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good evening West Orange welcome to uh the February 11th council meeting uh despite the weather so we appreciate everybody being here Madame clerk this is to inform the general public that this meeting is being held in compliance with Section Five of the open public meetings act chapter 231
Public Law 1975 the annual notice was emailed to The Star Ledger and filed in the township clerk's office on January 7th 2025 and published in the West Orange Chronicle on January 16th 2025 councilwoman castelino present
councilwoman gber Michel pres councilwoman Ruden here councilwoman Scarpa present council president kovak present thank you uh first on our conference agenda tonight we have a young gentleman from the West Orange African Heritage
organization who is here to talk about the hul scholarship fund just so you know and he'll probably put this into context uh hul is is named for a uh a civil rights uh hero uh and has the West
Orange African Heritage organization has been raising money for this scholarship for college-bound uh kids from West Orange for I don't know more than 20 years yes and you may have heard uh me talk about this the one of the major fundraising is the men who cook annual
event so any of you men out there who cook should keep an eye on that because it raises a ton of money uh for scholarships for kids from West Orange uh that's been expanded this year and uh we're GNA learn about it right now so
Brent Mr Brent Scott good evening can you hear me yes excellent thank you uh good evening council president kovc and members of the council thank you for allowing me this time I'm Brent Draper Scott in my day job I am a senior professor of
Graduate Studies in business and Leadership at Mercy University but today I'm here in my volunteer role as vice president of the West Orange African Heritage organization the mission of the West Orange African
Heritage organization that was founded a quarter century ago in 1999 is to build strong community and Foster relationships we take pride in celebrating and sharing with the larger Community the historical and cultural
contributions of people of African descent the organization encourages Civic engagement and performs community service such as holding voter registration drives h in candidate forums and discussions to promote Civic
awareness and advocating for diversity in appointments and hiring throughout the township we also conduct annual drives to provide school supplies for students toys for children during the holidays and food drives for the West Orange food
pantry for those in need members of the West Orange African Heritage organization are dedicated to promoting academic achievement for all students in West we are widely known for our elementary school tutoring program and the Thomas
Hokum scholarship that council president covc just spoke about which is for College Bound West Orange graduating seniors it is this last item our Hokum scholarship that I'm here to discuss
tonight the Hokum scholarship is funded primarily by our members through direct contributions the organization also holds two major open to the public fundraisers each year men who cook that councilman kovak uh spoke to he and his
son are frequent participants in men who cook and I look forward to their dishes in 2025 the Denim and Diamonds fundraiser which is held every February um I can hardly believe that
it's been a year since I described it to my friend Joyce Ruden councilwoman Joyce Ruden as a giant tailgate party indoors for as little as$ 45 to $60 a ticket that event the Denim and Diamonds
fundraiser which takes place typically in February uh typically gone us between 10 and $15,000 for our scholarship many people from around New Jersey not only West Orange not only W orange residents come out and support
the event because they know they're helping students afford a college education which in today's economy is invaluable for decades America has been moving away transitioning away I should say into a knowledge economy a knowhow
economy and the cost for that all-important college education has grown astronomically so our students need your help no amount is too large no amount is too small and we appre appreciate your
giving this year the venue where we hold our Denim and Diamonds fundraiser is unavailable so we are embarking upon this campaign to ask for your support in funding the Hokum scholarship since its establishment 20
years ago the Hokum scholarship has awarded over $300,000 to West Orange gting High School seniors any West Orange senior doesn't have to be at the public public school a private school any West Orange
resident who is a graduating high school senior can apply for this scholarship tonight you're going to meet some of the previous recipients and with that I will ask Joe Fagan to run our
promotion stud move on higher education unfortunately [Music] [Music] [Music] I'm high school
first student University in pschology and [Music] thank you very much Mr pan again any High School senior who resides in West Orange can apply for the Hokum scholarship so in conclusion please give
to the Hokum scholarship you can use use the QR code or go to www.w ah.org once there you can donate to the scholarship become a member or renew your membership the West Orange African
Heritage organization is a 501c3 nonprofit organization neither myself nor any executive officer is paid we are strictly volunteers so please support the West Orange African Heritage organizations's Hokum
scholarship membership and donations are tax deductible and greatly appreciated thank you uh thank you Mr Scott uh now is the time on the agenda for Council liaison announcements I'm just going to go from right to left okay uh councilwoman
Scarpa okay uh the planning board has many many uh different uh issues that we've been taking up we've had three meetings in January on a variety of issues interestingly enough many of them have to do with storm water
management which is on um an ordinance on our agenda tonight it's so important um that we get this right uh so many of our residents have experienced serious flooding in their homes and um
especially with the projects that we've got going on now in the in the highlands the development that's proposed there we have our Matrix development going on downtown which believe it or not if you look at the flood maps is a flood zone
so it's very important that we have this right as we develop our town so I encourage you if you want to learn about storm water management to tune in to our planning board meetings they're very very educational uh the seniors are on on the
Move we had a fabulous event last week where our West Orange High School Jubilee choir and step team Dan danced and sung at the JCC when um Gina Goldman told me about
the program which they had had in the past to celebrate Black History Month stopped during covid she said isn't there any way we can get this back and I want to thank Hayden Moore and all of the kids at the high school
the music teachers who graciously came and put on such a performance it was truly intergenerational there were kids there from the preschool through all ages I
brought the seniors they had a fabulous time they were treated to a free lunch the county does have lunches which they provide to seniors at lower no cost unfortunately we don't have a senior
center here so we cannot do that right now but that is clearly going to be one of our goals for this year and they just had a wonderful time they saw the performance and I can't tell you when you see the look on the
senior's faces who are depressed because they can't get out in the winter time most of them don't drive it was through all of the efforts of Laura van djk and Mike Fon Zino who got us the Jitney service they are so appreciative and
Gina has actually offered to give the seniors the opportunity to participate this month in all of their programs on the social calendar for free so hopefully we'll be able to get another another me meeting going and um if any
of the seniors are interested in joining us in the future please reach out to me because we are widening our group of seniors who want to get out and socialize that's about it no ref thank you Council
W uh good evening everyone so I'd like to thank everyone for joining us in council chambers and those of you on Zoom virtually um as we begin this meeting I would first off want to take a moment moment to acknowledge that February is Black History Month and this is a time to
celebrate the rich history culture and contributions of black Americans not just in the past but also in the present um and it's something that I'm very proud about is my African Heritage especially because I am the first and only elected Ethiopian and arrian person
in the state of New Jersey so that's something that I'm very proud of my family and so you know it's a time for Reflection Learning and action we honor the leaders and innovators and Trailblazers who have paved the way for Progress um you know in these challenging times uh unity and
understanding are more important than ever so let us use this month to uplift one another embrace our diversity and reaffirm our commitments to Justice equity and the values that make West Orange a strong and inclusive community and with that I'm going to jump into the
West Orange Arts Council which omn Le is on and um we have our never forget Black History Month exhibit featuring artist Bernard Jackson at the West AR Arts Center um the council is proud to
announce the 2025 exhibit um by the renowned West Orange artist Bernard Jackson the exhibit will be display will be on display at the West Orange Arts Center at 551 Valley Road from February 8th through March 2nd The Gallery hours
are Saturdays from 1: to 4: and Sundays from 2: to 4: and you can find all this information on the website West Orange arts.org um this Saturday we have an exhibit from 4: to 7 p.m. uh next Sunday there's an
exhibit from 2: to 400 PM um and in addition working with seniors a councilwoman thank you for all that you do for our seniors in town um on Saturday February 22nd the counselor is going to welcome the West Orange um senior citizens for an afternoon of art
so we're wonderful you know very excited about that so and that concludes my Council council president thank you councilwoman councilwoman celino thank you council president um last meeting we had a full report
from uh Miss bril on all the uh the activities at downtown Alliance I just want to remind everyone that uh Restaurant Week starts March 30th it will go through April 6 if the snow could stop falling and uh our public
works department could get our banners up they'll be up very shortly they're in but the weather's not cooperating uh but we have restaurants signing up now we'll give an update um but just want to just remind everyone to although it's winter and it's cold to go out and frequent our
local business owners um they a lot of them been slow and and and rightfully so this time of year so just go out and support a business uh a restaurant in town sooner than later you have to wait for restaurant week thank you council president great idea thank you
councilwoman uh we are now finished with the Council of the aison we have eight minutes uh before the start of a town council meeting the public agenda I just wanted to ask my colleagues do you want to start discussing the issue of uh uh
legal representation at the council meeting now you want to wait till the meeting starts we can do it now please okay so we're going a little bit out of order uh because of a uh a situation we have right now and uh in explanation as
you know the Town Township attorney has filed uh to retire from more than two decades in that position uh and it is contingent upon the council and the mayor agreeing on his replacement and there is also ongoing litigation between the mayor and the council that is
further complicating things so some of my uh Council uh colleagues have asked for a discussion related to the contract requirement of Town attorney to attend Council meetings and provide legal advice he is not here tonight and he has
asked another attorney uh someone who is one of the special councils here in the township to attend so we do have at this point a legal councel if if we need it uh we did not know about this substitution until just before this meeting less than an hour before the
meeting and and we as a council are agreed that this is not the way the council should learn who is providing US legal counil Council especially in a delicate situation uh like we face right now in our municipal government so some of my colleagues have asked for a
discussion of the situation and to see where we might as a governing body uh decide to do and I just wanted to uh uh note this for Madame clerk that at 7 o'clock let's just break whatever our discussion is and we'll go into the public meeting and
continue okay the only concern I have is this is Personnel issue so should it be discussed in an open public meeting no it's personel it's not personel it's not personel you're discussing so here's the issue we have a
special Council here we have special Council here tonight who is not the township attorney who is not the Assistant Attorney and it's inappropriate and unethical for this person to be here billing the town an extra $165 an hour and our meetings go
till 2 a.m. 1: a.m. midnight when we have a municipal attorney who should be here that is Mr Burke is itate to be discussing everybody we can only speak one at a time please so I understand but I don't want her to speak if it's not appropriate because that will get you
into trouble I don't think it gets us in trouble because we're the legislative body the checks and balance and the township attorney can't act like a dictator and decide that he's going to have let's just let's just stop right now okay uh Madame clerk has raised an
issue and we'd like to throw you into the scrum to see if you have any thoughts at this point or whether you want the discussion to go on uh on further because it's not really uh I think what council was saying it's not really a discussion about Personnel but
more about the performance of a contract and what we should do about it so uh want to just throw it to you do you do you think we need an executive session I I don't think so council president I would you know I understand the clerk's concern and I would recommend that we don't comment on you know potential
litig I know you mentioned there was some litigation ongoing and generally you know Personnel in terms of his uh tenure as the township attorney but if we want to talk about who's Staffing this meeting I think that's totally fine okay thank thank you so much so again it
is highly inappropriate to pay another attorney a special attorney in hourly rate when the township has a municipal attorney that we paying it is the municipal attorney's responsibility to be here not decide that he doesn't want to be here and he's gonna have special
counsel now come because he doesn't want to come to the meetings it doesn't work that way so I don't think it's right to the taxpayers I think that we should dismiss him I think we should make a motion to dismiss him we they should have to sit here and pay an attorney I think we should have public comment because the public is here it's important to hear the public and then
after public comment I think we should adjourn the meeting until the township attorney decides to come to a meeting and I end my response thank you Council excuse me councilwoman celino sure I don't think so I don't think we need to cancel the
entire meeting because one we have notices and which cost us money so where you're trying to save money and I get it it's going to cost you money to Ren notice a lot of these uh items on the agenda um if you had your discussions uh
over the weekend or your notes your your answers to questions were answered um anything that you may need legal advice on you can um you know you just we you could table that so I don't see it necessary to move forward to not to move
forward tonight just table the items that you think you need a legal decision on thank you councilwoman councilwoman Ruden okay I I'd just like to um State for the record that I think that um the township attorney's absence
at this meeting is a clear dereliction of his professional Duty and his responsibility he is paid a salary to be here and according to our ordinance and to state law which I will read the
duties of the township attorney are to and this is if you would like the the code it's 2-9 point2 under duties of Township attorney to attend all meetings of the township Council and provide legal
councel to legal advice to the council as necessary to ensure that the proceedings are conducted in a lawful and proper manner and to provide legal advice on all matters of Township business so for us to be double paying
for the same service is not fair it's not it's not responsible fiscal management for us to be sitting up here and saying you guys have already paid for the services of a Township attorney and because our Township attorney has
for some reason decided not to appear at this meeting and to appear only virtually at the last meeting um but in this particular case his his absence at this meeting has has required that another
attorney from another firm be here at $165 an hour and the residents of this town are now forced to foot the bill and I think that that would not be responsible for us even though it does require Ren noticing this wasn't our
choice to to to have double noticing of of issues that are before our our council tonight and issues which are very important to this community which really must be heard so if this Township attorney would like to remain in this
position then he should do the job and show up at the meeting so that we can do the business of the people thank you Council and I would have to SCA yeah I really have to agree I mean there are so many areas as we approach the budget
where we are really looking at efficient use of every tax dollar that you give us and this is just one more area where we are not being responsible with your and I have to agree with my
colleagues okay so at this point I think we need to decide what where we go from here there was a mention uh by councilman gber Michael to uh continue on to hear public comment because there's a lot of people here to speak on
a variety of issues I believe and then at that point perhaps adjourn the meeting until we can get this straightened out um I think maybe that should be our first vote after we go into public session and then if if that passes uh we can do that I just want to
say that if anybody has any other ideas about how you want to proceed uh we will bring those up maybe we bring those up uh uh sooner rather than the the rather uh definitive stop uh that has been
discussed so far excuse me council president I made a I I too made the recommendation that was a recommendation to proceed and just table items that you feel you need the attorney on okay so I would like to make a motion that we let our special counsel leave we dismiss him
if it doesn't make sense to continue having him sit here and paying him and still having to pay the township attorney who's not here it's unethical and we have fiduciary responsibility to our residents um and the taxpayers of this uh Township and on also in that
motion I think that we should still have public Comics it's important to hear residents concerns we're here for the residents and that's my motion and then we'll go from there after public comment okay so we have a motion on the floor is there a second I second okay this motion
is to uh do three things actually four things the motion is asking that we dismiss with gratitude the uh legal representation we have here the second step is to have the meeting
only to hear public comment and then adjourn until we can uh get this determined um wait can I amend it to include the bill list because we have to pay people we haven't paid in a in a okay well again now you're picking and and you're choos either have the meeting
or don't have the meeting pay people we haven't paid Council C I know you disagree but but please just one at a time please so I think that we should um at least pass the Bill list because there are vendors and people who have not been paid in the last couple of months okay so uh council president we
haven't even opened public meeting right right we're not going to take a vote until we're in the public meeting okay okay uh I I think uh our Council wanted toh say something and then Council woman I was just going to point out the same thing council president we haven't
entered the meeting yet okay thank you Council woman yeah so we just sort of the bill list which was great but there may be other things that have to get done tonight and we're not going to know that till we get to them that's why I highly recommend we continue the meeting
table the things you absolutely have to table because you need an attorney on which I feel will be very few because we have the people's business to get done that's all just going to stay that one last time thank you again my motion didn't say conclude at the end of public comment it said let's hear public
comment and then we'll go from there okay heard correctly council president uh yes councilwoman please okay I just I just want to uh to do respond to what you said councilwoman um we don't have
an attorney at this meeting for the sole reason on of if there are questions in other words the job of the township attorney is to attend our meetings whether we have questions or whether we don't so it's not just you know this
meeting we won't have questions so you don't have to attend it's you need to be at every single meeting according to statute according to his contract his or her contract so this is the law so um I
would like to ask um our ba what is the reason why our town ship attorney is not present at this meeting M Chief Havoc please so my understanding is that he had a conflict I don't know what that conflict is I don't know if he's ill I don't know if he's out of state I don't know what it is uh we've arranged with
conflict Council to cover the meeting we had a briefing for about an hour this morning on the phone with Mr Burke to bring him up to speed on all these issues um you have you have capable competent Council here um if you want to proceed if you don't was there nobody else from his firm that was available
apparently not you know like I said he had a conflict we brought in Conflict Council for the I think it's like 38 or $40,000 he gets a year I think it's kind of absurd for anybody to think that he's never going to miss a meeting um council members have missed
meetings nobody docked their pay um well I've missed meetings these people have missed meetings it's you know nobody's nobody can guarantee they're going to be it every meeting just illness injuries anything so when he's not available competent Council replaces him he's not
you're not getting you're not paying twice because you're not billing he's you know you're not billing for his or he's not billing you rather for any services tonight his salary separate in as side I realize it's part of his responsibilities I don't deny
that but we have somebody here to fill in for that okay it is it's not it's not SE it is separate and double billing because we are paying our Township attorney on a monthly basis he earns 425 a year for his duties as Township
attorney and in those responsibilities it is to attend the town the town council meeting every single time I understand it but he's just not available and that's realistically that's going to occur from time to time where any employee is not available they still get paid it's still part of their
salary that's his salary as director of the law department so I think we should just call the meeting to order yes that's I was going to suggest Madam Clerk okay please yes this is to inform the general public that this that this meeting is being
held in compliance with Section Five 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 7th 2025 and published in the West Orange Chronicle
in on January 16th 2025 councilwoman celino present councilwoman gber Michel present councilwoman Ruden here councilwoman Scarpa present council president kovak present will everyone please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance
stand we are now in our public meeting and just wanted to remind everyone uh up on the day to please try to speak into your microphones uh Mr Fagan before we move any further we're going to uh entertain some motions and uh perhaps do
some votes so hold tight please um so we have a motion on the floor and I just want to recite what the motion talks about uh one is yeah you have to remake the motion since okay so please make your motion again so make
the same motion I made earlier where we dismiss our special counsel and open up for public comments and then after we give our responses we go from there and we'll decide and we have to approve the bill list as
well okay so uh I I don't like it's open-ended like that I want to uh have a a concrete motion as to a beginning an end so okay I I believe that we should
end after public comment go to the bill list approve it and end the meeting because the municipal attorney really should be here he since the litigation in 2023 he's barely came to any meeting and then was at one meeting last week maybe another one so that's not an
excuse his firm has been here this whole time yes sir uh Madam clerk thank you madam clerk do you have those uh aspects of the motion I'll watch the video okay I have most I have most of it is is there any is there any further comment and please please make it brief
okay you you have to make a second okay thank you didn't hear that and is there any other further discussion and if there is please keep it brief go ahead yeah so my recommendation is uh to move forward with the meeting and if there's
a situation where the count the council members need a legal opinion they should just table that item we have many agenda items on this evening as we go through them some may be time sensitive and I
don't want to hold anything up because you know we're in this situation now I and yeah so I just wanted to put that on the record uh because I will be voting uh no thank you thank you councilwoman I
I'll just say that I agree with everybody up here on the deis and that's a very unusual thing to happen so I just wanted to note that certainly understand for and so Mr Fagan we're go ahead I'm sorry
there's no audio someone is saying there's no audio yes the audio does fade out and uh um there's nothing I can do to control it the problem is on zoom's end and uh the audio is
back as best as I can tell well you can you can stick around to the end of the meeting if I think if you want is that is that exceptable no you want just not going to get paid for iter to you I'm happy to assist if you'd like me to but thank you thank you thank you it's nothing
personal yeah we appreciate you council president just for a point of order we have a couple of our staff members here if we're not going to continue is any point for them to stick around tonight I I don't believe so we're not going to be looking at the agenda so I just wanted to give them the extend the courtesy they can go home yes
I think that's nice that's a very gracious courtesy especially with the uh impending weather thank so thank you for coming uh but we are going to respond to public comment folks so if you're here for public comment we will be responding Mr
Fagan thank you council president um Joe Fagan public information officer I have some brief announcements to make um as been as has been pointed out uh February is Black History Month and uh by recognizing black history we
acknowledge the impact of countless artists scientists activists inventors and just everyday individuals who have shaped Society in profound ways on the graphic I'm using for black history month you will see of course the recognizable image of Martin Luther King
Frederick Douglas uh Harriet Tubman Rosa Parks and of course uh Jackie Robinson ultimately Black History Month is not just about honoring the past it's about cultivating understanding respect and unity among all people to inspire the
future so for that I've tagged it on honoring our past inspiring our future um president stay is uh all municipal offices will be closed for President's Day February 17th uh there will be regular Jitney service and
regular garbage recycling schedule um the on Thursday February 27th will be the second annual Ramadan Crescent Lighting in front of town hall here uh a rain date of February 28th has been uh established uh the time is from
5:30 to 7:00 p.m. um and you can see the uh uh image here of the uh beautiful piece that was created to symbolize uh the Crescent lighting uh if I'm getting my terminology correct um and I believe that will be uh here at Town Hall as
well um mayor asked me to announce the state of the Town address on March 6 at the Rock Spring Golf Club uh tickets are on sale now you can go to the CH West Orange chamber for more information typically uh residents Might Recall this has always
been held in January but it has been pushed out to March um the council connection office open Office hour scheduled next one will be Thursday March 27th from 6: to 7: p.m. no appointment is necessary this
information is uh posted on our website um uh the uh Town engineer has asked me to pass this information along Essex Safe Streets for all now this is um a a
initiative by Essex County to um uh uh for for safer streets and in the process of doing it this information is on our website they have two virtual community meeting scheduled uh on different dates but the content is the same uh and they
uh encourage our residents to say take the survey to look at the map and to make their um their suggestions uh and and comments known and this can be accessed from our website West orange.org that is currently up there um I also like to talk briefly about the
blue envelope program uh this started in Connecticut in 2020 and has since been adopted by police departments around the country most notably New New Jersey New York I believe Pennsylvania and of course it says up there California and now council members I have given you a
flyer on the blue envelope program so you can achieve a better understanding um well orang is not the first to adopt this uh I don't have complete data but sourced from the internet I can determine that Belleville and essis County does it and Montclair State University Police which is partly in
Essex County also implements this program and you can see listed on the board uh our various towns around New Jersey it's worth noting that Clark in Union County I have a 20 in parenthesis there because there are 20 towns in
Clark uh in Union County that have this program implemented and and interestingly there's only 21 towns in Union County so I imagine it's only a matter of time before all Union County participates if not already in the program so let me explain briefly what the blue envelope program is I I created
this uh this graphic here uh and you can see the number up there for Community Service Unit uh it's it's intended to be safer traffic stops for autistic drivers or anyone really with special needs and the blue envelope is um it's just an
envelope vope uh that uh all it's it's it's just an organizational tool where a driver can put um all their information into uh such as uh registration license uh even emergency contact information uh in the event that they get stopped by a
police officer for any sort of minor traffic violation uh because as we all know this happens to the best of us and it could be a very stressful situation especially when you're trying to find all the necessary information so um the blue envelope the police officers
are aware of the blue envelope so when they see the blue envelope they know that this is a for lack of better terminology a special in special needs individual and um they will are specially trained to calm the individual down and explain to them that they have
nothing to worry about and they um just are supposed to hand the blue envelope to the officer the officer does not retain the information it's just a normal information that's requested during a traffic stop and it's just made to facilitate the the traffic stop uh in
the calmest manner possible now how can you request a blue envelope uh families or individuals who would like to participate in the program uh these blue envelopes are available at 92 Washington Street that's uh the police substation
or they can contact J sergeant Jason badilla the West Orange Police Department is uh Sergeant outside in the hall tonight he's not okay he usually is but he's not here tonight um or you can contact them by phone now this information is uh on our uh uh will be
on our website uh I don't believe it's up yet but it will be on our website uh or you can call the non-emergency number if you uh needed to get in touch with them tomorrow but this information will be posted to our website and of course you still dial 911 for all fire and
medical emergencies um the uh West Orange Film Festival continues it's amazing it's the 19th here uh it took a pause during the Super Bowl some of you may have heard that the Super Bowl was this last Sunday so there was no Film Festival but it
does resume uh this uh uh this week uh Sunday February 16th Desperately Seeking Susan is next in the queue and ticket information is at West Orange arts.com and uh speaking of the
Arts Council as uh councilwoman Gerber Michael mentioned earlier uh black history is on display all month long uh in the uh program by the art uh of Bernard Jackson we'll never forget and uh this information is at the uh Arts
Council wo arts.org and you'll see that for every week in February there is a program going on at the West Orange Art Center 551 Valley Road West Orange as has been discussed um the uh next uh
reading program for the intergenerational reading program at the West Orange Library is February ruary 27th of course we have another council meeting before then uh but it's good to get this information out so that you can properly Mark your con uh your calendars
if you are so interested uh this also came to us on very short notice uh assembly one assembly woman Rosie bone uh is uh having a program tomorrow at the library from 4: to 7 PM uh and it you can't read it in the flyer there but
the topics covered are it's intended to uh help uh residents or anyone who's interested in um seeking some assistance in paying utility bills which could be uh a heavy burden on on any uh home budget and uh this is also posted on our
social media and um it also is in Spanish um uh so anybody uh can go on there and check out these two flyers and uh finally um councilwoman Scarpa had asked me uh about the Toby cats
Community Center uh in dnon park and um you know where did the name come from and and you know who actually was Toby cats so fortunately I do have some information on that I actually went to school with uh her son Elliot Katz graduated Mountain High School together
and uh Toby Katz was a holocaust Survivor she was a three-term West Orange Council woman who served consecutively from 1984 to 1996 she was the oldest of three children she had uh she was one of three sisters and she had three brothers and her family was uh
forcely removed in 1944 from their home in modern day Romania and they were uh taken to aitz uh and subsequently cocow and witnessed all the horrors of the Holocaust firsthand in her uh in an
interview in 1991 uh Toby Katz uh described many of these um uh of these Horus firsthand and what she witnessed happened to her family now she came to America in 1948 and Congressman Jo Joseph Minish helped
her direct come directly to West Orange and amazingly reunite her with her two sisters uh who were in the uh concentration camps and cats recalled in that 1991 interview how she had made a personal pledge to always uh help the
poor people if she the if she survived the horrors of the Holocaust which she certainly did uh she passed away in 2013 at age 92 and was married for over 60 years and uh here we see a picture of her wedding picture and a undated uh pre
wartime photo but you can see the defiant look in her eye that uh basically sent her on the trajectory of her successful career and Council woman Scarpa I hope that answers your questions about Toby cats so much so many of our seniors have asked about Toby cats and have heard about her in
the future she's known for being someone who loved our seniors and really advocated for seniors in fact she used to even hold dances on Friday night at the cat Center and it was a vibrant Center for our seniors and Rosary melli
our senior advocate in town always told me how Toby Catz after her after rosary's husband died tried to fix her up at these dances some of our seniors said they want to bring them back so I thought it was important that we understand Toby's plight all she did for our community and our seniors and that
we bring her back in spirit in the near future thank you for your additional Insight councilwoman scorpa and finally uh if anyone wants to contact all council members they can do this via email Council West orange.org uh council president thank you for allowing me to
indulge with uh with my public comments and at this point I'd like to turn the uh mic over to my uh esteemed colleague uh from essis County uh Mr Anthony pesi hi Anthony pesi uh representing County Executive Joe D fenzo uh just
want to um share uh last week we had our annual community development block grant and Emergency Services Grant uh check presentations uh West Orange uh was a recipient of several Awards uh there was a road re Road rehabilitation of
Franklin Avenue in Oxford Place for 300,000 uh the Bethany Center received a grant for 49,000 Main Street counseling received a grant for 25,000 and also the Jewish Family Service of West Orange received a grant for
$12,500 uh these were the um grants that you submitted the this program is always a year behind so these were submitted last year so then they're awarded this year um I haven't seen on your agenda
recently if you had come up with your uh submissions for this year's program which be which would be awarded at this time next year so that's all [Music] congratulations Mr Fagan are we now
ready to open it up to the public we are council president thank you in preparation for public comment at at our meeting I want to confirm that we are all on the same page on how public comment is regulated as per our
ordinance you can where Mr Fagan is standing right now you can stand in line behind the speaker platform to speed up the process once you are recognized by the chair you can speak for up to five minutes although we'll be immensely happy if
you're concise uh so we can speed up the process after everyone has commented we on the de will respond I will note when questions are posed and determine if anyone here can answer now or will be able to in the near future and if you want us to address your questions before
the next council meeting please provide your email address off microphone to Mr Fagan uh after you finish commenting three elements of our ordinance are as
follows uh article 3-8 public comment requires the speaker to First State their name and address therefore if the person says they won't provide this information regardless of the reason I will not allow them to continue and will direct Mr f to move on to the next
speaker now if you don't want to give your name and address you can certainly send uh whatever comment you want to council westorange.org all of us will get it and uh alternately you can have someone come to speak at the next
council meeting who is able to give their name and address article 3-15 do2 time limits requires 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 article 3-16 do2 conduct of the public quote any person who shall disturb the Peace of the township Council make offensive or
Abus abusive marks 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 and I trust that we will not uh get to that point but I just wanted to let you know what our ordinance says and and uh as much as we try not to have to
enforce it we will please state your name and address uh ma'am excuse me one second and I pardon the interruption council president I just want to point out that someone had inadvertently kicked out the plug for the camera and we momentarily lost our video feed which has since been restored and I wanted to
just make that announcement for the uh benefit of our Zoom audience and please pardon my Interruption please continue as per the instructions of council president thank you greetings my name is Moren Robinson and I live at 200 Mount
Pleasant Avenue West Orange New Jersey this marks the the second time I've appeared in a city council meeting in reference to complaints about subpar living conditions in my Crest Ridge apartment and as an ontime never late
rent paying tenant since my longevity the longevity of my tenure as a resident in West Orange New Jersey on November the 1 2020 secondly before I proceed further
I'd like to acknowledge and express my special appreciation for your police chief and his Department that may seem strange to you coming from an 83 year old black civil rights activist given
the history of this country notwithstanding I express honor and respect where it is due based on how I've been treated and based on my own experiences I I pay
$2,458 a month for rent and $50 a month for water usage whereas some residents who moved into Crest Ridge Apartments before and after me paid nothing at all for water I have a problem with that
scenario I don't have an inunit washer and dryer and I was informed by management that if I install my own portable washer and dryer I would have to pay an additional $50 per month for water usage in my opinion
that's price gouging for water usage because there are no water meters in any of the apartments to use as a barometer for measuring water usage the delegation of fees for water usage is determined at
the discretion and whim of property owners I am prepared to challenge that unfair and inequitable disparity in court as far as necessary until equality fairness and justice
prevails I don't believe in running because running doesn't resolve anything therefore I operate under the theory that if you don't stand for something you'll fall for
anything on Wednesday January 15th or sometime thereafter I met with Mrs Janice Adams director of the planning department Mr William odanis code inform uh enforcement officer was present in
her office when I arrived he remained and listened to the complaints about my apart of utmost un concern was my suspicion about the possibility of mole in the shower that I
use and the necessity of a handicap bar for my safety while standing in the shower management has been notified about all of my complaints on numerous occasions verbally and in
documentation during the discussion with Mrs Adams she stated that she had never received any complaints about Crest Ridge Apartments from anyone however she committed to sending
Mr or denz I don't I don't know if that's the correct pronunciation but he's the code inspect inspector to investigate my complaints on Wednesday January 22nd 2025 prior to his arrival at my
apartment Mr odonis Met had a meeting with press R Department's management and maintenance Personnel 30 minutes after the appointed time for my
inspection Mr odonis arrived at my apartment and ultimately referred to maintenance Personnel on a firstname basis stating that he was giving them one week to make the repairs since there had never been any
complaints from any of Crest Ray Department tenants I pondered about his first name basis comfort zone I'm G to end my I'm watching the clock and I I
believe in time I'm going to end it and I have the rest of my story and it's a travest day of justice and I have already filed complaint with your um Municipal Court judge
and if you want copies of this I have I made extra copies for coun thank you thank you thank you Miss Robinson good evening my name is Dr deor
Harvest 16 Elliot Place and I'm coming before you to ask for the assistance of the council and overall west darn city with a parking on Elliot Place by our seatan Hall Prep student students um this just started within the last two
weeks or so I drove around in the area to see what's going on I see every street has signs posted where kids can't park there so of course they're going to look for different places to park they have now chosen Elliot place that is a two-way street however when cars are
back to back to back almost in the driveway and we didn't care so much for the kids I would have called the police and have them tow the car because cars are parking in driveways as well but but when there's cars on both sides of the streets Elliot Place is a two-way street
two cars cannot go through one has to pull up into someone's driveway to let the other car go through and then back back out the other morning coming out backing out you're going real slow but when the kids are late for school they turn that corner almost on two wheels
flip around in your driveway you're backing out it is an accident waiting to happen I contacted the police police I was put in charge with the sergeant I asked the sergeant to come around during the day so that they can take a look at
what's going on we need to do something I don't know Satan Hall has this beautiful football fi why can't they have their kids park up there and they have a bus to bust the kids back and forth at a certain time in the morning and a certain time in the afternoon I'm not saying that kids shouldn't drive we
we know that they need to drive and some of the kids come from a far length but seen Hall needs to work with the town and find someplace safe for the kids to part and someplace safe for the residents that somebody's going to get hurt thank thanks thank you Dr
Harvest good evening ibraim place please speak in the mic I'm sorry apologize for your interrup much better thank you you can move that microphone a little bit too just don't turn it off okay what's his last did you repeat your name again I'm
sorry I was talking your last name Ibrahim his first name last name na NAA na Aja correct thank you please go ahead sorry about that I've lived in West Orange for over 30 years I've lived I live on a wonderful Street where all
my neighbors know each other we're a tight-nit community my neighbors are very diverse from Cuba Jamaica Guyana Brazil Puerto Rico Pakistan two families from Nigeria love their J R Pakistan people from Germany African
African-Americans white Americans Egyptians Palestinians Italians and members of the LGBT community they also practice many different faiths Judaism Christianity Islam and we all have we also have agnostics and atheists we all get along and respect each other we have
a block party every year where we bring our traditional foods out for everyone to try it's a street where everyone knows your name kind of like cheers you know sit they call me the mayor of the because I'm always out there being nosy talking to neighbors just finding out about them my children were raised on
the street they played with their little trucks up and down the street with other children it was a wonderful time time now my children are older they help babysit the younger children in the neighborhood my daughter babysits they tutor the kids my son pet sits i m a
lawn for two elderly neighbors that we have whenever we have a new neighbor my wife bakes cookies for them and we welcome them into the neighborhood and assist them with anything they need we created a WhatsApp group chat where everyone can instantly communicate with each other it's a great Street the
reason I M mention this is to highlight what West Orange can be and should be our street models the diversity and culture of West Orange hate has no home on our street I repeat hate has no home on our street or neighborhood we take
care of each other and we love our neighbors but outside of our street hate festers and shows his ugly head my wife and daughters a visible Muslim they wear the hij and I worry about them every day I worry that they will run into these hate
mongers that are in this town the hate mongers that we see on social media my kids want to hang out with their friends in West Orange but I tell them no don't come to West Orange come to our street but don't hang out in town because I'm afraid they'll run into these hate mongers and tell them go to West go to
South Orange go to Monclair anything about West Orange because they could be targeted it is sad but true I would rather I would rather they spend money in town and help local businesses rather than go out of town but the situation does not allow for this a lot in our
community feel the same they spend their money elsewhere let me read to you some of the posts on West orang social media there's going to be this is the quotes the post there's going to be a lot of people turned away Muslims for starters they are rapist pedophiles enemies of
the state see something do do something stop letting these suicide bombers in this country unite against devil worshippers got to kill these Muslim Devils a good Muslims a dead one we're going to send your ass back to where you came from rapist pedophiles and
anti-American We As Americans have to put a stop to this Rel religious fanaticism this is all over West AR social media unite it's a war of Good and Evil says somebody send these efforts to hell and get eyes on the ones
in this country legal or not they are enemies of the state this is what is in W orang social media one guy wrote It's time we find these scumbags and give them good oldfashioned Jewish American ass whooping and tell them to get the F out of our country or offer to introduce
them to Allah personally and decisively I am telling you all this because this is happening these bigot bigots these these uh people is happening in our town we want to have the
anti-muslim the the Islam the the resolution that we sent to you to combat islamophobia and anti-muslim and anti-arab racism in this town we sent this to you several times last year we worked with the previous Town
Council celino asmeret Scarpa I have 8 Seconds left please pass the resolution I beg of you I don't I have 42 seconds or I'll keep going I I don't have my
glasses I know a statement was made by a Town Council president you assure West Orange Community that you oppose discrimination in all forms without reservation etc etc etc that's great and I appreciate your words but they don't Comfort comfort me or protect me or protect my family from these bigots words do matter scar like Scara always
says words do matter but actions speak Better Than Words pass this resolution and show that you hear us and care and that you support this marginalized Community thank you thank you Mr n please Darnell Gibbs 200 block Lincoln
Avenue Orange New Jersey I'm Darnell Gibbs CEO P natural Vibes located at 47 uh I would like to say congratulations to the new council members and seeing the returning council member council member Scara council member gabri Michael C uh council member
Michelle c um and honor of black history mon I would like to say thank you to the township of West Orange for allowing paranatural Vibes to be his first blackowned dispensary here in the town it's been a great uh feeling a lot of warm welcomes we're meeting a lot of the Town residents building relationships
with them um but let you know that we're going to start planning Community meetings this spring and summer to inform the consumers of uh different types of products that we carry the appropriate uses for them so if they had any questions we're definitely going to answer and once again thanks a lot and have a good night
thank you thank you Mr Gibbs you good evening members of the Town Council excuse me I apologize for interrupting you could we get your name and address do that right now okay sorry thank you thank you my name is mawish 24 Old Indian Road and I'm standing before
you tonight because I cannot stay silent any longer I speak for those in our town who are living in fear and facing hate and discrimination especially our Muslim and Arab neighbors as you've heard some of the things that were said by Ibrahim earlier we are facing a lot of
discrimination in this town our Town's motto is hate has no home here but from where I stand hate does have a place in West Orange it's not a problem that's far away it's right here in our schools our workplaces and on our streets and we
as a community have a responsibility to act I'm asking the Town Council to take immediate action by adding the Islam Islam islamophobia resolution to the next meeting that directly addresses these issues this resolution isn't just
paperwork it's a statement a commitment that we will not tolerate hate islamophobia anti-arab racism or any form of discrimination here in West Orange we will not back down we will not
be silent we will act to ensure that every person in this town no matter their background feels safe and respected by passing this resolution we are showing that hate has no place here we are here and we are not backing down
we will keep pushing until this town lives UPS to its motto that hate has no home here we will fight for the safety and dignity of every person in West Orange because silence is no longer an option we are not going to be silent we
are not going anywhere we are going to keep coming back we will come back in t 20s 30s hundreds 200s and if we need to bring outside Council we will do that because West Orange is a place that hate
has no home here and we we deserve that every sing SLE person in this town deserves that thank you thank you yes we we are some people I don't think have last night but please I know how to run the meeting
okay please hi good evening everyone Hi could I get your name and address please sure Amelia abdor razic 32 Virginia a can you spell your last name yeah [Laughter]
um AB d e l r a z i sorry can you go a little oh yes sure a and then b as in boy d as in dog e r a z i k okay and what was the address again uh 32 Virginia thank you so much yes thank you
please go ahead hi everyone it is my first town council meeting so welcome um so lovely to be here I wasn't planning on speaking tonight but um I was just moved to to come as actually a pretty new West Orange
resident um we my husband and I bought a house here a little over a year ago and we lived in Egypt Tunisia California I was born in Rhode Island so the weather and the politics feel very similar in New Jersey I will say um but we really
fell in love with West Orange I mean a town that's like 12% Haitian immigrants I think and just the like that was so moving to me just the amount of diversity in this town like Ibrahim talked about um and we are kind of a multicultural multi-religious
multi-racial family my husband's from Egypt and you know in the past few years it has really been hectic across the country you know there have been Arab kids hit and cross walks a few years ago and I remember after that I was kind of
tugging my husband's hand saying like hey we can cross the street and he said no no I I'm scared I don't feel comfortable I want to wait for a crosswalk and these kinds of things even that Ibraham uh Ibrahim read on social media it's really wild out there just
the amount of lack of empathy folks have for each other and you know I wish that we were in a a place where we wouldn't have to pass any of these kinds of resolutions right that no one was feeling unsafe that attacks weren't happening at mosques and synagogues and
churches right like these things are happening um but this is a town that celebrates Val that celebrates rashasana and and Ramadan and and Christmas and I'm so proud to be part of a town like that and I think
when you know I again would really hope we we don't need to kind of pass resolutions for each kind of group but if a group is coming to you saying we really do feel unsafe um I I think from where I'm standing that's
the kind of thing that um passing the islamophobia resolution really just puts a really positive step forward in the relationship with that group um so yeah I'm a new Resident really excited to come to a lot more Town Council meetings
I have things to say about that cross and harison those people do not stop at that crosswalk I'll be coming for a lot of other issues these drivers they be hitting kids I don't know I know what is happening but I'm here today for the islamophobia resolution and just thank
you so much for having us all appreciate it good evening I'm Heather NAA Freeman place I'm here to ask you to please put the islamophobia and anti- anti-arab resolution on the agenda um here is a mom a neighbor friend and someone who
works in Community I'm someone who people are comfortable at approach generally especially other Muslims that are not obviously Muslim like me we need to protect the future generation we all want our children to uh grow and feel accepted as someone who has lived here
over 30 years and raised my children here I had to make sure I put myself out there uh so people can know me and know that I'm not someone to be feared and as such my children should not be feared and and other children you know everyone
should be treated uh equally and fairly and given a chance to be who they are and be respected for who they are we should be building a good future for them I appeal to you as parents friends and neighbors to do what's right show compassion kindness and acceptance of
each other actions speak louder than words also as a side note about 15ish years ago I was on the HRC and we had something called conversations on race we need to bring this back and learn about each other and not judge each
other have a good evening Matt Dragon 13 shared and Avenue I'm here tonight to ask that as elected representatives of the residents of West Orange you work together to consider the resolution against islamophobia and anti-arab racism in
being elected to Town Council you become The Advocates and voice of all the residents of West Orange your ideas and platforms played a role in your election but you are also elected to represent us not some of us all of us not just those
of us that look like you not just those of us that agree with you so I would ask that you would show the same empathy I've seen when someone complains about noise or trash pickup even though their problem isn't outside your front door
that you hear your fellow residents your neighbors your constituents when they present a problem and ask for your help in supporting a solution even if that problem is anti-arab and islamophobic statements and behaviors in our
Township on Facebook groups that associate themselves with our town screamed at high school students as they exercise their first amendment rights or even hurled from this very podium in public comment to this body so we know
that you know that this is a real problem before this Council as it's happened at your own meetings in your own chamber at your own Podium yet I am hopeful hopeful that you will take up this
resolution hopeful that you will engage with your neighbors hopeful that despite your past dismissal of this important and impactful issue you will give it another look because that is all we can do work
together to make our town a better place inclusive and representative of all of our residents so please do your part and put the resolution against islamophobia and anti-arab hate on your next agenda
for discussion and a vote thank you all right before I begin it is appropriate for me to discuss uh an ordinance that's on the docket later at this time it certainly is but please first give us your name and address please uh my name is Jacob Stevens I live at seven Greenwood AV here in West
Orange um I'm here tonight to talk about the leaf blower ordinance uh which is actually the last item on the docket um so I have experience in the Landscaping industry um from all sort of angles of it I grew up doing it
uh family members who still do it um but that I don't believe has a bearing or special bearing on why I'm here tonight I believe that the ordinance as worded is perhaps too strong the inclusion of
both two-stroke and fourstroke leaf blowers in the same wording same restrictions I believe is an overreach um The Dangers are present I I will not deny no one will deny two-stroke engines do pose serious health risks to
operators of those engines however the Technologies of the fourstroke engine we are all familiar with in our automobiles um pose a significantly uh diminished risk to The
Operators of the equipment and at present time there is not sufficient electrically powered leaf blowers specifically what are known as push behind leaf blowers um that are as of
right now fourstroke engines almost entirely for commercial use why is this relevant well we have quite a few commercial properties in town as ex screen the Whole Foods Plaza which need to be maintained with or without this
ordinance and the difficulty in doing so I believe would be significantly greater without the use of these push behind blowers so what I would like to ask for is that the ordinance be revised or perhaps an exemption on
fourstroke engines specifically and for what it's worth I would also like to uh toss my hat in the ring in support of the palestin or anti-islamophobia motion for the next meeting thank you very
much thank you good evening um my name is Tom flick um at 62 Dogwood Road uh it's a dead end road we have Dogwood Drive also at the end of Dogwood Drive we have a field called bowling
field someone approved putting Lighting in there I've lived there for close to 25 years now we haven't had lights nobody uses the field late at night now it's lit up like the Field of Dreams uh can be seen from space it's an
exaggeration but uh from my backyard I have to Shield my eyes to be able to stand out there and see things um I've gotten pscg to put um visors small visors on the tops of these LED lights
shaded it somewhat um but the lights are still bright uh it's a light pollution uh I used to be able to go down there late at night and set up my uh telescope and look at the heavens and you know it was
it was dark it was great can't do that anymore it's well lit it's lit all night long um I need you to at least approve timers for these lights so that they go off at 9 o'clock so they're not on all
night long can you do that um that's all I'm asking for uh I've got the psng like I said to put visors on them and a them a little better but it still comes through the woods I'm on I'm about 200 feet away from the field without foliage
the light comes through and lights up our our backyards I'm speaking for about five houses that are affected by the lights that are coming through there we back up to the field we're used to the you know a dark woods when we look back there it's all lit up back the heavens I
don't even need a a flashlight to walk around with my dog at night when I pull into my driveway at night I've got a beam of light facing me that shouldn't be light anyhow uh I understand that the somebody
said that the lights were put in for safety nobody's there late at night we don't need the lights on it's not a Super Bowl all night long can you guys approve some Tim go off at nine that'd be nice thank
you thank you Doug Adams n w and um I do have to uh give a little bit of an interlude um during the season summer I was walking um and Dogwood is where I was walking at
knocked on somebody's door and they had a place where a 400b bear was at his backyard at his patio so this is a brave dude who's out there walking at night with his dog I want beans I want spotlights I want laser guns I I want
weapons of 100 pound be um but uh I can understand for somebody who likes to be outside but I was thinking to myself oh he's Brave listen I I there there's a couple things and the agenda is real long and I know you guys are not going to cover that um but I do think that
there are a couple things that are really important um I've been watching the council meetings and it seems like a lot of important issues are constantly getting tabled and I know uh and I really do appre appreciate uh council president
how youve tried to navigate through um the dialogue it's it's um it's kind of an interesting experience for me uh seeing you in these contexts over a long period of time uh to kind of see the the
evolution if you will uh of your role here but one of the things that I'm challenged with is you talked about the idea of an independent Council and what I find is a lot of group think that if one person doesn't
agree with it or if the group doesn't agree with it I find that there are Council people who are giving comments in opposition to what the issue is but yet they're still voting with the group and uh I think that that's a little bit of a challenge because
without the rigor of a dialogue then how do we get to the best conclusions for the town the other thing I think and this is with regard to the lighting issue it's regard to the resolution and even some of these uh resolutions that
are not being addressed today that there seems to be a lot of intensity around moving around some issues but other issues that are impacting the heart the mindset the spirit the comfort and the unity and the process of healing in our town are being left
unaddressed I remember and sat in the council for the dialogue around the anti-Semitism re resolution and to be honest I was for it now I'm just going to tell you resolutions don't do anything for me because false words are
just words but as the person said words matter and so if it's a passionate need to do something for one group which I really support because they're out there every Saturday every Friday now mama and Grandmama and grandpy and the kids are
all walking on the street if somebody wanted to do them dirty they know where to find them so I think it is important to put some things in place to protect our vulnerable communities but I also think if we have passion around something for one group
we need to have passion around something for the other group not just want you to know neither one of these groups are my tribe but I still think if we're going to Le we got to leave for everybody and so it doesn't make sense to have a whole Community all up in arms
and riled up and this used to be something that was handled in the human relations commission through the people that you appointed and along with the administration but the council got
involved the council took control of this issue and there's a lot of resolutions on here where I see the council is trying to take control of things that were normally distributed decisions that were group
conversations and I noticed that we're spending a lot of time in investment around things like the council and special counsel and this thing and the environmental thing over here and the environmental thing over there we just got a lot of people in our community
right now that are suffering and hurting and expecting different and so I think that as a councel I think that we have to be a counsel for everyone I think that at the very least we have to entertain the dialogue be where you're going to be
vote no vote Yes do whatever you're going to do and live with the consequences when the election day comes but don't just sit up and decide and this has come up in Council conversation that there's been conversations with Council people I'm
sure one on-one so it doesn't violate open meetings act and then when you come to the meeting you have some agreements on what you're going to do and what you're going to vote on and I think that that's very challenging and defeats the purpose of an open meeting your time is
up my name is Dean Weiss 11 tary Lane rosan New Jersey um I'm here about the Blower ordinance been Landscaping in West orang since 1989 uh some of the commercial properties I do or the Fairmont house behind here the deant house the other
end of the Main Street into the microphone Sean Hall Prep and The JCC on Northfield these are all very big commercial accounts that uh can't possibly be maintained appropriately or cost efficiently with the resolution
that you plan to pass on the lower ordinance but there's a personal side to this as somebody who's been in the industry as a landscaper and some of my constitu in the room um having to follow this ordinance
you know there's not many people that have a job that every day is Earth Day you know the amount of trees that we plant and the amount of recycling we do a a homeowner couldn't match in his lifetime and now you're and other towns
are forcing us to buy these lithium batteries which go against every grain of us as environmentalists because of the amount of carbon Footprints it takes to make these batteries and the impact it leaves
when they are recycled 95% of these batteries do not get recycled they end up in landfills they they hurt the water supply they cause fires and it is a serious issue what was intended in Maplewood and
Monclair has not been achieved it might be quiet but the environmental impact remains they wanted to limit the the air pollution the blowing it's still there they want to leave leaves in the beds they're still removed the vacuums still
operate it's it's not what it is what did happen though was a substantial increase of costs to all these homeowners an additional tax some of these bills have tripled minimally doubled and sometimes tripled so I want
you to think about some of these impacts other than just it's quiet or you know there's not and there's not a substitute for these big blowers that's electric so you're forcing us into a situ ation we can't even handle so I want you to think about coming from somebody who cares
about the environment that what you're asking us to do goes against what being environmentalist really is I appreciate your time thank you thank you hi uh excuse me Ed rikman 12 more terrorist um I'm here to speak in favor
of the leaf blower ordinance um couple of things couple of facts first uh 2011 study found that stroke gas powerered leaf blowers uh spew out more pollution than a Ford F-150 pickup truck the sound emitted uh is greater than the sound of
an aircraft taking off and that sound carries for 200 yards in all directions in my neighborhood uh which is a very dense uh neighborhood uh that means that about 200 houses are affected if one leaf blower is going off that means 200 residents and households are affected by
that leaf blower um during the warmer months I can neither work or relax in my backyard because these things are always going um I have double pained glass windows and even inside the house with all the windows closed with the air
conditioning going I can still hear the intrusive sound and I mean not just hear it but am overwhelmed by it and have to adjust my volume on my on my headphones uh so that I can get through my zoom calls because I work from home um there
are better commercial and personal Alternatives mulching mowers Leaf sweepers and the issue with uh lithium batteries um has been shown to be um a red herring those things are uh on
balance more environmentally friendly than two-stroke or fourstroke engines thank you good evening my name is Joseph pulo I live in Essex Fels in the 200 foot notice area of the West Essex Highlands project Mr President members of the
council Adam FL gentleman how are you I not been here since last summer before the council I'll Circle back that at the end but I am here tonight to discuss the current status of the project to the new council with some things you may not know I am the President of Weare we are
the objector at the planning board to the West Essex Highlands project the de recently approved U permits for this project in the November posted December 4th there
are three separate objections or requests for hearings that were made to the DP we car is one representing interests of those in the condos the gram and the pleasant Del Chateau as well as all the members of Weare
separately the township of Essex Fels Verona and rosand land jointly filed a request to adhering to the D specific to the permits that were issued on the grounds they were issued there our water there's essexfells water collection well on the property at essexfells Country
Club there's a pump D shut it down in 2021 due to contamination their application to reopen was approved two weeks before by the same reviewer at the D under a different storm water standard at the bottom of the mountain
and last essexfells cach Club separately requested a a hearing to the administrative hearing at the D as per the administrative process the DP chose to deny all three and what that means
they denied them because according to council and de objection and the D's reply none of the parties have a particularized property interest in the objection under the rules of the I'm not a lawyer the only
party that has a has standing particularized property interest to request a hearing in the permanent decision of the D would be the applicant the only condition under which an applicant would request a hearing for the for a permit would be if it was
denied the laws vague on that area Weare is represented by Eastern environmental law Center which is the sequella to the ruter environmental Law Center and they have filed our objection they have recently filed the notice of
appeal now to app pellet division which is the next step in escalation the other parties will do what they're going to do with regard to filing notices of appeal and briefs that will follow there are over 20 different elements that are identified in the storm Mor management
plan which was does not conform to best management practice storm water regulations and our expert princ and hajro has submitted four mem all were ignored they will be testifying before the planning board shortly as will the balance of experts that we will
begin to present all that said um I appeared before this plan this Zing This Town Council in mid June and early July with Paul tractenberg after we provided notice to this Council and to
the planning board that the zoning ordinance that is being dealt with or is providing for this development was not effective nor filed with the Essex County planning board
until July 3D 2024 the old ordinance 19344 among other things expressly prohibits multifamily housing on block 179 lot 32 the 120 Acres that we're
talking about that ordinance was in effect on the date this the U site plan review Advisory board approved the develop recor application and therefore it was de it was deemed filed on that date that filed deemed complete
application was to be considered under 1934 which was the only ordinance in effect at the time we gave notice to this Council proper direction of the council then would have been to direct the planning board for a consistency review of the ordinances and the master
plan in effect at the time the plan was deemed complete we will be back here at the end of the planning board process or sooner if Council advises to request the same thing be done then that it should have been now which is to follow the law
40 4055 uh D 10.5 it's in three letters from Bill Potter sent here we will be back here to do this all over again because the ordinance was not effect at the time I appreciate your time my
time's run out and thank you kindly well one last thing the Georgia conservation Foundation has joined the opposition with EC and Weare and the appeal know the first hear about
announce thank you Mr pulo please Zas Academy for do Avenue um I'm almost sick of hearing myself talk about this subject but here goes I want to thank you members of the council who are moving to vastly
improve the quality of life in our beloved West Orange as a 32-year resident who acquired asthma after I moved here I appreciate that you care you will be showing me personally and limiting the use of these extremely
toxic machines that moving toward making the air of our backyards the neighborhoods and Parks more breather friendly as we know not only sensitive groups like workers children seniors people with health conditions and our beloved pets
suffer from these engine fumes but everyone's health is heavily impacted by these filthy machines not only can I not take a walk in my neighborhood or even the park or the reservoir in the spring summer or
fall without the threat of running into a choking menacing cloud of one of these machines but I'm not even safe within the confines of my own home with my doors and windows shut tight I do happen
to work at home also since covid first the unbearably loud sound interrupts my tella Health sessions making it impossible to hear my clients and then the gas fumes seep in and permeate the house choking me and precipitating an
asthma attack one time a very complic ated an emotional situation was created with a client because of the deafeningly loud Interruption from my neighbor's landscapers when I could not hear what
she had to tell me in my opinion this client was traumatized at that session this was an unforeseen and unnecessary side effect of lawn care we all pay exorbitant taxes here at least our
Lively hoods an ability to perform our duties and services to also earn to pay those taxes should be respected and protected speaking of my neighbors they are seniors and they are infirm I ask them are they not bothered
by their own landscapers to the toxic fumes and the noise much to my shock they said they were afraid to say anything to them and are waiting for the town to do something and the laws to change that's I swear
that's that happened um I was shocked to hear another commenter tonight say that he's an environmentally friendly landscaper um protecting the use of these gas powered blowers so there's a
few myths that I'd like to address myth facts if you if you will indulge me myth they're not not powerful enough to blow leaves fact commercial electric backpack blowers are comparable and sometimes
more powerful than the gas powered equivalent myth the price is burdensome they are too expensive fact they're around $100 more to buy one with one battery included yes and you probably want to get an extra battery but the
return on investment is now down to 10 months because prices have come down so much I got these facts from a commercial distributor in other words professional landscapers will make their investment dollars back in 10 months from there it
is all profit as no gas or oil or regular maintenance is needed to run these machines myth laws transitioning or limiting use will unfairly impact minority groups and immigrant workers
and low-income workers fact it is the opposite they will be protected lowincome minority and immigrant workers are the most adversely affected by being made to expose themselves for hours days weeks and months year after year and
using these filthy machines not only the 95 to 115 dbel uh sound comes causes permanent hearing loss dementia and chronic stress but because they only burn 2third of the
fuel the rest is spewed into the air in the form of noxious fumes that contain chemicals which include but are not limited to cancer causing benzines from Malahide ozone volatile organic compounds and nitrogen oxide and much
much more which impact workers and bystanders alike these workers are at a higher risk of lung cancer and other cancers respiratory disease is Alzheimer's to name a few your time is up okay thank you for for here hearing
me appreciate your time that was brutal Sally manga Ridge Road on behalf of our green the mic please on behalf of our Green West
Orange members I'm calling upon my Town Council my mayor my fellow West Orange residents landscapers to come together with a special meeting since the ordinance on first reading looks like it's going to be postponed this
evening it's time that we get some of these environmental laws passed before we don't have a planet on which to fight with each other on uh so where is the opportunity everyone will be better off without these devices let's not even
talk about the earsplitting noise and pollution or which is better gas or electric let's talk about the business advantages of the opportunity at hand our Green West Orange members are calling for the abandonment of
landscaping by brute force to be replaced by a collaboration with nature in which we rely on to survive this is the coste effective way let's follow the example set by Westchester County New
York one hour from here similar population trees and demographics they are way ahead of us since 2010 they have benefited because landscapers residents and the townships
are saving millions of dollars by simply stopping this war on leaves let's just leave the leaves what they have learned is that leaves will decompose into nutrient-rich soil on their own without them we all
must pay money for fertilizer and mulch that nature gives us for free all our landscapers have to do is run over them with a lawn mower or not even that they will become small pieces
that dissolve into the soil no more struggling to pile them up capture them chase them bag them cart them away let's just love them and leave them and on to the next client I bet
that will save landscapers 25% residents start asking your landscaper for a discount next season there is no need for a spring cleanup using blowers there's nothing to blow no
charge add to the cost savings for the township it's enormous since 2010 the townships of dobs Ferry Scarsdale New rochell saved between 100,000 and 800,000 annually in expenses related to
leaves by not blowing leaves into piles on the streets we too could save our DPW labor overtime Fuel and trucking away leaves the workers can be redeployed to other important matters
like Park maintenance tree planting maybe they can get manicures blowers whether gas or electric will be used sparingly no more stinking like gasoline at the end of the day no more driving around with extra
gas tanks in the truck the leave the leaves technique will help landscapers and the township avoid the possible liability of class action lawsuits for damaging the lungs hearts and hearing of Township employees and Landscape workers
this crisis will make landscapers better businessmen and women and if you don't like leaves I suggest another way of looking at them look up in the sky at the tree above you and have gratitude for its support of your life for the roof over your head
the oxygen it provides you for the shade you are graced with for the free mulch and fertilizer it rains down on you that supports the beneficial insects that provide your food supply gratitude will take away any of your anxiety about
leaves we are foolish if we don't learn and Tak Advantage from this crisis both imagined and real and turn it into an opportunity for a win-win for residents landscapers and the township let's get moving now there is money to be made
with the strategy of prohibiting gas blowers and leaving the leaves thank you bev Beverly Riley at 56 lenux Terrace Sally has stolen my
show but The Show Must Go On so yes I am here to say that I am opposed to both the air and noise pollution that gas fueled um landscape machines cause but that's not really why what I'm going to
talk about this evening if we can all think back to September of 2021 when hurricane Ida descended on New Jersey and we saw massive amounts of water from rain and a terrible rock
slide on Northfield Avenue on February 4th the New York Times shared with the public um months worth of analysis of the hurricane hurricane Helen that pretty much destroyed many
towns in Western North Carolina and in South Carolina and in Florida areas that had been up until then not risk areas for hurricanes and what the New York Times anal analysts found was that hurricanes
have changed their threat to populations it's no longer about wind it's about rain and we know in New Jersey what rain can do I know that I
felt living on a steep slope here in West Orange I thought my house was going to float down to Pleasant Valley way after during during Ida I'd never seen so much rain so this is talking about what's happened in
2012 what's happened this year and what's in the future our storms are getting worse and the hurricanes are lifethreatening property threatening because of water so what does this have
to do with the ordinance that's at hand and I will say everything West Orange soil unfortunately for those of us who are gardeners is clay soil it's about the worst soil you could possibly get if
you're a gardener hard to dig into filled with rocks okay and the other thing is is when we have heavy rains the water pools because the clay soil does not allow the moisture to disperse it just
collects and it contributes to massive flooding anyone who has a home in West Orange knows what happens when it rains here to their basements some pumps are not and it's really a lot to do with the amount of rain that's coming in these
storms and also our clay soil so what can we do about this we can manage what we have we can manage the soil and the way to do that is by
leaving the leaves leaves should not be treated like trash leaves should be treated like treasures and they come to us for free but right nature provides these
leaves every fall they collect and somehow from the 1950s when we didn't collect our leaves except by raking them and leaving them in a leaf pile somewhere on our property for the kids to play in turned into a business where
we had to get rid of them and treat them like trash and build pyramids on our streets that were dangerous for traffic for children especially when it's wet and the leaves are slippery and then we hire landscapers to blow them with gas
fueled machines and we get trucks to suck them up and we carry them off to the tune of thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars these are very important to our soil we need to save these leaves and collect them on our own
property I'm talking to you as to council people but the people who can really make the change because you may not vote in favor of this ordinance the people who can make the change are behind me the residents of West Orange who have homes
there is nothing in the old or new Bible in the Coran there is nothing in any Scripture or text that says Thou shalt mow La once a week nothing you can stop doing it I'm giving
you permission give yourself that empowerment there is nothing that says that we had a drought this year people were still mowing the lawn your time is up wasn't gr my time is up yes please finish your comment and I
just I'm just saying we need to leave those leaves they're going to save us from wet basements they're going to save us from flooding they provide shelter for animals insects birds it's very important and we need to stop the
insanity the issue is save your leaves thank you Miss Riley name is Richard lean arst I live at 1073 Pleasant valleyway I'm G to say the complete opposite I spend a lot of money for a landscaper I spend a lot of money for a guy to come and decorate my
house for Christmas I spend a lot of money for a tree guy to come and do my trees and plant uh flowers and I don't want my house looking like crap with bunch of leaves all over it I want my house looking pristine now a lot of good has come from this all this talk about
leaves and mulching and all this I own I own a lawnmower shop a lot of the landscapers thought they couldn't mulch they didn't know what they were going to do in Monclair with the leaves they didn't know what was going to happen um they've all gone a lot of them have gone to mulching they found out a mulching
does work two they can mulch some of them leaves into the ground can't mulch them all he can mulch a lot of them into the ground so things they thought they couldn't do they could do Monclair had this partial ban in the in the summer and they never thought they could use
battery powered blowers they used the battery powered blowers in the summer and it worked right Monclair then enacted this uh full blower ban I can tell you because I sawell the landscaper I sawell the homeowner and I sell have many government contracts so and I S A
lot of the towns um Monclair the town people will tell you we do the best we can do with what we have and we can't do it properly because the equipment doesn't work I stood up
here last year and we talked about battery powered blowers and they said well the technology will get better and we're going to go there well it's been a year and the technology hasn't gotten better I the two best products on the market would be palan which runs the
longest but takes the longest time to charge and Crest Crest by far leads the pack it's extremely expensive that's what Monclair is using that's what I'm now selling to Glenn Ridge because Glenn Ridge enacted this partial ban partial
ban is fine I think if you would extend your partial ban longer in the spring and longer in the fall that would be more it would be much fairer for the landscaper the landscaper this year has two major issues he has you guys wanting to take away their blower and they have
the president wanting to ship their laborers out of the country so major major problem for these guys right so I think if you hit him with this blower problem that's a huge issue then
Monclair went to no generators well guess what they're all using a generator Monclair in the spring they cheated a little bit and in the fall I don't care what anybody back here says because I've ridden with many landscapers they had to use gas blowers they were using gas
blowers cheating and they're all using generators cheating because they have to be able to charge these blowers which are about 60 to 70% as effective as a battery powered uh blower not to mention a cost is four times the the amount of
money and I'm not talking to you I make money whether I sell the gas or I sell the battery powered unit I'm in Glen Ridge I'm sitting in the front row and they're talking about blowing Banning the blower and uh there's a guy Steve in the front very nice guy I know the guy I've done business with him and he's in
charge of battery Park so he says I have 28 acres in in Battery Park I use a 100% battery we don't need gas and I'm able to do everything with with battery we don't need gas anything so after the meeting is all over I move over next to him and I said Steve how do you do it he
goes well I have a group of guys that go out every day and they just do and they just do cleanups with with the the battery blowers I said well the landscaper shows up once every 10 days or once every two weeks how does he handle the leaves because when the
leaves are frozen or the leaves are wet how does he do that and he goes he can't I said well what you just put on record was you can do it so if you have a caretaker and he's out doing it every day he can do it these guys can't show up once every 10 days or once every two weeks when the when the leaves are wet
and do this I spoke to Joe Pelos God Rest his soul we G I gave him a blower to use it didn't work I spoke to James I gave him a blower to use and this is when he's doing 10 miles of Street a day to to move the leaves off of the street
and he couldn't do it so my challenge to you is I'm Richard Leon artist my company is Jersey Power Equipment my phone number is 973 66712 two if you'd like me to come down and demo for you or meet with any one of
you privately I'd love to do it I'm I'm fearful that the that my rates are going to go through the roof with my land scaper I got to tell you I saw battery powered mowers right I'm my I will cut my lawn next year with a battery powered robot right the gentleman that was up
here talking before his mother drives a a Ford Lightning she just time is up Jo bought a um a Tesla and spent $100,000 with me on battery powered equipment and she'll tell you I cannot do it without gas spring and fall thank you for your
time thank you hey good evening everybody uh Darren nurse uh s Darkness Road uh guess someone give me some leaves now but um anyway uh one of one of the biggest thing I heard here tonight for me just listening to everybody speak is
accountability and one of the things I want to point out is you know as a town we have to begin to look at this is not a town any longer this is a city and it becoming a city now we got to budget a different way and in budgeting a different way is we're going to have to
operate and think in a different manner because of the diversity because of all the different things that are taking place you know these are the things that we have to begin to push for right uh one of the Town one of the groups I'm part of is the uh downtown Alliance
right and what I saw here tonight um when they put up on a board about the uh West Orange Film Festival right you got a West Film Festival but how is that publicized right how is that benefit what money is that really bringing to
the town being in the AMC data right because this is money where we're saying we're trying to find money for the budget we're trying to find money for this trying to find money for things if we have an event like this and this event is not pushed the right way guess what it generates nothing right we have
um turtleback Zoo right and is in cooperation with the county but we don't work with the county and taking a million people that comes to the town and after they go to turtleback zoo where do they go they gone they dispersed from there but here
it is we have a downturn Alliance where you want to cut it out but they have the POS they're in the position right to put on festivities around all these events in order to generate money so these are the things I think we need to begin to
look at if and I don't want anybody to take offense if the Town Council is not in the mind frame of thinking like a city and still thinking as a town of 1962 then maybe this night might be the
thing for you because you need to start thinking in a bigger fashion and until you begin to do that you're going to continue to hurt this town you're gonna continue to hurt the people gentleman said tonight here like you know listen what are you hating for right
everybody has a has a uh right to believe and do as they wish you know keep your personal feelings to yourself that's how I feel but this is the thing we cannot continue to operate like this because what's going to happen is you're going to think and small with a growing
population and everything is just crashing from that point and that's just my piece thank you Mr nurse Dr Robert holson in ten Gaston Street it was about 10 years ago that I
stood before this group and this microphone to plead with the council to do something about the sound in this room we still cannot hear you and it's about time that the town of
West orang comes into 2025 these four speakers I I don't know I I don't hear any sound coming out of them at all I don't know if that's where the sound comes from but I would recommend that we speak to the African Heritage Group
which ran that Town Council debate remember the Forum it was magnificently sounded you could hear every word you said those who were running and people
were connecting to you but I've come in a long time and I've had to sit here even though I don't have a hearing problem according to my doctors I have to sit here because otherwise I would not
hear practically anything please could we do something about this room thank you good evening Aon bullan 17 Champlain Terrace Montclair New Jersey I'm here from the future where we have no leaf
blowers um and everything's fine that's it have a good night just kidding just kidding um I it's it's wonderful it had been a plague I also just like all of so many people that have spoken we live in a pretty concentrated area and I would
have you know I always regail this story there was one day I live on a one block road I had 16 leaf blowers because four neighbors had their landscapers come and they all come with four leaf blowers and it was such a rack I mean it was almost
comical right but on the other side of that once they were done and I could come out of my house with my child who at the time was about two about that high from the ground and these leaf blowers they not only are
they loud and disruptive while they're running but they deposit these voc's out into the air but it stays there it could stay there for up to a week just hovering above the ground where are tiny little bodies of our children that's where they walk that's where they
breathe that's where they play right like there has to be a better way to maintain our children and our family's quality of life right and this is a really easy easy way to shift it I know it's hard for the people that depend on
these machines and their livelihood but this is about our quality of life and if I can't go inside of my home because you're using a machine and not only is it going through you know it's going through my building materials it's going through my body right you are like
absolutely trespassing in my home this is environmental trespassing and it's a real thing it's a real thing because I know it's really happening but it is a real thing and it's just it's it's time that we make a decision to make that progress forward and you guys can do it
because you know we did it we're right next door we share streets we share so many things right we share lots of like you know I didn't know you guys had a film festival we have one too let's also both not have blea blowers right
so um you know and the gentleman was saying that he pays a lot of money for his landscaping and decorations and you know a lot of people pay a lot of money for landscaping and it is while there are some people where it is a necessity they can't physically do it themselves
many people it is a luxury and you can pay a lot of money for all this stuff if it's more expensive because it's battery powered then just pay a little bit more money if you're willing to already pay the money then up the Annie to make sure that your neighbors aren't being harmed
by the service you're bringing into their home you are bringing a service into other people's homes that they did not ask for right you were bringing chemicals into my child's body that I did not sanction you are you know there's so many things the noise the the
stink Jeepers the all of it right so I'm just I have crazy notes here so what else can I say that's it yeah and I think the sooner you move forward the sooner you just move toward progress the sooner we will have progress right you
can't just sit there continuing to not take action and say and know that these things are harmful and expect their the needle to move you have to move the needle move it like Monclair moved it and people even tried to sue us right they
were like no no no you can't do that and twice they were told yeah they can they can protect themselves they can protect their children they can protect their families they can protect their homes and their entire town and I hope that you guys have that opportunity really
really soon thank you thank you Lawrence Cohen Lincoln Avenue West Orange um I'm over here from a city and um so I would say this is a town in comparison and there can be down towns in a town
but this is a town and in terms of the population 46,000 um also I have a a hand mower from like just like my grandmother had in 1950s 40s and uh they
make it fiser company makes it and I I did the the lawn mowing and there's no bag to catch the leaves the leaves get crumpled in little tiny sizes and it help is fertilizer and that's what I do throughout the year it's good exercise it makes no noise I can do it all hours
not bother anybody so um and it's good for the bugs and everything um I would like to comment on the lady with the greatest speech here the 82y old lady about the house uh with the the water bill and this and that I hope the town can can help her I mean
the seniors should be supported whatever they can especially for 8old lady to write such an eloquent speech like that it was just very moving and hopefully her bills and because the taxes are so high the property taxes let's say the management company they pay property
taxes and their and they're trying to and they're going to uh um push the higher costs of the property taxes they have to the to the tenants it's just a vicious circle so really one of the key uh jobs of the council which is the
power of the purse is to to lower property tax to lower taxes cut that budget cut that budget as quick as you can go back to geese there the geese ordinance or I mean whatever I don't know what's happening if the geese are being protected I hope there's no more killings of geese gassing of geese I
went to uh walked around uh Vincent Pond Lake Vincent and they um neighbors told me the geese were were trapped and killed and gased uh a couple of times and it's just heartbreak and there are no more geese they said hardly any just Strays coming
back and forth and I imagine the same thing happen in Crystal a let's stop that and stop the addling of the eggs which is like force burst control on Wildlife $3,000 or something uh fee for that I think that's going forward this year maybe somebody signed a contract
you can just stop that contract and you know the company that does these things is such an embarrassing thing that they to gas a goose and these are the babies with it the goslings um it could take 15 to 45 minutes for these geese to die
geese are very enormous lungs per P per portion of their body they could fly way up in the Discover the air is thin and they can dive deep in the water and they hold their breath so they holding their breath when they're being gasped it prolongs their torture that's what West Orange did peacock Gladstone just uh had
a big uh town meeting where they just stopped all of the killing of the geese and it was publicized on the news all around the region Philadelphia and New York City so luckily you guys were off the the media Spectrum but this was something terrible that has been done since
2022 um let's see Crystal Lake um the the project says that there are supposed to be lights around the lake for the project whatever the the um I hope they don't do that that really I think is acidification of that lake at least if they are GNA have a path maybe they
could do a dirt would be nicer than cement but don't have lights all around and I felt uh very sympathetic to the guy who said you know his ballpark lit lit up like a like a like a you know his uh you know like the a City airport or something you know stop that we're paying for the
lights too the the power that the psag they put I think we're paying for those um let's stop all this over um uh light uh light pollution I mean I've noticed it even where I live um adjacent Street
there was a new headlight a new Street Lamp put in that was four times the the the power of the other lamps and um it was done because uh people a few people called up and said there's they're worried about crime but I don't
know there's so much light in this town and I think thanks to the great Police Department the crime is very low here and I don't think all of that is is so necessary and I do come from a city I must say the crime is quite low here compared to city and they've done a great job the police um let's see what
else are we on this little agenda um and um I don't I just want to go back to taxes please try to cut the budget lower the taxes don't stay in debt as much as you are in we shouldn't be in the bond market it costs so much for the bond market uh when you get a what do you
call it the grant don't uh don't do a match a match to the grant because that means you're paying money out of your own pocket just go to the Grant and stop thank you thank you m good evening my name isas and I'm Liv 133
Aven I'm sorry can you repeat your name and address can you 133 wson Avenue I am here um we own a landscaping company which is
our and I feel so sad about the the this um law that you want to pass about electric um machines because we have raised we are raising
three daughters and is our um you know we is our business so now the the spring and F clean up you know in this seasons for my husband I have seen that he works
really hard and and electric machines it won't help so much because it doesn't um last you know for work those heavy leaves especially in Spring and fall so I would like to
ask you you know if you can balance balance you know maybe only in Spring and fall you can leave a you know the gas machines because you know when I go to help him I see how hard he works and and
I say now that you wanted to pass this uh this electric machine that means that we have to spend more money and we going to you know we have to let it know the the
customers that for now you know we are not doing you know the economy for the town or the people who lives you know the area if we say okay we're going to use machines electric machines then from
now on we have to raise the you know the monthly service which is H you know uh dependent the small or or big house so that Co that will cost more money for the customers so I I want you to keep in
mind that that for example if you have a landscaper who uses a gas machines I bet you that some of you you will have a um landscaper and they will they will say we have to raise the monthly service
because now we are using electric machines so that's that's the that's is going to be the cause for changing this law or whatever you know this ordinance that you want to pass that we going to affect to us because probably we lose we
lost some clients you know some clients because we raise $25 more for monthly or you know depending how how big or small is the the the the the area so I beg you if you can
balance you know okay it's it's you know you balance for the people who explain that for the gas the other gas or other the environment for you know takech for our size that we own a business and
and and is our you know the our um I don't know how can I say you know uh hely yeah thank you um so it's not going to be easy you
know that's what that's only I want to say if you can balance you know the in the spring and fall they can use uh you know Gas machine because there are heavy machines to blow you know a lot of machine I mean a lot of
blows luckily you know some people they want to keep the the leaves in their property but not all the clients they wanted to do that if you want if someone wanted to you know to let them you know dump the the leaves and their their you
know their um property but not all everybody not everybody would like to do that they like you know to have very clean um um landscaping area thank you very much for hearing us thank you yes thank
you hi good evening my name is Jessica stalsberg I live at 31 Fairfield Street in Montclair um so I two years ago almost to the day was my first first night coming into our
Town Council meetings to start a campaign that led to the passage of the law that prohibits the gas powered leaf flower in Montclair um I had been focused on it in my sort of professional life for about a year and I've continued to be focused on it both as an advocate
in my community and also you know I continue to research this issue I speak to people and communities across the country about this I'm very aware of the different um issues that are coming up both for the landscapers as well as
trying to recognize that this simply is a public health mandate that communities are facing and it's interesting to go after you spoke and realize that one of the key things to doing this smoothly and successfully is really um working to
like that you pass your law because this change will not come ahead of the law it will come because of the law so in every single community that has already passed this Washington DC Larchmont New York Irvington New
York um we've got Rockport massachusett coming up Huntington Long Island coming up um Evanston Illinois Portland Oregon's coming up Baltimore's coming up maplewood's done it montclair's done it this is already happening and in every
single Community where this law is in effect the landscapers have found a new balance they were able to transition to the use of electric leaf blowers and also perhaps learn some different practices that meant that they could blow less because sometimes we might
want to stop and think that if we stop blowing 200 m per hour winds at our soil we might all be better off and that if someone decides that they want a property where they've disappeared all the leaves which were actually intended
to fall and stay no one planned for a machine to come in and blow them away um that that would reduce the need for all of this blowing and removal and then that counters the cost of say battery
backup batteries and I hope that as if this passes here that for instance I would be more than happy to talk to you in your husband and share with you what I know put you in touch with an all electric landscaper help you learn about the new equipment and also um we need to
keep in mind at all times that when you hear about the great expense of replacing the gas leaf blower what tends to be left out of these conversations is that one commercial gas leaf blower Burns five to seven gallons of gas per day in Peak Leaf season that is a lot of
money and when they talk about raising their prices then you want to say well what did you do when gas prices soared did you was there a search charge on your customers was that happening because there is a return on investment that someone already addressed that even the leading manufacturers are showing
that within a year you pay you've paid for your new machine and now you're you're literally like making money because you're no longer spending money on gas and that the machines don't require the same kind of Maintenance and when we talk about what about recycling
of the the batteries well it's interesting because the gas the people I know are using electric leaf blowers they don't need to recycle them because working for years and they're using them so there's this big cry that they all have to be recycled and yet what about
their extended use and are the people who are worried about recycling lithium ion batteries which yes does have its own issues but then what about the issues with gas and oil we know fossil fuels are responsible for our warming Planet why should we talk about that at the same time should we think about um
whether or not um you know when you're done with a broken gas leaf blower how does that machine get recycled so we can't leave out other sides to these arguments that come up um but they are it is possible to succeed because I live in a community where we've succeeded
we've been 16 months without a gas leaf blower it's gone smoothly and um we really would love to be a resource to you as you move forward with this in any way we can both the equipment um communication uh
enforcement anything that you guys need we are a resource for you I know Maplewood is as well and I guess in my few seconds I have left because I didn't even read anything that I had prepared for tonight I just want to read that something I read into the room my first
night which was that a quote by Francis Perkins F FDR Secretary of Labor said a government should aim to give all the people under its jurisdiction the best possible life I can think of no better way to do this than to pass legislation that protects the health of all who live
and work in the community you serve and that does include the health of your landscapers your time is up thank you very much please good evening everyone my name is Michael jvini I'm at 68 mango Road here in West Orange New Jersey I'm a lifelong resident and business owner
here in town um I do own a landscape company and um a lot of what we're hearing is quite redundant tonight obviously we want to uh talk about the uh the efficiency or non-efficiency um but what
you are hearing is opinions uh thoughts ideas um it's not coming directly from the sources okay we are out there working with the products and I can tell you firsthand that they are ineffective and inefficient do I own them yes I own
them are they productive no they are not productive uh we are not homeowners we're in the business of being productive and trying to be as coste effective for our clients when we are not productive we are not costeffective for
our clients at all um I work in Montclair I do work in Maplewood where yes we have to use strictly electric blowers and I am Telling You firsthand that the amount of
time that we spend is double to Triple with additional Manpower my clients do not want the leaves to lay where they are they want clean properties they have well- painted homes they want manicured
properties they don't want to live in filth they don't want the leaves piled up around the foundation of their homes they don't want fungus mold spores insects rodents snakes which all Harbor in the leaves around the foundation of
their homes now I'm not a complete naysayer because as I said I do own the electric equipment but I will tell you that I am deathly afraid that one day I will come down to my shop here in West Orange and
find it burned to the ground because we all know the fires that are caused from these batteries and I have dozens of them charging in my garage I'm fortunate enough where I can do that there are
many landscapers unlike myself that just rent a slip a parking space where are they going to charge their batteries overnight so they can go out and be immediately effective the next day they can't are they going to run a generator
all evening I don't think so and we talk about the Dust particles and they're infiltrating into the house have you ever seen some mulch a lawn over and over and over again on a dry day the dust is incredible if you're not
wearing a respirator you're in trouble so let's think about all the things that are being said because electric blowers guess what they produce dust they do produce noise maybe not as
much noise but they do produce noise and they do produce dust and they are heavy so you're not saving anyone's health because they still are inhaling dust and they have this heavy equipment on their
back there are other options which are push blowers which someone had mentioned earlier today which are just wheels and a fan and a simple lawn mower which is a simple motor which is the same that is on your basic lawn mower it's not a
two-stroke it's a fourstroke so think about all these as they impact everyone because my clients especially the elderly will not be able to afford this additional tax the times that are set forth I believe are April
15 weather permitting we're going to be out there the first week of March March 1 if possible so therefore we're not going to be effective and efficient come the 1 of March when we try to go to work so the
date need to be relooked at and think about maybe the 1 of March to the end of May I'm not going to keep going on because a lot of it is what everyone else has said and I'll save everyone some time but think about those
situations thank you thank you Vince miletello 182 East mclen Livingston New Jersey Jersey I was born and raised pretty much in West Orange went through the whole school system up until high school so I know the town
very well uh I've been in front of most of you there's a lot of new faces welcome to new faces congratulations um I don't want to say the same things over and over again we know that these uh pieces of uh new battery powered equipment are not
efficient like gas power blowers guys like me that have been in business my dad started this business in the in the early 60s we know what needs to be done we're stewards of the environment we're not trying to kill people my dad's going to be 88 years old this year he's
probably touched more things that you shouldn't have touched than most of we ever see in a lifetime we're not killing anybody the fumes are not permeating through walls the the equipment has Chang through the years they're all just
about California approv emissions now uh I just actually had an opportunity to meet one of the vendors in in uh in Livingston he said there's some new Ste equipment coming out and it's pretty good it's pretty quiet but it lasts 17 minutes on a charge 17
minutes and that's two batteries per piece of equipment you have four guys on the crew and they're working how many batteries do you need you can't possibly charge them the charging system for this still power equipment charges four batteries at a time
in sequence one at a time it works its way around you'll have guys at the truck all day long trying to charge your batteries it's just it's just impractical and the the stories about you know mulching you can't mulch every leaf in the township it's impossible
like the previous speaker said it it's you would kill yourself trying to ingest that dust from the dry leaves it just it's impractical you guys really got to think this out I think that when this stuffff really you know becomes efficient we're
all going to do it none of us want to pay three four dollar a gallon for gasoline we've all changed all of our power equipment just about our lawn mowers are all EFI which they're fuel injected they're not carburated anymore we're all doing what we can to save on fuel and and fumes they're all they have
the same type of emissions that cars have now you guys got to give it some time we're not trying to kill the environment thank you thank you Mr M CLA sylvestri 20 Grand View Avenue um
I've spoken about leaf blowers a number of times so I'm not going to to reiterate my support for this ordinance but I really wanted to talk about just for a minute or so was something of the Mr Fagan and his presentation the blue
envelope initiative um as a parent of an autistic driver who has had a couple of scrapes with the law of Bender Benders and uh moving violation and I can attest that my son
had a heck of a lot of anxiety when dealing with uh the police officers so I think this is a fabulous idea I haven't heard about it before I'm curious to to see that uh Union County all of the the communities in Union County are doing it
um I just like to ask the administration to promote this as much as possible and then I thought maybe we could ask Mr pesi um to use whatever Cloud he has to get other towns uh besides Belleville and West Orange uh in Essex County to be
um to be looking into doing that thank you thank you I have here anybody [Music] yes sorry Mr rashis please go ahead I'm
sorry Robert rashkis 35 Oak gr Road yes I watched the County Commissioners meeting last Wednesday and know they had a resolution for a new animal Barnyard renovation exhibit at the turtle bag Zoo but they didn't say whether or not the Z
the exhibit is planned to be in the current footprint of the zoo and it was approved by the uh essis County Recreation and open space Advisory board but they don't invite the public to their meetings so uh the public can't ask at those meetings whether or not
it's going to be in the confines of the suits I'd like to know about that and also I happen to walk now talk about the landscapers I I I walked down last fall to the J past the JCC when the landscape company was working and there were
multiple uh employees all using equipment there was dust around the air noise nobody even noticed me I had to push the button at the traffic light and cross the street walk to the other side of the street of Northfield AV because it was too dangerous was the health and safety hazard to continue to walk down
the street okay thank you thank you Mr ashas okay who's going to be the last one saving the best for last anyone going once twice three times there you go what you've already
spoken once we don't allow we'd be here all night thank you though uh so thank you everyone and I think I I hope given everyone's interest in why they came to speak that no
one or that everyone recognizes what a wonderful Community we have here diverse eloquent passionate logical interested in all kinds of ways
to make West Orange a better place to live even the people who live outside of West Orange come here to try to make it a better place so I just want to say thank you to everyone and and I hope what you take away from here tonight uh
reflects that in some way um I usually wait to last to respond to public comment I'd like to just take the council president prerogative and just say something very quickly and then I'll pass it on to everybody I want uh
Chief Abbott to be able to speak to some of the questions that that have to do with the police and say but before that I I want you to know that we do hear you and when I say we I'm in the five Council people up here we do hear you
and we do suffer with you if you're suffering and we will try to do everything we can to change that in our community and in our country but let me just read you what we said at the January 6 council meeting I just want to
make sure everybody knew knows this speaking as council president for the new 2025 Council I believe council members understand and fully support the law and customs of our country our society and the community that prohibit
and abhor all forms of discrimination period no caveats no conditions in all cases and for everyone I believe we all agree that we must treat each other as equals with
love respect and justice just as we want to be treated and just as our Constitution and laws provide as human beings we are all different and will differ you've seen it up here just tonight as we seek solutions to these
disagreements we should always keep our principles of equality respect tolerance and Justice foremost in our words and actions both for our ourselves and for those with whom we disagree I believe the West the people of West Orange
should be certain and confident that their council members do not and will not tolerate discrimination of any kind that we should oppose discrimination wherever it raises its ugly head and that we always will and speaking for myself I believe these types of
resolutions are unnecessary once we have firmly established and proclaimed our opposition to discrimination of every and any kind therefore I believe it is best for our community to focus on the issues challenges and future that we as
a governing body can address through solutions that have a significant impact on making West Orange an even better place to live visit and do business that is our goal and focus going forward and I ask that you join us in this effort
and before I turn it over to uh Chief Abbott I just want to follow up with saying I am sorry that anybody doesn't matter what identity group they are suffers from uh takes suffering from uh what other people say to them
unfortunately or fortunately we have a First Amendment right in this country to say just about what we want and it has to be balanced with what we all share in our values of Tolerance and if somebody says something
to you that you feel uh constitutes a potential break in the law the law does not allow free speech that threatens other people if you feel threatened by something that somebody
says to you gather the evidence and report it to the police and get the evidence as safely as you can on social media that stuff that that was being said is just beyond the pale and Beyond The Pale of I believe 97
98 99% of the people in West Orange it is a a great town to live in that's why I moved here and it is just a wonderful place to live there's so many people from all over the world with different perspectives and interesting lives and I just really love it so I
hate it when I hear this stuff happening but if you see something on social media you can click a few buttons and and make sure that Facebook or Instagram knows what's going on and those people will eventually be banned so take those
steps where you can really make a difference that would be my advice um anyway I just want to uh I'm finished pontificating and I really do appreciate everybody who came tonight but I there were a few questions that were being
raised about safety uh early in in the public comment I just wanted to get uh Chief abot to just respond to to them uh to make sure we answered your questions uh Dr Harvest talked about uh uh the parking down around seatan Hall uh uh
prep is there anything that uh that you guys are doing or can do to try to uh address that so that's always been a challenge and we're you know we're constantly on top it working on it the school does work with us to try to make the situation better um as you're
probably aware we have we're kind of in a final stages wrapping up the whole traffic and parking survey the township wide so there's going to be some you know suggestions down in that area just like there will be throughout the township that should help um on a
brighter note the sea lions have been relocated to the uh lemur exhibit same Footprints so we're all safe there um as far as the uh the crosswalk issues with the kids you know that again that's always a challenge as well we do enforcement you know different spots we
try to be around the schools at the opening and closing times for the schools um we right in the midst of uh combining our pedestrian safety board uh division zero and what's the other one councilwoman
there's three three different boards I think we're putting together under the uh you offer Z was Vision zero pedestrian safis compl streets complete streets complete streets that was the other one thank you um to try to kind of combine them soon have like three different directions going off
councilwoman's offered to be a uh liaison and work with the nishang group who going to give us a model ordinance it'll go to Legal be reviewed it'll come back and you guys all have appointments and so on um there was one more uh lights at the park the lights at the
park are public service they're not the park I emailed Bill K real quickly why we're why that came up um I did send it to Gary Williams our government rep uh Gary's going to probably get back to me tomorrow um I'm sure he'll take care of
it they're they're did say they're very bright so um that you know he's aware of that too he said they they're I guess some of the neighbors up there had safety concerns and issues they asked for lighting but it's a little too much um ironically why why we were discussing
that one just came in on Oxford Terrace same thing it's one light that stands out that's just too bright so um actually Pete and I both simultanously sent that to Gary as well so he'll he'll have plenty to do with West Orange tomorrow double teaming him yep good
anything else no I think that's it thank you thank you Chief uh just want to start with response now uh we'll start with councilwoman calino thank you Council uh president so let me take care of a few things and I'm
gonna move to the tougher sub topics we had tonight uh Mr Fagan uh thank you for um your report as usual and the blue envelope program if we can make sure I'm going to because I'm the on to Board of
Education it's important that we touch base with the school district for our our our our seniors there that are 17 and you know we have a large autistic population at the high school FR release went out today and I'll send you we need
to get this information to them and I'll follow up with e e e as excuse me counil woman grow up my daugh not to date myself but just
seeing like all the accomplishments of of our diverse beautiful diverse community and to have so much an still so if there there's something that we could do I'm always going to push to do it um unfortunately I feel sometimes
there been outside agitators and I appreciate and don't take this the wrong way the people that come from out of town for support because I know you feel the need for that um but there's been it times you know through this past two years that I felt that there was outside
influences that sometimes didn't need need to be there there so with all that said and done I I'm I'm not um you know I'm always still willing to to heal the hurt um one of the reasons why I ran again I could not walk away from this
town with all the pain that's been here for the past couple years because we are so better than that and with that um you know I'm sure we could all move forward I am excited for the 27th for the
celebration there um we've made efforts to move um Restaurant Week to make sure it didn't conflict uh with everyone's holidays which was not easy by the way but we did manage to find a week that would work and and that's who we are we
are West Orange we're going to continue to be West Orange I know everyone up here um all all will like none of us none of us we all may differ and we may be different you know having a a a debating conversations a few minutes when I start talking about Lea blowers
but but whatever our difference is we all love our community we love our residents and I know we could work through to to to not have any more hurt feelings for everyone and and that's what I pledge to to you and to everyone in the township um highlight tonight uh
Mrs Robertson I'm sorry you came in because you had had an issue but God bless you 83 years old you do not look it and thank you so much for your your very kind words I know I'm sure the chief appreciated that I know they go
above and beyond and and they we want to make sure you know you know situations arise that I sit here and shake my head throughout the evening uh hearing you know uh different uh comments tonight um but thank you for sharing and I'm sure
you know they're going to continue to work with you um because it just amazes me what goes on especially you know it things have been made so so expensive in our community uh we now were just reenacting Mr smal with the rent leveling board to help our residents and
it's just amazing so hard to to to live and um especially things have become so expensive uh next I would like to thank all the speakers that came out in regards I just want to make sure I to miss the other
items that folks I talked about um think everything else was Mr pulo thank you for oh he's not here anymore thank you him for coming down um and chief I have a question about that with he with the joning
because we did have that question a couple months ago just in regards to Mr peno's comments uh with the uh adoption of the ordinance on July 3rdd 2024 to for the zoning ordinance regards to WS6
Highlands um oh wait I just want to make one more comment to H Dr harvis and her husband it's long time since I seen you in the audience um and uh welcome and I'm glad you came forward and as just to to back
up the chief um working with Dynamic traffic on on creating more parking for for that area so not that it needs to go to all the students I I know he's had some really tough conversations with the Headmaster in regards to you know
getting the students to park and they're trying they are trying to get their students to park up at the field and they have you know the shuttle to bring them back and forth but it it's been a challenge over there I know walking uh this past summer uh talking to Residents
and folks have been emailing us for a while so we're not forgetting about you it's something that hopefully uh we'll be able to create more parking spots if if uh if it all works out so uh stay tuned but great great great seeing you
folks tonight um okay so with the ordinance uh propos uh draft ordinance for tonight with the LEF low there was a few things that I had a issue with and I'm going to take my time because we have time this evening so we're not
talking at 3 o'clock in the morning at the next meeting because we're gonna have a lot of items at the next meeting that we didn't get through through tonight um you know we have to we definitely have to listen to a lot of comments this
evening and and on both sides of the argument uh we have to extend the dates because it's just too short of a time frame I talk I've had conversations uh with with our Personnel um and even for
residents I I mean I know residents in general we a lot of people got hit with the reval um and their tax H taxes have increasing to have to go out and buy and yes people do use these blowers during
the summer months as well to clear the property um you know again you're telling they have to go out and and buy a new machine uh this year this year not next year this year according to the way this is written um the hours of
operation we talked to last year we need to have a little discussion I'm okay with the hours but I don't think it matched up with our norise ordinance so we need to make sure if anybody's taken notes on this are you guys anyone listening to me okay uh thank you I
appreciate that so um you know the no what we talked about last time what were conflicts was the noise ordinance so to make sure that the noise ordinance doesn't matter to me with the time this has 8 to five on the weekends 10 to uh
weekdays and 10 to five it was later there's a lot of folks that can't afford landscapers and maintain their own properties and you know they may work a little later so we just have to look at that I hope anyway I know if you have the votes you have the votes but it
would be mindful to look into that uh enforcement I don't see how this enforcement situation is going to work a timestamp photo showing the violation so now we're going to have folks um taking pictures of landscapers who've now
become the Enemy of the State uh and with AI it's just it's it's it's just not feasible it's not feasible it may be working elsewhere but I'm going to tell you I think uh Mr leonardis made a remark on
how this isn't work in other towns I live on the border of Montclair I travel through Montclair all the time I've seen them use Gastly flowers in Montclair so you are going to have people that that cheat and and you know the landscapers have
made um a lot of great points this evening the residents have as well and I I appreciate folks that are noise sensitive but I also have allergies with the leaves outside and when the wet leaves are out on my property I'm sick
I'm sick all fall when the wet leaves are there so there are folks that have um allergy issues um dogs collect ticks bring them in the house so there's so many you know rodent we had a rodent issue this past year and you know part
of the cleanup is with leaves laying around by the garbage and does this ordin I did not see an exemption we had an exemption for golf courses so now the golf courses
in the township uh Township that it's not okay over 15 15 okay so the golf courses don't have to comply with this they they they they do have to comply but they can use turbine blowers which is what they use anyway too big to use
they don't use regular they're not they're not part of anyway okay they can't use backpacks right powered blowers they don't use them anyway differ with that but yeah rocking
uses them if I could let's just let councilwoman uh sure you I just want to make sure everything is tightened up because it's going to be expense to the township we still don't have a capital budget so that's a whole another
conversation you know that we're was hoping to every meeting or when are we get in a capital budget the capital budget has your roads repairs um I know a lot of folks have called me about their streets um that have been waiting and you know we
haven't even approved our capital budget yet um hope that's on for the next council meeting so obviously I oh Lawn Care registry I don't understand why this is
so necessary We have tree companies with the tree ordinance and I supported that because there's not a lot of tree companies but there's a lot of landscape companies a lot of folks so does this mean anyone that is in a small business
now have to be registered with the township and who's Manning all this again this I like to hear from Administration how are they going to enforce if we can't pass we could pass ordinances because if there's votes there that's obvious but if we can't
properly enforce them and it becomes burd isome on the staff that that's an issue for me and it always is so I I don't think this is balanced enough excuse me councilwoman uh I don't want to uh impose upon you but we're trying
to respond to public comment as opposed to debate a ordinance that we're not going to be able to get to tonight so but here's the thing councilman and and council president and I appreciate that the reason why I am going off all of my notes is because we aren't going to be
able to talk about it this evening that was going to be on first reading and I'm taking advantage of that fact because at the end of the day when we have these items that really affect our residents out and folks don't know about
it and then they're upset that something passed and they didn't know about it so I just want wanted to you know note these certain issues to hopefully that maybe this gives an opportunity to amend some of this if you are really going to
pass it because it sounds like you are and I hope you take my recommendations into consideration so the next meeting um because first violation a a written warning second is a $200 fine to both homeowner and landscaping company and
third violation is a $500 fine issued to both homeowner and landscaping company and when I see folks such as Amanda out in the audience just trying to get by day by day um my heart bleeds for them so
councilwoman you'll be able to talk about all of this at first uh at the first readings please please move on uh no I I appreciate that and uh I am I am done thank you folks for everybody
coming out tonight thank you Council councilwoman thank council president so I have a lot to say usually I'm the briefest on the council these last two years but tonight I won't be um so first off um thank you again to all of you who
are here in person and on Zoom um so to the folks that spoke about their quality of life being impacted and I'm going to save the big topics for later right the resolution the anti- phobia uh islamophobic anti-muslim resolution and the band Gastly flow is then so um um
and speaking now to the folks who quality of life have been impacted I'm sorry so miss Robertson if you can please uh email me your phone number so I can call you I have um a couple things I want be able to talk to try and help and guide you um and I'm hoping that the administration can respond um maybe if
an investigation I don't know what the proper protocol is send inspectors maybe from the health department or the zoning department to assist because uh that doesn't sound legal what they're doing to you at all um as someone who's been in real EST State who works in government that just there's a lot of
red flags there and a lot of red tape so I'm hoping that the administration will be able to address these concerns because as you know the different forms of government you have the legislative branch and then you have the executive branch which really feels a lot of these um concerns um and to Dr Harvest uh you
brought up a wonderful uh suggestion about the uh kids parking at the sport Sports Complex for seene hall and then them being shuttled um so hopefully the administration can reach out and and thank you so much uh Chief um and then I didn't catch the gentleman's name uh who
lives on Dogwood but Chief already addressed it at the administration had sent me concern to psng because it's not a Township Park um uh or light it's it's the PS that's that mans the lights so I know Gary Williams and you know working at the county he's a county PSG rep and
he will address it and look into it so um I will also work with him too um I want to thank Mr pulo and Weare for their continued advocacy to pudding to our resumes first and our environment first so I have to be honest I'm disappointed to hear the D approved
permits I wish we care all the best in appealing this and and happy to hear that they have support from several very large environmental groups um so now the ban and gas leaf blowers I first off want to thank everyone who's been involved in advocating for the ban on
gas leaf blowers um I want to recognize the efforts of the previous Council including uh former councilman Rutherford councilman Scarpa myself as well as the administration Mr jeno um our green W orange members um Maplewood mayor Nancy Adams who worked really hard
to pass it the history there is we passed it the mayor vetoed it despite her public support for abanoned gas Le blowers During certain months of the year she never took the opportunity to amend the ordinance and place it back on the agenda for the council to vote on so that's what we're doing now we have a
super majority so it can't be vetoed if she does veto it we can overrule it so that's the history um I remain committed to supporting this ban because I believe there are but I do agree with councilman Casto that there are revisions that have to be made and we will discuss it in the next meeting when we are voting on on
first hearing um uh there are differences to this one and the one that we proved um I believe in compromises I spoke to all the landscapers last time who came here and I said I believe in compromise and we tried to compromise as best as we could so Mr leonardis I don't know if you're here anymore okay there
you are um I do plan on calling you so thank you for that okay I'm going to call you thank you so much for your phone number okay maybe I'll go with you thank you so um I also want to express my
gratitude to the landscapers and others who have voiced their concerns and advocated for your perspectives right because we are all in this together right your input is value all of you and I understand the challenges that are present right and I want to thank you for your continued
engagement being part of the conversation as we work toward a solution that benefits our community as a whole and again want to thank everyone members of the public both local from different municipalities and States who advocated for this
right next regarding the anti-Semitism and uh not anti-Semitism excuse me regarding the anti-islamophobia and anti-muslim resolution so I want to be very clear that as a council member I stand and just as a human being right a
decent being I stand firm against hate speech and discrimination in any form so when I hear that there has been anti-muslim anti- Palestine hate speech hate rhetoric shared on social
media in our community it is extremely disturbing and it's inappropriate it is I believe a crime hate crime and I'm hoping that the police chief will investigate this because you've brought it to us publicly you were reading proof
screenshots it seems like that you've printed and it's disgusting and I hope they're caught and I hope that they are punished by the law to the fullest extent because that's the problem with this world it's the hate in this world and I believe love Trump's hate period
so now when the council voted on the anti-Semitism resolution and I have to commend my colleague for speaking up and saying what she said tonight when the last Council voted on this anti-Semitism resolution I was the only
one to abstain and I said obviously no one is going to vote no to an anti-Semitism resolution but I have been transparent and I have gotten nasty emails from people telling me that I am anti-semitic for doing so but I'm sorry I don't represent one sector in this town I represent 50,000 residents a
diverse Melting Pot of of beautiful people in this town that we all represent equally equally and I'm so sorry for what the people in the Muslim Community in the
Arab and Palestinian Community have felt in terms of the response from this town myself and councilman Rutherford were the only council members to attend the Palestinian event solidarity event
okay now as I mentioned our community is made up of diverse groups and I believe we should approach discrimination in a way that supports all marinized communities and as councilwoman Cino stated the last
Council voted for the anti-Semitism resolution I believe they set a precedence by doing so I understand where council president kovak is coming from because he was on the council then so I understand and respect where he's coming from as well but I believe that
we need a more inclusive approach if the council moves forward with the anti-islamophobia resolution and I hope that they do I will have to abstain because I have been transparent last time when we voted on the anti-Semitism resolution and I
abstained then I believe we need one an all-encompassing one right especially now more than ever in this political climate where people feel emboldened and entitled to discriminate openly it is crucially that we take the stand and in West Orange hate has no home here we
always say that and my heart really does go out to everyone who's been discriminated against I see you and I stand with you I mean look at me through my own life I have been discriminated against I'm visibly African I've got
curly thick hair you know like and this is you know like this is why I'm committed to ensuring that all forms of hate are addressed deally and I am raising an African boy in this country who might be a cute boy now but we've
seen as a threatening black man when he's an adult or even a teenager or when he starts driving and those are my concerns as a mother living in a diverse community so with that being said I will
continue to advocate for a resolution that commends all forms of hate and discrimination and I'm hoping that if the council agrees to voting on this anti-apob anti-muslim resolution that we can also vote on a general one here
because there's other groups in town that feel discriminated against and we must a address all forms of hate period so with that my passion I conclude my response to public comments thank you all thank you councilwoman
councilwoman councilwoman Ruden please thank you so much um I just want to to say that that obviously hate has no home in West Orange and um I would support a general um hate has no home
resolution in West Orange because nobody should feel threatened or unsafe in their own home um I also strongly recommend that since you are um coming to the council with quotes of BU
um verbal bias that those um be made criminal um that you make criminal reports and that they be made to the local state and federal authorities if you have proof of somebody who has um
been physically or verbally assaulted or bullied and you have proof that there is a bias crime going on please I urge you to take that documentation to the authorities um and that should be done
for anybody who feels um intimidated bullied or threatened in any in any area these type of incidents should be reported and there should be an investigation into who is doing
this um anybody who has um a a report of bias incident has a right to law enforcement and one or two people um getting arrested for bias will teach a
lesson to everybody in the entire Township so that's that's my comment in in terms of what what you're reporting please make those reports public bring them to the police and let us all know
exactly who is behind the hate that you are speaking of I would like I know that we please we can't have dialogue during the council meeting sorry so just ju because you have said that you were email we were emailed all of the names were blacked out and some of the names that were on
there are people who are no who who may or may not still be alive so um I think that if you have real names of people who are perpetrating crimes of bias and hate please I urge you to bring them to
the chief he is always responsive towards any sort of um intimidation or bias crimes um as far as the leaf blowers um
H poak said that all change is hard especially that which you make yourself as a council I feel that we have the opportunity to lead by example and to prioritize what has really become a Public Health
crisis uh the transition to Electric only leaf blowers is one such decision it's a decision that puts the health of our residents first and ensures them cleaner air quieter streets and a healthier environment for generations to
come it's no surprise I'm in strong support of an El of of transitioning to an electric only uh leaf blowers um and frankly um to the to the to the um comments made by my colleague
councilwoman um celino we would have been well along in this transition had the mayor not vetoed this a year ago so we would have had time we had initially talked about a twoyear transition now
it's squeezed but we also have been living through an extreme climate emergency we have all seen that this year and as the storms get greater as the droughts get greater it is incumbent
upon us as Leaders to take action you know for 20 years I carried my own bags to the grocery store and people would say great great you're doing this and I would say yeah well you could do it too and he Saidi not going to do it until it's required
let's make it a requirement not just for one person or for the next person but so that our entire Community can breathe fresher air and go into their homes and feel peace oftentimes I wake up in the morning not by the alarm or not because
I'm done sleeping but because the blowers are outside my my window and my windows are rattling we deserve the right to have peace in our own homes and in our communities and our children deserve the fresh air and they deserve
not to be contaminated by oil which is dropping into our ground and poisoning our plants and poisoning our air and affecting our animals who are out there then playing in this oil drenched soil um so you know we've heard from
speakers tonight thank you for coming from other communities to support us and and tell us that it won't be a a disaster if we make the if we make the transition others have done this others have survived and we're going to survive
too so that's my comment on on the uh transition um Mrs um Mrs Robinson um I I feel that this is something that that really should go to the housing board isn't
it the I I'm not rent leveling board the rent leveling board is is that something that it's not really about rents it's not okay so um I I just I share I share my councilwoman's um you know shock that of
what is happening to you and I hope that we we can help address what's going on there and you know take care of the residents like you um I find it hard to believe that you're the first resident to ever have complained um um so you
know I'm I'm a little bit shocked to hear that but but you know we're going to we're going to look into this and try and help you um get some get some answers about why this is happening and why you're being um penalized in this way
um I just wanted to address um our our County Executive our County County representative Mr um pesi um um Mr rascus has I know written written month after month after month for several
years that the open space and um uh Recreation um commission for the county does not publicize its agendas nor can the public weigh in on what is going on
in the county so I would just like to request um since he brought this up as comment tonight that the agendas for the open space and Recreation be made public and that there be a way for the public to participate because it is at these
very important meetings that lots and lots of money is discussed and there are plans for the um the zoo that come before this board and then they go straight to the County Commission and there's no input really except at the County Commission when you're hearing
about about it for the first time that there's going to be a plan for expansion or development um spending open space money which is in a sense our money too because we all part participate in in giving to County open space so I'd like
to make a request that those agendas be public in advance and that um if possible that the public be able to participate in in those meetings as they used to Prior um to covid
um um lots of times you're hearing the popping on this so I want to address um Dr Hon's remark that it it would be really great if we could change the sound system for those in the audience I know that as as somebody who used to sit in the audience a lot um you know it's
hard to hear and I I think we should we should look into what's going on with our sound system and what can we do because in the summer the vents are going on the air conditioning and the people in the audience can't and so I think the most of the responsibility is on your shoulders I'm just kidding I have
absolutely nothing to do with the sound system and I will glad step aside as Zoom operator and let the next person come in and take care of it because I have nothing to do with it no you know I'm kidding you um we have to look into that as a council to see what we can do
to make the the sound system better and um I think that um that just about um closes my comments I'm sorry if
I missed anybody but but I think that some of my other colleagues have eloquently addressed some of those other issues councilwoman Scara please yeah I want to say that all of my colleagues have very eloquently addressed all of these issues please speak into the mic
and I am going to keep my comments rather brief tonight um just to Mrs Robinson I'm so sorry that 85y old woman has been treated so disrespectfully 8383 83 sorry the record reflect 83 83
a very young looking 83 and um I want you to stay in touch with us and keep us a breast of the situation and um same for Dr hearse with the seatan hall students we've heard this over and over again and I know the chief does work with them to try to get those kids to
park up where they're supposed to and take that bus down and I would like to see that happen I think it's more fair to our residents um and it provides the seat and Hall student stents with an opportunity to drive to school
um on all for all of our friends from the Muslim Community who have come down um I want you to know we hear you I hear you um Abraham this what you described to me
was so important on your block because everybody knows I grew up in West Orange I went through our schools I lived in Manhattan and I came back and raised my son here because I love this community the diversity and the beauty of it and
what happens on your street is the West Orange that I know it is unfortunate um and I do think social media has a lot to do with it that hate has uh come from inside and outside of
our community we're always going to have those few people who are going to be hateful and they seem to choose social media to do it because they don't have the courage to say the vile things that they say to someone's
face um so I have always encouraged my son and I am a professional in our school system I I try to steer away from social media I peruse it once in a while to see what people are saying but I try to ignore a lot of the um the vile
nonsense that go go on and I want to encourage all of our residents to limit their tolerance and their the the what they listen to on social media and focus on loving their neighbors just like everyone does in your community and I
want you to understand uh I agree with my colleagues uh both uh councilwoman gbra Michael who said that um everyone who feels marginalized needs to be heard understood and we need to put something
together for them and what both council president and councilwoman Ruden said about reporting to the police is so important because I passed that anti-Semitism resolution with many many
of my friends in the community because of a decade of hate and bomb scares and targeting of synagogues that have gone on here since I was younger and they believe it or not it hadn't it didn't
even have anything to do with what's happening in the Middle East now and it was they had asked me actually to do that to start writing that with them way before October so it's there are so many police
reports of those instances and that is why I was compelled to put that together with those who had asked me and I really believe that you need to wherever you see the ugly head you
need to report it to the police you need to take those snapshots of it and it has to be documented because when I asked the police chief Abbot you know how many reports do we have of you know anti-muslim behavi there really were
very I think there was he had one and I we have to report it and I think that is going to be the beginning of us being able to embrace it in a meaningful way and to address it and I think as we look
to address it we need to do that um in something that encompasses and supports all of our marginalized communities so um I want you to know that we are here to try to solve this problem with you and um
M uh Mrs Riley uh who came and spoke um she's still here oh she's here great uh thank you for your analysis we've met
before uh thank you for your analysis of uh the destruction um for talking to us a little bit the about the Hurricanes as you know or May not know um this is a very very important topic
for me I am currently working very hard on the storm water ordinance uh I worked for eight months with a resident of ours who had a neighbor who put a stone wall did some work on a stone wall or fence that
flooded his basement every single time it rained I can't tell you how many residents are touched in a very negative way or in our impacted on flooding and getting this storm water ordinance right
not only for our residents who are where minor development needs to be put in but many don't know that our main street if you look at the flood maps is a flood zone and we have development now that's going on on our Main Street uh we have
the Matrix development for the movie studio it is incumbent upon us to make sure that we protect all of our neighbors and so I I was not going to vote for what was on here tonight uh I
was going to vote no and I am currently working with experts to try to get it right so thank you for being so astute and bringing it to our attention and for all of those who came out for and against the gas powerered blowers I want
the landscapers to know we hear you I hear you uh I will even um maybe visit uh Richard with um councilwoman gabber Michael if if you'd like this is difficult for all of us but
what it comes down to in my mind is it's a quality of life issue and so many we have to protect our beautiful Township in many ways and so many residents both those with asthma and breathing
disorders and those who work at home have talked about talked to me about the health impacts and I believe they outway some of the economic arguments and so I want to thank Miss Manga for bringing it all
back to the economic argument and she's made some valid points and I think we need to look at this as a whole there are going to be some economical advantages to it and I know that some of our small landscapers are going to be
very impacted and and we really need to do everything we can to help and support them and I appreciate those who came from out of town to talk about this and offer their support and I would ask you to maybe meet with some of the people
who have come here tonight and to see what you can do to support them because we all do have an obligation to support one another but the gas powered blowers I think is something that we really need to move towards and we need to do it
right uh and um I think that's all I'm going to talk about tonight thank you councilwoman Scarpa this uh concludes our response to public comment uh from the floor vote uh floor resol not resolution but floor vote
earlier in the meeting we have one item left which is uh the bills list and I know this is an area of expertise for Madam clerk so if you want to take it forward you can or if you want me to to do it well I yeah I mean if anybody has
any questions on the bills yeah oh yes sorry if anyone has any questions on the bills I do um um Mr DAC if you can just please explain um there's some confusion I've had some calls reached out about
what we're seeing with um W golden Spitzer uh I just never seen it in this format where they're being paid about $36,000 but it's in separate payments I understand what it's for I spoke to everra Johnson from w l but if you can explain it to the general public it had
to do with uh the bonds okay excuse me ladies and gentlemen ladies and gentlemen if if you don't want to listen to the council meeting please just take it outside if you wouldn't mind please so we can hear thank you and thank you for coming please go ahead thank you
Richard please text me by the way so we can meet tomorrow can you text me so we can meet tomorrow can you text me so we can meet tomorrow thank you okay back to the bills we can't be doing that sorry sorry council president okay back to the bills so I understand it and I
understand that when we pass a bond there are certain payments it made sense but I want to hear it from the CFO so you can explain it to the general public for their benefit because I I've never seen it done this way where it was like a thousand here a thousand here thousand there and it's for all the ordinances where we bonded money for specifically
um but it totals about 36,000 in change so you can just explain that so you know what you're seeing is is the different section 20 accounts that we're charging yeah um anytime we do a bond ordinance we tend to uh
allocate a certain percentage of of that Total Bond ordinance for the closing and issuance costs related to notes and bonds and the financial advisors and all that um the format that you're seeing for this
particular Bill list is is a result of using cloud midex and sort of coming up with a new solution for the bill list before we completely roll it over into 2025 so it is going to look a little bit different for these next few Bill lists
until we can sort of return to that old that that format so you're seeing sort of the the the detail the nitty-gritty detail that's always there in the background it's just this is how we have to disy the bill go thank you it's just like standard and pores received a $99,500 payout from whatever bonds we
issued right and pkf oors they received $5,000 and it's just it's part of their contract right the bond closes and they get a certain percentage or what or amount so we have a pretty significant debt profile um yes we do it's one of
the works in county and and so you know we can't just sort of privately place these notes uh we have to go out into the open market and in order to do that and guess get the best rates possible we go out to the rating agencies in this case you
know we use SNP because we find their ratings to be most favorable for our situation as a Township um but you have to pay for it uh and when we go out for a rating we involve our you know our professionals uh it's a pretty
significant document I I think I sent uh the council president one of our os's today it's hundreds of pages it's statistical information um you know there's questions that we get from from SNP and so there's research involved and
conference calls and um I understand I'm gonna go get more water some coughing thank you I approve the bill list that's my vote go get water I'll back are there any other questions on the bill list no
no Madam clerk um just a consent consent favor consent consent any opposed the bill is thank you and because this uh has been voted on as the end of the meeting I unless anybody else has anything to
say I'm going to adjourn the meeting I second that I approach you're Jing the meeting tonight yes you're not going to discuss pop that is correct you stayed on but you
could can yeah I think Mr V please go ahead I'll be very brief uh just so everyone knows woman to come back thank you for the uh opportunity Mr V is a a former
longtime attorney for is it the planning board not zoning board but I'm here I'm here as a private citizen a long time ago but you have significant ER the area yeah he misunderstood he didn't realize we weren't going to do this when basically
from okay yeah please from what I heard tonight uh the quality of life comments that came so many of you uh give me confidence that you will adopt the ordinance on second reading to ban popup
parties uh I think the audience is terrific except for one thing which I think should eliminate at this time and that's the exemption uh which I think is 3D any ordinance section
3D where you give an exemption for uh well you know what it is I just think five that 501 C or church the exemption for Bonafide charal organizations and political yeah uh
what that will do will make it impossible for the township to enforce the ordinance I agree uh uh the there have been comments I heard that there's a First Amendment right possibly well
the first amendment of our constitution does not uh allow these kinds of parties but the first some of you may know this from going back to when you're in college uh I have and I haven't had a constitutional law course in 50 years
but but the the the first amendment protects freedom of speech religion and the press and the right to assemble and petition the government and what that means is the government cannot prevent you from doing that that does not apply
to Papa parties and I think I would agree at a former council meeting sub right after the election I made a presentation I think you all heard it and I think uh council president and a
councilwoman uh were here that evening might have heard me if he the problem with the parties is it totally disrupts the neighborhood they go on for 10 hours do you want me to go into it or just you all know okay we understand supp I think and I agree with your exemption so if
you're GNA I want you to be supportive of it uh don't do the exemption in the future if you think it's necessary because I I wonder whether there's ever been any incident involving a cultural organization or a religious organization I doubt it so
please pass the or adopt the ordinance eliminate the the exemption if it's if it comes up in the future then do something with the chief of the police department and work up a permit process that the police can work with your H please pass the ordinance without the
exam good night all thank you very much Fork you and I will I make a motion to adjourn the meeting is there a second someone second to Second thank you all in favor any opposed the meetings Jour
good night West Orange good night be careful driving right thank you everyone for coming out tonight they TR no it's not I thought it was