a [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] okay uh good evening everyone uh councilman council president RFD could not be with us this evening so I'm going to open up the meeting and then we're going to call for a nomination for the temporary council president 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 November 21st 2023 and published in the West Orange Chronicle on November 30th 2023 councilwoman Celina present councilwoman gber Michael mute is she on mute no I'm on I'm sorry I was on the okay councilwoman Scarpa present councilwoman Williams present okay our first order of business is uh I need a nomination for council president this evening I'd like to nominate Michelle C uh councilwoman castelino okay second okay and councilwoman celino uh thank you yes councilwoman gber Michael Yes councilwoman scorpa yes Council councilwoman Williams yes thank you so Council president celino will take her seat last time I was in this chair I had a a a rotator cuff operation and could barely sit here oh dear okay then we were on Zoom for the rest of the year so welcome everybody uh to the April 24th meeting very happy to have everyone here this evening uh we have a very special presentation to start off with this evening we have two guests here and I'm going to call them up uh together uh Dr Josie vales from the public councilwoman before we start with our conference agenda can we have a moment of silence for our soldier that has L do that at seven thank you oh we do it again at s yeah thank you so today we lost uh Congressman Payne who represent our district the 10th district and um our hearts and prayers go out to his family Council means did you want to say a few words I know you um well everyone knows that I had a very special relationship with Congressman Payne he did my installation as the first councilwoman president in West Orange last January when we did our in olation um he has continued to support West Orange unconditionally anytime I call on him and ask him to show up and be present for any activity that we have here um he is always available um I've had a tremendous amount of communication over the past two weeks with um members of his staff just finding out um his status and if he was well and it it's just a tremendous and heartfelt loss um had a tremendous amount of people call and say hey are you okay because they do know um the relationship that we have so it is uh just another Soldier a LIF lost too soon a champion for New Jersey a champion for health um improvements in our community a tremendous advocate for uh Sickle Cell for um diabetes and so many other medical conditions we know that he um was the chair of the transportation and just championed so many um opportunities for improvement the rail system that's coming in New York New Jersey just an insurmountable amount of blessings to our community and he will be lost and so thank you for just giving me an opportunity to share absolutely and um I had dealt with him directly during um 2020 with Co and his office was instrumental in uh supporting us with much needed funding uh to get through those couple rough years so again all our hearts and pris go out to um his family with that um we're going to change gears and we're going to bring up Dr Josie VZ our uh chair as our commissioner of the public relations commission and also uh Patricia West uh one of our commissioners as well if you could please come up to the podium for a minute or two so we so I'm just they have a a special presentation and in uh today's world and um even before today this is a program that um Josie Dr VZ had implemented many years ago I would say around 2016 uh on the public relations commission and it's called the be kind campaign and it's just just so special just so simple to be kind and I'm Mr Fagan I think you have some slides um but I just wanted to recognize Josie in her deor before she begins to speak uh Dr valz is a registered uh and consultant dietitian for Health Care Facilities she's a resource speaker for wellness and nutrition she's a past president of dietitians and healthc care communities of New Jersey she's a recipient of the woman of Valor award for American Diabetes Association recip a recipient of the community service award West Orange human relations commission recipient of Ambassador for peace award and as I said as I called her up to the podium she is our our chair at the West Orange public Comm relations commission uh for Years Josie has just been pouring her heart out into our community always there always um just so supportive in any endeavor to promote uh our beautiful Township that we live in so Josie's been waiting for a very long time to present her beon campaign and uh Patricia Wes who has supported her in this endeavor as well I I couldn't ask for two more special representatives of our community uh to explain this beautiful program Dr VZ thank you very much Council woman celino good evening everyone even mayor Susan McCartney Chief abot council members Michelle casalino aned Geer Michael Susan Scarpa Tommy Williams and of course Joseph Pagan our public information officer and I'm delighted and honored to be here to speak before all of you today I cannot help but feel a little sadness because every time I came here I was with with my husband and boyfriend of 57 years and yet now I'm alone here but I will continue and pursue everything that he wanted to pursue as deputy mayor of your town for 39 years that was quite a long time however right now I would like to talk to you about the West Orange public relations commission kindness campaign and we also quoted West Orange to be West Orange loves kindness the vision the mission first I'll talk about the vision to see West Orange emerge as one of the Kinder gentler hearing towns in Essex County New Jersey by providing and supporting opportunities for everyone to do random acts of kindness our mission to create a successful kindness initiative in town the West Orange public relations commission will provide the community with information that will inspire motivate and promote kindness our goals to increase public awareness through unique townwide activities volunteerism community service to educate and Inspire young and old alike to develop positive selfless caring attitude and lifestyle our objectives to utilize a social marketing approach to promote kindness to empower Community organizations to develop meaningful programs conduct forums initiate projects that will enhance Community participation in the promotion of kindness to expand and identify New Opportunities by creating conditions in the social structure to facilitate behavioral change to encourage development of V viable models for Effective kindness initiative to motivate the community to be friendly discourage Prejudice encourage respect and love for one another we have done this through through townwide kindness awareness campaign we partnered and collaborated with schools various Community groups and organizations businesses churches and various missions in town to promote kindness we plan programs events panel and lecture series to make our town a fraternity of kindness and of course we publish articles in local newspapers West Orange website Facebook Twitter and other periodicals to promote kindness right now by the way I'd like to mention that I do reside at the crown view man condominium where since the time we initiated this program we have a screen the television screen which displays the following I'd like to share this with all of you because aside from starting it at the condo the crown View Manor most of the residents there participated and they really performed acts of kindness because of this campaign here at the crown view kindness begins at home that is what you will see in our mail room and a a television screen which will show The Following kindness is not an act it's a lifestyle kindness giving receiving it feels good on both sides if we all do one random act of kindness daily we just might set the world in the right direction every act of kindness creates a ripple with no end and when we started this campaign it was when I said at one time I have to share this with you I said we will do our best to make this a townwide campaign and somebody in the crowd said Josie I don't think you can do that that was a great challenge that was the challenge that actually pushed me and pushed my husband both of us to promote this kindness campaign that we even Pro um when we attended the international World Conference for peace in sou Korea 2019 my concentration was to promote this campaign aside from meeting as many delegates as I can because you saw everybody from all over the world 110 countries mind you but here there I was with my be kind card spreading it to everybody and at the same time it was an ice breaker because they will ask you what is this all about and I was always very proud and excited to talk about our kindness campaign so again that was 2019 and we actually never stopped to date you know we have given this card to 53,000 479 people wow yes there you are this is the card and you have it there and it's a very simple card very simple because it actually encourages you to just smile and say hello that's easy right if we can do that to everybody we meet it means a lot in fact I know the impact of that because at the crown view where we have 110 units I cannot tell you exactly how many residents right we're like a close family because of that we initiated the meet and greet campaign H meet and greet event where again my campaign would be kind you know campaign and I repeat this very simple you smile and say hello hold the door you know when somebody holds the door for you you stop and say thank you and you look at the person to see who it is and you show your appreciation correct you offer your seat I remember when I presented this in Bethlehem Pennsylvania when I attended the church I noticed people the younger kids were giving up their seats you know for those who were standing up so my husband said did you notice that I said yeah we made an impact you know they were getting up and giving up their seats the little ones the younger children and give a compliment it want her to compliment someone and you know when you are the recipient of a compliment you're happy it brings joy to you and to The Giver right the other one is let another go first anytime you can do that whether when you're driving or walking it makes a diff a big difference return someone's card I put this because I live in a condominium where we have cards right and we don't put these cards all over the place so it's been a practice now even though it's not my card when I see it there I go and return it because it's the right thing to do so that somebody else can use it so that's part of a kind act and volunteer your time and I'm sure most of you are volunteering your time one way or the other so on that note I'd like to close with this statement in a world where you can be anything be kind thank you very much hello uh I'm one of those people who just cannot get enough of work into West so I'm on the public relations and I'm on the human relations commission so I wanted to um emphasize the thinking about the importance of this we're all right now experiencing some things that are not the most positive so we're seeking to find ways in the community that emphasizes the importance of what's POS positive and renewing the spirit of good Community good neighbors good families for that matter so we support the kindness campaign so along those same lines we're reaching out to other organizations to find a way to express what's positive and what's good so I wanted to call your attention to the initiative that the HRC human relations commission is involved now it's a handbag drive and the purpose of the handbag Drive is to find um those handbags that are not so usable yeah but but reasonable and to make sure that in those handbags we find the items that you see listed there these handbags will be presented to organizations that work with women who are facing challenges of all sorts and it will be from uh April 12 to May 3rd you can drop off your your handbags at the library there is a place set up for that and we feel that this is something that we can do that will bring a smile or warm feeling to women who are facing difficulties and challenges so I invite you to share that with others in your network and want to try to get at least 75 and then on May 3d uh the two organizations that we're Community organizations that we're working with will receive those hand I think we can do better absolutely with 50,000 residents I think yes we can yes we can yes everybody's got an old hand so uh again uh we want to support Josie we want to make sure that we're Distributing the kindness cards and discover for yourself how you express kindness to others this is just the beginning all right thank you very much thank thank you very much and and before I ask for the ladies take a picture with us uh mayor McCartney did you have any words uh that you want to share this evening for this endeavor yeah we'll let mayor say a couple words real quick and then we'll get it I'll let the mayor say a couple words first real quick well we're all gonna get up and take a picture May yeah yeah yeah well all right hold on hold on hold on f thank you council president what I really what I wanted to say about this even the start of this whole evening it seems so Bittersweet that we started out mourning the passing of Congressman pay yet praising everything he's done for our town um and now even with the be kind campaign what Josie drummed up were the years of having Z here um you know just what a driving force and Josie has continued to do that so it seems Bittersweet to me you're bringing a lot of memories but yet continuing with this campaign and the timing is so perfect always perfect but I feel like right now um so important for us all to be kind to each other so thank you thank you thank you but I'm going to stay here yeah I know you had a few words other words we have uh on our agenda this evening also a proclamation April is autism National autism month and we have been recognizing that for a number of years now uh the family that uh wanted to do a flag raising last year West Orange family started the whole Spectrum autism Foundation they had a family emergency this morning at 5:40 they texted me to say that they would not be able to attend um and I was sorry to hear that but they wanted you know we have to march on and also we have the special education parents the advocacy group here in town also uh we heard at the last minute that they were not able to attend but we do have the chair I'd like the chair of our mayor's program for the uniquely gifted uh Doug Adams Pastor Adams and his wife first lady Lisa Adams also to just talk about uh the I'm just say the things about autism that this month and this presentation is to remind all of us to be empathetic to individuals with autism and to their caregivers the Autism Society of America was founded in 1965 driven by the fact that autism is the fastest growing neurological disability in the world World autism derives its name from the Greek word Autos OS meaning self literally meaning to be alone and we all know that is not socially or emotionally healthy so research on close engagement has surveyed children with autism and determined 10 tips that we can do goes hand inand with the beine campaign campaign um that is not able to we do not want them to be alone but we figure out how to see them who they truly are number two though they may hear see and feel the world differently than you or I noises smells tastes or lights are stressful to many it may be frightened or even physically painful to some touch can overwhelm and one might not like hugs but can experience details that you and I might miss individuals with autism do on friends just like everyone else behavior is a way of communicating their way of communicating individuals asked to interact in ways I can understand and say I live in the here and now may not always understand the bigger picture show me pictures and let me know what to ex what you expect of me someone with autism is anxious and they worry a lot because they have difficulties understanding the world and how to communicate their thoughts and needs routine is really important would be helpful to create Pathways to help people cope uh people with Autism need your help to access the world in order to learn and to think about what they can do not what they can't do there are no known cures that currently exist but there are treatments that reduce symptoms and raising our awareness that we want to do each year and our level of empathy can help all of us make a difference so there is a proclamation that goes with this um basically saying that autism inct impacts people regardless of R race ethnicity and social economic backgrounds and while conditions characterized with characterized with autism May challenge communication social skills and behavior individuals within the Autism Spectrum Community present varying qualities strengths and challenges in the month of April we strive to promote Autism Awareness inclusion and acceptance the town is committed to providing Equitable access to services events and activities and we'll hear more about that that support self-determination for all autistic individuals and help for their caregivers the township recognizes the importance of creating spaces that Beyond acceptance provide opportunities for representation and celebration of all individuals the township seeks to create a socially conscious community that values and celebrates the Unique Individuals within the community to celebrate all kinds of learning and Minds so now therefore mayor as mayor in West Orange Town Council we do hereby Pro proclaim the month of April to be designated as autism awareness and acceptance month and encourage our community to join advocacy efforts so please Doug and Lisa have been the chair and co-chair of the mayor's program for individual uniquely gifted individuals and we welcome their them here this evening and have a proclamation to present to you thank you hold on we're coming sorry can you turn it right off perfect I'm sorry obviously I want to thank uh the mayor the council and the town um not for placing me us after to very um eloquent gracious and and um wonderful ladies who are presenting a wonderful program all the things that Dr Jose and contribute she also walks with the best tea that you could ever have so if you're ever sitting next to her accept the te um you know I I guess um you know my wife did this for I I don't know 18 almost 20 years uh when we first came to town um we had uh recently uh found out about our daughter's needs and we had to because of ministry move into a couple of different communities we started in a great Community then we moved to a another community that was kind of trying to work things out and uh while we were finding things out and so when we came here uh West Orange was just amazing um we went to the school they met us they drove us around to different places to try different um programs and different communities and the school district was just phenomenal in the way that they welcomed us and supported us and you know Candace was out of district for a while and so we had personal experiences in town that were phenomenal but things really changed for us uh when my wife found out about this little summer camp program um the mayor's program and so she went down to check it out if you don't know my wife you will you will never see her daughter experience anything that she has not fully experienced and so she was trolling before there was any internet so she was down there Nancy Wright was the director at the time and she just fell in love and so she was just constantly volunteering down there and going down I'm like dear where you at I'm down at the camp next thing you know she started working down there and when Nancy left um she and many of the parents advocated and then mayor mcken um intervened and placed her as the coordinator of the program and it's never been the same there's some things that we've learned my wife and I do work all around the state we've uh hosted uh government officials from Israel and from other countries agencies from other countries to talk about what it means to do this work at a high level and I want to say without any ambiguity whatsoever my belief is that West Orange is a model Community when it comes organic and natural supports everyone who talks about this work talks about the importance of people with disabilities being in a community where they are known because it makes them safer they talk about across the board trying to develop natural supports within the community where they can contribute and I can just tell you but I can't tell you because it's their story but if I could I would tell you stories of the little decision the movements that happened outside of the public eye outside of people's scrutiny where individuals were positioned better to be able to continue continue to fulfill their life and so I'd like to thank the um engineering department every year we have to get a van or a bus I'd like to thank the school district they have always been overwhelmingly supportive for whatever we'd have to do I'd like to thank the administr ation and the town offices public works oh we work public work let me tell you we work them because we contct them at the last minute and we need to get things set up I'd like to thank the recreation department because they go above and beyond the mayor's program by ordinance is a program that is under the mayor and they the mayor at the time saw fit to connect it with the recreation department and director Bill kho Edwin Joanne uh all of them I I I just I I just will mess up but they they just are amazing the pool staff go overboard to help and then there are the community of volunteers yeah Elaine bur and and and the delpia families and the Pella families who have been on the board for years years Alex Caprio would travel and every catering house knew it didn't matter what they were doing or what their issues were Alex Caprio was coming by because they were going to donate aake to every party every month as those individuals have aged out the this bu after I don't know over 40 years of volunteering and working as staff in the West Orange Community they knew every family they knew their parents they knew their brothers and sisters and because they were were known they were able to communicate meet needs find out what was going on networked to support families the way that a community is supposed to support families and as they began to transition in life some of them into their eternity we have been blessed to have new volunteers new families come in and continue to pick up the work over and over and over again and no one in West Orange ever says no to that program ever says no and I just want to thank West Orange for that because I get a chance my wife want to get a chance to speak to a lot of people throughout the state some in the state government some and other agencies and without question or ambiguity I tell them West Orange is a model community and it's my hope and prayer that at some point we'll be able to have that conversation and we'll be officially designated as a model Community for natural and organic supports so I want to thank West goers I want to thank our leadership and I want to thank our residents because you make our daughter's life special and you make so many other CH people's Children and Families lives special because you give them a very strong sense of community thank you West Orange thank you just 30 seconds and I have a big mouth so this doesn't have to work um when I started the program volunteering it was the mayor's program for the disabled and that worked me a little bit and then I just talked to people that were in charge and the next thing it was the mayor's program for special needs a little bit softer and finally I got my heart's desire that the program will be known as the mayor's program for the uniquely gifted because that's who they are they all have gifts they all have talents they all have abilities and they are uniquely gifted and when you spend any time with that you witness it yourself and I applaud West dor for this I applaud the the support the love there was nothing in the 18 years that I ran that program there was not one thing that I petitioned for those individuals that I did not get and so I just want to thank you all as a town for being so supportive so compassionate and so loving and helping me to have the greatest job that I ever had in my entire career and I've done a lot of things but none like that thing and then when I lost my parents four days apart and I was overwhelmed because they were living with me I moved them from California to live with me for seven years and when they Lo died four days apart I was overwhelmed so I needed some I needed some space but I was not comfortable leaving that job to just anybody who would put in an application so I petitioned the mayor at that time to please because my husband always volunteered at every event that we had he'd show up at the camps I said my husband knows the program like the back of his hand can you please please let him be my replacement so that I can go and do some healing for Lisa and he's been doing it ever since and I can't tell you how grateful yes please how grateful grateful grateful I am because the heart that I have for our uniquely gifted and their families is the same heart that he has for the uniquely gifted and their families so again West Orange we are an awesome town and we make the main things the main things and so I just thank you and appreciate you all so very much for helping us to live out our hearts dream and purpose God bless you all thank you thank you very much what such um uplifting positivity positive energy this evening and uh we thank Pastor Adams and Lisa for all your years of your dedication and for your your your beautiful daughter and all the beautiful people in that uh uniquely gifted program so thank you for all you're doing thank you mayor for coming in this evening um I'm going to because we're over our seven o'clock time but tonight's a little different I'm going to tell I'm just going to explain for a minute before we go I'm going to let my colleagues at B do their reports quickly because tonight I'm kind of stalling a little bit um you know sometimes we book dates and we don't realize you know uh the calendar and we try to do our best and tonight is no exception um couple meetings ago I was sitting right there and the uh The Madam clerk had whispered to me oh I made an error I didn't realize and none of us caught it when we set the calendar um that uh Passover that I made a mistake on that Passover that uh she thought it was Sunday Monday and then it obviously was the first two nights of seder was Monday Tuesday and today's Wednesday the third night and um she was Googling on her phone and trying you know look look up the information and we thought we'd be okay with having a meeting this evening it came to our attention and we extremely apologize that for um uh many of uh of you in the community uh aren't even hearing us right now because you're observing for about another 10 minutes of the holiday so um I'm going to have our um Council reports we'll go into the meeting uh at 7 pm and then if my colleagues don't mind I want to maybe bat out of order and maybe the mayor could do her swearing in first and we could arrange that yeah I know maybe we could pass that resolution and then by the time we get done with all that activity uh if folks are at home they could log on and be in compliance and um and hopefully that will somewhat satisfied we're also this public agenda this evening uh we've been discussing things uh during the day with well not us but the Madame clerk to see we may move some items to the next meeting um so folks who aren't aware because if you're observing you don't even know we're having this conversation right now um that we'll have an opportunity to push some of our agenda items to the next meeting so all have a chance to have Fair opportunity and I thank councilwoman scorpa for bringing a few things to our attention with that being said um councilwoman Scarpa do you have any councila on announcement this evening yeah OAC is getting uh moving and next month at our next meeting or so we'll be talking about some of the really wonderful programs that they've got going for the summer hopefully we can get our seniors to those programs our older adults Advisory Board continues to enjoy our Spring Cafe it was our winter Cafe it's now our Spring Cafe at Toby cats Center I want to thank Noelia and Laura for continuing to put their heart and soul into that program because it's making so many of our seniors so happy particularly the ones that are a little lonely and need some more activity um I'd like to really thank Pastor Adam and the Adams family for recognizing the work that we do in the schools you may know that I'm a speech pathologist in our schools and I too feel I have the very best job in the world that I plan to do forever I'm going to be 67 in June people ask me when I'm retiring I said why would I retire I've got the best job in the world working with the most beautiful children and I have to say I feel so blessed to work with my colleagues in our schools who are the most committed advocates for our special needs children people move into our district to be able to get the services we provide and we work so hard and our heart and soul is in it so thank you for appreciating that and to Josie my students love your kindness cards they use them as bookmarks and you know I teach interpersonal Communications as a spee pathologist and being kind and considerate and having manners pragmatic language is a very big part of that and when you were talking about holding the door it brought back memories for me and made me realize to remind all of us that it starts with the children and it starts at a very early age when my son went to kindergarten I remember the first day we both went to Gregory school together and teachers were coming up to me and saying you was in kindergarten your son held the door open for me today and I said' well I'm so glad because you know he wasn't born that way that's learned behavior so as as mayor McCartney knows who runs a preschool it starts at a very young age and we all as moms and dads and Community leaders have a responsibility to teach that to our very youngest ones but thank you for um honoring what we do because we work really hard and we love every moment of it um and that's about all I have to say for the announcement what AR day Friday oh environmental commission oh right Arbor Day this Friday what time one o'clock at Redwood school we'll be planting some trees um we're we're really moving forward on our tree ordinance and all of our work on the environment thanks to Mayor McCartney's incredible efforts in working with us and also Mr Jenaro who has been a real leader on this and has done a great job thank you councilwoman councilwoman uh Williams thank you interim council president um so I wanted wanted to acknowledge the historic preservation commission under the leadership of Brian feny um many of you may or may not even know that um Brian has um over the past few years that he's continued to lead the historic preservation commission um unfortunately also o been battling cancer and there is a new procedure um that he is eligible for and so we want to offer and extend to him our well wishes and our prayers on a wonderful uh procedure hopefully it will be the Cure um that he needs we know that cancer is not our friend um but we do know that we can beat it we can overcome it with prayer and posit uh thoughts and healings and so I offer uh those extended prayer for thoughts of healing to the feni family um they're very involved in West Orange have been love this community and we love his continued support and volunteerism so please um just keep him and wish his family well however the historic preservation commission did meet um last week um they spoke about just making sure that we have um opportunities to fill some seats uh we do have some open spaces so if you are interested in historic preservation in any capacity um please reach out to the mayor's office and let us know um the historic preservation commission basically is engaged with making sure we preserve any historical properties in our community um so if there are homes that you think should be designated please by all means reach out to us um and it does uh once you receive that designation a mandate that you cannot do any exterior modifications without approvals um but you can certainly do any interior uh modifications upgrades and updates um at the pleasure of whoever the homeowner is but it's just a small way of PR preserving the history of our community so again if there's any curiosity or interest um by all means please uh reach out we will not be having our next month's meeting uh just to give Mr feny an opportunity to recover the M Pool Alliance committee also met um that is our uh commission that works with the schools and the township to make sure that we have an opportunity to combat any type of opioid drug alcoholism um with our youth and our children and our community um we do a lot of um panels lectures information to our students to our athletes um and what we have noticed is with all of our schools it's very difficult to come in and add additional programming and so that commission receives a lot of Grants um from the state and the federal government so what we focused on uh at the last meeting was making sure we restructure from some of the financial uh benefits that that commission has received what we know about grants is if you don't use it you lose it um so we have to make sure when we've been gifted um funding to utilize that we make sure we spend it um so we focused on doing a little bit of restructuring um so that we make sure we have the programming that these grants have afforded us also excited um I participated in the Gen lit program on uh yesterday at the Toby cat Center um that is a program that I partnered with the Grassroots Foundation um last year to have our students um from the high school the Mountaineers um come and read to our seniors so this program is ongoing it's uh will be our second full year our last opportunity um for this networking event will be in May um we will hold the May event at the West Orange Public Library on May 22nd we usually meet at 1245 to about 1:45 right before the kids can get out of school um next month might be a little bit earlier since they will have to travel normally it's at Toby cats but we'll do it at the library so they will have to take into consideration um some transport time but it's just a wonderful opportunity um for our older generation and our younger generation um just to share and exchange and I have absolutely loved every moment of it um it is just an inspirational opportunity to to get young and old connected so thank you to Dr Janice Johnson Diaz thank you to Katherine Connor at our high school and all the Teen students um who have been engaged with that program Noelia as well as um our chair of the senior Laura van djk so thank you all for just giving um us an opportunity to network and share and to bring J Jin lit program to life um and oh yeah that's yes that is our photo from uh yesterday excellent excellent um also tomorrow at the uh Arts Gallery um I will be hosting a event for the Arts and mental health and wellness all are welcome um we have a panel of wonderful participants we'll be talking about the culinary arts we'll talk about mental um Health and Wellness mindfulness um we'll talk about education um we'll also um just talk about song and dance and how all of these elements um interconnect to the art um so please join us at the West Orange Arts gallery from 6:00 to 8 tomorrow um there will be light Refreshments um we're looking forward to a fabulous uh event and just networking and and sharing amongst our West Orange Community I think that's all of my liaison announcements thank you for the opportunity and I do want to Echo the sentiments of my colleague and and just Express to our greater West Orange Community um that we are extremely accommodating we take into consideration um that we are an extremely diverse Community um so if it was uh understood or considered interpreted as um a deliberate intentional misstep please know that that is never Our intention um we did have a a tremendous amount of discussion about moving this meeting um we all pulled out our calendars um we were advised that the first two days and the last two days of Passover um were the days that no activity could occur and we thought that we were obliging um our community in that vein um so I do want to offer my sincere apologies for the oversight and please know that it is never Our intention um to disregard we've had a tremendous amount of um conversation and dialogue about even hosting community activities on Saturday understanding that that still is a a a a time where our Jewish Community um does not come out and so again I just want to reiterate that um we are extremely accomodating we understand that we are a diverse Community we may not always be able to accommodate every holiday of every uh Community but please know that this was not um an intentional oversight and we hope um that that the community um that does feel um slighted has an opportunity to join us this evening so thank you thank you councilwoman councilwoman gar Michael good evening everyone um I want to apologize because I'm not there in person I am recovering from knee surgery I was out the last meeting because I was on you know meds and had the procedure a couple of days before hand so I hope to see you all at the next meeting in person um I do not have any uh Council these on announcements so thank you thank you we hope you're uh recovering well so I am and um also council president can't be there tonight because he has the death in his family his mother-in-law passed away in the funerals today thank you thank you councilwoman I was going to do a moment in silence when we go into public session for her thank you thank you okay uh with that um so Restaurant Week was a wrap what a great success uh we had uh more restaurants than last year uh join uh West orang Restaurant week.com uh website is going to run throughout the year uh because what we found from many of the restaurants that participated in the past that when folks are coming into town and they uh Google West Orange restaurants uh the site pops up and uh it's really driven additional uh uh uh patrons to the restaurants all year long so uh with that i' like to thank down downtown uh Commissioners uh Miss bril Miss mccampbell for especially Miss mccampbell with her awesome uh social media skills uh that she presented for Restaurant Week this year some of the videos were a great hit and it really drove um really drove a lot of of folks to the various sites the West Orange public relations commission I try to get our our picture up here we all went to OKO on Friday night to have our restaurant night uh we do this every year which is so much fun and um just to support and get the support out there but to all our business owners that participated this year we had a lot of new ones and I was glad to see too uh we had um quite a few uh new restaurants in town and uh it it was really really welcoming so we thank all the uh West Orange folks who also gave great social media uh to our restaurants in a love but again um even though restaurant week is over our uh businesses still need for you to um support them and so we hope that could uh continue all year long um but for now we thank you for participating uh also uh the West AR Street Fair is coming June 1st Saturday June 1st Thomas Ed Edison's birthday weekend uh last year we saw about 6,000 uh people uh visit our downtown and we look forward to this year as well tables are going uh quickly um and uh we have 15 to 16 food vendors this year a lot of great activities for the kids and we'll have Miss BR present at the next meeting uh with some little more details um but sponsorship opportunities are available so please contact her uh if you have a business or you like to support and we thank you also to all the sponsors that sponsored a restaurant week for us this year we saw that amount triple so we really appreciate all the great support uh thank you to the Friends of the Thomas Edison National Historic Park this weekend the Black Mariah and I'm not going to steal too much of Mr Fagan's Thunder because I'm sure he had that cover but what an awesome job but I just have to mention it because it's the heart of our downtown and just having uh the Black Mariah get renovated and reopened to the public uh at the same time that we're trying to uh bring a film prod production uh Studios to downtown is just so so exciting so um we look forward uh to that and with that we will go into a public session Madam clerk oh and thank you for those who have been waiting for us to go to public 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 November 21st 2023 and published in the West Orange Chronicle on November 30th 2023 councilwoman Celina present councilwoman gber Michael present councilwoman Scarpa present councilwoman Williams present mayor McCartney will everyone please rise for the pledge of allegiance to indivisible withy and justice for all the council is now on their public meeting thank you madam clerk um it is about 20 to8 a little past there I'm going to give um members in the public who wanted to participate in public comment um a few more minutes um because we are trying to be respectful th to those who are in observant this evening um mayor do you want to [Music] um huh yeah I know we have to vote first I'm trying to think we just can we do that resolution first Madam Clerk and then we could yeah that's okay with everybody if everybody's okay with that and out of order in this fion why don't we do the public comment from the pios then do the resolution and then vote so that we don't we can yeah they're here yeah oh that's true I'm sorry Mr fi um I forgot you're here sorry we don't want to keep we don't want to keep you Len B get stuck to the end of the evening I should brought you up okay Mr Fagan go ahead thank you council president I will be brief as always [Laughter] um as was mentioned earlier uh we certainly mourn the passing of uh Donald Payne Jr uh Congressman Donald Payne uh within uh hours of finding out uh I had put this up on the East sign today uh as also was mentioned uh Passover I want to wish all the me MERS we want to wish all the members of the uh Jewish Community a happy Passover uh and and certainly good health on this holiday and every day um this past Saturday there were volunteers that helped with yard cleanups for older adults and just wanted to give a thank you to our volunteers uh who came forward and made that day a success um the junior Police Academy uh is going to be held again this year applications are due May 17th and you can uh uh email Sergeant diazz Westar pd.org and certainly this information is on our website this Saturday annual event national uh drug takeback day uh in the lobby Police Headquarters there is a collection bin there you can bring any unused uh or unneeded uh drugs uh clean out your medicine cabinet uh this a good opportunity to uh to get rid of them um this information is also on our website uh the West Orange housing forum uh at the West Orange Public Library 10y Circle uh May 2nd 6: to 7:30 p.m. uh to register uh you can call that number that number is also on our website um we also have the housing Choice voucher uh commonly known as Section 8 uh accepting applications May 3rd 2024 uh all the details are west.org um only accepting the first 300 completed applications and it's important to note that everything has to be done online uh also wanted to mention that the um uh West Orange toown Council helped secure discount for a neighborhood project with our crosswalks we were able to get a uh the township was able to get a discount because a contractor had a um cancellation of his schedule the details were worked out uh Count Council was uh was very instrumental in helping to get this done work was complet completed on April 10th uh for 73 crosswalks and 3 33 intersections and council president while I was there I noticed that the new crossworks uh crosswalks yielded immediate results uh they're not just for school children these guys showed up and uh I think they were looking for Abby Road uh but uh the crosswalk certainly uh certainly serve their purpose um as was as was mentioned um the reading to our senior citizens at the Toby cat Center Council Williams spoke about that earlier uh in council chambers just this morning uh third graders from Redwood School came in uh mayor McCartney and various uh Department directors uh answered questions uh and some very good questions from our young third graders um also uh this past uh week there were two events at uh Edison National Historical Site the New Jersey Hall of Fame had uh secured um the uh 1913 Model T for given to Thomas Edison by um Henry Ford and it was it's going to go into the New Jersey hall of fame um uh and it's going to act as the centerpiece for a journey uh to the moon so that was on display uh at the um at the Edison site as was uh on Saturday there was a ribbon cutting for the Black Mariah I hadn't realized this but but the Black Mariah has been closed for many many years uh it's worth noting out that this worth noting that this is actually the third Black Mariah the first black Mariah uh which operated in the 1890s was uh torn down about 1903 a second Black Mariah was built in 1940 uh by MGM Studios for the premiering of Edison the man uh and that was uh only there for a very short time and then this um Mariah was uh built in 1950s and there had uh they rehabbed it and there was a ribbon cutting there today and you know as um things go uh in West Orange very spontaneous there was a couple visiting uh from umman Washington and uh mayor McCartney was able to remove uh to to a r not remove pardon me uh renew our wedding vows so uh they had renew of their wedding vows right in front of Black Mariah now the significance uh the added significance of that was the first kiss ever on film was filmed in the Black Mariah in 1896 and uh Cindy and Ray uh Ledgerwood uh have the distinction of giving the first kiss to one another in uh the new refurbished Black Mariah on the day it opened and Thomas Edison himself thought it was a great idea if anyone wants to uh email the uh Town Council you can do so in a single email council at weststar.org and um thank you council president that concludes my report for this year very cute Mr Fagan thank you okay Mr py hi Anthony pesi representing County Executive Joe de fenzo uh just want to uh re reiterate some upcoming events uh that the county is going to be sponsoring uh first May 4th is the household hazardous waste collection that's 8:30 a. to 4m uh then uh May 18th is the computer and electronics uh recycling that's from 9:00 am to 3 pm and then the third um environmental event that we're doing is on June 1st uh that's paper shredding where you can bring your uh old uh unwanted documents have them shredded uh in a safe secure Manner and then all the paper will be uh recycled that's June 1st from 8:30 to noon all three of those events are at our Public Works facility on Bradford Avenue in Cedar Grove um open to all exus County residents uh May 8th uh we have a women's health month event at the Cherry Blossom Center in BRB park that's from 1: to 6:00 p.m. there'll be a whole host of Health screenings uh for women so we do encourage women to take part in that and then finally our fishing derby series runs from May 21st to June 1st and the event that we have at the South Mountain Recreation Complex by turtleback zoo is May 30th with registration beginning at 5:00 pm um as always all this information is on our website which is Essex County nj.org thank thank you very much Mr pisi Okay so we are going to and and before I do anything else I I wanted to we recognized early I was going to do it in this segment um the death of Congressman Payne we had said taken a moment of silence and for those who are just tuning in we're very sadden uh of hearing about this uh news this morning and also we appreciate it all of his contributions not only to the county but especially towards uh West orange directly uh we also want to uh give our hearts and prayers out to our council president councilman Rutherford uh he had his family had he has lost his mother-in-law uh two weeks ago the funeral uh uh was this week so we um just want to take a moment of silence to recognize his family thank you all and we had also stated early in this evening tonight's the third night of passover so we're waiting for uh some folks who observe that um may be able to come online they may be online right now so we had a stall the meeting a little bit uh for your benefit so we just been going a little bit out of order this evening so we're just GNA um just take a moment to um go ahead Madam clerk to do the report of the township ship uh the minute meetings oh you want me to go through the consent go go go through that the minute meetings and we'll just pulled a one resolution to do so the mayor could swear in our our director okay approval of minutes of previous meeting public meeting of April 9th 2024 and the executive sessions of April 9th 2024 uh part one and Port two Madam clerk Madam clerk I'm going to abstain because I wasn't at the meeting that's right operation so I'm abstaining okay thank you thank you um report of Township officers none reading of petitions and Communications and bids none uh Bill list of uh April 9th 2024 and April 24th 2024 I move for acceptance consent okay is that a consent on everyone consent thank you resolutions are any resolutions being pulled this or do you want me to just pull the first for now we could just pull 141 -24 the resolution pointing Lou Reynolds as director of the Department of Public Works so do we can we just make a motion to pull that yeah I am we are and I second that okay okay well I don't need a motion to pull it I need a motion to approve it okay so approve that so so I'm GNA make the motion to approve resolution 14124 and I'll second that okay councilwoman celino to approve yes councilwoman gber Michael Yes councilwoman SCA councilwoman Williams yes okay I'd like to call Mayor McCartney can you announce they're oh yes and we're gonna ask L Reynolds and is uh do you want your family to come come up yes his family should come up Happ to have a b this is a so again more bittersweetness because um know we had the passing of Joe plos that he had just been sworn in as the Director of Public Works and our Township engineer who I want to invite back so that we can swear her and officially also and um with the passing of Joe unfortunately uh L stepped up he always steps up we already know that and he has accepted this position to be the uh director of our public works department so for those who may not know so those who may not know his history in West Orange would you share just a little bit about his history a resident of West Orange for at least 55 years now moving on enjoying my family and growing up in the west AR school system and pronounced Fame soccer player with hope and moving on through the high school and other things and everything else 37 and a half years I serve for the DPW and I I welcome and and thank everybody for this opportunity to S of tear up here on everything else my my family that I can extend my fortitude to the township to the mayor the administration my constituents and everybody in the township and and and Mr Reynolds before you before you get sworn in I just know just from working with you throughout the years uh your dedication to the township and to the department and I I I just um again Bittersweet uh with you moving on this way but um we are just so proud of you and we really appreciate all your efforts You've Been instrumental up at Rock Spring Golf Course and we could not have pulled that up off without you and your effort so thank you thank you thank you and to your wonderful family sorry that we take a lot of his time but Ser I'm glad allowed some more time to keep my tenure going here great thank you and congratulations we all of our upgrades again can I just say one thing also because I I work pretty closely with Louie and I have to say that we could not get through the elections without him absolutely he's the right-hand man or I'm his right-hand man so I just you know he knows how much I appreciate him but I want to say it publicly so and I wanted to just if I may just explain why I asked him to say few words about how long he had been here I want the West Orange Community to understand that while we do appreciate people who have lived here and worked here we also understand that there are qualified people who serve and we don't make those decisions haphazardly um we put a lot of tremendous effort and I commend you mayor um just for continuing to make West Orange and move us forward the best she can be think no further Ado mayor Maddie do you want us to hold the Bible can you all go to the center so everybody can see yeah come on the other side yeah what's your daughter's name come on the other side yeah yep yep everybody can see yes yes go ahead I will support the Constitution of the United States I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey the Constitution and I will be true faith I will be true faith and alance to the to the and the government EST the United States government established in the United States I fur F yeah he did I did here I see it's here I see it's here and we can also announce that Paula his wife Paula is our certified purchasing agent I don't know for how many years but a pleasure to work with you thank you so much so before LLY I have one more there is a resolution on your agenda this evening about our community energy plan so where there is an awful lot of work cut out for Luke uh as we move forward hi congratulations congratulations Reynolds very well questions okay ohy all right so I want to thank the public for hanging in there um as we are batting out of order this evening and I really appreciate that so Mr Fagan you could open up public comment Miss Manga good evening what a show all kinds of good stuff happening and I appreciated it Sally manga Ridge Road on behalf of our Green West Orange members I have three items on my list but first I'd like to start out with this New York Times report according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration emissions of three greenhouse gases carbon methane and nitrous oxide continue to Surge to Historic Heights the result has been a series of profound changes to the planet in a remarkably short amount of time last year humans spewed some 36 billion tons of CO2 into the atmosphere the most ever that number May well be higher this year we need to take some action in West Orange and our members are asking for Action regarding the regulation of the overuse of gas powerered blowers landscapers are blowing twigs for a so-called spring cleanup with high-powered combustion engines at decel levels that blow up the neighborhoods and pour pollution into the air while poisoning their workers and the residents I'd like to direct this specifically to Tammy and Michelle please advise what you're willing to do to be kind and responsive to to the residents we'd like to keep this positive there's no need to express an opinion as to whether or not alternative technology exists we've resolved the Enforcement issue by following the Maplewood example which is successful what residents are asking for is reasonable and deserves a reasonable response a summer and winter ban and a full ban in 2026 the second issue is the Mount Pleasant Forest at 12.7 Acres the last shred of storm water management at the top of Mount Pleasant Avenue an individual has proposed and will be submitting documents to the building department on the 5 acre lot where they will clear one acre of trees estimated at 100 to 200 trees and try to create some sort of drainage system I'd like to direct this to you Michelle you said that if a buyer appeared you would take action again there are really no obstacles to this our open space trust fund provides monies that are in perpetuity for the next hundred years we will have money to spend on acquiring open space but this Forest will not be there if we wait and allow people to chip away at it we still have the problem of the rulin landslide as this is the same Cliff same water problem same need to preserve some small shred of land along the Mount Pleasant Avenue my number three is members want to attend the planning board meetings and the Town Council meetings on Zoom some are elderly some have children and zoom is the way we all can be informed and participate please let's get these meetings back on Zoom for public comment and just as a last footnote we appreciate your attention to the tree ordinance I think it may be uh something that you're um you're going maybe pass tonight maybe at the next meeting like to thank you in advance if you do pass it uh um like to commend Mr Jenaro worked really really hard on it it's got some great features and great protections so thank you for doing that and thank you for responding to what our requests are thank you thank you very much anyone else like to come up for public comment audience okay seeing none I'm gonna ask my colleagues if they would like to uh respond councilwoman Scarpa are we closing public comment oh I'm sorry I'm going to close public comment comment keep forgetting there's no Zoom um Council missa okay do you want yeah thank you thank you um for all of the informative information from our public information officers for both Essex County as well as the township of West Orange um Miss Manga thank you for your uh comments and thank you for coming in so that we could absolutely hear you um in reference to the points that you made certainly um you can understand why I am not supportive of coming back to public comment on Zoom um 5 hours of public comment and then the disruptive public comment that uh caused us to terminate public comment is just simply unacceptable um and and quite frankly public comment is not the only way to communicate with your elected officials I for one am absolutely accessible um I meet with residents often on a daily basis um whenever they ask um and of late especially uh since February of 2024 um I have probably met with a resident in West Orange at least every day um May and that's during the five days of the week um but public comment again is is not the only way to communicate with your elected officials um and certainly was not even fair uh to the public because because after five hours of public comment in in any case that's excessive but usually we were having about two to three hours of public comment on average um last year and by the time we get to our business we're exhausted um and that's just not good governance so while I do respect the request um it was really an accommodation that was created because of covid um so that we could continue to do the people's business um but at the end of the day there has to be some given take um and coming back to our Council meetings is certainly something that I encourage the public to do um but again reach out to us um I'm always here and and and my cell phone number for those who may not um have it it's 973 29768 7 it's on the municipal website um it's how I do everything so I'm available um thank you regarding um the flow band there are some additional conditions that um I am supportive of and amable to um I don't think it's appropriate to disclose that once my colleagues and I go back to discussing uh that ordinance certainly we can deliberate and and have those discussions and as far as Ridge Road is concerned um certainly we have debated deliberated and spoken about Ridge Road and purchasing Ridge Road as open space and I think the last time that this body deliberated and disgusted um I don't think that councilwoman Scarpa nor councilwoman Gabriel Michael um had been elected as yet and it was litigation um that was involved um with uh some of the other development projects that we have in town um and as a condition um with Ridge Road it is properly zoned as single family housing and if I'm not mistaken obviously I have not seen the application um but it is not an application that is um not supported by the zoning the appropriate zoning um and I understand that we do want to preserve that Forest um but I do also understand that everyone has a right um to to purchase property and develop it as long as it doesn't um completely disrupt the existing laws that we have um Ridge Road has been designated um as developable will land for as far as I'm aware um so if someone wants to come in and build a nice home on that land um I am absolutely not opposed to that I am opposed to someone coming and asking for a variance to put multiple homes there and that does not make good sense to me because we do know um that it is a a forest um but what we don't know and some of the things that I think should also be taken into consideration um I've had an opportunity to look at a lot of open space land um that is marketed in West Orange of late and in my personal assessment one of the concerns that I have and especially with Ridge Road um in particular is while we know that it is a forest we don't have any assessments or any information on the condition of that forest and what we um also know in West Orange is that a lot of our trees are dead damaged and really need to be removed and because of that um before I would commit to any type of an investment in any type of um Forest um we need to have an actual assessment of the condition of that Forest um so while we're saying um publicly on repeated occasions um that that Forest should be preserved uh we also need to do an actual assessment of that um location and determine if um what the actual condition in the viability is personally I just had a tree fall down in my backyard um that was thankfully owned by the state of New Jersey um um on their easement property um but I say that to say um that in September of last year because it's outside of my fenced property um my husband goes and clears um that area so that we can keep the brush down and when he did his last um clearing in September the tree while to our um observation did not look um completely unhealthy it is something that I noticed as the spring months were approaching hey I better call I better have the Forester come out and evaluate this tray um well he did that and immediately within the next couple of weeks the state was out and making preparations to remove it unfortunately we had a storm and it didn't last the storm um but again we've had a tremendous amount of um Fallen trees our area and um the mayor has also advocated for a full assessment of our tree canopy and I absolutely support that and would would absolutely require um before any type of acquisition for our community um is is considered that um we do do that full tree assessment of our municipality that's my responses to the commentary this evening thank you very much thank you councilwoman uh councilwoman garik good evening um excuse me uh thank you so much uh Mrs MinGa for your commentary uh you know there are valid concerns um environmental concerns that you brought up hopefully tonight we can um table or move the resolution the Tre ordinance resolution to the uh next meeting um when councilman Rutherford is a able to attend we do need to address it and and um hopefully we can vote on an ordinance that we all can agree on and you know help with the issues that we have with our tree canopy um in terms of Zoom meetings I think you know I Echo councilwoman Williams sentiments um you know it's been a really tough January and February with long meetings especially those two five hour meetings that we had back to back um hopefully in the future we can come back to zoom meetings in person I'm sorry hello I got cut it got cut off we could hear you Council woman thank you hopefully in the future we can work out coming back to zoom for public comment um in order to get more people to part to participate I mean it is 2024 technology advances that you know we should be able to have residents you know for their sake of their quality of life be able to come onto zoom and comment but I don't see that happening um right now maybe hopefully in the future um and with that thank you so much and to all of you in person and online thank you guys for tuning in that ends my H public comment response thank you councilwoman I I I know Council councilwoman Scarpa okay great um thank you Mrs Manga for all your advocacy now and for the decade that I've known you um I completely agree with you that the summer and the winter ban is the very least we could do and I would support that wholeheartedly I wish my colleagues would as well um in terms of the Mount Pleasant Forest um I have to agree with you there too um that area uh I have heard from residents for a very long time that live in that area and although we don't have stats on the how the dead trees and such what we do have are crash statistics that are outrageous the amount of accidents that have happened in on Mount Pleasant Avenue there particularly in the winter as the water and the rain and the snow make a waterfall off of those rocks is treacherous at the very least and I think for the safety of all of our residents um we need to protect that forest and that area from further development um we don't want to see another um rulin and uh your third the planning board in the council I have to say I have heard from so many residents in the highlands who are very disturbed that the planning board meeting where they're going to talk about a number of their issues will not be on Zoom there are a number of older residents who have commented on Zoom about that area which deeply affects them who feel that they are not going to be able to have the opportunity to really make their voices heard I am very sensitive to the seniors a lot of them can't go out at night they don't drive in the dark and I believe that the planning board needs to continue to be on Zoom as well as in person I also feel that residents learn a lot from hearing their neighbors Advocate and explained issues at Town Council meetings in a way that they don't when they just speak with a council person and so although it may not be the time right now due to a lot of the controversies and difficulties we've had I would like to see Town Council meetings at some point in the future go back on Zoom thank thank you councilwoman okay so again I uh want I appreciate uh Mrs Manga waiting uh patiently to uh till 8 o'clock before she had her public comment and I'm sure she seemed like she understood why we delayed the meeting this evening so I definitely appreciate her for that um so the three points that she made um so the first one with the gas leaf blower ordinance I said from the very beginning um why and I I will reinstate why because I felt that although the technology isn't quite there yet and hopefully someday it will be I have a big issue my issues with the batteries thems I feel they cause more harm uh to the environment and uh I'm not going to you know go into that uh this evening for the the sake of time but um that's my main reason my main reason is if I felt that if we were solving an issue but I just feel like we're just replacing one issue with with another and hopefully the technology will uh become available and we'll be able to implement something of that nature in the near future but right now the batteries I really feel they are a major issue and they are actually more harmful and uh that that's my opinion and and um and it didn't come lightly I've done a lot of research on it in regards to the um fars on Ridge Road um yeah I had made that statement so there's an application there now I will look in into it I feel though there's been you know applications in the past they always come and go one once the um once the developer or the property owner starts looking into the property itself and seeing how it's on Bedrock how expensive that is to build um unfortunately for the uh property owner it they usually um you know wind up not purchasing so unless I really know there's a a true threat of something happen I will look into it and considering it um but again I we you know this has happened before where folks have put in applications and they they never come to fruition in regards to the meetings on Zoom I mean those were terrible meetings I for one listen I signed up for this um five hours torturous um public comment some nights unfortunately um yeah I time doesn't bother me commitment doesn't bother me what bothered me was folks who don't live in our Township uh whether they're paid agitators or whatever they may be coming on to zoom and that really that really soured me on the zoom so uh right now I couldn't go back to that uh but in regards to the planning board meeting and we do have big applications such as wests 6 Highlands which is a big one um maybe few folks can talk to or maybe the the mayor could talk to the chair at the planning board and maybe they could Rel relocate uh the meeting to West Orange High School on coni that always seems to be a very easy spot for seniors to get in and out of to come to a meeting I know it's not as convenient as being on Zoom but at least well it's a nice compromise I I mean I've seen seniors many times easily come in and out of West Orange High School uh at that location because they could be dropped off and it's a very short walk um but again you know that's up to their board and um and their call but that's just a recommendation I give the mayor thank you Mr pesi uh for being here this evening and Mr faken as usual very delightful presentation on your part uh with that I'm going to be closing public comment we will go back to our uh public uh agenda with their resolutions we had already approved resolution 14124 naming our new director of Public Works Mr Reynolds which we had that presentation um so again we had conversation earlier in the evening I'm going to reiterate for those who have recently joined us because of the Passover holiday um we were um now we inated with some some emails of folks uh hoping that we could have not had a meeting this evening and again um you know we always do our best to schedule around all holidays here in the township with that being said um there was a request from my colleagues uh today via the clerk's office uh the clerk triy to accommodate everyone in seeing what we could pass tonight and with the administration because the township has to you know we have to pay our bills uh the administration is counting on us to uh pass our contract so they could get uh government moving and so many times uh government doesn't move and um therefore it it falls on uh frustration to our residents so with that um with tonight's agenda and my colleagues could correct me but I'm going to be pulling uh 14324 and 14424 because there was requests for that to th wait those two have to get approved tonight all the ones that are in italics have I I thought the stamp concrete had to go to tonight that has to go tonight that has to go tonight has to be included okay I was going to say because that's not an italic all right sorry okay so that's okay so we're GNA keep that one in okay um so the only one we'll be pulling is 144 you want me to speak to that I can it's very simple it's the only one that's being pulled okay it's easy to do it on consent I well it's it yeah so yes can you please Chief well well first I'm gonna have the chief respond to that one and then we'll go to questions uh Chief 144 so uh there were some safety issues discovered with the existing holsters we're going to buy new holsters there's also an upgraded site for the uh the weapons that the officers carry this is all coming out of federal forfeiture money it's not tax dollars it's a pretty routine uh you know expenditure um really all Council was doing is acknowledging that the uh money was spent appropriately by by passing this it's not again it's not tax dollar it's not a budget issue all right so do any of my colleagues have any issue with this one could this stay on this consent agenda it can stay on I don't have a problem with it thank you councilwoman councilwoman no I just had Williams thank you I just had a question I wanted to ask was the equipment that we're replacing was it deemed defective it's not defective there's just a better holster now um that's come out it's not something we can go after anybody and get our money back it's an acceptable holster it's still being sold but there's a better one thank you okay um thank you councilwoman um so with that being said do any of my colleagues I'm just going to look at this real quick um I know Madam clerk you had pull the council during the day I just wanted to see if anyone else had any yeah I do you wanted to wait the next meeting okay councilwoman G Michael uh yes um resolution 145 I have questions on did you want to pull it or you just have questions I I would like it pulled because I think we have to add something in here unless someone can explain to me I guess I'll tell you guys my question okay you want it pulled for now yeah and then I'd rather ask my question we might have to amend it okay so if you could okay so if you could just hold on to that that one in 147 147 okay which I spoke to the chief about that you have to add something in there okay okay Council woman Scarpa anything uh no my understanding was we were going to do just the things that were urgent well all but one are Urgent everything's urgent on everything that's italicized is urgent there was one that was not but the chief just explained it I appreciate everybody's accomodating with Jewish residents especially Mr LOF who well well you know we did email me yeah and uh I thought we had agreed that we would make a motion to do the things that needed to get done tonight and we also agreed that we would talk to Administration and and what administration felt the need that they need to move government they were going to be vocal about and so which on are so right now so all of them except for the 144 but the chief just explained that one 144 so if you're fine with that we'll leave it on consent everyone was fine with it do you are you fine with it or do you want that pulled no I don't I don't I'm not don't have a problem with that okay and then the other item was uh councilwoman G Michael had 145 she had a question on that we're gonna pull and 147 right so those are going to go to next well we're gonna no we're doing they have to go tonight all of them have to go tonight every single one of them I called Mr Kio on um 139 even for the use of Jenny duncle pool and yeah that kind starts yeah Monclair need it to know immediately so so again we have government that we're responsible for we apologize to the public I think the big item is probably the tree ordinance which is going to be tabled what is it we'll get there now the only things I like to pass I like a motion for consent agenda other than second thank you thank you um all in favor I any opposed the consent agenda is implemented okay now we'll go to the two items um that are pulled the first to discuss councilwoman gar Michael 145 initia group for Township planner professional service agreement councilwoman castelino it's with all due respect it's gber Michael I'm sorry I'm sorry you can either say it the Ethiopian in arrian way with the accent which is or you can say gber Michael but not Gerber Michael I I so apologize you all know I have a a very poor don't worry my sinuses that I never hear uh clearly don't worry um okay so 145 with a new shuang group I went through the resolution and unless I misread it I see here that for them to be uh to provide planning services for um the planning to be our Township planner I guess it's $12,500 per month now is that in addition to what we already approved yes uh last month or is this included because I mean that just seems like a lot to me yeah and and that's more than um an excessive and I and I I don't know that I in the past I had the same concern sure so I'm going to let the chief uh I'm going to ask the chief to respond uh we did pass them for as our economic developer now if you recall we had Mr gal's uh guo Associates on retainer for um until April 10 that contract had expired and then the uh we put out for um a new for a new contract for planning um directly for planning um services and they were the only ones that responded so with that yes this would be separate this would be above above and beyond the amount that we approved for economic development services and chief I'll let you speak to it so yes this is you know council's desire to have the initial wi group serve as our planner of record for the township um that is not something that was contemp plated in the initial uh request for a proposal that was awarded contract was awarded for economic development it's the same entity they do two functions but they're two completely separate roles so rather than paying uh Paul GGO and his Partners you're now paying uh the initial Wing group for these Services okay it just seems like a lot because it's not just the flat fee every month it's also there's o hourly uh rate um for their principal managing partner senior Associates associate partner administrator intern design associate associate planner senior construction manager/ project manager so I don't think we should be paying them $12,500 a month plus hourly rates it should just be included so I in good conscience and Fai can't approve this contract so I'm just this doesn't sit well with me that's a lot of money I want to speak to this too yeah you will you will let her finish because they're they're a firm where they do planning and economic development so I don't know if there's a way we can amend the other contract and maybe include a little bit more money but to for us to pay them $12,500 in addition to what was the amount in the other contract I have it in front of me 150,000 150,000 for the year those are okay so that I understand it's two separate but okay so you're talking 150,000 for the year for that plus this is another 150,000 you're talking $300,000 not including hourly rate absolutely not we at this rate we might as well hire a full-time planner at the that do make sense that's too much money thank you my comment right there so if anyone else wants to chime in that's okay I'm not going to let you give up the floor yet I just want the chief wants to respond to you and if yeah commment and councilwoman Scarpa I will get to you let them finish their conversation go ahead Chief the 150,000 is what's budgeted for that role they bill hourly based on different rates for you know senior partner just just like any other firm legal firm or uh another planner they're all going to Bild that way I believe is that included is that included in the flat rate monthly or is that in addition to that's what's not clear to me so the hourly hourly rates are play paid by developers out of escrow not out of tax dollars so some servic PA so just clarification that those hourly rates that are stated in the contract is not being paid by the Township from taxpayer dollars sometimes no they're not no they're not I would rather legal spoke to the aspects of a contract yeah um councilwoman gber Michael so I'm not sure the version of the agreement that's before you now is paragraph two of your of the version of the agreement in front of you is does that talk about um hourly rates so in the second page agreement for municipal planning Services no I'm sorry noop let me go back it's actually the um page three and it's number two the township hereby retain service looking at then they need to clarify in here that these folling rates are includ are not being paid by taxpayers it's coming out of a fund that's it didn't state that in here so I I I believe that the wrong version of this was circulated around the proper the proper paragraph two State distinguishes between a non- escrow and escrow payments so it defines what the third party ES payments are and the proper contract states that the township retains the services of the consultant for the period of May 1st 2024 to December 31st 2024 all non- escrow reimbursable fees for services rendered shall be at the flat rate of 12,500 per month for any work done for a special development project where a third party escro has been established the rate shall be and then it lists the hourly rates that the um developer that the developer would then uh or well would technically reimburse the township for got it but again that's not the version that I have so okay Count Council so and also if Mr Jer the um they are gonna attend the planning and zoning board meetings yeah so or the planning board meeting rather so they will get paid out of this contract for for that service correct I believe that that's um Incorporated in the escro but I'll double in the non escro 12,500 per month that's Incorporated there in that's not a separate hourly unless there's a specific development application that they're going for in which case then it would come out of the third party es so so this is where it gets muddied and so first I'm going to let councilwoman scorpa ask her qu councilwoman are you done for now yes okay okay let me know when you want to jump in uh councilwoman Scarpa go ahead yeah I I believe this is exorbitant use of taxpayer funds I've already said that I think it would be we need a full-time planner who's committed to our Township I compared the rates that we were paying Paul GLE to these rates and these are higher than what we paid Paul GLE for them to sit on the planning board and now relearn all of the institutional knowledge that Paul GLE has is going to take some time hours and money I think Paul gel could do this so much more efficiently since he has the background and I I really think that what we really need is a full-time planner and I want to see that in the budget and I won't approve any more than the $150,000 that we've already approved for we tried to extend Mr gle's contract and he refused to work for the township he was voted out by the council he's not returning he's made that clear so you can want him back but already say he's not com well I think we should take the 150,000 use from the 150,000 and we should try to get a planner okay so okay Council voting no okay you do you have any other comments councilwoman no okay councilwoman Williams any comments yeah thank you um so as a former member of the planning board um I too um thought that the base amount was a lot more than what we have paid in the past however once I had a conversation with our planning department um to understand what their needs were what the services are that Mr GGO provided to us and then looked at the services that the nishing group will provide to us um one of the things that we have to understand as a municipality is what we ask for can't just be um Penny pinched we're looking to continue to move this community forward and and what they have done is comparably what is being done in other communities um I know that the nishang group Works in Orange municipality very heavily um and I checked with a couple of other municipalities to understand what their rates are and unfortunately this is not excessive um we have to look at what we have been doing in West Orange and how we want to move forward and do things differently um I am understanding that we have to have a planner at our planning board meetings and our zoning board meetings um again we understand that the process is that this was put out publicly for people to bid on and this is what we have um us simply saying no because we don't like the price point um and and again sitting here saying that we should keep Paul GLE when you voted against keeping Paul GLE I don't even understand how that happened we had an opportunity to keep him in the beginning when we reviewed all contracts and there was a majority vote to remove him and not extend his contract and we also deliberated and debated about whether or not we wanted to keep their contracts until we found a viable replacement and again the majority said no they wanted it until April 10th good government means that we have to give the administration an opportunity to go out and pursue those contracts that are going to complement the work that we want done in this community they They begged us to not put a finite date on when we were going to terminate the contracts and you specifically councilwoman were adamant that you didn't even want to give Mr GLE 90 more days so that we could get a bid out so that we could get a replacement and now that that has occurred you're sitting here saying that you don't think the the one company that is qualified and put in a responsible bid should get the money to do what is required in our town I didn't understand anybody calling to find out from our planning department or our building department what is required so if you're not going to do the due diligence nor have I heard you say that you mentioned or contacted anyone else what are you basing your rejection on because if you're if you're basing it on the the the amount of money that other menen palities are paying then you're wrong to say that $112,000 is excessive and you for one or anyone would not agree to do a contracted job just like you're an educator all of a sudden if if your administrator your board says you're going to start teaching another class and we're not going to compensate you for it you would be like well I'm not going to do it we can't expect for a vendor to ever come into our community and do work for free they're professionals they get paid we volunteer to serve in our capacities that are diminished or reduced rate because we love our communities but not professionals and so with that again there's I have not heard one reasonable explanation or challenge other than the fact that the very person that you said you didn't want here anymore you're now saying that they should come back but they've communicated that sorry not coming back the community the township the administration they have work to do it is our responsibility to support that work to trust that they have done what they need to go out and do to get us quality vendors and we have to support that thank you thank you C councilwoman um so it said for years uh Mr gal's firm and I want to thank uh him and his firm for their service to our community for so many years um I've had the opportunity to work with him on quite a few occasions uh going to downtown um seminars and to uh Regional events um just such a great reputation that firm has and uh always uh you know people from other communities Rave about them with that being said um I always felt we never utilized his firm to the capacity that we needed to and was very disappointed when we didn't try that option first I made that recommendation um when we started having this conversation earlier in the year I really wanted to give them an opportunity to uh for us to give them the time and the hours so here we are today so today we have a firm who when we um talked to when we approved them uh last month for economic development the contract clearly stated what their um what their services would be for and the planning and the uh zoning uh items that they would assist us with was not in that particular contract because I had actually pointed that out at our meeting and that's where a conversation um was going to be had uh what we did have the opportunity to do was to meet uh individually or in chos and and councilwoman scarp and I met with them and Miss bro for a good two hours to really pick their brain and we did hear planning so I think this confusion could come from that for my colleagues that we heard a lot about you know the planning service that they offered in that meeting what I like about this approach and and to be honest and clear I was not first sold on uh on the group and on this approach it's until late that uh I now am a very big supporter and the more I investigated uh this uh group the more I like them and the more I uh speak with them uh the more and more I feel comfortable that they're going to do an awesome job for our community because it's that missing link that we've been needing so long and yes with a full-time planner you would get that link but I feel like these Services would are so much more and this is a unique opportunity for us and um you know you have um you know uh Jerry who is their uh zoning um person and he is just so knowledgeable and getting us updated with all our zoning ordinances that are very antiquate you have Michelle delport who is just so um just so experience she was mayor Union and all that she's done for that community and making some Co phone calls and some research I really like the feel that uh where Union is kind of like us with you know giving Vibes of being a city but yet there's a lot of uh Towes such as ourselves councilwoman and even uh a councilwoman that we grew up here and uh you wanted to have that small town feel and uh she's a big proponent of that and I really like uh that part uh about her and then uh we have uh Steve who is her economic uh developer guy who's going to be lot Hands-On and Craig with years of experience so I think it's a different kind of unique experience for us because we have four different lenses um looking at us listening to us um finding where our holes in our system are because let's face it uh not to anybody's fault but you know we just you know just had you know doing more with less and having staff retire and and just be short on staff and budgeted items and whatnot um you know our staff works really hard and there's a lot that falls through the cracks no fall to theirs but we need you know those eyes all on us and and uh to get us where we need to go now not to be mindful of the expense so what we have here is we have to watch our time with the economic development piece so as far as them going out into the community and holding you know different group meetings and whatnot we have to be conservative with that because it is a cost um so that's one thing to sit with a few groups here and there such as economic development um and uh downtown um that's you know something but you got to watch the time limits on that which I think we could all be conservative with um and with the planning Services we're you know they're replacing what Mr gel's firm did for us in regards to the meetings except there's there's an exception here which is something we'll be doing that's different is they're having team meetings with our staff and that something that I truly support and I think we need I think all the directors appreciate that kind of attention and time uh to make sure the applications are um you know are met all the um well the conditions are met on application so you're going to have a lot more detailed time in here and um again we did not give Mr galor the opportunity to give us that Detail Service so we'll see how it works works with this firm but I fully support and recommend that we move forward and um counc president if I get yeah go ahead Mr Smo so just to clarify we we had the economic contract we did last month we didn't approve Mr Bal firm as we all we we all know we you asked us to go get a planner it turned out it happened to be the same firm we need a planner statutorily we need a planner if we do not approve this contract tonight which is the discretion of the council if we do not move this forward we have a May 1 planning zone board meeting we have zoning board meetings this will not get approved all our meetings will be backed up we were talking before about West ess6 and all all of our our work is going to get backed up because statutorily we're required to we went out we solicited proposals as directed by the council this are the proposals we received which is separate and unto itself from the economic development contract that was approved by this Council so just so we're we want to make sure that you understand however you vote we we will react and we will have to go back to the drawing board if need be or we will work move forward with the the company that you approved tonight but that's a decision for the council not a decision for us we're just we're making sure that we present to you what the facts are so that this way you understand the ramifications one way or the other that's all so with that do my colleagues have any other comments no I just moveed for the vote um go no no a motion was made I'll I'll second to vote okay councilwoman celino yes to approve councilwoman gber Michael Council are you there yes sorry um that's okay I'm really conflicted I just think it's an absorbent amount um to spend can can Administration give us monthly reports so we could track it so to make my colleagues comfortable on both on both economic and the planning we we won't discuss they actually said that they would do that as part of their contract but we never sometimes get that information so they could yeah just make sure it filters down to us please and um next year can we put out an RF can you guys put out RFQ for both Economic Development and planning possibly maybe to reduce the cost it just spend $300,000 a year just seems a lot unaffirmed we T we know we cut Fox Roth child because they were billing us half a million a year or more so it it I I counc I think we said once before that um we would make sure that these happen prior to the year end because that's what you asked of us particular set of circumstances happened after the first year so this is kind of something that we're reacting to the the wishes of the council so we're we're here presenting this to you tonight because we had this after the first of the year so I mean we're if we can't come any sooner with this because this is one I was requested of us we we have to do an RFQ each year for we have to with these so we're all Professional Services and if this doesn't H pass tonight then what happens do you guys go and hire a planner because that's the quickest thing last the last planning board meeting we hired a an emergent planner but it's not really what we're supposed to do we're supposed to have a planner of record um based on no but I'm asking you if this doesn't pass tonight would you guys have to go then go because you won't have time to put out another RFQ and they're the only ones bid on this so then hold on hold on would you then have to uh hire a full-time planner is that the quickest rout I mean there's no money in the budget for a fulltime planer you just said you budget $150,000 for no that was economic developer devel so where's this money coming from for the planner if you have money Mr G Mr GLE is this is the same Mr GLE didn't Bill 12,500 a month it was much less this is way more than what Mr GLE build I I don't know what his buil it was $5,000 a month for the planning right it's it was planning board so that doesn't make sense if you guys have $12,500 a month to pay a firm and you guys have the money for a planner that's right so I'm voting no but but that's that's not in comportment with the government process there there's no position well then add it in the budget you have it in you clearly have the money right because we vote if we were to vote on this hold on let me finish let me okay you were to pass this I'm let me I'm speaking if you were to pass this and have the 12,500 to pay them monthly then you have the money for full-time planner I'm gonna call a point of order um Madam I'm gonna I voted now you you may resum she's making her vote that that we vote and we don't do the comment when we're voting we either vote Yes yes I know how to run a meeting this is where I'm choosing run the meeting tonight okay thank you okay thank thank you councilwoman and thank you all for answering my questions I want everybody to be comfortable okay go ahead councilwoman scorpa no councilwoman Williams yes the motion fails okay so with that um not passing I recommend to Administration to let us know how you're going to proceed probably gonna have to put the planning board on notice not to have any meetings until this is resolved I don't know what else to say you do not have a planner the zoning board and there applications that are pending this is what the count this is the frustration the council wanted this is what they asked for we were going to do a full-time planner and an economic development consult Council individually or two at a time met with the Nish way group like them and that's why we put them up I mean I guess we can go back and look at who else applied Ral already said he's not coming back to work he was one of the applicants I think there's a couple others so this is also cap this was a cap and again part of this is where I think it gets confused confused confusing where is it the way the contract is written or how they want to get paid I know we have to pay them but again when the developer is paying that Fe because so when these larger applications came in now they said it in our individual meeting that the developer pays those fees because that's what the developer there's an application there's been countless meetings that I've been at where Paul GLE came and just gave us his opinion and his advice where people came in with potential projects L yes he's on every he's on every meeting he's billing for that absolutely he does Bill for that the he may get just to go to planning board meetings is not indicative of what the other bills are go so question for legal because what I like to see is maybe we Mr we could see what we pay for planning services this P year I'd like to see what we um Can Administration do you have to put it out again or can they just revisit the contct can we put it back up we can use this as long as the people that have applied do not well I don't think it's 60 days anyway as long as it's not 60 days but if they people who appli to agree to it you can it can be waved okay so can we get some information to my colleagues and then maybe we could revisit this at the next meeting is that possible Mr jenero yes it's possible it's obviously um what exact information are we looking for other than the how much we spent last year compared to what this contract yeah not on everyone not not on the other attorneys the just uh Mr gle's firm what we spent and a breakdown I I think it should be anyone in the planning that we pay for planning because again Mr GLE was not the only vendor that we may have used so if we're going to do this and make it fair if there was anyone related to planning and zoning department that served in that capacity we need to take that in consideration as well so and anyone that you're yeah that you're not going to utilize further to uh that nishang group replaces so if it's Mr gel and say two other parties then all those fees so this way um you could be comparing apples with apples and we get a full comparison on this contract and then we could revisit it once second C is that possible gentlemen we can give you what Mr gagle build um him and then anyone else that so for example say this past this evening okay obviously we're not using that firm is there anyone else we're not using that we used the past year or so because nishang group is here those are the Bills you should be calculating so we get a full comparison of of what this group is charging us versus what we had paid in the past for those services so for example Mr Buckman you're still going to use him whether you use this firm or not because he has a certain specialty on Redevelopment so he would not be this uh uh Mr beckelman with the re attorney no but so anybody that yes but anybody else that you're utilizing for the planning services but we're not we're using using so we not use any of their attorneys in here just no they they don't I don't believe theyy want to make sure anyone that you've used for those Services you only use that you're going to use them just total that's it just Mr G gral firm no one else as councilwoman St unless it was in a special case Mr G was there filling or something I think they're usually his his associates whatever the case may be if you could get those calulations it was 5,000 uh from what I understand he earned his money that way but he he probably more than doubled that in fees through escro so he was making probably 15,000 or more monthly it's my understanding I don't have those figures but so those and that's the money that we get reimbursed for correct I'm just saying for the public so they're not confused yep so then you need to differentiate those figures so this way we moving forward my colleagues could see those figures and hopefully we could because I know councilman councilman uh rufer was supportive of this group um go go go ahead councilwoman councilwoman go ahead you you want to speak councilwoman have a Michael yes I guess I I must have been confused then because my understanding is that they were going to do everything because that's what their firm does for the amount that we were paying them whenever we voted for them last month so you know I was kind of surprised to see another 12,500 being build monthly for this this is not what I anticipated at all the 150,000 in the in the economic development was was was set aside for the economic development which has planner in it but the um but the budget was for the for the economic development it wasn't just for all the planning itself that's a separate we we as we explained because we didn't we didn't if you rehired Mr GLE you'd be paying initial you'd be paying Mr GLE yes it just so happens that the planner we presented to you happens to work for this firm so it would have been the same it's just that it was one firm as opposed to two excuse me Council sc one second Council Williams I just want to clarify something Council said counc Williams go ahead thank you um I just want to put out on the record um that this is very very disappointing um that we are questioning the legitimacy of a group that we supported and have been Desperately Seeking for over a year these type of services and for the economic development um I just want to remind us that we have actually put that in the budget for a position that we um identified to be filled since 2019 um and each year we continued again covid was a tremendous impact on everything so for 2019 and 2020 um you know it wasn't that big of a deal we weren't coming in and everybody was at home we've continued as a community to talk about the need for um a systematic outside professional to come in and support um I've heard over and over again the criticisms of whether it be uh the previous mayor uh the legal team that we have and them trying to orchestrate and organize um how we develop our town that they're getting kickbacks from the developers um that they have relationships with with no evidence of any um of those improprieties ever taking place and now at an opportunity where we have a studio a multi-million doll project coming in to our community um all the development that is going along and the constant cry for organized development and we are rejecting a firm that is tried true and has a proven history of success and we're quab over an increase in the fees where no one else submitted and where none of us contacted any of our department heads or the administration with any of these questions or inquiries until we get here today hey if any of us were concerned about the amount of money what is interesting is that how do we compare what are we comparing to and why aren't we doing these things so that we can continue moving West Orange forward we just heard our Administration say that we are going to have to can cancel our upcoming planning board and zoning board meetings these boards only meet once a month and we're talking about making sure we we take care of our residents these applications come in the residents still have to hire professionals even if it's postponed they have to pay more and so now we're saying oh we don't want the government to continue and the government the Administration has done exactly what we asked them to go do exactly what we demanded that they go do they've done it they've performed they've brought the information back to us we are sitting here behind this day complaining but no one complain to call or challenge or question anything that was before us until here we are now and now we have to stop the town of West Orange from development I just don't understand I don't the 125 also covers um Redevelopment sustainability and project management services so we have we have nobody to manage these projects we're going to have to hire people for that sure you're going to pay them what you're paying the issue own no you're going to pay them more you're going to pay them more for project management okay thank you councilwoman scorpa yeah I just want to go back and make a few things clear um when we voted um not to continue Mr Grio it was because there was little or no effort for a long period of time for years to get a full-time planner and we felt that by the administration subcontracting out all these Services they continueed to have no incentive to and we heard from Mr Paul tractenberg a couple of meetings ago who said it very clearly and many many other residents who feel as I do that we need a full-time planner with who has a fiduciary responsibility to the township and to the residents and that hiring all of these Consulting Services is not a good use of taxpayer dollars and it's not we have it has nothing to do with Nish Wayne's um competency they're very I'm sure they're very competent it's a matter of how you want to use your resources and obviously others feel different than I do and when if they are contracted I will look forward to working with them fully supporting them and helping them get to know our Township and our residents but it's a philosophical difference about how we manage and I think we need more staff I think council president wford has said this number of times we need more staff that's competent to do these certain functions okay thank you thank you thank you coun I like can I say something budet hearings are coming up you can add all the people yes Council the planner to be in the budget you want us to hire these people first of all they're not approved I explained to you last time it takes me four to six weeks to approve just to get in a clerk now we're talking about specialty positions we we don't have the money approved for them the positions aren't there when we have to advertise and then we have to hire and then we have to get the people in we're talking the end again I'm tell like I presented last time we're talking almost toward the end of the year and you asked us to produce these kind of things you know it's it's me we should have had the budget by now you have it you have it but we should be working on it well that's you schedule any meetings you like okay and we'll talk about that in pending matter so you know you have you have this opportunity here today to to do what we asked you asked it to do we did it you voted on you turned it down you the options are we either you either reconsider this vote tonight or we move on and we go find somebody else I mean that's if there's no desire to reconsider move on giving you our what we think is our op okay thank you um Mr Fagan wait wait before you go council is are you are you for councilwoman yes okay go ahead councilwoman thank you I'm I am not disputing Nishu groups competency they are a very well reputable company and that's why I voted for them to be the economic development Consultants my issue is and I guess I and I mentioned it before is my confusion because I assume that they're going to do planning and um Economic Development consultant work for us based on the previous contract I was confused when I saw this contract and didn't understand why we're paying an additional 122,500 unless we were amending that contract to include planning Services I just don't understand how we can justify paying $300,000 to a firm for these Services it just seems excessive to me um so that's that's where I'm I coun and and you know I was all for it I told you guys I my maybe my confusion to you is that the econ the economic development did uh uh include a planning component which they're going to work on the planning this particular contract is to hire a person as a planner to work with those plans we need a planner this is for a person not so hold on so let me let me explain wait let me let him finish explaining okay I other words the economic development and the planning was going to be included with whatever service they provided that was their contract this particular because we needed a Paul we'll call a Paul GLE a planner we needed a person that person is coming out of the same group that you approve it just so happens that particular service of that particular individual needs to be paid for so they're going to be performing the services under planning of the previous of the contract approved this is for paying for the person to who's actually going to do some of those services in addition to the planning that they're doing another words if go into the planning going to all these separate meetings the planning that they were going to do in the economic development is to deal with the whole plan of everything that we're including in every presentation we're making to you as as the coun from the administration that's also not a guaranteed 150 the 125 is a guaranteed monthly payment for all these services and project management so on the 150 they bill hourly based on the rates they gave us so if we don't use them they don't bill us anything so there's no guarantee that we're going to spend 150,000 on it yeah they're not they're not guaranteed on it it's based on Services provided counil do you have any more questions for the I don't and that actually really clarifies things even your explanation now Pete can we have a mo for that yes I would do a motion to rec to reconsider I'll second hold on okay and again Mr smal not Pete sorry I is it okay to clim Mr smala now as I do sure anytime um okay we have a motion on floor counsil and wa for Madam clerk please sorry I just had to she got a lot of she has a lot of writing to do when we switch gears she has to uh just want to make sure correct that's okay take listen take your time you don't want um okay so to reconsider um the resolution councilwoman celino yes councilwoman gber Michael yes yes councilwoman Scarpa no councilwoman Williams yes okay the motion carries now can we to redo the motion yes and now uh this is a motion to approve 120 moved thank you second okay councilwoman celino yes councilwoman gber Michael Yes councilwoman Scarpa no councilwoman Williams yes the motion carries and and just because we had this long conversation and it shouldn't go for not I would like admin ation to give us those monthly reports so we could track this so when we move into next year everyone you know there needs to be reevaluation and to councilwoman scorpus Point uh earlier and even uh with with councilwoman uh gber Michael I just want to I I know you've been you've been advocating for a full-time planner and and hear you loud and clear you know the whole reason that you had this conversation and we understand that so we appreciate that and um we look forward to this new error I think the initi group is really going to do a nice job for us um but yet as all other Consultants we got to make sure that we track it and I see our attorney raising his hand I just wanted to add that I will in councilwoman G Michael I will make sure that everybody receives I'd sent it around previously but I'll make sure to resend the redline version of the agreement that's in front of you as well as the final version I had sent both but we'll send them make sure everybody's on the same page and just so that everybody's clear there were two separate in the redline version it adds a separate paragraph for non escrow and then another provision related to third-party escrow which talks about the established rates of pet exp thank you Mr jenero great thank thank you all for a great uh uh debate and conversation and for uh re-evaluating the situation councilwoman thank you okay uh Madame clerk uh next ordinances on second no 147 147 I forgot we're not done yet resolution authorizing an agreement with Fox Rothschild 49 Market Street moristown New Jersey to provide services a special labor Council to complete the appet division appeal of New Jersey civil service commission determination with a cap of $20,000 councilwoman gber Michael you pulled this yes I pulled this I spoke to the chief earlier about this and um he explained that this is not for any new cases this is for the pending litigation regarding covid the co litigation but this resolution doesn't state that you know we made it clear we don't want to do any more business with them or new business with them um so I think that this resolution the only way I can approve it it has to be amended to include that that $20,000 cap these services in this contract is for the covid litigation only and not any new litigation or any other litigation Mr Jinger do you recommended a a amendment to this we can certainly add that in his provision the council votes that as an amendment okay so is there an off is there an amendment Council woman that you'd like to offer and just so I'm clear this would be an amendment to the resolution itself and the agreement or just a resolution to the or I'm sorry just an amendment to the resolution I think that both accomplish the same task you clarify and I think that the resolution does state to complete the Appel division appeal of the New Jersey civil service commission determination right I'm sure that we could add in the case number if that would that would be that would be greate all right so if there's an I offer I offer an to add the case number excuse me let her finish she was finishing her conversation go ahead councilwoman no it's okay go ahead councilwoman Williams I just wanted to offer the amendment to include the case number and the second whereas paragraph clause on page two of the resolution okay I need a second Sten I second it hold on one moment please second the first whereas Clause it's under witnesses that whereas the governing body of the township has determined and then we need and to retain the services Council complete the appell at division appeal of New Jersey civil service commission determination case number whatever it is got it thank you thank you okay so councilwoman you're offering that amendment is there a second I second it I'm sorry yeah that's why I use a pencil so I can erase everything okay yeah um councilwoman celino on the amendment yes councilwoman gber Michael Yes councilwoman Scarpa yes councilwoman Williams yes okay the motion carries and a motion to approve 14724 I'll move so moved second okay councilwoman celino yes councilwoman gber Michael Yes councilwoman scorpa yes councilwoman Williams yes okay motion carries okay okay are we okay so ordinance on second and final reading 2846 d-24 ordinance repealing replacing chapter 25 section 27 the revised General ordinances of the township of West Orange and establishing chapter uh for Environmental Protection uh free protection removal and replacement so this is the uh treat ordinance I know we've had request from the um the um public and councilwoman uh scorpa had um asked earlier uh in regards to this that we should table this till the next council meeting being that I have a question uh um Council councilwoman um can we take all of these uh ordinances for the next meeting in case council president Rutherford has any questions not comments or so um so I'm gonna recommend councilwoman that um I believe BNC 2849 and 2850 there fees that are going to be set by resolutions and we need to get them on the books so they're really not controversial they're we talked about this at the last council meeting I I on first reading we had a lot of discussion and this is pretty basic so let's deal with 2846 right now I move to table 2846 second okay okay councilwoman celino yes councilwoman gber Michel yes councilwoman uh Scarpa yes councilwoman Williams yes okay before we move forward I'm gonna ask Mr jingar is trying to have floor go ahead thank you uh intern council president for the day um so with regard to the other two uh ordinances that are up for second reading if they were tabled it wouldn't have a a real practical effect we have to get the resolutions on that set the actual fees for the next meeting anyway so those will go through and one at the next council meeting okay so if we do them today doesn't matter no okay so so whatever my colleagues feel comfortable you want to move to the next one yeah if we can do that because he was there for the last meeting to votee for them and my question to you Mr jenero is do I have to abstain on the the ordinances on second reading if I wasn't here for them on first reading no no no I don't believe so but I can double check okay so let's take one at a time 20 49-24 an ordinance amending chapter 16 section three the revised General ordinances of the township West Orange swimming pools Dash plot pant plan required review fee I'm move to um introduce on second and final reading is there a second I thought we just stated that we're gonna table gonna table it table we don't have to these don't become passed what was that ordinances don't become effective till 20 days after they're passed on second reading you might want to pass te now just do the resolution alone next you can do that as well yeah I'm just worried about I mean there these are dealing with pools and there's timing you know it's time sensitive so if they take 20 days from director funds you know he had indicated that there might already be he thinks that he's already done the um license fees for the the year of 2024 regardless so okay so there's no issue we don't know that I I'm going to defer to Legal you want this pass tonight or yes yeah see if we need to do this tonight or not we need to do it tonight I would I'm going to ask my colleagues respectfully to I understand the point that you're trying to make but I I it pass it passed on everyone support we all support on first reading yeah we all supported it on first reading it's not we I think less work we have to do the next meeting I think we extended our our apologies I think the tree ordinance was the big issue Big Ticket item we did that so I have no problem with okay so we we we're okay we have a majority um if we would like to call for the vote I would I've already introduced second and final read I'll second councilwoman Williams motion thank you councilwoman uh councilwoman celino yes councilwoman gber yes councilwoman SP councilwoman Williams yes great okay and this is the time for public hearing anyone from the public have any questions on ordinance 28 49-24 swi pools permit fees plot plan okay seeing none okay clerk any Council commentary no okay uh motion to approve on second and final reading move second councilwoman celino yes councilwoman gber Michael Yes councilwoman carpa councilwoman Williams yes okay beautiful 28 50-24 ordinance amending chapter 16 section 4 the revised General ordinances the township of West orang swimming pools Das license fees is there a I move for introduction on second and final reading thank you okay I'll second it thank you councilwoman castelino yes councilwoman gber Michael Yes councilwoman corpa councilwoman Williams yes any members of the public like to speak on this ordinance okay seeing none count uh Madam clerk okay any Council comments no okay is there a motion to approve on second and final okay councilwoman cathalina yes councilwoman gber Michel yes councilwoman councilwoman Williams yes the motion carries okay there are no ordinances on first reading this evening um the next is pending matters new matters Council discussion okay wait what about public comment on non-agenda agenda items if needed on non agenda does anyone we should ask it's on the agenda it's you're right it's on the agenda we haven't doing that if there's anyone in the public that would like to speak on something that was not on the agenda this evening okay seeing none thank thank thank you for asking councilwoman okay so now we have pending matters new matters Council discussion I ioun yes make one quick point about the um amended tree ordinance I just want to make sure that everybody's clear the version that's going to be voted on at the next council meeting for second reading is the version that has the changes that were made at the last Workshop that we talked about or that okay council president Rutherford and I were at together and that's great but my question is going to be which has been so so what we passed on first reading was not has not been has not been amended formally I know that there was discussion about changing 75 to 34s which is a it's not a substantive change so you want we can make that Amendment for the second reading if it's voted on yeah um but what was talked about the only redlines that are in the one that you're voting on now were redlined based on the old version with the changes from the workshop so is it possible um for you to just resend that out clean version of it absolutely thank you a nice clean version of the it'll be in the whole night thank you wonderful wonderful wonderful thank you okay so first I wna let's talk about the budget real quick and chief do you wanna I mean we you you just made reference that we we have the budget which we have you know I know I started looking through it I hope my colleagues have so are you stating that we can set a date for the budget hearing because usually Administration works with us on that I think you want have a few workshops don't you absolutely so what what that's up to you whenever you want to schedule well it it's up to us but it's not because we need Administration there and you have to you know you have to organize that as well so can you send it we're more or less bound to work around your schedule doesn't the the administration present this budget May and then we that's how I remember it last year unless my memory we'll present the budget at a workshop and then you can go through it and make additions deletions whatever whatever so can we have can um obviously I'm just sitting in for the evening and usually the council president sends that around can you work with council president Rutherford in regard um to sending out maybe a Google doc that the administration become available and then we have the dates that we could put in so we could get this calendar set because obviously he's not here this evening um and we have to set some dates I mean we have to for us you'll be the guy I got a guy U is there is there any days specific that you don't want Friday what I'm sorry Friday Friday Friday okay so that's that's what I'm saying I can block out some days for proposals and try and base it on some of the other calendar so I can I'm on Thursdays Mondays or Tuesdays I'm sorry Council you say you were available Mondays and Tuesdays I am unavailable no I cannot do Mondays and Tuesdays at all so Monday Tuesdays and Fridays so far out Wednesday and Thursday looks like well we could also do Saturdays and we have done them TR I think we should take i' rather not do Saturdays if we don't have to trust me those of us who have sure love sure love to stay away from this really should be coordinated through the clerk for it's a council meeting we we will make sure you'll make sure staff is there okay but you what what are the deadlines that we have to get this because got to get this moving yeah sooner rather than we sooner the better better okay well you got do this sooner we'll present for I mean you typically don't have you present at the next meeting can the administration make a a a budget presentation at the next meeting that would be the quickest thing well well public can hear it you know usually we start in March with the first meeting so we are way behind so okay so so madam I'm going to charge you with the task of sending us an email out of when we want to do this council meeting if we could look at some it's a workshop here a workshop some Wednesday Thursday and then my colleagues I want a consensus to you um want to start with the first one with any of the directors there to go as we go through it we could do whatever works I think the first one should just be us and then we have the directors come in um after we have an opportunity kind of sipped through it I think that's the way we did it last year we we we met we we went through it and then it's a different situation than last year last year when we received the budget there was a 16% Municipal increase this year it's under three um so I think that still it behooves us because um I have a colleague to my right wanting to see some things in the budget that are going to require four votes to put in the budget so I think that we need to have some consensus about what we really want because if we don't have four votes to add things then you know very clearly it's not gonna happen councilman scorpa you're at the what yeah I agree we you know we should do it ourselves first and get some agreement and then have them in okay councilwoman GBA Michael I was actually gonna say I think that the director should come and present we should hear them first before we make cuts and figure out where we need to move money around we should hear from the directors Deputy directors Administration and then go through it in detail once we have an understanding of what departments need exactly that makes more sense to me their needs have already been addressed by the administration that's their role and why they produce a specific budget to us so their needs have been met we're just trying to figure out if there's anything that we want to add I think that or cut we cut last time and we don't perhaps but I'm hoping that I'm hoping that with us having such a modest uh increase in the municipal budget that there won't be a tremendous amount that we want to cut um that there may be some things we want to perhaps add to so that we can you know better service our constituents but I think the Administration has done a superb job this year just glancing not going through it specifically which is why my proposal is that we go through it specifically because the the ask of the directors and the Departments has already been done right that's how they present a budget to us so my recommendation is going I'm sorry are you done counc uh so my recommendation from doing this for so many years and seeing where we're at with this year's budget um I think we should schedule the first night go in order have the directors on hand they could even zoom in if they if we need them um for a question because I really this should not be as daunting as it was last year I'm okay that we should be able to go through this um Department by Department without much angst because again to councilwoman uh Williams point you know this is their recommendation these These are their needs if we want to cut from their needs then you you know we could talk all we want we we need we need them to fend for themselves and and explain why they need it this year as opposed to waiting because if they could wait obviously they they would wait so if we could if anybody's not opposed to that idea I think that's a good compromise it's a meeting in the middle yeah start with the first session um and then work our way through and then if we need to go back to a full SE session with us to to to tweak it then we we could do that but hopefully we'll go smoothly so let's look at some dates now are it now we've done it before we've gotten the whole budget done on a Saturday I know Saturday's hard for all of us but if there is a Saturday that everyone could do that is reasonable it it may make life easier for all of us with our busy schedules I think we can plan a date without the council no I don't think so yes I think we should wait and do it via EMA suggested earli abely agree but I also know from our last time we tried to plan dates um that didn't go too well and and I know he was available on Saturdays so are you opposed to a Saturday anyone if we need I would rather not but I'm not if you have to it I I just it I it it's going to be contingent on the date it's going to be contingent on the weekend of the month because there are certain things that I cannot change on Saturdays and and then our other committee meetings or whatever else we're doing is going to have to step aside if I know we all have okay I think the budget has to get and can we get a hard copy of the bud can I get a hard copy of the budget yeah I'll ask uh Mr gross usually supplies those do anyone else need a hard copy of the budget yes yeah I like I think we should all get one okay I'll I'll remind Mr gross thank you and just also too if the the updated organizational chart could be put in there because that's always instrumental when we are making these types of decisions okay okay okay so we could see the vacant positions and I know for the library to Mr smal I know you meet with them regularly we we have it saw yeah this way we could see where their needs are too and they're full they're yeah they're they're they're detail budget so we could see we're meeting with them tomorrow actually we can yeah okay great okay so everybody's good with that okay thank thank you colleagues we have four other items here um do we want to move these conversations to we have a full council at the next meeting I think we should we should they inv you know I think council president needs to be here for these discussions and it's not fair to have them without him okay counc I think we should move them to okay so that's the motion I'd like to make we all have input late uh yeah yeah I'm just saying after councilman Williams do you have any input to this okay okay so we can move do we have to make a motion or can we just move it no we're gonna make a motion I'd like to make a motion to move pending matters new matters and Council discussions to the next meeting and I'll second it okay and the next meeting date is may wait I'm I didn't take the vote yet I was just making clear that the next meeting date is May 7th for the public sake so okay councilwoman calino to move yeah I am gonna make one I am G to make one request being that this is we have four items here hopefully no one adds to this agenda so we don't have a midnight me you know three o'clock in the morning meeting right uh yes okay councilwoman gber Michael Yes councilwoman Scarpa yes councilwoman Williams yes the motion carries okay for the meeting to be adjourned second thank you all in favor I thank you West Orange uh good night everyone for their patience this evening no PO there go