All things muted. Yeah. >> Sorry. Got >> sorry I don't sing though. So I'll start again. Kips Castle 22 Cresmont Road Verona. And it is open. It's free admission. Open Saturday and
Sunday from 12:00 to 4:00 p.m. Uh it's decorated. It's very very nice. They did a great job. the cultural affairs division of the parks department. Next one is uh Presbyterian Memorial Iris
Garden at 474 Upper Mountain Avenue in Montlair. Again, open from Saturday and Sunday. That one is open from 12 to 3. Again, free admission. And Vanassel Funeral Home 357
Bloom Belleville Avenue in Bloomfield. And that is open Saturday and Sunday. Uh no, it's open only on Saturday from 12 to 4. Um that's basically my report. I know there was uh several accidents on the
Bloomfield Avenue. Uh I discussing it with public works tomorrow morning at our cabinet meeting and I know it's a very hot topic within town. any comments or anything you'd like bring back to public works?
>> I think Mr. O Sullivan has been working with public works as well on these on these items. So, I mean, our comment is always that we would like more lights, right, especially near Verona Park. But some of the accidents that happened had
nothing to do with that anyway. But actually, I don't think any of the accidents had anything to do with uh that location over the weekend. But um but yeah, having a light there would be great. >> Great. That's above my pay grade, but I will discuss it with the engineering department.
>> Thank you. >> All right. Next on the agenda, we have a proclamation for the Verona Women's Club. Uh share your light night. So ladies, if you'd like to come forward and talk about
the program. >> Thank you. >> Hi, I'm Mickey Lawrence and one of the co-chairs of Share Your Light Night. Hopefully, you can hear me. Um, it will be on Saturday, December 13th. We plan to have the luminaries out in the civic
center and lit by 5:00 pm. Uh this year we're back using real candles because we don't have a threat of uh a fire. And um we're still selling kits. So anyone who is interested in purchasing one that didn't um you can look on the women's
club website, women'sclub of verona.org and or no maybe.com and you'll find it there. Um this year we had many of our businesses in town sponsor luminaries. Our two co-chairs for Connie and Joanne
uh did a great job you know working with the businesses and the business who were really nice to uh sponsor us. So um if you didn't know we use the proceeds from this to do scholarships and uh donate
money to organizations. So, we're happy to be able to do it again this year. And I think that's all I had to say. Anybody else have something they want to say? No. >> Well, I do. So, >> okay, Chris. >> No, I just want to thank you for doing this. It's I always look forward to this
night. Um, I challenge every street in Verona to be as active as Sunset Avenue is between uh um Wayland and um and Brookdale. So, I think we have a 100% participation every year. It's really nice. Looks like an
airplane runway when you come down. >> I dropped off eight kids to someone on sunset today. >> We're we're very serious over there, but the reality of it is not only is it just a great visual, but also there's so much fun going out and talking to your neighbors as we're putting these things out. And uh it really just reminds us
that Verona is a very um a lovely place to live and very welcoming. And I encourage everybody, not only on your street, but take a walk down to the community center, which is just outstanding. It's breathtaking with all the lights out. Um, so please do that. It's a great family walk on a on a
Saturday to go. It >> does look beautiful. >> It It looks wonderful. So, let me read the proclamation and then you can you can sit, Mickey, and then come up when I'm done reading it. Thank you. >> Where's Sorry, I lost the You see? >> All right.
>> The regular one. >> Yeah. I just I somehow lost that. Oh, here it is. Thank you. This is why the deputy mayor is sitting to my right. Proclamation reads, "Whereas the Women's Club of Verona was formed as a non-political, non sectarian, and non-commercial service organization to
promote fellowship, social intercourse, intellectual growth, and cooperation in working out the vital problems of the day. And whereas the women's club of Verona is a member of the New Jersey state federation of women's clubs and general federation of women's clubs which is the oldest and largest women's
organization in the world. Whereas founded is the Isabella Literary Society in 1893. The now Verona Women's Club of Verona was instrumental in the founding of the Verona Public Library in the 1890s. And whereas their efforts have focused on
our community by awarding scholarships to high school graduates in recognition of the students involvement in community service. Whereas the Women's Club of Verona has sponsored two girls to the girls career institute, a residential program at Douglas College, continually supports the Verona Public Library, the
Verona Children's Fund, the Verona Rescue Squad and Fire Department, the Verona Foundation for Educational Excellence, and many other local, national, and state programs. And whereas on Saturday, December 13, 2025, the Women's Club will ho the will hold
the 17th anniversary Share Your Light Night, a fundraising event originating New Mexico, and is now a worldwide event. And whereas Verona residents purchased luminary kits from the Verona Women's Club to display in their front yards along curbs or driveways creating
a ribbon of light symbolizing neighborhood unity with luminaries glowing to form a ribbon of light. Now therefore be resol proclaimed that I, Dr. Christopher Tambboro, mayor of the township of Verona, to hereby recognize the Verona Women's Club, thank them for their service, and wish them
continued success as they celebrate their 131st anniversary this year as a charter member of the General Federation of Women's Clubs. In witness whereof, I here to set my hand and cause the official seal of the Township of Rona, New Jersey to be affixed this first day
of December, 2025. And ladies, if you'd like to come forward so much, too. This is good because I don't have >> Yes. >> Keep smiling. >> It's good to see you.
Thank you. Okay, that's Okay, moving on to the township manager's report. Mr. Osvin, >> thank you, mayor. I will understand we have a long agenda. I will try to hit the highlights of my report and uh leave the rest of questions from the council.
uh the primary clarifier pump station project. We have the equipment uh it's been tested in startup mode. So, we're nearing the completion of that uh first major reinvestment in the wastewater facility. We have the Fairview Avenue well project is still scheduled to start
uh in the late winter or in the early spring. Uh with our road projects, we have a pre-construction meeting for Lynen Avenue on December 4th. Uh Dod Terrace after Glowway and Summit Road will be bid in the coming weeks.
And Hamilton Road, Cresmont Place, and Cresmont Road were the subject of the most recent DOT grant application. Uh the township was fortunate to receive a grant award in the amount of $392,000. So that will be the next set of roads
that are scheduled for design and uh improvements in the coming year. Uh Ever Field continues to move forward. Uh the utility work and the rough grading continues in the ongoing week. The contractor is looking to establish
curbing in the next two weeks and bring the site to final grading. Uh there's been a lot of progress. The walls are complete. The uh majority of the trees have been planted. Uh and a lot of the subsurface utility work is is near completion. So that project continues to
move forward and is on schedule. Uh the fieldhouse element of that project is also moving forward. The structure is up. It's enclosed and the roof is on and the building is weatherized. Uh the work is continuing uh in on the interior of the building in the coming weeks.
Uh the administration had a meeting with the BPU on November 24th regarding uh the next steps for completing an energy savings improvement plan RFP. uh we'll be drafting that and getting that ready for uh public advertisement in the uh
the coming weeks as well. Additionally, the community energy plan is is moving forward. DMR is assisting with that project that will be be likely presented to the council in either January or February. Um we'll have discussion in executive
session on the affordable housing updates. Uh and then as far as the bu building facility needs, the um the shingled roofs at the community center and the annex are complete. Masonry repairs at the comm communication tower
are ongoing and the flat roof reconstruction is scheduled to begin this week and project completion is still anticipated this month. Uh again that is uh weather pending. uh the town hall windows and repointing.
There's still minor punch list items which remain open. So, we're not ready to close that project out. Uh all of the work on the interior of the building, all the uh mold remediation, the lead paint remediation, asbestous work, that is all complete. Uh and the police
department has returned to town hall as of November 25th. And solutions architecture is continuing to move forward with the facilities audit. They are now moving into scanning the annex now that the police department's moved out of the the annex building. So, they'll complete the scan
of that building and they'll be assessing all the uh upcoming needs for all the township's facilities. Um I will and then we have our professional services RFPs are due December 9th. So,
we'll have discussion at the upcoming meeting in December, uh, the next meeting, December, December 15th. Uh, aside from that, I am happy to answer any questions from the council. >> Just one, Mr. Sullivan. Um, when do we think the emergency services
building will be back on the agenda? >> So, uh, I would like to target a discussion with the council in January. Um, I do have some follow-up discussions I need to have with solutions architecture on uh some updated
information that they've provided. Uh, I'm scheduling a phone call with Mr. Msino and I'd like to target a presentation in January after the holidays. >> Thank you. Any other questions? Miss >> uh related there to you. Um, I see that
you have uh that you're working with solutions architecture to re-evaluate the Lakeside Avenue lot um as item nine on your manager's report. In June, I raised a number of questions and then they were committed to writing by all of the council in August. I don't believe
we've gotten responses to those questions yet. Um, and it looks like we're moving forward with expanding the scope of solutions architecture. So, can we get a detailed accounting of how much money has been spent? um by solutions and how that accords with uh funding
that was approved for this project. >> Yes. >> And the answers to the questions as well. Thank you. >> Other questions? Councilwoman McGrath. >> Um yes. I actually want to ask about the open space piece of your report
specifically on Commerce uh park. Uh it's wonderful that we have a volunteer Eagle Scout who is working on some trail work there. But I do feel that we um when we purchased this pro property a long time ago, we promised the public
that they would be involved in kind of how it would be utilized. And um I feel like we've gotten some great pieces about our open space and our open space trust fund. Uh we've gotten like finances is one piece. I know the land conser is doing work, but we really need
like a strategic plan on all of our open space and then how we can improve upon what we've purchased um as a framework for going forward on how to spend the open space trust fund um and how to evaluate making additional
purchases of land or improvements on existing property and how we can use the open space trust fund maybe to do other improvements like can we use it for field maintenance and stuff like that. So, I saw that you're applying for a grant to do this walking trail through
this parcel, but we never really had a conversation on how that entire parcel would be utilized. And when we purchased it, which was before your tenure here, we raised like a lot of different ideas with the public and they clearly wanted to be involved. Everything from a
basketball court to another community garden to a dog park to like a lot of things. So I do hope in early 2026 we can talk about like strategically the big picture of our open space and some of the individual parcels. This commerce
court being one of them. Also how do we make Mount Prospect more accessible so it can be utilized by the public which is the terms of getting um green acres money. So, and I'm happy to have a conversation offline if um you know to
clarify my request, but I think you >> Sure. Yeah, I think those are all uh comments well received and and the grant process for Green Acres requires um an open public comment period and it requires a public presentation. So, the
opportunity to apply for a grant would obligate us to have that public input. Um any element that is improved upon in any of those um in any of those public spaces certainly requires some accessibility which would link public
roads, parking spaces or to uh the site itself and any other future development. So part of the first phase of that is establishing some framework while preserving the open space nature and then also considering what potential
future uses could come of the site. But phase one is certainly the idea of trying to make it accessible which is is what this would certainly accomplish with the idea that the public comment could and will shape what the other future uses will become. So I I um I
understand your comments and and we'll certainly effectually make sure that we move forward with the public involvement as part of this process as well. >> Okay, great. Thank you. >> This has all by the way been discussed at open space trust fund advisory committee meetings as far as what we're looking at with respect to the property
ideas coming out. One of the the reasons why some of these discussions are on hold is because there's a property that may or may not be acquired and the acquisition of that property would significantly reduce the available funds in the trust funds. So, we're kind of
waiting to hear back on the the from the property owner about that property uh being acquired and at that point we'll know more on if we can actually what money we could spend potentially from the trust fund in order to be used on
that. But the the open space trust fund advisory committee has been discussing all of that prioritizing um and that's that's been happening in open meetings. uh as well and we can continue the work on that committee on that side. Yeah.
>> Um that's wonderful to hear, mayor. We would love to have them in and, you know, get an update for us, the council, or see any, you know, summaries of their work. Um, and I think that does get to, you know, whether or not we acquire future property that uses a big chunk of
the, uh, trust fund gets to my strategic, you know, kind of concern that we kind of evaluate the big picture before we make big decisions. And I don't know if we have, we have some of the pieces, but I think we just need to kind of link it all together, but maybe
that work's already been done and I look forward to reviewing it. The committee is actively working on that those discussions and their minutes and you can certainly watch the meetings if you would like more information. All right, moving on to the deputy manager report. Mr.
Krauss, >> um I do not have much to add. Um the with the town hall improvements, uh the P complaint has been closed out.
Um for the roof replacement work, there is siding at the DPW garage that is scheduled to be removed beginning on Wednesday. Um there will be perimeter air monitoring to ensure the work is
done safely and no employees are exposed to anything. Um the township is still advertising for building sub code official. Our new IT director will be starting on Monday, December 8th. Um
the results of open enrollment, there were I believe six or eight changes were emailed to the council uh two weeks ago. uh to remain consistent with industry norms and ensure that
um individuals still in high school at 18 years old did not have their dental coverage terminated. The end date for dental coverage was amended to 19 years old. Um, there is one additional lead law mailing
going out to property owners that should be sent out this week. Property owners who have rental properties that are subject to the lead law have until December 31st to come into compliance uh by scheduling an inspection or being
inspected. after de after Jan January 1st they will receive summones and the natural climate solutions narrative um is complete. We have a few letters of support and then
administration will be meeting with Millennium to finalize the grant application for approximately $400,000 to plant 400 trees over the next 36 months. And that concludes my report.
>> Thank you, Councilman Roman. >> Uh, yeah, you've flagged a couple of times on your reports the organic field maintenance program uh that apparently that is sort of only sort of working and not delivering the best result. Are can we get a copy of that report from Green?
What What is the plan basically with this if it's delivering kind of mixed results? Uh, I need to get a final letter from I forget the vendor's name that was evaluating it or Green Valley. >> It was Green Valley. Yes. >> Um, they provided an update midseason. I
will get one from them um for the end of the season. >> Okay. >> But it the initial update was that there was while the grass appeared healthy from afar, when you got close, it was weeds. It wasn't the healthiest grass. >> Okay.
Thank you, >> Councilwoman McGrath. >> Thank you. Um, in your community services and pool update, your last bullet is about the pool marketing committee. Um, and I know we received some, I believe, some additional information on email on that. I just
want to ensure that that's going to be um blasted out to the entire community so that everyone has a chance to equally volunteer. Is that your plan? >> There is there is um a defined um size for the
committee and and specific members that were uh we're still fine-tuning what those the the members would be. It's a a combination of uh existing pool staff um administration. Um >> I'll
>> Yeah, there were um a a a representative from the recreation advisory committee, a representative uh I forget how we had a a a specific range of participants. Um but we would
certainly for the public member we would certainly open up the same way that we would have for uh other advisory committees. >> The Mr. Sullivan on I was going to bring this up later as we got into the whole discussion, but um I think the feedback
that I know I received from residents, we had a lot of residents willing to help. Um and as of the last I read, there were only two public spaces for public members. So, I think we can differentiate between and and I'm hoping
this is your intent, people that are on a core steering committee and people who just want to volunteer and get out and go to events and and push the pool. So, I think we need to expand that out a little bit. And obviously, this is your committee that, you know, it's not a council committee. It's not an
appointment that that we're going to be making. Um, but expand it out. Just have volunteers and maybe add that, you know, x number of Well, you can't have too many you can't manage. But, you know, if you have 15 people that are willing to go out to events and and promote pool
memberships, if using all 15 of those people for that piece, but you don't necessarily need all 15 of those people to drive the marketing plan. Um, but I I definitely would like to see somebody who is going to be willing to go out and
do a lot of that public interaction to be on the committee. Does that make sense? >> It does. >> And I know we had some of our our senior citizen members of the pool that were very interested in doing that. So, I know my thought would be to make sure that we include at least one um on the
committee because they have already committed and I forwarded the information to you and Mrs. Prisco, but I've already committed to putting some hours into this. So, I don't want to I don't want to discourage anybody from volunteering. So, you can have committee members and you can have volunteers
beyond that. Just want to make sure that we're on the same page with that. And anybody who does not get a committee seat can certainly still volunteer. Right. Deputy mayor. >> Uh just a question, an update on our streetscape schedule. Any when the
report would be coming in for that? The meetings are still happening between um Strands and different community groups. I don't know when they plan to release their um design report. I would
anticipate it in early 2026. >> They're they're meeting again with the Shade Tree Commission at the Shade Tree Commission's upcoming meeting in December. I think that's December 9th. um they will be meeting with uh continuing to meet and fine-tune all of the feedback that they've received into
a recommendation on uh concepts and visuals for what the design would then look like and associated cost estimates. While they're going through that, we still have a grant application that is pending. So, while we're waiting to hear back on the grant application, it allows
them the opportunity to really vet and get as uh all of the input from the community and all the different interest groups and make sure that they're providing uh a cohesive design that tries to address as many of those comments as as they've been receiving. But I think early 2026 is what the
target is. Um that said, there's a lot of committees and it's it's a very uh key artery throughout the town. there's a lot of people with a lot of input that they're trying to to put together. >> I just before they write a report, I think it might be helpful for the
council to meet in small groups, maybe two at a time or something like that because otherwise we're getting a report and that and that's now becoming public and then we haven't actually been able to put our input there and then we're potentially suggesting alterations to report that's already been drafted. So
if you can arrange that, you know, two at a time I think would be fine. doesn't have to be one at a time, but if you can do that on Zoom or something like that, just putting that out there to save probably a lot of time, effort, and and uh concertation later. >> Counciloman McGrath,
>> I just want to clarify the Shade Tree meeting um is on Monday the 8th at 5:00. >> Thank y. >> Thank you. Uh just general question, this wasn't on either of your reports, but um ebike safety. I've seen a lot of
sort of public concern and discussion about uh ebikes lately, especially with younger people. Um I see that we have a couple pro we have a discussion coming up uh with neighborhood traffic and safety committee and obviously a lot of kids will probably be getting these for Christmas. Uh just kind of curious if there's any discussion ongoing within
the township, within the police department, etc. about ebike safety. And >> so I know that there was some cross promotion of some safety programs first targeted at the actual users kids on the
ebikes and then uh more recently targeted at parents of ebike users. Um that stemmed it's it's largely crossmotion with a lot of discussions that been uh begun with neighborhood traffic safety committee. Uh that said,
I know that uh it's something that the police department is acutely aware of and they're they're continuing to have those discussions. Um I I can get an update from the chief on any further discussions or thoughts he's had or any anything that he's hearing from
enforcement or state legislation or things like that that that he can uh pass on to the council. >> That would be very much appreciated. Like I said, I've just seen an uptick in people being concerned about and discussing it. the uh I've had conversations with Chief Kieran on this issue and he's happy to
come in present statistics as far as how many interactions they've had with either Jim Miles or parents related to these things, what interfactions there might be enforcement and what they're planning on doing as well moving forward. So, I believe the chief will be here at the next meeting potentially.
So, we could ask him to add that to his agenda. Okay. Okay. Anything you can do for us would be great. Sure. There's also uh on on the um residents township news section of the website, there's a ebike info for
parents. Uh there's a Zoom link. It appears that there's two sessions on December 10th. One at 14 1:45 p.m. and one from 8 to 8:45 p.m. >> ebike safety for parents. >> Okay, great. Thank you.
>> And I know there's some Thank you, Mayor. I know there's some towns that are looking into ordinances to restrict these because they are getting very dangerous. >> I think that's one of the interesting things is we well we did bring this up at a previous meeting and >> kind of the the the prevailing wisdom at
that time was that this was covered by state statute and that we should continue. So um I don't know you know just we can look at that. I think was it Ramsay or something is doing one today. uh maybe we can take a look at what
they're doing that might be beyond state statute, but the reality of is no matter what it is, it's it's an enforcement question, right? Um and that's what we need to hear, I think, from the chief about um but it's it's definitely an enforcement issue. And one of the one of
the issues I think related to this enforcement is if you're if you're a police officer and you're going to stop, you have to you don't want to chase somebody, right? You don't want you don't want somebody you police wouldn't chase somebody on an ebike, but you don't want somebody to feel like they should drive away at a reckless rate or
something like that because that potentially causes injury. So, enforcement is very tricky um on these things and that's something that I think the chief can opine on more just as a piece of that, but it definitely is an enforcement question. >> I think that would just be a good discussion item.
>> I I would absolutely agree with that. >> Thank you. >> All right, moving on to council member reports. Deputy Mayor Mackoy, we're at you. >> Thank you. I will be brief because I'll be repetitive. Uh I too attended the League of Municipalities and look forward to bringing what we learned down
there into conversations over the years uh over the next year or two. Uh unfortunately during the league there was a historic preservation meeting uh that went on that I had to miss but I know they are still looking into
uh moving the freight shed 100% onto town property. Uh I have talked to Sandy about that and we're looking to move forward with that in the coming months. Uh we do have a survey already done. Uh I too would like to congratulate
Chief Tedesco, Chief Valentine, and Chief Gford. Uh I also attended the testimonial dinner. Uh and I will add one name to the uh 50 years of service or more. It was uh Rich Luzy. Uh so there were three that were honored there
and it's just 50 years of plus service to the township of Arona's residents is uh just amazing. So, I thank them and all the other officers that uh received awards that night for their uh length of duty. Uh and lastly, the cur clergy
council of Verona had their interfaith ceremony. Uh every year I look forward to attending that and they move it from different uh house of worship to house of worship. Uh there's not many uh townships that do that. So I I my hats
off to the clergy council in Verona for what they do and bringing everybody together. It's always a very uh welcoming ceremony and it was very well attended again this year. And that's all I have for you. >> Thank you, Council Roman. >> Thank you, Mayor. In light of our lengthy agenda, I'll wave my report this
evening. Thank you. >> Thank you. The community thanks you as well, Councilwoman McGrath. >> Thank you, Mayor. Um I too attended the League of Municipalities. I uh really love this annual event. It is uh one of the only chances we get to interact with
our peers and um really uh go to sessions where we can learn some new things and talk about new ideas. Um I found the best sessions were on the last day on Thursday. I went to a session on um how AI is transforming government that was really fascinating and would be
happy to have sideline conversations with my peers or anyone from the administration on what was discussed. I also went to a great seminar on addressing food insecurity in your community which was led by um the Maplewood team um and Woodbridge.
They're doing some really creative stuff um in the area of addressing food insecurity which many residents know is an issue that um I've been passionate about for a very long time. Um so it was a great league um and um you know look
forward always to uh next year. Um I too attended the interfaith clergy's um Thanksgiving service which was really fantastic this year and it was on the theme of compassion. Um and I think we all can agree that the world needs a little bit more compassion right now. Um
and so I just thank them um all of our faith leaders for their collaboration and service um and their giving spirit to our community. This is you know not something that they need to do. it's something they do because they believe so closely in it and I um it really
makes me proud to be a Verona resident when I go to this service. So, thank you clergy. Um I continued my annual tradition on Small Business Saturday by visiting our small retail businesses in town uh to do my holiday shopping and to
stop in and touch base with small business retail owners. Um and um I then put those videos on my social media uh Christine McGrath Verona on Instagram and Facebook and um it got a lot of
positive views and likes and generated conversation and I hope follows. Um it's really important to support our small business owners who I feel are really courageous individuals. Owning a small business is incredibly difficult, especially one that's in retail where
you're selling physical things like books and candy and house wares and clothing when there's so much competition with online shopping. So, I do encourage um everyone to shop local this year. If you normally um go to one
shop, challenge yourself to walk into two others. Um and if you haven't shopped local yet, I encourage you to walk into one of our amazing businesses. I believe the Chamber of Commerce is having a uh special event on Thursday night uh for late shopping. So, I encourage you to go to the Verona uh
Chamber of Commerce site. They'll have a list of all the businesses that are open late on Thursday. Um and then mayor, in new business, I would like to uh bring up discussing committee appointments. I know the neighborhood traffic and safety committee has at least one opening um
and may have one um upcoming and um I know a lot of people have applied. So, if we can talk about that in new business for a future meeting, that would be >> It's already It's already on the list. >> It's already on the list. >> The list. I'm already bringing it up. >> You're already bringing it up. Okay.
Thank you. >> And that's my report. >> Councilwoman Holland. >> Thank you. Um, we are on December 1st now and I know affordability is a major concern of many families in New Jersey. So I want to
remind all residents as I often do at council meetings that we are now within the winter termination program period um that establishes a moratorum on utility shut offs into the spring. So if you are having any kind of difficulty paying your electric and gas bill or otherwise
um please avail yourself of that program um and so that you can keep your gas and electricity on especially as it gets colder and colder these months. Um, I do want to acknowledge the food pantry at Holy Spirit um for their assistance to families during the recent uh federal
government shutdown um and the SNAP program issues that arose. Um it was very meaningful to learn um of the work that they had put in to assist families during that time. Um I know that several of my colleagues referenced their attendance at the league. I was not at
the League of Municipalities this recent November. um nor did I attend any of those events. However, I was able to attend the interfaith Thanksgiving service um which did in fact focus on com compassion as the council woman referenced and I just want to thank many
members of the community for all the compassion that they showed my family during the month of November um which was a particularly challenging time for us. So, thank you. It's wonderful to be part of a community um that comes together and supports neighbors during
challenging times. I'll just conclude my report by referencing the fact that tomorrow is Giving Tuesday and we have a number of amazing nonprofit organizations here in the township of Verona. So take your pick of whichever one that you think is the best. But I do
encourage you to contribute during um Giving Tuesday. there is extraordinary need every year, but in particular this year. Um, I think there is more. Um, and so I do just encourage all families to contribute as best you can. Thank you. That concludes my report.
>> Thank you. This time we'll open for public comment on any item any member of the public wishes to bring forth to the council. Madame clerk, would you please read the public participation statement? Anyone from the public wishing to speak on any matter, please raise your hand by pressing the raise hand button on your
monitor. If you're dialing in by phone, please press star 9. And if you're attending in person, please raise your hand and be acknowledged before approaching a lect turn. Once you're recognized, clearly state only your name and township of residence for the record. You are 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.
>> Thank you. Anybody in the room wish to speak? Mr. Shore. Thank you. Corey Shore uh Verona New Jersey. Uh just want to wish everybody uh happy holidays um and happy Thanksgiving um to
everybody. I hope you had a great um holiday weekend. Uh just a couple points on the pool because I'm not sure we'll be able to comment on it um as you have first reading tonight. Um just I was looking at the um agenda is I was looking at where is the is there a
service or membership contract between the rescue squad and the um community pool that's going to be signed uh by both entities. That's important to to finalize what the um the responsibility is of both the town and both the rescue
squad. So I didn't see anything on that. I think any inclusion on that would be fantastic. Um, just a couple additional points I've stated before. Um, I do think that family nights should be limited in scope, maybe to once a month. Trying to protect our membership as much
as possible. Uh, at $10 an evening, if there are 10 um evenings during the summer, that's $100. You have individuals membership that's 457 or a twilight that's around I think that's 220, something like that. I think we want to try to push the twilight maybe
into the um those that are doing the family nights, but I think the family nights are something that's way overdue to be changed. Um I also looked in a lot of the documents and you know I didn't see an updated budget. Um I see a budget that's done by the recreational
committee. I see the one that was done by New Genen. I have not seen one that's done by administration. I think it would be a good idea to take both of those documents and put into an official administration budget. So this way it could be rolled out every single year and you can see how much your revenue
is, how much your expenses are, and what is your profit, red or black, and then where you're going, and you can compare it to other years. U I really like to see that. I think the council should see that before taking any votes on what what they're doing. Um commenting on the sandbox and volleyball. I didn't say
anything about that. Uh I I state that 60% last time during the survey said that they wanted a volleyball court but did not state anything about there about removing the sand. I haven't heard anything about that. I do not think the administration should remove the sand until there is more public feedback on
or a alternative solution on what kids are going to be able to do um at the community pool especially ones that are three, four, five, six, seven years old that you want to try to bring people in the community pool. I know this stands a problem, but let's find an alternative solution, not just take it out and say
too bad. Um, I also do not agree on the 2% increase for membership. We're trying to win back families. We've done 28% increases over the last two years. The extra $15,000 is not going to make or break the pool. It might just in fact
drive it the other way. You want to with a marketing uh committee, a marketing tool try to win back families, family memberships that the last two years that got a big head. Once again, um happy holidays to everybody and thank you again.
>> Thank going on to Kevin Ryan on Zoom. I >> I think you just There he is. You got to He went down somehow. I think he lowered his hand. >> Hit the allow.
>> Raised it by accident. >> Here he comes. >> There we go. All right. Go ahead, Mr. Ryan. >> Hi. Good evening, Kevin Ryan, uh, Barona, uh, New Jersey. Uh, just a a quick question about, uh, the, uh, I guess the the zoning, uh, code, uh,
which is chapter 150. And as it as it relates to the uh the the master plan, uh the actual zoning code book that uh that um was last looked at in in totality, I'll call it, was actually
done back in 2011. uh and I know that obviously amendments have been made uh to the to the code but I was wondering is there any effort at that point in time the the review was uh coordinated with the uh the master plan
that was adapt adopted back then and I know we've adopted a new master plan. I'd like to know if there's any effort going on uh right now to uh continue the review of the zoning code and uh correlate it to the current version of the the master plan. Uh if someone could
give me an update on that, I think it would be helpful. Uh and uh second point uh uh I am currently sitting on the board of adjustment and uh we've had a number of cases that um have come uh
before us where uh you know they've been somewhat controversial in in nature and I'll just leave it at that. But one thing that that seems to pop up is uh when when the board approves a a a variance let's say uh uh oftentimes uh a
number of conditions are attached to approval and um when the uh information then is passed back I guess to the building department uh maybe the town manager can like I'd like to know if there's any uh enforcement mechanism to
make sure that the conditions are being uh complied with before the permits are issued. And that's all I have. Thank you. >> Okay. Anybody else? Josh. >> No. No. I get to decide who goes. Josh.
>> Thank you very much. Uh Josha, New Jersey. I am here to talk about traffic safety on Bloomfield Avenue. Uh, in the past four weeks, uh, sorry, in the past two weeks, there were four accidents on the downhill stretch of Bloomfield Avenue outside of the park. Now, I don't
know if they were all from entering the park or leaving the park, but they were all within 20 ft of that park entrance. So, I'm here tonight to bring attention to this. I think that there are some things that could be done. I know that there are discussions being had with the
county, but I also want to bring up those discussions have been going on for 10 years and uh you know I I'm looking I followed up my last meeting uh the last meeting when I was here a month ago uh with some questions and some firm commitments I'd like from the county uh
a timeline uh uh some commitments to a light and I know you've had some discussions with them uh but I think more needs to be done and and sooner uh it is extremely dangerous. It's dangerous for residents. It's bad for business and it's really bad for our reputation. Um
there's, you know, I talked to the uh county liaison and there's this words being used and they keep saying in enforcement and it's I really do not believe that there's an enforcement issue there. Um there's a geography. I mean there's there's there's a there's a
downhill stretch. You can only enforce so much by planting an officer there 247 and that's just not possible. Uh, you know, we've brought this up. Counties ignored, see, maybe about a hundred of my emails and phone calls over the past few years, but I know there are discussions. I think we need to hold
them accountable. If they're going to willfully ignore, you know, these safety concerns, I think that we should hold them responsible for the damage that comes from them. Uh, perhaps charging them back for our police hours. We had an accident where somebody had to be transported to the hospital two weeks ago. We had a street cleaning crew come
up and clean. They know there's an issue, but there's nothing being done. So, I really want to bring additional attention to this and I'll continue to advocate for traffic safety on the downhill stretch of Bloomfield Avenue. Thank you very much. >> Thank you,
Trey. Come on up. >> Thank you. And good evening, mayor and council. Trey Steman, Verona, New Jersey. Uh, as a member of of Verona and a active member of the pool as well as an employee, I'd like to share an idea that I thought make could make the pool more flexible, affordable, and
familyfriendly with regards to full memberships and individual day passes. Currently, the pool offers single day passes and full memberships. What this system has worked so far, it makes it harder for casual visitors or families who want to visit more often. This turn this in turn leads to fewer people
buying memberships and visiting the pool. A solution I would like to propose to introduce is multi-visit packs. A, for example, if a day pass costs $20, a five pack could be priced at $19 per pass, a 15 pack at $18 per pass, and a 25 pack at $17 per pass. These are just
hypothetical examples, but they show how packs could encourage repeat attendance while encouraging participation. Even with these packs, a full membership would still be the best deal. Assuming a full membership costs roughly $700 for a family of five, the cost per person would be $140. Compare this to a 25 pack
at $70 per one person. If each person uses all 25 visits, they would spend $425 individually, which is significantly more than the $140 per person cost under a full membership. Introducing packs in this way could bring several important benefits for casual visitors or families who aren't
ready for a membership. Packs would provide more flexibility and an easier way to enjoy the pool. At the same time, packs would encourage repeat visits, motivating residents to come back regularly and strengthening the community engagement. These passes could be used individually or shared among a group, encouraging better participation.
Full memberships would still be the most cost-effective option for frequent users, but packs could serve as a bridge for those who might eventually upgrade to a membership. This approach would also make the pool more accessible, giving more residents the chance to participate without committing upfront to a full membership. From an
administrative perspective, tracking package usage could be the straight could be as straightforward as using simple systems like punch cards, booklets, or digital barcodes. Finally, packs could benefit the pool in the long term. Casual visitors who enjoy using them may decide to purchase a full membership later, supporting both
engagement and revenue. As someone who both uses and works at the pool, I believe this approach could balance accessibility, affordability, and long-term engagement for all members of our community. It provides options for casual visitors while still rewarding families and frequent users with the best value. Thank you for your time, and I hope the council will consider
exploring this option. >> Thank you, Mr. Steinman. >> Monica, beyond Mr. Steiner third. >> Good evening. Um, Christine, thank you for supporting small businesses. Um,
appreciate you stopping by my sister's shop. Uh, my name is Monica Vincent. I'm a Verona resident. On November 10th, I sent this council an email that reiterated concerns I first raised on September 13th regarding the proposed
$40 million emergency services building. In that email, I asked what I believe is a straightforward and essential question. Has our town manager ever led a project of this size? I recognize there will be a project
manager, but ultimately that project manager is reporting to the town manager. Just as I did on November 10th, I'm raising this again because the council is now considering an additional $325,000
for Everfield after already approving $4 million for that project. If we cannot keep a single baseball field with a $4 million price tag within budget, how can residents be confident
that this same leadership can execute a $40 million emergency services building responsibly? So I ask you to approve before approving any further spending to make sure that the public is provided with clear
documented evidence that this town manager is able to demonstrate the capacity to manage it. Secondly, I'm up here tonight. Earlier this year, I asked this town council to reconsider allowing churches and houses of worship to
promote religious events on public property. I'd like you to reconsider that tonight as well. Last month, one of the churches use used public property to promote not only a private revenue
generating event, but they also promoted a restaurant located outside of Verona, not even in Essex County. So, while the mayor stated at the last time I got up here to ask that, that these churches, these houses of worships
are doing good, during his re-election campaign and even during these council meetings, he is asking small businesses in Verona to offset costs by sponsoring things like the Verona pool. Yet public property is being used to advertise
organizations that neither support nor reflect the values or the economy of Verona. We need to be supporting small businesses more now more than ever. And as I mentioned earlier this year, our small business community is dwindling
and we shouldn't be punishing them with fees or asking them to offset stuff that this town manager and council cannot adequately budget. Thank you. >> Anybody else? Okay, hearing none, we'll close public comment. Uh just going back
to a couple of these things. Um going Mr. Shore, you were first. I think um I can't comment on the rescue squad uh or fire department membership contract. Mr. O Sullivan, did you want to address that? Sure,
mayor. The there is an ordinance tonight which um in lie of a formal signed agreement which would need to be renewed annually. the there's an ordinance which actually codifies uh on a permanent
basis the obligations of the general budget sending money to the pool utility for the uh reasonable value of the free memberships that were afforded to the uh fire and rescue members. So that is uh
not by uh an annual agreement but actually more permanent by uh an ordinance. that is on tonight's agenda for introduction. >> Right. Um I think there was I think the question was is there going to be some kind of
specific you know written instrument for something like that that the outside organiz the resis department sign that memorializes what we're adopting. Well, no. It's it's
lab shortest point is can we have one? Can there be some some kind of memorandum of is that you can nod your head cor we have some kind of memorandum of >> a summary of the calculations to be performed. >> Yeah, that could be just what is being
offered in exchange for what, right? just some kind of matter the same thing we do with the the school district and whatever when we do >> Brian you don't >> so we had an internal bait debate mayor of doing this >> I'm sure this was exciting >> one of the issues that um was raised was
if you're tying that um I'll call the volunteers volunteering to the free membership it's no longer a free membership and it seemed as though we were forcing the volunteers to do even more volunteer work and after
discussing it internally I I believe it was the the group's uh collective thought process was that the council by passing the ordinance that it has has indicated that the volunteers provides significant benefit to the residents and to the township. We want to encourage
volunteers and at the same time thank the volunteers. Therefore, we didn't want to uh put a monetary amount on their volunteer volunteering service. um they've indicated they're going to continue to volunteer to volunteer, meaning, you know, they're volunteers on the first aid squad and the fire
department and they'll continue to volunteer at the pool, but we didn't think it was um going to be helpful for the situation to try to put a monetary amount on that and take attendance and hours and whatnot. And it seemed as though it was taking away from the pool
membership. So, we thought the much better way to do it was say, "Hey, you're getting a free pool membership and you know, kind of continue to volunteer." Um, so if those volunteer organizations want to permanently say they're going to volunteer and enter into some type of agreement, that's
great. But, you know, some years you might have five rescue squads and and three fire department members volunteer at the pool, for instance, and the following year might be 10 or 15 because there's greater interest and there's more numbers or whatever. And, you know, it goes up and it down and whatnot. We
just thought this was a better way to get to the same result. This way, the pool's finances are stable and the volunteers can continue to do their volunteer work and are thanked through the township through the free pool membership. >> Thank you for the explanation. I can't comment on that, but that is the
explanation. Um, and if you could say volunteer just a couple more times tonight, that would be very helpful. I I agree with Mr. Shore on having an updated itemized budget. I think that would be really helpful. something that we track throughout the season um as
well and I think Mr. Shore and the and the rec committee provided a really good model of something we can go from we want us to place rise there for the administration. >> Sure. We've um we've been sitting with CFO preparing and and the annual process
will be for introduction of that budget. Typically we provide that introdued to the council in March with an introduction in April. um we can provide uh some some periodic updates and some draft uh updates on where we currently
are with that process. Um we just sat with our CFO earlier this morning to just to review where we are on all of the budgets for utilities and general budget, but I can certainly distribute that to the council so they uh so the council's aware of uh where we are
currently in in the 2026 budget planning process. >> More information is always better. Um on the the volleyball court, I I know this came down to administration um with the concern about the sand getting the pool filter um and what the
the core was being used for. Um so um I think that's leave that as you know my opinion that should be an administrative uh decision based on the needs of the pool but I would like to hear from the u the administration at some point if
there's going to be you know some kind of other play type facility um put in that would meet the need of that. Um and on the on the fees I think you make a good point Mr. Sure. Um it's important to contextualize this conversation with
the fact that the original report um suggestion I think had us increasing by another 10% this year. Um so 2% is lower. One of the the reasons why the full finances are the way they are is that as minimum wage went up um the
wages I'm sorry as minimum wage went up the fees never went up to go with that. Um, so I think we're in a position of trying to find a, you know, a sweet spot there with trying to make sure we raise a little bit more revenue. Um, minimum wage actually went up by a percent. I
think it's like 4.3% for season employees, uh, or 4.7 or something like that. That actually exceeds this. So, we're still not making all of that revenue up. But I think the reason why it's 2% versus 3% or 4% um or 6% or
whatever is because we're trying to make up some of that while not pricing people out by while not making it uh too elastic in that way. To Mr. Ryan's point about the zoning change, um yes, that is in process. Our planners are working on that. Um it is
the advice of our planners and legal counsel to uh wait for the affordable housing um situation to to finish this round of affordable housing um because any changes in that could affect the negotiations um with the interveners and
all of that. So yes, that is being done. Um as far as the enforcement looking at permit conditions and the board of adjustment, I think that's something Mr. sold and we'll have to research and get back to us on I don't I don't know what the specific procedure is there unless you do
>> um it has been creating a procedure that I think did not exist previously. So it is um cleaning up uh some prior approvals and also making sure that all of the ongoing approvals and any conditions associated
with them are compliant. I know our zoning officer before they release any final zoning permits, they do go through each of the conditions of approvals. Um it is a little bit more of an endeavor to go backwards on previous approvals though, but moving forward it has been
corrected. It's it's a slower process to go backwards and clean up uh prior approvals there. >> Excellent. Thank you. Uh to Mr. Jacobs, um I agree with your with your points on Bloomfield Avenue. Um, you know, some of that obviously
is stuff we can't control as far as, you know, telling, you know, people actually following the posted speed limits and walking crosswalks and things like that. Um, so, you know, that's one of those pieces. I know the conversations between Mr. O Sullivan and the county have been
happening. Um, but it's been the county's position historically that there are lights too close to um, where a potential light would be. Um, and I know those situations are ongoing. In the coming years, quite soon, all of our
lights will be redone on Bloomfield Avenue. Um, so hopefully that could be part of that conversation. Um, and go from there. I don't see a legal mechanism, Mr. Aloy, correct me if I'm wrong, to somehow build a county or something like that for services or
street sweeping or police or anything like that. >> That's correct, Mayor. >> What's that? >> That's correct. >> That's uh to young Mr. Simon, um, thank you for coming forth and and pitching your idea. I know that this had been a a big discussion, um, in the past and, uh,
it's something to, to look at as we move forward. Um, I'll ask Mrs. Prrisco and Mr. O. Sullivan to take a look at the recommendation and get back to us. But um I think you make some excellent points in here and I'm very happy that you came before us to bring up these
points um because we've had a lot of very good feedback from the people on the front lines of the pool and helping to make decisions um including some other at that time for high school students or alums um in that side. So um I think you make some great points and I
do want to study them and get some recommendations from the administration. Um, I would ask you if you can, if you have not done so, to email your comments, Mrs. Presco. Um, and uh, you can talk to her in the hallway or something later and get through that. Um, so you can look at those items to
Miss Vincent. Um, as far as Mr. O Sullivan's qualifications, um, Mr. Oven is a licensed professional engineer and maintains that license. uh in addition to being an engineer for a large municipal contractor prior to going into
um public service, Mr. Sullivan was the executive director of the municipal utilities authority in Carney, correct? And supervised some pretty significant um infrastructure there as well as being a town administrator in another municipality. Um so I have confidence in
Mr. Sullivan's ability with all of his qualifications and experience um in organizing this project. I didn't have confidence in him. He would not be the one that is running it, but I appreciate you bringing the concern forth. Um regardless, the I brought up the concern
related to $325,000 extra for Everett in the last meeting. I brought up good concern that maybe we should overestimate and Councilman Roman brought up the great point that if we do that, uh, that potentially could make all of our projects more expensive. Um,
so we do have to allow for some revision on that. I don't love that, but that's unfortunately what we have to do on those areas. Um, as far as allowing churches to uh to advertise, the advertising,
I'll call them stakes, the the wooden stakes, um, are open to any organization. Uh, we can't discriminate based on that. You either have to allow everybody or nobody to uh, participate there. And it is something that builds community. I know the one church that you were referencing is the Episcopal
Church of the Holy Spirit. they had a um a fish and chips dinner and they were not necessarily advertising the restaurant but they were as like go to this restaurant but they were saying this is the restaurant that is doing the fish and chips dinner um in order to
bring people into that and I believe and I continue to believe that the um the Holy Spirit church does a lot of great work for this community. In fact, you just heard Councilman Holland bring up their efforts during the SNAP reduction, also uh feeding people throughout the
year, um meeting needs, especially around Thanksgiving time. Um and they're doing a great job and the organizations put out there. Uh so I'm not casting necessarily a value judgment on anybody's advertising because we allow everybody to advertise if you're a nonprofit
group. Uh and churches fall under nonprofit under state and federal law. Um, so we either allow everybody or nobody. Um, but I would certainly argue that uh not only is that the case, but also that organization is doing excellent work for this community and I
hope that they continue to do that. Um, there was a a comment as well about the suggestion that we are asking businesses to offset other things. Businesses can certainly say no. um we're not requiring we're not increasing any kind of um
uh you know revenue instrument on these businesses. The only thing we've done recently is we are now licensing um uh massage parlors and beauty parlors um as a recommendation for enforcement purposes and inspection purposes by the uh Bloomfield Health Department uh which
is going to certainly make every everything safe. um and and make sure that everybody is hygienic and healthier in town. And any other council members have any comments? Councilman,
>> I'll just expand on the uh the budgeting for projects. This was kind of brought up. Um you know, let's just budget more for projects because there's always change orders. One of the problems with working in the public sphere here is that everything that we budget is publicly disseminated. And my fear of
doing that, if we try and make all of our projects sort of zero change order projects, um contractors are just simply going to bid to our budget. Um and then they come back with change orders anyway. Uh so it's as much as it doesn't look great, uh it's better for us to
budget conservatively on these projects and to encourage contractors to bid as competitively as they possibly can. Uh if you look at the history of our projects recently, there's a couple of things that we've gotten a lot better at. Number one is um the aggressiveness
and quantity of bids that we receive in projects. Uh at the bid stage, I would say that um since Mr. Sullivan joined us, um the number of bids that we receive and um how competitive some of them are has been a substantial improvement. And the other thing is that
we also um aggressively pursue negative change orders at project closeouts. So, if a contractor puts in their original bid, I'm going to replace, you know, 30 yards of sidewalk. Uh, then we go back at project close out and go, well, you only actually replace 28, give us a credit back for the rest of it. And it
may be small dollars, but it adds, it's just something that we I would say we didn't pursue as aggressively in the past. Um, we do now. Uh, but there is a lot of attention being paid uh to the cost that we're paying for our major capital projects and at least delivering
best value. Uh contracting is very very expensive nowadays getting anything built. Anyone that's you know even tried to get anything done on their house just knows what contractors are charging and in the public sector it's even costly particular size of infrastructure projects we do. Um but I'm happy with
how we manage things. Uh I think that at the end of the day when we actually execute these projects they get done very well. Um and we are good at protecting the taxpayers's investment and again trying to get best value at them. So, this is again something we pretty continuously look at through the
course of these projects and we give plenty of feedback to our managers and we tell them if we don't think a change order is valid or if we think that a contractor is is not doing the right thing, they hear it from us. So, that's just my opinion as to how we manage projects, but I'm pretty pleased with
our project management here as a whole. But I do appreciate your comments, >> Council Roman. Okay, at this time we'll be moving on to the hearing adoption or amendment of ordinances. Madame Clerk, the next item on the agenda is ordinance number 2025-20.
On second reading, would you please read the title of this ordinance into the record? abundance providing a supplemental appropriation of $325,000 for preliminary planning expenses and improvement of Everfield and by the
township of Verona, the county of Essex, New Jersey, and authorizing the issuance of $325,000 bonds or notes of the township to finance part of the cost thereof. >> Thank you, Madam Clerk. Would somebody move the ordinance? >> So moved. >> The motion is made by Councilwoman
McGrath. Is there a second? >> I'll second it. Seconds made by Councilman Roman. At this time, we'll open for public comment on this ordinance only. The same public comment statement applies. However, comments are limited to this ordinance. Seeing no public comment, I hereby close
public comment. Any council discussion hearing? None. Madam clerk, would you please call the role? >> Councilwoman um Holland, I'm sorry. >> Yes. Councilwoman McGrath, >> yes. >> Councilman Roman, >> yes.
>> Deputy Mayor Mackoy, >> yes. >> Mayor Tambbor, >> yes. >> Mayor, ordinance 202520, passes 50, will be published according to law. >> Thank you, Madam Clerk. The next item on the agenda is ordinance number 2025-21 on second reading. Madam clerk, would
you please read the title of this ordinance into the record? amending chapter 140 of the township code entitled vehicles and traffic to create a new article 15 entitled traffic control at the community center lots including the parking lots of Liberty and Freedom Field parking lots.
>> Thank you, Madam Clerk. Will somebody move the ordinance? >> So move. >> Motion's made by the deputy mayor. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Seconds made by Councilwoman Holland. This time I'll open for public comment on this ordinance only. The same public comment statement applies.
Hearing none, I close public comment. Any council discussion? Hearing none. Madam clerk, could you call the role, please? >> Councilwoman Holland, >> yes. >> Councilwoman McGrath, >> yes. >> Councilman Roman, >> yes. >> Deputy Mayor Mackoy, >> yes. >> Mayor Tambbor, >> yes.
>> Mayor, ordinance 202521 passes 50 and it will be published according to law. >> Thank you, Madam Clerk. The next item on the agenda is ordinance number 2025-22 on second reading. Madam clerk, would you please read the title of this ordinance into the record? >> Amending chapter 222, article one
entitled display of flags of the code of the township of Verona. >> Thank you, Madam Clerk. I'll move this ordinance. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Second is by Councilwoman McGrath. This time I'll open for public comment and public hearing on this ordinance. The same public comment
statement applies. Seeing none, any council discussion? My only discussion is thank you for working on this and the uh military flags did look great around Veterans Day time in the uh in the civic center and uh few of the veterans commented on
their appreciation for having all of the services represented. >> Madame Clerk, would you call the role, please? >> Councilwoman Holland, >> yes. >> Councilwoman McGrath, >> yes. >> Councilman Roman, >> yes. >> Deputy Mayor Makavoy, >> yes. >> Mayor Tambboro, >> yes. Mayor, ordinance 2025-22
passes 50. Republished according to law. >> Thank you, Madam Clerk. The next item on the agenda is ordinance I1 on first reading. Madame Clerk, would you please read the title of this ordinance into the record? >> Amending chapter 150, zoning, article
13, non-conforming uses and structures, section 13.3, extensions, enlargements, or changes in paragraph B. >> Thank you, Madam Clerk. I'll move this ordinance. Is there a second? Second. >> Second's by the deputy mayor. This time, is there any council discussion on
ordinance 2020? Uh, I'm sorry, I one. >> Can we just ask for a cap explainer on what we're changing here? I I understood for the public's benefit. >> Sure. Sure. You went over new business. Go ahead, Mr. Loya. >> Sure. What this does is this clarifies that if you have a structure that is
currently um too large not into the current code that you cannot continually um you can't extend it and continue almost making the greater um the non-conformity even greater. So you have to you could have to go to the board and
ask for a variance where under the current code you're allowed if you had a house that's too close to your neighbors you can extend the house. So now it's instead of 10 ft long, too close to your neighbors, it's 20 feet long, too close to your neighbors. >> So everybody has to follow the appropriate setbacks. >> That's correct. >> Or ask for >> or ask for a variance.
>> All right. We're sending some work to you. Uh Mr. Mr. Ryan, any other council discussion? Hearing none. Madam clerk, would you call the role, please? >> Councilwoman Holland, >> yes. >> Councilwoman McGrath, >> yes. >> Councilman Roman, >> yes.
>> Deputy Mayor Mackoy, >> yes. >> Mayor Tambbor, >> yes. Mayor I1 will be numbered 2025-23 will be um published according to law and sent to the planning board for determination of consistency with the master plan. I >> think that's Yep. Planning board. I'm
sorry that I misheard what you said. You said what was right and my brain was not working at that moment. All right, Madam Clerk, the next item on the agenda is I2. On first reading, would you please read the title of this ordinance into the record? An ordinance to amend
chapter A565-7 of the code of the township Verona pool fees. >> Thank you, madam clerk. Would somebody move the ordinance, please? So moved. Motion is made by Councilman Roman. Is there a second?
Well, I'll second it. Any council discussion on ordinance 2020? I'm sorry. I too. We've had extensive or uh discussion in new business. Councilwoman McGrath. >> Uh yes. So, I asked a clarifying question just looking back to last
year's ordinance about the preseason guest book and the guest book being 12 passes, right? Those guest books are they're books of 12. I just want confirmation. >> Correct. 12 >> passes in our ordinance last year that
was actually in the ordinance for clarity. >> So I don't know if we can just add for clarity's sake that the guest book is for 12 passes. >> If you want to ordain that you certainly can but otherwise it gives a easier
ability for the administration to change it in next year or the year after. If you ordain it then it's 12 unless you change your ordinance. I I tend to agree with Councilwoman McGrath here that we should specifically mention how many passes this is. >> We can add to it.
>> And my similar clarification is on the summer playground trips. The $25 is my clarification. I asked an email, but I'm doing again in public. Is is that per trip or is that for the summer playground season? So, is it onetime fee of 25 or 25 per trip?
>> One time fee of 25. >> So, I think that too should be clear. uh because they make multiple trips. >> I agree on that as well. >> Okay, you got that. >> Any other council discussion on this?
>> Uh Mr. Lawyer, should we just move an amended ordinance with those two things? >> All right. >> Um uh Councilman Roman, you move the or move this. Would you like to make a motion to amend the ordinance? I will uh make that motion to amend the ordinance
pursuant to the com to the councilwoman's comments. >> Okay. I will second that amendment. So now we're on the amended ordinance. Right. Any other council discussion? Madam clerk, would you call the role on the amended I2, please?
>> Councilwoman Holland, >> no. >> Councilwoman McGrath, >> yes. >> Councilman Roman, >> yes. Deputy Mayor Mackoy. >> Yes. >> Mayor Tambborough. >> Yes. >> Mayor I2 passes 4 to1. It will be
numbered 2025-24. Be published according to law. Public hearing will be held on December 15th. >> Okay. Thank you, Madame Clerk. The next item of the agenda is an ordinance labeled I3 on first reading. Madam
clerk, would you please read the title of this ordinance into the record? Amending the the code of the township above Verona chapter A565 fees A5 565-7 Verona community pool membership and other fees section B membership types to
establish a nonresident membership category. >> Thank you, Madam Clerk. Would somebody like to move this ordinance? >> I'll move it. Is there a second? >> I'll second it. >> Thank you, Councilman Roman. Any discussion on this? Deputy Mayor.
>> Uh yes. In this one on 11 and 12, we have the adult day passes and we limit them to three per season. I just get the feeling that we're leaving money on the table by not adding more to that. Five per season,
seven per season. I know we don't want to encourage people to just go for daily passes rather than get a full membership. >> Sorry, Deputy Mayor, if I can interrupt. Are you on I3 that the non-resident membership? >> Yeah. >> Yeah. 11 >> 11 and 12 at the end.
>> 112. Okay. I'm just um >> Yep. >> Yeah. We aren't altering it in this ordinance, but it's it's there. >> Yeah, it's it's interesting. >> Even five per season. I mean, >> yeah. I'm sorry. I was just looking at >> a couple weekends. >> Yeah.
>> Yeah. It's not It's the added text is in is supposedly in bold, which is this correct? I'm not seeing I'm not seeing anything bolded in this. >> I'm sorry. Yeah, I just realized that. >> Yeah, >> I will be bolded for codification, >> right? Yeah. I mean, I I see the two the
whereas paragraphs that have the municipalities with, you know, reference. >> That's number seven. It's the addition. >> Okay, there it is. You're right. Non-resident. Okay, that's just not bold. >> Well, just for clarification, there was two additional changes um in the family
and parent guardian section. the child age out was increased from 24 to 26 and disabled adult dependents were added as well. >> Okay. Thank you. >> So your question, Deputy Mayor, I'm sorry for interrupting. I >> on 11 and 12, it has limit three per
season. I just think we should I think we're kind of leaving money on the table by not extending that to maybe five per season because you're going to get people that don't want to get a full membership but maybe want to go a another day or two of
the year. >> I think this is going back to Mr. Steman's point from earlier on this exact issue >> when he brought it up. That's what I was thinking because I had this highlight. >> Um I'm just gonna offer something out there. I think this is one of those
things that we can change in the future. So, I don't want to hold the ordinance back for discussion on this because we need to set the rates so we can advertise the pool. But the nice thing about this is because you can only buy day passes as the pool season
approaches, maybe we we can study this as we go forward just as a thought if that works for everybody. Counciloman Grant. >> Um, yes. I wasn't going I at the last meeting I raised um that I think the the limitation to just the day the weekday
is limiting that we should allow these to be sold on the weekend. You're bringing up an alternative idea raising three to five. I know from looking at the past usage that very few people buy these because what we hear very consistently from the public is these are extraordinarily high and we're
actually raising the cost by 2%. So not a lot of people are picking up on this. Um but I agree with what the mayor just said. I think we in the interest of getting these rates finalized so that we can start a payment plan uh which the residents asked for. I think you know I
would be happy to revisit in the future and I raised those concerns with um but I I wanted to raise I have a concern with how this is titled uh and I raised this earlier today to administration and also that the whereas clauses don't actually match number seven um because
we added that uh not just the 1.25 25 mile border, but also that um an individual or family referred by a member can join regardless of where they ride reside. And that's not reflected in
the whereas clauses at the top. So can we make some sort of change now and amend it so that we can introduce? >> Sure, we can put that whereas clause in the top. That's you're happy with the language in seven, correct? >> Yes. I mean I think that's reflective of what the administration >> it's just the second whereas because the
third warehouse is just saying >> we'll have that second >> to mirror what seven has but the additional issue is that we also changed the definition of dependence in the family and caregiver. So are we okay with introduced the title and the where
is because we made more than just the addition of the non-resident. Yes. >> The titles. >> The title's okay. Even though we made other changes to family and caregiver >> that have nothing to do with residency. >> If you want to change the title, you
can. But yes, the the title of an ordinance doesn't necessarily we do our best. It doesn't necessarily give away everything that's in the ordinance. We all have to read the ordinance to see the details. It's supposed to kind of hint to where you're supposed to look. >> Can we just add something that says to create a non-resident membership
category and advise other categories. Just add that at the top. Okay. Then we're not adding too much because poor Mrs. Kieran won't be able to read this uh during the meeting if we make it any longer. We'll have to have extra credit for
staying late. Um okay, any other comments? Just to be clear, we're not saying that this is final for 11 and 12. Um but it would be helpful for Mrs. Mr. Prrisco to have a recommendation, Mr. Shore to have
a recommendation and to go through that. Mr. Shaw has already made a recommendation, but to talk to Mr. Prrisco, Mrs. Prrisco about that with Mr. Simon's recommendation. We're just going to have a lot of talks between now and in the next couple months on that piece. Madame Clerk,
>> yes. >> You're up. >> Councilwoman Holland, >> no. Couns Councilwoman McGrath, >> yes. >> Councilman Roman, >> yes. Deputy Mayor Mackoy. >> Yes. >> Mayor Tambbora. >> Yes.
>> Mayor, ordinance I3 will be numbered 2025-25. Will be published according to law and a public hearing will be held on December 15th. >> All right, only six more to go, folks.
The next item on the agenda is ordinance labeled as I4 on first reading. Madam clerk, would you please read the title of this ordinance into the record? >> An ordinance to amend chapter A565-7 of the code of couch above Verona pool
membership fees. >> Thank you, madam clerk. Would somebody move this ordinance, please? >> So move. >> The motion's made by the deputy mayor. Is there a second? Motion fails. For lack of a second, we're going to have to postpone it to another meeting.
>> I have to take this out. >> Okay. All right. Moving on to um Well, you know, I'm just going to second it because this is ridiculous. All right. Motion second. Any council discussion?
>> I'll say Roman. I kind of am leaning towards where Mr. Shore is on this one. I think that we have overshot um some of the pricing that uh the public is going to be willing to pay for a luxury good and I'm concerned about the risk that this may actually be uh negative in
terms of total of gross revenue to the pool. So TBD where I land on this one. >> Deputy mayor. Uh the reason why I moved it was because I I do think we had several years that
we did not raise rates here. And I believe it was my second or third year on the council that we started to realize that the entire township of Verona was paying for a lot of what was going on at the pool such as water. uh and for the entire town to pay for
something that only a small portion of the town uh utilizes. Uh it is a pool utility, so it should be self-funding. And we didn't realize in the past that that's what councils were doing. Uh and we've spent the last six years uh
changing that. And I just think that things are not getting less expensive. We're already running in a deficit. And if we don't raise fees even slightly, it's just like taxes. If you keep them at zero increase for a couple years, it's just going to come back and bite you. And if you're going to do a 15%
increase down the road, and that's exactly what happened in the last two years. So, I think if we don't put a little bit on here year by year, I think we're just going to be digging ourselves into a hole and five years down the road, uh, they're going to have to do a huge increase, if not close the pool.
But I don't think that's ever going to happen in this town. Uh I think we will do what we have to to keep the pool open. And I think raising the rates, even just 2%, uh will help to keep that pool going forward. And if things work out with non-resident memberships and
fundraising and local businesses that want to advertise there to get more business, if if they work out and things start going up, then we can talk about this time next year lowering membership fees. Uh but until then I think we have to at least be consistent and have some
slight increase of these fees. >> I'm I'm kind of falling in the same area. Um I feel like when we have our costs that we know are going up. Our biggest one of our biggest costs is personnel, right? Personnel and chemicals are two really
big cost drivers. The cost of chemicals is going up. The cost of personnel is going up. Um right now the out of town members are designed to kind of fill in an existing gap, right? Um and we need to ensure that we're planning ahead and
and we're in a situation, just to be clear, even a 2% increase in the fees does not absorb the increases in the personnel costs that we're going to be seeing. Um so I I we have to be very careful. I also think that our out of
town member option is great, but we don't know if we're going to get enough people signing on to this. We don't know for sure. We certainly won't know if we don't pass an ordinance and advertise the the cost of this to start
recruiting people. Um, so I think this year especially, we're in that position. 2% is pretty reasonable. That's under the rate of inflation. So our other prices and our consumer price index are generally increasing beyond this. So
this is actually one of the lowest increases that people are going to see in prices other obviously than things that have gone down like gasoline and stuff like that. Um but I I feel like we'd just be repeating the sins of our fathers in some ways by um
not providing a reasonable increase in order to meet our personnel cost. and and that's the only reason I would approve it. And I understand that it's not necessarily popular, but I also um it's my hope that by having an
affirmative plan for marketing and having our volunteers come out that we'll actually increase that. Um and by really marketing to new residents and getting information out by working with the Chamber of Commerce to to get stuff in their resident bags and things like that, that will hopefully increase. But
we need to do all of this as part of one big picture. Um, and I think that most residents would feel that a 2% increase. Um, I don't know if that's going to break it for most pool members. Um, and it's, you know, it's under the the
increase in people's taxes that they're certainly going to see. Um, uh, which is capped. So, I think, do I want to do this? You know, I'm the guy that doesn't want to raise any fee, but I think we just kind of have to at this point. um in order to meet the the needs of the
pool budget. Any else? Madame clerk, call the role, please. >> Councilwoman Holland, >> no. >> Councilwoman McGrath, >> yes. >> Councilman Roman >> for introduction. Yes. >> Deputy Mayor Mackoy.
>> Yes. >> Mayor Tambborro. >> Yes. >> Mayor I4 will be numbered. Ordinance 2025-26. It will be published according to law and a public hearing will be held on December 12th. And I just want to
mention that the 2025 column won't be in the um ordinance for codification purposes. >> Thank you, Madam Clerk. The next up on the agenda is ordinance I5 on first reading. Madam clerk, would you please read the title of this
ordinance for the record? fixing the salaries and compensation of the seasonal employees of the Verona Community Pool. >> Thank you, Madam Clerk. I will move this ordinance. Would somebody be second? >> Second. >> Second's made by Councilwoman Grath. Any
council discussion on this item? Hearing none. Madam Clerk, would you call the role, please? >> Councilwoman Holland, >> yes. >> Councilwoman McGrath, >> yes. >> Counciloman Roman, >> yes. >> Deputy Mayor Mackoy, >> yes. Mayor Tambbora. >> Yes. Mayor >> I5 will be number 2025-27
will be published according to law and a public hearing will be held on December 15th. >> Okay. Next on the agenda somehow we >> Oh, >> sorry. That was interesting. >> Well, I hit the sorry
>> running out of space. >> Um I thought it was an amusement park right here. Um the next item of the agenda is ordinance I6 on first reading. Madame clerk, would you please read the title of this ordinance into the record? >> Amending the code of the township of
Arona, chapter A565 fees. Chapter A565-7.1 voner community pool exemption from freeze fees to require the township's chief financial officer to annually transfer the value of pool memberships that are exempt from fees under this
section from the general fund to the pool utility. >> Thank you. Thank you. And at this time, I'll be um relinquishing the chair to the deputy mayor for uh for this item as I need to recuse myself on this item. >> Okay. Would anybody like to move this ordinance? >> So moved.
>> Second, second by moved by Cynthia Councilwoman Holland, second by Councilman Ro. >> Uh any comments from council? >> Deputy. >> Um Counciloman McGrath.
>> Thank you, Deputy Mayor. Um, as I have a family member involved in the rescue squad, I will also be recusing myself from this vote. Thank you. >> To uh any other comments, Councilwoman all. >> Um, I will just offer that um I think
that this is a good movement. Um, I appreciate the comments of um Mr. Aloy earlier to describe why this is being done. There has been concerns expressed by the recreation advisory committee for a number of years about the free
memberships and that if it is intended to be a policy to incent volunteerism from the township then that should be um funded by the township's general fund and that's what this is doing. Um so
this is not a penalty or a negative. This is recognizing that there is a benefit to having the volunteers that we do have, but making sure that there is not cross subsidization from the other pool members. So, if the township is
choosing to endorse this policy of supporting volunteerism, which I think is a very positive thing, then the township should fund that um and provide that funding to the utility to make the utility whole. Um, and that is exactly what this ordinance is putting forward
and I thought it was a helpful conversation that Mr. Aloy had earlier in response um to some of the public comments. Thank you. >> Thank you. Any other comments? Just want to let the public know with this. We did a calculation of what the rescue squad and
the fire department uh contributes to the pool and how many members actually attend the pool and came up with that number and that's what the fund transfer will be. Uh I think it's very important that uh when this came up years ago the
idea uh of doing this pretty it was unanimous with the council because of what these members give to the pool members. while they're there. Uh, obviously we're dealing with a place where there's water and concrete and
there's accidents that could happen and I think it's very very important to have and it's proven itself many many times to have rescue squad and fire department members uh at the pool and can react to a problem immediately. So, I think this
is a very good compromise uh to a question and a topic that we've been talking about for quite some time. So, with that, Madame Clerk, can you please call the role of the left? >> Councilwoman Holland. >> Yes. >> Councilman Roman.
>> Yes. >> Uh Deputy Mayor Mackoy. >> Yes. Um I6 will be number 2025-28. We pub um it passes 3 to two I'm sorry 30 with two recusals. It will be published according to law and a public
hearing will be held on December 15th. >> Thank you madam floor back. Yes. Sorry. Thank you for giving me the floor back. Uh madam clerk, the next item on the agenda is ordinance I7 on first reading. Would you please read the title of this ordinance into the record?
>> Amending chapter 501 of the township code. >> Thank you, madam clerk. Would somebody move the ordinance, please? >> So move. >> Motion's made by councilwoman Holland. Is there a second? >> Second. >> The second is made by Councilman Roman. Is there any council discussion? I just have one item. In the last meeting I
discussed in A3 making the township burough OEM coordinator or deputy coordinator in case the OEM coordinator is not available at the times of these meetings or whatever or just simply designate or however you want to write this. It just didn't make it into this
revision. The uh all the other towns can have whatever they want. For us, this is just really internal for us. Mor just to explain it for the public because the title doesn't really tell the public exactly what this is. >> So um we have a joint flood control
advisory board currently with Cedar Grove. We are expanding the uh board to Little Falls and Woodland Park in order to maximize our ability to work together as they're all affected by the PCMAN. Um and it certainly helps us with state and federal funding as well and assistance.
And we're also expanding the membership of the committee to include the emergency management coordinator uh for each township as was requested by Woodland Park or Little Falls or one of them. Any other council? Councilman Holland?
>> Yes. Um I sit on the joint flood advisory committee meeting and was able to attend the meeting where Little Falls and Woodland Park came forward and requested the expansion and joining our um our our flood advisory board. I think this is a very positive step forward and
I know that the objective is to have this ordinance and companion ordinances passed in advance of the January meeting. Um so I do think this is a very worthwhile endeavor. Thank you. >> Madam Cler, to call the role, please.
>> Councilwoman Holland, >> yes. >> Council McGrath, >> yes. >> Council Roman, >> yes. >> Deputy Mayor Mackoy, >> yes. >> Mayor Tambbor, >> yes. >> Mayor I7 will be number 2025-29,
presses 50. Um, it'll be published according to law. Public hearing will be held on December 15th. Um, can I just ask the town attorney, can I should I add, I'm sorry for the omission, the committee's name to the title. >> Sure.
>> Flood flood control advisory board. We'll be done. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right, Madam Clerk. The next item on the agenda is ordinance I8 on first reading. Would you please read the title of this ordinance into the record? >> Amending chapter 244, filming of the
code of the township to comply with New Jersey's film ready requirements. >> Thank you. Would somebody move the ordinance, please? >> So moved. >> Motion's made by Councilman Roman. Is there a second? >> I'll second it. >> Second is made by Deputy Mayor. Madam
Cler, do you want to explain why we are >> Yeah. >> Well, do you want to >> uh the >> I would, but he'll probably do it. So the um the township's existing ordinance was sent to uh the um for review for compliance with
NJ film ready requirements. Uh there were comments that were received uh requesting uh the revisions that are noted in the draft ordinance which uh would allow the township to become certified as a film ready community. So
that uh the proposed ordinance effectuates the comments from uh that that the township received. >> Correct. Upon this adoption, we will be certified refilm ready. >> Okay. So
um and we you mentioned something on the phone about the fees or fees. Do you want to just go into why we had to adjust the fees? >> Right. Um that's in the next I have um the fees. >> Oh, I'm sorry. That's in in I9. Okay. >> Right. So, there's just a little I think
that they're minor in terms of the day 5 days to 4 days to approve um extending the hour uh just by one hour for the camera wrap, another hour for the crew wrap. Um and the public safety uh will be determined by
the police department. Um the for the uh requester to be able to provide uh proper personnel for traffic control at the site if needed. >> Deputy mayor, uh I got a question about
D and 244-4, basically the hours of of filming, >> right? Is there a reason do we have to change them to uh adhere to what they >> if we want to be these were the um yes
to be to be receive certification. These were their changes. They weren't requests. They were >> they're not recommended hours. They're requ >> No, they're standard hours >> and the days too from Monday to Friday through Sunday. My my my only question
with this is it's I I I would it would be nice if we could have them to conform with our construction hours Monday through Saturday >> 7 to 7. Uh, and to have these on Sunday, I mean, these are we're talking
residential, a residential home could be >> I understand. Um, they wanted to go to midnight originally >> and even from go extending from 9 to 10 for camera wrap to cru. I would think that's that would be a very busy and loud hour. And if that's going to happen
on a Sunday evening or a Saturday evening, I know we we don't have many filming. We could we can revisit this later on or next year. >> No. Well, >> if things don't happen, but >> if this is passed now and we start to have a problem with it, we can resend it next year or whenever we want.
>> Yeah. Okay. Um, it's up to the council. We It's required just for the certification. >> Okay. >> Okay. So, but >> the Sunday piece included. >> Yes. >> Must be nice to be able to put these demands um on municipalities. >> Council
Councilwoman Grath was first. >> Go ahead. Counciloman Gra. >> Thank you. Um, we have a process by which all ordinances need to go into new business first. Can the administration address why we're not following our process? >> Excuse me.
>> I'm sorry. Uh, the certification would be to be certified be in the beginning of January instead having to wait for the next window. It's not an on my understanding is that it's not an ongoing process. It's not >> it's just a window every six months. So,
which could lead us till June if you want. >> So, um I'm a big supporter of film in New Jersey. In fact, you know, this is something I went to the league many years ago and I went to a seminar on it and I was really inspired. So, while these, you know, listen, the film
industry, they want a lot of concessions which are being made in here. It's unfortunate we don't have a chance to talk about this properly. I mean, I I won't Well, again, like we would it would have been better if we had more notice on these changes. That's my opinion. >> I understand we didn't get the changes
back until earlier and last week. So, >> and I I think this is I'll just add with end with this and refer back to Councilman Roman, but this is a good example where a memo to us explaining all this would have been great instead of just throwing this in our packet with
no explanation. Thank you, Council Roll. I just don't think that this is something that we're, you know, clamoring for in order to kind of just give, you know, cart blanch to all these requests. I mean, again, filming is great when it happens, but if you give
an inch, they take a mile. Um, you know, it's like, do we really want this on Sunday? Do we really want this late at night? You know, over a couple of, you know, we get a couple hundred fees. people that lease their properties out for it will get, you know, larger location fees obviously, but I just
don't feel like there's there's so much public interest benefit here that we absolutely have to do this right now. It's like we can talk about it, but you know, we can say no to some of the things that they want on there and you know what, someone tell me why it's very
important to the township of Ron that we be certified as film ready. I will council McGrath. >> Um there is a big economic benefit because if we're film ready, the piece of that is a support of our small businesses and not just restaurants but
also services. They actually have a directory of services for films. And so like this is an e economic driver. If you pair this ordinance and being film ready with them also making sure that
our small business community is tied into the filming process. I think that there's a way for when they get permits they get a list of preferred small business vendors that are based in Verona. So it is looked at as an economic activity. But with that said,
they're very demanding and of course they want to film all the time and they film overnight. And I will say that people look back on the days when Sopranos was like filming all around town as like a highlight. They really got a kick out of it. People were extras. People love the fact that Adam
Sandler filmed in Verona like you know and even some other movies and commercials. So like I would I appreciate the administration trying to make this into an economic development activity. I just wish we had a little bit more time to think about it. >> Council member Holland,
>> I would agree um that the film ready status does provide an economic uh development opportunity for our community and it should be leveraged. For example, all productions have craft services and we do have a number of amazing restaurants in our community that could be the craft services vendor
for that production. Um, I will echo some of the statements about not having adequate time to review this ordinance and not having the materials um to back it up. Um, I certainly have some questions about the hours put forward. Um, there's limited nighttime um,
opportunities there. I I I recognize that some of that's to not disrupt our residents, but perhaps it could have been crafted in in a way where, you know, we were outside of residential zones because you do do a lot of filming in the evening. Um, and so that that
could be limiting. But I also just want to point out that if we aren't moving forward with this, our neighboring communities are um and then they will get those economic benefits instead of Verona. So, this is an opportunity for us to support our um small businesses and our community from an economic
development standpoint. And just as a point of clarity, we would have the opportunity to amend this at a later time if we wanted to clarify it. Is that correct? We're not like locked in. There was something about a six-month period. >> I want to check with that. Okay. >> If you don't mind. So if you want to
>> Well, I'm fine with introduction that >> hours and that would probably or that would be significant changes, right? >> You could you could certainly always amend your ordinance. >> Okay. Okay. >> Thank you. >> Um on a throne here, I I think the the
film ready piece is nice. At the same point, it's not necessarily required in order to allow filming um in our town. Um it puts us on a like a priority list. Um, so I I don't want people to think
that we can't have any film production in Verona if we're not on this list. Um, so just something to to think about as well. Um, and I think it is worth further discussion at this point. Um, so I would be comfortable with tableabling
this until we can get some more information and really have a a more substantive discussion on whether we do want to do as the deputy mayor pointed out. Um, you know, make an exception for this that we don't otherwise make an exception for in our nuisance
ordinances. Um or could we put this in but limit um you know if we can find out can we allow this filming piece but limit like on that Sunday. It doesn't say anywhere in the um
uh in the the motion the New Jersey Motion Picture Television Commission guidelines for film ready that you uh it says you have to have that conduct shall include um no less and no greater than language added when applied to noise restrictions hours of filming or other
than seven nine camera wrap and crew wrap at 10 o'clock for projects with exterior filming or greater intrusion. Just wondering if we could um internally limit that to particular areas um like you know if if the the high school or
the or whatever renting out the school board does this a lot somewhere that's a little bit more controlled and not as residential. Um if we could allow that and not others. So I just have questions and I'm not sure um I feel like we can
move forward on this right now. Um, we can always we can I understand the timeline, but at the same point I think we need to do what's right for the town first and really understand can we include in our ordinance things where we allow that language, but we modify that to be in certain areas. So, we're still
meeting the language for the to be film ready, but we're also meeting the needs of the community at the same time. you know, if somebody like wanted to to film at the pool, you know, that might be an interesting concept or, you know, in a in a public building or inside the library where they're not making as much
noise. >> Yeah, we, >> you know, so we can look at that and maybe get some information on if we can put in some restrictions. So, I'm going to move the table this um at this point until we can find out a little bit more
about um uh if we can modify this language put forth by the Motion Picture and Television Commission. Um and just with a caveat, this doesn't mean we can't accept people coming in to film. It just means we're not on this priority list
until we do that. But, >> um so I I moved to table. Is there a second? >> I'll second. >> I'll second it. A second is made by Councilman Roman. Um this is a non >> stop Adam Sandler. >> Yeah, it's a it's a non-debatable motion. All those in favor?
>> I I >> I >> opposed. >> Opposed. >> Okay. Um so four yes, one no. The motion carries. Um and uh the motion is tabled. >> So I think we can put this into new
business at the next meeting. Um, and if anybody has any specific questions about this, if we can get them to the administration before then. >> Yes. So, and then I'll follow up with the commission before and then we'll have ample time to >> Yeah. >> So, they get me for by the end of the week. I think that would be help.
>> Yeah. I think the I think the attitude is we want to do this, but we also I mean obviously need to do what's right for the town. the one filming at 10 o'clock on, you know, they were using Brookside Terrace for a while and that was not the residents love that, especially when we're detouring down
like Westland Road. We don't want to be doing that at 10 o'clock at night. So, >> if if Yeah, that everybody could just the sooner the better with your comments so I know exactly what to go back to the uh commission with to make sure and then we can move forward. I'd appreciate it. >> Great. Thank you.
Um the next item of the agenda is um I9 um >> what >> madame clerk would you please read the title of this into the record >> amending the code of the township of Verona chapter 8565-1 schedule of fees
for filming fees. >> So you'd like to move this ordinance table this since we're tabled the last one. Would you like to move to table this? >> I would say yes. This would go in conjun conjunction with the last table. So yes. >> Okay. The deputy mayor moves to table
this. Is there a second? >> Second that second made by council Roman. All those in favor? >> I >> I. >> All those opposed? >> Opposed. >> Motion carries
and I nine is table. Okay. All right. Well, we are done with ordinances for the time being. We're going to move on to the consent agenda. Before we move the consent agenda, being that there are so many things on it, does anybody need to pull anything from
the consent agenda? >> Mayor, may I just um say that we need to remove item L3, >> right? >> L6. >> L6. Oh, I'm sorry. Well, >> okay. >> Okay, but okay. L6
from the agenda entirely. Yes. I'm sorry. What are we doing? >> And Councilwoman McGrath. >> Um, yes. Can we pull L24 for separate conversation? >> Sure. >> I'm sorry. >> L24. >> L24.
>> Okay. Somebody like to move resolutions L1 through L5, L7 through L23, and L25 and 26. >> So moved. >> Motion is made by Councilwoman McGrath. Is there a second?
>> Second. >> Second's made by Councilwoman Holland. At this time, I will open for public comment on all proposed resolutions, including the ones that have been pulled, so we don't have to open for public comment again on those. Same
public comment statement applies, just these items on the consent agenda. Nobody wants to discuss any one of these 26 things. Mr. Shore, I'm going to tie the um the rules into um into some of the feed discussion that
was just >> L. You're talking about L14. >> Yes. Um, so just some of the rules are affected by the lovely discussion on the membership fees that you just had. Um,
my comment is is that volume cures all. Just because you have a 2% increase doesn't mean you actually can make money on it. A lot of times that I have product on the shelf, we always have a debate about whether I'm going to do a price increase, not a price increase. But if I do a price increase then that
actually decreases the amount of volume and actually increases my cost in other places. So um the 2% the reason for not to have it is because think about the membership just had 15% increase last year
8% they were down in membership. Now the non-resident membership fee comes in. That scares people a little bit. If you talk to members, they don't really want it, but we need it because of revenue purposes. So, it's a good idea to give
them an incentive in the marketplace, which means do not increase their fees, have good service, have a marketing committee to try to bring in new members. Doesn't mean that you're doing it three, four, five times in a row. Just means for this time only,
you are not going to do an increase because the residents who supported for so many years you want to bring them back to the fold and you want to bring new members into the fold as well. So, just remember just because you do a 2% increase doesn't mean that you're actually going to
increase your revenue or you're going to have a better profit margin. Please take that into consideration. I would honestly this year don't do a price increase. Save it for next year. Save it for the year after that when things are stabilized. You'll see what the non-resident does. You'll see what
marketing happens. you'll see if you actually get um sponsorships and that increases. Put it all on the table. Let the residents not have a price increase because I think they've had enough over the last two years. No blame. It's just economics 101. Thanks.
>> Thank you, Mr. Shore. Any other public comment? Any council discussions on the moved items? I'm sorry, I'd have to close public comment if I didn't do that. Um, any council discussion on the moved items?
Hearing none, madam clerk, would you call the role, please, on L1 through L5, L7 through L23, and L25 and 26. >> Councilwoman Holland, >> yes. Councilwoman McGrath, >> yes. >> Councilman Roman, >> yes. >> Deputy Mayor Makavoy,
>> yes. >> Mayor Tambbor, >> yes. >> Um, Mayor One through 5 and 7 through 23 and 25 through and 26 will be numbered. There we go. 56 through 60, 61
through 77, 78, 79. >> Thank you, Madam Clerk. All right, we're going to resolution L24. Would somebody like to move L24? I'll move L24. Is there a second?
>> Second. >> I'll second it. >> Second is made by Councilman Roman. >> Okay. >> Yep. He's he's in this ear. Council discussion. Uh Councilman McGrath. >> Um yes. I'm looking just to make a
simple um amendment to this resolution. Um after we referenced the bill S-4736, can we just clarify that um as introduced on October 27th, 2025,
you know, bills have a way of changing and right now we're in lame duck and things move really quickly. I just want it memorialized in this ordinance that we are objecting to the bill as it was introduced because we don't know what the future may hold with this bill how
it may be revised down the line and so just for prosperity pro not prosperity just to immortalize it in the future so that like in the whereas one two three fifth from the bottom whereas this proposal s-4736
as introduced on October 27 2025 is particularly egregious. Blah blah blah. >> Is there any is there any objection to >> No. No. Okay. >> We do. >> Should I make a motion to amend this ordinance? >> Um >> or do the original
>> whoever whoever made the original motion um was that me? >> Yes, it was you. >> Okay. I will I'll move to amend uh L24 to include um that proviso uh with the the date of that draft. Mr. Roman, do
you second that? >> I will reiterate my second question. >> I just have one comment on the revision um on just the ordinance. Um, I think this is another example of the state of New Jersey legislature trying to exceed its authority um, and really put
municipalities in a in a difficult position um, and really going around our zoning codes and ordinances um, and um, I think this is a a very dangerous bill and I'm glad that we are standing up and I look forward to
hearing from LD40 representatives uh, after sending them this resolution. Madam clerk, could you call the role, please? >> Councilwoman Holland, >> yes. >> Councilwoman McGrath, >> yes. >> Councilman Roman, >> yes. >> Deputy Mayor Mackoy, >> yes.
>> Mayor Tambbor, >> yes. >> L24 as amended passes 50. It will be numbered 2025-280. >> Just one one comment. Uh I'm very happy I didn't make it before
that we passed L25 supporting resolution NJ. Um, I know our public information officer has already been looking into some events um to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of
Independence. Um, and as the Revolutionary American historian in the room, I'm really excited about this. This is this is my year for sure. Um, and I look forward to participating um in this and I thank Alisa for her work on that.
Uh we are moving into new business. Mr. O Sullivan, you had a walk-on resolution that you'd like to put forth. >> Yes, mayor. It was uh it was a companion resolution to L3 which transferred the
rights and obligations under the financial agreement uh dated April 25th, 2017 between the township of Verona and DNR Verona urban renewal. There's a companion resolution which authorizes the transfer of the uh of that certain
financial agreement between the township of Verona and DNR of Verona Urban Renewal LC, the Bloomfield 151 urban renewal LLC and authorizing the acknowledgement of an assignment assumption agreement in connection there with uh the uh council was provided a
copy of that resolution, the supporting documentation uh prior to the council meeting. Uh it is just a companion resolution. It's been reviewed by uh general counsel and special counsel on redevelopment and was drafted and
recommended by uh the special counsel. >> If anybody really is looking for something interesting to look at, all of these flowcharts are really fascinating as far as who has an interest in this in this property. Um somebody had a really great time on
PowerPoint on that. Um, would somebody move the ordinance? >> So moved. >> Motion is made by the deputy mayor. Is there a second? >> Second it. >> Secade by Councilman Roman. We've had our public comment on this particular
piece. Any council discussion? Hearing none. This is a proforma item. We are convinced. >> That's correct. >> Okay. All right. Well, on that proform item, let's have a roll call vote, please. >> Councilwoman Holland, >> yes.
>> Councilwoman McGrath, >> yes. >> Councilman Roman, >> yes. >> Deputy Mayor Mackoy, >> yes. >> Mayor Chambro. >> All right. Thank you. >> Number uh 2025 281. >> 281. >> All right. Um and then we just had uh the new
business item on appointments. I was going to ask the council um to make any last contacts to any candidates for boards and committees so we can discuss these items in executive session on the uh the 15th meeting.
>> Um I will be sending just a couple additional um applicants. >> Okay. If Yeah, >> but I think I'll just maybe I'll just resend everything all together so nobody's confused. >> Can you can we put everything in one folder? Yeah, on Google Drive.
>> On Google Drive. Yeah, that would be helpful. >> I'll also add >> You have your list. You have your lists and then who's in and where. >> Council McGrath. >> Yes. I just want to make sure um because there were some emails going back and forth. So, we also have a student or two to appoint to Mak. No.
>> No. >> Yes. >> We can figure it out. We have a student waiting to be appointed to MYAK and we would love to add it to the list. >> It's okay. I thought we didn't appoint students. >> I sent your name on. Yeah. Okay. There's two students
>> we did in the past. I think we voted on them. >> They're optional, >> right? Or until they graduate >> for the academic year. >> That's fine. That >> I'll indicate that on the >> Yeah. >> on the roster. >> That haven't crossed my desk, but we can certainly do that. Um and we'll discuss
that during that time. >> Madam Cler, could you um shrink the screen a little bit so we can open for one last public comment? >> I'm so sorry. >> Thank you. >> Yes. >> Sorry. Um, you know what? I'll defer to Councilwoman Hull. >> Council Hall, >> I I I had an item for new business. I
don't know if we Okay. Um, I know that there was an email sent earlier last month about the reorganization meeting. And I, you know, I didn't hear any discussion of that at the last meeting. And I think it would be worthwhile for us to have a discussion about the timing
of that reorganization meeting. um as three of us were just recently reelected and January is just around the corner. >> So, Mr. Loy, the meeting has to happen between the 15th of January and the 22nd of January. >> That's correct. >> That's correct. We have a council
meeting scheduled for the 19th of January. >> No, >> I believe that >> we have the fifth on our annual meeting notice. >> Okay. >> Um and the 19th, I think, would be the suggested. We had well we we had done the calendar when you sent us the calendar of meetings.
>> Oh >> I didn't give out that yet. >> I thought I thought you sent us >> I thought you said that also. >> Yeah I think we definitely we definitely saw that. I saw something >> I think I just said >> council >> looked at all of the >> for the year
>> for >> 2026. >> For 26. Yeah. >> I don't think it was it was like a handwritten calendar. I think that's for the balance this year. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. I remember we just had I thought we only went through like a January 5th
kind of reorg meeting before we got this. >> Maybe I'm thinking of last year's and we just got a merch. >> I think the six months that we had to add on with the U from July >> forward might be I'm sending it. I just was waiting for this meeting so we didn't overwhelm you with documents. >> Okay.
>> So we have no meeting scheduled for next year. >> So we have the fifth. We have to >> we have a fifth which >> we have to cancel. >> No no um >> the same council meets >> Brian we town attorney and I had discussed it and I was supposed to send an email that I was difficult drafting.
Um but the fifth could be appointments of boards and committees if they needed the time. >> Well have some finance resolutions that might >> and then and then the following meeting would be the reorg meeting. So just for
the the the public's sake, the current council, which is going to be the same council as the next council, our terms don't expire until at least January 15th. >> Correct. >> So the next meeting is still this legislative cycle. So we should absolutely hold on to the 5th and
conduct business because I we can anyway. Even if we had a brand new council, we should still conduct the business of the town. Um >> but the reorg would be all the financial documents. There's not going to be much in terms of um resolutions
because of the finance documentation. >> We can go through the resolutions. >> I mean the only >> the boards >> it's Martin Luther King Day that day, but the municipal offices are open >> traditionally. >> Oh, I was talking about the fifth of >> the on the 19th.
>> Oh, the 19th. Yes. Yes. So the only the only other option would be to have a meeting somewhere between the the 15th which is the previous Thursday and the 22nd which is the next Thursday. Um did not have it on the day but traditionally
we we have had meetings that night. >> Okay. >> My preference would be for the 19th if we're able to do that. I mean that's I think just to keep our general >> um first and third
>> tradition that would be it. Um I have an objection to that. >> Speak now or for hold your piece. Okay. All right. Um that is what we will do. So, organization will be on the 19th
at 7 p.m. >> And >> wait, we're going to need something or an ordinance or resolution to set that, right? >> We'll do it >> and we're going to have to do the at the 15th >> at the 15th meeting. December 15th meeting. >> Well, or the I don't do we need an
ordinance, Brian, or >> you can just publish at the meeting. >> Publish the meeting. Y >> you will do the um I'm sorry. At the 5th or not earlier, we could do the uh 2020. Why don't we try to do the next meeting >> that's on December 15th
>> so we can get this out to the public on all of them so maybe you could or at least you know >> all all the meetings for the >> all the meetings for the year. Yeah, >> I have them to send I'll send >> Okay. All right. If you can send them out and then because I know we have a couple hairy times with elections and
>> Yeah. >> and uh school holidays and all of that stuff. All right. >> Okay. Thank you, Councilwoman Holland. Any other new business? Okay. We have previously made a motion to go into executive session. Will any
official action be taken? Mr. Oolvin, Mr. Lloyd? >> No. >> No. Right. We'll see everybody here >> on the >> You have to one more. >> Oh, sorry. One more public comment session. All right. Uh I will now open for public comment on any item anybody
wishes to discuss. Mr. Sure. >> Thank you. Sorry about that. Just a clarification. Um the the reorg so what happens with committee meetings or what happens with the committee? Are we doing reorg after
January 19th? Because we have to let our membership know that might think, hey, January one, we're done or December 31st. So reorganizations would have to occur probably after the 19th and then basically after the council makes I just just need a clarification on where that
where that's going. So thank you. >> Just I can't answer till your comments over. So >> anybody else any items? >> Close public comment. I had this conversation with Mr. Laoya previously. um we are able to appoint for boards and committees for next year
either at the next meeting if we come out of executive session want to do that take official action or on the 5th we don't have anybody meets before the 5th it would be nice if we could do it for most of the committees at least at the next meeting so we can give people notice um but unfortunately with this
law that has changed in the future will be the outgoing council that is likely going to be making board and committee appointments for um the next years or leaving those open uh which is the problem because we have a lot of boards and committees that um
that do meet you know earlier in the month. Um so unfortunately that's we don't have any control. It's another thing the state did and not really sure why I haven't gotten a straight answer on why the state did that. Council McGrath >> may or may we can ask our LD40 team to see if they can change the law. >> Yeah.
>> Like it is like really bizarre. Well, it was just it was just put in two years ago. So, I think this is one of those things that people are like, "Oh, yeah. Let's do this." It's my guess I I I don't want to venture a guess >> as far as why this was passed, >> but I have a feeling it was probably to
accommodate the schedules of a couple legislators and that's the only reason because it makes absolutely no sense to me this whole thing. But >> maybe we can navigate and through the League of Municipalities with other nonpartisan governments, some of whom are quite large and maybe would be
>> would sign on. >> So, you know, our terms just keep getting longer and longer. We've had the longest council terms in the history of Verona. They were they were two and a half years and now they're >> two and a half years and 15 days or 19
days or whatever they are. Um, and we don't know really when they end until the council establishes the the reorganization for the next council, which makes no sense. But this is state of New Jersey. We're under construction.
On that note, goodbye everyone. You're the lucky ones. Have a nice day. You get to leave. We are going to stay and talk about affordable housing.