##VIDEO ID:Z_QXnvyWyiE## a [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] with that um I was trying to do it on my PC and it Richard Richard yes sir um for some reason the webinar has started so um that's not necessary problem but I just want everyone to be aware of it that I think that we're uh we're we're public uh someone actually signed in from Township of West Orange I don't know who that is I didn't start the webinar so just keep all your microphones mute to council president comes on and the meeting starts e e I just want to remind everyone um and to the members of the public uh that this meeting for some reason Zoom is acting up today and the meeting we are in the public session um but the meeting has not started the meeting will not start until council president uh ask the uh municipal clerk to take the roll call so just be advised that we are in the public session I don't know why the meeting started prematurely it's not a problem but just sit tight until the council president uh calls the meeting to order Mr Fagan yes council president thank you very much for your efforts here I if I understand correctly we are now uh in the public session that the public can see what we're doing yes uh council president that's correct uh as you know uh when we have meetings in council chambers the meeting does not go go public until the webinar has started for some reason this webinar has started already and as I've indicated it's not a problem it's just I want everyone to keep their microphones mute uh I don't want any chatter on here because we are public so whenever uh you are ready council president you uh can instruct the uh Madam clerk to take the role and declare the meeting started so uh we'll just sit tight but that is correct okay so just uh very quickly I'm seeing on my screen that there is not a image or video of me speaking that's correct and while probably most people would prefer it that way it's probably not good order so I'm not sure why my video isn't working um from what I can tell council president uh uh based on the icon I see on screen that your video feed on your laptop or computer is not coming through now that won't necessarily be a problem I don't think because we certainly can hear your audio um but if there's a setting on your laptop that you can correct that situation with uh turn your video on uh sometimes the laptop has a video door a security door that you may need to slide open uh sometimes those are common issues so this is a this is a new laptop so uh it's telling me that my uh helip Packer true Vision HD camera is operating Okay then if you look at the very top um of your computer along the top uh it's almost indistinguishable there's a a a a what's called a security door um and you just need to slide that slide that open for example I just closed mine uh so you can't see me uh so and then I just reopened it so it's it's not a setting it's it's a security door um and as I say I don't think it's G to be a problem because we can hear you fine but um if it continues you know uh perhaps for subsequent situations like this we can get that that that addressed so I wouldn't um I wouldn't over really worry about it and um councilwoman Ruden I see you just joined the meeting but for some reason you're in as councilwoman garmmer Michael or did was a link shared yeah I shared it to her okay well that's that's an issue councilwoman link not be shared uh for that very reason and uh councilwoman Ruden did you receive an invite you're muted she logged off oh no she's still on Council Ruden you are in the meeting I'm going to uh change uh your name so uh but in the future in similar circumstances uh links should not be shared uh everyone should get their individual link thanks Joe oh that's no problem yeah Mr Fagan I do not see anything on my zoom screens uh that would allow me that that are in any way you know the uh the button that you were talking about yeah it wouldn't be on your Zoom uh council president it would actually be on physically on your laptop at the very very top usually uh and it's practically indistinguishable but um I wouldn't uh I wouldn't worry about it uh for this particular meeting uh but going forward we can address that um because we do hear your audio and and having your audio is obviously the most important thing okay so without uh further Ado Let's uh please let's start the meeting okay well the meeting is started okay so uh you can declare it started and you can instruct the uh Madame clerk to take the role thank you uh as council president I call the meeting to order and welcome everybody uh to our special council meeting on January 16 2025 Madame clerk this is to inform the general public that this meeting is being held in compliance with Section Five of the open public meetings act CH 231 Public Law 1975 the notice for this meeting was emailed to the star ler the West Orange Chronicle on January 13 2025 councilwoman castelino present councilwoman de Michel present councilwoman Ruden councilwoman you're muted I'll say for the record that the councilwoman is on councilwoman spara please unmute yourself present you council president for present thank you so the first order first order of business is a first order of business is public comment uh if Mr Fagan could you facilitate that and let me know if we have anybody who wants to speak at public comment uh yes certainly council president there are currently 12 attendees in the meeting and uh as council president indicated uh we are now going to open the floor for um public comment um and uh as I think was also indicated that public comment will only be accepted for uh agenda item topics so I'm going to bring um Madam uh clerk you're going to keep the clock and I'm going to bring bring in our first um our first uh member of the public and I believe this is M Michaela Bennett uh if so please identify yourself and state your name and address for the record thank you Mr Fagan it is Michaela Bennett um Old Indian Road um just Just for information sake what are the agenda items if you could just um I I have some confusion over agenda items because I tried to click through on links online but they were not working so I just want to make sure um that I understand what the agenda items are so I stick with them Miss can you clear that up for her please yes the uh first item on the agenda under pending matters new matters Council discussion is to consider and vote on the appointments of the two alternate appointees to the zoning board from the council as a whole and the second agenda item which is to consider and vote to add a proposed resolution to the next regular coun meeting agenda and uh just as an FYI it's likely that we will not be moving forward on the second item and I'll explain a little bit later but those are the only two items that are on uh the uh the agenda for today's special meeting and so please go ahead thank you council president so um the first agenda item um Bravo for such great um alternate appointments um thank you for considering people with actual um expertise in um the areas um pertinent to zoning um and planning it's about time um that the zoning board um is not stacked with people that will essentially do whatever the administration wants um the the other agenda item I hope that you can clarify it was a bit confusing what I had read online so hopefully y um you know once public comment is over you can explain um you know what that's about because I hope that you are moving forward with your efforts to address um the removal of um of a uh Municipal officer for cause I would also like to point out I don't know if uh Chief Abbott is working today um in his in his um official capacity as a chief but he doesn't seem to be in uniform and he doesn't seem to be at the police department and I just note that for the record thank you I'd just like to put on a record that my mother died Monday and I'm out with bement but I still made time to join you today thank you thank you Chief Abbott uh Mr Fagan uh are there any me more members of the public uh who want to uh speak on the agenda genda items only now is the time to raise your hand otherwise council president is going to close public comment so um anyone wishing to speak on agenda items please raise your hand now uh council president no hands are raised sounds good so and at this point we will close uh public comment and just uh wanted to note something before our response to public comment um Please be aware that under our special meeting ordinance that quote no business shall be transacted at any special meeting other than that specified close quote in the agenda and in abundance of caution I ask you uh my fellow council members to limit your substantive response to public comment to only the two items on the agenda I also caution everyone that the second agenda item relates to a Personnel matter so we should avoid any comment that might identify this person regardless of what is said by uh public comment speakers do any of my colleagues uh want to speak and please forgive me I can't see uh who's raising their hand I take that back I see uh councilwoman celino would like to speak please you have the floor thank thank you council president I just want to make two comments I just W to thank chief abbit for not only being present today but ever since his mother passed a few days ago he's been on call in need as he always is and chief my sincere condolences once again to you and your family and the loss of your mom I know how difficult and how hard that is and I know you're in the middle of having a funeral arrangements tomorrow and thank you so much for being here today my second comment is I like to thank um not only Alice Weiss who has served as my appointment on the zoning board for many years uh the outstanding job and representation that she has done for uh for our community as well as all of the other other folks that have volunteered countless hours on the zoning board I really appreciate all of their time and efforts that they have made to this community thank you council president thank you uh I don't see any other hands on my screen uh Mr Fagan is anybody else asking to speak uh council president there currently are none of your colleagues with their hands raised okay I I do take that take that back councilwoman gerbert Michael has her hand raised please go ahead councilwoman okay thank you council president um I'm looking forward to your explanation because I've had residents reach out to me confused from a Facebook post that made it seem like we were not proceeding uh with removal for cause and my understanding is that we did do the process properly in terms of getting the agenda uh item on or not the agenda item getting the resolution on so if you can please explain that um there just is confusion and you know again my understanding is that we did retain an attorney and are moving forward thank you so much thank you councilwoman uh Mr fan anybody else uh no council president none of your colleagues hands are raised okay thank you we will close uh response to uh public comment and I will address the uh the question uh from councilwoman gber Michael uh when we get to that agenda item uh we're moving on to the first agenda item under pending matters new matters Council discussion uh under our Municipal Code the mayor and each of the council members uh have appointments to the zoning board and then the council as a whole makes two appointments of alternate members to the zoning board as does the mayor and these alternates attend meetings and replace an absent regular member including voting uh when the circumstances uh require so the first zoning board meeting of the year is tomorrow Thursday January 16th which is uh why we called the special meeting and uh with that said I now open the floor to nominations for uh the council as a whole choice for alternate one uh councilwoman rud uh has her hand raised but councilwoman you are free to speak um I don't think you need to raise your hand okay um I would like to nominate toal beny to be first alternate to like to second okay thank you is there any discussion and could you please just spell the name uh for the it's actually Dr Tall t a l Ben B n- zvi he is a professor from Stevens Institute of Technology and has extended of experience in business and in and in um project management he's also been an active member of our community and has been involved in many applications both as as an advocate thank you coun uh does anyone else have any uh well I have a question council president yes yes pleas who who who were the who were the appointments from that the council that were serving uh and did they step down that was my uh question who were our two appointments there wasn't there was I'm sorry no I was just going to say you'll have to forgive me but I wasn't on the council and uh that's in my rear room here if anyone else can uh can provide that information to coun one Mr Dan Miller and Mr Dan Miller was was a council consensus appointment um in the past he is no longer a council consensus appointment that that term is he has served his two years Council pass me you know uh Mr Gana Miller was appointed by the mayor oh wonderful because he's a traffic engineer and has a lot of great expertise number one who was our other I'll turn excuse me Council I have the floor who was our other um appoint uh her other appointment her other appointment is Mark susman not the mayor the council's who was the council's other appointment that expired we didn't have one we didn't have one no we didn't have one because the spot spot was vacant or we just didn't have one it was vacant and nobody appointed anyone okay that's why I was having in trouble remember because there wasn't one there okay okay thank you folks I just wanted to clarify that I also just want to add for the um for the um edification of the other council members that we do get two Council uh consensus appointments um that have to be approved by by the majority but the mayor also has two appointments but they those two appointments are also at the advice and consent of the council thank you it's not really uh thank you councilwoman Ruden it's not really relevant to what we're doing now and I'd like to try to get there through this so that uh people can back get back to work so is there is there any other discussion Mr Dr beny okay because I just want to say I've had interactions with him over the years and I've been very impressed with his knowledge and his uh uh expertise and uh uh so I have no concerns about that I want to say the same which is why I said seconded he's been a valuable member of the community and very stute to community matters council president can I request a resume I we normally get a resume and I I didn't get one yeah and we're supposed to review the resumés ahead of these appointments so that's why I was a little confused that we did not have resumés sent to us on anybody that was recommended that's why I totally was confused why we were't having this rushbo today I know there's a meeting tomorrow night but we always get the resumés in advance we couldn't we couldn't make a consensus appointment without having this meeting but you're welcome to to quickly Google his his background and you'll see pretty much everything about um Dr beny online no I appreciate that councilwoman but I know if I put up appointment didn't have a resume here we wouldn't be sitting here tonight uh this afternoon having this meeting um so um if I could get I'm going to um I appreciate the gentleman's uh uh moving forward and if I could just have the resume I'll support it today but I'd like to see a resume councilwoman you're absolutely right and I apologize for uh neglecting to do this ahead of time I know that we did these appointments when I was on the council the previous time and I had just uh forgotten this so uh thank you for reminding us it won't happen again we will get you uh the resumes all right Madam clerk can you call the vote please it's been uh properly second a motion was made Council uh I'm gonna abstain because I didn't have the resume but thank thank him for volunteering his time councilwoman G Michael Yes councilwoman Ruden yes councilwoman spara yes Council woman uh I'm sorry council president covia yes the motion carries thank you uh we am now opening the floor to nominations for the uh second alternate from the council as a whole the the second alternate the second alternate that I am uh suggesting is Todd deoi I second I'll second that too I seconded already Scarpa councilman Scarpa not a problem again is there a a resume flowing around that I didn't get I know Mr doovi he speaks very well at our meetings um but was there a resume for him I he served on our citizens budget Advisory board so you may we may have one from there he's been active member of the community and was had been my appointment to the citizens budget Advisory board so he's well if I could get a copy of his resume I appreciate it thank you think I have a copy but I'm GNA check my my computer right now fact the only one that's please if I could just have the floor councilwoman uh castelino again I apologize for not having this available and I will take it uh personally to get you these resumés as soon as possible thank you so much is there anybody else who uh wants to join in discussion of Mr doovi no I would just like to say that he has been my appointment for a number of years now to the citizens budget Advisory board he has done incredible work given his time and he's been the only one who has shown up to our meetings during our uh budget hearings so he is an invaluable member of our community and I am happy to see him serving on the zoning board and I also want to say that he brings a wealth of business experience and development experience and I think he will be a definite asset to our board anyone else no I'm just going to abstain again and nothing against either candidates it's just that had I put somebody up they had a resume and and this is not a dig it's just just trying to be procedural um you know we would not be sitting here this afternoon so I'm going to Upstate but I think you know I I I appreciate both candidates volunteer in their time and welcome them to the board thank you Council councilwoman Ruden yes councilwoman Spar yes council president codia yes okay the motion carries thank you and as I said councilwoman Casten I'll get rums to all the council members and uh this won't happen again so thank you very much no thank you I just appreciate anything obviously there's conversations that I'm sometimes un involved in but I do need the information in order to make a a decision uh when the time comes so appreciate that council president thank you yes thank you uh now we are moving on to the agenda item two council president hold on hold on hold on Mr Fagan I'm sorry for the interruption council president councilwoman Ruden has her hand raised oh okay um I we were all emailed the West AR Zoning Board of adjustment um update with our appointees I just wanted to note an error on the the appointee by mayor McCartney yeah I already know about it I'm going to that was me that was my okay thank you so much for that that correction okay yes thank you to both of you uh are we ready for agenda item two is there any other issues we're ready thank you uh as some of you know the council voted four to one at the January 6 council meeting to hire Council to consider the possible removal of a municipal officer for cause under the state fauler act and our Municipal Code there was the potential to further visit that issue at the special meeting pending the council discussion of the issue with legal councel because of the timing of disclosure requirements under the open public meetings act I place this item on the agenda uh as a placeholder and a potential uh source of action pending our meeting with Council we the council subsequently had that meeting under the attorney client privilege with our legal council and determined that we did not need to further visit the issue at this time as such pending any further comment from Council Members I uh would move to adjourn this special meeting and add that the action that we took at the January 6th meeting to hire council is our uh intent going forward does any of the other council members uh want to say anything now or can we move to a journ yes council president I do because hearing what you said it makes it seem like we may not be moving forward but the reality is is just so the public is clear we did hire an attorney in the last meeting and did it the proper way and voting on it today this afternoon will be a duplicate and there's no need and that's why we're not voting on this we already retained the attorney on January 6 and there's no need to retain him again just for clarification for the public thank you uh councilwoman is there anybody else who would like to speak okay uh just to summarize we do intend to continue moving forward on this issue and as much as can be publicly disclosed we will we'll do it and I appreciate uh the council members uh discretion at uh uh at limiting your comments so uh unless there is something else that anyone would like to to uh any issue to raise or to comment on I'd like to move to adjourn second all in favor I any the meeting is great thank you thank you everybody have a great see you January 28th of our next regular council meeting thank you thank you council president thank you