Good evening, West Star, and to all those in the Zoom audience, and thank you for your patience. We are a few minutes behind schedule. We are coming to you live uh as always from Council Chamber 66 Main Street. At this time, I'd like to turn the meeting over to our
council president. Thank you, Mr. Fagan. Uh welcome, West Orange, to our May 20th council meeting. We're going to start off as we usually do. with Madame Deputy Clerk. This is to inform the general public
that this meeting is being in in being held in compliance with section 5 of the Open Public Meetings Act, chapter 231, Public Law 1975. The notice for this meeting was emailed to the Star Ledger and the West Orange Chronicle on January 7, 2025, and published in the West
Orange Chronicle on January 16th, 2025. Councilwoman Castelino, present. Councilwoman Gabber Michael on or we're on. My bad. I'm present. Thank you. I'm here. Councilwoman Ruden here.
Councilwoman Scarpa. Councilwoman Scorpa, please unmute yourself. Present. Council President Kovia present. And just let the record reflect that uh
Mayor McCartney is also present. Please. All right. So, we're ready to start on our conference agenda. Uh just so you know the two missing council people are continuing to conileles or in one case uh their child is conilelesing
so uh they have joined us uh by zoom uh let's start off with the conference agenda uh first I want to bring up uh the aforementioned mayor McCartney she has an announcement uh with a patriotic theme good evening thank you council president
council colleagues uh good evening everyone I thought this was timely to have GI GO Fund present this evening. This is a New Jersey uh nonprofit organization that supports veterans uh with their housing, health care,
employment needs. Um I have registered town hall to be part of this to to donate to this fund. We have a representative from GI Goo here with us this evening to talk about talk more about it. But I just thought the timing
would be perfect since we have a beautiful um Memorial Day ceremony coming up on May 26th honoring our Vietnam vets. So Joe, please. Oh, thank you so much, Mayor. Um so this is the first time actually doing this,
so if I'm bad, I apologize. Um again, uh I'm representing from the GI GoFund. I'm the director of veteran services. Uh director of veteran services. My name is Joseph Pongan. I'm also a US Navy veteran. Now, should uh you participate in uh as an employee or as a member of
the council to uh donate to our fundraiser, uh just make a donation our website. It's just it's very easy. It's just gi.org and you can wear red, white, and blue. Make sure you wear blue jeans. Uh or, you know, patriotic colors. Combination of red, white, and blue would be great. Uh it is the largest
employee dress down day for uh for the whole country and it's just an opportunity for the township to support our local military members and families with the service that they need. All the funds will directly support our mission to provide essential services to the veterans and their families. If you have
any questions about um what services we provide um you can visit our website and go to our uh FAQ gi.org or um you can uh I'll leave my business card. can call me or email me directly. Also, we offer a uh small business incubator in our
office in Newark uh for veterans uh who are pursuing a small business or already have one. We do provide the small space and the materials and the supplies that they need whether they need to do meetings or uh make copies of any uh important documents. And again, uh uh
mayor, thank you for having me. Uh if you have any questions um uh certainly uh ask me directly here. Thank you. I have a question. Sure. So if people thought you did a great job and even though they don't work for the town or work on the council, could they go to
gigo.org and contribute anyway and then they could still wear their blue s. Okay. Just want to make sure if anybody out there wants to help. Oh, thank you so much. Uh anybody else questions? Thank you so much. Uh, council president, if I may intervene, we will
have cards available. Uh, he has brought some along and if I may violate protocol u, and just if I may ask a question and Joe, could you just tell us briefly about your service in the Navy? Sure. Uh, I served when, uh, from 2007 to mid
2011, uh, I was an aviation machinist mate. I worked on helicopter engines. Um, also helped launch and recover them um, uh, for my first two years. And for the uh the next the last two years I worked for um a unit called Navy Cooperation and Guidance Shipping where
we did uh protect um a lot of the borders and ports of the East Coast from uh different threats. So that's something I'm very proud of and I get to translate my skills and I get to help veterans who um aren't so fortunate uh when they made the transition to
civilian life. So that's what um I do at our company. Thank you. Thank you. Yes, thank you service. Thank you so much. Next on the agenda, we have a presentation by Miss Sally Malanga of our green west orange titled food for
your thought recent research on factors impacting our climate. And I have asked her to keep it to 15 minutes. So everybody keep your watches. It's working. It's working. Good evening, Sally Malanga. Our green
West Orange food for your thought. 2024 was the warmest year on record. We live in a terrarium flying through space. Our flying terrarium is 70% water
and 30% land. Our earth strives to keep all human, animal, plant, and bacterial life in balance. But humans have altered Earth by cutting three trillion trees
primarily for farmland. And 80% of Earth's farmland, you might be surprised to learn, is used simply to raise farm animals and to feed them the GMO corn, soy, and alalfa that they
need. Only 20% of our farmland directly serves the human need for food and clothing. and only 9% is left for wildlife, birds, insects, pushing them to extinction. Al Gore was
wrong. Climate change is not primarily due to the burning of fossil fuels. In 2024, climate science research by Dr. Sale and Gerard Bishop stated that our heating planet is
due to the deforestation of three trillion trees ever since the beginning of farming. They published their research in the prestigious peerreviewed journal called environmental letters review only
in October 2024 and it is called deforestation a call for a consistent accounting. Now, why are we talking about accounting? Because the UN is not accounting for climate change
correctly. They have not measured the effects of cutting 50% of the planet's trees. They have underacounted methane from farm animals by three times. And there is actually a phenomenon of
climate cooling by sulfur dioxide when burning fossil fuels and that's not counted at all. So according to Bishop's papers, the actual climate numbers are very different from what the UN reports and what industry
reports. 52% of climate change is due to animal agriculture and it's still in the atmosphere since 1750. Then each year we add another 31% from the animals and 18% is from fossil fuels.
That's all. Whereas the real number is 87% is the opportunity cost of what the trees would actually soak up if they were replanted. Earth's trees breathe the
opposite of how we breathe. They breathe in carbon dioxide. They breathe out oxygen. So we can see the insensibility of cutting three trillion trees to raise farm animals. We are actually dismantling our
own oxygen supplies. And the Amazon rainforest is a particularly sensitive area to this. Uh they are deforesting the rainforest again to create pasture for cows and
soybeans to feed them. And they don't even like soy, they like grass. So the moisture in the clouds feeds the rainforest in a beautiful cycle and it's called the river in the
sky. But due to increasing droughts, that river is on the verge of collapse. As we can see, our earth is in the red. Uh we have bypassed six of our nine
planetary boundaries of sustainability and that includes things like the synthetic chemicals we put into the environment, the pollution of fresh water due to all the animal agriculture, the the d biodiversity degradation and
so on. But for the past 40 years since the publication of the book and the movie The Merchants of Doubt, scientists associated with industry have cast doubt on climate science altogether. First that climate
change was even happening and then doubting the cause. And this might be familiar to you. So what is unavoidable is the visuals. This is a satellite photo of fires over a 10-day period of planet Earth in
2019. So, the implication is we must cut fossil fuels and animal agriculture at the same time. If we don't, we could cause the planet to heat up dramatically within weeks. I was very concerned when last
year there was a 192 acre fire in Livingston, New Jersey. We must be prepared to to leave our homes and pack up our pets should there be another drought and fires hit West
Orange. But back to the cause, the Earth is home to these 92 billion human-raised farm animals, cows, pigs, chickens, lambs who are killed each year. This
high volume ensures that the animals are abused even sexually abused to keep production high. So for example, dairy cows are artificially inseminated to stay pregnant and produce more and more milk.
Their babies are taken from them in a trauma producing event. All milk, meat, eggs, cheese, yogurt, or fish comes with the ingredient of deception. Eggs from chickens that are advertised as free range or humane is
false. 99% of them come from factory farms, and those farms do not treat their their birds very well. Here's an example of hens that had been unfed for seven days in November, five days in December, and two straight weeks earlier
in the year. And because of this heartless way, unethical way we raise these chickens, we are at risk for a more ruthless pandemic than we've ever experienced through the
H5N1 aven bird flu. And you may have heard the reports in the news last year at the end of the year 20 million of these infected factory farm birds were killed. They've simply shut down the ventilation in
their in their vast sheds and it takes them a while to pass uh due to heat stroke. So because of this um we have to turn back to the 1918 pandemic as an example. That was an aven flu. 50 million people
died worldwide. Even the United Nations is trying to tell us something. They measured the true cost to all of us in dollars at 12.7 trillion. 74% of that is a sickened society, slow
or unable to work. 20% is for the myth of environmental cleanup. Eating more fish is not the solution. We are eating more farm-raised fish than wild caught these days and that creates its own
pollution. Numerous fish species like tuna and cod have collapsed and there is controversy about the status of other species. Eating animals opens a Pandora's box of human illnesses. How many people do you know
that suffer from diabetes, stroke, heart attack, dementia, irritable bowel, kidney disease, gout, erectile dysfunction, cataracts, and back pain. Well, it's actually all one
disease because their bodies are not our food. This is our food. From our teeth to our digestive system to the glucose that's needed to run our muscles and brains, our bodies require complex
carbohydrates. Nutrition science shows we are starchores, not carnivores. Here is a a resource that I highly recommend. A world-renowned Dr. John McDougall, sometimes known as the best
nutrition expert who ever lived, is author of 14 books, states this. When he tells his patients to go on a starch-based diet, bread, pasta, rice, corn, beans, and or potatoes in generous amounts,
they communicate a sense of relief, feelings of well-being, and a mindset of self-control. The equally famous Tolen Campbell, biochemist and author of the China study, says, "All animal protein increases cancer risk.
We have been making food choices as a species, not based on science, but on advertising. The quest for animal protein is driven by businesses who want to sell us meat, eggs, fish, and
cheese. Don't shoot me. We need to create a plant-based economy today. In 2018, the University of Oxford confirmed that if we do that, if we eat a plant-based whole foods diet, we will
reduce our carbon footprint by 73%. The author went vegan. So, what do we do? What does it mean? Will Reild be the word of the year? To collectively solve the climate
crisis, we must withdraw our demands on the oceans and pasture lands and allow them to rew. This is an example of that. It's the Impossible Foods 1,000 acres reing project in
Arkansas. When we stop eating livestock and we re wild the earth, former land deserts transform into life, the trees and soil will soak up 100% of the carbon and methane we
emit. Baron dairy farmland has been reclaimed and brought back to life in Scotland by the vegan land movement. And you see the images of all those beautiful plants and flowers. They sprung
up simultaneously with the recovery of that land all on their own. I know what you're thinking. I can never go vegan. They eat leaves and grass. But there's copious science
confirming how to eat correctly. none other than the prestigious Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, which says that an appropriately planned vegetarian or vegan diet is healthful, nutritionally adequate, and may provide health benefits for the prevention and
treatment of certain diseases. And Harvard Medical School concurs, the pendulum has swung the other way away from meat eating, and studies are confirming the health benefits of meat-free eating.
Call it veganism or plant-based or healthitarianism. Vegan is not just a diet. It's a way of living which seeks to exclude as far as possible and practicable all forms of exploitation and cruelty to animals for
food, clothing, or any other purpose. So if you agree with this, you are already vegan. In 2014, Renee King Sonnen and Tommy Sonnen decided not to put their herd of cows on the truck to
hell. Their cattle ranch became the rowdy girl sanctuary outside of San Antonio, where their cows now live peacefully. And if this man can go vegan, anyone can. Save your life.
This is a before and after image of coronary arteries staying clear over 36 months without drugs, without surgery or stances, without bypass surgery, and only by eating potatoes, vegetables,
beans, grains, and fruit. You may be thinking, but where will I get my protein, my omega-3s, my iron, my calcium? The answer is potatoes, rice, beans, grains, vegetables, and fruit. Those are
our ancestral foods. They provide the perfect proportions because this is our food. Each family must create a plant-based economy. Now, it's up to us. It's up to us to talk it over with our
families because our personal decisions add up to a collective breakthrough. And this is a family removing all the bad stuff from their refrigerator. So do a mind experiment. Make a list of all the foods you love. Put meat, fish, and dairy on the list.
And then add all the kinds of potatoes you like. Sweet potatoes, white potatoes, purple potatoes. Add all the vegetables you like. broccoli and carrots and the beans, the black beans, the peas, the the mung beans, the fruit, the
spaghetti, the grains, the quinoa, and especially the oatmeal. And you all the ways that you like these foods, you can think about and suddenly you realize you already know how to eat a plant-based diet. And yes, fake meats and non-dairy
milks and cheeses are just fine. We can center our plate with potatoes, our ancestral superfood. They have the ideal amounts, 5% protein, 1% fat with fiber and vitamins that are perfect for humans. Plus, they are delicious and
everyone loves them. So, how can West Orange residents benefit? I'm proposing that we sign the plant-based treaty and we join 230,000 individuals who have done so. In
this way, we bring awareness of the benefits of potatoes, rice, beans, vegetables, and fruits to parents and children. We can create less vulnerability to pandemics. We can be less susceptible to disruption by diabetes and heart disease. We can save
money. We can teach respect for the relationship of humans to nature. Many, many businesses, organizations, and individuals have signed as well as cities. So, what a West Orange plant-based treaty could contain.
For example, I'm sure you would have other ideas, but meatless Mondays and wellness Wednesdays, encourage local restaurants to have plant-based options, offer more culturally appropriate food in
schools, get away from the French fries and pizza that they currently eat. increase our townwide tree planting, preserve the remaining forests, and eliminate the gas powered
blowers. We could join other advanced cities like Hoboken, Amsterdam, and Los Angeles. And that concludes my presentation. Uh I give thanks to climate healers for their science and I
hope this has provided you with food for your thought. Let's sign the plant-based treaty for ourselves in West Orange. Let's move ahead. Uh, thank you for listening. Are
Thank you. Does anyone have any questions or additions? Did I leave anything out? Manga, I think you pretty much drained it in about 15 minutes. So, I appreciate that. But we solved all the world's problems then in 15 minutes. That's all we need. I think it is important to to
remind people we do have a pretty strict tree uh protection ordinance and every tree matters. So, please if you're thinking about taking down trees, think twice, maybe three times uh before you take it down and then contact the uh the
town forester uh to get a permit for it. Excellent. So, plant trees, eat potatoes, live well, and by the way, thank you, Mango. I'm glad you didn't I'm glad you didn't say uh Sundays because that's a spaghetti and meatballs in the Castelino
household. You can have great veggie meatballs. Won't fly. I'm gonna make them for you. So, uh next on the agenda is council liaison announcements. I'll start with the uh
council members who are online if either one would like to speak on your liaison. Because it's 7 o'clock, I'm going to forego my council leaison announcements. Thank you, Councilwoman Gabber Michael. That's a great sacrifice. I appreciate
that. Um and I'll speak very quickly. Um I just want to thank all the members of the Older Adults Advisory Board for keeping me in the loop. They've been doing an incredible job um without with uh the next in the last few weeks even
though I haven't been able to attend. I want to thank Sheila Lecoitz who has gotten the most engaging speakers to educate us on the issues that we need to bring to our seniors and Kathy D. Philippus whose business plans for new
programming have been incredible. Um also I just want to thank all my friends for their well wishes. while I recover and for calling me and thanking me and telling me how wonderful the meetings have been. Uh, particularly I want to
thank my friend Jonah who has kept me wellfed for weeks with delicious treats from Bagels by Jarrett, my new favorite takeout as I recover. He has put together incredible menus for me and I
am so appreciative. Please check them out if you haven't already. And that's about it. Thank you, Councilwoman Karpa. Counciloman Castelino. I'll keep mine short. Thank you, Council President. We have Miss Bril here. Uh so she's going to elaborate in her five minutes. She
may if she goes over. We have a a lot of information from downtown Alliance. We're really excited. The Street Fair is coming on June 7th from 11:00 to 5:00. So for all those who' like to help volunteer or just attend, go to our downtown website. Um, also today was
very special. We had Main Street America come to town hall and they spent the day with our wonderful uh commissioners who gave up a day of their workday to spend and spend that time and Miss Bro will touch on that. But um the program
officers that came uh talked about economic vitality and revitalization services and we're really excited of the opportunities that they have for our downtown uh group uh transformational uh uh strategies we're going to be working
on amongst other and of course to get reacredititated in the national main street uh program which is which is big and very uh um very very cumbersome. So I want to thank Miss Brill and Miss McCambell for all their time and due
diligence on um on getting us uh the accreditation. Um but we'll talk about ordinances and other opportunities and really exciting uh public relations commission. They'll be at a street fair promoting our township. So we look
forward to uh them sharing information about the township. So go pay them a visit. And I don't really mention too often about um uh my board event liaison meetings because we we don't not that we don't really meet too often but I but I
am in conversation with various board members and the superintendent and I know the school district's been going through tough times with their budgeting and all that they have to do. So, I just want to let the, you know, council folks know being a former school board member, I've been in contact with them and I I
know they, you know, it's going to be tough on the community with a lot of cuts that they are are making. So, I just wanted to bring that to everybody's attention, but um thank you. Thank you, Councilwoman. Councilwoman, no reports and none from me. We are now ready to
move to our public agenda. Deputy Madame Clerk. This is to inform the general public that this meeting is being held in compliance with section 5 of the Open Public Meetings Act, chapter 231, Public Law 1975. The notice for this meeting
was emailed to the Star Ledger and the West Orange Chronicle on January 7, 2025, and published in the West Orange Chronicle on January 16, 2025. Councilwoman Castalina, present. Councilwoman Gabber Michael
present. Councilwoman Ruden here but alone on this side. Councilwoman Scarpa present. Council President Kuliaak present. Will everyone please stand for the pledge of allegiance.
I aliance 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.
The council is now in their public meeting. So, at the top of the agenda is public comment and I have some news. Uh, tonight we are returning to our traditional practice of public speakers speaking from the podium next to the
deis where Mr. Fagan is speaking. It should improve the audience's ability to hear and understand the speaker and see the speaker's face at least partially. We cannot line up in the aisle as in recent meetings. You have to
raise your hand first be recognized by the chair, then directed to come from your location on the benches to the podium. And if you want to help save time between speakers, you can move closer to the front of the benches. And
once again, I have stepped all over Mr. Fagan's uh announcements. I'll cut back to him and and come back a little bit later on public comments. Please, Mr. Fagan. Uh, thank you, Council Pres. And I do agree with you. Um, it's not going to
solve all the problems, but I believe speaking from this podium will allow um our public commenters to be uh heard. So, uh, as I start, council president, I ask rhetorically, why did the PowerPoint presentation cross the street? And it
was to get to the other slide. So, as we begin this evening, certainly we're May is winging down and there are many things to celebrate this month as there are each month and I can't say that we always remember them all, but we certain
it's not unintentional to exclude. uh this month is uh Asian Afric uh Asian-American Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander certainly Jewish American heritage loop lupus awareness mental health these are in alphabetical order and older adult adults month and I'm
sure there's others too uh that we miss um tomorrow evening in uh in this location um council chambers is the West Orange the second in a series of the West Orange Township Council budget workshop uh the Zoom link is posted at
westge.org. Um, now certainly the transit strike has been settled and it was a short one, thank God. Uh, and I left this slide in there, uh, for the sole purpose of I want the, uh, public to know, uh, how hard, uh, our, um,
transportation division works on coming up with contingent plans. I've seen some comments on Facebook that don't necessarily reflect the public, but they were complaining that we have no contingency plan. And having been in several of the meetings, I want you to know that there's always a contingent plan in place and sometimes it may take
a while to get posted so that all the details can be worked out. Um, do not touch dead birds. Uh, this is information on our website. I believe I brought this up at our last meeting. Uh, there's great information here. Uh, please, uh, check this out. It's at
westn.org. Uh, as Mayor McCartney mentioned, we do have our uh uh annual Memorial Day ceremony coming up. I've been talking about it probably the last two or three meetings. Uh, it is we are paying homage to Vietnam veterans. It is at 11:00.
Please note the time change. It is not at 10:00. It is at 11:00. And um, we have many Vietnam veterans participating. And what's going to be unique about the ceremony this year is that following the outdoor ceremony, the
public is going to be invited in inside here to council chambers for a 10 to 12 minute film. Now, this 10 to 12 minute film uh was uh I I filmed it in 17 when the uh Vietnam traveling wall visited uh West Orange High School in West Orange.
West Orange was one of only a few cities on the east coast to receive the wall and it was here for the July 4th weekend. And um what makes this film unique is uh I had the opportunity to interview um four uh West Orange
residents, at least three West Orange residents who um were Vietnam veterans and were o willingly openingly to talk about their stories. Mr. Mc Burrows in the uh in the top right. Um uh he he served uh in Vietnam. He was in the Dong
Nang Province uh 40 miles southwest of Saigon and he uh fought in the Iron Triangle in a battle what became known as Hodor Woods. It was a very uh fierce fighting and he talks openly about it. Uh Mr. Duca, he was um uh his missions
were four, five, six men. They would go into the jungle uh to to uh for information gathering and uh Mr. Duca openly talks about it. The two enemies that he had other than the enemy he met in the jungle was friendly fire
returning to uh our lines and um he also openly talks about the uh the battle on the home front when he returned. Of course, Mr. Brennan, we know him as Joe Brennan. He handles our annual Veterans Day ceremony. He was in military intelligence and uh he talks about the
many challenges that that that that job uh placed. And uh Kevin Barry in the lower lefthand corner, he was in the first air calary division, served 380 miles uh north of Saigon and uh his job was a machine gunner on a helicopter. um
when a helicopter came into a hot zone to uh pick up or drop off soldiers, they came in uh with machine guns on their port and starboard side and their job simply was to lay down a wall of lead with 50 caliber machine guns. And Mr. Barry openly talks about what a bad
feeling it was to be shooting at people who are trying to kill you. And uh I urge everyone to attend this year's ceremony and come in and see this short film. And the common denominator between all these men and two Vietnam veterans I spoke to today was their uh treatment or
lack of when they returned home. So uh this is as Mayor McCartney mentioned earlier going to be a very poignant ceremony and I urge everyone to attend. Uh I have a slide up here to remind everyone about the West Star Street Fair June 7th. Uh I have some slides from Miss Brill. She's going to come up uh
following me uh and she can elaborate further on it. that this is the event of um of the uh of the season and uh there's a lot to uh a lot a lot going on there and as I say I'll let Miss Brill elaborate on that. Uh the West Orange
municipal ID program uh this information is available at west.org what to bring. Uh I suggest you check that out so you don't come in unprepared because you want to come in and leave here. and um deputy municipal clerk, if they come in with uh the proper credentials, they'll
be able to leave the same day with the ID. No, they get um created by a third party, so it's about a week and a half turnaround time. Thank you for clarification. Uh so I didn't have to misspeak on that. Uh certainly there are uh updates and information about measles
at west.org. This is very important. We have uh the West Orange uh Chamber of Commerce uh dinner is coming up. Uh awards dinner and there are uh several awards going. Police officer, firefighter, educator, business, youth,
entrepreneur, entrepreneur, uh outstanding advocacy and academic excellence. Uh tickets are available at westtorchamber.com to register. And um this also is uh very important. Our
representative from the county isn't here this evening. So, I wanted to be sure to point this out that there's a paper shredding day coming up on Saturday, June 7th. It's the Essis County Public Works Department. This was I posted this on our social media this afternoon. So, this information is there. Um, and there are some
restrictions here. So, I suggest you check that out, but I'll suggest you take advantage of it because it's free to Essis County residents. Certainly, that West Orange residents qualify. and we only run this event uh once or twice a year and uh it's it's really good to
uh uh clean out your house. Um the mayor's open office hours June 5th uh that will be before our next council meeting. So I'm pointing that out. No appointment is uh ever necessary, nor is any appointment necessary for the council connection, which will be
Thursday, May 29th from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. Um, also, West Orange PBA cornhole tournament is Sunday, June 8th, 2025. Uh, and you can contact Connor Moraldo. Uh, that name sounds vaguely familiar. Uh, Chris
Hernandez. And, um, this is at Okconor Park in uh, West Orange, you know. And speaking of Okconor Park, uh I came across this uh from 1900. And this is uh you know, in the back of our room here, there's a portrait of Frank A. Okconor.
And that's the namesake of uh Okconor Park. And he was a uh a plumbing and heating contractor. And his business was right here on Valley Road in West Orange. That time was Main Street. I believe this is the building. I uh I can't confirm that, but that Chinese
food restaurant once belonged to uh was the business of Frank O' Connor who also lived here on Valley Road in a private residence. So, um there's more information here. Uh contact Connoraldo, Chris Hernandez at those numbers uh about the cornhole uh tournament and uh
read and reflect for older adults 60 plus uh May 29th coming up. Uh you can register via community pass. Uh this information is on uh west.org on the red uh wreck section of the website and you
can call for more information. Uh and as I say register via community pass. Uh I've been mentioning this at the last several meetings. This is coming up on us now. Uh talkbacks uh and more for a movie screening for our Junth film festival. they uh attracted or they they
began last year with great momentum and they want to continue that through this year. Uh I have four more slides here, but these are for Miss Burl if you'd like to come up and talk about the that's that's okay. I just need two
forms of ID for you to pass the red rope and and don't forget the breathalyzer. Yeah. And just just the right arrow. Yeah, the arrow. Okay. Thank you. Hi everybody. I'm Megan Brill, executive director with the Downtown Alliance. Um,
okay. So, we have uh downtown Thursdays and uh and our street fair all set up. Here's the schedule. To find out more information, just hit the QR code, hoping that people at home can just hit the code and it'll take you to uh our website with all the information about
our street fair and um and ways that you can find out where to park, how to get in, the hours. Handicap parking will be updated. All the information you need to know about the street fair will be there. We apologize in advance to the folks that are displaced on Main Street.
It's a long day, 7 to 7. Folks that live uh within the footprint cannot drive their car onto Main Street and we know that's a big deal and we thank you so much for the inconvenience. We do allow folks to park in CVS and they can get out through Babcock and get out of the
footprint. So, it's a it's a inconvenience to them and a really great day for the rest of West Orange and we appreciate all of that support. Um, should not go unnoticed. We also have the street fair sign up. We have 75 spots to fill. We're
about halfway there. Um, there are two three-hour shifts in all aspects of what we need to do. There's uh some heavy lifting stuff and some sitting and taking ticket kind of stuff. So, there's lots of ways for anyone to really be
able to help us. We have two different signups. You can sign up young adults and um to to do all different kinds of things, pretty much anything, but work in the beer garden. And then uh the adults, although the beer garden spots are going quick, so if you want to do that, you should hit the QR code and
sign up. Um but we love everybody. It's it's a really big our board is completely uh focused on pulling that day off. Um but we need we need a lot of help to be able to do that. We're kicking off downtown Thursdays with a pride event. We're working with the
three middle schools in town. And um what's actually interesting is that we're going from a central six model, Central 6th and seventh and eighth grade to this three sixth, seventh and eighth grade model. This event is giving those kids a chance to kind of meet each other
um before they have to go back to school in September. So, we've had a couple of planning meetings. The uh staff uh teacher, I forget what they're called, the student adviserss of the three schools are all working together. We've been able to zoom with them and they're
super excited about pulling off a really cool event right here uh on town hall property on uh June 26, 5 to 8. and that kicks off our downtown Thursday series. Um, wait, let me go back one. We have a flyer that's coming out and actually um
I need to distribute that to you and the county asked for it. So, it'll list the schedules. We have five other downtown Thursdays that we're trying to plan that we already planned. The the list will be out. They range from dog day afternoons to pajama parties to David Cassidy
historical marker with their fan club, his fan club. So, it's uh it's a a lot of Thursdays. It's not every Thursday, thank God. Um but it's a lot of them. Um so, we hope that actually our stats show that more people are downtown when we have a downtown Thursday. So, when we
don't have a downtown Thursday, people tend to forget about downtown. So, we're going to keep you reminding you come downtown and and do something cool down with us. All right. We had our mural. This is the winner. Yay. Um, so we we
put out part of the grant that we got last year from uh Main Street, New Jersey, was a a mural on Imagination Alley. That's the alley between Supreme Bakery and a Main Street. Uh like right right there. It's kind of a dingy, you
know, alley. We painted the wall and we put these really cool decorations which are some elements in the uh in Monaet's mural. So, we put out for bid for about 3 months and we got 13 selections. 13 people sent in their uh ideas for the
alley. We gave them some guidelines. We wanted, you know, Edison's light bulb, that's kind of our logo. We wanted to tie it into the alley, but it's imagination. Use your imagination. So, we got 13 different uh recipients. Some of them were local. Um but we got some
national reach. There's a muralist from all over the country that sent in um not such a great one. He didn't get us all that well, but he did find us on the internet and he sent stuff in. So, was a blind we had a committee of six people.
I was the only one that knew who the artists were. Um there were some locals, so I wanted to make sure that we kept it kept it tight. So, I was the only one that knew. The committee got one to 13 murals and Monet was the top one. Actually, the top three were the top three of all of the picks and uh and
Monae Shear, who if you know her mom, Lynette, the jazz singer, Monae ended up really knocking it out of the park. So, we're going to start painting, I think, next week, weather permitting. We're going to make a big deal about it. We're going to come in and film and uh and try
not to bug her. But, uh it should take till the end of the month, maybe middle of of June. the the rain kind of way laid us a little bit, but uh it's a it's pretty cool. And actually, she's painting those people in there. They look a little weird in the picture, but
they're actually going to be painted. She did um the in Terminal One in Newark. Uh she has this beautiful purple flower mural that she did and like six other murals around uh around the county. She's a really talented young lady and we're excited that a West
Orange resident uh young girl and when I called her to tell her that she won, she screamed in the car. Um so we're very excited about it. Um so that's it. That's our mural and I think that that is it for me. Excuse the ribbon the ribbon cutings. Um yeah, actually it's
one of our downtown Thursdays. It'll be the I think it's July 17th. It's It's the middle downtown Thursday where we're going to program with a band in St. Mark Square. The two that we just did Saturday. The the two Oh, our two ribbon cutings. I don't have pictures to to
share. Um so we did two. We have two new businesses right in Tory Corner. Um, so Will and Olivia, um, she went online and she left the storefront, but she turned the keys over to Cafeito and, uh, it's two couples that, um, found the the
landlord online and fell in love with the store. So, it is a bakery like like no other. The the like panini grilled cheese thing that I had on Saturday was amazing. So, it's a regular coffee shop and tons of baked goods. You can park
right in front. You can park around the corner. Um you can park all all around there and uh and go check them out. They're open regular hours like seven days a week and um and they're brand new, really excited. Uh the whole family's there. The young daughter at like 13 is helping out. Um so it was
really nice to see them and we cut the ribbon, you know, welcoming them to West Orange. The other business is was the pink bakery on the corner of Llewellyn. It's now called Sabore Amar and it's Peruvian chicken place. And again, the dad owns a mechanic shop on Franklin A.
The kids, Caesar, owns a mechanic shop on Park Avenue over there. And together, the family is a chef. And uh and they are making a Peruvian chicken place. So, it's uh they redid the whole place, invested a lot of money in the storefront that was a bakery. Um they're
really an online bakery. So, they redid the kitchen, they redid the ceilings and the floors. Everything looks really great. And if you go by the lights on, the looks like inviting and open and uh they're hopping, you know, a lot a lot
of folks. We have to keep that going. Uh winter is tough for downtown businesses. People aren't walking around. So, everybody's excited that the weather broke and it stopped raining and uh and thank you C Miss Castelino for reminding
me about the my next thing already. Thank you, Ms. Real. Okay, for the rest of us, I just want to uh read just a couple of instructions uh so that we know what is expected so we know what is expected of us when we
make public comment. Our ordinance our ordinance uh says that public or uh comment requires the speaker to first state their name and address for our minutes. So speak slowly, speak clearly so we can pick this up. If we don't, we
have to interrupt you and uh lose some time. So uh also time limits portion of the ordinance requires uh conduct by public comment speakers who quote shall at no time engage in any personally offensive or abusive remarks. The chair
shall call any speaker to order who violates any provision of this rule end quote. And then as to another item, another aspect of the ordinance is says that quote any person who shall disturb the peace of the township council, make offensive or abusive remarks or conduct
himself or herself in a boisterous manner while addressing the council shall be forth with barred by the presiding officer from further audience before the council. Except that if the speaker shall submit to proper order under these rules, permission for him or her to continue may be granted by a
majority vote of the council. I am a big fan of civility and I uh encourage it here. I think a lack of civility and manners contributes to our political conflict and inability to meet meet a middle ground. The council is a place to
discuss our differences and often to find compromise to make West Orange an even better place to live. So I urge all of us to treat everyone as they would like to be treated. You can make your point without insulting anyone else or cursing. So, like I said, we're going to
be coming up to the podium. You need to raise your hand if you'd like to speak. I see a hand already up. Please come on down. If anyone else would like to speak, please uh uh raise your hand, be recognized, and uh you can come down to the uh closer to the row so we can have
less time uh in between speakers. Is there anyone else who'd like to speak? Yes. Okay. So, you're third. You're third, Councilwoman. Thank you. So, thank you so very much. Good evening, council members, council president, as well as our members of the
administration, and of course, my fellow West Orange residents. Um, before I get started into the real purpose of me coming here this afternoon evening, um, just wanted to say Miss Meena can certainly appreciate your advocacy for a vegan uh, society. As you know, my
daughter is vegan, has been for many, many years, and would appreciate all of those comments about eating uh grain. Thank you. Council members, the reason I am here is as our public information
officer, Mr. Fagan, has acknowledged, this is mental health awareness month. In early May, we tragically lost a member of our West Orange community to suicide. And while we honor their life and extend our deepest condolences to
their family, we must also accept this call to action that the loss brings. Suicide is the second leading cause of death for people ages 10 to 34 in the United States. And according to the CDC, more than 49,000 Americans died by
suicide in 2023, marking the highest number ever recorded. That's one lost life every 11 minutes. Let me be clear, suicide is preventable, but only if we do the work
and we do the work together. That's why I launched the Zero Suicide West Orange campaign in 2024. It's a communitywide initiative rooted in the belief that not one single life should be lost to suicide. My
message for the WOSAC Foundation is simple but urgent. Recognize, respond, and refer. Recognize the warning signs. Expressions of hopelessness or feeling like a burden are signs. Withdrawal from
friends and activities are signs. Changes in mood, sleep, or behavior are signs. Talking about wanting to die is absolutely a sign. Respond with
compassion. Don't be afraid to ask, "Are you okay?" or even, "Are you thinking about suicide?" Asking doesn't plant the idea. It can save a life. Refer people to help. West Orange is fortunate to
have mental health resources from school-based counselors to partnerships with organizations like the Mental Health Association of Essex and Morris and the RWJ Barnabas Behavioral Health Centers. But we must go further. Each
resident, parent, teacher, co-worker, and friend must be trained to act. That's why the Rosac Foundation has hosted mental health first aid workshops and why I'm asking our town to commit to
making mental health education mandatory in schools, providing training for first responders and community leaders on an annual basis that far exceeds the mandatory requirements and supporting public health campaigns and removing the
stigma around mental health. The West Orange Stop Suicide Advocacy Coalition is already doing this work. We host monthly talks, annual Green Ribbon campaigns, and the Run for WSAC 5K to bring mental health to the forefront.
But we need your support, participation, and your voice. Let's not wait for another loss to shake us into action. We owe it to every resident, especially our youth, to treat mental health like we treat
physical health with urgency, respect, and hope. Thank you to the administration for putting suicide prevention and wellness information on our marquee. Outside the suicide and crisis lifeline is
988 to together we can move toward a zero suicide West Orange campaign. And lastly, with the last few seconds that I have, I want to thank our PI PIO for also continuing to talk about Junth. Um,
the festival is on June 20th through the 22nd. We have curated a wonderful event uh with various panel discussions, uh community conversations, an art uh gallery unveiling at the West Orange Art
Center, plays that will also represent um the the holiday and the event. You can log on to bit.ly/wjun25 /wjun25 for the detailed outline of all the events and I look forward to seeing you there. Thank you. Thank you, Mr.
Scott. Thank you for uh bringing the podium back over here. Every time I uh look online and after I've spoken, all I can see is my bald head. So, I'm not that bad looking. Good evening, uh members of the
council and everyone else. Thank you for allowing me to speak today. Uh Mr. president. A 2023 article in political asked the question uh why can't the garden state shake its reputation as
corrupt. The article showed that based on the number of convictions of elected officials, New Jersey is in the top three of the most corrupt states in America. Recently, our US Senator Bob Mendez was convicted of taking bribes.
A 2024 New York Times poll found that six in 10 New Jersey residents believe their politicians to be very arout. And a glaring 2009 headline read, "Everyone in New York in New Jersey was
arrested today." This was in response to the corruption sting Big Red when 44 were arrested, including three New Jersey mayors and two assemblymen. It is with this sad backdrop that I come before the council to ask you to take
action. I'm a member of the West Orange Zoning Board. The board, if residents don't know it, has tremendous power over what construction projects from apartment buildings to bowling alleys to home additions gets built. The illegally serving chair of the
zoning board, Phil Neuer, and Councilwoman Michelle Castelino's appointment to the zoning board, Alice Weiss, have, according to open secrets, given large financial contributions to Senator John McKon. Perfectly
legal. Alice Weiss has contributed $850 to Miss McKon, including $500 in 2023. Philer has given $12,000 to Mr. McKon's campaigns, including 2,000 in 2023. Again,
perfectly legal. But Mr. McKeon's firm is representing a client that has an application ZB2411 Group currently before the zoning board. Both Alice Weiss and Phil Lawyer must recuse themselves from
participating in and from voting on that application. The appearance of bias, favoritism, and corruption is pronounced. It was only a year ago that the August Mr. Neuer publicly castigated then board member Jerry Eban, appointed
by council member Rutherford, for having a phone conversation with an architect who had an application before the board. Mr. Eban stated at the time that he had known the architect for years and that the conversation wasn't about the application, but Mr. Lawyer professed his
disappointment in Mr. Eban and asked him to recuse himself. Yet Mr. Lawyer has not come clean about his appearance of bias, favoritism, and corruption on ZB 2411 Group, and neither has Miss Weiss.
Mr. Millionaire has already proven himself by serving illegally as chair to be unethical. He bristles at questions and does not collaborate with the board with board members on setting the agenda. As a member of the zoning board, I do not
wish to appear complicit in this blatantly unethical conduct and their appearance of corruption. In closing, I ask this council to pass a resolution condemning Phil Neuer for his duplicity and demand that he and Alice Weiss
recuse themselves from ZB2411 Group due to the appearance of bias, favoritism, and corruption of which New Jersey has seen too much of. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Scott. Is there anyone else who wishes
to speak after Councilman? Uh, I see two hands over here. Would you two come on down, please? And and you'll be the next two speakers, please. I thought there was a second hand over here, but that's fine if you both count. That's
Please go ahead. Uh, thank you, Council President. Um, greetings to the council, the administration, all of those joining in person and virtually. I'm here to speak about the mayor's ordinance that was pulled from apologologist. Can you just state your name and along resident?
Um, apologize. Um, I expect the ordinance was drafted and at least reviewed uh by the legal department of Township of West Orange, uh, which should automatically give each council person pause. Uh, you have a head of your legal department that has been
awarding his private legal firm work in cases without a contract for three years. That conduct is the subject of a lawsuit initiated by the mayor against the township council that has yet to be finalized. Um it is a miracle um that it
hasn't been finalized uh given countless cases have begun and been resolved since this lawsuit was initiated. Uh and there's no legitimate reason for failing to render the decision after all of this time. But the ordinance itself is a
problem. uh not just the attorney responsible for drafting it. It's a problem that has plagued this township for far too long. Uh we rush through important legislation without considering the consequences. We enact local ordinance with no ability to enforce it which creates confusion allow
and allows for selective enforcement which is really what I'd like to discuss. Uh while I am pleased that it was pulled tonight, uh and I hope that that was pulled so that uh greater due diligence can be done with regard to the ordinance. Um but the issue is the way
it was crafted originally allows for selective enforcement. Um I believe Lorraine Park uh is being targeted by this administration. I recognize uh which council members are in support of the ordinance changes and and the fact that at least one of them is in fact willing to hold this administration
accountable. I am fully aware of that. I believe that this is a fact that is being exploited by the administration for their own personal agenda. Len Park has been targeted for years and it was part of a broader pattern. There have been four businesses targeted at least
that I um that is how they would characterize it. Uh the owners would characterize it and how I would characterize it. Uh those are Jared's Bagel Shop, South Valley Barbecue, Harper's Cafe, and now Lurell Park. What few of them have in common is that there
are blackowned establishments. And what was targeted, I believe, due his due to his personal willingness to hold elected officials in this town accountable. Uh that said, uh what you may be considering at your next council meeting will make it easier for
this administration to punish businesses and business owners that they don't like. It is wholly subjective and will lead to abuses by those in charge. They have done it before and they will do it again. We had an uninforcable ordinance as evidenced by the many times judges have failed to
uphold the complaint. Uh because we wrote an ordinance that required special equipment to enforce or never purchased that equipment in spite of the many losses in court and the many pleas of residents and business owners and elected officials to either purchase the
equipment or amend the ordinance. That failure to properly address this issue makes this attempt uh at this time seem disingenuous. Uh, finally, if you were present at the community meeting hosted by the owners of Llewellyn Park one week ago, you would know that the overwhelming
majority of residents have no complaints about this restaurant. And if we want to have a thriving main street, we have to be considerate of all the residents and businesses in that cor corridor. Uh, while one or two or even a few may complain, there are thousands in that corridor that love the place and or
wanted to stay. Let me uh end by saying um you know I'm I'm it's not lost on me that um Mr. uh Scott's uh commentary included a complaint with regard to Mr. Moyer. Um, the same township attorney
that's reviewing or drafted this noise ordinance is the same one that sent the town council um an opinion by a retired judge saying that Phil Noah could remain as chair when this council refused to change the existing ordinance that
prohibited prohibited him from serving in that capacity. The ordinance had been ignored and then once it was a problem it was presented to the council to change it. The council considered the change and decided not to change it and
then it was decided that we would just ignore the role of the council. There are broader patterns at work here. I hope this council will take this seriously and not allow this administration to change a mayor's ordinance in order to punish a business in town that is thriving on Main Street
serving residents of this town well that we are proud of uh and that also employs many people. Uh thank you town council. Thank you. Please, is there anyone else who'd like to speak? I can recognize them and stick you in line. I see two hands up over
here. So, oh, there's three. I see two over here. So, I think was that uh Mr. Blandon. Okay, Mr. Blandon, you'll be follow the uh second uh the speaker over here, please. And then Mr. Panella, please go ahead. I'm sorry. Thank you. Good evening, uh council members. I am
Mark Thompson, co-owner of Laurel Park. Excuse me. My partner Anthony is at work uh firefighting in Jersey City. He typed this up. I'm going to read it. Um I'm writing you as a local resident, excuse me, a local restaurant
owner, property owner, and concerned member of our business community following up on a community meeting held last week on May 13th, 2025. The community meeting was well attended by residents and business owners alike, all who have came with thoughtful input and
shared interest in finding balance on the importance issue of noise and the noise ordinance. It was unfortunate and disheartening that no council members It was unfortunate and disheartening that no council members were in attendance. Your presence would have been a valuable demonstration of
your commitment to hearing directly from constituents, owners, and residents, especially those who will be directly affected by any proposed changes to the noise ordinance. The same level of attention and effort that has been dedicated to addressing concerns from those advocating for stricter noise
limitations should also be extended to all of the businesses who have outdoor dining, including our other businesses that are here, South Valley, Oko, and Crab Bay West should be extend to other businesses who have outdoor dining who
are working to find a reasonable compromise that support quality of life and local economic stability and growth. As you deliberate on the future policy changes, I respectfully urge you to consider the broader impact these decisions have on our local businesses,
particularly particularly those with outdoor dining. Entertainment and amplified music are not just amenities. They are essential components of a thriving dining experience and play a vital role in attracting visitors, supporting jobs, and building a community. There are real economic
consequences consequences for businesses owners at stake. The proposed changes to the ordinance present yet another hurdle in what is already a challenging environment for small business owners and restaurant owners. I humbly ask that you seek a meaningful, equitable, and lasting change to the governance of
locations impacted by your vote. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Thompson. There was another one over here on my left. Yes, please come up then. Uh Mr. Bland, you'll be next. Good evening. Kaimo Suggs from uh South
Valley Barbecq and Lounge. Um so your name? Caimo. K A I MU Suggs last name. Um I basically just wanted to touch on two issues. One is the uh noise ordinance and another thing is the
parking on Wheatland. It's a dead end block. Uh we've been there now for almost four years and at some point there was um it was a just a residential street. No, it was parking for anyone. Um I guess it was about a year or two
now that they made the township made 30 parking spaces and then made it a public parking lot that nobody can park in. Um I think it's lot 28 if I can remember. Um, it was made for residential parking
24 hours. No one ever spoke to us about it. I'm assuming I mean I like to assume, but there was probably one complaint or a few complaints in the residents of the area, but our issue was um by the police. They told us that it
was um lewd acts being committed on that block um and stolen vehicles being parked over there and noise complaints with I guess I assume our customers or what have you. But two of those things have absolutely nothing to do with us
with a stolen car. If if a criminal steals a car, they could park it anywhere. It has really nothing to do with it's a quiet block. I get it. But it hurts our business when they made they made 30 parking spaces. It wasn't like that before. The township made 30
parking spaces and at every any given night there's only two cars there which are residents that live in the area. Um maybe three at one point, but that person has left cuz it was a tenant that lives in a particular house right across the street. But anyway, it just blocks
our business, our customers. Now they now they're forced to park somewhere else around the on the street um when we run out of parking. Um, if you're familiar with the business, uh, used to be the old Suzie Q's. Um, we're not here to be defiant or what have you. I'm a
retired deputy chief, firefighter in Irvington. I just retired almost three years ago. One of my partners is a firefighter. We got a real estate a uh, real estate agent and investor, um, contractor. We're We're not here to rock the boat. We're not here to cause
trouble. We try to keep the crowd, our crowd is an average of 40 years old and up. We have dignitaries come through. Um, we try to keep the riff raff without out, you know, for a lack of a better term. Um, obviously you can't keep
everybody at bay, but it is what it is. The public building. Um, we just want a fair shake of like we we never got any information on it. It just happened. And one day they put up signs said 24-hour residential parking and that was it. And
our customers were threatened, you're going to be told if you park your car there. Most of our customers are the regulars, they know they shouldn't park it. But every now and then we go outside, we try to police the area. Um let them know, look, you can't park there. So they try to park elsewhere if we run out of parking. Um, we just
wanted to be able to have a say so about it if we can meet with someone at some point to maybe even it could have been maybe uh parking for up until no park, no overnight parking. I know there's some townships that do that on certain blocks or what have you, but to have
24-hour permit parking was just unfair. Um, as far as the the noise ordinance and everything, um, I think that's a little unfair as well. To my understanding, it's a 25 foot marker where if you can hear something 25 feet
away from the building, I mean, I can hear you burp 25 ft away. I mean, it's it's just not it's just not fair. We try to be compliant. We don't we're we're not here, like I said, to rock the boat. We just want to make sure that we're complicit and with, you know, in
compliant with everything. Um, when we first got there, the building was in disarray. We were told we had to paint the building. We painted it immediately. We had to clean up the grounds on the on the in the rear, which our customers don't even have access to. But this was like that prior to us even getting it
for, I don't know, 10, 20 years or what have you. But we immediately corrected the problem and got it abated. So, like I said, we're not here to rock the boat. We just want to make sure that we at least get a fair shake. And going back to the parking issue, at least we could
can we sit down and try to come to a common ground with it. Thank you. Thank you. John Blandon, Faro Road, West Orange resident. Good evening, council. Um just want to say uh to
you in order to have friends got to first show yourself friendly. There was community meeting last week and again you guys are the legislative branch of our township
and I don't know inadvertently or I'll say inadvertently to keep it nice. Many of you went out and you listened to one side of a story and you came in
public meeting and you defined park as a nightclub as a very noisy out of control place. I asked you to define it. Didn't do it.
you only talk to one party, then you're hid behind your council. And I'd like to know what council advise you not to meet the community because in fairness, if you meet with one group, you should meet
with them all. On Wednesday of last week, there was a community meeting that was well attended. I want to thank the mayor for sending her administration there, members of it to hear everything from everyone where
all information was heard at the same time. I want to thank Meg Bro and the downtown alliance members who attended the meeting and was able to make a I think some other thoughts um that
initially were negative. The disappointing part again is that members of our council and you know who you are. You met with these folks privately came to your own conclusion. You watch videos that I saw
that were dated and since that time those issues and concerns have been corrected. But you still keep floating that video around and didn't investigate and look at the date of the video.
very disappointed that our legislative body would go cocked off somewhere. And we keep saying we're West Orange. There's no hate here. But we keep hearing certain businesses
being targeted. There was a gentleman that was a professional that studies this type of behavior and he came to the conclusion in his takeaway that that's called unconsciousness and that's what's going on and it's a psychological issue that
some of us don't want to deal with and West Orange has a long reputation of doing stuff like this. It's not good. People of color are here in this town. They brought a lot of wealth to
this town which include businesses and we're not going anywhere. I plan like a lot of other people to age in place so my children and grandchildren
can do like some of the other children and grandchildren to see where their fathers grew up. We need to be constant on developing the dirt downtown instead of making it a ghost town. And when we talk, we like to
be listened to and not typed. I hope that those of you that are writing or typing or listening to what I'm saying um because it does apply to you. Um I watch your verbal and nonverbal expressions on TV and in
person. And you need to go and look at the type of image that you're portraying to our community, especially our young people. What kind of example are you setting? I want to close by saying we
should be here talking about Mr. Anthony Sharpestston. I call him Sharp now. that about two weeks ago went into a blazing burning building and saved three individuals. That's what we should be
celebrating these gentlemen, young men as public servants. That's what I want to say. God bless you. In order to have friends, you got to show yourself friendly. Thank you, Mr. Glenn. Is there anyone else who'd like to speak
after Mr. Penelo? We have Miss Milanga. You'll be next. Is there other hands? I'm sorry. Could you just raise them up so I say I'm Okay. Thank you. And then the woman sitting right next behind Miss Langanger, you'll be next and then I'll catch the folks on the other side if if
you don't mind. So So wasn't was wasn't there another person over here that I asked to get in line to speak or did I miss that? And why did our speaker just leave the room? Yeah. Oh, please.
No, no yelling out from the audience, please. Miss Malanga. And then after Miss Manga, uh you behind her. Okay. Thank you. Valley Malanga Ridge Road. I I just wanted to make public comment
um about the gas power blower noise and pollution still remains a public health threat. And for me personally, I will never give up on this issue because for me it's not a matter of how many
hours I have to listen to them. It's a matter of how many hours I don't listen to them because they are being used now throughout the summer gratuitously. It's no longer about leaf removal. It's just about blowing stuff. They're blowing the road. They're blowing their parking
lots. And every day they light them up. Tremendous noise that travels a very far distance. And the fumes as well is this is a very serious public health threat that we really need to take action on.
Uh secondly, the issue with the conflict of interest on the zoning board. It's deeply concerning when the chairman of the zoning board is making political contributions both to our local elected officials that are involved with his
tenure on the zoning board as well as his votes. um you know if our former our former mayor John McKeon's law firm uh is representing an applicant and he has received a significant amount of money
uh and then the wonder uh meat smokers no less and other toxic operation which are currently illegally operating in our town as we speak uh is proposing to expand their operation using Mr.
McKan's law firm. This is not good. This needs to be rectified uh with proper conflict of interest rules for our land use boards as this is how our town loses trust. And last, I want to support the funding for the Degman Park Community
Garden. Uh that's a great project and as as I spoke about earlier, we need to rewarks and make them prolific and productive and that's a great opportunity to do so. So, thank you.
Thank you, Miss Michael. Please. Yes, please. Is there anyone else who'd like to speak? Okay, you're next. the woman in the second row and then I think there was a hand. Okay, you're after her. Is that good? Okay, thank you. Thank you for the time.
One of our neighboring communities, Verona, has a population of Excuse me. I'm sorry, Beverly Riley. Yes. 56 Lennox Terrace. Sorry. Verona, one of our neighboring communities, has a population of 11,000
people, and they have a volunteer-led weed-free community garden of 100 neat and orderly beds for their community. 100 beds for 11,000 people.
West Orange has a population of 50,000 people. We have three community gardens for a total of 50 beds. That's 50 beds for 50,000 people. Our beds are not weed-free or
cared for adequately. The Unico Veio Garden is the only garden in West Orange for seniors. It is the only organic garden. It is the only teaching garden. I am a Rutgers
certified master gardener and there are three Rutgers master gardeners who support the garden not only with education but with funding and we have been funding and teaching at this garden for almost nine
years. It is the going to be the only garden that contributes food to our food bank down in the valley. And hopefully with this grant that comes from the federal government, we will be
the only ADA compliant garden with beds that are ADA compliant with irrigation systems so that seniors don't have to shle hoses from one end of the garden to the other and with a shed that will be
adequate for all of our supplies. Currently, those supplies are sitting on the ground covered by a tarp. As I said, I am a Ruters Master Gardener and a volunteer. Anytime that Ruter's master gardeners are involved
with the community garden, all of that work is done as a volunteer and we also contribute financially to support those projects. That is our mission. So for nine years, we have been asking the administration to please help support us
and the senior gardeners who come each day to work at the garden. And we have 14 senior gardeners who have been with us mostly since for nine years. We have a wait list and hardly anyone ever moves from that unless they leave West Orange
or because of illness. And we have been asking for a sh a new shed. We've been asking for new beds. When the UNICO chapter here in town built that garden in 2007, it was built for children with
special needs. It was not built for seniors who also have special needs, many with knee and hip replacements. And we are working on beds that are this deep. And so, can you imagine how difficult that is for seniors to do the
gardening? And yet it is a beautiful place. It is a place that people who come to the garden to wake to um the park always stop by and say how beautiful it is. It's an asset for the community and certainly for the gardeners that are there. Yet we have
been told by members one member of the community that we were not a priority when the grant was written. So, we've been asking for nine years for support for the garden. And in December
2021, on a weekend, I received a phone call from one of the members of the administration asking for what exactly the garden needs. And we gave them a list of all of our needs. I received a second call to ask were there any other things that we needed and I provided
that list. Nothing has happened since 2021. We had announcements in the press that the garden would be done fixed in 2022, then in 2023. Then in we heard nothing. We've
heard nothing until recently in December when we learned that the issue with why nothing was being done was right here in the administration, not to do with the federal government. The federal government has been holding the money,
waiting for us to respond. So, you're wondering why after nine years would I be asking you town council people to not vote in favor of the proposal that Zabth is going to present today. She has been admirable. We have
been meeting, we've met three times with the administration and with gardeners and with the master gardeners and we are simply asking for you to delay this decision until we feel satisfied. Right now we feel that much of the money is
going for exercise equipment. We feel it's unneeded. There is Zumba class, there is yoga class, there is a weightlifting class, there is a tap dancing class, there are walking paths here in Dnham Park as well as in the reservation. We don't need to spend
upwards of $50,000 or more on exercise equipment outdoor outdoors. We are not Venice Beach. This is not Southern California. We don't need the exercise equipment. We do need the administration
support. And I thank you for the time. Thank you, Miss Riley. Hi, my name is Lisa Okyle, 23 Malarkey Drive. Um, I have to say I have absolutely nothing prepared, but there's not much I really need to say after Bev
spoke. She is def she is one of the three master gardeners in our senior garden. And I'm a proud senior gardener and um Joan and Tuananisha. I I'm so impressed with
them. I really got to know them last year. I've been in the garden for six years. As soon as I moved to West Orange, a friend of mine that lived as a neighbor of mine in Livingston said to me, "Would you like to join a garden?" And it was unbelievable that I had just
said to my husband, "I'm really going to miss I had this little garden. It was probably just a little bit bigger than this podium, but I had it in my backyard and I loved it so much and I was moving and I was feeling badly that I wasn't going to have a garden." And she said, "You want to join this garden?" And I
was ecstatic. So, um, I've had six years there. It's mostly been great. For the past couple years, we've had a lot of issues with animals and with I I everyone, not just me, puts in a lot of
energy, effort, time, sore backs and knees and hips, just like you were talking about. I'm one of those. And, um, it it was devastating last year. The year before wasn't good either, but prior it was better. But the animals got
a taste of something good and I guess keep coming back. Um, I just wanted to tell you emotionally what it means to me and I I know I'm not alone that uh during COVID we had to kidnap my
daughter and son-in-law who lived in New York and she was pregnant. my son pulled from Florida and he said, "You must get Carly out of New York City. Get her out to West Orange. Be with her. Take care of her." And and of course we did it like that day. He said, "You got to go
now." So we went, we took them back and they needless to say being pregnant parents to be said, "We don't want you like going out. You be careful if you go to the market. We had to order our food and bring it in and blah blah blah all all the stuff that probably a lot of
people here did anyway. But um I was especially cautious and the garden was the only place I could go without wearing a mask and being outside and watching these
vegetables grow. That just truly fulfilled me. And and it honestly I really think it saved me because to just be in my house and not be able to go anywhere or see friends. The garden was my friend and I would see other
gardeners and we would stay apart and everything else but it really was a very a safe haven for all of us. So it's not just a gu. It sounds like, oh, we need this. We need this. We But we do need these things, but it's it's very
emotional. It's not like just a material thing. We need tall fences so the animals won't come. We need we need these things because these are what things that are important to us and they fulfill us. And like Bev was saying that
we donate food. I mean, you don't get much better than that, unless we were a farm. That would be really good. But, um, it would be wonderful to have these wishes fulfilled. We're hoping that they will be. We have good faith that a lot
of it will be, hopefully all of it will be, and we appreciate it and don't take anything for granted. And I just wanted you all to know that that we really I think every gardener there probably could tell you a story similar to mine
or even very different, but the feelings are still the same. They're all like genuine from our hearts. And I hope that we can get what we're hoping for. And I thank you for listening to me. Sorry I wasn't a little more prepared, but thank
you. Thank you. Mr. Panel, oh nope, I'm sorry, I forgot. Please come forward. And then Mr. Panel, I think unless you leave again, you can be uh next.
Good evening. Uh Laala Mahandra Harrison Avenue. Um your name can hear your name. Lala. Yes. Um, so I came here tonight not just to as a business owner, but as a woman who has been harassed, disrespected, and
endangered on property that I pay to operate on. I followed every protocol, filed reports, submitted footage, documented everything. And yet, I still have to walk into my place of business looking over my shoulder. I'm asking this town and its leadership,
what messages are we sending to small business owners, especially women and black businesses, black business owners, when we allow repeated harassment to go unchecked. Um, I also wanted to address the noise complaints made against my
business, um, Exclusive Mail Studio. Police have come to my studio at least three to four times, and each time there has been no issue found. These complaints seem to be targeted and disruptive. What can the city do to
protect businesses from false reports and ongoing harassment? I'm requesting support regarding repeated false noise complaints made against my business. Police um these calls appear to be
targeted harassment which disrupt my operations and create a hostile work environment. And it's hostile because the people that are complaining live above my business um where they're making the noise and are harassing me
when I'm at at work. What can the city do to protect businesses from false reports and ongoing harassment? Um, at the last meeting, um, well, not the last one, but the prior one to that, I mentioned repeated disturbances and harassment from the tenant above my
business. What specific actions has the city taken since then to address this ongoing problem? Is there a clear process for escalating unresolved quality of life complaints involve involving commercial tenants
being harassed by residential neighbors? What resources or departments are available to help small business owners when they are continuously targeted by problematic neighbors or city officials? Does the city have any ordinances or
enforcement mechanisms in place when a resident is interfering with the operation of a licensed taxpaying business? And what does the city recommend I do if I followed every official channel, including filing reports, contacting police, and
documenting every incident, yet the behavior continues? Um, just a couple of incidents. the people that live above my business that have been here and complaining to you guys prior to me even knowing that this was a thing. Um they've spoken to you guys and you guys
have taken some action. I'm still trying to find out what that is. Um I guess I have to do a little more due diligence to see what ordinance that they will request and be put in. But um the there are men that have
approached me threatenly, aggressive, um approach me with dogs in my backyard. Well, the back my parking lot in behind my business and nothing is being done. I call the police, they don't do anything. They tell me to go put a report at the courthouse. The courthouse then sends me
a response saying they can't do anything. So, I'm just trying to figure out what is being done and what could be done. But when these individuals come here and make these complaints, you guys are taking efforts and doing things based off of one-sided story. I've never been asked what happened. I've never
been a letter, a notice, or anything asking my side of the story. You're just basing your findings off of a one-sided story. So, I just need to know what's happening. How are we going to resolve this? Because they're still coming here
complaining, but they're making the issue. They're they're is they are the issue. So, we need to figure this out so I have a productive daily day at my business without being harassed by my neighbors that are coming here and basically lying to you. There's no
noise. Um, I've been at my business for nine years. The music that I play in my facil in my business has been the same music for the last nine years. Just as of 2025, the complaints are starting. So, I want to know what created that to spark all of a sudden nine years later.
So, we just need to look deeper into this. We need to get some resolution. Um, it's just not fair to black business owners that the city isn't doing anything productive to make sure that we are being safe and that we are it it's fair across the board. And that's all I
have to say this evening. Thank you. Thank you. Yes, Mr. Penelope. Is there anyone else who'd like to speak tonight? if you'll just raise your hand. Okay. Anyone else besides the young lady that just raised her hand? Anybody else want to
speak? Oh, I'm sorry, Miss N. Okay. Uh, come after her. Is that okay? Thank you. Go. Yes, please. May. Thank you, Mr. President, members of the council. Good evening. Joseph
Pendulo. I live in SXL's within 200 feet of the notice area of the West Essex Highlands project. I am the president of weare the objector at the planning board in the application for the development of 496 units
uh on the second bridge of the Wong Mountain. Before I get started, I can't start without acknowledging Sally Malanga and standing here trying to be the one to preserve the last unprotected core forest in this town. possibly in this
county. And I listened to what you said and I will just point out in case it's not known that their last survey of this property taken has 85,000 trees. The last development plan for this project for 136 homes was going to remove 27,000
trees. This one for 496 units. We have no idea for a lot of reasons because it hasn't been proposed. That's a deficit in the plan before the DP among other things environmental uh information statement. But on that note, I last
appeared here April 22nd and requested of the mayor and the council that a flood plane study be done in accordance with the municipal ordinance for the flood plane regulations, the D permit, which said this approval does not obiate the local flood plate administrator
responsibility to ensure all development occurring in the special flood hazard area is compliant with damage preventable ordinance, etc. In the flood maps I provided, National Flood Insurance Program supersedes the ordinances that were suspended in
IH1261420, which was not effective until July 2024, July 3rd specifically, but that notwithstanding, it was also not effective when the plan for settlement was approved in the court. I'll come back to that in a minute. On May 7th,
our organization submitted to the DP a request to suspend the permit that was issued to the developer on November 15, 2024 under NJAC713-22.7 which it basically says if
the data that are used to support an application and are incorrect and that application is approved, it cannot be correct because the data are wrong. So that's the basic
understanding of the challenge. There's a 39page report put together by Princeton Hydro to support that and that's under challenge. I understand that the governing body of this township was admonished for even allowing me to
request such a thing and I will make that easier. Today we care will enlist its own flood plane study at its own expense and we will submit that to this body. We will submit
it to the planning board if it's allowed because it is going to undertake the review of the area outside the limit of disturbance which by definition is where the flooding occurs. Public comments has occurred. Concerned citizens have spoken but it's not material. We're going to
bring it here and it's going to be up to this body to do what it likes or however else it's figured out. The D permit is under challenge within the limit of disturbance. That's also under appeal at the appellet division. So, we're going to challenge all that and continue to do
so. By the way, there's 120 acres here. If you need a place to do organic farming, there's a better use for this site. And our mission is to help preserve that and help everybody here make that happen. But along the way, just to be clear while I have a minute left, I understand that the governing
body or this township apparently not this council relied upon representations and took a formal position that the property, this property 17932 was available, approvable, developable, and suitable for the proposed use. And that's under
NJAC 597-3.13A. That's not according to me. That's according to developers council. And I'll just remind everybody here in case you weren't here at the time, most weren't, I wasn't, that the fair share housing council and the Mount Laurel
court approved a settlement in 2017. And there were two other parties present that had a duty to disclose statements that these that would prove these facts are not correct. And I can do that. But that was the town attorney and the developer who interveneed who is the
beneficiary of the 100 affordable units which is three times the next closest amount of units in the town approved under that order. Next is 33. Most are under 20 to patch together the obligation. The problem with the period with what's going on now is this this
planning board hearing will not conclude before June 30th, 2025 when the fourth round obligations occurred and there's going to be another 100 units that won't possibly be built before June before 2030 if they get approved after all
appeals. Fair Share Housing is not doing its job in meeting the affordable housing obligation in time. This project is too complicated and this is why every municipal environmental bulk permit design permit was suspended to make it happen. It's impossible to engineer. So
I'll stop there. But there's a lot of information that wasn't disclosed. And I will tell you that we care will not stop. This fight this fight will go on. This position of planning board notwithstanding whoever wins the other side is going to appeal. This is going to go on. It doesn't need to. There's a
better way to do this. But in order to sustain that fight, we carenj.com. We're accepting donations to help promote this fight because this is a battle. This is not a small opponent and this is not a small fight. We need your help. We're not going to go anywhere. I appreciate the opportunity.
Thank you. Good evening. Claire Sylvestri 20 Grand View Avenue. Thank you for letting us come up to the podium. We can hear much better in the audience when their speakers are up here. I watched the video of last week's budget workshop in
which Chief Financial Officer Mr. Diniac made a very clear but very concerning presentation about the municipality's current debt. I want to echo what many of the council members stated that night, which is that in more than a
decade under the previous CFO, the public was never made privy to such an indepth, fairly easy to understand presentation on such an important topic. So, thank you, Mr. Datiniac, for being so transparent. For members of the public
who hadn't had a chance to view the debt presentation, our municipality is drowning in debt. I believe we have about $60 million in bonds outstanding and an additional $54 million in something called bond anticipation notes
or short-term borrowing notes. This is thanks in no small part from previous council's approvals of, among other things, $20 million to purchase properties in the Main Street downtown redevelopment area in 2021, which by the
way also eliminated about 3/4 of a million dollars in property tax revenue each year. Also, $1 million to purchase Rock Spring Golf Club back in 2019. that continues to be a money losing proposition for the town as well as an
annual as well as annual capital budgets that often totaled more than $10 million. Our longtime township attorney, Richard Tran, has been a key figure in orchestrating many of the projects that have put taxpayers on the hook to pay
back outlandish borrowing with not much to show for down the road. Just at the last meeting, discussions about bonding for an additional $2 million in spending on the new library building are a sad reminder of the bill
of goods Mr. Tran sold the council majority and many residents back in late 2019 when he put together a deal that was primarily designed to give the developer of the Stonehill Luxury Apartments a 30-year tax abatement.
While we got in return a 1970s class C office building that has required and will continue to require improvements and repairs, rivaling the cost of building a first class library from the ground
up. I don't envy the job the council members are tasked with under current conditions. But until the municipal government gets past the debt cliff our CFO projects to last until 2029, I strongly urge the council to hold the
line on borrowing to only musthaves and urge uh must haves and put off spending on nice to have projects like pickle ball courts until we get our financial house in order. I think it's a great first step that the council
directed Mr. Datiniac after his presentation to draft a list of projects that either have had bonding authorized by past councils but not issued or have been financed through short-term notes but not yet started. So the council has
a clear idea of what's already in the pipeline and can shift some priorities and perhaps limit the amount of new borrowing this year. But I also urged the council to move move as quickly as possible to hire a
new independent township attorney to replace Mr. Tran, who submitted his retirement months ago, but continues to serve as our town attorney. And even this evening, legislation drawn up by his associate appears on our agenda. I dare say residents elected
most of you primarily to unbburden the township of Mr. tran and straighten out our finances so we can stop having excessive tax increases year after year. Please, please make this a priority
going forward. Thank you. Thank you. Is there anyone else who wishes to speak tonight? Please raise your hand. Okay, I see one. Oh, so you come up after Miss Nance. Okay. Is there anyone else? Yeah. Uh Darren Nurf, Downtown Alliance.
Um you know, when I was up here last time, you know, I spoke about, you know, about the development and all the things that's needed to come to downtown. Uh you know, when we look at all these things that's going on, right? Look at the thriving businesses that we have
such as uh Llewellen Park, South Valley Bar and Grill, and um the other one over there by Eagle Rock. I forget the name of that one. But either way, when you look at those thriving businesses, right, you have to say to yourself, is this is is this the are these the
businesses that's bringing us people that could be potential residents, right? Because when people come to towns and they begin to enjoy themselves and they have a good time, at some point in time, they say, you know, this is something where I would like to move to, right? This is a place that's comfortable for me. You got to ask
yourself, what are you comfortable with? because you're saying these businesses are causing harm, but you have no idea what to bring to this town. These people did that, right? Not only did these people do that, these gentlemen are um
firefighters, right? Meaning that they understand code very well. So, they're going to make sure that their establishment is up to par no matter what you say or what you do. Um, so I think you be I think you need to begin to look at that. The other part is do
you have a fear? If and if that is a fear, what is your fear and why is it your fear? Right? Or is it something that you don't understand? I heard somebody speak about unbiased conscious uh unbiased racism, right? So, you got to think about that. What is it that you're uncomfortable with? What do you
don't know? And if you can't come out to talk to people, right? Because we don't have a problem coming out. They don't have a problem coming out. So, then you need to come out. There's no more hiding. Uh there's no more sending secret messages. There's no more saying, "Oh, you do this, you cause that, or you
do this." No, there's no more of those things. I think we need to be upfront about everything. I need to be we need to stand forth because, as I said before, I'm part of the Downtown Alliance, and I do my due diligence in trying to bring businesses here. And I know speaking to not only small
businesses, speaking to mid-level businesses, and speaking to big business, they all look at West Orange as a joke. That's what they look at West Orange as. And it's crazy because as I said today, you go down to Orange and East Orange, you have a T-Mobile store. You don't
even have a T-Mobile store in West Orange. That's horrible. That's deplorable. How you don't have a T-Mobile store in West Orange. Over 50% of the residents here have T-Mobile contracts, right? Over 60% of the residents have Apple phones, but you don't have an Apple store in West
Orange. So, you have to think about those things. You know, if you're going to not conduct yourself in taking care of the minority businesses, then the big businesses are saying, "We really have no shot, right?" And the other part is about the ordinances. You know, they read these ordinances. Don't think when
these companies think about these places that they don't read the ordinances. And when they read these ordinances, they like, "What is this? This is like a a mass confusion here, right?" And then when they make a phone call, no one picks up the phone or they got no one gets back to them. So, these are all the things that are going on. So when you
try to deter other businesses from coming here and these gentlemen are willing to do everything they can to make it work because like I said they're not bringing customers they're bringing potential residents right because they bringing residents that are that can well enough afford to be in these
places. You know, if you don't want to age in place, fine. Not a problem. But there are other people that do. There's a lot of young families, like I said, in West Orange, not only black, but also white families, right? Not only white families, but Spanish families. There's young families of all different genders
here. And they want to go out and they want to go out within their town. They don't want to continuously go to South Orange, Maplewood, uh, Montlair. They want to hang out in West Orange. So you need to be aware of all the things that you're doing and pay attention because
if not like I said before you are going to destroy this town and that's it. Thank you Mr. Nurse. Please no problem. Yes sir. Robert last name Rashkus. R A S
H ke S 35 Oakrest Road. I just want to bring to the township's attention that May is osteoporosis awareness month established by the National Osteoporosis Foundation. And uh uh it's it's a
osteoporosis is the disease that affects the bones. And in New Jersey, the program project healthy bones for people with osteoporosis or risk of osteoporosis is funded by the state of New Jersey. And uh there are classes all
over the state of New Jersey. and I have been a peer leader and a lead coordinator of project healthy bones since 2007 and was the first peer leader in the township of West Orange leading the first class ever held in West Orange
and the education portion of project healthy bones talks about the need to strengthen bones through strength training exercises. So we have classes, we do exercises in the classes, but that's not enough to strengthen the bones. We need to do the exercises at
home and and people aren't motivated to do the exercises at home because doing the exercises at home can cause injury and outdoor exercise equipment is and is necessity because as a person with osteoporosis I have to do strength
training for the rest of my life otherwise I will leave lose bone density and is subject to fractures that could wind me winding up with surgery or winding up in a nursing home. So when Congresswoman Cheryl came to the Degman park in
2022 to uh present the township with the with the uh funding for the uh exercise equipment, I was very happy because there are many people in West Staring with osteoporosis who need the ondemand uh access to the exercise equipment
which will build bone and help keep people healthy. So I'm I'm in favor of keeping the exercise equipment for the funding for the project. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Ras. I see a hand. Please come up. Is there anybody else
who'd like to speak? Please raise your hand. We'll get you in line. Ashie Jones, uh, Eagle Rock Avenue. Um, I listened to everybody talk and I said I wasn't going to say nothing, but a couple of people said I should say something. So,
um, talk about civil service. When I was about 25, I became an officer for the state of New Jersey and then Essis County. Um, and I left that job to open up restaurants. I own Crab Bay LLC,
which has been mentioned on all your major uh, news publications. And when I came to West Orange, I thought it was a great town. And I still think it it has hopes to be. I think it's a great place. I feel safe here. But the unsafe
part is the lack of resources here. It seems like if you do um something wrong, you get all the attention in the world, but when you're doing the right things as small business owners, you're so
overlooked. And we are the ones sacrificing our entire life. I no longer have a life. I probably smell like food right now. My life is spent in my kitchen. I smell like oxtails probably in seafood, you know. And we just want
to win. We just want to be a servant to the community. And I challenge you. I'm in other townships, too. You could Google it. You can look me up on chat GBT. I do some great things for every community that I'm that I'm in. But if I do something like my one of my customers
leave trash on the front lawn, god knows why, I get all these calls. But if I do something like um like West Orange High School, when I donate food and things like that, I get no call, no nothing. When I bring all these jobs, I'm not
only in this community, I'm in Kennallorth. I don't know if y'all familiar with Kennorth. Um probably the only blackowned restaurant in Kennorth. I'm in Maplewood and I've been around for years. I say all that to say we need resources. We don't need more rules. We
follow the rules. I was a cop for almost 10 years until I followed my dream and I said I wanted to pro provide jobs. The same jobs that the politicians said they would provide. That's me. That's what we do collectively. And if you think about business, what is a community without
small business? Can you imagine? Only thing we had here was Walmart. And we need resources. We don't need new ordis or ordinances. We don't need that. We have enough rules to follow. It's God knows how many rules. You can't do
anything. We're here to serve you. Your community loves us. We do whatever you say do. You can say, "Hey, move your garbage can 10 ft." Yes, sir. No, sir. What else can we do? You can say, "I need a donation." We're the first ones with a plate of cookies saying, "Hey,
where can we take it?" This town needs to focus on resources. As council people, that's what wins because guess what? The youth get to see it. The residents are more happy. It's common sense. So, please start focusing on visiting the
small businesses, all of them, not just places of color or without color. Not here to talk about color cuz West Orange is one. It's like a group of amazing people. But we need resources. cuz I'm hearing things about businesses being targeted. And I've been a part of that.
I'm not going to get into my spill on it, but we we we don't want to be targeted. We want to serve. We're servants. That That's what we do. I'm in a like, you know, like a server. When you own a restaurant, you're a server. And people love what we do. The more you
try to make it harder, the less jobs we could provide to the community. Take away all the small businesses. You don't have a town anymore. What is a town without small businesses? So I challenge you in my closing and you know God will challenge you too. Make it We're not
looking for easy. We're looking for possible. It's tough enough in this economy. Rich people even fill in the economy right now. Mortgage rates are up. It's tough to get people to come spend their money in your town that that the the gentleman said leads to more taxpaying citizens. You know, we're
serving plates that cost money. You know, bringing people from New York. You could check out my public um notifications. I'm bringing people from all across the United States to come to West Orange and they're hearing how great, but what about if they found out how bad we're being treated? We should
have resources to stay open so that the little girl who's on um um on break this summer, she could come work in my establishment. It's a pretty nice thing. Everybody loves to see it. But how can we do that if we have no resources? And I and I and I'm from North, New Jersey.
I love NORC. I'm not going to say anything bad. They have resources. They're they're saying, "Hey, come in. I don't care how you feel about NORC, but there's resources there and there's also a lot of ordinances." But it's a lot of resources and a lot of funding and a lot
of things to promote small business because only thing we want to do is serve the community. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Jones. Is there anybody else who'd like to speak? Please raise your hand. I'm seeing nobody else wants to talk about that. M Mr. Scott, you cannot
speak again. I don't think I said my name and address the last time I was here. It is Brent Draper Scott 75 Nestro Road. Hello everyone. I'm Cliff Mills, um owner of Afine Cuisine. Um, I too am uh,
you know, a new member of this community. I'm sorry, Mr. Mills. I apologize. Could you give me your address again? 437 Main Street. Thank you. Um, it was previously called Zulibar and previously before that it was called, I think, the Rock Seller. Um, they had a, you know, a sketchy
relationship with this township. When I came in, one of the first thing I did was partnerships. I think that's what we're missing here is partnerships with this administration. One of the great things was when I first came in, I met um Meg and Darren and a few other people
and a few other councilmen members also came. I'm sorry, I'm a little bit I'm not nervous, but I don't like speaking in public. So, um that was amazing to me because I I did grow up in New York. I have a a business, thriving business in New York, and when I had the opportunity to come to West Orange, it was a
no-brainer. Um and since then, the partnerships has gotten me through. It was an amazing to see Megan, some council members, um, some business owners, they came in, supported, and and the partnership continues. One of the
first things I did was invite the seniors from across the street to come inside. We've been doing things with them since we got here, and there's been nothing but positivity. So, I don't know where this thing is coming from. It seems like an isolated incident where now it's becoming something bigger than
it has to be. I think we go directly to the source, talk about it, bring the parties along because you can't resolve issues without bringing the two parties um together. It's something that's outside of those two things that's keeping this thing going. Let's bring the two parties together mutually and
let's figure something out. This doesn't have to become bigger than what it is. Let's problem solve because we are adults. All right? Um and for the most part, it's been a pleasure to be a part of this community. there's nothing but positivity and like Kas said, we
bringing national attention to West Orange. Um the my restaurant got voted one of the best 20 one of the top 21 restaurants in the state of New Jersey as well as the as my food truck that brings outside people into West Orange
every single day. Llewellen Park, they have a great reputation with the community. I see firefighters there. I see council members there. I see people who are running for governor come to that establishment and I see a lot of different people come there on trivia
nights. It's a it's a completely it's like it looks like this. I think we should be celebrating that for West Orange. Most towns can't say that. So I think we should just make sure we bring the parties together, resolve whatever issues there is and let's move on as a
collective group. Um, I know I used to go to West I mean go to Maple I mean I'm sorry Mont Clear to go have fun. I we me and my wife would walk through the streets and you know dip into different bars and different restaurants and support the community. I would love for West Orange to have that and we're
starting to get that. I don't know why we want to stop that. So thank you for your time. Have a good one. Thank you Mr. Mills. Anybody else? Looks like you don't have to raise
your hand at this point. You can just come up. Otherwise, we will close public comment at 8:43. And we will now uh respond if any of the council members want to respond.
I'm going to give uh the option to the two council members uh on the zoom if either one would like to speak. Uh and who would like to go first, please? Thank you, council president. Um thank you all for, you know, speaking out and
advocating. Um for those of you in council chambers who spoke up and thank you to those of you on Zoom who are watching. Um sorry I'm home. my son isn't feeling well. Um, I am going to end my response to public comment so we
can get to the resolutions um and ABC hearings. Thank you, Council President. Thank you. Very short and sweet. Thank you. I just want to say we're trying to be efficient. So, if you don't feel really compelled to speak, uh, my my
colleagues, uh, we can save it. Uh, Council Scarpa. Yeah, I'd like to respond and I will be brief. Um, I want to thank uh Brent Scott um for helping residents understand the role of money
in our politics. Um, we really uh would all benefit from limiting the amount of dollars we take as financial contributions from everyone and must
take a more business-like approach to all matters. Um, I ran for my seat because I truly believe that most of the problems, particularly the lack of planning and development in our township, are a result of political
contributions to our politicians. We need to take a more business-like approach, not only to the planning and development of our township, but to all matters. And thank you, Brent, for bringing this to light. It's an important important topic. Uh Bev Riley,
I look forward to working with you and our senior seniors to facilitate uh greater gardens. Our older adults advisory board has recently put a proposal together for Toby Catz University for a gardening course to
embark upon exactly this. Uh gardening is a wonderful form of exercise for our seniors and we are look forward to our administration uh taking this course seriously on Toby
Catz and we will be working with you I hope soon. Um Joseph Penula again thank you for all you do. Uh we look forward to seeing the flood plan study. I'm on the planning board. So, obviously I can't say more than that, but thank you
to Claire Sylvestri. Thank you so much for clearly articulating the financial problems of this township. Uh I was very vocal when I suggested to Mr. Diniac that we draft a list of existing
projects and look at it at the next budget hearing. uh clearly go ball courts and parks and a lot of these things just have to wait until we can afford them. So, uh thank you very much.
Uh Robert Rashis, thank you for all of you do for healthy bones and your advocacy for osteoporosis. And uh with that, I'll finish up. Thank you, Councilwoman. Councilwoman Ruden, would
you like to go next? Are you ready? You want go? Okay. Um, thank you all for coming out tonight. Um, I don't want to repeat what what was said by um my council colleague, but I I support a lot
of what she said and I I appreciate um her remarks. Um Sally, thank you for coming out and always being a leader in terms of with the big picture of where we are and what we need to do with the environment. You look at it from a perspective of what each individual can
do. Um, we as a community can do more by protecting our trees, but each individual can make choices with their own lifestyle and food choices. And um, I'm a vegetarian and it's a little hard to be completely a
vegan at this point, but I'm I'm always uh challenging myself to move more in that direction. um having having um the awareness of what what our food choices do to our environment. Um along with that uh flipping to the trees, thank you
Mr. Panula for everything you are doing um to try and save the trees which are um so necessary in West Orange. And um I I hope that I I'm grateful to you for um taking the load off of the council in a
in an economically challenged year to um provide the flood study on your own. And I really um look forward to seeing it and I hope that that um we all learn from from this and that we can move move to um more protection of this land and
and other lands. Um thank you um to Mr. Scott for coming out and pointing out um some of the um problems that we have when when people who are on our land use boards are also campaign contributors to
the very people who are bringing us applications. Um, I'd like to propose that this council consider a resolution for uh eliminating that conflict of interest and asking for in this particular case to probably to possibly
get a recusal from those members who have supported um um Mr. routine's um campaigns and um and are actively looking at a um a
zoning um proposal that is before our zoning board right now, which is uh ZB2411. So, I'd like to to bring that later on tonight to the council. Um as far as the the garden, um I really
appreciate those who came out in support of the garden. Um, and I hear I hear what you're saying also, Mr. Rascus, about wanting a piece of the the exercise equipment for your bones. Um, but I think we need to to strike a balance here. And I think the balance is
not there yet. So, um, I think we need to have more discussions so that the garden is successful and that they have what they need. They brought this proposal to us and we need to to help support them. Um, so tonight I would
like to I will talk about that more, but I I hope that we can pull this tonight and have further discussions. It sounds like the planning of this is not going to happen in or the development of this is not going to happen until next year. So, let's get it right and let's get it right as a community for the residents
who are offering so much to us and also are paying back to the um the sue kitchens that are in our own neighborhood. Um for the the many people who spoke um about noise, I want to just
clarify that the proposed changes to the local noise ordinance are not targeting any specific business, blackowned or otherwise. Um, I appreciate that all of you have invested in this town and that you brought jobs here and that you've
put your own life savings into being in West Orange. I would love to talk to Mr. Jones. I hope you'll send me an email so that I can talk more to you about what resources you need and what is offered in other municipalities so that maybe
West Orange can offer some of these resources. Um, as for the noise ordinance, the goal is to create a balance between those who bring a vibrant business to our community and the respecting the rights of the
residents. There have been some discussions, but it hasn't been enough. Um, we requested that that the portion of the ordinance that relates to indoor noise be pulled for further review. Like with the garden, we want to get it
right. We are committed to getting this right to ensure that it is fair for both the residents and the businesses. The process has not been one-sided. We um spoke with many of the people who are here tonight when they came to us in at
our council meeting. I also met personally with Anthony from Llewellyn Park for about an hour and a half to hear his concerns. Um, I did not show up, nor did the other council members show up at the community meeting that was presented because we were advised by
our council, um, which is here tonight, that it was not prudent for the council to show up because the um the owners of the of the um bar had brought in their lawyer at at an earlier meeting, and
that creates some sort of problems and some sort of legal um liabilities for us as a council. So, it is not that we are disrespecting the the um the business. We just were advised not to do that. And I sought to have conversation with um
with um Anthony, I'm sorry, I don't know his Mr. Thompson, I think is his last name. Sharpson. Mr. Sharpson. um directly. Um amplified noise or or sound outside has been a persistent concern um
especially during evenings and weekends when it's carried into the homes and it disrupts sleep and and work and daily routines. We have heard over and over and over again from neighbors who live not just by this particular bar but by
other bars that also have been disrupting um the routines of residents who live there. We want to protect the public health. We want to reduce noise pollution and we want to support the neighborhood in terms of quality of
life. So, I hope you understand that we are working hard to get this right, not to hinder any business, to promote business, and to help that the residents and the businesses to thrive. Um, trying to think if there's anything that I've
missed. Um, I think I have Oh, uh, thank you also to Claire, um, who always gives a really good synopsis of what's going on financially. And as to your question about why Mr. Tran is still here, that's
a very good question. We all have the same question. He handed in his resignation in on January 6th which is kind of a unforgettable date and has held on and the council has been pretty
much held hostage by this. So yes, we would also look forward to a day when there can be a changeover in our legal council and that that we can um move on and be guided by a um fresh legal
department. Thank you. Thank you, Councilwoman. Councilwoman, sure. Thank you to everybody who came down this evening. A lot to unpack. I guess I'm going to start off with the comments about
um Mr. Tran and why we're not there yet. Well, for one, in in March, the court decided with the mayor and and sided with her and this council has yet to have a settlement with the administration. So, once that gets done,
um we should have uh some resolution. That being said, um some of the comments tonight uh kind of were not fair in regards to the uh noise ordinance and targeting there um from my former uh colleague Mr.
Rutherford um has nothing to do with the administration. So the noise ordinance came from this council, not the administration and it came because of various complaints throughout the entire community and I do agree with my colleague on that. uh just not in this
one area but throughout the township. There's been numerous complaints since last year. Uh frustrated with the police because as you said, you know, the cops come and they don't hear anything and there's various reasons why. One of the is because of the way the noise
ordinance is crafted. Today I talked about we you know sat in with our downtown alliance board. this uh deeply affects them and their ability um to support our business owners who are here tonight and you know we want to
thank you for your investment and we want you to be successful. I've said that over and over again. There has to be that delicate balance. Our biggest challenge when we talked with the uh the main street um national people is that
the way we're embedded in the community um you know we're we're not um towns like Jersey City and Hoboken where like my my younger son moved to Jersey City because he wanted that kind of lifestyle. Um in certain parts of our B1
zone we we have families. It's workingass community that bought their first homes and um have two or three jobs to keep them. And so, you know, it's just a balancing act. And so, I'm just going to ask our business owners
for that patience while we try to figure out what to do with this noise ordinance to try to get it right and to make sure that we don't hurt you. But we also have to we can't just ignore the quality life issues for the residential community
around you. And that's going to be a trick and and we're committed to trying to get that right. So I know you're fearful. I know you're upset and um but this did not come from administration. This came straight from the council. So just get that straight for those of you
who are making comments about the the administration in regards to that. it's coming from us and we're going to have to be the ones to figure it out. And I we reached out to our downtown board for um for input, reached out to the economic development board for um input
and um like I said, we we're going to make our efforts to get it right. So, everybody needs to be patient. You know, we're not targeting anybody because that aggravates me. I'm going to be honest with you. I don't like when people are going to come out and use race and and and that bothers me
because we folks know how much we support everybody and me personally and the time that I spend with our business owners and our community really really is offensive up here. So if it seems that way, it it's not that. So and
that's all I'm going to say about that. So, um, we looked into various ordinances on Friday. Spent three hours with my colleague talking and and and looking at different ordinances. Look at Morristown. They have a lively downtown. You know, we look at Montlair and
Maplewood. Um, all all different towns to see what we could get right. And um, it's hard. It's really hard. But, you know, and all the businesses have to do is just be mindful. I know um Luwell Park has made tremendous efforts to try to quiet the
noise in some of the acoustics. Sorry, I have my Invisalign in. Sorry to speak tonight. Uh acoustics and um and and it's tricky because when you have residents in your backyard patio,
it gets even harder. And so again, we have to make decisions up there and try to figure out how to get this done uh right for you. We're not looking to hurt you. We're looking to just have a balance and the right balance. So with that, um we will continue to be
committed to that. That's why it's not on for this evening. In regard to some other issues that came up tonight, um Robert Raskis, I'll I have you in front of me here. Uh, thank you for coming out talk about the exercise equipment. I'll talk more when we get to
that resolution. I hope we can pass it tonight. That's been hanging out there for quite a few years uh years ago uh with Miss Morelli and um some other members of the community. Um that's it was asked to get a grant for the
equipment and this is all grant money. I appreciate our master gardener. She could you have done tremendous work. Uh if we talk about the number of beds and one of the reasons why there aren't more beds in the community, we were supposed to have funding or try to work it into a
capital project years ago and because of budget constraints, we're supposed to expand Minish Park which did not get expanded and so that is part of the reason. But the problem that you have, I know it's been explained and I'm going to ask Mr. Moraldo when we get to the resolution to talk about it further is
that the these grants are you know these grants you go back to where um you go back to the government to give to change the grant you you're going to it's going to take time and you may lose the funding and also there are members of
the community it's about balance you know to put just all gardening there that was the intent of the initial plan the initial plan was to have the gardening and the exercise equipment. And so it shouldn't be a tugof-war. It shouldn't be a back and forth. It should
be how could we get the best project and how could we do it? And um you know again we'll we'll talk about it further when we get to that point and I'm going to ask council president Mr. Smaralda to come on comment on that later on. But thank you for all you do. it is
appreciated and and um but there's you know the other side of the building was slated for another project and I I hope we can move forward with that end and everybody um you know we can maybe work out more beds down the road at Minish Park where
there's plenty of room to do a lot more beds and more appropriate area. Uh regards to Mr. Panilo, thank you for coming out. Um, you're always very informative. I know it's very tough with
the with with uh that situation with West Essex Highlands and I'm just going to leave my comments there, but we do appreciate all the information you do bring to us. It's been very eye opening. Um, let's [Music]
see. Mr. Scott, I'm going to tell you how disappointed I am. You know, you come up here and Alice White, who's been a standing member of this community, to call her out to to again you you come up
here, you talk about corruption. It it's it's it's so disappointing when you do that because you you come off that, you know, you imply you make implications of things that are not happening and to bring up
her name and um and Mr. Neuer's name. It just again, it's just disappointing and shame on you, sir. Shame on you. These are good people in our town that serve many hours of their time. Um, the zoning board
governs themselves. They voted. I I agree to let you know to let them vote and they they they vote. They govern themselves and, you know, they and they're fair. They I believe, aren't you the vice chair over there? So, again, I
just don't understand why we're going to call people out. and Senator McKon who has done so much for this community and has brought so much funding to this community. Again, a shame on you, Miss Malanga, too. I I appreciate you coming to begin the meeting and and you gave a
nice program for for big for, you know, to educate us and I always appreciate that part, but again, some of your comments too were a little disappointing, especially when you made some very large donations to some council people up here on the deis. And um again, let's stop calling each other
out. Um it's it's just disappointing and just not necessary to create a narrative that does not exist in this community. And uh I'm going to leave it there, Council President. Thank you. Thank you. Uh I will try to keep my uh
comments as brief as possible. I'm not going to uh acknowledge a lot of the comments except to say a lot of great comments tonight. And I think uh Mr. Mills had uh an excellent one when he talked about partnerships. And anybody who wants to
deal with us uh please send us an email so that we can begin the process of a partnership uh communication wise because uh and when I say email council counilors.org
or that will go to all of us on the council. It will also go to several member members of the mayor's administration and the mayor. But uh uh we will at least if if you want to just send it to the council members, find someone's one of the council members
email address, send it to them and ask them to send it to the rest of the council members. Okay? And that can start the the the process of communication and we can build from there. Um, it's important to understand how our
government is organized legally. We are the legislative branch. The mayor ha is the chief executive. She has the executive branch which handles all the day-to-day operations of the township.
So when you guys come up here and talk about enforcement actions by some part of the administration, often times we don't have the facts and can't respond to the facts, but we can work to get them and to also act as your advocate
with the administration. But we need to get uh that information, the facts uh especially from your perspective uh before we can before we can help you further.
Uh I'm going to address the uh uh the garden at the cat center a little bit later when it comes up on the agenda. I want to just say my approach and I think I share this approach with the rest of the council is one of balance. Well, you
heard that word several times. We're trying to balance the needs of these successful small businesses with the neighbors who live nearby who also have the right to enjoy
their homes. And we're trying as much as we can, especially in the mixeduse districts where the businesses are right on top of the residents to try to find that proper balance. So, as everybody
points out, we want happy residents and we want hugely successful businesses, especially downtown. And that's what we're that's what we're trying to do. I'm going to try to be clear. Neither the color of anyone's skin nor
any other superficial personal characteristic should have no legitimate role and no influence on how your government operates and especially with enforcement
of our ordinances and laws. There just no place for it. And I will do everything I possibly can to make sure that that happens and that there is no influence by the color of someone's
skin or where they're from or how long they've lived here or even if they don't live here. Those are all superficial ca characteristics. We all deserve to be treated equally and fairly and honestly and I'm going to do everything
I can uh to make that happen. Uh Mr. Scott, as you probably know, there are very uh there are very strong limitations on what a governing body such as us can have
on the two land use boards, the zoning board and the planning board. and within those restrictions, we can certainly take a look at at your suggestion, but uh uh it's just not as as cut and dried
as some people might might take. So would ask that you take some time and and uh put in writing if you if you can if that's easiest for you exactly what actions you think are uh uh issues that
we as a governing body need to uh address. Um just a word about Mr. Tran. We we meaning uh the council or at least council members have been working since shortly after the election results were
certified back in November to try to uh build a relationship with the mayor and also to move towards a settlement of the litigation. I think no one wants this litigation to go on a day longer than it
has to. uh we have made progress. We haven't crossed the finish line yet. We're hoping that uh that that will happen uh soon. Um and again, I want to say thank you to everybody who came comment. There's
there's a lot of good comments tonight and and we appreciate it. So, we need to move on to the rest of the meeting. So, thank you very much, Madame Deputy Clerk. Review of consent agenda. I think that's a good start. Yes.
Okay. Oh, I know. What about the bill rules? Oh, wait. That's the consent agenda. You're jumping the gun. You're so eager. Um, all right. Council President, if I may, I just want to address one thing real quick if Sure. Just pull that pull
that uh Thank you. So, just just to address the concerns and I and I I hear what the public is saying about what they think about our administration or our some of our officers and our enforcement people. Nobody I can tell you nobody is out there enforcing for
the reason other than what the codes are and that nature. And in fact, if we have any personnel that are are violating their code of their their oath of office or the codes or anything else, the administration takes that very seriously. I take that very seriously
and we won't permit that and I want the public to know that and I and I know the businesses are here. I've spoken to other people from these businesses. Um, I think we have a very very good workforce and I think they try very hard to keep that image up to the standards
that that um the mayor expects, the township expects and what the residents expect and and and the council itself. So I just want to make it clear for the record that if there are any improprieties, anybody can call my office. They can call me I will have a conversation with them and I could I
could tell you that we will address the each case individually seriously and we will look for a resolution for that. So I, you know, I just want to make sure that the public has trust in us as the administration has trust in you as the council and that we need to work
collaboratively to make our businesses successful because they are a good part of our community. I just want to make that statement. Good. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. SM. Madame Deputy Clerk, please. Okay. Uh, review of the consent agenda. Um,
approval of minutes of the previous m uh meeting. There are none. Um, they should be expected next meeting. Report of township officers, there are none. Reading of petitions and communications and bids, there are
none. Um, the bill list, are there any questions on the bills? Yes. Okay. Councilwoman Ruden. Okay. Just a second. All right. and and I don't need to urge you to be as brief as possible. I will
do my best. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Um, tonight I want to again pull the two invoices related to payments made to an employee of the mayor's preschool who has been paid nearly $20,000 to manage
the mayor's political Facebook page. Um, this is a clear misuse of public funds. Uh, the arrangement appears to violate local government ethics law NJSA4A col9-22.5. Um, and I won't go through
all of this out of respect to to the council president, but I would just for anybody who wants to look into it, it is subsection C, D, E, and G. Um, Miss Stokes is a preschool teacher, not a public information officer, and her hire
hiring appears to be based solely on her private employment relationship with the mayor. Using public funds for political promotion violates both the letter and the spirit of ethics laws. I have raised this issue at three public meetings and
the mayor has made no effort to address it. Since there has been no corrective action, I will be filing a formal complaint with the Division of Local Government Services. I also believe that the government should reimburse the taxpayers for the nearly
$20,000 spent inappropriately. Um, as far as the um the bill to pay the company that did the trees, I spoke with Mr. Kip. He said that the corrective measures have not
been fully um addressed and so I would like to hold off on that bill and ask my colleagues for support on holding that off until the job is done. Um I have um raised some serious concerns about the
AT&T cell phone bill. Um there seems to be no clearly articulated policy for those who receive municipal phones and it seems that it's just left to the individual um department heads and a lot of people have phones and
we're paying um close to $9,000 a month on these cell phones. I've noted previously that some individuals listed on the bill have been deceased for some time and we're still paying for their phones and that many phones are not
assigned to specific users. This is really unacceptable. I am asking the administration to provide and I will send this in writing to you Mr. Moraldo, a formal written policy on phone assignments, a review and potential
reimbursement for the unused phones, and um I would really like to see a major effort to reduce this recurring monthly charge. Um I will not pull the bill for this, but I'm I'm asking for corrective
measures to be taken. And I understand that sometimes dealing with um a phone company can take time and it takes time to to to um show be reflected in the bill. But I really do hope that we can
get some money back and that we can be clear on who has the phones and that every phone is assigned. Um lastly, um I just want to call attention to our PSEG utility bills which are skyhigh. Um and
um other towns including Maplewood, Monontlair, Livingston have entered into energy aggregation programs to lower utility rates for residents and municipal buildings. Um and I would like to know what's going on in this town and whether or not we are um actively
engaged in in any in in in looking for any shared savings program because those programs can save between 10 to 15%. Um, that's that's it for the bills. Thank you. Uh, Council President, if I could just uh Councilwoman, you made a
couple references. Anything that you'd like to pull? If you could make a motion for that. I would like to make a motion to p to pull the two invoices um for Don, Miss Da um Stokes. And I would like to pull the That's one
motion. Do we need to take on that? Second. I second it. Okay. We need to have discussion. We we got a second on the uh over Zoom. So yes, now would be the time to discuss. Okay. So at the last meeting, we talked about
this. So So I and I made mention that the mayor's entitled to uh a Facebook page and I had asked for clarification from legal. Does legal do
we ever get an opinion on that? I believe we're reviewing that and we'll have a memo for the council. Okay. So, so first of all, we don't have a clear answer from legal counsel. Um, so that's number one. Number two, um, this was a
practice from the former mayor and once we get clarification if it was a correct practice or not, then we will find out. And the threshold, the 20,000 is for what? The past since she started her term, not in one year. So I
don't want to mislead people that it was for one year 20,000. It's a lot less than that. So again, I'm not going to hold up her payment at this time. Um, if we ask the mayor if it's not appropriate, then we
discontinue the practice. I'm okay with that part of it, but I think we need to away from legal. I I appreciate you quoting uh statutes, but again, you know, I'm disappointed that we don't have a resolution on this at this
meeting and we have to um make note of it again. So, with that being said, I'm going to be a no. Thank you. Anybody online uh want to join? I'm sorry. Sure. I'd like to say it's clearly unethical if not illegal
and it's unacceptable that we don't have a legal opinion tonight. And I I I agree with uh Councilwoman Ruden. Thank you. Councilman Gber, you have any uh input? Yeah, I agree with Councilwoman Ruden, but I also
understand Councilwoman Castelino's point. I hope that we can get a response from legal regarding this cuz that's what's what's holding it up. And I also look forward to the state ethics board's response as well.
Yes. And and I just think we're we're withholding payment. If it turns out that we are uh we cannot withhold payment in this particular circumstance, then of course we will make the payment. But I think I think Councilwoman Ruden
raises some very important issues and and uh hopefully we can get these uh done quickly. So, I moved. Council President, I'd like to jump in here also. So, last week I met with Councilman Ruden and since you're going to call me out on things that I didn't
do for you, and I promised you I would give you information. You gave me a litany of about 16 things to look into. Prove right or wrong. I promised you that I wouldn't have it for tonight's meeting and I asked you not to call it out so that I can get you all the answers. I have more than half the
answers for you, but I wanted to give you in one format. So for you to come up here and arbitrarily say that we're not doing our job, that's not fair and I don't appreciate it. Okay, we are getting the public safety discount or the public service discount from
Verizon. I have spoken to the mayor about Miss Stokes and she's weighing her options. I have looked into a lot of the I have a meeting about CME and matrix. I have everything you've asked me for I'm researching. So I think it's unfair that
you just did what you did and I'm just letting you know. Okay. So we will be looking at I also spo spoke to Mr. Kip who you know by now you're supposed to go through us to talk to our staff. So why you call Mr. Kip and not through me?
It's unfair. Okay. Mr. Kip did tell us not to pay. I spoke to him at 5:30 tonight. So I'm just being upfront with you. I will have your answers for you. I will have them for you by this week. So, please extend me the same courtesies I
extend you. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Smarto. We're uh you know, these these are difficult uh various situations to deal with and I can appreciate that if if you don't feel appreciated. I and I appreciate you bringing more uh context
to to what is going on and council so the public knows you, me and what I it's I hadn't finished speaking. Oh, I'm sorry. I apolog No problem. No, I I can see you're you're irritated and I and I understand why you are. I'm just asking
uh everyone here to try their best to uh work together as collegially as possible uh on some of these difficult issues. That that's all. Now please go ahead. I do want the public to know that we have now instituted between the council president, myself and the clerk. We have
come up with a pos a a system that to make it more accessible for the council and our employees who are being overworked on the day of every meeting with the million questions that they that sometimes don't even get addressed up here at council, but they're asked for it anyway. We're placing them into a
one drive so everybody can share two weeks in advance of council meetings. We are working collectively. This administration is now collectively working to make things more smooth so we can do the people's business. Got to give us a chance. I I
and I uh totally uh uh confirm what you're saying that the process of trying to get information so that we can make informed decisions has been greatly improved uh through this process. So I expect even greater benefits. Thank you for the time. but and I've heard and
I've heard good comments about it, not just me. So, Okay. Thank you. Okay. So, we have uh a motion pending. I'd like to call a vote. Council, please go ahead. Councilwoman
Castelino, no. Councilwoman Gberl, yes. Councilwoman Ruden, yes. Councilwoman Scarpa, yes. Council President Koviaak, yes. The motion carries. Thank you. Now, there was a second motion that I think
you may have wanted to make. Yes. Well, uh, Mr. Moraldo also, I guess, referenced that he spoke with Mr. Kip as well. And, um, so I'd like to make a motion to withhold the bill for um,
Gabriath uh, Gabriath um, tree service. Second. Pardon me, Council President. It's a It's a Frank Galbreth and Sun Excavation and Demolition just for the record. Okay. Thank you. Uh so we have a motion. Did I hear a second over the
Zoom? Yeah, I second it. Okay. Is there any discussion? No, that one I'm fine with. Okay, great. So, I'll uh close discussion. We'll move to a vote, please. Councilwoman Castelino, yes.
Councilwoman Gberel, yes. Councilwoman Ruden, yes. Councilwoman Scarpa, yes. Council President Koviaak, yes. The motion carries. Great. That was pretty efficient. Thank you,
everyone. All right, we're down to resolutions, Madame Deputy Clerk. Do we consent on the bill list though after the amendment? Oh, you're exactly right. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. for all of the bills we didn't pull, we still need a vote uh or at least a
consent. Uh apologize. Okay. Um so do I do we need a motion or can we just uh request a consent? Maybe we need a motion. I think we can consent like we've had. I don't believe you need a motion because we made the motions to remove everything
else. I'm just consent. All in favor? I All in favor? Did you hear that online? Yes. All right. Thank you, Councilwoman Castelino for reminding me. That's okay. My four o'clock coffee is kicking in.
I'm on it tonight. Okay. Are any resolutions being pulled this evening? Yes. Okay. One time we got Councilman Ruden has the Councilman Ruden has the floor. Uh I would like to pull 143-25.
One second. And um 14725. Can I just Would you like to go next, Councilwoman? Sure. So, I I don't want to pull anything, but I have a comment on 140
and well, 147's pulled and a a comment there. That's all. Okay. So, you're only wanting to ask a question or make a comment on resolution 140. Yeah. Okay. Uh, Councilwoman Gber, I'm not pulling anything. Thank you. Councilwoman
Scarpa, I'm not pulling anything either. And I am not pulling any any other either. And all of my questions have been answered. So now we can move to uh the questions. Yes. Comments.
So Councilwoman Castelino, you have wanted to make a comment on 140. That's the resolution to award one 2019 model year or newer used 25 passenger Ford E450 cab with Glavl Jitney type bus or
equivalent. Yes. Yes. Council President, thank you for this opportunity. I'm very excited to see this on the agenda. It's monies we had previously had approved. Um this Jitney and I'm not going to I want Mr.
for Simmeraldo to comment on this because this is something him and the uh Jitney department has transportation department's been working really hard on that uh with the purchase of this vehicle were able to provide a better
service for our community uh especially uh the community uh the route six that has been effect for um how long now? It's about 10 years maybe I yeah at least 10 years. It was right after I got
on the council 2015 that services Pleasant Valley Way, comes all the way down Eagle Rock Avenue and crosses over Main Street before it finally gets to um to either Brick Church or um Orange
Train Station. So, take it away, Mr. Smaldo, if the council president doesn't mind. And I think it's important for our Jitney riders to understand uh by this purchase what it will do for the community. So, thank you, council woman. Just to to let the public know,
the West Orange uh health department oversees the transportation department. We created that department technically about um September of 2020. Um there was sk there was some difficulties with our vendor um and so they were providing the services with
our buses on the for the jity routes from in the morning and evening and while we provided services to our residents um during the daytime for for uh multiple reasons whether it be goes the stores food shopping doctor's office so on and so forth for for the senior
population. Um once we uh we to we we took over this um um process last year, we combined it in from a jity service and a senior service into the transportation division. And as with anything else, um time goes on and our buses are starting to get old. They're starting to fleet. The fleet is starting
to age. We have six routes in the in the township that start at 6:00 a.m. approximately 6:00 a.m. to about 8:30 a.m. and then u from about 5:30 to 8 at night. Um picking up people at various different I think it's three or four train stations um in Orange and South
Orange and East Orange Church. Um we provide between the two services we provide about 100,000 transports a year. that's not riders, but transports every every year um since we take uh take over the service. And with our fleet that's
aging, um it was mentioned at our budget hearing that we we try to find things that can help out that aren't at the full cost. Well, we were able to seek out this is our second bus that's used that we're able to help augment the fleet um so that we can um we can keep it running. And in addition, our our
transportation supervisor, she's done a fantastic job, not only with this recent strike with where we accommodated every person to stay back at their their original stop to get transported to the train, the buses during the strike, but also she has created a seventh route
that we are looking to implement, but we quite frankly just don't have the equipment to do it. This bus will allow us to implement that for our our residents this summer. Um, and with that in the interim or since then in 2022, we applied for a another bus through New
Jersey Transit. You and you didn't pull, which I'm glad, but the title six is is a um is a a piece of document that we need to have from New Jersey Transit to say that we will not discriminate against any person for any reason that is named in all the different um various
u classifications and that we will offer them rides. We have to have the policy. This is an update to that policy. And with that, we are going to be awarded another Jity bus. And we have two other applications for 23 and 24 pending approval. So, we're hoping to augment the fleet with new buses along with used
buses and create and expand the service. Um, and there are going to be discussions in the future. I know the council president and I have had conversations about looking at other ways of funding this particular service, but right now it is this is a very good service and I think it's going to make a lot of people, especially on line six,
very happy when we split this route. Yeah. So, I think that covered most of it. Well, just a second. I I'll recognize you, Councilwoman. Uh, I'm glad you brought up the issue of how to pay for this because it is costing us a
lot of money and probably with the inflation of the last few years, uh, it's costing us I I don't even know because when I was on the council before, we used to get uh, estimates from Mr. gross on what the total cost was and at that time it was over half a
million dollars and I suspect uh given particularly the ballooning of the personnel uh contract that it's probably over 3/4 of a million dollars and we need to move as fast as we can as as fast as practicable to to move to a
system where we can identify people as residents of West Orange and not from other towns and get them to pay something reasonable uh to cut the cost to to all taxpayers. Anyway, so please
and I I don't know if you want to respond, but I I just want to re No, we we've had those discussions and we we've talked about there's going to be some capital investments we have to make in order to make this happen, but we're looking at at the fees that what it may be. The beauty of this this Jity service is that while we don't have trains, we want to accommodate our residents who
find this town as attractive as it is and be able to get them to commute to New York or wherever else they're going for their their jobs. We're in total agreement on that. Just got to pay for it. Yeah, please. Yes. Yes. And I and I agreed that we've been trying to work on moving towards that. And um but just a
reminder too, the extra bus is is is also when the buses aren't used for the service, it goes for our senior citizen services. So we'll have um we'll have that opportunity as well. So I just wanted to mention that. And again, just
thank you to Mr. Moraldo and the transportation department because I've sat there uh in a meeting and just the challenges of trying to coordinate these jitneys with the time of the train stations. Um and it's it's really
difficult. So, kudos. And uh I want to give just a quick shout out to one of our residents, Miss Sheret, who is our unofficial uh uh spokesperson uh from our community that always is is ahead of the situation, what goes on
with New Jersey Transit and notifying us. And uh I know she reached out this week. So, thank her and the administration for jumping right on that. And and council president, I just want to add one last thing because it's a it's a tribute to our drivers and our staff. Um 20 months we've been operating
the system, 100,000 people a year or so. 100,000 trips. I could tell you that I have only dealt with five complaints in 20 months. Yeah. For 100,000 trips. That's that's negligible. It's and it's a it's a testament to our staff. Okay.
Thank you. All right. Next item. Uh resolution 143. It's a resolution to award Denafhrio and Sun, Inc. landscaping a service contract entitled 2025 the maintenance of various township owned parcels blah blah blah.
Councilwoman Ruden, yes, you pulled this. Um, I pulled this because um I have some concerns about this contract and I was wondering if we can make any adjustments to this contract and and yet still have the contract go forward. So,
for instance, um we are paying $28,500 for fertilizer and chemical application. I was wondering if we could cut that out of the um resolution to save money and also um in the best
interest of the environment not to be putting chemical pesticides on our um municipal properties. eyes. So, Council President, I have Mr. Lour here representing DBW. He'd probably be best to serve answering some of these
questions. If you if you mind don't mind having them here, the microphone. Well, part of Yeah, certainly. Uh, come up. Um, part of this is operational, but part of it is also uh uh procurement and
perhaps legal as to Yeah. What is the extent that we as a governing body can potentially modify the strict terms of the RFQ? I thought uh the response from
Miss Reynolds uh to my question seemed to indicate that we could uh make some significant changes in this uh in this contract, but I'm I'm I'm not clear uh on that. But anyway, uh
can I just finish? Yes, please. Um I would also like to um adjust the the terms the time period for this contract. Um it it's a it's a bid that for two additional one-year periods
um with the possibility of extending extending beyond. Um, so yeah. So I'd like to make two modifications to this contract and then I have more to say after after we hear
from you. Sure. I'm here to answer any questions you have. As far as my conversations with Miss Reynolds today, the base bid, that's the base bid. Can't fool around with that. The
alternates are extra monies we put into the account to pay for other things that may or may not come up. Um, we have an alternate for maintenance of shrubs and beds and trees and flowers. Now, they do
they do do our shrub trimming. I would suggest we don't take that out. the fertilizer and chemical application. It's basically stuff you can get at Home Depot. It's weed and feed. It's for
dandelions, chickweed, things like that. I don't know if anybody saw what town hall looked like last week. We we we had a treasure trove of dandelions and strictly out of respect for your concerns about fertilizer, we
did not put that in this temporary contract we have. But going forward, I if you don't want fertilizers and weed killers, that's fine with me as long as it doesn't come back to get me in the
back because I'm here for presentation. This is our town hall. We have the pool. You know, I I can go either way as long as it doesn't come back on me. And sometimes that happens. Uh final fall
cleanup we can't fool with. That's the leaf pickup in our several parks, roughly about 13. Uh it's 102 acres of of land we we cut or that Denafhrio will be cutting.
We can take out the alternate seven mulch in the beds. We do that in house. Great. We we've always done that in house. So I So there are there is some wiggle room with the alternates. I you know it's all a matter of aesthetics.
What what are you willing to accept on the the front of town hall and at the pool? Anywhere else we don't we don't treat. Um, I have a list of the chemicals supplied by Miss uh Diane Denafhrio. I can hand them to you if you
like them. Yes. Um, basically, like I said, it is stuff you get at Home Depot. Thank you so much. Is this for everybody? Question about the I only have one copy. There's SDS sheets
there, but it's it's basically weed and feed fertilizer uh and stuff to kill the dandelions and chick weed and stuff that comes up in the fall. Um, but yes, we can we can pull the alternates if if that's what
you choose to do. We go with the base bed. The only two I wouldn't touch is the the the shrub trimming and the fall cleanup. Absolutely. We we need that. So, the shrub trim trimming is called the alter alternate 1B-1.
Yes. That's that's the one that you say should be kept. Yes. Because they do trim the various shrubs we have in town. Okay. And then there was another one of the alternates that you thought should not be changed. Uh alternate 1D-1 final fall cleanup. Okay. That's
when they remove all the leaves from our parks. Okay. So, let me let me just get straight here because because I'm a little confused and then I'll go to Councilwoman. We have an ex existing contract, but I guess it's run out and we have
temporary. It's It's a temporary. When does the temporary contract? At the end of this month. Okay. And when did it start? The beginning. Beginning of April. It was beginning. It was a two-month contract. Okay. So, I'm just assuming these temporary contracts do
not have to come before the council. Is it because they don't meet the the threshold? Correct. Or is it just a they're under the bid threshold. So, you know, we can no longer proceed because we would exceed that bid threshold. Uh that's why
we're coming to you with, you know, the sort of truncated year. Um but because of the amount, we have to come back to you with it. Right. and and there was the delay because we were uh debating the right because of the gas blower and that was going to affect the bid as
well. So, okay. Okay. So, uh but what we're talking about is a new contract, correct? Okay. So, it's over. Okay. So, now now I'm clear on that. I didn't I didn't realize that. So, uh Councilman Castleoon, are you finished
with uh whatever you So, I I hear where you're going, Councilwoman. I I know you're concerned with the environment and and everything. So, the chemicals that are being used, are they safe to the to the They're they're commercially available at any
hardware store you would go to. You don't need a pesticide license to even put them down unless you're a commercial entity. Okay. So, so here's here's my again pet peeve because I drive the administration crazy. We just had a weed
cleanup on Main Street, correct? And and thank you, by the way, and and all the DPW. And so, if the weeds aren't taken care of properly, it's more it it's it it gets
out of control fast, very very fast. And it's it's harder to control it. And then you're ruining your lawn. Then, you know, you're looking at Zod in a few years. Unless you like that look. I personally don't like that look. I, you know, we have a very well
manicured lawn at the Castelino household and uh I love to see that here on on the front lawn of town hall. If as long as we're safe and we're compliant, I I say you leave it otherwise you're making more work for staff and it things
are going to go go sideways quick. Uh bushes and whatnot. It all depends amount about the amount of rain that you get and how you get a lot of rain, you get a lot of growth and and then there, you know, we need the the support to come in because DBW can't keep up with
everything. So, hey, be very careful in what you want to scale down. I hear it. Um, you know, we have a budget crisis and all that great stuff, but you know, we pay our residents pay the taxes they
pay and they expect to look and expect the town properties to look nice and um that's I'm going to make my that's my spiel. So, I just hope you just, you know, leave this be.
Uh, anybody on on the Zoom uh have any comment? No. Thank you. Uh, Councilman Ruden, any any response? I I know it's it's tends to be an all or nothing thing when it comes to
uh chemicals. You know, it's I I appreciate that you brought this in. I had also called um Dophrey and emailed them several times to get this list. I did speak with Diane as well and she told me that um 50% of the of the
chemicals are organic and the other 50% are not. Um just having a quick minute to look through the the chemicals that are used that are being used. They all say that they are environmentally
hazardous substances and that um and some of these are very dangerous if they get into our water water system. I understand the the um the nicity of having a a perfectly manicured lawn. I I think it looks nice, too, and I think
town hall should be kept nicely. However, you know, there's a saying that a weed is just a flower in the wrong place. And I'm not a um an opponent of of dandelions. They do a lot of good for the environment. Um I understand that
you don't want them ma, you know, looking looking um uh make it making the the the uh town hall look in um like it's not kept up. But I don't think that allowing considering that we have weekly
maintenance and that the mowing is every single week. I don't think that it's possible that it could get so bad. Um and also this is kind of a temporary request because um the we're in a we're in a crunch. We have an opportunity
right here to save at least $34,000. Just a bit of advice as far as the cutting once a week. Yeah. Anybody that does cut their lawn once a week, as soon as you're done cutting it during dandelion season, which is four to six weeks, the dandelions are right behind
you, right? That so they you if you don't treat, you will always have dandelions, right? Always. And luckily, we're not neighbors to anybody's house because dandelions transfer through the air. So, you not us not taking care of
our dandelions will cause other people to have dandelions. It's a vicious circle. However, this company has been maintaining our lawn, our our our property since 2012. And you're saying we still have dandelion. Well, they they
they're going they're they come up every year. You have to treat they're postemergent. You treat them postemergent. Okay. It's nothing that's going to kill them. They're perennial. They will come up every year. I I'm I'm suggesting because of the
budget crunch and environmental considerations that that the fertilizer application and you said maintaining the mulch beds. Yeah, maintaining the mulch can also be can can be cut from from the budget and can we address the um the
time period for the contract? The right now we're in a temp in a temporary contract. This next contract will go from June through November or December depending how long it takes
them to get the leaves up. Uh it's as you can see with the fact that we are already two months behind in getting contract, it's a logistical nightmare. So, if we don't do at least a three-year contract, we're going to be doing this
again next year, and it's going to be the same thing that we're going to be two months behind, and I'm going to be worrying about cutting grass instead of other things that I need to put my attention. Can we put out an RFQ earlier so that we're you're not in I believe we
tried in January. We had problems this year because of the I understand but next year we could possibly get it out earlier and we could it's it's it's just a it's a it's tough logistically that not it's almost like having a a union
contract that's a year. You got to go through all the motions and it's just it's very time consuming and it's very troubling because you may or may not get what you want. that that could be. So so three years is is soluble. My my concern
is if we do um convert to an electric only blower that this company in particular is not prepared at all to to transition. Well at this point in time since there is no ordinance uh I can't
say for the s for any uh short that theo is not ready. I don't I I spoke with I know you did and I I I speak with her also. Please go ahead. Finish. I speak with her also. And she actually did put in a a bid for battery. She had a bid
prepared for battery also. So I can't I wouldn't I can't understand a a company not being prepared to to take on take the undertaking when they are formulating a bid in that case. I was
surprised myself but but what she said is that it would be far more expensive. It is expensive and that she had the from I don't want to mention brand names but the brand name that she is using was
is is known in the business and as as the weakest model and she wanted to get tons and tons of batteries for that model. So, I I just think that that going out for two to three years with a company that is not that is located in
Monontlair, which surprisingly has the um the ban, um positions us in a funny way because then we're going to be stuck with this company gearing up and they're not geared up at all. So, that's why I'm proposing that we just let let them have
the contract. Let's cut back where we can. I'd also like to make one final suggestion with this um with this um contract. Um can they mulch the leaves into the ground instead of bringing them all to the curb since it's 102 acres of
property? It's a mess. It it it's not healthy for the grass and it certainly isn't acceptable on the ball fields because I don't want to I don't need anybody playing soccer on shredded leaves when I'm you know when people are trying to
do their sports. Uh and you know we have lacrosse, we have soccer 12 or 14 different fields and uh it's not appropriate for an athletic field. Are there areas where like parks
I've I've only heard that mulching is healthy for uh to the extent of the mulch. I mean, if you're talking about uh mulching five yards of leaves on on a given parcel of property, you're just
leaving it'll turn to dirt. You're just leaving dirt. And it's, you know, as much as the dandelions are unattractive, having a a green lawn full of chopped up leaves is as equally unimpressive.
Um, but you know, at this point in time, the contract is as it reads. We're not we aren't going to be mulch mulching leaves into the grass this year. They they cut and leave. I mean, certainly when you're talking a small amount of leaves, they're not picking up leaves
and wholesale when they're they're out cutting and they cut at least until the second week of November. Um, but other than, you know, you know, I mean, you're the governing body, so you know, whatever it is you decide you
you want to do, every we have to follow it. But whether it's uh right, wrong, or indifferent, I'm I'm not here to say, you know, I I wouldn't mulch the leaves into the grass. Well, you're here to provide your
expertise, so and we appreciate it. So, thank you. I wanted to follow I wanted to follow up on on a comment that you made that uh wi with reference to the chemicals and uh you said uh Donna Frio says that
it's half of it that they use is organic. That's what she said. Right. So then you looked at the list. Did you see 50% organic on this or is this just the list of the of the man-made chemicals that it it's you know it's ura which is
common for you know fertilizer right and then obviously some there's other added chemicals in there to kill weeds and if you're if you're killing weeds there's it's a poison I mean there's no other way to say it. Sure. No. Okay. I just wanted to make sure I I understood
because I understood most organics are not toxic. Well, there there are there are some organics that I've toyed with uh vegetable products, tomato, you know, they make something out of tomatoes and it smells like ketchup, but it really
doesn't do the job, you know, whereas if you take a little squirt of Roundup on a some weeds that are in the cracks, they'll be gone before you walk away. And again, this these are all things that as a as a town employee, I I
can go up to Home Depot, if I want to do fertilizer, I'll I'll I'll get a a bag of Scotch Turf Builder Plus. I have a spreader. I'll just spread it, right? There's nothing that keep can keep, you know, can keep me from doing that or
going to some of my beds that need uh Roundup because I get I get more complaints about weeds than I do about just about anything else. This this um bid includes Roundup. Yes, I'm I'm
aware, right? Which most people who who deal with lawns consider highly highly toxic. Again, commercially available. So, somebody says it's okay. We're not putting agent arms down. We should. I would have to agree with Councilwoman Ruden. I I don't think we
need chemicals. These chemicals are toxic and I don't think they're absolutely necessary. I think it's a good place to save some money and I also agree with her on the terms. I think it's very good idea to uh competitively rebuild this in the future. Thank you,
Councilwoman. I I was just wondering if we can uh perhaps split the baby and say let's try it by just using the uh uh the treatments and not do the fertilizers.
The part of the part of the concern here environmentally is when the chemicals are overused and they flow into the water system and they affect uh all kinds of things off the property. So, so if we did less of it, it would probably
be less of a potential problem. But I just wonder if if we don't do the fertilizer, we could still save money and also the chemicals there wouldn't be uh wouldn't be a problem because that's that's part of the problem, too. Completely legitimate fertilizer if you
get too much of it, you know, you get all the foam and the and the water runoff. But I don't know, is that something that that makes sense to you that maybe we keep with the with the weed killer and uh well dispense with a fertilizer and see well you know the
the you know you're talking about two sides of of pretty much the same story. the the fertilizer will create algae blooms and water supplies and it will create foaming. But the stuff we would use to the partial 50% of that what Miss
Ruden is is breeding is a poison which also could get into the you know it's apples and oranges. So, you know, again, it it all comes down to what are you willing to accept your lawn looking
like? That that's what it comes, you know, I there's plenty of people who do like you do and you know, you don't want to spray any poisons and that's fine for for individuals, but this is our showplace. My God bless you. My pool is
my showplace. Um, again, dandelions last for four to six weeks. The last cut, cut them all out, they won't grow back again. Not until maybe the fall. You know, it's it's it is what it is. You know, I I'm sorry. No, no, no,
no, no. you finish. I again I get frustrated here because I understand you're trying to do a good thing, but these are professionals that have been keeping our town properties as pristine as they possibly can and as safe as they
possibly can. We could just tell the contractor, you know, to cut down or be mindful or they have any other recommendation. Again, it's like we're spending time here and we we're talking about what? Two parcels that they put
the weed killer on. Correct. Wait, we're only using I didn't understand this. So, we're So, we're talking about the front here and and parts of the by the pole and that cost $28,500 for two parcels of land. Is No, that's for fertilizer. Is that for Oh,
that says for all parcels now. You just said Yeah, but we we wouldn't certainly we wouldn't put poisons on playing fields. That that would be absolutely um it's it's it's
a what they charge. I I can't presume to know how they got their numbers. They're probably dictating it off of 102 acres. Listen, you want weeds everywhere, go right for go for it. But I'm telling you now, you're going to get complaints. People are going to be screaming and the
town's going to look not it's just one year while we're in this situation. It's not one year. $28,000 is not going to to kill us with our budget or help our budget. It's more than 28,000. It's 34 It's 345 and every every
penny counts in my opinion. We are the stewards of it starts off this year at 285 and then it gets higher with the next year and the ne, you know, inflation. I Okay, I just want to say that I appreciate everything that you do. I know how hard you're working and I
really appreciate your perspective. Um, so like I said, it all comes down to what you're willing to accept. I I you know I was planting flowers last week and I'm planting flowers among dandelions and I go I really look like a
horse's whatever because I'm planting brand new beautiful flowers and I'm surrounded by dandelions. Well, they look pretty at the beginning until they bloom. Yes. And then they're disaster. So, you know, we're going to give them more work with the weeds because I'm telling you, you just
looking at Main Street last week. It it it's embarrassing. And I and I did and I did it prior to St. Patrick's Day parade. So, it's something that is addressed on a a regular ba like maybe every two months on a regular basis as
regular as we can get it. Yeah. It's I mean it took all it took, you know, four men all day to to do that. We had two We had the two ribbon cutings on Main Street and Main Street was a mess and they came out on Monday and wait till
Pleasantdale Center looks like a mess because that's coming soon if they don't take care of it. You're going to get the phone calls on Pleasendale Center. So, well, again, ultimately, you know, it all it it takes time. Right now, I'm fully involved in getting the pool open
and baseball. As soon as I can back down off of pool work, we'll be going out to do the Pleasantale sign up by Luke Boil and and that I just complained about that today because it looks Right. Right. I I see it. I see it. I just
don't have the Well, you need the tools. Exactly. I I recommend that we approve this because you tamper with this, you're going to see the problems come up and for the couple dollars that I appreciate you're trying to save is going to bite us down the road later
this summer. So, okay, my piece. Okay, so we have three proposed amendments if I understand correctly. One of them is to eliminate the chemicals. The other one is to eliminate the mulch beds. And then there was a question about if we put out an RFQ for three-year contract
whether we can limit it to one year. And I I don't know if legally we can. Is there any Yes, Council President. I'd recommend either voting this up or down or tableabling it and then we can look at what changes you'd like to make and the best way to do that. But I wouldn't
want to do that off the cuff right now. Okay. Mr. is going to tell us that the issue is that this contract ends two weeks and then we do not meet we do not meet until June 24th. Yes. I've talked a little bit with the mayor about having another uh meeting in
uh in June, but that would still be the p that would still be past this uh this timeline. Um yeah, so Mr. B, your your recommendation is to either vote the contract up or down or and then No, I apologize. Or I'm sorry. Oh, I was just
going to say in the alternative if that isn't what you'd like to do, we could table it, identify the changes that you'd like to make and then see the best way to make those changes if we need to put it out for bid again or if we can make those changes or if that affects the bid in any way. Um, but I wouldn't want to do that tonight piece by piece.
Yes, we do have some time pressure here. So, I just want to make sure that I understand this. It's either voted up or down tonight and then we can perhaps work on it or if we decide to go out for another RFQ that's going to kill, you
know, the whole summer. So, I I I don't think there's support for that. But uh I also just want to to try to be clear. Can we amend this contract tonight by motion or is that something that that we
cannot do? Because I always understood we just we have to vote up or down on this stuff either or go out for another RFQ. Yeah, I I I don't think that we can. There may be changes that we can make, but I don't want to you know the we can't change the character of the
bid. We It could be a problem. I I don't want to expose the township to liability by making changes. My my understanding from Miss Reynolds who is the purchasing agent certified and licensed. She said that we could pull the alternates. You
can pick and pull the alternate there because they're alternates. But I can assure you that if we don't pass this tonight, you're going to be kneeh high and grass by the third week of June. Yeah.
Okay. So, now sports parents calling. It wasn't that clear from Miss Reynolds. Uh but if if that's in fact the case, then we would we would uh potentially not disturb the base bid. The base can't bid as is. The base bid can't be changed,
but we could uh change some of these alternates and and uh save the that portion of of the money. both. Council President, u if I could have a second to speak, um I I would say not change the
alternates, simply not accept the alternates as presented in, you know, the document, the maintenance of various township own parcels in including turf maintenance and, you know, that long listing of item numbers. But I would say you just simply don't award the alternate, but you're
not uh changing, you know, what the alternate bids um call for because that would be unfair to the other biders. Thank you. That uh really clarifies it for me. Uh so I'm not sure exactly how to go
forward. Do we want to vote on the base bid and then uh look at any amendments that would take out any of these uh alternate portions? Is that that does that sound like the path
forward? Um I'll speak for for the QPA because and I believe that she was pretty clear that the alternates can be removed. Um okay. And you would do it as you would adjust any other resolution via motion and vote. Correct. Yeah.
Okay. Is that is that clear to everybody? So, we have a series of votes. We can uh vote on the base bid up or down, yes or no. That's the $84,000 uh number uh in the resolution. And then we can just go through if there
are motions on any of the alternate bids that we want to do or not do. Again, it's an up or down, but we can actually modify them if the votes are here for it. Does that make sense, Mr. Burke? Yes. Okay. So, let's do the series of uh
of motions. Let's do a motion on uh the base bid. Up or down? Yes or no? I'll make a motion for the base bid. I'll second. Is there any further discussion? Madame Deputy Clerk, Councilwoman Castelino, yes. Councilwoman Gber, just
to clarify, can we still make modifications if I vote yes for this? We're not We're not able to make modifications on the base bid. All we're voting on right now is the $84,000 base bid. Got it. Doesn't include any of the
mulch or the chemicals. That's right. After we vote on the base bid, then we're going to look at each one of the alternates to see. Great. Thank you, Emma. Yes. Okay. Councilwoman Ruden, yes. Councilwoman Scarpa, yes. Council
President Koviaak, yes. The motion carries. Great. Okay. So, now we have uh we have four alternates that we can consider to either award or not award. We can't change them in any other way.
Right, Mr. Burke? Yes. Okay. So, uh, we've we've had advice on a couple to to keep, uh, no matter what else we do. I'd like to just move to the other two items. This would be the next vote or the motion would be, uh, for item number
three, alternate 1C-1, fertilizer and chemical application, all partials for $28,500. I make a motion to approve that. Motion to approved. Is there a second?
I will second it so we can get a vote. Okay. Counciloman Castelino, yes. Councilwoman Gabber Michael, no. Councilwoman Ruden, no. Councilwoman Scarpa, no. Council President Koviaak,
uh, yes. The motion fails. The motion fails. Sounds lovely. So the so the uh alternate uh item three alternate 1C-1 fertilizer and chemical application is not going to be awarded. No weeds
everywhere. Yes. Okay. None. Uh item five, which is alternate 7-1 maintain mulch in beds for
$6,000. Do I hear a motion? I'll make a motion to approve that. Is there a second? I'll second it. Is there any further discussion? Mr. [Music] um just for your name. I'm so sorry.
Lour. Mr. Lour, I'm so sorry. Mr. Lour said that that was one that that could be expended. That's correct. Okay. Yes. All right. I just council your attention to the number six. And this is on a per instance basis
when we acquire properties that somebody vacate and it and it's a it comes it's a it's an hourly rate and as the work is done. It's not something that's guaranteed. It may never never happen but sometimes people just leave their
houses and usually the township will back billill whoever the loan company is. Ultimately we get the money back. Yeah, you follow, right? Yeah, we have but we have to approve that fee schedule. Okay, so that was number six.
Okay, just so because you said five. I just wanted to make sure. Thank you very much. Yes, I'm standing on the shoulders of much so um taller people. Did you Did you make a motion for five? I may I'll make a motion for five. Yeah, it was um Counciloman Castelino and Councilwoman
Gabbor Michael second. Okay. All right. Yes. So, we may or may not spend $6,000. No. No, he no. Uh, Mr. Lour was talking about item six. We we the the way it stands now, we would award item five,
alternate 7-1, maintain mulch and beds. That's why we are voting on it now to see whether to include it or to discard. Not award. Not discard, but not award. Six is is as Yes. Then we're going to Yeah, we're going to go to six, but I
don't think there's a appetite to for a vote there. I think we're just going to keep that in there because we need it. Okay. So, we're we're uh we've got a motion and a second and we had some discussion. Is the discussion over on item five, alternate
7-1? We ready for a vote? Yes. Okay. This is a excuse me, this is a motion to approve this. So if you don't want to uh maintain the yes, then you vote no. Councilwoman Castelino, yes.
Councilwoman Gabberl, yes. Councilwoman Ruden, no. Councilwoman Scarpa, no. Council President Koviaak, uh, no. I'm uh I'm voting no. The motion failed. Okay.
And uh now on to uh item six, the alternate 6-1 property cleanup and maintenance of unspecified properties. This is not a fixed cost. This is an hourly cost if the uh if the township believes we need to do work for whatever reason and there's a per hour cost. Uh
is there anybody who wants to take a vote on this or is this something that we want to leave in? Does anybody want to I think we should leave it in. We absolutely. Okay. So, so do we have a do we have a motion? If nobody has a motion, then we can move on. Yeah. I So,
wait, I'm a little confused because don't we have to approve two? Because the way you're doing this, you approve one and now we you denied three and five. So, what are you doing with two, four, and six? Well, I'm I'm going to six and then I'm coming back to two and
four. Okay, I'm just getting confused. So, if you want to leave it in, what are we going to consent on it or or vote on it? Well, if there is a motion uh to to approve with the idea that we might not approve it, then we'll go through the
motions. But if, pardon the pun, but if there's no interest in in uh cutting out item six, then we'll just move on. But if there's But we have to vote yes for it because you voted yes on one. You
have to vote yes. Oh, I see what you're saying. I see what you're saying. Well, so so how about this, Council President? If everybody's in agreement, then we could just move items number two, the 1B, maintenance of shrubs and beds for trees uh for the alternate 1D final fall
cleanup. And item number six, we could could we move that all together? If everybody's in agreement, I'll make a motion and we'll save time. You make a fine council president. Councilwoman, I just want to go. Is that even appropriate? Can we th bundle these
three uh items together and just to approve them? I think so. Yeah, you should be able to make a motion. Okay. All three. So, uh, we need a motion to take a vote on approval of items two, item four, and
item six. I'll make a motion. Second. This is a motion to approve. So, if you want to keep them in the contract award, uh, vote yes. If you want to take all three of them out, you vote no. Great. Councilwoman Castelino, yes.
Councilwoman Gabber Michael, yes. Councilwoman Ruden, yes. Councilwoman Scarpa, yes. Council President Koviaak, yes. The motion carries. Awesome. Okay, there's one more item in the
resolutions. Uh, Councilwoman Ruden also pulled uh resolution 147, resolution approving a proposal from Neglia, I think it's Neglia, Engineering Associates for Engineering Services for the DNA Park new community garden and
exercise area. Councilwoman Rude. Um I think that um we should continue discussions and make sure that that the um gardeners who were the first ones to
propose this um idea that they're that their needs are met and that they're not sacrificing some very basic things that they need to make their garden a success. Are you suggesting that between now and our next council meeting that you
actually offline from a council meeting everybody get together and talk and discuss and bring a single proposal to the next? No, I I not necessarily suggesting that we all be there, but I think that there be another another round of discussions between the
gardeners and the administration and and any council people that want to be there to help to help get this closer so that the the gardeners who present this whole proposal are happy. I would agree with that.
Okay. Same. I also agree to that. Okay. And I think that we should if we can if there are there is no resolution between now and the next council meeting that the next council meeting the council goes into executive session to discuss this
executive session with the administ with the administration. No, I don't think we would need an executive session for something like this. I was just I was just I was just suggesting if it doesn't get resolved and what are we going to do? Wait
another month? wait till next month. Well, first of all, we can we can schedule a special meeting to consider specific items uh that are pending from tonight. So, we don't have to wait until uh I don't remember is it the 20 June
24th and I will not be here June 24th. Yeah. So, we would like to avoid that if possible. But I don't know if there are any time restrictions on the usage or the completion of this project. Does anybody know if we have a a time
element? So, Council President, I think before we everybody says, you know, whether we should go forward or not, at least like to enlighten you into what what has happened, what's transpired a little bit and then we can make that decision. You know, you guys can make the decision as a governing body. So, as
it was as it was pointed out, this this grant was applied for, I believe, in 2021. It was applied for for senior equipment. it wasn't applied for as a garden. Um, and it was pushed by Congresswoman Mickey Cheryl to help
facilitate our senior population. In that uh resol in that application, there was conversation about the garden. Um, and for whatever reason when it was awarded and when when it went forward, I had don't have that knowledge, but I got I personally got involved with it in
March and we started moving forward with it. This is a draw down grant. There is a specific schedule based on what the estimated costs were in 21 or 22, whatever the year that was. And part of that was the equipment and part of that
was the garden. A a majority of this is is um items that will never ever be seen, you know, sub subterranean work, design um and drainage and things of that nature to help make this a a garden and or a destination for the senior
population. both for the garden and for the the senior equipment. So, um I knew nothing of this project. I c contacted myself um um our um our our grant specialists uh back in March. We spoke
with HUD. They said that this project is the project and that while we can make slight adjustments to specific categories such as not maybe buy as much equipment, the equipment has to remain, okay? Or the gardens or you know
whatever the case may be in the in the any significant change to this grant application must meet approval through HUD. We have to and it's in we have some the documents here that will tell us
that says we have to present a compelling case to HUD as to why we need these change orders. What's the reason for it? Not saying we can't do it, just saying we need to make a compelling case. So, so that's what we have to do as far as us as the township. Um I will
tell you Miss Riley's right. We met three time I've had three meetings with the garden club. They're very enthusiastic. I will say that for one thing is they're very enthusiastic on what they want to get accomplished and I and I applaud them for that. I really do. Um the issue we have with some of
the uh requests is that it will exceed some of the components of this particular grant. So if that is the the the choice or design of the council not to approve this, then we we have to go back to square one. But I I
caution and this is what I got from the HUD people. I caution submitting a change order because we could wind up with a one to twoyear change lead time. And in Washington right now, they're gathering up all funds that aren't being
used. So I'm not saying that we should or shouldn't. And this is the conversations I've had with various council people here. And this is conversations I had with the garden committee so that we're all up front. This is all transparent and let them know that's is what we said. So if anybody does change this for any reason
and not saying that we can't have another conversation with people. I just want to make sure that we understand what is at stake here if we do not we make that big change order. That's all I I need to lay that out for you. Okay. Councilwoman Castle. See you.
So thank you Mr. Saraldo. I'm glad you explained that. So, I worked on this grant back in 2021 and prior to that when Miss Kapor uh first brought it to us and worked with Mr. Kio and um and Miss Van Dyk and at the time there was a
big push for the exercise equipment. A big push for the exercise equipment. There was a lot more exercise equipment proposed in that plan and there was going to be a uh various programs around that exercise equipment and then there
was an ask about the garden and to Mr. Kio's credit he went back in there and he worked to get make sure the garden and I I think I think he may even thought of the garden on his own. I'm going to be honest with you because he was always for the guarded and making
and expanding it further and and that's what they did and they went back and to Mr. Smaro's point investigated to expand the garden. I don't understand why this is such a problem and it's disappointing to me that we just don't move forward.
We have expanded the garden. We've also um checking a box for uh a part of the community that that may all not be here tonight. I thank you, Robert, for coming tonight and for speaking up because you do remember I see you shaking your head
because you attend all our meetings and you re remember this conversation when we announced the grant and announced this project and how exciting and and um Congressman Cheryl was able to secure the monies for us. Unfortunately, I couldn't be at the the picture up that
day. I had to work. Um but but worked hard on that grant with everyone in our in our administration to get it. So, um I I I think we should move forward with this. I hear you, Beverly, and I I we have Minish Park. We have other places
where I think we should expand the program. Still love to get it down by Edison. I know they for whatever reason the school district you know gives it away to the why that's a perfect opportunity for that and I would love to
work with you on that and and talk to them some more because I think that's a a a better opportunity for the town to have more control of that especially for what that garden looks like in the summer when school is out we have to call on it all the time um and that'd be
a nice spot for you to take you know to to enhance And I do appreciate the club and all that you have enanc uh for the uh the other program and I think we need to honor it otherwise we vote it down and or change it and we
wait sit on this project and we could jeopardize losing the money. So, and council president, if I may, one of the things I want to point out too is that um and one of the things we explained to the garden club and to everybody else that if we do change this significantly depending what's moved um if if in fact
because it's so close to Dean Pond there could this could trigger a D permit which further if you get involved with we all kind of know if you get involved with the D we don't know how long it's going to take to get this uh uh resolved. Um, one of
the things I I would maybe suggest, and I'm just having a thought here right now, is that, you know, if we approve this going forward, I know we're going through the budget, if this is something that that nominal amount that may make the garden a better project, perhaps the council will consider just adding to the
project and and making the whole the project whole and move forward with it. I'm just I my my hesitation with any um putting this forward for change orders is that we're going to lose it in its entirety and then everybody's going to suffer and then you're going to have to
pay money for the guard itself. That's that's my hesitation. I'm just I'm just want to let you know that. And I also and I also want to make sure for the record that that that the mayor supports this program. This is she she's believes this and she's she's behind it the way it is as is and she wants to see this become a another destination for our
senior population. which I could put on I could put on with bus number seven, you know. So, the jitneys, I'll add that to it. So, council president, if I may. Yes, council. Thank you so much, uh, Mr. Smaldo for
that detailed explanation and for letting us know what HUD said and recommended. Um, right now, federally, we don't know what's going to happen and to lose that funding would be horrible and it hurts the residents. So, I also think that, you know, we never want to say no to grant money or lose grant
money. Um, I say that we should vote yes on this. You know, I'd like to speak as long as the timing won't impact it. If we need until the next meeting to decide and talk some more to make other people feel comfortable on the council and the residents feel comfortable to hear their
feedback, that would be great. And then we vote on on the 24th. We table it. But, I, you know, I'm going to support it cuz I don't want to lose any grant money. So, just let me know if you guys want to vote on this tonight or table until the next meeting and speak with the residents and the administration.
Thank you. That's it. I'm sorry. Go ahead, Councilwoman. You're you're finished. Yeah, I'm finished. I said that's it. Thank you so much. Okay. I I I recognize you want to be recognized and speak. I just want to see if I'm the only person
in this room who has not seen the project plan. I went through this whole thing and all it talks about is the engineering services. It doesn't speak a word to the garden. Am I the only one here who has no idea what the garden
expansion and the uh uh no sir that the the point of tonight is to get a plan developed with the input from the garden club. If we award this to Neglia, they're going to they're going to start we we have a meeting set the next meeting. I I don't know the date the because I had to step out for a bunch of
stuff the other day, but we're going to meet with if this is approved, we already spoke to the garden club and said we're going to meet them up at the cat center to help do this design collectively. So, we're going to get input from the public. That was that was what was spoken at the meeting the other
day. That's what we intend to do. um because there is no we can't design something we don't know what's going to be because of the layout and we have to take into consideration DP and all the other uh instruments and and and equipment and things of that nature. But excuse me, there was an original design when we applied for the grant. There was
a design that when the garden was the now they're making the garden bigger. Yeah. Taking away other equipment. So now there should be a new plan which is Yeah. There's there's there's been drafts floated within our meeting. But what is what conceptually the garden
club would like and we've looked at that but we said it would probably be best to get the professional to take all the input from our professionals and from the garden club and come up with a design that's palatable for everyone. Okay. So we don't know at this point what what aspects of the garden would be
included in the project even potentially. I have the director here. She could probably explain a little more from the engineering perspective. Director Carbalo take it away please. Good evening everyone. So we don't have a plan yet or a concept plan because we need to find out the extent of the top
of bank of the pond. We also need to find out whether or not there's any wetlands. So and also where the existing garden is. Once we know for sure where that is and what the garden club wants,
maybe we could figure out how to fit something in there that will prevent us from having to go to D, right? Because we also have to understand too that the pond also is in a flood hazard area. Therefore, we cannot do any
fill. And that being said, we have to keep the grades basically as is. So, it's going to take some real good strategic ways to like figure out how can we do this, put the exercise, put the garden, make
everything fit and be outside of any regulations or regulated areas finagling. So, so, so you were saying if we changed the original approved app proposal, HUD approved appro proposal, we'd have to go back then and make our case.
So, what did the original proposal say about the expansion of the garden? It as far as I know and hear, it doesn't. It just uh it said it it just mentions that the garden we would do an improvements, not an expansion. Basically, the grand the way it was written, the narrative,
and I have it right on my phone because I actually found the the agreement. The narrative in the grand is basically mostly oriented towards the exercise equipment for the seniors because I believe at the time because of the pandemic that was going on. And then the
garden basically was a secondary item to attach to the exercise area in order to provide with the seniors an area for socializing and doing some sports and also um you know other events.
Okay. So so what we have here I think the grant is for a quarter of a million dollars. Is that right? Yes. It's $250,000. $250,000. Yes. of which we could use part of that money to pay for the engineering professional services and
then the rest of it would be uh utilized for the exercise equipment and the garden yes expand the garden right okay so I'm just doing the rough math so can if we vote on the the bid I just want to make sure we Councilwoman Ruden I'm not
ignoring you and we will get to you I just want to make sure we're all coming from the same uh foundation and I'm not there. So I'm just if you just give me allowances for a couple minutes more. Sure. So if we approve this contract tonight that's 57750
$58,000. You got to figure what what's the estimated cost of the equipment? Well, we have a preliminary engineer estimate and during the U meeting that we had with the garden club a couple of
days ago, I explained to them that we're going to have left probably about $239,000 in change of which construction for construction 100% of that money whatever is left out of the 58,000 is going to be for construction. So that's
going to be utilized for the garden beds as well as for the exercise equipment. Okay. So, so the so the problem is not that we would exceed the amount of the grant. The problem the potential problem is that HUD would require us if if we
make too much change out of whatever the original proposal they approved, we we might or might not get it. And then there's a second potential which is that we might lose the whole grant because Doge comes in and takes it away. Well, the process is that we have to write a
justification to them as to why we want to change the grant. So, we're going to tell them now the primary reason why we wanted it back then was because we wanted the exercise equipment to the seniors to socialize and because of COVID and have like an out outdoor area and now we're going to take that away
just for the garden. Like, I don't know. is is is it's is is it's going to take time and they might they might vote and say tell you no. And to piggyback on that, the garden is looking at 24 beds. The the exercise equipment's available
to everyone. So you're you're the justification to HUD is for 24 individuals as opposed to whatever the mass may be visiting the site. And the congresswoman loved that con like you know they they advocated for us to get that grant because they love the
concept. There was a whole write up as well. It was the narrative. It seems like the way I read it the intent of the of the application for this grant was for the exercise equipment and the garden as they was explained during our meeting. uh the um assistant of director
of the department of recreation, he explained to them that was, you know, put in there because they knew that was the only way that we were going to be able to get some money to give to give everybody something. Okay. So, now I've caught up Councilwoman Ruden. Okay. So, I just want to challenge the narrative
that's been um spoken tonight because this project and the impetus for this the grant really came from the garden club. They went to to the administration and asked and asked and asked for improvements to the garden. And then
they were called in 2021 and said that you got it. give us your wish wish list and they put together well we have we have a master gardener who here councilwoman I wrote the wait wait wait wait wait so finish and then so when the garden
club put together the proposal they put together everything for the garden and then as an afterthought they put in one piece of equipment and then what what seemed to happen was a switch in what
what the grant became I read the grant too and the grant grant um prefers the equipment and minimizes the garden and and that's exactly what happened. My concern in going forward with the design
element is that this is still very heavy on the equipment. The equipment is costing a lot of money and the gardeners were told at the last meeting that they could not get some very basic things because there was just not the money for it because it's going towards other
things. Additionally, environmentally speaking, this this application is talking about 400 um square feet of imperous coverage. That is in a flood zone. That doesn't seem to make any sense. The garden
itself is dealing with drainage issues which are not being addressed. So they're not going to be able to expand because the land that they're being asked to expand onto right now floods and the area that they're in, they need to have pvious coverage put on the
ground so that they can actually work. So all I'm saying is that we have a situation now which is it's a balancing act and we have to make make two two issues um happy. But I'm really not sure what the constituents are for the
exercise equipment since the exercise equipment was thrown in as an afterthought and then became the the preferred thing. The other thing that I'd like to say is that the exercise equipment may have been very exciting at the time because we were dealing with a
pandemic. we no longer are dealing with the pandemic. And we heard tonight um talk about how there is so much exercise being offered by the Degman um by the um Toby Cat Center for the seniors. So this is less of a pressing need. When you
when you talk about that that this is only um this is only servicing a few people and the exercise equipment services a lot of people. I would actually argue the exact opposite because of this garden. Lots of people are serviced and and some of the most
needy people in our community are serviced and hundreds of people are educated by this gardener and by these professional gardeners who are working. So all I am asking is not to eliminate the the exercise equipment even though I would prefer to see none of that there
because it's creating more imperous surface. I would um suggest that we have another meeting and that the that the very clear needs of the gardeners be addressed and that includes creating the the fence and pvious coverage and
addressing the storm water issues or any drainage issues that they may have when the when the beds expand. And that's why I'm asking my colleagues to hold off on approving this until we get a better alignment of of u needs. I would agree
with that. Hold hold on, Councilwoman Scarpa. Uh just just hold on. I'm trying to recognize people before they speak. So if you get that little hand raise, I'll get a uh signal from Mr. Fagan and he can tell me that you guys uh want to
talk. So please uh Councilwoman Castelino uh has the floor. Yeah. I just want to correct the record. Listen, I I'm the exercise equipment is is like the the activities you were mentioning are, you know, people have to fill out a
form. It's they're time constricted. The exercise equipment is for anybody, the seniors walking through the park that want to go on and use it. It could be for a program that Miss Van Dyke may want. And you're right, councilwoman, it
was proposed during CO and for that reason, but not even just with CO, it we were, you know, we started, that's where the aging Well, West Orange kicked off. Dorothy Saunders was a big, you know, she organized that whole endeavor as
well. So, I was very involved then with senior programming and very hands-on as I said and um that's not how it went down. So, um, you know, I was there. I was in the conversations. I was in meetings with
Miss Van Djk, uh, via Zoom. So, again, we could serve everybody. And I think, you know, if we change it too much, we're going to lose a grant, which will be a shame. Um, and so I don't understand why everything's
so hard that we just can't move forward. Then it's another thing on our agenda. We're going to try to service the gardeners because that's what we want to do. That's what we're that's why we did an expansion. Why we can't get this done tonight and do both is is frustrating
for me. So, I'm I'm done with my pitch. But, um I say move forward with it. Yes. Who's on uh who's on the Zoom who wants to speak? Is Council Councilwoman Scarpa? Yeah. I I
agree. I really think we need to more incorporate the needs of the gardeners. That was during CO. I'm not sure, you know, how many how many people really are going to be using so much playground equipment. I think we need to have a balance of, you know, a small amount of
playground equipment and uh a nice garden. I think the garden serves the needs of so many people in our community. whether we're feeding people. Gardening in itself is really good exercise for the seniors, probably better than playing on some, you know,
jungle gym equipment. And uh we plan on having gardening classes at the cab center for seniors. We've had a lot of interest from our senior community in gardening and I think they would really enjoy that activity.
call the vote unless you like to say sorry this is just again frustrating uh is there anyone else who uh wishes to speak I think we now understand where we
stand in all the different aspects of this for example it's not mutually exclusive that if we approve this tonight that uh the gardeners will not have a say in in in what what they yet. And as
uh as Mr. Smaldo said, if if it takes a little bit more money to get them what they want, we can throw it in the budget. Uh but on the other hand, there is the potential, again, it's not a certainty that that we could potentially lose the the grant if we put this off uh
to make major changes. And uh I think everybody's aware of that. So, uh, as Councilwoman Castelino said, let's move to a vote, please. Do I hear a motion to approve? I'd like to make a motion to approve resolution 147.
Is there a second? I second it. Is there any further discussion? Madame Deputy Clerk, Councilwoman Castelino, yes. Councilwoman Gberel, yes. Councilwoman Ruden, no. Councilwoman Scarpa, yes.
Council President Koviaak, yes. Motion carries. Okay, that's the resolutions. Now to ordinances on second and final reading. Oh my. That's what happened. Really? I think we
should just switch chairs. We should just switch chairs. No. Sorry. So much dialogue with the list and then Yeah. All right. I apologize. Please, Madame Deputy Clerk. Okay.
So um on consent there's resolution 140-25 resolution to award 1 2019 model year newer used 25 passenger Ford E450 cab with Glavl Jitney type bus or equivalent 141-25 resolution to extend
contract for rebid repair and maintenance of buses for the West Orange Public Works. I'm sorry. Could I interrupt you? Do we not need to read the title? Okay. Do we? Yeah. Save us a lot of time please. No problem. Thank you. Sorry. That's okay. Uh
142-25, 144-25, 145-25, 146-25, 148-25, 149-25, and 150-25. Consent. The
consent. What was 150? It's on the new Yes. This is the This is the resolution you're asking about early in the before the meeting started and I was explaining that it's uh with the Y over in Livingston. Yes. It's an annual thing. It's been going on I think since before
I was on the council. So that was added. Yes. Added the last minute. Yes. Can I consent? I need to take a two-minute break. Okay. Be right back. Sounds good. Do you want to just Did we give consent to this? Yes. Council Ruden. Yes. Okay. Let's take a
two-minute break, please. Everybody, no, you can. Uh, all in favor going on hold. Well, I was going to do it while she wasn't here because then we're going to uh if you'll allow me to go to the ordinances on
second reading, if that's the right thing for me to do, but somebody has to tell me because No, no, no. sort of like the uh the comedy the comedy show that's just be aware that I'm generating
here and I'm Mr. transparency so everybody needs to know. We're second reading now. We have four four of the five four of the five dentists recommend Miss Carbalo to go next. Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. That's what we'll do. Let's identify the ones to get Miss Carbalo out of here.
It's all but the towing on the second read. Okay. Get a first and a second. Council President, I'm sorry we I wasn't paying attention. Uh who who did the consent for the uh the agendas for the res?
I I said consent. She said consent and I think council Ruden said consent. I said consent also. Okay. Counciloman Scott said consent. Thank you. Daisy stuff.
No, it's not. So I think to a certain degree, Miss Carbalo, do you necessarily have to come up and and and speak on all of these or can you are you just waiting if we have questions? Okay. Okay. Members of the Zoom audience, we are
taking a short break. Uh council will resume the meeting shortly. So for all you baseball aficionados, you may have recognized Mr. Sharperson's last name is the same name as a well-known but since
uh passed on uh utility player notable utility player team uh he played on a lot of different teams but it was Mike Sharperson who played I think four
different positions and a really good contact hitter not much power and uh he played I eight seasons. And I saw him when he was playing DA ball in Knoxville, Tennessee for the Blue
Jays. And he was by far the best player on the team. And I thought I said he's going to make it to the majors. And a couple years later, he did. So I of course I when I asked Mr. Sharperson with Wellen Park, he he knew of him too,
but he said, "No, I'm not related." But he who did he was related to Willie Randolph. Oh, cool. His his grandmother his grandmother's sister was the grandmother for Willie
Rudolph. So, wow. I don't know what that means, but anyway. Okay, we're all back. Mr. Fagan, did we ever go away? No. Uh microphones have remained open and uh the public is enjoying your enlightening conversation regarding baseball. Uh I
had made an announcement to the zoom audience that we are on short break. Okay. We currently have uh 13 people in the zoom audience. No, thank you. And we are waiting for Councilwoman Ruden to uh return. Yes. And uh Mr. Maldo, while you
were out, we clarified, at least I clarified that Miss Carvalo, who is no longer here. What is this? It's like everybody leaves one at a time. Somebody comes back, somebody leaves. Somebody comes back, somebody leaves. Is that a tradition here? I've never seen it in my
years. Okay. Clarify totally. She's She hadn't left, but I see her cushion and phone over on the Okay. Well, maybe all we need to rely on is her phone. Can somebody get it? And we'll just use that
if we have questions. Okay. So, oh, so Councilman Ruden is not back. Okay. So, we still can't go on. So, the greatest name of a player I ever saw was also when I was in
Knoxville and it was a fellow who played for the Memphis Chips and he was a left fielder with a huge power. named Razor Shines. I kid you not. And I thought he was going to make it to the
majors except he was he was kind of old. You know, you you get to be mid to late 20s in the ma in the minors and not too many people make it from there. But anyway, it's a great name, Razor Signs, and he worked and he played for the Memphis Chicks. Okay, so we've got
everybody back now. Uh, council president, you may just want to make an announcement that the meeting is resuming. Okay. Uh, Mr. Fagan tells me to tell you that we are resuming our meeting now. Thank you for your patience. Okay. We are now on ordinance
on second and final reading. Uh, I'm trying to remember now. We do the public hearing after the first and second after. But these are all second. Okay. So, we're going to introduce it on
second reading. Uh, Madame Deputy Clerk, um, 29 18-25. Is there a motion to introduce on first reading? So, second read motion second. Oh, second. Sorry.
It's okay. Okay. Yeah. Second. Okay. Is is there I saw I heard you. Is there a second? Okay, fine. I second it. Thank you. Okay. And we will
Okay. I think I'm the one that's messing you up. Sorry. I should just be quiet. No, it's okay. We can sign language or something. Okay. Um, so then we do roll call. Yes. Councilwoman Castelino, yes.
Councilwoman Gabber Michael, yes. Councilwoman Ruden, yes. Councilwoman Scarpa, yes. Council President Quilgia, yes. Okay, the motion carries. Great. Now is the time for the public hearing on ordinance
2918-25, an ordinance amending and supplementing chapter 25, section 29 of the revised general ordinance of the township of West Orange based on recommendations of the New Jersey Storm Water Best Management Practices Manual. If there's anybody in the audience who
would like to speak, please raise your hand, be recognized, come up to the podium, and you'll have five minutes to speak on this ordinance and this ordinance only. Is there anyone who would like to speak? Seeing none, I close the public
hearing and open the floor for discussion. We just want to note that our town engineer, Miss Carbalo, is here to answer any questions we may have. Any any uh discussion?
Storm water. It's the storm water. Oh, just want to say thank you for for enhancing our storm water ordinance. And I the only question I have is um I know that there was an online presentation um
I think from the League of M municipalities on storm water, but would you support the idea of a uh training session for members of the uh municipal land use boards and for the council so
that we all understand the um the latest about storm water practices in West Orange? As of right now, the current practices is that the planning and zoning boards, they do get trained. They go to the New Jersey municipality classes and also they take the classes before they become members of the board.
Also, every year I do send a reminder to the uh planning and zoning board secretaries and our director of planning in regards to the um training for the storm water. They do it on the yearly basis and they do sign on it. Um and I don't have any issues if the council wants to also be trained. I
mean, okay. Given given the enhancements that that you've put into the ordinance, do you think that it's time for another training class to to educate everybody about the to educate themselves and be able to read the ordinance and if they
have any questions, you know, feel free to reach out or if something can be put together to to teach them. Sure. I if um if a class is is offered um
would you support that? I don't see why not. Okay. I'm always pro I have a comment. Uh if you could just wait to be recognized. Um Mr. Fagan, somebody wants to speak on Zoom. Is it Council Scarva? Yes. Council Scarva, please. Yeah. I
would I would like to say that there is a strong need for further development. I mean, I'm I'm on the planning board. I was given one class to take and actually the secretary told me I didn't even need to take it. I knew I needed to take it
and I've asked for more classes. I even went online and I did I did one today that the watershed institute gave. uh we really need a lot more training than what is provided and I think we should definitely make some kind of a plan to
get better trained on this storm water especially since the watershed institute is willing to do it. Correct. Okay. We would just have to coordinate. They're they're willing to train and um
they can offer a public session and the members can come. Mr. Fagen, who else? Councilwoman Gerber. Michael has a question. Councilwoman, hi. It's more of a comment. I just want to thank everyone who works so diligently on this ordinance. It's a very important one,
especially in our town. So, just thank you. That's it. Yep. A lot of work has gone into this. A lot of different people. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Are we ready for a vote? Madame Deputy
Clerk, is there a motion to approve on segment? A second. Yeah, I'll second. Okay. Councilwoman Castelino, yes. Councilwoman Gabbor Michael, yes. Councilwoman Ruden, yes. Councilwoman
Scarpa, yes. Council President Koviaak, yes. The motion carries. Great. Item 29, ordinance 2919-25, an ordinance amending chapter 5, sections 32.3 and 32.8 of the revised
general ordinance of the township of West Orange Police requesting towing and storage services. Uh, do I hear a motion to introduce? Make a motion. Is there a second? Second.
Okay. Councilwoman Castelino. Yes. Councilwoman Gberichel, yes. Councilwoman Ruden, yes. Councilwoman Scarpa, yes. Council President Graoviaak, yes. Okay, the motion carries. Now's the time for a hearing on
ordinance on 2919-25 on second and final reading. If anyone would like to speak on this ordinance, please raise your hand, be recognized by the chair, come up to the podium, and you'll have five minutes to speak on this ordinance and this ordinance only. Is anyone like to does
anyone like to speak on this ordinance? Seeing none, I close the hearing and open the floor for further discussion if any. Does anyone like to speak on this? Great. Let's uh let's move to a
vote. Madame Deputy Clerk, please. Is there a motion to approve on second and final reading? I'll make a motion. I'll second. Okay. Councilwoman Castelino, yes. Councilwoman Gabber Michael, yes. Councilwoman Scarpa, oh, I'm sorry.
Councilwoman Ruden, yes. Okay. Councilwoman Scarpa, yes. Council President Koviaak, yes. Okay, the motion carries. Next on second and final reading is ordinance 2922-25, an ordinance amending and supplementing chapter 7 traffic
subsection 7-29.1 speed limits in general of the revised general ordinances of the township of West Orange. This ordinance amends chapter 7, section 29.1 of the revised general ordinances. It establishes a 20 mph speed limit within
the Gregory school zone on weekdays between 8:00 a.m. 10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. 5:00 p.m. when children are normally present. Make a motion. Move that. I second. Okay. Councilwoman Castelino. Yes.
Councilwoman Gber, yes. Sorry. Councilwoman Ruden, yes. Councilwoman Scarpa, yes. Council President Koviaak. Yes. Okay. The motion carries. Now is the time to for the public hearing on proposed ordinance
2922-25. Anyone who would like to speak, please raise your hand, be recognized by the chair. You will have five minutes from the podium to speak on this ordinance and this ordinance only. Would anyone like to speak on this ordinance? Seeing no interest, I close
the public hearing and open the floor to discussion if any. Yes. I would like to know how many signs will be put up. Probably four. One at each end on each side for the beginning and the end of the um
school zone. Okay. And and when will this take place? I will have to order the signs and I have to check with the PW what they have in stock. Okay. And the fact that we don't have money, so best budget.
Thank you. Yes, Councilwoman. Um, this for the director. So, just it may be regular protocol, but once it's like we approve it tonight, um, well, it may not even get put up till the end of the school year. I I
just want the principal notified that we changed it so they could let the parents know. So we have 20 days for the adoption. So within those 20 days, we'll see how we place an order and also see the DPW. I have to coordinate with them like I do with every other ordinance to
put up the sign. Just when we do just let the principal know so she can let the parents know. Uh Gregory, no problem. Great. We're welcome. Are we ready to move to a vote? Yes.
Make a motion to approve that. I'll second that. All right. Councilwoman Castelino, yes. Councilwoman Gber, yes. Councilwoman Ruden, yes. Councilwoman Scarpa, yes. Council President Koviaak,
yes. The motion carries. Great. Next ordinance on second and final reading is uh proposed ordinance is 2923-25 an ordinance amending and supplementing chapter 7 traffic subsection 7-20 37.1B municipal parking yards metered
parking permit parking time limited parking. This ordinance amends and updates the previous list of municipal parking yards to reflect various changes that have occurred since the last update. Do I hear a motion to introduce on second and final reading?
Second. Oh, I'm going to make the second. Sorry, I should have said something else. I'm going to get you poor clock. Councilwoman Castelino. Yes. Councilwoman Gabber, yes. Councilwoman
Ruden, yes. Councilwoman Scarpa, yes. Council President Kakoviaak. Great. Now is the time for the public hearing on proposed ordinance 2923-25. If anyone would like to speak, please raise your hand, be recognized by the chair, and then you will have five
minutes at the podium to speak on this ordinance and this ordinance only. Is there anyone who wishes to speak on the during the public hearing? Seeing none, I close the public hearing and open the floor for further discussion, if any. Let's move to a vote. Madame Deputy
Clerk. All right. I'll make a motion. 2923. Okay. Is there a second? I will second this motion. Councilwoman Castelino, yes. Councilwoman Gabber Michael, yes. Councilwoman Ruden, yes. Councilwoman
Scarpa, yes. Council President Koviaak, yes. The motion carries. Now is the time for second and final reading of proposed ordinance 2924-25, an ordinance amending and supplementing chapter 20, streets and sidewalks and subsections 20.1 at se of
the revised general ordinances of the township of West Orange. This ordinance amends and supplements chapter 20 streets and sidewalks to supplement permit procedures and general specifications for contractors to excavate streets and sidewalks in the township.
I'll make a motion to introduce on second reading. And I will second that. Councilwoman Castelino, yes. Councilwoman Gabber Michael, yes. Councilwoman Ruden, yes. Councilwoman Scarpa, yes. Council President Koviaak,
yes. Motion carries. Now is the time for the public hearing on proposed ordinance 2924-25 on second and final reading. If anyone would like to speak, please raise your hand, be recognized by the chair, and you will have five minutes to
speak on the ordinance and this ordinance only. Is there anyone who'd like to speak on this ordinance? Seeing none, I close the public hearing and open the floor for discussion by my colleagues, if any. Seeing none, uh, I move I look for
a motion to vote. I'll make a motion to approve on second and final reading. I will second. All right. Councilwoman Castelino. Yes. Councilwoman Gabber Michael. You're Councilwoman Ruden. Yes.
Councilwoman Scarpa. Yes. Council President Koviaak. Yes. The motion carries. Thank you, director. Thank you very much. Uh, now we are on to pending matters, new matters, council discussion. Uh, we had some brief
mention of the township tree planting and I'm hoping that there's more detail on where things stand. This is this have having to do with uh uh some of the trees that were planted by the contractor were not done correctly and we've gone into remediation mode and was
hoping Mr. Smaldo you had an uh an update with some detail in it where we stand. Yeah, as we said earlier I spoke to Mr. Kip. Uh because of the excessive rain that we had recently, this project was delayed in getting everything
corrected in the way our specs work. Um Mr. Kip was hoping to have this completed within the next two weeks, but we I think we're supposed to get a deluge tomorrow and the next day. So um so this is a weather dependent exercise
and hopefully um we'll have this completed within two weeks. Any questions for my colleagues? Great. Thank you. Next item on the agenda is the possible consensus appointment to the
Citizens Budget Advisory Board. Is there any proposed name? Yes. Council Michael. Thank you. Um I would like to make a motion
to vote on Ron Charles who I think will be perfect and is experienced. I agree. So, we have a motion and we have a second. Do we have any discussion? Mr. Charles
is obviously a qualified wellqualified. He was a former board of education member and has spent a great deal of his his career uh at the present at the uh county
uh uh incarceration area of a function of the county. Um excuse me, council president. Yes. So just to be consistent and I had previously mentioned to Mr. Charles, I'm not sure if he sent it in or not. I know we got a synopsis of his
um kind of like a resume. So, I'm not sure if that qualifies for what the council's been asking the rest of the public to do when we have an appointment or not. So, I'll just leave that up to you decide if that was sufficient or if you want a separate resume. Um yeah, as
we've been doing with the other residents just to be consistent. Yes. Well, I I would think that uh Mr. Charles is pretty well known. He's also the chair of the economic development uh commission. Um he has probably something
floating out there, but I'm fine with what he sent us. Just wanted to bring bring the point up. And I just wanted to ask if there are any other nominations uh that we should consider. I didn't want to take a vote until we had seen if there was anyone else that uh we thought
should be considered. But seeing none, we can, I think, move to to a vote. Councilwoman Caselino, yes. Councilwoman Gber, yes. Councilwoman Ruden, yes.
Councilwoman Scarpa, yes. Council President Kakoviaak, yes. The motion carries. Super. Uh, next on the agenda is a consensus appointment or appointments. I'm not I'm not sure where to the rent leveling
board. I don't know if uh if everyone has had a chance to review uh the resume of uh someone that I would uh I am going to nominate for at least
one of these positions. Um I'm just trying to find my Is that Miss Jon? Yes. Yeah. No, I'm good. She's Hold on just a second. I I sent this
around that I think it is appropriate. Uh she's probably not as well known as Mr. Charles. Uh I have her I have her resume. I'm just going to read off uh sort of the highlights. She uh describes
herself in her resume as a proactive and organized supervisor with 15 plus years of experience in large-scale operations, proven success in supervising 400 plus employees, improving service quality, ensuring regulatory compliance, and streamlining operational efficiency.
strong background in food safety team development and cross agency collaboration within educational institutions. Uh she is currently a district supervisor at the New York City Department of Education, the school food
service where she supervises 110 school sites. Um I think that's uh uh that's probably sufficient unless anybody wants me to go on. uh she spoke at the last council meeting at public
comment and uh she called uh at least me out on not responding to her previous two emails to the council. So uh I immediately went over and offered to buy her breakfast and meet with her and we had a wonderful discussion. She's uh
very sharp, very analytical, and really wants to improve the township and she lives on Colombia uh and it's an area where uh I think uh we could use some experience on the rent leveling board.
So, I nominate uh Miss Jerome. Uh I'll second. What was the name again? I'm sorry. Janelle Jerome. Janelle Jerome. Thank you. Deputy Madam Madame Deputy Clerk and I and Council President, just for the record, I believe that is a one-year
term, the consensus on that. That's the way that the ordinance reads because that was the vacancy that was there. I just want to make sure that we know and then I believe the second opening was for Councilwoman Rudy. So, there is some some debate about the interpretation of
the wording in the ordinance. So I I'm going to defer until somebody on the from a legal perspective. I think it was initially a one-year to the start of the cycle when the rent leveling board because I think the intent was to have
two-year terms. That's my reading of it. Two-year terms, but to start out the first term was one year and then when they so that they could be renewed for two-year terms and and on alternate years. I don't disagree with you. I'm just, you know, that's the way the roster was set up. I we can uh we could
consult with our attorney for the right leveling board just to make sure, but if it's if it's something different, so we we're at the consensus and I will have them clarify that answer for you. Okay. If you if you think we should do a one-year term, then I'm I'm fine with that. Right. And if it's clarified, we
can always Yes. Yes. Sounds good. So, uh, I, uh, move to appoint that the council make its consensus appointment to the rent leveling board, uh, to Miss Jerome,
second it. Okay. All right. So, Councilwoman Castalino, yes. Councilwoman Gabber Michael, yes. Councilwoman Ruden, yes. Councilwoman Scarpa, yes. Council President Koviaak. Yes. The motion
carries. Wonderful. Congratulations to both of you. Thank you both. Yep. For your service to our township. Uh, next item on the agenda is a discussion uh
of getting an appraisal on the uh property on Ridgeway Avenue, commonly referred to as the monastery. And this is 29 Ridgeway Avenue. Um, it's a very distinctive building. Anyway, the
the current owners are are considering selling it and uh the mayor asked if the council had interest in potentially purchasing this through the open space fund for uh municipal purposes that
we're not really sure about at this time, but want to try to start this process. uh before the property gets too much exposure to u potential public buyers. So, I want to throw this out to
everybody. Anybody have any thoughts? Yes or no? And to add to that, Council President, the the cost will be about $4,000 to get this appraisal. That's correct. This will be exploring just for the appraisal to see what the
value is of the property. The mayor has no um ideas yet as to what exactly she wants to do with the property except save it. It isn't it is in a an R4 zone. So it it can be developed with residential properties. So she's just looking at is it something that we
should explore as a municipality with the open space money to preserve another piece of our history. The historical preservation commission is going to look to make this a a a um a designation um according to them. So, um, we're just
trying to as as as far as the mayor and the administration to just, uh, have this conversation with you to see if if it's worth our exploration at least $4,000 for a property such as that in a beautiful neighborhood. And if I remember correctly, the open space uh
the open space and recreation uh committee has voted, I think unanimously, to correct to acquire the property. Yep. Have a logistical question. So, so my So the appraisal can be um funded
through the open space fund. Yes. Correct. That's usually correct. Yeah. Okay. Now we go ahead, we purchase a property and it's voted upon that that's what the council wants to do. Who how is
it funded to pay for all the maintenance? cuz I'm very nervous to buy another building that you know that we have to maintain. So the maintenance would be part of our operating budget, not the acquisition will come out of the open space money,
but but cutting the grass, the roof, the plumbing, the the that's that's part of the operating. Yeah, that's makes me nervous. Yeah, I I I would hope that the appraisal takes a look at that issue in terms of, you
know, the potential uh upkeep, not just on our operating basis, not just, you know, cutting the grass, but what Oh, no. Electric. Yeah. It's a it's a slate roof. Yeah. And it's it's h got a lot of angles to it.
So, uh, and, uh, we need to get that read on it before we buy it because I would I would like to avoid an issue like we're seeing at the, uh, 10 Rooney Circle where the building, we
own all the buildings still, you know, for the movie studio. Um, so the question tonight is, do we want to spend $4,000 for an appraisal and then with that in hand uh figure out our next steps? Okay. My my take on this is
that I'm all in favor of of preserving land. However, I will not vote for this unless the mayor makes a commitment to save a piece of land that is right now in jeopardy. And we're talking about the property uh the Mount Pleasant Forest
which overlooks a community that could be endangered if that land is not preserved and also that land would not have maintenance upkeep because it's a forest. We just leave it as it is. Thank you,
Councilwoman. Anybody else have any uh anything to contribute? Yes, I can. No, sorry. No, no, that's okay. And and part of my concern, Councilwoman, on that other piece of property, you're right, the maintenance
would would be low, but again, the liability if something was to happen over there and the maintenance on that wall. So, that's always been my concern, too. So, that's why I was trying to get a handle on what would be paid for by
the open space fund and what is on the township and the taxpayer. And currently now the monastery is not on the tax rolls or it is um I don't not sure are they on the tax I don't know I don't know off the top of my head I
doubt it the Buddhist institute I it's it's most likely question is there a deed restriction that it always remains a religious building do we know that or
would that be part of I do not know that because it wasn't it was bought purchased by then. I don't know if they put a deed restriction where they per p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p purchased it. Yeah, that that is I I don't know that I don't know that answer for you. I I can tell you I can answer to Councilwoman's uh question. Um she I
know the mayor will not tie one property with another. She's just looking to inquire about $4,000 for this particular property just to see if it's worth the the amount of money. This is one of these things that we should have, could have, would have, and
don't do it later as opposed to let's explore. I think you're famous for saying you don't know what you don't know. So, if at least we get if we if we if we find out what it costs um and if it's if it's even in fact worth us to go any further, the the
first thing to do is to look at see how much is the value of this property, especially since it is zoned residential R4. That's what that's that's her intent with this right now. Council President, yes. Wasn't there an assessment done with the reval that we should know
approximately what this what this property is worth? I believe so, but I just I don't know what the number is. She wants to get an accurate reval because of of the of the open space. So, that's what she wants to do. Wouldn't the the uh reval be accurate? We all
have our own properties reassessed by it. I can't answer that. um with a positive sense. Okay. I I'm more concerned about the deed restriction. There's one in there or not, but we would have to pull a title report to get
that. Well, not really. We could pull a just order a deed. Legal order a deed. We have a deed. That's very inexpensive. Don't we need two appraisals for any open space? No, that's green acres. Just green acres. Yes, that's my
understanding. It's just it open space is just one appraisal. Greenacres is two. Okay. How much money is in the open space account? About three million. I don't remember off time. It's millions. They have millions in there. We should be saving land. But why we're
not saving critical land is is a question, right? and and and that's why you know when I mentioned that you know the operating expenses so it really is there for just the acquisition and you could pay some debt service out of it which we do um based
on a previous acquisition um but yeah you have to maintain it through your operating budgets. So yeah so really truly is for the acquisition only. Why not consider this a purchase and leave it as open space? you have a
building, you have to fix it. You have to maintain it. You know, it's still again, you know, the mayor has no specific plan. I know that she said that if we were to purchase, you know, this would be a a fun a consensus amongst everybody as to
what we should do with this uh property. Um it's just this is more exploratory more than anything else. That's what that's what this is about right now. if it if it isn't even worth our time to go purchase this and then figure out which she she doesn't want to put the cart before the horse. She just wants to look
at what the value is and if it's if it's actually worth us um trying to preserve another piece of property and something of history um for the township. Yes, the historic pres Oh, we have a question online.
Councilwoman Gber, thank you for your patience. Thank you, Council President. Um, I echo everyone's concerns and comments tonight. Um, we don't know what we don't know, and I love the idea that we can pay the $4,000 from the trust
fund, from the open space, and see and find out what we can actually do and learn. I think we still have to do our due diligence before we can move forward. I would love to preserve and protect that space better than someone purchasing and putting up,
you know, 100 units. It's a lot of land there. Um, and it's right next to a park. So, I think that we should move forward with the request of the mayor and find out what we can. In the
meantime, ask questions and do our due diligence. And that's my comment. Sounds good. Thank you, Councilwoman. Uh, just so everybody knows, oh, there's another comment. Councilwoman Scarpa, I just want to say I agree. I think it's good. It's worth looking at. And, uh, I
agree with Councilwoman Castelino, too. We should look at if there's a deed restriction and do our due diligence. Sounds good. I just wanted to mention to everyone that the Historic Preservation Commission attempted to uh provide uh
historic preservation certification to the property back in I think 199 something 98 maybe. and the uh uh the uh owners of the property at the time they were the Augustinian Recollects
uh declined to accept uh the certification. So there is uh ample justification for historic preservation that exists. Uh so that would be another factor too. And I've asked Mr. Feny, the
chair of the historic preservation commission to come speak at our next council meeting. he could not make it tonight and uh he said he would make every effort to get to the next meeting so he can uh talk a lot more about the history and the uh the architecture in
the property. I would also like to put on the record that the West Orange Environmental Commission in the past twice approved um um appraisals for the Mount Pleasant Forest and twice voted unanimously to acquire it.
I just don't know why we're talking about buying more land that will take um at a time when we have when we have crucial land that we should be purchasing. It's sort of a rhetorical question because
uh just so everybody knows in order for us to buy this property it has to be presented by the mayor. There is just, as far as I know, there is no way that the council can can uh purchase an open space property or any property without
the mayor proposing it. And so that's that's the that's the actual answer. But I I understand exactly what you're saying, Councilwoman, uh because I have been an advocate of acquiring that property as well for some time. So we
are now uh at the point of uh I will entertain a motion on whether we would we would put this uh proposed appraisal on the public agenda for our next council
meeting. Do I hear a motion? I I will I will move uh I will so move I I'll I'll I'll second that because I did vote to for the appraisals for the other property even though I didn't vote to do
the properties, but I I'll comment after. Thank you, Councilwoman. Because I was going to second it too, but I was having a problem with my button. Councilwoman Castelino, it's put on the on the agenda. Yes. Okay.
Councilwoman Gberichel, yes. Councilwoman Ruden, no. Councilwoman Scarpa, yes. Council President Koviaak, yes. The motion carries. I just council president I just want to make a request of the
administration to uh to pull the deed on the property to see if there's any restrictions on the property on the deed rather to see what's you know if you're limited there and uh I just don't like I said I I at this point in time uh I
voted yes to start the process but I don't see myself moving forward with it because I am Larry well Larry I'm very concerned of I owning another piece of real estate in the township when uh we
have so many other properties uh on inventory especially I thought we could pay for it with open space and now I'm hearing that we are not able to pay with open space funds and that is alarming for me
I'm sorry councilwoman Gabri Michael has a question. Thank you so much. Um, yes, I agree with Councilwoman Castelino. I thought the the money was going to come from open space. That's what I thought I heard. Can someone clarify for me because Councilman Castino just said it
wasn't. Well, the the appraisal will be funded from the open space trust fund, but the operating expenses once we if we do buy the building, once we own it, the uh upkeep and any
repairs or improvements or uh would have to come out of our operating budget. Yeah. Okay. Thank you, uh, Council President. So, can I make a suggestion? Certainly. I cuz I have hesitations just like Councilman Castelino about owning another piece of property and the operating costs. Why don't we put it up
for a referendum and ask the residents in November? Because if it is going to come out of the operating costs, guess who's going to fund it? The taxpayers. We only need three votes by resolution to get it on in the next general in this next general election,
which as I've mentioned in the past, we're going to have huge voter turnout. It's the governor's race. We should find out what the costs are. Let the public know this is what it's going to cost every month to operate. Do you guys want us to purchase this? This
is the best way of transparency and getting the public involved. And with that and see if the seller is willing to wait that long. Well, ask them. I think they'd rather if
it works out and it's what the public wants, I think they might would rather give the town an opportunity to preserve it and do something with it. Community center, senior center, whatever it is. Um cuz it's large, it's beautiful, can host events.
Um you know, there's so much that we can do there and have programming throughout the year. Um, so I say we ask and you know it can't hurt and if the answer is no, then we'll figure out what the next step is.
Thank you, Councilwoman. Uh, Councilwoman Scarpa. Yeah, I I think that's a great idea. I like the idea of referendum. I I really like giving the uh the residents a voice. Uh that is certainly something that we
could discuss, but perhaps a little bit farther down the road once we figure out whether it's even something that we would consider buying. Does that sound fair? So, Council President, we just looked up. It does. Oh, sorry, Mr. Smile. I just want to say it does. And just let you guys know, the deadline, I
think, for the referendum is July. That's when we have to vote on it. I think July or August, but I can I can find out or Karen can tell us. That's Councilwoman. That's what we just looked up. It appears that you need 81 days to put something on the on the ballot for for a referendum for a non-binding
referendum. So, we we'll look into it further, but in the interim, we'll we'll get the reso and see if we can get that appraisal done prior to 81 days prior to the election. So, we'd have to figure out what the timeline is. Everything basically be three months
before early November. So, it' be you're talking early September. September, October. No, I think it's before then. I remember looking at it would be early July or August. Yeah, be early August. Okay. Yeah, that would maybe be early
August. And if that's the case, if we do uh get the referendum, I mean, I get the appraisal approved next meeting and we get it out. Maybe we can have that answer before we actually decide to put a referendum. I don't know. It may be tight, but we we'll see what we can do. Yeah. But we Yeah. I just we we got to
figure out whether we want to buy it or not. Right. Right. Right. And then we got to figure out if the owners would hold off on it until then. So there's a lot of ifs. A lot of ifs. Okay. Speaking of ifs. Is it 11 o'clock yet? ABC hearing.
Uh prior to going to ABC. I'm sorry. Just a couple other matters that you may want. Oh, hold on. For new matters. Um, I would like to suggest that we have a special meeting to discuss the noise ordinance and to get it done to have it ready for first
reading at the next at the next meeting. So, you want a special meeting for the noise ordinance so that we can have this done and and not have this hanging over us all summer because the next meeting is on
the 24th and then we would have it ready for introduction on first reading on the 24th. No, to have it ready for introduction at the special meeting. Oh, in other words, you want to have a special meeting to vote on it on first
reading. First, we have to finish. Yes, we have to finish it. Okay. Present to legal and then have a special meeting for first reading. Yes. My my understanding is that for any pending matters, new matters, we have to take a
vote to to be able to speak about it even in new business. So, uh, we have a proposal. I assume you would make the motion, Councilwoman. I'd like to make a motion that we we plan a special meeting
so that we can um pass a noise ordinance on first reading, right? But we have to make a motion in order to discuss it tonight. I'd like to make a motion to discuss that to discuss. Thank you. Need a vote, please. All right. Councilwoman Castalino. Yes.
Councilwoman Gberl, yes. Councilwoman Ruden, yes. Councilwoman Scarpa, yes. Council President Koviac, yes. So, this is now added to the pending matters, new matters council discussion. I'm opening the floor for discussion if uh
Councilwoman Ruden wants to discuss further. Well, you know, we've been trying to to make a balance between the residents and the um and the owners of the establishments. Um, and I think we're
we're coming close, but we need to to um have it go through legal again and not have it look like the last one and and then vote on it. So, I we it needs to be 10 days before the next council meeting. So, I think I don't know what else there
is to discuss. I'd just like to make a date. Mr. Fagan. Uh, Councilwoman Gberl has her hand raised. Councilwoman, thank you. I think that before we vote on this, we need like information from the
administration like how many of these establishments are going to be affected by the new noise ordinance. If we can get a list of that would be helpful. Councilwoman, the the influx of this particular ordinance is we're going back and forth.
I was been working with the two council women here on the day. I think we need to establish that first what the US may be and then we can try and get you that information. Thank you. We have a meeting potentially set for one of the establishments hopefully next week so we
can talk to them too. Okay, great. Because I just want to make sure that they're also involved and we're not just changing ordinances without input from stakeholders and community. Yep. Thank you.
Yeah, because what gets so tricky is it's not just year like it's it's townwide. So it would be for residential, it would be for what we were looking at. So it's it would affect all businesses in town and all residents
in town the way what we were looking at. Um so again, I guess we'll have to talk offline, Councilwoman, and we have a meeting tomorrow. Maybe we could give you more information tomorrow at the workshop. We pick a date so we're not
laboring this at this hour. Thank you. So, uh, is there any further discussion here? I have two other items. Well, if if Councilwoman's done, right, we're not done because now we have to take a vote on whether we're going to
uh find a date for the special meeting. Do you have I have a question. Do we have a meeting on the 3? On June 3rd? What day of the week is that? Tuesday. I don't believe so. So, so in June, election day. Is that
election day or No, it's the 10th. No, it's the 10th. So our council meeting is on the 10th. No election date. Okay. So then we we would have to have a special meeting. Okay. So we don't have Oh, that could be a day for a special That could be the
date in two weeks. Uh you guys I'm not going to be here. So but that don't hold it up on me. We could have legally represent that. Well, I would think it's a special meeting. So there would it would be a very limited agenda. Mhm. There might be something else that
we add. I'm sorry. You said the third. I'm sorry. The 10th. I'm not going to be here on the 10th. It's the 10th, right? Is that what you were? Third. Third. I'm sorry. I misspoke. I heard the 10th. I I have a commitment on the the 10th. I can't do We could do either either the 3rd or the 10th. Is that I'm not
available the holiday? Jewish holiday. A June 3rd Shiovat ends at nightfall. June. Yeah, that there's a reason why we didn't have a meeting that because it was a Jewish holiday. You should know you should know better
than this is this is my my non-Jewish calendar. So Shivat Shivat ends on the 3. No, this isn't Shabbat. No, Shabbat. Oh. Um I don't know. I have to look.
According to my calendar, it ends at nightfall. It begins at sunset on the 1st. Okay. So then the It begins on sunset on the 1st. So then we're fine for the third. Wait, it's
it starts it starts and ends in the evening, right? At dusk. It starts Let me just check. Shave is Yeah. Tuesday, June 3rd. But the thing is dusk is not until 8:00 now. So,
right, unless we'd have the meeting that late. So, um, and if I can, uh, council president, just to clarify that the code, um, when we call for the special meeting, we have to specify the purpose and then no other
business can be done. So, we can't add anything else later after calling for it. Well, I see. We have to have it the agenda in mind tonight when we vote on the date. So you wouldn't be able to add things to the agenda. You'd have anything that you would want to consider in the meeting, you'd have to add tonight if you're calling for it tonight. Okay. Okay. Well, what about
June 10th? June 10th. We have the the chambers for um the election materials. Okay. How is um June 9th? I'm not sure if that day will work either because from my
understanding, they set the chambers up and I don't think anyone can use it. Okay. How about wait a minute? We could use We could do this by Zoom for a special meeting with, you know, basically a single purpose. We could do the Zoom meeting.
You want to do a one-hour lunch session like we do sometimes? I'm not available for the day. We can pick another day of the week at noon, June 4th. I'm not sure if that's The only thing, Councilwoman, I would caution is
that this is going to be a hot topic item. Yeah, you can't. That's right. No, it has to be I don't think this I don't think I think you're going to be going over your time at lunch time. That's right. That's right. It has to be in the evening. Never mind. Reading. Um, it doesn't matter. We We typically don't we
typically don't uh you still public comment the meeting. Yeah, we still need Yeah, there's no question. We're not avoiding We're not trying to avoid uh transparency. It's just uh it's difficult to find time. Do we have June? When will we have What about June 4th?
Uh June 4th, there's a regular planning board meeting in council chambers. Oh, right. So So Councilwoman Scarpa couldn't come. Um why don't we do it at 8:00 on the 3? I don't mind doing it in the evening.
[Music] Um it's the holiday isn't isn't open over until June 3rd in the evening. So we can't do June 3rd. How about How about June 5th?
When is uh Council Cast I'm available? That's a Thursday. Castelino available during the day in that time period because if you're not Thursday, Thursday the 6th. Thursday the 5th. Thursday the 5th. What time are we thinking? Six on. I have something. We
were thinking about doing it at lunchtime. No, we can't because remember it's it's in order for it to be on for the 3, it has to be add legal and done for this Friday. What can I ask why we're
rushing it and not do it on the 24th? Yes, because it it that's way too long for the residents to live with uncertainty. But the problem is they're going to at this point now have to is that that goes to planning board too. So, it's got to
get on the planning board agenda where it goes back on second. So, the noise ordinance has to go to planning board. It's a chapter 25. Yeah. Oh, okay. When is the next planning board meeting? There's a meeting scheduled on June 4th, regular planning board meeting. My
understanding is it's going to be devoted solely for West Essex Highlands, but I don't want to misspeak. That's my understanding. And it could be incorrect. Then it's July 2nd and then August 6th. Well, how about how about
the planning board? Sorry. So, it looks like July 2nd realistically is the only is the earliest date the planning board will hear it. You say July 2nd. July 2nd for the planning board because the other June date is solely for that one application.
Can they add something to the agenda on the 4th or is that a special meeting? That's a special meeting. It's the regular meeting. It's a regular meeting. So So they could add something to it. Uh what what about the ask the director on that because I the planning board I
think is pretty much stacked right now for applications. There's no guarantee you would be able to hear that. I have to check with the director. She's she's on vacation. She'll be back tomorrow, June 29th. Why don't we see what we could compose tomorrow?
If it's not that complicated, it could legal could maybe have it done for Friday and then we could make a June 3rd date. We can't do June 3rd. Okay.
So, I mean, we have an ABC we had an ABC hearing on the 29th of this month that was cancelled. Council, just uh council president, just for clarification, are you looking to do this here in council chambers or just uh virtual via Zoom?
Well, oh yeah, we missed we would have to do we would have to do public comment and there's likely to be people who want to come and speak on public comment even if there's we don't normally have something on first reading. So that's that's what
we're trying to to plan. So, we uh I would like to avoid taking comments from Zoom unless we absolutely have to just because we could be here all day potentially. My recommendation for what
it's worth would be to do it live uh with public comment here in council chambers rather than have to entertain public comment on Zoom, but it certainly is a possibility. One of the other [Music]
June 11th. What happened to the 29th where we had the ABC hearing? That's fine. I think that sounds good. Can I make a suggestion? I don't think we should waste your time picking dates right now until we find out from the planning board whether or not they can even hear
it. Why don't we wait for someone to reach out to the planning board from the administration or the clerk, I'm sorry, and then get back to us and then we can send the dates that we're available, right? be happy. Yeah, midnight. That's part of what else I
wanted to bring up. Next week's budget hearing is going to be can postponed. So, we need to pick another budget hearing date, too, on top of this special meeting and possibly two based on what we were talking about. So, we
may we may need to have two budget hearing meetings. I'm just laying it out there for you. So, you're going to talk about two budget hearings and a special meeting and trying to get this done. What's next week's post? Well, Mr. Diniac has a conflict and he cannot be available.
Mr. Spaldo, just for clarification, that's the 28th budget hearing will be cancelled. Yep. There was a notice sent out by the clerk. Okay. She sent it out yesterday. I think we're today. Today. Well, what's the Can we do the 29th? The budget hearing? Yeah,
I don't think we can conduct on the we have a council council connection, but we can do it right after. There's a zoning board meeting on the 29th. But they're on Zoom, right? We would have to use a Zoom platform. Uh the zoning board meeting on the 29th
would be a webinar. Uh we need a webinar, too. And we cannot run two webinars. We can run a webinar and a meeting, but we cannot run two webinars simultaneously on our Zoom account. It's not on the uh Don't you have a
second account, Joe? The second account we a meeting that's typically used by the uh on the second account, it we can run with the second account. We can run a meeting and a webinar simultaneously,
but we cannot run two webinars is my understanding. that special meeting because it's not on the calendar. So, well, he would know because they book them. It's it's advertising Karen. It has to get
unless it goes in the local four days. I think that to clarify that got ABC. Mr. Fagen, do you do those meetings at home? The zoom uh when I do the planning board, when I substitute for uh Miss Bril for the
planning board or the zoning board, yes, I conduct those meetings from home because it's virtual only. It's a webinar, but I can conduct it from home. And if there is um a second Zoom account, we could Miss Burl, if she's available, will she be able to do the
council? Well, I know she perhaps I'm not being clear. You need you need to have a webinar uh because you have to allow comment public comment. No, ours you don't. Ours you don't. We're just workshop or the budget. We don't I'll
check with it tomorrow. Yeah. If we could do it if we could do it on the tw if if we have an account to do it. Would you would you prefer to do it on the 29th? Yes. Because my June is shot. Okay. So we I mean we don't need approval tonight as a
vote. So what I'll do is I'll check with it tomorrow, ask them if we could do it to the 29th and if if they if that could possibly be done or how we could do it and if that is the case then I'll have the clerk notify notice it properly and notify the council for the 29th. Does
that work? Yes, we do have council connection at 5. So this would have to be at six. Okay. Okay. to be think invite everybody at council connect to come in and watch the budget hearing. I mean it's you know just could see the process. Yeah. I I think council
connection we could always cancel. So but we'll find out. Okay. So that would that would be one date and then you know in the future you may have we may have to consider a second date on top of the special meeting. Just just throwing it out there for you. Okay. The other thing I wanted to mention to you for the June
24th meeting, you talked to us about the um um feasibility study with all the um the uh buildings we have. Well, I could have it presented then or we could do it in July. You know, you guys wanted the council requested we bring it to you.
So, if you're not going to be here, we could always I could always have it presented in in July, too. It's just u it's it's it's pretty much finalized. So we would, you know, we would like to present it to you and if it's more convenient for the council for this July, I just want to throw it out there
that it's available to for you to Yeah. You can you can zoom from Italy. It'll only be like 2:30 in the morning or you could watch it on video. Yes. Yeah, I watched it on the plane on the way home. No, seriously. If if you want to attend that, we'll we'll schedule it
around it. Yeah, we could we could we could postpone it till July. I just want I just wanted just to let you know. I just want to let you know that we're uh July 22nd so we can put it on for the I'll contact the vendor. That's all I have for you. Sorry. Okay.
I can catch up with you after the meeting. I'll leave it up to you guys. Whatever you want. Okay. So now we're ready to move on to the ABC hearing. We have to we have to close the
meeting. I will entertain a motion to close the meeting as council and reopen as the ABC board. I second that. You you could be done. Okay. Good night, West Orange. Uh, the
council is adjourning the meeting and will resume the ABC hearing which will not be covered in this Zoom presentation. Good night, West Orange. Good night, West Orange. in