But um I can say that the parkland portion was determined to be contaminated with a specific contaminant. Former manager Brton wanted to put a 10-ft chain link fence around
that area. You uh the the um uh Farah Gelani, the town engineer, who has a pavement company, wanted to pave it and make a parking lot. I talked them all out of it, but the reason is I looked up that particular contaminant
and the contaminant the best treatment is grass and that's what we have now. So if the plan was to put wood chips through the grass, you would be disturbing the grass and spreading the contaminant. But all this goes into real
research, real planning. If there was to be spreading wood chips on the river, why is the plan? Where is the research? Where is the drawing? That's all I have time, but please remove that pile. Thank you. Thank you very much, Stratson.
Good evening, Council Ray Addison Tene. Um, I'm going to talk about a few things for you to look into. Um, I know some of them are difficult. Um, but anyway, they'll make you wise of them. um bicycles on the base basketball courts
that you spend a lot of money to repair um in Brooks Park, Lot Park, motorized vehicles on the walking paths in Vi well in Brooks Park um and and uniform garbage pales in all the parks on Ten
Road. heavy traffic on ten road from the Bergenfield border to the grow avenue especially around by brine school and TJ it's just horrible in the morning trying to get to Route 80. Um now that summer
is upon us maybe the council can consider putting on the website reminding residents of a 10pm noise or ordinance. uh teenager businesses who have their windows covered with brown paper for
years. Um what are they hiding? Um he spent a lot of money or the state spent a lot of money repaving the road Tene Road from Route 4 all the way to Brookfield border and then the
utility companies come high after they're paved and rip it up. Um that's just crazy because now they're ripped up and when they replace it with um refill it, they're doing a poor job. So when the first rain come or snow comes, it
just makes larger potholes and I'm I'm tempted to um send a township or the state build for my tires. Thank you. Thank you very much, Mr. Addison. Councilman Zone standing, former Councilman Sone, still
a Latina resident. I want to thank Deputy Mayor Belchure. I want to thank Councilwoman G uh for their resolution affirming uh the our constitutional rights that are entitled to all residents. And again, I want to thank uh Councilwoman Goldberg, Councilman Pagan
uh for welcoming back Edon Alexander, a a Tennifly T Bergen County resident um who spent 584 days basically in hell. Um again, it's a remarkably worthy uh effort. Uh I was really struck by the
the metaphor of when people need a roof, they pay for the roof. Of course they do because they have to. Um, and the people who have to pay for dealing with a leaky roof or a roof is blown away have to sit
down and look at their finances and ask the question, I want everything, but what can I afford to pay? As much as I said the question of how will you pay for this, I really did
not get an answer. And let's look ahead to this year and the next two years. Uh between this year, we have a basically a $4 million tax increase. Uh next year will be about eight or nine million. Uh about another 10 million the year after.
We're getting roughly close to about $24 million in tax increases between this year and the next two years. Again, based on the current budget and the township manager's estimate, and based on the report from the uh CFO, 14.4% for
next year, 16.7% for the following year. That's an $1,800 per resident increase. They don't get a choice to say, "Which one of these things do you want?" I want them all. Everybody wants
everything. But in the real world, people have to make difficult choices. We don't want other people making choices for us. I want those wonderful roads. And again, I pushed to make that happen when it wasn't happening. I
pushed for fire trucks when it wasn't happening. But I also look ahead and I see that over the next five years in the f in the six-year capital plan that the township manager has worked out. There is another $16 million for parks. Are all those things going to happen?
There's more than $40 million for fire stations. The police headquarters is basically a petri dish. Um, we are going to be putting in million dollar millions of dollars that aren't listed for the swim club to get that up to speed. Uh, there's millions of dollars that deputy
mayor has said might need to be spent for this building to replace it. Where is that money coming from? Who is paying for that? I'm very disappointed that my biggest disappointment is not sitting down and getting the help
coming up with that big picture of how are we going to pay for all of this over the next five years. Thank you. Sandy Silverberg, Tene resident. Good evening, council. First, I'd like to thank uh Council Member G and Council
Member Belchure for their carefully constructed uh resolution. Thank you very much. Uh I want to talk about a a place where I think that there's very lack of safety
on Cedar Lane. When you're coming from Queen Anne Road and going toward Tene Road by this, there's a CVS and there are spots for parking on Cedar Lane about three places between
the entrance and the exit from CVS. I don't know if you can picture that. I see you do. When you try to get out of CVS, if there's a large vehicle parked in the in that spot, especially the first spot that's adjacent to the exit,
it's absolutely impossible to safely exit that at especially at certain times of the day when people have a tendency seeing an empty road to speed through despite the best efforts of of the police cracking down. So, I hope you'll
take a look at that. But I think a simple solution is to simply say no parking between signs and that would you'd have to give up three spots on Cedar Lane, but I think it would be a lot more a lot safer. Thank you.
Anybody else in the audience like to speak? Mr. Clerk, you got on Zoom for us? Anyone? Chuck Powers. Um, can you hear me? You can't see me, I I guess. Again, I'm not sure why. I can
hear you loud and clear. Um, I don't know if I can get the video up. I have no idea why not. Um, yesterday or perhaps today, there was added to the agenda
a resolution 256 approving a contract that was apparently bid on for landscaping of and the maintenance of our of our township properties.
Why something that was of that sort was not brought to us much early, I have no idea. But as I read it, I realized we were never told whether or not that was the lowest price. We were
told that there were multiple bids because I did not actually show up for the opening, which I usually do. I don't know how many other bids there were. Was this the lowest? It it it said that this particular bid was fully
responsive. We need to have somebody tell us why a bidding process is now to be acted on with no day with one day's notice. You're supposed to have this stuff in by the previous Thursday.
Why in the world do we not know what the other bids were for this important this important work? Second thing I'd like to raise is something that I think that some of you
may know. A uh a social media newsletter that I'm involved with asked the question of who some of the large contributors were in the 2024
election. And we were very unclear. We asked our readers to tell us were where who were these people were Mr. a a Mr. Malice Mes and a and a uh a a Mr. Hitman who
works for an organization XRC Management. Um the these people made $25 and $5,000 contributions. And we asked our reeners to tell us who these folks were. And
what we are getting back, and I'd like to know whether or not this is true, are that these are the developers of three of the projects that the township has has
agreed to provide pilots for payments in lie of taxes for providing huge contributions to two members, our mayor and our deputy mayor.
Why in the world don't we know who these people are? Why don't they have their names properly addressed and their or and their employer properly addressed? Thank you very much. Yes, I have Rebecca Fineberg. Good evening. Uh Mr. Mayor and council
members, can you hear me loud and clear? Three minutes. Great. Thank you so much. Um, I wanted to say thank you to the team that came in and gave a presentation last Monday on the Sagamore holding tank. Um, I was very
disappointed to see that no council members attended the meeting and that the mayor gave an introduction and left. So, there was no opportunity to speak with any of our representatives about the presentation. I was also very
disappointed to see that um the process is going as slowly. I know that you it was we were told it would be slow, but the reason I'm speaking tonight is to say I know we're not going to break ground until the fall and we hope that it will be finished during the winter,
but does the council have any uh means of aiding members of the Bell Avenue community during this summer's wet season? Many of us have already taken water on in our houses in the most recent rains. I know at the last meeting that the mayor said he was unaware of
that, but there are a number of us who've taken water on already in the rains. And so as we come into the wetest time of year and knowing how slowly this project is moving and that there will be no remediation until the end of the calendar year, how does the council who
uh were not involved enough to even come to the meeting intend to assist your constituents who are already taking on water and expect to take on marketkedly more throughout the season? Anybody else? Bringing in Margaret Baker. You are free to unmute, Miss
Baker. Can you hear me, Doug? Loud and clear. Okay. I'm calling about the parking on Decator.
Signs were put up in regards to times and days of the week. During the week, it is much better. The weekends is a living hell. You have cars
parked on one side of Decar where the new building is from one end to the other end which is the block of Decator. And they are
blocking the whole driveways of the three residents that are here that live out here. Then you have the traffic coming off. So it's like a maze. You have to pull behind the
cars that are parked to go through and you have horns blowing. I really I'm not a traffic expert, but I think I do pretty good out here. Take the signs down or just make
it no parking. I don't think it's fair to us, the residents who have been here this long to go through this every weekend
in I don't. And most of the the cars that are out there, they're residents of the apartment. So, what is it? You don't want to park in the lot that's provided for
you and make our living and leaving our homes out here a nightmare. So just my suggestion if anybody is really serious about solving the
problem make it no parking. at one block of T-neck. No parking. Thank you, Miss Baker. I have Nadia Narina. I'm sorry if I mispronounced your last name. Sure. It's all good, Doug. Nadia Hussein. Good
evening, everyone. Nadia, how are you? Good evening. Hey, Doug. Board of Education Trustee Naji Hussein. Uh but tonight, I'm not speaking as a trustee, but as one of the organizers of our recent Tina community picnic we had this past Sunday. Our picnic event was well
attended between 5 to 600 people. And a huge thank you for everyone, parents, community members. Huge thank you for coming out. We'd also like to thank township manager Jackie Hashma for assistance with facilitating the event. Jackie, you were very responsive and was
able to assist us every step of the way. Thank you so much, Jackie. Also wanted to thank the crew at DPW, the hardest working men and teen led by Mike Surbakian. Thank you DPW guys. Also, huge shout out to the folks at Roa Center. They were very helpful in the
organization of the picnic. Special thanks to IB and Sean for your help. If you missed it, our picnic is our annual event and we will see you next year at the end of the academic school year. Next year will be our third the third year of our annual picnic. Thank you all very much and see you at next year's
event. Thanks. Thank you, Nadia. We now have Shirley Zafman. Please unmute. You have three minutes. Yeah. Can you hear me? Loud and clear. Oh, perfect. Um, hi everybody. My name is Shirley Zman and I'm a Tennifi
resident. Um, I'm gonna speak on my behalf, but I think I'm uh voicing out a lot of other people in Tannerfly and I'm very close with the Alexander family. Um, so I want you to know how moved we are um that you're discussing this
resolution um honoring it done. It means so much to us. It means so much to the family. Um we are united um as Bergen County. I know that Adi Alexander mentioned Bergen County, New Jersey uh
and all the wonderful people and the community surrounding them. Every time uh they gave interviews before and after it done was released. The effort of helping them was mutual. Uh I marched with people in Tene in Tennifly and vice
versa. We came to Tene and I know Tene is still marching for the other hostages. This is remarkable and it's such a bonding experience. It's it's a better under bad circumstances, but the outcome is amazing. Um, we also had meal
trains and other stuff that were helping the families and I don't know how much you're aware, but a lot of Tina people showed up and still are. Um, so I want to express our deepest gratitude for all of you uh on behalf of myself and I know I'm speaking on behalf of Tennifly
people and I know I'm speaking of behalf of uh the Alexander family because they mention it time and time again. Um, so I want to wish you all uh a good evening. this is a wonderful thing that you're considering and I really really hope you're going to follow through uh
because it would mean so much uh to us as a community and to the family. Thank you. Thank you very much. No one else on Zoom see their hands. Welfare is now closed. Before we go to council for response, Mr. Manager, can you address the um the bid opening question if you
don't mind? Oh yes. Um the bid opening I know uh Chuck Powers you just um did bring up the award contract to Denafhrio and Sun Inc. for landscape maintenance. Um it is 156-2025. It is only one bid was
received. Um and the actual tabulation is attached. So there was only one received on there for $44,400. I just wanted to clarify. Um, Deian, I just want to say thank you for everything that you do. And Alan,
who left, thank you. Also, um, build, build, build build. $98,000 in pilots isn't helping. Build, build, build. Deputy Mayor Belchure and I worked for months to negotiate the 189 the Plaza pilot to ensure that number
matched the number on the userfriendly budget and included recreation. Recreation is not included in the Alfred Avenue pilot. And based on what was just passed, that's a much higher calculation now than the $990,000 that we're losing a year from that pilot. That's why
Deputy Mayor Belchure and I made sure that that pilot, whenever it has a shovel in the ground, will bring in a million dollars more over the course of the life of that pilot than the Alfred Alfred Avenue giveaway. Thank you, Tene Voices, for pointing out that $5,000 contribution. We talk about revenue, but
we're missing some very serious revenue. Why? Where is cannabis? Why is cannabis only in Margaret Baker's neighborhood? Why are we having a monopoly? When we talked about this for months about expanding, there is a perfectly approved
Tene owned business, Tene resident born and raised, and we refuse to expand cannabis to the business district. That's 2% revenue on the sales that we don't get from any other business. But for those who know debits and credits, revenue isn't the only answer. If it
was, then they must have a secret plan to fight inflation. So, who on the day has looked at the fiscal year 26 budget that the governor put out to see that municipal aid is flat and grants are gone? I'm not joking. People joke that I'm dodging Tene. Well, the real doge is slashing people's social security and
Medicare and now their taxes are going to go up for years. Anyone who ran on zero, that's not happening again. I think everyone is aware that I read every page of the agenda multiple times. And the bond ordinance you all just passed authorizing the issuance of
11.687 million in bonds. That means if those grants fall through or the residents challenge or misappropriation of the most fund, uh, by the way, the most fund advises the council on those funds, not fields, that credit card gets swiped. I've seen the capital ordinances
such as 16-20 2016 that are for capital projects that don't open a new credit card. That's not this one. So, please don't lie to the residents. 11.6 million. If you want to refund it, feel free. I'll vote yes on that. But do not lie. Sunshine is the best of disinfectants. The 2024 capital budget
projected $520,000 for our firemen turnout gear. And my as my good friend Michael Pagan always says, budgets are about priorities. But this one just had $90,000. So, let's talk about that safety because our firemen deserve turnout gear. Where is the drainage
study that we voted on, agreed on for the field? In fact, I'm not really sure how this capital budget came about. What would I cut? Nothing. What bond ordinances are you deauthorizing to reduce the future exposure? What technology are you exploring to help our administration and council members have
visibility before we vote on an ordinance that refinance at 4.3% interest? I will ask again. In fact, I formally request a capital workshop meeting with bond council and the auditor open to every single resident. I formally request a forensic audit of
every unspent ordinance. I formally request that we deauthorize unus unused debt to limit future borrowing. I formally request a long-term debt repayment plan. I formally request to know who gets and why we paid him 5% interest in May 2024. I formally request
to know why we are not spending the clean communities grant on litter, but instead bacon. I have asked questions. That doesn't mean it's a yes. It means that I understand the answer and I'm not satisfied that my yes vote is going to protect the residents and that's my job.
Our staff needs help. And yes, Mr. Mayor, I formally request a meeting with you and Deputy May Mayor Catz to form a task force so that I can present you the hours and hours and hours that I have put together while my father's been on a ventilator. Thank you to meet and then present to the administration and then the public because I need your help
presenting it. But instead of the above, I got a cancelled budget. May everyone um thank you for everyone who came out today and for your comments and um all the thoughtful um work that went um on with my colleagues in terms of pulling
this budget together. Um I do think the homework was done. We've worked really closely with our um township manager, with our CFO um and I will support this capital budget. Um, I do agree though that there are things we could be doing just to make sure that we're um, you know, dotting our eyes, crossing our
tees, um, implementing more um, uh, systemic uh, planning measures to make sure that we're not missing anything. Um, you know, thank you, Councilman Goldber, for all of your hard work. We appreciate it, but at the end of the day, we do need to pass this budget for our um, our constituents. Um, I also
want to um, acknowledge um, Sandy Silverberg's comment about that CVS parking lot. I come out of there all the time and you got to like inch inch inch inch and then hope that there's no one there or you have to stay back where you can, you know, see over the cars and um wait before coming out because once you come out you can't see anything. So I um
thank you for sharing that and I it's something that we should look at. Um again it is just three parking spots that would be impacted I think. Um thank you. Um just just a couple comments. Uh I want to thank everyone for coming out and speaking tonight. Uh I think that a
couple things um regarding the um ways in which we can improve here. Again, you know, we we just um I want to focus on being solutionsoriented. Uh it is not a perfect world when it comes to this budget. We know that um I I seriously
think that we we should step up as I said the the grant uh infrastructure um task force uh to meeting monthly to really identify and even if it means bringing um subject matter experts uh maybe even hiring someone that can
really just be um full-time, you know, um uh dedicated to to um to looking at at um finding grants. Also, I think the workshop format, I really propose that uh we do this even if it's on a uh
quarterly or um basis. Uh we can't afford to wait until next budget season. Uh I advocate that in the fall we start out the gate, you know, really working uh on uh workshops. Uh and it it as far as I'm concerned 100% can be open to the
public. I think the public should know. They should see what we're doing. you know, what does it take to look at debt service, bonding, grant matching, all those things I I think is important. Uh, a couple other points. Um, Miss Baker, I I I would uh I understand what you're saying about parking. I would ask our
our town manager to look at uh maybe doing a review of the parking scenario that she's speaking about. Uh because there are some scenarios that when development happens, there you know may be instances where we have to go back and look at should parking um be suspended or uh whatever. Uh, Miss
Feman, I was in attendance on the Zoom meeting last week, the presentation to the Bell Avenue neighbors. I was on Zoom. Uh, and and um, uh, the clerk indicated that it was not a panel kind of setup, so I I couldn't speak. Um, but was there listening and if there's anything you'd like to speak with me
directly about, feel free to reach out to me. Uh, and lastly, I would just say that, you know, as we can all see as a community, there is plenty of things for us that's taking our attention. uh we are in in the midst of a lot of things just within our township that keeps us
engaged. Um so I on that note I just would like to say that you know as a community as we work together and we find ways in which we can solve for these things we're better for it. Uh I want to thank uh Miss Hussein for for that wonderful um board of ed picnic. I
think things like that is a means by which it brings our community together. Thank you. Yeah, Mr. Addison, I started taking notes on what you were saying, but you were talking fast and I wanted to make eye contact. So, if you could send us an email with all of your talking points,
that would be great. Um, Miss Silverberg, I work in that store sometimes. I agree with you. I think we only need to get rid of one of the parking spots. I think that would make it much easier, but the one that goes right up to the the um exit is definitely So, I wonder if we could ask
traffic about that. And to Miss Baker, whether it's us or I think if one other neighbor on the street, I think there are only three houses on the street. So, I think if one of the other neighbors asks for no parking, that that um would solve it and we could just make it no parking. I don't think anybody's going
to miss those those spots. And you're right, there should be ample parking in the building for everybody. Um to Miss Fineberg, we're out all day, all weekend, all night, and we've all kept on top of what's going on at Bell Avenue. We've had private meetings with most of the residents who've been vocal.
Happy to meet with you if you'd like to speak. Um but there are just some nights that were over booked and um we can't make it to every meeting. No disrespect to the neighbors at Bell Avenue or for what you're going through. We just can't make every meeting all the time. Um we
try hard as a council to work and to divide up subcommittees. Uh but the way to get something done, budgeting or any other subcommittee, is to stay on the subcommittee and not to quit in the middle when things get hard. So if you've got a particular talent and it's budgeting
um and it's finance, that would be the place for you to be so that you can work to help the town. And um now that this budgeting season is over, it would be a great time to join that subcommittee and uh work towards what's going to happen in the next year with our professionals.
I think that would be fantastic to someone who has that uh experience. Thank you very much. Um briefly, Mrs. Fineberg, um the meeting started at 7 o'clock and I guess you had missed that. Um Deputy Mayor Belchure was in attendance on the Zoom. I apologize we
were unable to get there until 7:30, but yes, I did have to leave after 40 minutes for another meeting. I'm happy that everything um is moving forward. We look forward to complete resolution of the flooding. Um as it relates to cannabis, if there if you're interested in expanded cannabis zone, uh by all
means, please list it on a future agenda so that can be discussed appropriately. Um it is not the current cannabis is not in Miss Baker's backyard. It's in the middle of an industrial park and I look forward to being Open.
Unfortunately, if you want to live in a town that has a very busy library, you need to spend money to upkeep your library. Now, house values are through the roof, but house values are because people want to live in certain towns, and living in certain towns means spending money on those values. So those
are the choices we make to protect the values and to protect the way of life that we love to live which in Tene is a fullervice lifestyle. Um with that um we'll turn we'll go on to the consent agenda. Mr. Clerk, please jump in and tell us what we got
this evening. Mayor, we added a couple resolutions, right? We have two sets of minutes. resolutions 153 to 169. 167 being the CSX resolution, 168 being the know your
rights resolution, 169 being the return of Eden. Uh, and we have the bill list in the amount of 5,120,8849. Mr. Clerk, I'd like to pull ratified payments. That's uh
um 154 and the bills list. So, Mr. Clerk, you I'm I apologize. You pulled um the ratify payments and bills list. Okay. With that, I'll make a motion to approve every other resolution except for those two that were pulled. And the
bill is in the amount of bill is in the amount of 5,120,8849. So there first, second, second from deputy mayor. Consent agenda minus 154-2025 in
the bill is pulled by Councilwoman Goldberg. Councilwoman Goldberg, yes. Counciloman Pagan, yes. Councilwoman G. What's the last one again? Last resolution. The last resolution is 169-2025 for Eden Alexander. Um, so I'm
going to abstain on that one. Yes, the rest. And again, so happy Adon is safe and and back home. Um, we'll be the first to welcome him if he's in TAC. Um, but I will always um abstain from considering international resolutions.
Thank you, Councilwoman G. Deputy Mayor Belure. Did you want to go with um Ellie? He had to drop. He had to drop. Okay. Uh yes. So, I'm going to say yes to all but abstaining to 169. Uh here again I I am
not going to weigh in on international affairs as we have plenty of um instances here where we need to support um resolutions here. I am happy for the family um welcoming back their their family member. Thank you. Thank you.
That was Deputy Mayor Belure, Deputy Mayor Oregon. Yes to all. Mayor Schwarz, yes to all. All adopted except for the two in which we pulled. Um I just have a quick question for the CFO just
clarification. So in both the bills list and the the um 154 ratified payments there's expenses for the swim club hitting both the capital uh GL and the uh uh current fund. How was that decided?
So last year I believe it was 250,000 we put in um capital for the swim club. Really everything should be hitting capital. If there's something that got through that I can revisit the purchasing agent and I can review it and we could always journal entry the funds
back to capital. But everything the staff was instructed should be hitting the capital ordinance. It may have been that at the time it was entered, the staff person didn't have access in the system to charge the capital account. I did review a lot of those charges with the purchasing agent and made sure the
accounts were switched properly. Uh but there may have been one or two that got away. I can double check it with the purchasing agent. So there are some hitting uh buildings and grounds uh maintenance. Okay, I'll take a look. But also, if it's something that doesn't rise to the level of being a capital expenditure, that's that's definitely
legitimate. Should be an operating. If it's for something um in nature like a lounge chair or it's for electrical work or something like concrete work, you know, infrastructure, that's an appropriate expense of capital. If it's like nuts and bolts, I there's no case I
have for that. You know, then that should be operating. But I could definitely take a look at everything and make sure it's hitting the right areas. So nuts and bolts aren't capital. Nuts and bolts are a little bit tough to argue that they're capital. capitalist for large items that have a fiveyear useful life typically and a minimum
value of $25,000. So nuts and bolts in my opinion not being an attorney and a bond council would not be an appropriate capital expense. Okay, very helpful. Um I I would just like to publicly offer again um I built and I use this for my
corporate clients a macro worksheet that forecasts everything. Literally it's just dump it in there and it's autopilot. So I've offered it once. I know you said that um Edmonds auto does it at the end of the year, but the offer is still there. And with that, I'm going to move both.
I'll second that. That's both 154 and the bill. Mayor, Councilwoman Goldberg, abstain on the bills list and on ratify payments. Um, a a yes on the the payroll
and an abstain on anything with the sun club. Councilman Pugan, yes. Councilwoman G. Yes. Councilman Catz, sorry. Deputy Mayor Belchure, yes. Deputy Mayor Oregon, Mayor Schwarz, yes. All adopted. Mr.
Cook, I'll make a motion to adjurnn. I don't believe Mr. Mayor, I just wanted to say again, I'm not going to be here at the next meeting. My son's graduating, so I'm sorry. Congratulations to your board, Michael. Mayor, could I just I just um I just
wanted to um I didn't have a chance to uh update Deianne on the Oh, sorry. On the mulch. I I completely forgot. I just wanted to publicly let you know that um the DPW did not It was the Riverkeeper that requested the mulch. It was not requested to me specifically. So, I just wanted to update you. Oh, can you not
hear me? Oh, okay. So, the mulch that was requested, that was the pile of mulch, it was the riverkeeper that requested it. We've since spoken to the riverkeeper. The mulch is going to be picked up tomorrow and brought back to the yard. Yes. So, there
was Yes. So, I don't know about how it was treated or any of that, but we're going to remove it tomorrow and we'll revisit it and we'll we'll figure out what it was going to be used for. So, there was a little miscommunication, but I just wanted to assure you that it's being taken care of. Thank you, Mr. M. Thank you. Okay, with that, I'll make a motion to adjurnn.
Ajourn. Good night, everybody.