Council - Regular Meeting

Ladies and gentlemen, when the call order of the stands, one nation, indivisible, liberty and justice for all. Make sure my microphone is on. There you go. This is a meeting of the Hillsdale Borrow Council this 7th day of April, 2026. Notice of the time and place of this meeting has been provided to the Bergen record as well as posted on our website as now required by public law. A copy was also posted on the bulletin board outside of the meeting room and provided to any interested parties. Please silence all cell phones. wait to be recognized by the mayor during the public hearing and the public comment part of the meeting. You will need to state your name and town of residence for the record. Will the clerk please read the role?

Mayor Shinfield here. Council member Camp here. Council member Kleti here. Council member D. Rosa here. Council member Mazachan here. Council President Oso here. Council member Rugo here. Everybody's here. Great. Uh we're going to approve the minutes from the council meeting on March 10th, 2026. Can I get a motion? Motion. Second. Second. All those in favor? I oppose. So passed. Okay. Council minutes from March 17th, 2026. Can I get a motion? Motion. Second. All those in favor? I have it. I abstain for the record

for your absence. Thank you, sir. Good to have you back. Um the initial public comment time limited items on the agenda only one topic per speaker. Would anybody like to speak during this period? Mr. Kenduk.

Hi. Uh Mike Kenduk 54 Winthrop Road Hillsdale. My question is about uh ordinance 26-13, which is are residents going to have to pay in order to get a permit to park outside the Hillsdale Community Center. That's my question. Okay. Well, initial public comment, but if the BA wants to answer that, so this is for the community center. when someone signs up for an activity at the center, uh they'll be printed a pass uh a permit uh with that activity for the period of time of that activity, but there won't be no there's no charge for it. Correct.

You just apply, you'll get it, you you'll attend and that'll be it. Okay. Anybody else? Okay. Not seeing anybody. We're going to move on to correspondence. Um, we have two letters and a motion to receipt and file. Can I get a motion? Motion. Second. Second. All those in favor? I. So be it. It's done. The professional monthly reports. Start out with the engineering report. Nick, welcome.

Thank you, mayor. Um couple items to provide updates on the uh NJ DOT fiscal year 2025 municipal aid grant project for u Liberty A and Arcadia we just had the bid opening for this morning. Um we received a total of eight bids. The apparent low bidder was for cleanup with a price of $264,127. Uh the engineer's estimate on this was $299,346. So, we're well below that number on the low bid price. That bid still needs to be reviewed um and recommended for award, but that's the apparent low bidder from the bid opening this morning. Um in addition to that, we're currently working on the burrow's tier A annual report, which is part of compliance with the MS4 permit. So, we do the annual reporting for that every year. That's due May 1st. So, we're in the process of working through that right now. Um, we're also planning for the NJ DOT fiscal year 2026 municipal a grant project which is for Ralph and Legion. Um, we'll probably start design on that after budget approval. Um, so, you know, around a month from now is when we're looking for, you know, to be in designing that. Um, for Memorial Field, they are moving along pretty quickly. I'm sure everybody's seen a lot of activity there over the last couple weeks. They finished building one of the larger retaining walls uh yesterday and they're starting on the second large retaining wall this week. Um there's probably about four more weeks worth of retaining wall work to finish all that and then from there we'll start to see stuff move really quickly because that's they need those retaining walls in before they can start to build out the the whole middle of the field basically. Um so we are we are moving forward and they're making good progress. I have a question.

Sure. The large retaining wall you were referring to, the one AC by Hopper, will there be a fence above that? Just confirming. Yes. All all of the retaining walls that are above 4t in height will have a safety fence. Yeah. Okay. You you probably saw those black tubes that those black tubes, those are for the mounting of the fence posts. Yeah. Yeah. Other other questions. Yeah. Nick, we had a conversation earlier today about the artificial turf, correct? Correct. And about the lines on the turf, uh h has that configuration been sent out already to be manufactured? Yes. So the um the turf manufacturer is already working on that. They're planning on shipping it out at the end of this month.

Uh so all that has was finalized a while ago. It was finalized back in December. So and and for that turf field, we have soccer, baseball, and football, right? For striping. Yes. Yeah. No lacrosse. No lacrosse currently. So, and there are temporary solutions that we could put in later on for lacrosse if need be. Correct. That's correct. There there are there are products that are made for uh basically it's like line painting that is a temporary paint that wears off after a few days. And we do and we do have infields for either saw both saw or soft field. Correct. All all three have infields. Yeah. Like colored infields, right? Yeah. So that no lacrosse was because there just be too many lines.

Correct. Yeah. Yeah, it gets very busy. Um, if you're going to do men's and women's lacrosse, which is both different lines, it gets it gets very busy. Mhm. And you couldn't do one without the other. Correct. Yeah, it's if you're going to do if you're going to do one gender lacrosse, you kind of have to do both. So, yeah. Any other questions? The big question when?

Still don't know. I would say um probably after we get through April, we'll have a more solid schedule. April is still like an iffy weather month with rain. Um, but so far so good. I mean, we've we've been we've been pretty lucky. We've had intermittent rain, but not no like one whole week of sustained downpours. So, they've been able to work a good amount. Um, a as of as of right now, we're probably looking at something like mid June, you know, plus or minus a few weeks depending on how weather goes pretty much. I like the plus. the other way. The contractor is doing everything they can to move. They're definitely not I don't think anybody's doing a slow walk. Yeah. Yeah.

process. Um it is what it is. Okay. Anything else? No, that's it. Great. Um no more questions of Thank you very much. All yours. Thank you. Uh Chief, you're on.

Thank you, Mayor. um just going to cover March uh March's monthly report for community policing. We participated in George White Middle School. We did the uh opening day coin toss. Um and St. John's Academy did a tour of headquarters. For traffic and patrol, uh we had 707 calls for service, 86 motor vehicle stops, 25 motor vehicle accidents. Selective enforcement details, we conducted 16 of them. parking enforcement details. Uh we conducted 35 responded to 53 medical calls. We issued 70 written warnings. We issued 25 summones. We had two adult arrests and 141 uh security checks for uh businesses and schools. Our detective bureau uh investigated 43 cases. We closed 31 of them. Uh two charges came out of those uh the closed cases. and the firearms investigation unit did 12 investigations for pistol permits, um, carry conceal permits, etc.

Any questions of our chief? Chief, you want to touch on the the one call we got at 6:30 a.m. this morning? No, yesterday. Yesterday. Have you called? Yeah, absolutely. So, sorry. Yep. So, I don't I don't want to release any names yet just because we haven't um you know, we've we've spoke to the mother, but we want to do it the formal way at a meeting in a few months. But, uh two of our officers, also two ambulance core um uh medics y uh successfully delivered a baby record time. Yeah. On the kitchen floor. What's that? On the kitchen floor. Yeah. Yeah. In the in the house. Uh and and

the last time, you know, last we checked at the hospital, baby's healthy, thank God. And uh and yeah, and the medics had to do it wasn't just a simple there was there was no there was there was some complications with it and it was a you know full delivery in the house. So it was a very good day. Yeah. Yeah. Great outcome. You can go first. Yeah. Thank you. Um it seems like with the bicycles, even regular y pedal bicycles, uh sometimes some of these kids that are driving them seem to have declared open season on pedestrians walking.

Have you guys thought about conducting in the schools a um like a little seminar on what the rules of the road should be like? I know for example when I checked y um pedestrians have the right away on the site. Yep. I don't sense that that message has gotten through to a lot of our bicyclists. Yep. So, we're in the process currently of uh narrowing down, you know, where the majority of these bicycle drivers are going to school. Yeah.

Once we narrow that down, um just like anything else, any issues that arise um necessarily involving kids, we're going to go and do a um assembly. We do a safety assembly, go over the rules of the road, um hopefully get some notices out to the parents, but talk to these kids in the schools so we can get them all together and just reiterate that, you know, driving a bicycle is not it's not a free-for-all. Still got to buy traffic and both. So, do you have to find out where they're going to school before you do that? No. No. We just want to try and narrow us down to the correct school so we're not doing assemblies at every single school. If we have to, we will. But if it's concentrated to a specific school, that way it'll be easiest to, you know, bring all of our resources there.

From what I've seen, having been almost been run over on Broadway. Um, it would be George White and it would be the high school. I don't think that middle and Smith. So, you're really down to just Yep. two schools. Yeah. And if we got to do it at both of them, we will. Um, you know, gladly. We do assemblies there uh every year for I'd urge you to do it before the summer. Right. So that I'm piggybacking off on you because that was going to be my comment as well because the chief and I spoke about this last week. I spoke to Mr. Lombardi today. He's um on board with you know an assembly as well. So you guys can can just connect set that up um and he can help in any way and he can send out a letter to the parents after.

Yeah, absolutely. We'll do uh we'll do all that. I think it would be very helpful. Yes, chief. We're still kind of in a in a waiting period for enforcement, aren't we? For ebikes. Kids on bicycle. No, I understand. But but the two go hand in hand. Sort of. Yeah. Yeah. Chief, do you just want to describe what actions you could actually take? Because we talked about this a little bit yesterday. It's kind of limit.

Yeah. I mean, it's I mean, the number one message I put out to all parents is to educate your children. That's that's the biggest thing. Um, as far as children driving bicycles, ebikes is different. Ebikes are going to be considered a a motorcycle essentially. Um, that's going to begin July 1st. There's a six-month trial period with the new laws that came out. Uh, so enforcement will begin then. Um, as far as the bicycles go, they got to adhere to if they're in the roadway, you got to adhere to the ways of the road. Um, the same as everybody else. Uh, sidewalks as well. You got to wear your helmet if you're underage. You got to have reflectors on the bikes. Um, you have to drive them properly. you can't, you know, impede a flow of traffic. Uh, and if they are impeding it, you know, they are subject to title 39 violations, which is motor vehicle violations, um, as well. So, you know, we can always, you know, take those bikes, release them to the parents. We have to contact the parents. They're juvenile. Um,

but you can't follow these and disclaimer is correct. We've had multiple children uh take off, meaning the police come for a call wherever it is, and they see the police car and they scatter. Uh the safety is paramount. We're not going to chase a kid on a bicycle. God forbid they get hit by a car. Um you know, but that is happening too. So please tell your kids not to run from the police over, you know, doing wheelies. Yeah. Any other questions? Thank you, Chief. Yep. Thank you. I assume that the BA will be doing the report for our superintendent for the DPW.

Yes, sir. So the super is in class again. He's going for certification. Uh a quick report from him. The fields Centennial Field irrigation and fieldhouse water meter installed along with spring cleanup. Softball and baseball fields maintenance has been completed. Memorial field water meter for the fieldhouse has been installed, but of course it's off for now. Um the parks spring cleanups uh that were taken back uh because of the weather. Just starting again this week. Uh the pothole repairs are ongoing. Snowplow damage is being repaired as they are reported to the DPW. There are a few signs that are down being uh repaired. If you see any potholes, please call Ball and tell us. We'll try to find as many as we can. Um the TPW mechanic shop heater is broken and unrepaiable. Temporary heat is in place. Hopefully, you will get warmer weather. We don't need that for a while. Um, Ramadan decorations were installed and then removed at the conclusion of the 30-day celebration. And that's all. Yeah.

Okay, great. Thanks. Um, committee reports. Start at the far end. Councilman Roco.

Thank you, Mayor. Um, regarding access for all, plans are proceeding to have uh they're planning to have a party at the Vans Park Zoo on April 11th from 10:00 a.m. to 11:30 with a capacity of about 42 people. There's going to be a presentation from a naturalist. There'll be snacks, access to the small animals for the children. Um, and a full day access to the zoo, including tickets for the training ride there. There's an art show for people with disabilities. Uh opening reception is Thursday, May 7th at 6:30 in the library. Uh I encourage all council members to to attend if they can. Uh even if it's just for a couple of minutes. Uh the exhibit runs the entire month of May. Um application deadline is April 10th and the art uh work drop off is April 23rd from 4 to 6 p.m. in the library. Their next meeting is April 27th at 7 p.m. in the library. Board of Health did not meet on March 18th. Their next meeting is April 22nd at Burough Hall, 7 p.m. Uh the finance committee met this afternoon. We focused on the budget. Uh I know the CFO is going to be presenting uh uh he making a presentation on the budget. I'll have some words to say on that as well. Uh with respect to seniors, the Forever Young program, which was formerly the 50 plus club, it is now meeting the second Thursday of the month from October through May. Plans are being made for cooking classes, arts and crafts workshops, music lessons, games, live entertainment, and educational seminars. Their next meeting is April 9th. That's this Thursday, 11:00 p.m. to 1 p.m. at the Hillsdale Community Center, where an outside group called the Flavor Lab will take over at noon to teach the members how to make energy bites, which really are sugar sugar bombs. Uh separately, uh senior lunches will continue monthly, but they'll be held at the new community center as opposed to St. John the Baptist. Uh the next one is

April 15th, and there's another on May 20th. They run from 11:30 to 1:30. You have to make your reservations at least 4 days in advance by calling senior activities director uh Patty use at 2011-4971560. Patty is making available special timed parking passes for all who sign up. And you don't have to sign up um you do have to sign up at least four days in advance or you won't be granted admission and that's it. That's it. And and trip overseas in there as well. You've been busy. Ah but that was a personal adventure. Did you report on that?

No no no Leo refused to speak to me. Councilwoman Maj.

Okay. We'll start with economic development. Uh so we met yesterday, April 6th, to review resumeums from the Hills residents for the economic advisory committee that we're putting together. Uh we're very impressed with both the level of interest and the quality of applicants. Um so everyone who applied, I just want to thank them. Um you've probably received an email today with details on the meeting and the next steps and we're looking forward uh to getting this committee in place. Uh next up is Wreck. So we also met yesterday for Wreck. Update on the community center. There have been some several classes and meetings already held at the community center. Everything has been running smoothly. There is a ribbon cutting scheduled for April 29th. So that will be also in partnership with the Piermont that will be hosting some tours for their open house. Uh the egg hunt this past Saturday was a great success. If you were there, there were about 250 participants across all the age groups. We also had a bubble show which was a big hit amongst the little ones. Um and the weather was perfect. So, just want to thank Dan and um his team for making that such a su successful event. Uh summer camp update. Uh let's see. Camp Pasca, Camp Adventure, and Camp Viewer all were sold out. Uh Camp Little Hawks, which is for kindergarten, still has some limited space available, and we are exploring ways to expand capacity for next year so that we're not turning away Hillsdale residents. Um also, most of the trips have been extended this year with lunch provided. Um and last but not least, there are more activities being added to the Beachwood Days based on uh feedback from last year's survey. Uh summer concerts currently in progress um and they're booking bands as we speak. Dates will be announced later this month. Uh there is a Memorial Day parade scheduled for May 25th. We're also exploring ways to incorporate something special for the 250th anniversary. And spring sports, they're on their way underway. The field scheduling is in progress. And we just want to thank all the sports associations for their patience as we work collaboratively without George

White Memorial FA fields being available. So thanks to them. That's it. Councilman Kleti.

Thank you, Mayor. Start with the fire department. March had 21 calls versus 28 in March of the prior year. This is actually the first month that's been lower as compared to the prior year in quite some time. Uh but still on a year-to- date basis, there were 87 alarms versus 80 alarms in the prior year. And again, just to reiterate, 2025 was 39% higher than 2024. So, it's still a slight upward trend in calls. In regards to the ladder truck, uh we have received pictures from the manufacturer of the unit in production. So, pictures of the chassis and the cab being manufactured. So, exciting news for the fire department there. And finally, the Firehouse Subs Public Safety Foundation grant. Unfortunately, uh we were not granted the grant in the last round. However, we did file again. I think it was this morning.

This morning, we submitted again. In terms of the planning board, next meeting is April 9th. The last meeting was on March 24th. During the meeting, it was business as usual, administrative duties, but also one concept review and one new application for proposed three unit town houses requiring use variance on Broadway. That's it. Okay, any questions? M president,

thank you. Um, just update the residents on some uh environmental commission events uh over the next few weeks. Uh, Thursday, April 23rd at 4:15 p.m. we have Arbor Day tree planting ceremony with the Daisy Girl Scout Troop 99133 at Burrow at the Burrow property behind the library. On Friday, April 24th, Arbor Day, uh, Meadow Brook School uh, tree planting along Street by Stony Brook Pool. Uh, we're going to confirm the time and uh, we're coordinating that with the board of education. Uh, on Saturday morning, May 2nd, we have a tree seedling giveaway. Uh it's going to be most likely next to the train station and we're going to firm that time up. And then uh Saturday, May 16th. Uh and this is a big thing for us. Uh the styrofoam collection at 11:30 for uh at the Burrow West parking lot near Chipotle. That's something that we have an arrangement with Ridgewood that we approved a couple of meetings ago. Uh and that's it.

Councilman D. Rosa.

Thank you. I just want to report the uh ambulance service, Hillsdale Ambulance Service uh and the Burrow are in preliminary discussions with Riverdale Ambulance to possibly require acquire their second ambulance. They're getting a new one. Um the uh Hillsdale Volunteer Ambulance Service also expressed interest in purchasing a new rig themselves with the help of the burrow. Those two avenues are or the goal of those two avenues is to if we have two ambulances, we can then charge insurance companies for uh for calls, certain calls, and that produces revenue for both the ambulance service and the town. So, um as I said, it's very preliminary, but that's the goal and um we're pursuing those two avenues. That's all I have.

That would also be that to be clear that it wouldn't be a cost to the residents. No. No. So it's balance billing. So the residents would not be asked to pay a deductible on on that ambulance call. It would correct be waved by the burough. Okay. Counciloman Camp.

Thank you, Mayor. Okay. Stony Brook Pool Commission. So last month I focused primarily on opera operational updates from the commission as there were many and I wanted to briefly supplement that uh report with a summary of recent discussion around the cell tower which remains an ongoing topic as we approach the uh opening season. Uh the commission discussed the proposal following Verizon's presentation in March including questions around site configuration and how placement and design could impact parking and access. The commission also discussed information presented at the recent town hall and I shared findings from the bureau's independent consultant which identified specific specific areas of unreliable coverage in the eastern part of town largely influenced by terrain and true density and noted uh that existing carrier networks in the area provide generally similar coverage patterns. In addition, there were operational questions raised regarding construction timeline and whether any work would impact inseason pool operations.