Okay, this meeting is being held in conformance with the sunshine law. Notice of time, place uh and date has been uh furnished to the Bergen record in Rididgewood News. Notice has also been posted on the bulletin board of the administration building. The clerk kindly take the role. Mayor Gordano
here. Mr. Bren here. Mrs. Sarah Colola Drake here. Mr. Marelloo here. Mr. Richie here. Mrs. brother here. And we're kindly stand for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the
republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Let's have a moment of silence for all our Wald veterans and all veterans across our country who have given the ultimate sacrifice so that we are allowed to assemble the way we are and live in a country that is free.
Would the clerk please do the prayer? We thank you for everyone gathered here now. Thank you that you know each of us by name and have caused us to walk with you. We say that we are dependent on you and our trust is in you completely as we surrender ourselves in adoration. We ask that you would come by the come by the
hol your holy spirit and inspire our hearts today. Come fill our lives with your love. Fill our conversations with your grace and truth. Fill this meeting with your presence. We ask this for your glory and praise. Amen. Amen. Tonight I asked Pastor Cha from the Wal United Methodist Church to come to this
meeting tonight so that we could honor her. Tonight we are honoring her because she is leaving after seven years with the church. She is moving on to become pastor of two other churches, one in Montail and one in U Bon. We're going to
miss her very much. She was always the one that was always here for us for our 911 ceremony. Now we have to find someone else and I hopefully the new pastor will be able to help us. But Pastor Chaza always been great to the burrow. Whenever we asked her to come around and do something for us, she
never said no. She matter of fact if I would forget to call her and tell her about the 911 she would call me and ask me uh am I going to be there tonight and I said oh I forgot to tell you but of course please come. So she's been a great asset to our burrow. We appreciate
her ministry and the positive impact that she had on our community. We thank you for everything you have done for Waldwick. We wish you all the best in your new assignments and may God bless you in everything that you do. On behalf of the burough of Waldick, the mayor and council, we would like to present you
with this plaque as a token of our gratitude for all you have done. You could take this with you and you could always remember the Bur of Waldick who loves you so much. It reads, "Reverend Cha, senior pastor, United Methodist Church in recognition of your faithfulness, commitment, and dedicated
service in delivering God's word and love to the B of Waldwick and its residents. Presented June 24th, 2025. Wick Mayor and Council. Thank you so much for your kind
recognition. Uh it's truly honored and humbled. Yeah, this pal is actually my kind of hometown pal especially for my children. I've been here seven years and
I was so happy to be here and involve the town and all the town events and so I will always remember and then this town will be uh kind of my spiritual
home forever. So thank you so much. Yeah, I will continue to pray for all our town and the committee members and you and I a lot of prayers and then all our uh people who part of
this beautiful wonderful town of Thank you very Thank you so much. Break and we're going to thank uh everyone can thank the pastor and then you don't have to stay for the meeting. You know you Okay, at this time we're going to have
uh Bruno Associates uh speak with us and uh our administrator will say a few words about them. Uh thank you, Mr. Mayor. So, as you all know, we recently contracted with a new uh grant writing firm, Bruno Associates. So tonight we have Joe and Rob um our representatives
who we've already started working with over the past couple weeks. Um so tonight is just a introduction and they'll catch you up on where we're at with some current grant opportunities. We have um a couple approvals on the agenda tonight. So you'll see those and
give you the opportunity to ask any questions of them. Thank you. Thank you Stephen. Thank you mayor and council for the opportunity to present. Um we're very excited to start working in Waldwick. Um, as you can see on the report that we provided, we've already started and hit the ground running um
with a few different applications. Um, one we've submitted already for um Hudson Avenue to the NJ DOT for municipal aid. And we have a few other applications in the works. Um, local transportation projects fund as well as safe streets to transit. Um, those are
NJ DOT oriented grants. Um, and as of right now, we're planning on applying for uh West Prospect Street. um from Maple to over by the pool I believe if I'm not mistaken. Um you know, we've had the chance to meet a lot of your
professionals, Stephen, um Kelly, Tatiana, um you know, and it's been great to get to get to know you on a on a personal level. Um and also understand sort of what the burough's been dealing with with its grants and its management. And as I understand, you had a previous
grant manager who, um I'm sure probably did other things. And um so but I'm here to let you know that we are our our grants and grant management and grant writing is exclusively our role. So we're here to open lines of communication from the council to hear
you know your vision of the future for the bureau certain projects that you would like to see funded um and local priorities that you know we can help supplement with grant grant funding. Um, we're here to serve as a s force multiplier for your administrative staff
to ease the burden um on on reporting and compliance as it relates to various grants. And this report that we've provided um will include grants that we've submitted, but also awards that the bureau actively is managing just to kind of consolidate everything into one
form so that finance, administration, the council can see everything in front of you in one report. Um, if you have any questions for us, um, we'll be happy to answer any questions you might have about future funding opportunities, projects that you might
have in mind, um, that you'd like us to, you know, research programs for that, you know, ultimately get funded through grants. So, did you ever look into um we have a down in the Burough Park, we have a baseball fields and in the back of the baseball fields, there's an area there
that to get to the different fields, it's all gravel and we we do have an access for all group here. And uh anybody in a wheelchair or with a walker and a cane has a hard time getting to the fields because of the gravel. Is there any way we could get some type of a grant money? Sure. so that we could do
something about it and then I will let the access for all people speak with you because we we are very active with them and we want them to be in part of everything we do. Yeah, absolutely. Um ADA compliance is a critical part of any project. Um that's just something that
you know we understand and um I would say that Bergen County open space is always a viable opportunity for parks and recreation park development. Um so that's something that would certainly fit the bill. Um, there's also state admin, uh, state grants through the DCA, uh, local rep rec improvement grants,
um, that don't require a match. Um, but I'm interested to hear more about the project and gather more details and and work with the access for all committee to to make this happen. Yeah, maybe we could uh set up a meeting with you. I mean, if you go into our Burough Park and maybe one day we could take you into Burough Park and you could see what I'm talking about. Yeah. It's all gravel. I
just walked on West Prospect Street. We tried to do this and it just didn't go anywhere. But now we have an access for all and they're they're very active in our community and I'd like to see them uh be able to uh participate in everything because one of the women on
there's husband uh was wheelchair bound unfortunately passed away and she's very active in making sure that everything we have is all uh handicap accessessible. Okay, not a problem. Yeah, thank you. I have uh just a few a few questions. So I think for some of us
water infrastructure is a it's like a key issue for the burrow. So um anything you can do to help us get grants that can you know invest in the improvement of the not waste water but actual you know like drinking water uh I think would be key. Um we've been talking a
lot about traffic easing measures. So, if there are grants available to kind of help us put sidewalks in on, you know, heavily traffked areas or um crosswalks, signage, things like that, I think that would be uh the ambiance is now turning into real feedback. But, uh uh that
would be that would be helpful. And then um you know, do you ever see burrows collaborate with other uh kind of government entities? We have a sewer authority in town where we have like an odor issue. So maybe there's opportunities for us to collaborate on grant applications for remediation of of
the the smell. I think things like that might be okay. Uh yeah, quality of life issues are always you know excellent, you know, uh grant strategies. So yeah, that's absolutely something I I would I would like to have a, you know, a close session or to have a meeting with, you know, the council to, you know, hear
more of your ideas and maybe a less informal setting so that we can, you know, really get into the nuts and bolts of what you what you guys are looking to do and what kind of projects and where. Um, so that way we can, you know, um, put the rubber to the road and start to get a lot of applications submitted and, um, while we help clean up some of the
administrative tasks that are associated. I think that would be helpful. And then, you know, as we start to plan for budget for uh next year, um which, you know, we probably should start thinking about, you know, when do you start to get a handle on uh anticipation of uh funds from grants
throughout the year? So, it really depends on the program, whether it's a county, state, or a federal grant, you know, usually rule of thumb after a federal application is submitted is, you know, 6 to 8 months. Um could be sooner, but I would say usually at most probably
six. um state grants a little bit um probably follow along the same timeline. So it really varies depending on usually when the program is announced and we we gather information on the solicitation itself. They'll say anticipate awards being announced by X date. So usually by
the time we apply we kind of have an idea of when the awards are going to be made. So if we in other words, if we want to try to anticipate grant funds for next year's budget, we probably need to get like pretty aggressive now at applications or they'll they'll come in, you know, after. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. I think um you know, getting out in
front of a lot of these projects um anticipating when deadlines are opening. Um, you know, what I like to do is is have these kinds of conversations with no deadline in mind so that you can sort of freely express uh, you know, your thoughts on the projects and we can we can hone it into, you know, a really
strong proposal. So, you know, we can start talking about applications that are due next year tomorrow. It's really just getting the work done, getting the information needed to fulfill the application requirements and working towards that end. So, you know, I'm interested um to hear any and all
opportunities that you guys um might have. We we set up a session maybe for everyone to try to drill into these areas and in the near term. So, you know, with the the 6 to9 months timing in line, I mean uh timing in mind, we we shall probably do that sooner rather than later. Okay.
I think uh one other project that I think we're all looking forward to too is with last year we acquired that property on White Avenue that we want to use for open space or parkland or or something there. So definitely keep that in mind as we're looking at grant opportunities, you know, tying that into
what we can do at Burough Park in our parklands for the kids and the residents and the seniors in town. So that's another one that's big for us. Excellent. Okay. Anyone else? I just had a quick question. So this list that we have are all of these new
grants that we haven't previously applied for. So at the top are applications that we're currently working on. As you'll see, there's deadlines that are, you know, within the next week or two. So those are ones that we're actively working on. you know, there's been projects identified, you know, so that's been working with Steven, working with Boswell Engineering
and now working with the fire department um for staffing and adequate for uh fire and emergency response, which is um designed to help volunteer fire departments recruit and retain volunteers. So this goes towards like maybe lawn signs or recruitment video or
anything that can kind of make the fire department more visible to volunteers and make it more palatable for people to join. Um with fire prevention and safety that's more of you know um outreach to the community um you know dissemination of public information for you know um to
seniors um people who are at risk for of fire hazards um and uh let's see what else we have. Firehouse Subs, that's a foundation grant. Age friendly, that's more for programming for seniors and planning. Um,
but the ones that, as you see further down, applications submitted and pending, that one we had just submitted. And then the ones under award under awards under administration that was a list generated in conversations with Stephen just to kind of get a feel for what application what awards are out
there that the bureau has um so that you remain in compliance you don't fall out of the timeline that you're meeting certain project milestones as you as you had the have you as you have this award. Thank you. Yep. Anyone else? Yeah. Lastly, Mr. Mayor. Um more of a
procedural question than anything else. I think I think all of us sitting up here have got some idea or something that we wanted to talk to you about. Um, moving on to the future, but I also don't want you to be bombed by all of
these people. Do we have a a single focal point that we should go to and have that forwarded on to this gentleman here? So, we talk to him, you talk to him. Yeah. if you want to funnel it all through me, I I've been in pretty much
constant contact for a while now with these two guys. So, yeah, usually administrators are are sort of the clearing house of information from the council as it relates to what we do, but you know, I trust that Stephen is is relaying those those uh in our conversations. So, um just I wanted to
show you my face and and Rob who will also be working with me. Um and I'll hand out my business card so that you know we can you know you know that we're here and we're here to help. So, thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you guys. I just Thanks.
I just think if you push that way down. Thank you. And then just Thank you so much. Happy Same here. We'll see you again. How are you? Yeah, I do. I do. Thank
you. Good to see you. Yes. Thank you. Thank you. Just want everyone to know that we are tonight on Microsoft Teams. We have Tatiana and Steve both working with it.
Uh when Steve gives his report, he'll explain how everything's going to be done tonight with this uh new program that we're starting. Under my report, just a couple of things. Um first of all, I attended the ECLC School of Hocus, their eighth grade graduation.
Anytime you go to that school, you always come out feeling very good about yourself. It's a very great school. It helps their uh the students. It helps the families. and it's a great school that uh is in in our even though it's not in Waldwick is still in our
community. Also, I attended the Waldwick 8 grade uh promotion ceremony, the Waldick High School graduation. Uh I attended the chamber of commerce uh meeting in which they handed out their money that uh they raised for for the 5k from the 5k and then also I attended uh
with Dan Maro the president of the school board also Tom McCormack who was I guess here tonight the executive director of environmental committee. We went to the access for all committee and we talked with them. Uh Tom is going to be in con contact with them. Uh Dan was talking to them about his their input
about what they what the board of ed is doing with the fields in the parking lot and the striping and how the handicap spots going to be. Access for all wants to be very much involved in everything that is being done in the town and uh we have no problem letting them know what's
going on. So as we start doing things with handicap accessible we will make sure that they're involved with everything that we do. Other than that, that's all I have. Financial and administrative committee, Councilman Richie. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Good evening, everyone. How are you? I hope you're staying cool. Um, so we just
heard a presentation from Bruno. That is uh one uh aspect of kind of what I call the three pillars of trying to reduce our dependency on our surplus. Uh so we're hoping that in next year's budget, it seems like timelines are tight, but we're hoping that in next year's budget,
we can bring in more grant money and that will certainly offset uh that dependency, which is about 2.5 million roughly. Um the the second pillar is expanding the tax base. Uh I was uh happy last night. I attended a planning board meeting uh where the planning board approved the redevelopment project
on Harrison Avenue. that certainly will help to expand that tax base and I think we'll start to uh you know kind of take uh some of that dependency right as well and then the third pillar is non- tax revenue um which is things like fees um
and we will be looking at that the finance committee's meeting this Friday uh afternoon uh and we'll start to take a deep dive into what those non-t tax revenues are as I've said in in previous meetings they've been relatively flat over the last decade at about between four and four and a half million each
here. Uh and so as you you know as inflation increases those fees should also increase. Um and that's you know our costs go up. So costs that we uh you know you know put out to others should also increase so that we can keep our budget flat. So we've been taking a look
at that. We'll try to benchmark against other bureaus. We're going to do what we can to try to uh address those. And um you know hopefully as we address these budgets year after year, we'll start to see that gap close before the surplus runs out. So, I look forward to that meeting this Friday. And that is my
report. Uh, Mr. Mayor, thank you. Thank you. Fire and Police Protection Committee. Councilman Brennick. Oh, thanks, Mr. Mayor. Uh, just a few items. Um, start off with uh the fire department is assisting the uh police department with the junior police
program. Everybody's having fun. It's pretty hot out there, but nonetheless having fun. Um over the past weekend we had the uh fire department uh fireball raffle which was successful and congratulations to uh Jimmy Zimano for winning the prize.
I also attended the uh Walt High School graduation and I got to tell you that uh every year I go there the the faces the faces change but the smiles are the same and it's just a bunch of very young people very accomplished people looking
forward to their futures and so am I and I have nothing else. Thank you very much. Public safety committee councilwoman Saratola Drake. Thank you mayor. The Waldick uh ambulance corps participated in a water extrication drill with the fire department on June 12th. They also attended the car show on
June 1st where they treated multiple patients. So, I'm glad they were there. They attended monthly joint training with Allenalevac on 62 where the Valley Medics gave an overview of their equipment. They also attended the graduation for the high school. And then they attended Cresant School Field Day.
Um, they also participated in the Junior Police Department on 623 and they're standing by today per the police's uh request. They're also looking forward to attending Allenale Fireworks on July 4th. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you. Recreation and Health Committee Councilman Montello. Thank you, Mr.
Mayor. Um, I also had the pleasure of going to the Wook High School graduation. Like Mr. Brennick said, it was a a great ceremony. Very accomplished kids. the salvatoran and validatoran were separated by 02 uh percentage points in their GPA which is
amazing. Um we did get interrupted by a lightning detector so that was a great experience to move to the middle school gym but uh you know it was a great event. Also got the opportunity to attend the trapping school graduation for the fifth graders. So adding my congratulations to the fifth graders, the eighth graders from middle school
and the seniors in high school. uh recreation side. Um Walwick baseball softball association finished up their spring seasons and um they're moving into summer travel. Good luck to the boys and girls playing this summer. Uh also uh the Walwick football program for junior football starting up their
practices and I know fall soccer is right around the corner. So a lot of great programs coming along with our Wick uh swim team uh this summer. So a lot of great activities around town. On the health front, just encourage folks to check in on your senior neighbors, especially in this hot weather, making
sure they're staying cool. If they need a cool place to to hang out, find a spot for them to go. Um, just stay keep each other safe during this time. That's it. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you. Public works committee. Uh, Councilman Roundo is in fire school. Uh, he has nothing to
report. He'll report uh to us probably in July. Buildings and Grounds Committee. Councilman Weber. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, I was also able to attend the high school graduation, which is always an great honor to be invited uh to that. Um, I was also a graduate and
so was all my sisters and my uncles and aunt and my son. So, it was always nice to attend that. I also was able to attend the eighth grade graduation where my youngest daughter graduated uh from 8th grade. Um, as far as buildings and grounds go, nothing too crazy. Um, we
had a little few hiccups over at the ambulance core with their air conditioning again. Um, same thing last year. So, that's on that's going to be uh getting repaired. Um, also they were having some issues again with the door. Uh, I noticed they were still parked
outside. So, I'm assuming it's still an issue today. Um, looking at some different options um with some different companies to do some preventative maintenance in all the buildings, including the ambulance core. I think there's three air conditioning units over there that seem to be an issue. Um,
and then the rest of the uh of the burrow as well, just to keep everything under preventative maintenance so that when it does get warm like this, we don't experience the hiccups because that's where it ends up costing a lot of money for the uh repairment repair people to come out and address those.
So, that's all I have. Thank you. Thank you, Administrative. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, just a couple things to highlight. We're we're excited to have two awards for two large projects. The one for Lions Memorial Playground tonight, and the award for the
improvements to Schuler Avenue, which also includes some extensive drainage work. Um, so we we actually held those pre-con meetings this morning, so we're ready to get those going. Um, and then we, you know, we have some other resolutions. Um, we are appointing a new full-time dispatcher, which we greatly
need. So, thank you. Um, we're looking forward to getting him going. And then we have a few uh authorizations for grant applications. So just to note these applica the this resolution doesn't bind us to anything. Uh there are no plans created for these yet. It's
just simply to give us the access to apply when we're ready. And that's it. Thank you. Thank you. You want to talk about Microsoft? Oh yeah. Um and also we this is our first run with uh Microsoft Teams tonight virtual. So far so good. Um hopefully the
audience online can hear us. We do have a handful of people on. Um just to note when we get to p public comment uh you can raise your virtual hand and we will enable your mic so you can unmute yourself. At that time uh please state your name only for the record just as
you would in person. Uh after you're done speaking, we will disable your microphone again and you'll you'll go back to just being in in view only mode. And please when you sign on uh please identify yourself appropriately with a with a real name otherwise we will not
admit you from the waiting room. Thank you. Thank you uh burl clerk. Thank you mayor. Um I just wanted to um thank the DPW and the police department for their assistance with the primary election. um they do a phenomenal job in getting
us set up and they put everything back together the next day and PD um is very well organized to get everything down to the county in a timely fashion. Um also, uh we actually cannot do any of this without our superboard workers and our
board workers. Um they do an excellent job. they really do work as a team and it really does show because at the end of the night we're able to go home, you know, relatively early and we know that everything is done correctly. Um the ABC license, there's a resolution on for the
renewal, uh resolution 2025 191. Uh the license that that are listed in that resolution, they've met all the state and local requirements for renewal. Um and then once this resolution is adopted, all of our license will be renewed for 2025 2026. Also, we have
2025, 192, and 193. Um, those were dumpster permits. Those are to return the escros. Mike, uh, Superintendent Lator went out and found no issues so that the those escros can be released. And just happy summer to everybody. Thank you.
Hello, camera crew. Tatiana. Yes, happy summer to everyone. Um, I think everybody uh realized in the past uh week that the pool is open uh started uh opening uh daily this past Thursday. We have been
inundated with registrations which is great. We uh our numbers are up. Uh we've got a lot of new residents who uh haven't been uh members in the past from Waldwick non-residents and of course we have Waldw uh Milum Park residents
joining us as residents this season as well. So exciting to see everybody uh joining. The swim team has um started as of last night. We've tripled in their membership number since last year. Um they were really concerned that we may
not have a team going forward. So, we um had a lot of close conversations with our coach who um whose resolution is on tonight and our assistant coach and um we made a plan to make sure that they were going to have a robust team this season and it worked because we are
maxed out and have to probably turn away 15 to 20 swimmers who are interested. So, um thank you to Meredith, to Michaela, and uh all the volunteers uh who are going to help on the swim team. Uh it's really cool to see all of the
younger kids who used to swim become uh volunteers, non-paid volunteers and then we've, you know, they evolve into big-time swimmers and they leave, but you know, they've trained all the younger kids. So, it's really nice to see um it's good to have them there at the pool. Um so, it's been active the
past 2 days, as you can imagine, probably hundreds of people there uh hanging out. So, thank God we have that in town. Um and that's about it. Validation is going well. continue to come in and see us here at Burough Hall. We've been non-stop busy. But again, the the process for this year, while it is
new, it is working great. So, all set. Thanks, Mr. Mayor. Mayor, thank you. Rob Deainy, Esquire for Burough Attorney Craig. Anything? Yes. Thank you, Mayor and members of the council for letting me fill in for Craig this evening. The only item of note is that on the agenda there's a u there's an endorsement of
the housing element and fair share plan uh which is to satisfy the burough's fourth round obligation. the planning board uh approved um that item last night. So once the council uh endorses it, uh we'll then file that with the program that the legislature and courts
have set up. And once that's done, it'll protect the burrow from any builder remedies uh lawsuits and uh maintain our immunity from that. Other than that, that's all I have. Thank you very much. Okay. Thank you for being here. Consent resolutions and resolutions of the governing body.
Be it resolved that the following resolutions here were explicit by consent having been considered by the governing body of the burough of Holdrick are hereby passed and approved. 2025178 approval of consent 2025179 approval of minutes regular meeting May 27th 2025 policy votes A. Allison Daily
requests to hold a block party on September 27th from 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. with Berly Crescent to be closed with alcoholic beverages being served. B. Natalie Nashold requests to hold a block party on June 28th from 3 to 9 with central AB to be closed between Waldo, Gav, and Grove Street with
alcoholic beverages being served. C. Irene uh Mulville requests to use pavilion A on June 25th from 4 p.m. to dusk for graduation party with alcoholic beverages being served and a DJ under pavilion A. D. Warriors Football Club
requests to use pavilion A on June 29th from 4:00 p.m. to dusk for an end of season party with alcohol beverages being served. E. Dave ISA requests to use pavilion A on July 12th from 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. for a birthday party with alcohol beverages being served. F.
Nadia uh Certain Certain requests to use pavilion B on July 12th from 12:00 p.m. to dusk for a birthday party with alcoholic beverages being served. G. The Mloud's request to use pavilion A and B on July 13th from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 pm for a memorial service with memorial
service with alcohol beverages being served. H Jessica Kuchi requests to use pavilion A on July 26 from 12:00 p.m. to 6 p.m. for a birthday party with alcohol beverages being served. I Stephanie Rodriguez requests to use pavilion A on August 2nd from 11:00 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.
for a family gathering with alcohol beverages being served. J. Lauren Ferguson requests to use VNA on August 10th from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. for a birthday party with alcoholic beverages being served. K. Nicole Clawberg requests to use pavilion A on August 16th from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. for a
family picnic with alcoholic beverages being served. L. Diane Kramer requests to use pavilion A on August 17th from 10:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. for a birthday party with alcohol beverages being served. M. Appointment of Luke Felman as junior member of the Waldo Volunteer
Fire Department and appointment of Quinn Fowler as junior member of the Waldo Volunteer Fire Department. 2025180 Endorsement of the Bure of Wald's housing element and fair share plan. 2025181 authorizing approval of Waldo Volunteer Fire Department bylaw
amendments. 2025182 authorized renewal of the group life and accidental death and dismemberment insurance policies for all eligible employees through Metropolitan Life Insurance Company. 2025183 a fair and open contract to Green Valley Group Inc. for improvements to Lions
Memorial Playground in the amount of $327,465. 2025184 award a fair and open contract to for cleanup for employees of Schuler in the amount of $21,64145 2005 2025185 award a non-fair and open professional service contract to Boswell Engineering for Alliance Memorial
Playground Park task 3 construction inspection in the amount of $40,000 2025186 authorized the park to enter into a cooperative pricing agreement with Hunington County Cooperative Educational Services Commission 2025187 7 authorizes submission of a 2025 local
transportation project fund grant application and execution of a grant contract with the New Jersey Department of Transportation for improvements to West Prospect Street. 202518 authorizes the submission of a fiscal year 26 uh municipal aid grant application and execution of a execution of a grant
contract with the New Jersey Department of Transportation for Hudson Avenue section 3 improvements 2025189 authorizes submission of a 2026 safe streets to transit grant application and execution of a grant contract with the New Jersey Department of Transportation
for improvements to West Pros Street 2025190 authorized burrow auction 2025191 on authorized liquid license renewals 2025 2026 2025192 authorized release of dumpster escrow for 36 Grove Street 2025193 authorized
release of dumpster escrow at 12 Maple Avenue 2025194 authorized payment of terminal leave of retiring chief master as excuse me as per employee handbook 2025195 appointment of 2025 head swim team coach and assistant swim team coach
2025196 appointment of 2025 pool lifeguards 2025197 accept resignation of Somal Nadim as full-time communications officer 2025198 appointment of full-time communications officer Doug Douglas Rosenberg 2025 1999
cancellation and refund of taxes for block 163.08 lot 15.25 25 2025 200 reduction uh of tax total lean 23-00631 2025201 payment of vouchers and uh later
I mean this morning we added 2025202 accepting a donation of trees from a resident do we have a motion and a second to accept motion by Mr. Frank second by Mr. Marello, anyone on the question? Indie, can I ask you a question about the uh 2025-181,
the bylaws? Everything all right? Everything all right with that? Yeah, I was going to comment that on just a second, but that's fine. Uh Mr. Mayor, we went over the bylaws. Uh the changes in the amendments to the bylaws over the past month. Uh I believe we also had a review from the burough attorney. Uh
these are relatively benign things and and I see no uh I see no problem with moving forward on them tonight. Good, Mr. Mayor. Yes, sir. As long as I still have the floor. Absolutely. I'd just like to formally uh welcome Luke and
Quinn into the Wald Junior Fire Brigade. I wish them the best in the future. Thank you, sir. Okay. Uh also, uh on July 12th and July 13th, we have a lot of events going on at Burough Park. Could we just make sure that on July
12th after the the parties are over that the DBW gets in there and cleans up the place for the other family on the 12th I mean on the 13th. This is a young man that passed away in our burrow and his father is very active in the access for all and they want the community to you
know come pay their respects and and uh celebrate his life and uh I I have a like a little how they want the chairs and table the table set up. So if uh I could work with them with this. Yes. And also we're I asked permission and I should ask the whole council uh that we
wave it a $200 deposit for them that they have to put down. I mean this is something the man died young man died very suddenly and it's the least we could do with the town. Is everybody all right with that? Yes. Okay. Great. Anyone else? Okay. Clerk, please take
the role. Mr. Brennick? Yes. Mr. Kadri? Yes. Mr. Marello? Yes. Mr. Richie? Yes. Mrs. Weber? Yes. Okay, we have one public hearing. Would the clerk finally read ordinance number 2025-16? Ordinance number 2025-16,
an ordinance to amend section one entitled establishment membership of chapter 20 entitled police department to increase the number of patrol officers from 13 patrol officers to 14. Okay. Anyone from the council would like to comment? What this is doing is that right now, as it says here in on our
ordinances, we have that we are supposed to have 13 police officers. We're going to make it 14. The reason why is that the police department is trying to set up a traffic safety division. And this new police officer will concentrate mostly on that. There's a lot of safety
issues that we want to, you know, fix up in our burrow. And to have one police officer do this is very important for the police department. He'll also be aiding in in other parts of the police department. Anyone else from the council? Nope. I then close the council's comments and
anybody from the public that would like to comment on this audience that was just read. If none, I close the uh public's comments and ask for a motion a second to pass this audience on second reading and that the clerk be authorized to advertise it in local legal newspapers
required by law. Motion a second. Motion by Mr. Bren, second by Mrs. Weber. Clerk, please take the role. Mr. Brennick, yes. Miss Drake, yes. Mr. Martinelloo, yes. Mr. Richie. Yes. Mrs. Weber. Yes. Okay. We have uh no
introduction of ordinances. Uh any unfinished business from the council? Yes. Yes. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I have just uh two items for unfinished business. So, um the first one um I'll go with the I'll go with the harder one first. So, uh, it's hot and it's humid
and, uh, I opened up my sliding door this this, uh, couple couple days ago and my entire house filled with the smell of raw sewage. So, I just would like an update on where we're at with the sewer authority and uh, and can we
see the results because um, I think it would be good to look at their H2S uh, readings and and to challenge that. the results. Uh I I I try to speak I tried to go to the meeting the other night, but I was at the graduation ceremony. I did put a call in twice to Mr. Denubio.
He did not get back to me. I think he is on vacation, but I'm not sure. The last time we spoke, uh there was a they're working on that. They're also working. They said that a lot of the complaints that came in when they monitored it, it wasn't sewage, but it was mulch pit. So,
they're working on that. I think they spoke with you about this also. Also, what they're doing is they hired a uh another another engineering company to come in and uh do they're they're working on like phase two, which would be uh planting trees all around the
perimeter of uh the sewer authority that they feel that might help with the with any problems that are happening. Uh once we speak with Mr. Denubio, we are al we will talk to he will tell us what's going on. Uh he also did tell us that there is a little bit of a problem with
their water down there. So, what we're doing is we are going to have him be part of our uh committee for the water so that if he has any problems, he could help us with it or we help him with it. We didn't get that deep into what the problems are down there. Uh but as soon
as he gets back to me, I will uh let Steve send an email out to everybody before our meeting so that we uh everybody knows what's going on with the sewer. Yes. So, thank you very much for that update. Just to um I mean, I personally don't believe that it's mulch. I I believe it's sewage. We're
fortunate that we now have a new business coming into the Boston market. I think uh we heard them at the planning board last night and they intend to have outdoor seating. Um there's no way uh that that's going to be um you know, it's it's not going to work out. You
cannot stand in that parking lot without smelling the raw sewage and it is just continuing to spread. So I would like to be in a meeting with the sewer authority. I would like to challenge what their approach was to the H2S levels. I think that we can uh probably
pick some holes in how they how they uh they did this. Um and I think we we I continue to urge that we get more aggressive with the sewer authority. I had a chance to uh connect with our state senator in district 39, Holly Shapey. She is working with a group that
has a pilot program for sewage smoke remediation and she's offered uh for Waldwick's site to be the pilot study for the implementation of this remediation. So this would be no cost to the sewer authority complete upside to the burrow. I'd really like to schedule
a meeting with not Mr. Denubio, but the head of the head of the head of the entire sewer authority, the county commissioners that oversee it, the county executive that oversees uh everything in the county. I would like to be there so that I can refute any of
the shortcomings of their scientific H2S readings that they performed over the last 6 months. I'd like to see that data. I'm just I think like a lot of residents, we're really just kind of it's just getting old. And we are we now we're we're like so fortunate. We have a a a business coming into what's been a
vacant property for so long. I want it to thrive and survive and and we we we need to attack this. So can what so what can we do as next steps here because I think I think they're they're they're just dragging us along. Your next step is you should go to the meeting the third Wednesday of the month. So I'm going to
reach out to Senator Shapey and ask her to schedule a meeting that I'm going to be at. If anyone would like to attend, you're you're more than welcome. But that's going to be my approach moving forward. So, the second is the water. I think probably be in the best interest
of the town to schedule a um town hall on kind of everything that we've done. Let's pull the projector down. Let's take them through slides. Let's take them through what this this organization that we've we've hired has found kind of what our remediation steps are. I think there's Look, listen. I think there's a
lot being done. No doubt. The bureau's working very hard. DPW is working hard. Steve, you're working hard. everyone's but but I think that there's a gap in uh knowledge of kind of everything that's being done. So anytime someone has brown water they automatically assume the burrow doesn't care and we're not doing
anything and I just so I think if we can close that knowledge gap it's going to uh it's going to help us a lot. So I I I think it would be great to get that on a schedule separate from a council meeting just come up here do a town hall specifically on that. Do you want to explain to us what him did already? Sure. Uh yeah, just to follow up on
that, um we actually we had a a committee meeting on the 13th, I believe. Um and we we talked about just that. So the goal for this summer, um what they want to do, they're working on, you know, putting everything in the model. Um they're just about ready to be
able to present that. So what we would like to do since it's summer is actually do hold a virtual session probably on teams just like this. Sure. um this summer just to kind of get everyone caught up as to where we're at, what they've been doing um and actually present some hard data now and and go through the map and, you know, inform
everyone of what we're actually looking at and kind of what the next steps are. Then after summer, we want to do an in-person, you know, more robust uh formal town hall meeting. And that the virtual meeting, we'll record it, we'll share it out on all our platforms just so everybody has that knowledge, could
access it throughout the summer. And then, you know, by the fall, we'll really bring everything together and and present it fully. So, you think like July we'll be able to do that virtual meeting after the 4th sometime? I think so. That's kind of the goal we discussed. Maybe mid to end of July. Okay. All right.
Yes. Steve, I have a question. The mulch pit, we control that. We do. So, it's it's our property, but we have tenants who who run. So if the sore authority is correct and it's the mulch pit that causes that smell, do we have any remedy
with the folks that run that, can they do anything to control the smell that's coming from the mulch pit? So they do have some parameters that they have to work under. Um, you know, they're not allowed to turn it all the time. They're not allowed to take in a certain amount operations, uh, things like that. I don't have those details in front of me,
but yes, we do have oversight of that. Um, and we have noticed that we've gotten a couple complaints recently from the mulch bay. When it's really hot like this, obviously vegetative waste will give off uh pretty distinct smell, too. So, is that Joe who monitors that and
would have to go there or is that um it's kind of we we have a pretty good uh deal set up with the public works. So, our DPW superintendent usually reaches out to the owner of the company and and we go from there, address it. I took up one complaint this afternoon actually. So, one way to get to the bottom of it
is to just reduce. I mean, what do we get out of that mulch pit? I I off the top of my head, I'm not entirely sure of one way is to just eliminate it. And if the smell doesn't go away, then we know it's the sewer authority. We can't eliminate the sewer authority, but two different smells are very different. I
trust me, they're very different. The smells exactly. I know what raw sewage smells like. That's why I don't believe that what I'm smelling is most people don't know what raw sewage smells like. I don't know. But the majority of the scent that comes from there during the day, especially if you're at the diner, is from the mulch pad. It's it's from my
backyard. It's not from the diner. So there might be another issue. It's it's trust me, it's the silver garden. I believe it. It's And then I go when I smell it, I drive to that Boston market, the empty lot right there, and it's just pungent. It's so profused. You can go to the Ma Pizza or the liquor store or
where the old uh supermarket was, and you can smell it there. I mean, again, I think the sewer authority is just kind of dragging this along, hoping that we'll forget or hoping that we run out of steam, but it has to be addressed. It just this town is it's just getting worse and worse and worse, and the
businesses even in this downtown are going to start to suffer. Outdoor space, especially with this heat and humidity, is becoming untenable. Anyone else? Uh, yes. Sorry, question. Um my question is for Steve. The redevelopment um
homepage on the website. Yes. So it is published. It is up. Yeah. Um just published it this afternoon. It's trying to tweak it a little bit more right now. You'll see there's just it's um if you go to walickenj.gov/redevelopment
um it has the two redevelopment areas. Those studies are posted and then the one adopted plan for the Harrison A project is also posted. What I want to pull in now is all the associated resolutions, like the public meeting dates, all that info, just kind of backfill it. But at least right now,
you could get a quick snapshot of everything that's kind of happening. Cool. Sounds good. Could we could we put when they came and presented this like a um like a clip of that video? Uh like basically clip out the video where they presented the whole project so people
can, you know, look at exactly what it is. Yeah, we could do that. And that's why it's taken a little bit. I definitely want to fill this page in with a lot more detail. Um, and now we'll have even more just as you know, some of the planning board processes have happened. But, um, yeah, so at least we have some of the basics up
there and we'll definitely start to fill it in more. Awesome. Sounds good. And then a related question. I know Mr. Mayor, you were waiting until after the primary before we could all get together and discuss a broader redevelopment plan. So, is there a status on when we're going to do that? Whatever you'd want. You make that decision.
I'm ready. Whenever you guys are. I'm ready. Pick a date and we'll do it tonight. Or we meet in July, week, week after July 4th, whatever. Sure. Whatever you want to do. Uh just uh what you do is just come up with a
couple of dates. We'll see who when everybody's available and we could have either a a regular meeting or we could just a special meeting or we could just brainstorm in the downstairs. Okay, sounds good. Sounds good. Yeah, just reach out to Steve and let Steve know. Uh uh You have all the stuff what
the dates are. Yeah, we have kind of everyone's thoughts, but I think we want to take it the next step is what I'm gathering. Is it easier to try to meet just when we're all here already and try to do it either before or after the next council meeting?
That's fine. Sure. The 15th, right? Uh July 15th, I believe. So July 15th, unless you want to make the meeting 7 o'clock instead of 7:30. Yeah, that works. That works for me. Yeah. And just for the record,
the reason why I didn't want to do anything until after the primary was because we were still worried about the uh the uh Harrison Avenue project. And I didn't want us to talk about visions of the burrow when we still have a project that's still in the hands of a planning
board because I didn't want no votes being swayed either way. And I thought this would be the right way to do it. But unfortunately, I got just bombarded and disrespected by a lot of people about the decision. And if I was wrong, whatever. This time, I'm not
apologizing. Anybody else? We also push the sewer authority comment. So, I only pushed that. Anybody else? Any other new business? I I I have some new business. Sure. So, uh I I I have to
say the new Chase Bank looks amazing. Uh it I was I was uh concerned when we had yet another bank come in, but it really does spruce it up over there. I love it. What it what I what I think it also does is really highlight the gas station across the street. Now, let me just say
I love that gas station. I try to get all of my gas there, but it does look like a junkyard right now. Uh is there a way with all of the I mean, there are just dozens of cars that are aren't being moved. they look like they're kind of immobile, broken down, and it just is
piling up more and more uh over time. Does our ordinance address, you know, does it address what's going on there at all? And if not, is there a is there an appetite for us to address the ordinance to try and uh remedy the situation?
Can I comment? Yes, absolutely. Um yes, so it is on our radar. Our zoning official has spoken with the owner in the past to try and get it cleaned up, get some of those cars out of there. Um, a lot of them, some do turn over a lot, so we do keep an eye on it, but there
seems to be some that are not moving as much anymore. Um, so it is on our radar. Um, it's covered by they do have some parameters and they're they're approving resolution also. So, we're going to pull that together and take a deeper dive on it. Um, so I'd say we'll start there and see if we could, you know, get some
traction. If not, I'll report back and maybe we'll go a different direction if that works. Thank you. Um I'd just like to congratulate Luke and Quinn joining the junior um fire department. Two more young men that I coached when they were young. And
welcome Andy. Um what's that like five now this year? I think I'm setting records, but congratulations to them. They're building your statue. Okay, I can't wait. Anyone else from the council? If not the public, anybody from the public who would like to comment. Do you want to do
the the people on we have somebody Microsoft or you want to do the people here now? You maybe let in person go first and then do Yeah. All right. We'll do the inerson people that are here first. Anybody from the audience would like to come up and say anything to us, please come to the microphone. State
your name only, not your address. Jim Schultz. Uh just two questions. one. Steve, I appreciated the town running that uh radar tracker on Harrison Avenue. I'm just wondering when we get an answer back what the next steps are. Uh yeah, I'll have to follow up with PD
on that one and see what kind of data they collected. Okay. And then second, uh as you said, Mike, last night the planning board pushed forward that uh Harrison app project. Mike, my question is what's the next steps now that the planning board sent it to the council?
What happens next? They didn't send it to the count. You're talking about redevelopment or they I'm sorry. The redevelopment of Harrison Avenue. It was approved. I guess it was approved. Now it's they have to wait the 45 days to see if anybody uh uh uh complains about it or protests it. Okay. And then it's
up to the developers to do what they have to do. Okay. Now, does do the developers come in front of the council at all? No. So, how do we find out how they're going to and Mike, you know, this is my sticking point. How do we find how are we going to find out how this is being financed? Cuz this is my
concern because I've heard rumors it's going to be a pilot program. So, I'm happy to answer. No one's approached us yet on a pilot for for the project. Um, as far as I know, they have to do that before any shovel hits the ground. Uh, they haven't asked for it,
but um, you know, if they do, then we'll have to go through the necessary steps uh to to have that conversation. Okay. Because with a pilot program and there's a whole bunch of things that there has to be a costbenefit analysis done with a pilot program and I think you have a
financial background and Mr. Ranella, you have a financial background, so we all understand what's in a cost analysis study. And that's what I'm interested to see because again, with a pilot program, none of that money can go to the school
budget. And every year when the budget comes up in town, the council's very efficient at saying, "Oh, you know what? 65% of your budget is the school budget." And you guys wash your hand and you push it back on the school. So now if this is
low-income housing and someone moves in there with students, the school budget automatically goes up and that project cannot fund one penny of it. Now say you have three kids in there and say they have to be sent out of
district. Now you have three children with out of district money. Do you know how much it cost to send a child out of district? I would look at it and and I'm just saying again and I every time I get up here I say the same thing. We better be careful how this gets financed.
Okay? Because the school's going to take a hit on this. And I know in a pilot program you can negotiate anything you want in a pilot contract. So if this pilot contract comes up, I would stress very much that you get as many people in
the town involved in negotiating this pilot contract because if we don't, again, don't ever blame the school board for having 60% of a budget when you're going to be having children there and that school budget's
going to immediately go up. Immediately. So, for the eighth time, if it's a pilot program, involve everyone in town that you can involve. Because I said to you before, Mike, this is you and Katie's project. It's going to sink you or it's
going to make you. Okay? And my guess is you're hoping it makes you. And my guess is it's going to be very tough with a pilot program. Michelle should talk to you about what happened in Hohokus. Yeah. the Hocus project there. They they
gave them a 30 30-year pilot program. Yep. Which makes no sense to me in Hokus. It's a desirable area to live. It's not an area that was in Ble. I I don't I don't get it. But 30 years they're uh exempt for taxes for the
school and their um their school board. I've you know found they only they don't have a high school there. They send them all out of district, but they uh they were able to balance their school budget because a resident passed and donated $10 million to their board of debt. So,
that helped out, but that's not a 30-year cushion for them. So, see how that goes. Steve wanted to say something. Oh, yeah. I'm sorry. Yeah. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, yeah. So, it's a great point. Uh, a lot of projects these days aren't getting done without pilots. We have not been asked yet, so
that isn't before us. um kind of knowing all the redevelopment that is potentially coming to Waldwick. We actually we've already hired a firm, a professional firm, Phoenix Financial Advisors to assist during that portion if it comes before us. So, right right now there is nothing before us at all.
Okay. Um so, if it comes that way, we are prepared. We have people ready to help us and we will let the public know what's going out. Perfect. Because you can look at the history of pilot programs. I think if you look in the metal lands, they're having a debate cuz I don't think they've been paid a penny because everybody has a different idea of what 100% occupancy means. And that's
one of them. So again, again, I'm going to say it 50 times. If it's a pilot program, keep your eyes open because the schools are going to get impacted by this. And for them, it might be a card out to say, "Hey, we told you you don't complain about the budget anymore because you put kids in there,
low-inccome or any children in there, and now the school budget's automatically going up." So, if you could do that, I appreciate it. Yeah, I think we're we're pretty collaborative. I think we would we would never make a move without involving uh this the board of ed or something like that. And um
Katie and I happen to just very randomly be very close with a gentleman in Paripony who's Justin poster child pilot. So we we're very close with him and we know all the pitfalls of it and uh certainly will I think be in close consultation cuz he's lived through so
many of these and he's in fact I spoke with him about a month ago on it to be honest with you. So I got a little background from him and some other people. So I appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else? If not do I have a motion to adjurnn? Oh sorry we do. We have two two I'm sorry.
Go ahead. All right. So I'll just state again. Um, we have two who have raised their virtual hands. We'll start with Byaka M. Uh, when you come in, I'll leave you a microphone. Just state your name only. No need for address. And as soon as you get the notice, you should
be able to unmute yourself. Hi, I just wanted to first say thank you for having this on teams. you know, this is fantastic for a lot of people, including myself, who was unable to make it today. Um, I just had a a quick question in
regards to this um open hall meeting that you were talking about in terms of the water. I know you said the very first meeting, you know, would probably be opened as virtual. I just have some concerns in terms of, you know, the residents that may not have access to
attend virtually. Um, if if at all possible, if you can consider making that also in person, I think that would be great. Um, I I'd hate to have some of our residents left out of that opportunity to come and listen just because they can't access it, you know,
virtually, right? That's a good idea. Steve is writing it down and we're going to probably do it the way you just said. Okay. Thank you so much. Thank you very much. [Applause] Uh, next we'll we have uh Mr. Sza.
You should be able to unmute yourself. Is he still there? He's still here. If he can't come through, just tell him to give us a call and we can answer his question tomorrow. Yeah, Ted, it you should have the uh the microphone button. If you click that,
you should be able to unmute yourself. I'm going to disable you and we'll try one more time. You should have access again. All right. Sorry. Sorry. You know what? Could we re maybe reach out to him and let him uh tell you what he wants to
know and then we give him you give him an answer. Right. And there's no one else. Tatiana. No one else. No one else. Okay. Do I have a motion to adjurnn? Motion by Joe, second by Mike. All in favor?