Good evening. I call to order this regular meeting of the Verona Township Council for Monday the 3rd of August, 2026. Madame Clerk, would you please read the Open Public Meetings Act statement? >> The notice requirements of the Open Public Meetings Act have been satisfied with respect to this meeting of the township council. Specifically, the time
and date were included in the publication of the annual meeting notice. The public noticed the meeting agenda was posted in the municipal on the municipal public bulletin board at least 48 hours preceding the start time of this meeting. The agenda and documents can be viewed online at veronj.org/countsil
meetings. Please take notice that pursuant to NJ public law 2025 chapter 72. The complete text of each legal notice of the township of Verona, including all public entities under the authority of the township may be obtained or viewed by the public on our official state registered web page,
veronenj.org/legalpublic notices. A public comment period will be held in the order it's listed on the meeting agenda and instructions on how to comment will be provided at the appropriate time. >> Thank you, Madam Cler. Would you call the role, please? >> Councilman Shore, >> present. >> Councilwoman McGrath,
>> here. Councilman Roman, >> here. Deputy Mayor Mackoy >> present. >> Mayor Tambboro >> present. >> Mayor also present tonight is township attorney Briana lawyer. Township manager Kevin O. Sullivan. Deputy township manager Michael Krauss. Myself municipal clerk Jennifer Kieran. >> Thank you. Please stand for the pledge
of allegiance. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
Thank you. Shore mayor's report this evening. Um, first I want to thank the Verona Fire Department for a uh quick stop to an electrical fire uh incident on up in the afterglow section. Um, once again, another another good stop there.
Um, as well as the response into two other towns for working fires. It's been a pretty busy couple weeks uh for the fire department. So, thank you for that. Um, and I'd like to recognize our deputy town manager who has joined our fire department to help out. Um, and uh has
been in several of those incidents. Um, like to thank the town administration um and the the recck department and DPW buildings and grounds, police department, the chamber of commerce and all of our sponsors for um the great
concerts we've had. We had the Eagles band uh at the Civic Center two weeks ago and last week we had the concert at the pool uh which was um really really good uh and very entertaining. So um
thank you to everybody for helping put those on. Um, we just got word from Assemblyman Barless's office that they've worked um with our town administration and the Department of Treasury to come out and provide another tax relief um application program night.
So, we have a couple potential dates. We're just working on putting a uh facility together. So, thank you to everybody for working on that. Uh the last time we had this program, I think 80 people attended, so it's a great opportunity to to show up there. And lastly, happy birthday to Deputy Mayor
Mackoy. That was yesterday, right? >> Yes, it was. Thank you. >> Deputy Mayor Mackoy once again turns 30. >> Um, again >> and once again and uh on to Mr. Culture, county leison. Jay, >> good evening, Mayor and Council. I'm
glad deputy mayor is a lot older than I am. Um, in this summer season, we only have a couple of things going. On Tuesday, September 22nd at 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 pm
at the Essex County Cody Arena, 516 Northfield Avenue, we have our Essex County annual senior wellness. Uh, if anyone is looking for a ride, we do have senior transportation that day from the township. Um, if you go to the county
executive's website, you can also see that. Uh, and moving into September, we have September 11th, we have our memorial for, uh, 911. Usually, it starts around 8
a.m. Uh, it's at Eagle Rock Reservation, uh, by the High and, um, it's on time. This is a year 25th. Sorry, I brought up the wrong one. Uh 25th anniversary
and it's a significant hope uh day. Hopefully we always remember 911 and people who sacrificed their lives. That being said, please come and join us on that particular day. Um, if there's
anything that we need or help in both in these events, please give me a call. But anything else, Mayor Council, I spoke. [clears throat] >> Councilman McGrath. Yeah. >> Oh, thank you. Um, >> you're the only council woman, so
>> Oh, okay. Thank you. Um, uh, I did, um, take a walk yesterday at Rona Park. It seems like there's been a bit of storm damage. I'm sure you're seeing that from everywhere. There were there's some branches that are stuck in the river and can't go underneath the uh bridge. Um
and there were other um pieces of um trees that had fallen a little bit more into the walkway. So, I just wanted to bring that to >> I'll be glad to relay that to director Salvante. And last week at our staff
meeting, he did say that uh a lot of the parks were damaged because of wind. And last night we had another tough storm. So it's not it's every other day all right now. >> It's ruining my golf game. >> Yeah. Yeah. So thank you for the
attention to that. Thank you, >> Deputy Mayor. >> Okay. Okay. Okay. Thanks, >> Mr. Culture. Can you just repeat the day of the senior wellness? I'm sorry. >> Senior wellness is TW. Let me go back to the screen and then I'll give it to you correctly.
Um, and I'll send you this email. It's September 22nd. >> Thank you. >> At 10:00 a.m. to 2 pm at the Richard Cody Arena, 560 Northfield Avenue. >> Thank you. >> And I'll forward you both the manager
and yourself while I'm sitting here. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. On to Mr. Sullivan for the town manager report. >> Thank you, Mayor. Uh I'll try to work through the highlights of my report quickly, but um I'll start with the
Derwent and Brookside sewer lining project. Uh original notice just went out for start construction today for that project, but due to weather concerns, uh the the start date has been pushed back to next Monday. Uh notices
are being updated for those neighborhoods impacted. Our Fair View Avenue well project remains under construction. site work and building um building construction are currently underway and project still remains on schedule for completion this calendar year.
Uh regarding the Montlair interconnection uh study uh the feasibility study has been reviewed. There's some minor updates being performed. We will be meeting with Montlair week of August 24th to discuss the feasibility study and to start discussing cost sharing of
the uh proposed solution. Uh we are also working through our water and sewer rate study update. Uh we have another progress meeting with uh with new genen on August 10th. Uh we are expecting to provide recommendations to the council
in the September October time frame prior to the first quarter of 2027. Um, as far as uh we were just talking a little bit about the storms and flood damaging, uh, we do still, uh, actively maintain our flood monitoring cameras
and we use them during storms. Um, while floodways have been, uh, have seen some of the severe raintorms in recent months, the Beckman stabilization project near Bloomfield Avenue remains strong in each of the storms and it is monitored in real time during each of those storms, as are all the other
locations. But um uh I think that the the hard work on uh preventative tree maintenance uh catch basin repairs, street sweeping, it has served the township well as we've fared relatively well during some of the recent heavy storms.
Uh with Lynen Avenue, uh we still don't have a firm paving schedule yet from the contractor, but we are coordinating for paving this month so we can get the paving complete prior to start of school. Uh notices will be circulated uh
as soon as we do have a firm paving schedule from the contractor. Uh administration met with N uh the neighborhood traffic safety committee on July 31st. Uh we had some discussions on the complete and green streets policy and also on the uh initiative and the
discussions with the county uh county roads and the speed limits on them. Uh we will be continuing to work with Boswell and uh the county on each of those initiatives and we'll provide updates to the council when they are ready. Um, jumping ahead, the
uh, we did receive an updated proposal from BIS digital for our uh, AVA upgrades that are necessary at the community center ballroom. Uh, we are finalizing uh, the review of that proposal. We anticipate an order contract resolution on the August 17th
agenda so we can move forward with the ABA upgrades in that room. uh with our Bloomfield Avenue streetscape project that remains under uh under design. Uh summer interns have continued public outreach to businesses within the project limits to educate and
assemble questions and comments on the project so the design can incorporate as many of those comments as possible. Uh it should be noted that uh the state has directed the township that the entire project from Fair View Avenue and Park Avenue must be bid and awarded as part of the grant agreement. We're hoping that we're able to split that project
into two different phases. uh but state has advised us that as part of that uh that overall grant award that they will expect us to award the entirety of the project. So uh when we do have a a more advanced design and a better cost estimate on the project there will be um
some local share that will be responsible to advance that project above the $1.5 million grant from the state. Um we'll uh I'll defer on on the discussion on Bloomfield Avenue to later uh in the agenda where we have an
addendum for this evening. Um and regarding the the building and the facility needs, uh each of the council members should have received uh their uh their access to the facility audit tool and we have received an executive summary from solutions architecture. Uh
it will be posted on the website as well. Uh we also had a pre-construction meeting with our uh contractor that we were at the last um the last council meeting for our ADA upgrades at the community center. Uh we don't have a
mobilization date yet, but uh the contractor is expecting once they receive materials, it should be a a two to four week total construction on the project. Uh we do have again as part of our addendum I'll defer the discussion on
the uh the emergency services building uh but we'll have a discussion on the subject matter experts later in the meeting. Uh and then the the last item that I'll report on is the PCman park work. Uh Boswell has recently submitted to D a wetlands letter of interpretation
and associated notices to properties within 200 feet of the property. uh that uh I understand that that created some um misunderstanding or confusion from those who received the notices. So, uh, administration sent a a clarifying follow-up letter to, uh, the residents
that received those notices to explain that that letter and that intent was specifically, uh, to determine the wetlands that exist on the site, uh, for purposes of what potential permits may or may not be needed for recreational purposes. is and to clarify that the
site still remains deed controlled uh deed restricted I'm sorry uh as part of our open space um inventory and there's no development that is proposed on the site any project would simply be recreational in nature as uh required
through the deed restriction um but that that clarification and letter went out to the residents um last week I'll conclude my report unless there's any questions from the council >> so a comment and question first of all thank you for getting that clarifying letter out so quickly. Um
there were some confused residents because of the legal and engineering ease in the uh the letter that went out and uh the touch administration had a hand alert letter the next day. So the residents were uh actually reached out to thank me after reaching out to
question and and were worried that we were going to be developing something in their town in their neighborhood or whatever. So thank you for getting that out so quickly. Uh number one and number two um do we have I know I brought up with um the presentation on the facilities audit doing the DPW building
has any any discussions happen with solutions on that or >> so I have um I have had discussions with solutions about the next steps of broadening that facility audit that they need to incorporate the DPW garage. Um
and part of the discussion is um providing a a greater focus on the next steps and next initiatives and next capital budget. So I have begun that discussion. We haven't scheduled a formal meeting with solutions yet on those but it was part of a discussion
that I did have with them. >> So in progress in progress >> in progress, correct? >> Okay, great. Any other questions for the town manager? >> Yeah, I do. >> Mr. Shore. Okay. >> Thank you very much uh for your report. Uh I just have a few questions on uh some of the recreational uh port uh
portion uh for the pool for 2027. Are we sticking to the same schedule as we did for this particular year with the pool rules, pricing, structure amendments, internal budget? Uh so that this way that is all passed within the fall and
January 1st we're coming out rolling with a registration process not even just for the residents but non-residents. um if we pass that again this year for 2027. >> So the the plan is to uh remain consistent with the schedule that we
accomplished last year adopting uh making recommendations on pool rates in the fall of this year. So they're adopted and we can roll uh open registration January 1 like we did this this year. um the the final
recommendations and the the ultimate if there's any changes to um any of the fees or hours of operation or any other of those specifics, we'll usually defer those recommendations until we've concluded the pool season. we've learned
from any issues that might have occurred during the pool season and incorporate those concerns as part of the recommendation at the conclusion of the pool season and and exit interviews with each of the pool managers. >> Um, added on top of that, the uh marketing committee that was set up for
the pool. um will that will those initiatives also take place or a report will be uh with the with the budget with the market uh with the registration strategies because I feel like you know we've had this marketing group for the
last year and the one area for the pool that probably didn't do well this year was reaching the 745 of residents family uh family residents being able to go over because the year before was 815 that's one area to where maybe marketing
strategies through social media can help us increase that revenue so that we're doing a great job this year financially, but years going there, you have additional surplus to help fund savings and help other capital projects for the for the pool. >> Sure. The the pool marketing committee
has has met several times. Uh there's been subcommittees of the marketing committee as well that have met in smaller groups. Uh there will be a summary when we're making our recommendations. A summary on recommendations that have come through the marketing committee uh and any efforts that have advanced through the
2026 pool season and efforts and and next steps for the 2027 pool season that will be part of that post pool season uh summary and recommendation. Sorry, just one more question on uh I didn't really read too much about it, but uh the playground uh program which was really
fantastic uh this year. What are our are our our changes for next year? What are our strategies? Is it similar to the pool where we're going to do registration a lot earlier to try to bring in that cash flow, but also looking at the rates and what are the
some of the concerns? I mean, for me, last I mean, last week I I visited the um the school program, uh the camp program at Brookdale, and I felt that, you know, maybe some of the fees, maybe some of the um additional um revenue or
the additional uh you know, monies that we can put in can have better quality, but also have better performance and also making sure that kids are safe within our programs. >> Sure. the so the the summer camp uh will
receive a a post camp analysis as well. We don't have the full expenditure reports yet. Uh the final payrolls haven't been processed for the the last week of of the camp. Uh however, there will be an analysis of the revenues versus expenditures for running the
program. Um I will say I don't know if early registration is necessarily an issue. the camp typically sells out pretty quickly. I think it's almost um more of a concern on the other side where because the cost is um as as
affordable as it is um we often have a hard time balancing the staffing needs with the um with the the interest in the camp. So we are going to make recommendations in the coming year about staffing levels probably some uh more
experienced or senior level staffing uh to provide some additional supervisory support in the camps. Um those additional costs will come with potential recommendations on increased um increased rates for the camp itself.
>> And just one more on Everfield just to follow up from last time. um Everfield and other um public uh parks and fields are those uh what's the status of being open to the public? Uh because they are burner fields and I know there's some we
want to make sure there's safety of um you know we always make sure the grass is is not torn up and we have we're we're safe on some of our fields but usually we want to have it uh as open as possible for the public. So just the status on that. Uh so um you're right we
did we uh we have discussed this uh previously and and the um the administration is working with both the recreation office and uh the staffing that we can provide to that
field. Uh it is a bit of a balancing and getting the field open getting punch list uh uh items completed. We are going through that process now getting the the landscaper and the uh the lawn um the lawn expert together to to make sure
that they understand how that lawn that grass is uh operating and and making sure that they can maintain it properly. Uh we will be looking to provide some family hours in the fall uh as we work through these final punches items and we
let the landscaper uh get themselves caught up on on the lawn and make sure that the field is is maintained as best as it can be. The balance of that will again be making sure that we can staff it properly to make sure that the investment in the field is protected and
that we have some supervisory staff that can also visit the field occasionally like we have at our other recreation complexes uh because u that is a concern to make sure that we we protect our investment there as well. >> Thank you, Mr. Ozawa. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. >> Thank you, Alman Shore. Councilwoman
McGrath. >> Uh thank you, mayor. Uh just some follow-up points to Councilman Shore's points about the camp. Um I do think early registration I just want to add my support on moving that registration for
that camp way up. I mean parents do register for camps much earlier than our camp is out. In addition, this year the dates of the camp shifted. I did receive a complaint from a parent on that. Um, and I think that was because of the
desire to hire experienced staffing. So the entire camp was shifted. So we had this week after school was out where the camp was not open and opened a week later. That is a really big deal for parents. And so if that is the decision
going forward that because Verona's schools get out so early and they're they're hiring people from other districts that are still you know employed teachers in particular um and they can't start that camp the Monday after school is over. That needs to be
communicated very early uh to parents because they're the customers ultimately. That leads into my point that I make every year. I hope that there is a survey that's going out to the parents to get detailed feedback both qualitative and quantitative. Um,
and it would be great for the uh for the council to see an executive summary of that and how those survey results are going to be incorporated into change of operations along of course with your staff's recommendations. Um, and then related to summer programming
this year the schools start very early before Labor Day. I was wondering if anyone's thought through the pool schedule uh for the last week of August because there may be no lifeguards. Um and normally we say, "Oh, the pool's open until Labor Day, but the schools
are starting um the Wednesday of that week before Labor Day." So, I think we just need to be transparent with the public when will the pool be open that last week of August and Labor Day weekend. I don't know if we thought that through. >> I know. Um, I want to
>> have I have a proposed schedule from >> Okay, good. >> All right, good. So, someone thought of it because it caught me off guard. Um, >> it was picked up a few months ago and the pool manager has been reaching out to lifeguards and other stuff to make sure they're available.
>> Yeah. And listen, I think the public understands uh that the staff is um all students >> uh for the most part. And I think that was all of my comments. So, thank you so much on your report.
>> Thank you. Anybody else? Mr. Cross. >> Thank you. Um on our facilities um the fire prevention bureau is developing um building evacuation plans. There was
a they haven't been updated in a very long time. and there was a fire [snorts] at a neighboring municipalities community center um which triggered the um discussion on that. Um up at the
community center there's still there are still incidents of people vandalizing bathrooms. Um we have are in the process of installing additional security cameras throughout the building to monitor who is going in and out of different areas.
Um at the wastewater treatment plant, we have signed the agreement for um construction of the freestanding garage that was authorized with this year's capital. There is also a vendor selected to do the concrete pad.
Uh this week we will be posting two jobs um a building maintenance repair which who will be in buildings and grounds where there was a resignation and at the wastewater treatment plant. We'll be continuing to increase staffing there.
Um for insurance, the administration continues to speak with Harmony RX and um employees and union representatives. To the best of our knowledge, all issues that have been raised are addressed with
the either the employee directly or their union president um within 24 to 48 hours. um at the pool. Um this morning the count was eight tables still had to be assembled and brought to the pool. Um I
don't know how much progress they made on that throughout the day. Um no tables have been removed. Uh we received our final reimbursement for the age friendly grant program and we have had several meetings about
implementing some um smaller recommendations like shovel out seniors um a walking club. Um there is uh there are inclusive healthy communities needs assessment survey
focus groups um on August 4th and 11th. I believe the the PIO has p uh publicized that along with their locations. the with the shade tree commission, we have submitted our um final paperwork
for the green communities um grant which funded the tree inventory and um community forestry management plan. administration also met with the shade tree commission to discuss um future road projects, how the trees may be
impacted and reaching out to residents earlier in the process of um where their trees might be impacted by road work or sidewalk work. [sighs] Um Sustainable Verona continues to reach out to residential and commercial
entities and houses of worship. They did receive a $10,000 grant for a compost pilot program. The sites where the composting toaders are going to be placed will um be determined in the coming days. Um
as the mayor mentioned, the Verona Fire Department has been busy over the last week. Um, also the Verona Rescue Squad during the um small the electrical fire on July 24th, they staffed the fire with rehab and
answered all calls for service within town without needing mutual aid. I believe there were three or four calls during that time >> at least. >> Um, they are also finalizing the build of their new um, ambulance that was authorized. The lead time I believe is
um 24 to 30 months to get the ambulance built. On the pool front, revenue um has ticked up to $1,44,150. Uh miscellaneous revenue continues to climb. As you may remember, the total
anticipated revenue, which included 145,000 of fund balance, was 1,30,000. Um, and memberships continue to grow. I believe we picked up two family memberships this week or last week. Um, expenses were
emailed to you. they the largest part of that which would have been the July 31st payroll was not posted at the time that the uh export was [clears throat] run but once that is posted you'll get an updated report and that concludes my report. >> Thank you. Any questions for the deputy
manager? >> Here we go. Move on to council sorry council one McGrath. >> Uh thank you. Um on this uh shovel out uh seniors program there is a robust program in Fairlon and the um
multicultural inclusion and accessibility advisory committee actually interviewed the woman who started the fair program. So I was just going through my emails. I'm going to send you a if it's appropriate or send you both the summary from one of our
volunteers there and you may want to reach out to her to reach out to Fairlon because they developed a very robust program that encompassed more than just shoveling but may have started there and so we can have a lot of good learnings from that you know town that already
kind of went through um all of this some of it may be summarized in this email so I just wanted to make sure I uh let you both know that. Thank you. >> Thank you, >> Jim. [clears throat] Deputy Mayor. >> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh, I have really
nothing, but thanks for everybody and their birthday wishes, and that's all I have to say. Thank you. >> Okay, Councilman Roman. >> Thank you. Um, I just want to say I've reviewed the uh revised uh uh proposal for the community center ballroom sound system. Uh, thank you for putting that
together. That looks good. Um the additions that were made to it were uh monitors that face the audience so that the public could see sets of plans. Um more more different wireless microphone system just to avoid uh tripping hazards and additional uh presentation input so that when attorneys and uh other
applicants come to do a presentation it uh works out a little better. So this looks like this should be should work. Thank you. And that's all I have for this evening. >> Thank you for sharing your expertise. Councilwoman McGrath. >> Um thank you. Uh my only uh statement
tonight is I want to send condolences to former councilwoman Holland on the passing of her father. Um I was really saddened to hear this and I did uh connect with her today and she thanks our uh clerk, Miss Kieran, for um her
condolences and for you know sending flowers to her father's uh funeral. So I do pass my condolences on to the entire Holland family and that's my report. Thank you. Thank you, Councilman Shaw. >> Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor. Uh, just
a couple of things. Uh, the MAK um committee, there's no u no meeting in July, but I look forward to the first meeting in August as the liaison to this uh position. Um, so I'm excited to get into it. I have been attending disability advisory committee meetings
as we attempt to collect uh much of the data as possible for this potential project and I've been getting involved as much as possible. Uh the next WCK committee meeting is not until September, but I wanted to really focus on three particular areas within the rec
department that I'm very proud of. Um one is the as I said before is the Verona uh playground camp. Uh the second uh my wife has played in this uh previously is the women's softball league. Uh they had 10 teams this year, over 200 players in this league. You
know, I remember my first year as part of the recreational committee of really trying to get this league going and um I know uh this year I kept saying to the recreational department, when's registration? When's registration? When's registration? And finally, uh
things seem to be going pretty well and I look forward to uh this league continuing to uh prosper over the next couple years. It's really a great thing for um for women in our community. Uh obviously uh the community pool is um something that I cherish very much over
the last couple years. I want to thank the entire staff from the managers to the lifeguards. I love going to the pool and seeing our managers walk around the pool and really try to attend to our membership. It's really a great thing to see from director of community services
to our managers to our rec director. Uh great concerts, wonderful programming at night. uh group swim lessons. Finances are looking really really good. And uh I just I just want to say for next year after Labor Day, I really want to see a music festival or a Verona stock. That's
something I definitely want to see happening at the pool. Uh maybe have the uh the the high school band there and some really good uh concerts um at the pool because I think we're really on a roll. So, oh, and reminder that the recreational registration for program
starts on August 5th. So, um, you can do that at at community pass. So, uh, things are looking good and, um, that's my report. Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor. >> Thank you, Councilman Shore. This time, we'll open for public comment on any matter any member of the public wishes to bring forth. Madam clerk, would you
please read the public participation statement? >> Anyone from the public wishing to speak on any matter? If you're attending by Zoom, please raise your hand by pressing the raise hand button on your monitor. If you're dialing in by phone, press star 9. If you are attending in person, please raise your hand be acknowledged
before approaching the lect turn. Once recognized, clearly state only your name and township of residence for the record. You're not required to provide your street address. However, if you do, please note that these meetings will be posted on the township's YouTube channel and addresses will not be redacted for any purpose. You'll have four minutes to
address the council. There'll be no cross dialogue during this public portion. And after everyone wishing to speak has been heard, the council may address your comments and or questions. You can you can come up. >> Good evening, mayor and council. Thank
you for allowing me to share a little bit about my business. >> Just state your name and >> Martha. >> And uh my business is in Verona. Um, I have a proposed agreement and I just want to share a little bit of what
it is that we do here in Verona. Um, we do theme parties specifically and most popular is our princess theme. Um, we also do other themes as well. Uh, we do experiences that are open to the public
and we invite mainly mothers and their children. Um, we also do some theme parties for baby showers and bridal showers. Um, all themed, fully curated. And we did ask
permission to the town to allow us to do exactly that, hosted theme parties. And then we also asked to provide limited on-site food, not only for our events, but also to the general public. Um, we
opened the cafe. um as part of a marketing tool as well. So this way everybody could come in, they could see what it is that we offer. We sometimes have our princesses pop in and do like a little surprise visits for the children
and their parents. And um basically that is our business. We've been we were in Bloomfield in a beautiful Victorian home right on Broad Street for 11 years. And then when the building was sold, we found the location right across the
street where we are now. So, um I think that's everything that I want to share. Um the community of Verona definitely welcomed us with open arms and we are we
were very happy to be here. So, um I would love to be able we we are filing for a use variance and we would love to be open uh in the interim while we wait for that. Thank you very much. Anybody else?
Okay. Yes, ma'am. I'll take you can give them you can give those to the clerk ma'am >> ma'am. >> Okay we'll really notice >> good evening. My name is Joanne Chznau and I live in Verona and thank you so
much for the opportunity to share a few words this evening. My primary topic is the new emergency services building. Uh I live at Clarage One uh one Clarage
Drive, also known as CH1 and my concerns focus on noise. I have uh spoken with at least 20 other building residents who have similar concerns. First, I bring your attention to the
drawing I would like uh that you have now in front of you. Uh you'll see the outline of Clarage One uh right in the middle of the piece of paper. This rendering is currently posted on
Verona's website. At least 74 apartments of the 274 in Clarage One face directly toward the site of the newly proposed building. And the
curvature of the front of our building is such that sounds could likely bounce into the center of it and then amplify the sounds. In the fall of 2025, I asked our board,
the CH1 board, about the status of the town's proposed new police fire department building uh at one of our membership meetings. Unfortunately, none of the board members had any information about it at the
time. [clears throat] Uh, one board member in fact indicated that quote unquote this is outside the scope of the CH1 board responsibilities. And so I am here today.
I'd like to know if a noise assessment has been done, including the average current noise generated, including decibel levels and frequencies from the several current locations of the police and fire departments. uh that will be
consolidated. If a noise assessment has been done, uh how would I ret obtain a copy of it? Uh I would also like to know if an environmental impact document is available including the decibel levels
and frequencies of noise anticipated at the new facility's current proposed site. Does a document exist that will let us know what the noise impact of this project will be on the surrounding community? And if this does exist, how
might I receive a copy of it? There will inevitably be a new noise factor imposed on many residents of Clarage One and likely even some at C at Clarage 2. Um, I would like to know what steps you're taking to mitigate the increase
in noise as it will impact CH1 and to a lesser extent CH2. Again, looking at the drawing in front of you, it would appear that the proposal is for deciduous trees as they've been uh placed in in on your
piece of paper. That is trees that drop all of their leaves in the winter. and there is only a single row of those trees. I would like to propose that you consider the following changes to create
a more effective noise barrier. A design needs to be created to plant at least two rows of large, fast growing, mature, evergreen trees surrounding the
rear of the new building or buildings complex. Three varieties of trees that have been recommended to me by professionals for this purpose are one green giant
abbervite two Norway spruce and three red cedar experienced tree services or >> Joan Joanne I'm sorry your time has expired for this round but there's another
>> public comment session later in the >> meeting just winding up to say that tree services or landscape architects could uh provide you with more expertise and uh thank you for the opportunity to speak with you tonight. >> Thank you.
Anybody else? >> Okay, at this time I close public comment. Um Joanna, I will respond. One thing I want to point out is that this is a concept drawing. This isn't a final drawing or anything like that. Um and uh and all those things are being taken in
consideration. Um I know the one there other residents in the area had articulated some concerns about noise especially when the rescue squad was part of um this plan. I think this actually includes this is the version of
the plan that yes include bays includes bays for the rescue squad also. >> Um the uh with only the fire department the police department there the amount of noise will not be significant. The fire department does about 300 responses
a year which is on average less than one a day. Um and uh and often they're not taking more than one piece of apparatus out of the building. In fact, on a lot of the uh a lot of the calls, the apparatus are actually canceled before they even leave the even leave the bay.
So, the noise is low. And for a police department, because they're typically on patrol when responding to calls, there isn't a whole lot of light, you know, siren noise coming out of the actual police building on on a daily basis. So, we have gone over that in some of the
meetings. Um, but there aren't really a lot of circumstances unless there was some catastrophic event that affected, you know, a big part of town that you would see police a large number of police cars and stuff respond from that building plus the entire fire department
or something like that. Um, and in that circumstance, there would be a lot of other problems at the time to deal with. Um, as far as has there been a report uh specifically on the noise from each of these buildings? there has not been um
there generally it's part and parcel of what of what happens um but I can tell you I mean the administration could tell you what the noise is around having police department there Mr. Sullivan's Mr. Krauss's offices are directly adjacent to where the police cars come
and go. Um, and uh, I don't think we have anything from that. But as far as plantings and a barrier, we have had meetings on the concept, we did bring up having some pretty good plantings um, on the border in order to absorb some of
that sound. The other thing is at this point the um, the garages and things like that are facing away. that may not be exactly what the final plan looks like, but everything that can be done will be done to mitigate that because they're even closer neighbors on the Clarages, right,
that are there. Um so I think our administration, our architects understand that this is being put in a place that has some commercial and some residential and um if this is where both of these facilities end up, I know that there would be an effort to make sure
that the neighborhoods are um are thought of and that has been high at least on our priorities to make sure that happens. Uh, Councilman Roman actually lives in a property adjacent to that building, so he can't comment on it, but he literally is one of the closest neighbors to that building. Um,
and we would like him to speak to us, so we will make sure that uh that is uh is being taken care of as well. Uh, but as far as the environmental reports, there has been some work. Um, if you uh email the town administration or the clerk, they can help you get um what we have. A
lot of it's posted online, but if there's a specific document, Mrs. Kieran can help you get what has been created that is public record and we'd be happy to help you figure it out. I know it's hard to ask for something if you don't know it exists, which is how Oprah works, but um we also are willing to
help you figure out what you need to request. Um and uh I hope that answers your questions on that. Um all right, moving on to we have one ordinance for adoption. Madame Clerk, the next item on the
agenda is ordinance 2026-28. Please read the title of this ordinance into the record. >> Fixing the salary and compensation for the supervising sewage plant operator. >> Thank you, Madam Clerk. Would somebody move this ordinance, please? >> So moved. >> Motion is made by Councilwoman McGrath.
Is there a second? >> Second. >> Second by Councilman Shore. This time, I'll open public hearing on ordinance 2026-28. Same public comment statement applies. comments are limited only to the sewage treatment plant operator salary
ordinance. Okay. Uh hearing no public comment. I close public comment. Council discussion hearing. None. Madam clerk, would you call the role, please? >> Councilman Shore, >> yes. >> Councilwoman McGrath, >> yes. >> Councilman Roman, yes.
>> Deputy Mayor Makavoy, >> yes. >> Mayor Tambbor, >> yes. Mayor, ordinance 2026-28 will be published on the township website um according to law. >> All right. Next, we have the consent agenda which includes two sets of minutes
and seven resolutions. Councilwoman McGrath, you want to pull K2, I'm assuming. >> Yes. Thank you. >> My clairvoyance is working today. Anybody else? All right. Would somebody please move K1
and L1 through L7? Moved. >> Motion is made by Councilman Roman. Is there a second? >> I'll second it. >> I You made the motion. The deputy mayor second it. >> All right. At this time, open for public comment on any of the uh consent agenda
items, including both sets of minutes. Same public comment. Statement applies. Hearing none. I close public comment. [snorts] Any council discussion on K1 and L1 through L7?
I'll just make one comment. Um, I'm glad to be part of the National Opioid Settlement. Um, it's definitely not enough. Uh, but it is something. And I just want to thank our police officers and our um rescue squad members
especially uh who have seen the effects of the opioid epidemic in America firsthand um and have had to deal with some very serious calls, overdoses, deaths um and uh some very difficult ones. So I I thank them for their part
in that. I wish that there could be enough money from the settlement to help heal um some of those traumas that our staff have experienced and the people of the town have experienced. But in the meantime, I would uh be happy to take that money.
>> Madam clerk, would you call the role, please? >> Councilman Shore, >> yes. >> Councilwoman McGrath, >> yes. >> Councilman Roman, >> yes. >> Deputy Mayor Mackoy, >> yes. >> Mayor Tambbor, >> yes. Mayor L1 through L7 will be
numbered 175 through and including 181. >> Thank you, madam clerk. Would somebody move K2, please? So move. >> Motion made by the deputy mayor. Is there a second? >> I'll second it. >> Second is made by Councilman Roman. Any discussion on K2? >> So just to be clear, I'll be abstaining
from the second part of the There's two minutes sets of minutes. >> One. >> Yeah, one is K1 is K2. [snorts] >> Oh, okay. Got it. Okay. Thank you. All right, Madam Clerk. >> Councilman Shore, sorry.
>> Yes. >> Counciloman McGrath, >> abstain. >> Councilman Roman, >> yes. >> Deputy Mayor Macko, >> yes. >> Mayor Tambboro, >> yes. >> Mayor, uh, minutes pass. Uh, vote 401. Abstension. >> Thank you. Moving on to our addendum for
new business. Um, first item of the agenda is a discussion of um, downtown businesses and how we can support them. Um, just by way of background, I I've asked for this item to be on. It's something that this council and when I
say this council, I I mean the past council and now Mr. Shore has uh, worked on throughout the years in order to u to strengthen our downtown to attract businesses to work with businesses. Um, and I think everybody up here is
committed to that. Um, a while back I sent a number of discussion items to Mr. O Sullivan and to to [snorts] the council. Um, and just some ideas to start having a conversation on what we can ordain um, what we can do to support. So, I did just want to go
through a couple of those things. And the final one um, that we would have is the tax payment. Let me pull that email up. And uh Mr. O Sullivan can just give a little background maybe on if you have that email if you want to.
>> Um I I summarized your email in part of my report. So I can I'll read from my report. Um but the um there are a number of different categories of of uh initiatives that uh some of which we are we had begun undertaking and looking to
um to push out to the public. some of which were good recommendations that we need to uh start moving forward with. Um but one of the items that was addressed was um some expanded public information. Um one of those is to publicize the
amendments to the town center zone which were adopted earlier this year. Um I think some of the changes were lost in the affordable housing discussions. So, the expanded uses that were also pulled into that town sending town center
zoning update are something that we will look to publicize to the public to educate the public on um different opportunities and uses that are allowed in the town center zoning. Um similarly in in educating the public and trying to
um work with um public outreach uh we are creating uh a more simplified one-page roadmap kind of uh landing page for quoteunquote doing business in Verona. Uh it it would be a
a website that we will also look to promote through different uh public information channels, but it will provide outreach uh to the public and to potential business owners uh uh and property owners on a simplified uh way
of going through both zoning and construction permitting process. So there's a clear understanding of what offices, what permits are required for different types of uses. and um and we are currently working through that with
both construction zoning office and public information office. Um, kind of similar to the uh review that was uh or the update to the town center zoning, uh we have been working with the township planner on recommendations for
similar kinds of zoning amendments in other commercial locations, which include the ETC zones, which is our extended town center, and our C2 zones. Uh there are some recommendations that the township planner is ready to present. Some of them she is still
working on making recommendations for, but she will be coming to the to speak to the council on suggested recommendations to allow for some expanded uses in those other zones uh in a similar manner and a similar open discussion uh that took place for the
town center zoning. Um, one of the efforts that uh we will be looking to do is uh is a a full assessment and a almost a study of uh existing commercial vacancies within the township and within the Bloomfield
Avenue corridor. Um that will serve a number of um a number of benefits, but having a vacancy log for Bloomfield Avenue corridor will help serve the uh first responders who might need to respond there. It'll help us to
um stay on top of and keep track of property maintenance issues that may exist with some of these vacant properties. And it will also allow us to get a better handle on which properties and which zones might need more attention or specific outreach to some
of the key stakeholders. Uh once we have that vacancy log, we can then provide some outreach to current landlords uh or property owners and uh any realators that might be um in um commercial uh
sector of of placing um renters into those properties. We'll provide some outreach. We'll try to educate them on not just the existing zoning, but also to get some understanding of um if they have ideas of what zoning um suggestions
might exist or what challenges they're facing just to get a better understanding of the vacancies that exist and the challenges that they're they're incurring uh in trying to uh place tenants into those properties. uh in
coordination with all of those uh those efforts. Um we've already been meeting with uh certain providers who perform assessments of uh they they they assess
market trends, market demands, uh purchasing uh needs, gaps in the market uh within the township. uh there are some vendors that provide that software solution to the township. Uh we are also going to pursue and and get get a better understanding if there are professional
consultants that can step in and provide that service directly to the township rather than um than acquiring this the software solution itself. But it is it is an effort that we are working with um and the the commercial vacancy log will assist us in
uh in reviewing uh those needs. Um, one of the other items that um that was suggested was u continued outreach uh with the Chamber of Commerce. Uh, Chamber of Commerce has come in to meet with the administration periodically
over the past couple years. Um, we will look to reciprocate those those uh that that relationship and attend some of the Chamber of Commerce meetings more uh more regularly as well just to make sure that we have an open dialogue with the chamber on events that are occurring
within the township and on Bloomfield Avenue and any particular areas of concern that might need uh additional attention. Uh the one last item that I actually uh I think I failed to put into my report but was a suggestion um uh was
uh to look at the possible expansion of either evening hours from the zoning office or the construction office um either once a week, once a month, something along those lines to provide uh a more um available offering to the
public on questions they might have regarding potential businesses or expansion of their businesses for uh changing changes of uses of their business. Those are a number of initiatives. Um a lot of them are moving in parallel with each other. Um but we
are working through each of those uh together. Uh and we are also uh reviewing later tonight uh the discussion of a short-term tax abatement for the Bloomfield Avenue corridor as well. Uh I'll pause for a second if
there's any addition. >> No, sorry. I thank you for that. I know I sent you a long list. um going to the item where we have evening hours or whatever. My my point on that is what I hope is that we can have in one room the zoning
official, the construction official, fire fire prevention, and somebody from administration all in the same place at the same time so that people have a one-stop shop to be able to show up and ask questions. And while we do it at night, which is fine, or we do it at some point during the [clears throat] day, um or alternate monthly or
whatever, I think that really helps because we have offices in different places. This point where actually you have, you know, staff in three different offices that you're trying to talk to and fire prevention offices aren't really open to the public. So, they have to make an effort to go out and talk to
talk to other people and stuff like that. Um, so I think that would be helpful just to have everybody in one room at one time. um and see if we can schedule that, which is would be good. As far as uh all the other things, I appreciate your your comments on getting
a flow together, getting the the business directory up and going. Um we we do do a lot for business in this town and I one of the things that we can always do better is publicizing what we are doing. I think our street scape project is a big example of that. Um and
getting that out there as well. uh putting in a you know a perspectus packet. What is it like to come into Verona? Would be helpful. Some materials that we can get out to uh to landlords to realers. We have a really good solid group of local realers. But as I'm
walking down Boomfoot Avenue, what I'm noticing is a lot of the realtors that are posting some of these properties are they're all out of town realators. So landlords are not often using Verona knowledgeable realators. And that's
something that I think even just some outreach from the PIO. This is hey we see that you're listing a property. Here's our packet. Here's our perspectus. This is who you talk to. These are the dates you have. Uh might help the the realers and the landlords on that. Um one of the problems we
always face is a lot of our landlords are not local either and uh they own property here but they might live in Florida or some out of state. So trying to also get a really good landlord directory with numbers and stuff like that. You know, oftentimes the only time
we see landlords is during enforcement um for you know stone falling off the building or something like that. Um so that would be definitely helpful as well. Um and I think there is a there's a definite opportunity to have a
consultant that works with the town and works with potential businesses to make those connections. Um, and uh, I know Mr. Solivan, you talked about the the software option, toolkit option. I think having a human is really important as well. Somebody that can kind of do soup
to not stock, work with the realtors, work with the existing business community, doesn't have to be a full-time person. Um, but because our tax revenue is based on occupancy, spending a little bit extra money on this, we can actually pay ourselves back
when those occupancies increase. So, it's not like it's a it's a huge added expense uh either as well. Um just some some thoughts on there and I appreciate we'll talk about the uh the uh downtown um the the tax debate uh in a little
while, but um I think that is those are just some of the the quick easy things that we can do um that can really help. But those, you know, I I sent a long list and I need to respond to all of them, but so I don't need to rehash what we already discussed. But I do appreciate number one, your very quick
response to me. Um, and also having some information ready, but like to obviously hear from any other council members that have ideas that we can council Roman, >> I think. Yeah. >> Well, everybody's got a turn. Okay. Council. >> Um, sure. So, one of my we we've kind of this has been a recurring theme over the
time that I've been on the council here and you know we would we had a pretty successful initiative at one point in time again having sort of a single point of contact for businesses that worked out really well. One of my concerns has always been um the building stock in downtown. Um when you look at towns that
have very vibrant downtowns, uh their buildings tend to look a little different than some of our older retail buildings. And that's one of the areas where I feel like people may not know what is allowable under the zoning ordinances to do with the downtown buildings. Um what the possibilities are
for redevelopment and uh what the zoning ordinance permits and you know providing some sort of one pager for that or some other sort of guide uh might help people see the possibilities as to how you could improve or redevelop or otherwise upgrade one of these buildings. Um, obviously I agree as well that a
short-term tax abatement would be very helpful. Uh, but that's always been one of my targets is to have a more modernized and cohesive um, looking downtown and be able to take some of the properties that haven't seen attention in a very long time and offer an opportunity for their upgrade.
>> Thank you, Councilwoman McGrath. >> Um, thank you. Um, I want to um, thank uh, Mr. Sullivan and your administration for seriously considering and incorporating a lot of the suggestions I
emailed over on July 17th. I'm really um excited to see many of these ideas being put into action. Um, I do want to highlight that I think there's an untapped opportunity for us when we get some of these things aligned uh to go to
chamber of commerce. Commerce uh is not just in Verona's chamber of commerce, but there's a West Essex and also statewide Hispanic and African-American chamber of commerce. I went to a downtown New Jersey conference not that long ago and they were on a panel
speaking. It was really fascinating and they were saying to the participants they want to be invited into communities because they have individuals that want to set up businesses and so it is a matching as the mayor said um of the
space um to the business need. Um we I had also sent over to uh your administration and team. I do think we need to get a lot faster um with incorporating small but impactful zoning changes or
changes to our code. For example, we've had sidewalk cafes on Mr. Krauss's summary for maybe over a year. Let's make that fix and move on. Let's talk about signage, which I think is a pain point for some of the businesses and the
look and feel of the downtown. Um and it is that like that circle of feedback from the zoning officer, from the board of adjustment um to the council to our planner um and administration, then to the council and then starting that
process of ordinance uh change and development. Um but I think the mayor's ideas are on point. I think the things that um we've discussed um I'm really happy to see um implemented or starting to and I do think this is a work stream
that is important um for the vitality of our town. I agree with Councilman Roman. We and we have just to conclude we have all of this new square footage that will be coming online in the next three to five years. maybe some of it coming
online given some construction in in next year, you know, if things go really smoothly for those projects. So, this is good preparation to make sure that those new spaces that will be modern, that will look like the downtown that we want it to be will get filled promptly uh
because we want those projects to be successful. So, thank you very much, >> Councilman. I'm just rot going between the sides. We'll get everybody. I promise. No, for sure. >> Thank you very much. Um, I'm going to be very short here because I agree with all
my colleagues here. I think the most important thing is to really get a timeline on each point that's being done. So this way as a council, we just, you know, not every meeting we come back and say, where is this? What's status? What's the update? You know, have a good
timeline. So this way we have a calendar of what is going to get done, what's being delayed. So this way we can keep track of it and uh we can keep moving forward because I think everybody um up here believes in our business in our community wants to see it grow and
expand and get better and we can do better and I think we're going to do better and I think it's important that we stick to um we get a timeline and we move forward with it. But I agree with everybody here and then let's just get it going. So thank you. >> Thank you mayor. >> Thank you mayor. Uh I agree again with
all my colleagues here. Uh I I have to say uh as far as downtown business goes, this is it's always a changing thing throughout the years. You've seen businesses come and go. Uh and we've kind of tried to move with them. I I'd
have to say our town planner has done an excellent job in the last three, four years. Uh we just spent a lot of time talking about and changing our town center ordinance to adopt uh and welcome other types of businesses. Uh and this
is someone who looked at you know counties around us uh and brought those ideas into our newly revised town center zoning ordinance. So I think she's done a wonderful job doing it. Uh I do think when it comes to uh to the mayor's point
about realators there there's a different breed because you know I know realators uh there's residential which we have plenty of in Verona and there's commercial realators. So I I don't know of many commercial realators uh that you see in on along the avenue but there are
some that are specific to this that we should reach out to and maybe have a discussion with them. Uh the chamber has uh we did it back in February or early March had a lunchon uh with one of our architects that are on the chamber and
the zoning official actually uh joined us for a couple hours and went through the process and I was kind of surprised that only two people showed up uh that really besides other uh chamber members, there were two people that were thinking of opening a business in Verona and one
was extremely happy that they came in and and went through it. Uh but I do think the point that uh bringing people together uh and getting them an idea of what they have to do to bring business to Verona and simplify that process as
much as possible is very important. And I would to anybody who wants to bring a business, I would say the number one thing you should do, the very first thing you should do is hire an architect. uh and have that architect check and see what type of business you want to do and go through, you know,
they can get you a cost idea of what it also takes to go through a process. Uh but I do think uh we we are moving, we've always moved in the right direction and we always everybody's always concerned about businesses, but we have to work with time and change and
uh I think that's what we're doing here. So I'm happy we're we're doing something a little further with this. I appreciate everybody's comments and appreciate administration for taking this on and you know you'll have our support and um some regular benchmarks and I think getting a timeline out of an
exact calendar of when we're going to get all the stuff done would be helpful and some of this stuff is very easy to do right away and some of the stuff takes a little bit longer time but you know I'm happy to have a Zoom meeting with any of the realers if we just start calling and saying hey we're gonna have a Zoom X date uh bring folks into Verona
um going to our uh discussion. One of the uh the short-term tax payments was something I I wanted to do for a while. Um and one of the interesting things is going back to Councilman McGrath's point, we do
have a lot we will be adding some uh you know, town center um commercial space in the next couple years. The Chase Bank property is going to be either sold or leased. Um, Chase, unfortunately, the way that they generally do, they just
auction the building if they sell it. Um, from what I understand from some investors, but um, I've talked to some investors that I know are potentially interested in that property, um, to kind of make sure they knew that it was, uh, up and available for for potentially for sale or lease. Um, and there is already
pretty significant amount of interest in that building. Um, but what I've been finding is a lot of folks are very interested in investing in Verona if they can make if they can do some improvements in the building to make it what fits their
their model. Um, and allows the property to be more versatile or more upscale or whatever it might be. So, um, our town center, I think, is charming, but it definitely is a little aged um, in some
ways. And uh and that's the the rationale behind the the short-term tax payment is to start to incentivize landlords and business owners to invest money in the uh in the physical structures in order to make them more
attractive. Um we find that once we have one really nice building go in, you see investment around it. Um people want to open businesses near nice businesses and there's a lot of um potential in Verona
to improve upon our um our landscape. So um I don't know if Mr. Loya if you wanted to give a brief summary of what this does. You've done this in some other towns or Mr. Sullivan I don't want to step on your toes but Mr. Loya has uh
obviously done this successfully. So >> Sure. So, before you was kind of like a draft ordinance and we'll tighten up the ordinance and Jen uh Karen and our clerk had pointed out that some of the uh the numbering is off and whatnot. So, we'll fix that. But this was just to get you guys thinking. So, I also sent you the
link to the uh statute itself. I didn't expect you to read all the law or whatever, but it is kind of short and it's it's relatively easy. Under 4821-5, that deals with dwellings. Dwellings are basically your residential areas and that gives you the um ability to do
5,000 15,000 or 25,000 of the additional the increase in the assessment not what they spent on the building to be exempt for a period of five years. So think you redo your kitchen and you spend you know 50 $60,000 on it and the assessor comes in and says oh your house is now worth whatever $20,000 more because as you
know when you spend that money you don't actually get dollar for dollar back. your house doesn't increase in value as much as it cost to fix unfortunately. In any event, so those are the choices there. You can also um under B section of that ordinance actually provide an
exception exemption for um some of the taxes they currently pay. Right? That five, 15 or 25 is just on the increase in value. So your taxes don't go down. they just don't go up or they don't go up more uh or they they they go up but
25,000 in this case is actually reduct reduced from what they go up. So that's with regard to residential with regard to commercial um multiple dwellings is under 4821-6. I think apartment buildings that's not really covered in hours. They didn't cover it in the in the ordinance that
you have before you. Just the other count didn't cover it, but it is a um spot that you can do it. Under 4A, if you're interested in that, we can talk about that. Um under 4A12A-4, that's residential again, and that's in areas that have been declared in need of
rehab. And again, that's the increased value. With commercial, we do the same thing under 4821-7 um and 6.2. So that what that does is exempt the new value for five years. So in your commercial district unlike the residential district which is limited to
the 25,000 your commercial is completely exempt for the five years and again that's on the increase. Those are for improvements on the construction of new commercial. That's 4A21-10. That's the complete value. And what
happens there is it gets phased in. So it's zero for the first year and it goes 20 40 60 80. Now, there are other ways under that statute, which again is 4821-10, um to do it, but the other ways to do it have to do with um formulas and administrative stuff. And I found in my
career that most towns are advised by other attorneys, including myself, because I have the same opinion um as others that I've heard give it is that you want to try and keep this simple because the other two is the cost basis, which is 2% of the cost of the project, but the gross revenue basis. and they're
on a short-term tax abatement. We think you're when you start to do that, there's an argument that you're trying to start, it's like administrative um task and you're you're trying to follow through with it and whatnot and it becomes more difficult. You want not only your uh commercial and residential
homeowners to know what they're getting into, but you also want to make it easy on the administrative staff and not open up a huge bureaucracy where we're trying to get professionals to review what the cost of the project was, what's not included, what is included. And the same thing with grow gross revenue. You think gross revenue is easy but again we have
to go through their books to confirm that. So it's much easier in my opinion to use C of that statute which is the phase in basis. And what happens is the reason you phase it in is because you don't want them to have no taxes the thought of the law and all whack your taxes you know go tremendous. So it's
slowly phased in and it's a substantial savings in year one. They just built the brand new building right and then it goes down to year five. Um but those are kind of the three things. So what I would recommend and we'll tighten up the language is that the residential dwellings get up to 25,000. The commercial improvements are
completely exempt and the construction of new commercial has that phase in on the construction. Now remember they're not paying any taxes in year one. So it's different than the uh improvements which is the improvements are completely exempt for the first five years.
if there's any questions. Council Robin, >> um let's think specific scenarios. Someone has a uh one-story commercial building, retail only, um and they want to renovate it, put a new facade on it, upgrade the fire sprinklers to current
specs, otherwise just modernize the existing building. Another one would be taking an existing commercial building and adding floors of residential of apartments above. >> Yeah. >> Um >> so there's two things. one, the first one I think is clearly commercial improvements and meaning you're you're
fixing the facade. You're making some improvements inside. So the new value would be exempt for five years. And the second one, like for instance, you can do what I'll call it gut rehab and add two more stories to a building or whatever. That will be considered new. So there's the the in the law we look at how much of it's done. I forgot the
percentage, but let's pretend it's 80 90% and you're keeping like the facade. So a lot of times this happens in towns with historic districts. you have to actually save the facade of the facility, but the rest of the of the building is brand new. It's considered a new building. So, that would go through
your uh 02468, which is obviously the biggest benefit you can give to the commercial owner. >> Okay. And then like I'm sorry, just the last one. Likewise, it would be the same thing if someone tore down an existing building and and replaced it. >> 02468. That's correct. New building. >> All right. Thank you.
>> Another question, Councilman. >> Yeah. Um, I was wondering, uh, since we got this like two days ago, uh, and there's still a lot of things that I would like to review about it. I read it twice and I'm still trying to figure out and go through some of the things that are affected by the variables. If
there's maybe you can provide maybe a summary on some of this uh, on some of this draft ordinance, that would be fantastic. So, this way we can really get as much clarity as possible. Like when you said dwellings, I was like, what does he mean by that? So, I really need to, you know, now I need I need like a key or something. So, the reason
why the law uses the word dwelling is because a townhouse or a condominium that's individual owned is considered a dwelling. So, if you fix the inside of that, your taxes aren't going to go up, but not the common areas. Got it. So, there's a definition for dwelling in the law. Um, but I'll go through and give you a summary. Absolutely. >> That'd be great.
>> Council McGrath, >> uh, thank you. So, um, thank you so much for bringing in commercial into the conversation because when I first read the, uh, proposed ordinance quickly, this we only declared Bloomfield, and correct me if I'm wrong, Bloomfield Avenue is an area of need of
rehabilitation. >> That's correct. >> Um, and so there's a few residential properties on there, but not many. And I think one of the things I wanted to talk to my peers about today is making sure we are all agreement on the goals. And I've heard several things that I agree
with. We want existing buildings uh to be upgraded, both their facades, but also inside. We we we would assume that some of them need new electrical, new plumbing, but we also would like infill development. We would like um some of our one stories uh to put on a second or
even a third story that happened at a property um on Bloomfield Avenue not that long ago. It it looks great. And I believe they added some apartments. And I'm assuming we also want some of our existing two and three-story buildings that have offices to have the ability to
convert the offices to residential. Um, which also wouldn't be a bad um, you know, outcome as well. The more people we get living in our downtown, the better it is for our small businesses because we have more people who are able to walk um, and uh, frequent our
businesses. Um, and so this policy needs to align with that. So, I agree with bringing in commercial and really thinking through um what the commercial piece looks like. And I would love to ask our planner um if they have experience with other towns having
success with this sort of tax policy. So if we do do the commercial piece in particular which I'm most interested in um is there like have towns implemented this uh need of rehabilitation with the commercial piece and had success? I
would love to know that before we go you know down this road. I I think we do need to put the tax policy with the in need of rehabilitation but I am curious like what was effective in other communities. When you say success, you mean that they've the ordinance has been used. >> Yes. So, the ordinance has been used.
>> We can certainly reach out because you actually have to file with the state with everybody who uses it. >> Yeah. >> And neighboring Bloomfield, I know, has used it. I don't know what they if they consider it successful, meaning because you can't really tell. One of the things about this is you can't tell if someone would have otherwise built, >> but it's supposed to encourage people to
make the investments. >> Sure. But how many people actually got the abatement? >> Got the abatement. Yeah, we'll get you those interesting. I'd also point out that as you if you review it at all the law, there's lots of different things you can do here. So my recommendation is
to uh do it and then if new things happen, we can always amend the ordinance to include more if for some reason the 02468 doesn't work out and someone comes in and they really need whatever it is [clears throat] the uh the cost basis or whatever and it's just
the math works out differently. Um you can certainly amend. And speaking uh on one of your points is I also recommend that our planner do an area of need uh a rehabilitation study for the entire township. I believe it would actually pass because the things they look at is
like the age of the store system and things like that. It doesn't mean your township's a wreck. It just means your housing stock and your some of your utilities are older. And I think Verona actually fits that bill. Most of our housing stocks a little older. It's not all brand new as well as our infrastructure. And that will allow us
to even in the future give out more benefits and make sure this benefit applies to everybody. And >> I think it my point my next point was going to be to expand and do an area meter rehabilitation study for the Pontton Avenue corridor. >> Yeah. >> Um because and for the commercial
districts on um Depot Street and uh um >> uh Grove and um >> Commerce No. Well, yeah. Between Grove and Commerce, what's the >> um >> Yeah.
>> Yes. Okay. You turned right there. Yeah. >> Um why Jack, what's the name of that road? >> The entrance of the yard grow Ozone. >> Ozone. Thank you. Between Alex and I, we couldn't couldn't remember the road. >> Um but do it do it also there. I think we have >> I would like I think our priority right
now should be to focus on the commercial areas. Uh 100%. Let's see how it goes. I think people are going to make residential improvements no matter what we do and they have been um and I think the residential improvements especially because of their impact on schools if they're adding bedrooms and and things
like that I think we need to be very careful as far as any abatement policy related to that. Um so I think we should definitely do a a commercial only um approach at this point for sure. Um, and but also expand that because I think all
all the commercial areas of Verona could certainly uh benefit from this and I think that we could you know we could see some some definite improvement throughout town um for sure. >> Uh so that that would be my way of approach. I would also just note in here
as well that um >> that we should need to change some wording like township administrator to township manager stuff like that. some little little typo things there. [snorts] Go ahead. Go ahead. >> Thank you. I'm sorry. I had one I had one more point that I forgot to make. Um you asked in your draft about
exceptions. So I I do have concerns on we have some agreements that are related to our affordable housing settlements. So I'm a little concerned about opening up any can of worms on that front. So especially when
>> clear that it's for going forward projects. >> Going forward. We need to make sure that's crystal >> and any existing pilot agreements wouldn't apply anyway because they're already getting >> agreements tax relief. So, >> okay. I just wanted to make sure. >> Deputy mayor. >> Uh, no. Thank you. You said exactly what
I was going to answer. Uh, I don't think the residential aspect of this. >> We're not when we say we could be specific just we could say town center, town center, extended town center and and or we could say just any commercial. >> That's the zones we'll Do we consider uh >> this way I don't have to tell
>> do we consider like a two family house a commercial property >> it's not doesn't have that name as >> we have a commercial >> commercial >> area for happens to be >> unless it's on top of a of a store >> store yeah >> mix mix mixed use
>> mixed use okay >> I think going in that direction would be would be a good way to go I also want to make clear that >> we had a conversation about you know adding on you know floors and things like that which can help but that would still have to go through the planning
process and the zoning process. This is just talking about the financial aspect of that. One of the concerns of downtown is parking. Anytime you add on up there's a parking concern there. Um so I just want to clarify for the public that the only thing this does is provides the
incentive for improvement. any other part of the construction or design. So, let's go through the planning board and zoning board as as appropriate and any other permitting approvals. Um, which is a good thing. But, um, I'm I'm thrilled that everybody is on board and I I thank
you guys for turning around an ordinance so quickly so we could discuss it. Um, but I think now is definitely the right time um to work on this, especially as we're doing the streetscape and and hopefully we can just get downtown in much better shape as we go. All right.
Okay. Um, and finally on the addendum items is the selection of the subject matter expert. Um, Mr. Sullivan, if you just wanted to give a brief statement as to the uh um just to remind the public as far as
the what the the purpose or the necessity of the how this came out u of bringing the subject matter expert and what their role is going to be just briefly. >> Sure. Uh thank you, mayor. the the the history of this project has led to a
point where there are a number of questions uh and comments from both the public and from the council. Um the purpose of the subject matter expert is to provide uh that expert opinion from a
national expert who has done this uh on uh on a variety of occasions with a variety of different types of projects um to provide some of those uh critical some critical guidance at critical
decision points on the project that we have here in Verona. uh based on their experience, based upon their um their expertise uh in the in this specific area on public safety buildings. Um in order to do that, we uh we issued an
RFP earlier this summer. Uh we received uh responses at the end of June and we uh it led to interviews last week uh of the top three candidates uh which were
um were will now be the subject of discussion and ultimately an award that's a very a bridged version of the summary. I think I'll add that um one of the the pieces of feedback that we that we got and I think was in all of our minds regardless was with the potential
price tag of the building um having another set of eyes and know there's also discussion of having another cost estimator deal with a lot of the construction costs and things like that so we have a a much better uh viewpoint to help establish what that
number is going to be. Um and I would also note that one of the questions we also get is about site selection. So it's therefore we have another party coming in to talk about site selection as well. Uh which is which is helpful.
And the other piece that you'll note from watching interviews is that this is a relatively normal occurrence to have a subject matter expert support a uh the architect of record um on these types of projects. and uh and all of the firms
that we interviewed um did do that. >> Councilman, >> just a a brief statement. Uh while I am recused on the particular project that was proposed as I live very close to it, I did have a discussion with our township attorney and uh received an opinion that uh the subject matter expert is a is a separate matter
especially since it considers site location and so on. So I am in a position where I can participate in this decision-making process. So >> questions that came up earlier in the >> All right. Um on that note, we have we have three different organizations that
um that were interviewed. Does anybody have a specific [snorts] uh desire or did they find strength in in one or more of the organizations over another? Yes. I just say before um just
want to say also to add on is I think um it's important to know and I've had conversations uh with our town manager that in the RFP there was um a clear alternative for the property so that
every single candidate knew that there might be alternative properties at play so that when they uh give a expert opinion or when they're you know going for selection or hiring communication ation with the administration or the town council that they are communicating
knowing that there are other properties in play that the current one that we were looking at possibly might not be the one. I think for me really is trust trust in a firm that we can believe in and we have to be accountable to them
and them to us as along with our administration and to our residents. I think that's extremely important. The cost is extremely important. making sure we select a firm that is worthy of the taxpayer dollars that are going to go into it. So, um I mean for me, I'll go
out there and I'll say um you know, I I liked um all of them. I thought they were all excellent um so uh excellent um firms. Um I like the one that's local to us. Uh the one that really has worked with us before um has a current some
sites already in some other cities. um one of the experts I believe um with Dennis Dennis Ross is really um and I talked to our town manager about this as well. Um he is really well known in the field and I think that's an important criteria for us when we're moving
forward is to have somebody that others are looking up to as well. So, um I thought, um that firm was really, really good. Um and I think it's really a start of a process, you know, whether it takes six months, a year, whatever it is, a
good start to the process, and that's where I'm leaning right now uh towards uh that particular firm. >> Did Did you want to name that firm, Mr. Core? >> Did I say it? >> No, you didn't. >> No, you didn't. >> H2M. >> Oh, H2M. Sorry. H2M. I thought
[laughter] just so we're all on the same page. >> All right. H >> there was almost like a big reveal there uh for a second. >> Sorry, I didn't mean to do that. >> Um Councilman Roman, I think >> um >> everybody. >> So I will agree that uh you know
fortunately it looks like our process of uh selecting finalists went well because I did feel that all of the firms had a lot to offer. They were all they all brought forward experts in the field that truly know um emergency services. A lot of my my hope in this project, we
need to come to a realistically constructible situation for the township. I mean, everyone no one doubts the need for uh taking care of our emergency response facilities that they are outdated. We recognize that any kind of construction project is always a costly endeavor. Um but we need to make
sure that we are able to do a project at all. Um and that's the risk is that if we uh if we reach too far, we won't have public support. we won't be in the in the grounds of something that the township can reasonably finance and achieve. And that's really what I'm hoping to see. Um that's why I think
that a lot of this comes with a review of programming of uh what kind of what type of space do we actually really need in order to accomplish the missions of our uh departments because that's going to be a principal cost driver. I really do want to see out of all out of whoever
the finalist firm is a a [snorts] very honest review of what space is necessary. You know, how much square footage do they actually really need? Every other every business over the last couple of years has drastically reduced its real estate footprint, cutting, you
know, floor space in half. No one has offices anymore. Uh, you know, it's it's just businesses have just managed to do more with less. Um and you know I think that we really do have to optimize to the greatest extent possible. Um I asked a lot of them about that though was my
my question about challenging assumptions u about really telling us you know what spaces will truly serve a purpose and which ones will not. Um I out of the three of them I really did like what I heard the most from H2M.
It's not just that they have a significant presence here. I think that in terms of their overall strategy of working with the elected officials, uh that level of detailed review of uh what's necessary, uh the concepts around
uh site work and trying to figure out how to make buildings less costly to construct. Um I feel like they offered the greatest breadth of expertise and in-house knowledge uh in terms of how to get to a project that we're actually going to be able to afford to build. Uh,
so that's what that's really what sort of drove my thought process. I'll leave it on there. >> Deputy mayor. >> Thank you, mayor. Uh, I'm not going to prolong this. Uh, each all three of these were excellent choices. So, uh, I
commend our, uh, manager for picking through and giving us these three and making it a tough decision. But, uh, I will agree. my cut two colleagues that just spoke. Uh H2M to me was just a step above all these other ones. Uh I
personally asked a question about uh other projects locally that they built and I think H2N was the only one that did any in New Jersey. So I think that's big. New Jersey has really tough uh building laws. uh they know it's a
obviously a densely populated area so they know design uh I think a little differently than uh other areas outside of New Jersey. Uh I know the this group was a little bit more expensive than the others. However, uh if you do look up
Mr. Ross uh you see his experience uh obviously you have to pay a little bit more for more experience. Uh, and in the scheme of things, not that any amount of money is something we should just toss away. Uh, I think it's worth it for this project to have someone with his
experience and the team behind him on this project. Uh, and that's why I was uh, leaning towards H2M also. Thank you, >> Councilwoman McGrath. >> Uh, thank you. So, I was uh not present at the meeting um as I had a
pres-scheduled vacation for that happened when the special meeting happened. Um but I did watch all three hours and 30 minutes of it over the weekend after I returned from my trip. >> I bet you enjoyed >> uh I enjoyed that. I did watch it in
installments. Um I just want to start off with saying I agree with my colleagues. All of the three firms were really impressive. Um, and I learned something and saw their insight on how they operated from each one of them. Um,
I do agree that H2M was very strong. They honestly were all very strong. Um, H2M did have kind of the leg up because we had asked them to do an over- the-shoulder analysis a few months ago. Um, but them having building experience
in New Jersey is of course very important. I loved um you know one firm already came out of the box with moving the building more to the center of the property. Another firm talked about how the importance of um having
multi-purpose and flexible spaces. They all were talking about reducing the square footage. They even one firm even mapped out the typical police officer's day, how he or she would start their shift. and where they would have to go
in the building in order to get started and how inefficient the current layout is. I was really excited to see these very thoughtful ideas. Um, if my peers want to go with H2M, I think that is uh
more I think all of these firms are more than sufficient. But I just want to conclude with thanking the residents. Um the residents really had a lot of thoughtful questions. Um one um husband and wife resident actually wrote an op-
ed about the building and the concerns they had with the engineering and design. And it was because of these thoughtful comments that we were we got into this point where we realized that a subject matter expert would be a good
investment and a necessary investment for this project. So, I just want to thank the residents for their engagement, for the administration, for listening thoughtfully, for all of my peers, for their commitment as I share with them that we really need to get to
a workable building for our community that serves the needs of our first responders, but also comes in at a cost uh that we can afford. Thank you. >> Um, Mr. Uh, mayor, I wanted to just uh jump in
and and um as we're as you are contemplating the firms, I wanted to specify that the uh the fee structure that was proposed from H2M was proposed and uh they confirmed earlier today that
it would be a time and material contract. They do believe um if there was a concern about the fee schedule that uh once they get past the schematic review the program uh program needs the program uh space requirements that they
did make some generous assumptions as far as how much time would actually be required in the later phases. Uh they do believe that they will be able to work through their scope more efficiently. Um and the time of material proposal would
allow them with not to exceed amount that matches their their fee schedule would allow them to um potentially provide savings on the final cost of what their fee schedule was submitted at. So while there is a a a slight discrepancy between their fee submitted
and uh some of the others um with some of those savings that would be effectuated through uh an efficient work through process um there they would be closer in line to the other fees that were submitted. >> Thank you. Excellent news to hear. >> Um working on that.
>> Yeah, I I agree. Um I appreciate the the feedback of my my peers. I was most impressed by BKB and H2M um specifically. Um I thought there there was a uh uh in one of the firms there
was a bit of an oversimplication oversimplification when they provided some alternate what things looked like and and uh looking at some of the designs. they would be very expensive because of site work and I I just I felt like um BKB and H2M had the good
realistic approach um and would be able to stand up. So I'm fine with either of those two firms if the um if there is a strong consensus toward um H2M. I'm certainly very comfortable um and I
uh agree with the assessment um and I've read Mr. Ross's uh article that he put out um and uh I appreciate the recognition that he has not only from people who have worked for him and with him but also from the uh from all the other experts who rely on him for
feedback and I think that it would be very helpful to have um as I think council roman pointed out the expert that we that comes in and I think all of them were really um good with this was involving the
council earlier on. I think one of the the mistakes in this process was not involving the council um as early as we should have been um as far as as far as things go and there was a a rationale for that. Um but I think at this point
um we need to have those you know whether it's a large group meeting or some small group meetings or whatever um to establish some parameters to establish some limits. Um I think we need to as a group uh spend some time
explaining to this theme and also to our architect record as well what we need in order to get this project uh across the finish line. Um so that they can work on the programming end with our emergency services representatives. Um, but I feel
like that's that's how we probably should have done this um in the first place is to really set some um stricter guidelines. But um and I think now at this point we need to provide some clear
direction and may perhaps at um you know at a a future meeting we do that once they're they're hired they can come in. we can establish some direction, get some clear consensus on what we want them to do, what our priorities for them are. Um, and you know, our solution
should be there as well um to hear this and um so we can move forward. But I I absolutely agree that now that we are taking this next step to get this highly necessary project done, we need to be um more at the front of
the project for sure. And I I don't know if my council fellow council members agree with me on that, but [snorts] it seems like we have a consensus on that piece. So, um I think it would be helpful to have that that conversation right away. And as soon as this resolution is passed, uh we reach out
and sort of get some of those conversations on the books so that we can have some realistic parameters for um solutions and uh and presumably H2M if the resolution passes. um in order to to do that. Councilman Shore.
>> Yeah. Let me just have a um wasn't expecting really to vote on this tonight, but okay. Um I have a a little bit of reserve about um we say about cost savings. It's nice that I I hear that there's going to be some cost savings from H2M,
but I really like to see a little bit more detail before, you know, I'm I'm reserved. I mean obviously I think maybe it's a yes but I'm reserved because there was such a discrepancy between um the one firm and compared to them that I
really kind of really want to know what kind of savings before we move forward because we have to be very cost sensitive about what we're passing and uh so I think that's important. Uh so if we pass something tonight, I really want really a kind of a promise that you know the cost savings that they're talking
about is really a cost savings and more towards some of the other um the firms that actually u that did that that bidded for this particular um assignment. >> U Mary if I could just respond. So I I do think that um while there are savings
that and while those savings are non-specific at this point until we um have more discussion and we see how um how efficient the scope is that they work through. I will say that the range of the bids that were submitted range
from 90,000 to 200,000. So I would say that the um the the range that H2M submitted approximately 135,000 um it it is within the range of the um the the
the higherend professionals that were selected for these for these interviews. Uh so they while they are not the lowest um they are also well below the highest bid that was submitted as well. Um, yeah, I I think that's that's fair.
I I also think that there's you pay a premium to have an organization that has more familiarity with New Jersey. Um, because you because our wages are just higher in New Jersey than in Minnesota or wherever the other firms are based.
Um, so I think you definitely pay a premium for that. Um, and that's a decision that that I think we have to make is is that premium that we're paying. And obviously there'll be some savings. Um, when you put this into a 30 to whatever x number of million dollar
building, it's a you know, it's a smaller amount. Um but if we have a an organization that is very focused on um and very knowledgeable of construction in New Jersey and and the themes and the
issues. You know, one of the interesting things that we saw from some of the other companies was that they're typically used to building buildings on large swaths of land. They're not as used to building on these smaller pieces. And I think that's one thing that H2OM was certainly stronger with uh
as well. So um I think with that cost savings and I think with their specific knowledge of the New Jersey emergency services landscape and the construction landscape that um that's what you you pay the premium for.
So just my my thought. But um I yeah any other comments thoughts deputy mayor? >> Uh just a quick comment. I mean this is the important part of the stage is the finalization of plans and this is where
if it's done improperly. This is where you spend more money on the back end changing things around and having to redo things. So for me and I said it several times during the interviews this is having a second set
of eyes on this and and really fine-tuning these plans is very very important. And I really think that H2M and being as involved they're right in Patterson or wherever the uh >> no their offices in Barcipity, but they
just did at the police building in Patterson. Uh I think is you know testimony that they're that's that's what they do and I think it's important in that they're they're local. Uh we also have to factor in where these other other firms were. it is very possible
that we might need their principles to come out and look at things and and I was worried that on the back end you get hit with travel expenses uh that may you know make this an even move across the board as far as what their uh bids were.
So that's all. Thank you council. >> Thank you. I'll also just note on the cost concerns that one of the um one of the the somewhat lower not lowest bidder um had sort of a variable scale for additional meetings beyond the few that were proposed in their proposal where you know a meeting requiring an overnight stay for two people would end
up costing us I think on the order of about $4,000 is the number that sticks in my head thinking you do a few of those and all of a sudden you're sort of right up where you are. um if H2M is doing this on a on a fee not to exceed basis and and saying they can gain some
efficiencies in uh in time um we'll end up probably in a good place. But I I agree that just a project of this scale and scope um you need the the right advice. Uh you know may I'm assuming I'm not the only person up here who's sort
of wishing that we had these folks on on board you know earlier. Um I think that this would uh I think that this is one where we have to pick the right expert to advise us on our needs that uh can also have you know this is where that New Jersey centric view does come into
play a little bit is is construction in this part of the country is costly no matter what there are it is difficult um the strategies to manage construction costs are not the same as they are in other parts of the country so that is somewhat useful here but I am I am okay
with uh paying you know, a little bit more in order to get the expert that we truly want here with hopes that we'll manage throughout the process. >> So, Deputy May just add that I am okay if we want to move forward with this resolution tonight that can uh this way we can
get them on board. >> Okay. Uh well, we have a resolution before us 20 Well, it's I call this resolution M1C. Um, somebody like to move the ordinance
um with the award to H2M. >> So moved. >> Adjust the uh center and cross out the other two. >> Okay. Motion's made by the the deputy mayor. >> I'll second. >> The second is made by Councilman Shore. Um and uh at the time we'll open up for
public comment on this resolution. Hearing none close public comment. Council discussion. We've had a pretty good discussion. >> We have um just note that once again it is a not to exceed and uh my only discussion is I look forward to to
getting some this project in motion uh and reporting back to the public. >> Madam clerk, would you call the role, please? >> Councilman Shore, >> yes. >> Councilwoman McGrath, >> yes. >> Councilman Roman, yes. >> Deputy Mayor Mackoy, >> yes. >> Mayor Taboro,
>> yes. Mayor um resolution will be numbered 2026-182 passes unanimously 50. Okay. >> Thank you. At this time we'll have our last public comment session of the evening. Same public comment statement applies.
>> Hearing none and seeing no public comment. I close public comment. Oop. Sorry. And we have Kevin Ryan. Kevin, you just jump right in. >> Sorry. Hold on. I didn't I should have known I saw Go ahead Kevin muted
>> Kevin Ryan Verona New Jersey. Uh thank you for the opportunity to to comment, but uh uh I was very happy to hear of all the discussion about the development of Bloomfield Avenue. And I noted that the mayor it dropped in the conversation
that the Chase uh bank building was uh going to be closing as of October 6th. I don't know how much of a uh general information that that was, but uh I just wanted to express some concern over what
may happen to that building. I know it's located next to an histo the town center which is designated, I believe, as a historic uh business. So hopefully uh if if there's any way that the we can do
something to at least landmark the uh facade of that building since it's so since it really abuts the uh the historic district uh hopefully the landmarks preservation commission or somebody uh can look into that. Uh I
also have noted that in Caldwell it looks like a number of the older bank buildings at least two of them I believe one of them may be called Grover House they at least have maintained the facade of the building and uh have you know retrofitted it to uh to meet more modern
needs but uh hopefully uh somebody in the administration uh might be looking into that uh to see if that's uh uh that's something that we can uh play a role in here in Verona. And uh thank
you. And uh and one last comment uh the councilwoman McGrath commented the two people who uh uh gave thoughtful comments on the public safety building. I would also just like to remind all of you that we had a great town hall
meeting prior to that uh when the building was first announced and we had a number of very thoughtful people who got up and uh in the midst of expressing outrage over the overall cost made some very uh I thought useful uh comments on
uh on the project. I just wanted to get that in. Thank you. >> Thank you Kevin. Uh, Jess Zoom. >> No, not anymore. >> I didn't hold the hand, but there we go. Can't get this.
>> Uh, good evening, Council Jessica Pearson, Verona. Um, I was surprised and also kind of happy to see uh discussion on the short-term tax abatement program uh after having
declared Bloomfield Avenue uh the whole corridor. As a matter of fact, an area in need of rehab. However, I am a little concerned and I do want to express it. I was happy to hear that you said commercial only. Um I agree with that. I
don't really see a need to abate, as you said, you know, all of the improvements happening regardless to all of the single family and multif family homes. But I do um want to just express a little concern with a lot of the
mixeduse buildings that may come into play and the tax abatement could bring a lot of new residents with children into the school systems. So, I just think that you could be um
challenged at that level. And I I just wanted to hear how you planned, if it if the plan exists at all, to I guess delineate between those two types of properties, between
the uh mixeduse properties and the strictly commercial. Thank you. >> Thank you. I have Okay, I have the volume up. So, >> all right. Um, at this point, I close public comment. Um, to former mayor
Ryan, um, I appreciate your comments. Um, as far as landmarking that building in uh, in Verona, we can only landmark with the permission of the building owner. Um, so I don't know if we would have agreement from Chase when they're
trying to sell the building. Uh, if that's that could happen. So I I in fact I think that would be uh be limited unfortunately but something that certainly we can look into or have a conversation with whoever buys it um as another conversation there but I know
that um a lot of the attractiveness of that building is because it is a really nice neat old building um to at least some of the folks that I've talked to that are interested in the building and also it has like 30 parking spaces which makes it really attractive um as another
as another piece of that. But um of the the couple folks that I talked to that had expressed interest over the years, they definitely wanted to keep the the facade of the building um and improve it. Uh but obviously I can't if it the building goes to auction, not sure what
would happen with that as well. Um and I I thank you for, you know, acknowledging all of the uh all the residents who write feedback. I know I've been on the phone and met with residents a lot. Um the uh deputy mayor Makavoy and I actually sat down for three hours with
the uh um the folks that wrote that oped and had a really extensive conversation and um and had had an awesome dialogue that helped to um get some comments back to the administration um and helped to inform some of the questions that we asked at our August meeting. So that was uh that
was great and uh we had a great time uh sitting down with them uh for sure and um so that that certainly helps going to uh Miss Pearson's comment. I think that I agree with you uh as far as the concern on the mixuse buildings and
hopefully uh uh Mr. Hoya will have some suggestions on that when we see the the revised draft um of that. But I agree that we have to have to be careful um to balance that and that's what I I think there are some kind of builtin barriers
related to that especially with parking and things like that that require planning approval um and zoning approval. So I think that is probably won't be as as widespread maybe as we have and in fact we probably see more conversion than anything else. But, um,
I I agree with you on that and I don't think any of this will get in the way of any of our our zoning or or planning approvals. Certainly, there might be more requests for relief under variances. Um, but at the same time, I don't know if they'll be that um
significant. Um, but there could be another formula we look at for anything that adds residential space that could be a little different and Mr. Wy could come up with some suggestions that we can have. It's always good to have a couple options. So, thank you for that, Councilwoman McGrath.
>> Uh, thank you. And just to add to that thought, um, that's why it's important to get some experience from other communities done the tax abatement to see did it actually generate projects and what kind of projects. And that may be able to put the fear to rest that it won't be a series of three-bedroom
apartments created. It's much more likely that's going to be a bunch of studios or onebedrooms or or maybe none of these conversions will happen and it's just a bunch of facade improvements which we need and updated to mechanical and plumbing and electrical which is
needed because we have such an old housing and commercial stock. Um, and you know, I think it's really I want to thank um, former mayor Ryan. Um, as I had mentioned in my comments, yes, people wrote opeds. There was that
robust town hall and residents gave a lot of feedback for, you know, multiple years now on this project and I appreciate it all. I also sat down with, you know, those knowledgeable residents and had extensive conversations with them. I know councilwoman, former councilwoman Holland did as well. So, I
think it's great. We have such an engaged council. We have such an engaged electorate. I'm really excited to uh be part of this project moving forward. Thank you. >> Um Mr. Loy, is there a way that we could put into an ordinance that the incentive
would apply only for one bedroom, one bedroom in a den, something like that? >> You can certainly amend the ordinance or you can draft an ordinance, not amend it. You haven't written it yet. You can have it. So, it's only limited to certain buildings. I'll see if we can limit to something like that. So you can just do commercial, not to let
residential component, but whether you can just limit it to one bedrooms, we'll say research >> might help to allay those concerns that we have. >> Yeah. >> All right. Um Okay. Um at this point, we move on to executive session. Formal action may be
taken following executive session, but the public is excused from the meeting at this time. We will reconvene. All right. All right. Well, that makes things easier. All right. Where we have reconvened into public session at 9:50
p.m. Um, Madame Clerk, we have an ordinance. >> A resolution. Sorry, it's late. Um, Mr. Lawyer, would you like to just read the resolution into the record? >> Sure. Do you want to uh move it first
and have a second? Well, if you can read it and read it. Sure. Okay. >> Yeah. Before we move it, resolution reads, "Be it resolved by the township council of the township of Veron and the county of Essex, New Jersey, that the township manager is authorized to execute a settlement agreement with Labella Princess Cafe, 555 Bloomfield
Avenue, allowing the business to open pending review of a variance application filed on the business's behalf contingent upon the execution of a settlement agreement requiring the cafe to be open to the general public a minimum of 25 hours per week as outlined
in the settlement agreement. Somebody like to move the or the uh resolution. >> So moved. >> Motion's made by the deputy mayor. Is there a second? >> Second is by councilwoman McGrath. This time we'll open public comment on this resolution only. Same public comment
statement applies. >> See no public comment. I close public comment. Oh, sorry. Um, I just want to [clears throat] >> Martha Peralta, business Verona, New Jersey. Um,
I have a question in reference to the agreement for the month of, um, I just want to clarify for the month of August, um, it was 25 hours, correct? And then starting September 1st, it went down to,
um, more evening hours. um well late afternoon hours since we cater to children 95% of the time. Um and then on the weekends we would still be open to the public but more for experiences and still have the cafe um times and stuff
like that at our discretion. I just want to clarify that >> we can't respond to you until your comment is concluded and public comment is >> closed. Um, and then there was just something um that was brought up to my attention in reference
to saying that I originally started as a cafe and then later I turned into something else. Um, in my permit I specifically states that it was always thememed uh events for um private as
well as um open to the public and then also limited um on-site food. Um so that's just something I have the permit here in front of me. I just want to make sure that that's clear and clarified. And um
and also our business model has always been the themed parties. Um having us open and then it's usually on the weekends. Having us open, let's say 24 hours a day during the week, plus the
weekend would have me working seven days a week, which is impossible for a small business. and having we we offer experiences not just someone coming in for a cup of coffee. So it would be detrimental to my business if we are
forced to to do that and um yes just I wanted to mention those things and if we're not able to open it also you know basically uh ruins our business as well because we know
that the variance could take you know usually more than a month and that's all I wanted to say for now. Thank you. >> Thank you. Um this point of close public comment um
Mr. Lawyer if you >> Yeah. At this point in time as council knows this matter is uh potentially pending litigation. I've been in contact um with the uh business's attorney. The council has approved a settlement agreement. Um so it's clear to the
business owner who's here today with some amendments. Um the attorney will get that I'm sure meet with his client and we'll go forward from there. >> Okay. Thank you. Um, Madame Clerk, call the roll, please. >> Councilman Shore,
>> yes. >> Councilwoman McGrath, >> yes. >> Councilman Roman, yes. >> Deputy Mayor Mackoy, >> yes. >> Mayor Tambborro, >> yes. >> Mayor, um, this resolution will be number 2026-183. >> That's all I got. >> Okay. And at this time, I'll entertain a
motion. Actually, I'm sorry. We have one last public comment. Uh period. I'm sorry. Actually, we No, we did that already. Did it? Yeah. Okay. We don't normally do the after close after executive and come back. This entertain a motion to adjurnn.
>> So, move. >> Motion's made by Councilman Roman. Is there a second? Second. >> Seconds by Councilwoman McGrath. All those in favor say I. I. All those opposed. Motion carries.