Borough Council - Regular Meeting

We're going in. All right. Let the record reflect. We've reconvened with all members present. Um, Councilwoman Hanahan is absent excused. She is in Europe on a business trip. Those are able, please rise for the pledge of allegiance and I ask you to remain standing after the pledge. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, liberty and justice for all.

Let us take a moment to remember some longtime Madison residents we lost over the past few weeks. Barry Edward Croll died on March 29th, age of 78 after a brief illness. He was born in Chicago, spent his childhood and early years in Chicago's near north side where as a teen he be began volunteering for the Y. He went on to work for YMC's in Chicago, San Francisco, Oakland, California, and of course Madison. Maybe not the biggest of all those, but the best. In 1995, he moved with his family to New Jersey to oversee the Madison area YMCA. In his time, he brought it from 7,000 members to 12,000, grew the budget from 3.5 to nearly 10 million. As CEO, uh, he oversaw and the board completed the, uh, plan 2000, a $5 million expansion and renovation of Wise Family Center. And, uh, personally, I had the honor of working with Barry through throughout his 16-year tenure at the Wise. So, it was truly an honor to work with him. Um and also uh in his retirement recognizing the Y's board staff and volunteers at a celebration he said of his years at the Y I've given credit I I've been given credit for all making all these things happen but I really feel like an orch orchestra conductor without an orchestra there's a conductor really can't do anything and after his retirement Barry turned his love of volunteering and service to full-time to Rotary Club uh where he held roles as club president district governor, district representative to Rotary International. He was uh devoted uh to the Rotary mission of service above self and he met and loved many of his Rotary friends through his volunteerism and it was his second home and career after his Y retirement. In addition to Rotary, Barry served on DDC, was a founding member of the Taste of Madison, former chair of the Madison Floren Park Interfaith Council, former

member of the Mars County United Way agency relations team. He was also a trustee for the uh Grace Counseling Center, the Madison Community Pool, and a former member of MASA and a volunteer United Methodist Church. And uh some people might not know about this Barry, but he was adventurous and always excited about new experiences. He was a he loved figuring out how things work. I remember from the wife. Sometimes it didn't always work out well, but um he was a scuba diver in his in the 1960s, earned a private private pilot license in the 70s, taught himself personal computing in the 80s, learned wine- makingaking in the 90s, and in retirement traveled extensively, and even did a short stint as Uber driver. He took great delight in growing vegetables at the Madison Community Garden. He survived by his wife Judy and his daughter Leslie and son-in-law Joss. We also remember Charlemagne Harris, longtime Madison resident, died on Easter Sunday at the age of 90. There it goes. Um, she was born in 1935 in Georgia to Charlie and Maddie Pool, relocated to Madison when she was about 10 years old. She went on to build a lifelong residency grounded by her faith, family, and community. If anyone knew Charlemagne, Charlemagne, you knew she had one of the greatest smiles that you would ever see. Just always lit out of lit up room. She had nicknames of mommy, mama, uh Chucky, Charlie, Aunt Chucky, and Charlie May love everyone. Likewise, she she was greatly loved. I I can attest to that. A generally kind and virtuous woman known for love of God, strength, and gentle spirit and her laughter. She loved uh cooking and baking and is now known she was known for her legendary German chocolate cake which I never did have.

Um she greatly enjoyed caring for her children, grandchildren and many many godchildren. She was member of charitable organizations uh such as chat chs and the carrots inc of Mars County which work with youth. and she loved and was involved with community activities including many years of work in the polls. She was uh that smiling face at district 4 who uh um voted there. Uh she was a Sunday school teacher and president Usher board at Church of God in Christ in Marstown and um people often wonder how she got the children to behave well. It was all in her bag of treats. She worked Bell Labs for uh 30 years and retiring after a long career. In her leisure time, she enjoyed the Prices Right, Jeopardy and soaps and especially loved local events, especially Bottle Hill Day. You would see her often at Bethlehem Church helping them serve and sell their food. She uh loved the Yankees and Giants. She survived by her daughters Gia and Marsha, her brother Ernest, and five grandchildren, three great grandchildren. I also mentioned last council meeting uh Captain Ed Poic. Um and just a little more background on him. He passed as I mentioned doing what he loved most playing around of golf. He left his the world on the fairway having finished his final course with the same grace grace and focus he brought to every other part of his life. He was a man of service, the master of the perfect itinerary, and above all, a steady anchor for his family. He was a man of quiet strength, infectuous enthusiasm, and he spent his life protecting our community and a beautiful world, which he loved. His career was defined by a commitment to helping others, and that extended far beyond the firehouse.

And when he wasn't on duty, he was often found in nature, whether tracking through the woods or perfecting his golf swing. Upon his retirement, Ed and his wife Marie followed their love of water down to Millsboro, Delaware. Uh, and he found true paradise and uh, happily spend days between the salt air, the beaches, and afternoons at the pool. He survived by his wife of 53 years, Marie, our firefighter, Troy, and his wife Alyssa. three and I mean uh daughter Alyssa. Um three grandchildren. Um sorry and he'll be remembered every time his son hits the water at the beach or golf ball on the fairway. And at the end of last week we lost a lifelong resident and volunteer extraordinaire Kathy Coltus who died at the age of 88. To say that Kathy had roots in Madison would be an understatement as her lineage include the Rosika family rose growers who helped Madison earn its nickname. Kathy was a Madison High graduate went on to Hood College. Upon her return, she started to follow in her parents and grandparents' footsteps and supporting her community. Her volunteerism for the burrow itself began in 1977 under then Roger Mayor Roger Vernon who established a committee to create a master plan for Memorial Park, Madison's largest open space that was already the home of the community pool and ice rink that had many more demands for a great resource of open space. The committee created a plan that included active and passive recreation, a plan that is still in place today. Kathy event certainly did not ride out to this sunset after doing that. The memorial park committee morphed into the parks advisory committee in 1980 and so the committee was overseeing all the parks in Madison

such as Dodgefield and new parks that came along including Summer Hill Park and then Kathy was appointed to that committee which she served on through n 2023. So it was uh 45 odd years plus years of uh continuous service. Couple other things in her Madison resume. 1977 established nature nuts, a summer program that taught appreciation of the nature around us. She was member of the Madison Garden Club and know award-winning member of the Garden Club of America, longtime member of the Madison Historical Society where she served on the board of trustees uh and positions the president, vice president, program chair and secretary and she was recognized by the historical society last year. She was a member of the Madison Arts and Cultural Alliance, member of the uh Friends of Madison Shade Tree since 1994, serving as secretary and tree nursery coordinator. And we can't mention Kathy without talking about her husband, Bob, because together they had been Madison's volunteer power couple. As proud Rotarians, always giving service above self, Ca. Kathy traveled the world with Bob supporting or supporting Bob on his Rotary projects. And together they hosted many Rotary exchange students, giving him many honorary children and honorary grandchildren along with their own children, David and Linda, and their own grandchildren. I mentioned uh her son David's here. I mentioned over the weekend, you know, you could be in a very crowded room and if Bob Coltus was across a room, you would know with his laugh, but that was not Kathy style. She was completely opposite because she was very softspoken. But when she spoke, people listened because she had best in mind, best intentions for all.

And just as Kathy's parents and grandparents had a role in Madison becoming Rose City, Kathy has left the legacy through her dedication to our parks, trees, and everything that makes Madison green. It's for that reason I presented her with a mayor's legacy award in 2023. And that was in honor of what she meant to her community. And to reinforce that, I am ordering that flags will be lowered to half staff on Saturday, April 18th. Um and in her memory there will be a memorial service in September. So let us take a moment to remember Barry Croll, Charlie May Harris, Ed Poic, and Kathy Cultus. Let us pass our thoughts to the families and friends they leave behind. Thank you. I am also declaring this a jacket optional day.

All right. May I have a motion for the executive minutes of March 9th, 2026? So moved. Second. All in favor? I I. Right. A motion for the regular minutes of March 9th, 2026. So moved. Second. Any corrections or changes? All in favor? I.

All right. Welcome all in this uh warm evening after a cool weekend and um obviously with an extra week in between meetings. There's been a lot going on. So a couple of things been going on the last three weeks. On Tuesday, March 24th, uh the Madison Area YMCA hosted breakfast celebrating the 50th anniversary of Project Community Pride. This valuable program working with uh Madison, Chadaman, Farm Park, uh burough police departments along with the respective school districts has provided uh counseling for um youth, teens, and families for a half a century. And Project Pride has been part of the Y for 10 years now. And then on um Thursday, March 26, I met group called Ariana's Angels as they presented blue badges uh for autism awareness month. You will see uh Madison police with these blue badges on their uniforms. Um and Ariana was there to actually present the badges and I have my own very own mayor one. It was pointed out I better not be pulling it out in streets of Madison trying to um arrest people. But it's uh certainly uh great to see our police department uh bring attention to autism. And on the March 29th, I attended a lunch at the American Legion uh Post 43 as they recognized the Vietnam era veterans and I shared the proclamation that was uh presented at our last meeting. And as many of you know, on March 30th, we had a Waverly Place Town Hall meeting. The concept plans were presented to the general public and there will be an internal meeting um this coming week and uh with our engineering consultants to review the feedback and we'll share uh the next steps as we move forward. And then this past Saturday under blue skies, the

annual Madison League and girls softball parade was held with the sun out and dry conditions. It was the first time in five years that the parade actually was able to end up at Dodgefield and not on the black top at Central Avenue School. It also marked the uh last ceremony with Ken Wear as Little League president. He is uh staying involved as he's moving up to the district level after more than a decade as the president under leaders his leadership and Madison grew to the largest single town little league in the district. And then just this past Saturday, the Madison Historical Society held its annual gala and uh which they honored Martin Heler for his dedication to Madison in particular his $1 million donation to support the purchase and restoration of the previous Masonic Lodge or what is now known as the Heler Center. And I know as I look over the left side of the room here, we have some friends from uh Oak Court neighborhood. So um welcome. Um, and I do have a little update to share which included uh driving the street on Saturday which did coincide with a uh ball game at FDU. Um, the temporary no parking sign certainly helped the parking issue, but it's clear that there's no way you could park on both sides of that street. So, um, certainly we need to uh support the um replace those temporary signs with a a permanent ordinance to uh ban parking on one side. Um and we we also need to work with FTU because certainly as they uh discussed the uh in front of the planning board the expansion of the athletic fields there um that parking would be accommodated on site. So we will uh continue to work on that. I also observed the uh pavement conditions um which I could tell there was some recent uh patching done but certainly um is uh

due for resurfacing which had was not scheduled for uh it was not on our rescheduling. Sorry, I've been talking too much. I better drink some water so I get my words right here. So anyway, there is patching done to take care of some of the worst potholes, but um it was it's not on our schedule for resurfacing. That said, burough engineer Jim Savage has put together a resurfacing budget uh which would include million and overlay and would come in at u $75,000. um 20% of the road, which um a lot of people in Madison probably would have a hard time even pointing out where Oak Court is, but um it's not all in Madison either. So part of it is in Mars Township. Um so about 20% of it is in Mars Township, and we have I know at least one Mars Township neighbor here. So we've already uh reached out to the township and uh they would support the project with $15,000. Um, all that said, we're going to review our scheduled projects and other priorities and uh hopefully we can get Oak Court uh squeezed into uh resurfacing for this for this year. If that if that's not the case, we will uh be in touch. But it's um you know, we have a former council woman here who pointed out she uh is pretty sure it has not been paved since she was on the council. And that was not in the last uh 20 years, I think. So, since I've been here that whole time. All right, just a couple other things I can wrap up and we'll pass it on to our council members. Um, I do want to wish all those that uh or thank all those who wish me a happy birthday last week was certainly was uh the worst kept secret in Madison as it got pushed out in social media and had complete strangers saying happy birthday to me. And speaking of secrets, I do want to wish our clerk, Liz Osborne, a very happy birthday. She was saying

there's not a better place to uh spend her birthday than here at a council meeting. So, h happy birthday. And then employees for the month of April. Um, and this is a great a great team has taken on something that uh a year ago at this time we didn't know we'd be in the business to do. And this this is to recognize Jen Daly, part-time office assistant in the fire in police departments. Chris McDougall, assistant to director of public works, and Michael Plesier, communications director, are the employees for the month of April. They have put an incredible amount of extra time getting the pool ready for the season, including membership promotion, registration, uh, grounds maintenance, and employee recruitment. So, if you see them, please congratulate them. And we can say congratulations to Michael Plesier because he's in the back room right now. And and my last thing I'm going to come down for proclamation. I see some friends of Drew Forest shirts in the audience. All Claire and Kristen. This is a proclamation pro proclaiming Earth Day April 22nd 2026. Whereas the first Earth Day was April 22nd, 1970 and 20 million Americans participated in events that sparked the modern environmental movement. And whereas the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, and Endangered Species Act, and the nation's Environment Protection Association Protection Agency all came about as a result of this first Earth

Day. Whereas Earth Day is a valuable opportunity to renew our commitment to preserving and protecting our planet through community service, responsible stewardship, and daily practices. And whereas this year's Earth Day's theme, our power, our planet, highlights the fact that environmental progress doesn't depend on any single administration or election, but is sustained by the actions of communities and educators protecting where they live and work. And whereas local systems continue implementing solutions that strengthen energy reliability, conserve resources because they make economic sense and promote public safety. And whereas on Earth Day, we should take time to appreciate the planet we live on, recognize the environmental issues we are currently currently face and rec and recommmit to do our part to invest in our planet. Now therefore, I Robert H. County Mayor Burough Madison on behalf of the governing body hereby proclaim April 22nd 2026 as Earth Day in Madison. Um I on behalf of friends of the Drew forest, the environmental commission, the shade tree management board, I uh first want to thank the volunteers like Kathy Coltus who um and Tom Harold Pudis who is chair of the environmental commission all anything that gets saved like the Drew Farest it's you know we've been coming to council meetings for five years and and and fortunately you're glad to see us which is which is even better. But it takes a lot of that kind of citizen persistence and sitting in fluorescent rooms and just talking to everybody, your neighbors and um your trees, whatever. But um we had we had an event, the environmental commission recently um which was about birding to change the world and R.J. Curtio, who was a Drew 17 grad, came and spoke about

his experience and he said that his time in the Drew Drew Forest was pivotal to his life and it completely changed his trajectory. And what changed it was an elusive northern flicker. and he took a very bad photograph with his iPhone and even though he had college debt invested in a good camera and he said that that flicker- which they call spark bird um completely changed everything and he's since committed his life to um protecting bird habitat and birds and he works as an ecologist in Mammoth County and I just want to say one more thing on Earth Day um an event we have coming up on June 8th, which is one of your resolutions, is um about um a book called When the Forest Breathes. And it's written by a climate scientist in in Canada. And she talks in that book about the the way all the clear cutting of the old growth forests has uh fostered all these wildfires that we're breathing in. And I really want to applaud the council because you know we have a climate action committee and all of that but the biggest climate action you have taken is saving the Drew forest. So thank you all.

Thank you. Great. We will move on to uh reports from committees. Uh committee affairs. Council President Forte.

Thank you, Mayor. From the downtown development commission and the director of business development. The next meeting of the downtown development commission will be held on April 16th at 7:15 p.m. in the second floor committee room of Hartley Dodge Memorial Building. All are invited to attend. The 2026 season of the Madison Farm and Artisan Market opens Saturday, May 23rd. New vendors can request the information by emailing Lisa Ellis ddcrosset.org. Madison Green and Clean is scheduled for Saturday, May 2nd. It will include the traditional Arbor Day ceremony followed by townwide cleanup projects. Please email dcrosenet.org with any questions. The 2026 Tastes to Madison Rose City's annual fine food and drink tasting extravaganza will take place on Monday, April 27th. Once again, the venue will be at the Madison Hotel at One Common Road in Marstown. The Taste of Madison brings together more than 20 local restaurants in Gary's Wine and Marketplace, the event's longtime sponsor for one night in a unique location. Tickets are now available for purchase. Premier tickets are $125 each. These tickets will feature early admission and access to all vendors at 6 p.m. In addition, VIPs can participate in in a cooking demonstration with food and wine tastings and will receive a special gift bag and an entry into a special raffle. General admission tickets are priced at $75 each and entry to the event will begin at 7 p.m. In addition to individual tickets for special ticket packages are being offered for the first time this year. Information can be found at www.tasteofmadison.org. And from the Chamber of Commerce, comedy night is scheduled for Thursday, April 23rd. The show begins at 8:00 p.m. Ticket information will be available soon. Superhero Day is May 2nd and Ladies Night is scheduled for Thursday, May 7th from 5:30 to 8:00 p.m. From the Community Arts Center, every Tuesday from 1:00 p.m. Seniors are playing Ma Jang and Canasta. Wednesday, April 15th at 7 p.m. is a comedy open mic. Every

third Wednesday, all are welcome to perform or attend. And Saturday, April 18th at 7 PM is the Come Original Showcase featuring local bands and vendors. Monday, April 20th, uh, is the Madison Environmental Commission presents Plant This, Not That. Wednesday, April 22nd is the Show Us Your Shorts. Every fourth Wednesday, local film members submit and show their short films. And Thursday the 23rd, um, is the comedy show. And Friday the 24th is Steal the Spotlight 2.0, know, which is a drag competition show. And from the community pool, there's a lot happening at the pool. The pool was recently drained, and we're working on getting a contractor to power wash and acid wash the pool. We're also looking to hire a mason to do various repairs to the tile, steps, and other areas. There are a number of other improvements that we're working on, including electrical upgrades, new security cameras, painting, and upgraded Wi-Fi. Public works has been at the pool almost every day getting it ready for the upcoming season. We're working with the state of New Jersey and the Burough Health Department to make sure that our slides and pool are inspected and ready for opening day, which is Saturday, May 23rd. Administration is working on updating the recreation code of conduct to include the pool and pool patrons. That will come to the council in the coming weeks as an ordinance to amend chapter 137 of the Burough Code. Our pool operator, Laughler Pools, is actively recruiting to hire lifeguards. If you're not certified, we have you covered. Laughler pools will be offering lifeguard training and certification classes in our pool at the evening sec in the second week of May. If interested in becoming a lifeguard or just getting certified, please visit www.llfles.com/mp employees. Tonight, we have one small but important action. R1326 is hiring Leanne Leotaa to be our head swim team coach for the pool. Our swim team was undefeated last year, so our expectations are high. We're hiring an assistant swim. We are also hiring

assistant swim team coaches in the coming weeks. In addition to hiring swim coaches, the burrow is also looking to hire a membership manager who will represent the burrow and be at the pool when it's open to make sure everything is going smoothly. Those interested in applying should visit the personnel page on rosenet.org. The pool advisory board and burough administration have been working on cont contracting with a local food establishment to run the pool snack cut this upcoming season. We hope to have an announcement at the next council meeting. The pool advisory board also announced a cornhole tournament. Anyone interested in signing up should visit www.mmisonpool.org for details. And if you haven't signed up yet to become a member of the pool, then what are you waiting for? Discounted rates are set to expire soon. Please visit www.mmadisonpool.org to sign up. The pool is an anchoring institution and a beloved place for family and friends to gather. Becoming a member is the best way to help ensure that the pool is here for years to come. Thank you.

Thank you. Public safety, Mr. Landrean.

Thank you, mayor. From the police department, the police department traffic safety bureau has been working with our traffic engineer and traffic light vendor to upgrade traffic signals at three intersections. These upgrades are now completed at Kings Road and Samson Avenue, Woodland Road and Green Avenue, and Park Avenue and Ridgel Avenue. Traffic signal upgrades significantly enhance intersection safety. Research showing that upgrades can reduce crashes at these intersections by 33%. The following improvements were made. Upgraded traffic signal controllers to include vehicle detection. upgraded high V high visibility LED signals and pedestrian signals. Installation of leading pedestrian intervals and installation of generator plugs. Leading pedestrian intervals is an adjustment to the traffic signal timing that allows cyclists and pedestrians a few seconds head start. When a pedestrian or cyclist pushes the walk button, the traffic signal will remain red in all directions for 7 seconds to allow for the flea free flow of pedestrians and cyclists to cross through these intersections. The LPI aims to enhance pedestrian safety by increasing visibility and allowing pedestrians to establish their pres presence in the crosswalk before turning before turning vehicles proceed. The LPI will only activate when the pedestrian activates pedestrian crossing button. LPIs have been shown to reduce traffic to reduce pedestrian vehicle collisions by as much as 60%. The week of April 12th through the 18th is National Telecommunicators Week. We are proud to recognize and celebrate the incredible work of our public safety dispatchers. Their qu their work, dedication, compassion, and quick thinking play a critical role in keeping

our responders informed of safe of community safety informed and our community safe. We would also like to send our thanks to our partners at the Morris County Communication Center. The Morris County Communications Center answers all 911 calls before they are sent to the Madison Communicated Communication Center for dispatch. This Friday, the Madison Police Department's Community Relations Unit will be hosting ECLC, A Day to Shine. This is the first year for this fun-filled afternoon at the Madison Public Safety Building with students from the ECLC School in Chattam. Lunch will be provided along with games, activities, and the police officers, and of course, ice cream. This month, all officers have completed annual training in mental health responder awareness training, temporary detention procedures, and annual domestic violence refresher training. All training is requirement of police department's accredit the police department's accreditation process from the fire department. In March, the fire department responded to 223 emergency calls with 91 patients transported to the hospital. Chief Chief Wickman met with federal authorities to coordinate planning for the local FIFA World Cup events at and VIP travel. He also met with the Morris County OEM and fire coordinators to coordinate and discuss the Madison the fire department's role during the World Cup. Chief Wickman and Lieutenant Tom Boland attended Morris County Specialized Rescue Work group meeting which includes representatives from Madison, Marstown, Pikatin Arsenal, Cedar Nolles, Parcipony District 5, Paripony Rescue and Recovery, the Morris County Special Operations Group. Together, these depart departments provide the county specialized rescue capabilities, including combined space rescue, trench

rescue, hazardous materials, building collapse, water rescue, and high angle rescue. At the counter's request, career personnel have begun completing active shooter incident command training as the department prepares the joint res joint task force, the the rescue task force. Five prevention conducted 31 in 31 inspections and 19 home sales smoke detector CO detector inspections this month. Captain Blair also attended reading at Kings Road School, Central Avenue and Tory J Saratini Elementary Schools. Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you. And finance bureau clerk and also utilities for Los An Mr. Range.

Thank you, mayor. uh from the finance department this evening. Just a relatively short report. As previous previously reported, the introduced official state budget document, the user-friendly budget and other documents are available for review on the finance department page of Rosenet. The council will have a hearing and a final vote on the budget at our next council meeting, which is scheduled for Wednesday, April 29th due to the taste of Madison on that Monday. This upcoming Wednesday, the bureau will be paying almost $102,000 uh in bond proceeds. This represents the interest portion of the burough debt from 2008 that covered the construction of the public safety building, renovations to Hartley Dodge Memorial, and the purchase of fire apparatus. The second annual payment for this bond is on October 15th of this year, and that amount will be uh a little more than $1.6 6 million which covers the principal and interest payments. These bonds were originally issued in 2008 and then refinanced in 2014 and we've got only another two years of payments when this bond will be completely paid off in 2028. and from the water department this evening. Uh the water department has repaired two fire hydrants that were damaged in the winter caused by plowing and and an in and an accident. They've dug and repaired three curb boxes and shut off valves. They're working closely with the contractors at uh Gerald One to shut off power for demolition and construction with the ability to keep or install a hydrant or hydrants active for fire protection and construction water. They've also moved a hydrant back off the roadway at Union Hill Road. Installed a new inch and a half tap and

service to a home being renovated on Noi Avenue. Replace two iron services located in a curb box on Hillrest Road. Uh also of note, uh fiber cable is being installed into the two wells so communications upgrades can be made uh for our uh emergency services. Chlorine sensors have arrived and are scheduled to be installed next week which will allow uh Dwell to be put back into full operation on the SCADA system and curb boxes on Hillrest Road will be excavated to identify the burrow service line material if needed. The services will be replaced with 1-in copper from the main to the curb box connection. Homeowners will be advised if this becomes necessary. And from the electric department this evening, uh standby crew was called out uh to 14 Forest Road for a down wire as well as 52 Niles Avenue for low hanging while low hanging wires. The electric department upgraded a transformer on Trail Place and replaced the transformer at 250 Main Street. They also installed a new pole on Plain Street and standby was called out on the 29th to Gibbons Place for a report of hearing a loud bang then a loss of power. Uh the outage as uh is very common was due to a squirrel. Uh standby was called out on the 30th to Kenny Street for the report of a down wire and on the 31st uh electric did a pole transfer on High View Terrace. Standby was called out for an emergency markout at 25 Midwood Terrace on the 3 and on the 7th uh our testing agency was called to Kings Road substation for a battery charger that went bad. They were able to

install a temporary charger until we get the replacement. All the relays and switching power uh require DC power which we get from those batteries. So it is crucial to have the charging infrastructure in place and not to lose access to the DC power. the electric pole on uh Lanthrop Avenue. A new pole was set and electric was restored to the Rosedale Ballfield bathrooms and concession stand after uh construction work there. And finally, on the 11th, standby was had a scheduled shutdown at 175 Park Avenue, which is the Anywhere real estate building, so contractors could do testing and maintenance of the building's electrical systems. As always, the electric department continues to respond to calls, complete markouts, street light repairs, and daily substation inspections and readings. That's all from the utilities tonight. Mayor, thank you.

Thank you. Public works and engineering, Mr. Helen Pis. Wow, that was a report. I know about every light bulb that changed in town. And the poor squirrels.

So, from the Department of Public Hello, everybody, welcome community council. uh from the Department of Public Works. Uh the roads department is repairing potholes, patching holes from water repairs. We have a separate agency that's actually repairing potholes around the community. If anybody sees any they want to report, please contact the town. Uh parks department has been preparing the fields for the spring sports. Spring season for youth athletics is already underway. Soccer, lacrosse, baseball, softball. They also assisted the board of ed with prepping a baseball field due to their machine being out for repairs. The sewer jetting. Is this with our new sewer machine? Yeah. Ray is our new sewer machine that's doing sewer jetting. Wow. Watch out. We're going to be jetting and blasting this week. Streets for jetting are posted on the Roset. DPW assisted the water utility with moving a fire hydrant. On Saturday, the mayor already commented on the Little League parade. DPW was there making sure that the roadways were safe, prepping the area at Dodgefield for the uh kickoff ceremony, which was fantastic. A reminder that yard waste bags are available at the DPW garage and in the clerk's office. A reminder that twice a week garbage pickup will be starting the week of May 4th uh from the uh Madison Environmental Commission. Hold on one second. I have that here. Where is it? Uh okay. The Madison Environmental Commission held two successful stewardship days at the conservation forest at the MRC. Drew students were among the volunteers who removed invasive barbar, burning

bushes, and other species. The primary way that these invasives arrive at the forest is through birds who feed on berries in suburban yards. Eliminating invasives at home is one of the best things residents can do to protect Madison's open space. The good news is that the MEC is holding a talk that explains what to plant when you remove invasive species from your yard. On Monday, April 20th at 7 p.m., author Elise Howard is coming to the Madison Community Arts Center on Kings Road. Her new book, her new book, Plant This Not That is a visual guide to more than 200 native plant swaps for a more sustainable pollinator friendly garden. The event is a partnership with the nature of reading bookshop. Tickets are free and can be reserved on the nature of reading website under the event tab. Plant this not that is a fabulous book and the environmental commission hopes to see you on Monday. Very active environmental commission. Thanks everybody. Um that's it mayor. And then I just want to piggyback on what you said about the little league parade. Uh there was 500 youth uh baseball, te-ball, softball players on the field. Very excited. The mayor gave a nice opening speech thanking everybody for participating. So I think that's a record number. They said it's one of the biggest youth sports. I think soccer might be a little bit bigger, but that was fantastic. I hope we have enough field space,

right, for all of them to play. That's all. And I think actually I think the number might have been 800 500 little league and and 300 uh girls softball. So an incredible sight as we stood at home plate and looked out onto the outfield. Yep. And now health. Thank you.

Uh just a couple of things. The health and all policies is continuously worked on um working with the bureau and appropriate departments to ensure that health is taken into consideration. Healthy Bones program is being offered at Rex Tucker Rexfield Tucker Apartments, sorry. Um once a week, uh Tuesdays at 10:30 geared to exercise and education. Uh our health officer worked with the New Jersey Department of Health on a comprehensive, clear, unified message for vaccine education developed um after the law changed and led to confusion. There was a consumer goodsled testing event this past week. Seven residents pres provided items for testing. There is no safe level of lead and even low levels can adversely affect a developing brain. The health department would like to remind residents that the best way to stay informed about department activities is to follow our social media pages which can be found by searching Westfield Regional Health Department as that's where our health officer uh we contract our health officers from. April 25th is National Prescription Drug Takeback Day. Residents can prevent prescription drug misuse and protect the environment by providing a safe alternative to flushing medications by using the med return box in the lobby of the Madison Police Department. A full list of medications accepted can be found on rosnet.org. And finally, last week was National Public Health Week. The department would like to thank the nurses and environmental specialists who work hard to keep the community safe in ways that often go unnoticed. Thank you.

Thank you. And despite my very long greeting, I did forget something, but it was pretty much hot off the press from this morning that I want to announce that our settlement was approved today by Judge Hanssbury and settled all affordable housing litigation with Drew University and Fair Share Housing Center. So, we uh that's a key part of um moving forward and especially on Earth Day, a key part of uh saving the Drew Forest. So, uh, we have we know exactly what our marching orders are for meeting the obligations for round three and into round four. And, uh, now we move on to communications and petitions.

Uh, yes, Mayor. Mayor, uh, council received an email dated April the 13th from resident Kevin Flug, um, regarding the traffic speed on Green Village Road.

All right. Now, this is our first of two invitations for public comment. Uh this is for items that are on under our agenda discussion and um also resolutions that are part of the consent agenda. If you want to comment on any other topic, you may do that later. I will uh offer a little loophole today because I did talk about Oak Court in my comments. So I will count that as part of the agenda. So if you want to comment on Oak Court, you'll be able to do that in during this session. Um and then these these are the other things you can comment on. Shade Tree Management Board annual rep report which will be coming up shortly. And these are the resolutions that are part of our consent agenda. And please bear with me because um it is a uh with an extra week in between. We have quite a few. Resolution 127 is authorizing submission of New Jersey historic trust fund grant application for um Hartley Dodge Clock and it would require matching funds on our part. Resolution 128 is ratifying the appointment of Toby Smith as a summer intern in public works department at rate of 7750 an hour. Res. Resolution 129 is promoting Jill Strellik to position senior office assistant and tax assessor in construction departments uh retroactively effective January 12, 2026 compensated at $69,735. Resolution 130 is renewing participation North Jersey municipal employee benefits fund. Uh resolution 131 is uh renewal of uh livery uh livery license uh for limousine service. Um and this is for Madison limousine service. Resolution 132 is ratifying the appointment of Leanne Leota as position of the head swim coach. And we already

heard that in the report. And this is a a salary of $6,825. Resolution 133 is authorized the appointment of Isabella Martin to the position of engineering assistant deputy zoning officer uh effective April 27th at the uh comp at 65,000 a year under the terms of the uh federation contract. Resolution 134 is um the um appointing sorry adopting the uh BCUW housing partnership. It's a declaration of need. Uh resolution 135 is accepting irrevocable retirement of uh utility collector uh Donna Kerry effective December 1st, 2026. Resolution 136 is authorizing purchase orders under the Union County Cooperative Pricing System for phone equipment and uh installation and maintenance services. And this is various contracts in various amounts. 137 is a proven raffle license for Good Grief Inc. Uh 138 is authorizing change order request from Clark Moahan Landscaping and Construction not to exceed $12,000 bringing the uh total contract to 207,000 um 782 and this is for the Memorial Park Trail Trail phase three project which is supported from a grant from the county. Resolution 139 supporting Madison Environmental Commission 2026 events June 8th and uh September 14th. Resolution 140 is awarding contract to FM generator of Canton, Massachusetts for preventive maintenance repair of generators uh base bid amount of $20,300.

Resolution 141 is uh authorizes submission of Mars County Historic Preservation Trust Grant for architectural plans to restore the Heartley Dodge Memorial clock faces and related work. Resolution 142 is appointing Justin Krauss to position of secondass lineman um annual salary $89,160. Resolution 143 is authorizing a stipen of $1,000 for Melissa Evers for completing training, assuming additional duties as certified municipal registar and notary public. Resolution 144 is awarding uh water department material bids to various biders. And resolution 145 is approving temporary signs for Shakespeare Theater of New Jersey uh from April uh through June. And so those those are the resolutions you may comment on. Um and as I said, we have the Shade Tree Management Board and you may comment on Oak Court. As always, when you are called up, you uh state your name, your town, write your uh name and full address on the clipboard. Try to keep your comments to three minutes, but we give you a one minute grace period and we'll stop you at four minutes.

Thank you. All right.

Okay. My name is uh Joe Renee Formakola. I live at two North Oak Court Madison. I've lived there for 53 years, which is probably longer than many of you were even born. Okay. When we moved there, that street was not paved at all. It was simply gravel. There were no sewers. There was a septic system there. There were no Belgian blocks. There was none of the amenities that the other uh city streets had. Besides that, the street North O Court was cut right down the middle. One side of the street is Mars Township, the other side of the street is Madison, which means that they have a different electric system than we do. Their kids go to different school systems than ours do. Garbage is picked up four days a week because they have two different days than we do. Okay, we are not listed on Google Maps. Okay, that's North Oak Court. Then we have South Oak Court uh and Oak Court. This property originally belonged to the Decker family who owned all of the property between Fairley Dickinson and St. Elizabeth. Due to financial situations, that property was subdivided. The house that was the estate house is now the house that we live in. It's on North Oak Court, but all the properties around it have been subdivided over the times. What has happened, however, is that the our services, our municipal services are always questioned by either Mars Township or Madison. Um, I was a council woman here the last time that the street was paved. Okay. That was maybe like 35 years ago. Uh, yes. And it's time again because we have huge potholes. Um, and it was very difficult then to get the burrow uh to work with

uh Morris Township. And I'm delighted that they're going to kick in $15,000 or whatever the story happens to be this time. And the burrow is going to put in $75,000. We would just like to remind everybody here that we are taxpaying people in the bureau of Madison and we expect that we would be able to receive the same services that everybody else in the Bureau of Madison receives. And so what we're asking for very simply is that our street after 35 years be repaid, that the potholes be repaired. And we can't understand why after many many petitions and discussions with people uh in public works and other parts of of the burough, it hasn't gotten any consideration whatsoever. Last year, we were told it would be considered for this year. Now this year you're telling us that you're going to put it on for consideration possibly for the next budget cycle. I mean we have heard this now for so many years that it's completely ludicrous. The same is true with leaf pickups, snow uh clearance, etc. And so we're really here asking for the same consideration that every other city and every other street uh in Mars County and in in the burough of Madison gets. We need to have our streets paid. We have people here whose children cannot ride bicycles on the street. And we have other problems which are going to be discussed by other people because we are also on the south oak part of

one minute. Okay. Is also going to be uh spoken about. Okay. So we'll let the other person here talk about the parking problem on the other side of our street. Thank thank you for coming.

One of the things I always ask of our audience is to hold applause because I I because I I know no one would boo here but it's the one speaker that doesn't get the applause. It it it hurts them. So uh if we hold it all together you you can if you have anything you can only give it to the clerk. We can't can't hand anything to the council members. Hi everybody. Uh my name is Kevin Mora. I live at Two Staff Oak Court. I wanted to use this time to talk about the parking issues on our street. Um I prepared a sketch and some photos to help uh give some context, especially if people are not familiar with the area. So hopefully, you know, bear with me. I'm going to try and hold it and talk at the same time. So I'm gonna see. Oh, already upside down. Here we go. Okay. So, uh, our street South Oak court right here is located right next to the FDU baseball field and, uh, what usually happens is whenever, uh, FDU hosts a baseball game, you have people arriving in their cars, entering the campus, and using this parking lot to park, but that parking lot fills up very quickly and they follow the road out of the parking lot to this exit right here, right next to South Oak Park. And the pavement marking right there, uh, is only for right turn only. So, uh, they are directed towards South Oak Court, even though there's another lot over here by the track that they have in soccer field. Um, so when they see when they approach South Oak Court, they see an open street. So, it's very attractive to just use that street since it's closer to the field. And very quickly, the line the it goes from the whole way down from Oak Court all the way down to Madison Avenue. And so, Southore Court is not that very wide. It's 22 feet wide. Uh, so it can accommodate two travel lanes. So when you have cars parked in a single file line, it eliminates that lane altogether. So you only have one travel lane. So when you're going in one direction and you

see a car coming at you, you're trapped. You can't get around each other and uh you either have to pull into somebody's driveway or you have to back up and hope that you have a spot somewhere so you can just sneak in so that everybody can pass you by. Um, so it's a major congestion issue. Um, but that's not the biggest issue. I think the the bigger issue is at the intersections down at Madison Avenue and at Oak Court. Um I'm a prof I'm a licensed professional engineer. I've been doing re roadway reconstruction projects for over 15 years. So I'm very familiar with roadway design. And so when you're designing a intersection, you want to make sure that you have um visibility. You want to see the cars on the other on in the road that you're trying to merge into. Um and this is especially the case at Madison Avenue because it's a very busy road and it's a high-speed road. It's a 40 miles an hour road. So, you got to really pay attention to make sure you don't you avoid any accidents or collisions. Um, so in when they host baseball games, people just park the entire way, even to the very edge of uh towards Madison Avenue. So, when you're at the stop bar, you can't see you can't see any cars coming at you. And when you're on Madison Avenue, you can't see the car at the stop bar. So, when you're turning onto South Oak Court, by the time you get to there, uh, there's a car there. And you're now the back end of your car is sticking out into Madison Avenue. the front end of the car is right and you're stuck. So it creates a very dangerous situation which you're trying to uh solve. Um in addition to that you need to have um clearance uh so that larger vehicles can turn onto the roadway. Larger vehicles like emergency vehicles you have fire trucks you have ambulances and such and um if with these cars there they cannot get access to the roadway. So it get becomes very difficult especially if there's an emergency. Um so it gets very chaotic. Um, and so the issue was also at the intersection at Oak Court as well. Um, Oak Court is actually four feet narrower than South Oak Court, so it's even harder to even turn onto that road. Um, in fact, when

people park there, um, it's it's difficult just to get out of their driveways, especially at two Oak Court. Um, so when people are parking on the other side of that driveway, it's virtually impossible. One one minute.

Uh, so basically to wrap it up, uh, we need a solution. Right now we the police has tried to assist us put no temporary no parking signs at the edge at Madison Avenue which was very effective. Well, it wasn't very effective because people were still parking there. We need help with enforcement. I actually approached somebody who parked there. He got out of his vehicle. I approached him and said, "Excuse me, there's no parking there. Why are you parking there? Did you see the sign?" He said, "Well, honestly, bro, I just don't give a fuck." So, people are clearly not don't take the law seriously and uh they don't take our safety seriously, and that needs to change. So, we need the we need the town to help us. We need we need permanent signage like and thank you mayor for acknowledging it in the beginning. I think you're on the right track. I think we need permanent signage similar to the metal uh signs that we have down in downtown and anywhere they have uh parking restrictions. Uh we need uh pavement markings with uh diagonal hatching along the curb lines to indicate that we can't park there and it's really for our safety. So um you know happy to share more information and photos and and just you know stories like this and um you know working continue to work together to figure out a solution.

Thank you. Thank you for putting that all together. Hi Karen Sotac 9 Oak. Um so yes there's a lot of problems there but one of the other problems that we're facing is the loudness the the decibel level and the type of music that's being played. We have very young children on South Oak Court. And I'm talking like like infants all the way to like grammar school. Okay. And the music that is being played has more four-letter words in it than honest to God honest to God than than regular like like so it's loud and it's and it's inappropriate and we have we have brought this up to FDU. They don't they they have not given us a satisfactory response. Also, I'm on Oak and again the street is extremely deteriorating literally and it's very difficult to get through. So, we had many several years ago we actually had to bring up the whole thing with the school bus. I don't know if you remember but you were definitely there. Okay. We had this whole issue with the school bus and we finally got that straightened out. But I I I have walked my dog. I walk my grandchild up and down. I walk around FDU. I see what's going on there. And it is it it's just deplorable. It really is. It's

they they are rude. They are they are not kind in any way, shape, or form. They don't care about our laws or our rules. And we really, one of the things we were could we were asking for as a possibility is residential parking only, putting something up like everybody gets a like like their own permit and then extra guest passes because they're they're parking. So they took the signs, they put the signs all the way up. And by the way, those signs are falling down. Some have fallen down, some have broken. So they're not they really need to be fixed. Okay, that's it. Thank you.

Amazing. I'm Amanda Forion from Two Oak Court. Um and so I'm here really to speak today um about the paving which I'm really appreciative to hear is being addressed. And just to reiterate that um you know the concern that you know it was supposed to potentially be on the docket for this year but now could be for next year. But nonetheless um you know we know that the paving decisions depend on a broader planning and assessments. But really, I'm just here to reinforce why our street should be a priority because as others have alluded to, it really is deteriorating. And unfortunately, there's a lot of layers of paving and patches. And as a mother of two young kids who are really active trying to bike and scoot, use their scooters, like the the road isn't even really usable, unfortunately. There are just so many patches and potholes. And so our hope is that there is consideration for this project being attended to in the nearest future as possible just because, you know, it's to the point where it's it's really beyond repair at this point. And um I've collected some pictures. Um, I know my neighbors and I have posted them on CC Click Fix, but I've just brought a couple that, um, many of you might have seen, but really there's just layers and layers of patchwork and large chunks of potholes that if you were to hit this with a bike or, you know, for our neighbors who commute to the city and walk home from the train station at night, like if you're not looking for it, you could really hurt yourself walking back. So, you know, again, not to belabor the point, but just really appreciate the consideration that this project could be moved to the the top of the pile and certainly excited to see progress here. So, thank you for the time.

Thank you.

Hi, good evening. I'm Melinda Gray. I'm at 12 South Oak Court. Um, so Sunday mornings I usually wake up during baseball season to AC/DC blaring into my bedroom. Um, it's not very pleasant. I've been sending emails to FDU athletic director and head baseball coach since 2022. Um, I probably have sent some to the town through whatever portal they were using at that time. Um, so I went back and looked through my emails before I came tonight. So, yeah, it was 2022, the athletic director was Jen Noon. Um, 2022, I sent emails. 2023, I sent emails. Um, 2024, 2025, I missed. Um, and then 2026, Amanda and I got together and we sent certified letters to the athletic director and to the head baseball coach about the music. Uh, the music is extremely loud. Um, and it is some of it is inappropriate. I don't know if someone from the town or the police department has talked to FDU. It does seem that the volume has decreased somewhat. Um, they were playing an inappropriate song on Saturday and halfway through I heard they stopped the music and put something else on. So, I think somebody has spoke to them. What we need is a permanent solution because what's going to happen if we get a new athletic director at FDU or a new baseball coach and they're not aware of the situation with the loud music. So basically um what we're looking for is a long-term solution to the music. Um I don't know if the town could act as a mediator between the residents of South Oak and North Oak um and FDU so we can come to some kind of resolution. We we

understand that the music adds to the fun of the baseball game. Um but it's just too loud. There isn't any other my of my neighbors that play music like that. I've never had to send emails or go over and talk to my neighbors and tell them to turn down the music when they're having parties. So, basically, FDU is not a good neighbor. Um, between the music and the parking, um, we can't even walk our dogs over there around their parking lots anymore. Security tells us to get off campus. Um but okay, so that's private property, but we're just asking for some cooperation and just for them to realize that they are in a neighborhood. So, but thank you.

Thank you very much. Anyone else wishing to be heard about those items on our agenda, topics or resolutions, please step forward. Seeing none, I close this part of the meeting. Let me just follow up on some of the uh things. I appreciate you taking the time to come out here tonight. Um so, uh parking as far as um switching over from the temporary signs to permanent signs that has to be backed by ordinance and so we can work with the police department to get that get that going. But it would be an ordinance which means we have to introduce it, have a second hearing and then uh after a certain number of days it becomes official. But, uh, we'll coordinate and would be no parking on one of the sides. Uh, and we'll have conversations. We'll make sure the police department reaches out. Um, the diagram was very helpful. Um, and so, you know, we we need to talk to Fley Dickinson about a couple of things. So, we'll reach out and set up a meeting. Obviously, the the not just the um volume of the music, but the uh what is what's in the music. So have those conversations to remind them uh they are next to a neighborhood. Um one of the challenges I see from the great diagram is a poor design. You know and I know this did go to the planning board but you know as we we look at it and it's the same design as it was before they redid the field. So that's why we're kind of stuck with it. But if you come in there and there's no parking you're forced to go back out into Madison Avenue if you're going to try to find parking on the campus. there's no return back onto the campus. So, um I I think what they they need to do is either consider uh changing that one road to a two two-way so you can get back into onto the campus and do the supplemental parking or having someone actually on duty there during games to

uh direct. So, we'll add that to the list to talk to them. Um, and I I wanted to when I talked about the paving, I do just wanted to uh temper expectations, but you know, it it as has been po pointed out, it's been a long time since uh the old courts have been paved. Um, you know, you know that we have quite a few roads to maintain and there is a grading system. There's also a traffic, you know, amount of traffic. So obviously a um you know a Prospect Street or Green Avenue is gets higher attention because it's seeing a higher volume of traffic than a Academy Road, a Stafford Drive or a Oak Court. That's not to say we should turn your turn our backs on it. So, um, what's helpful is the fact that in the grand scheme of repaving a $75,000 project, which is not coming directly out of my wallet, is not a big project. So, especially with the 15 thou that's that's the full amount, and we would get 15,000 from um Mars Township, that brings it down to 60,000. So, we we feel pretty good that we might be that we should be able to do it this summer. Um, but again, as I said, we'll have that communication so you you know what to expect and it's very clear that we it has to be done. So, thank you for taking the time to uh come come down here.

All right, we now move on to agenda discussions and our shade tree management board an annual report. Rich and Jean, if you have anything to leave it all to Rich. All right. Uh, good evening on on behalf of my team, Emily Faron and George Sweden, myself who you might have seen going in and out of their vehicles, checking on trees, inventory, doing permits. You might see us in town and in cooperation with the shade tree management board, we're happy to present the state of the union, I mean the state of the trees for Madison 2025. Next slide. And we all know the benefits of trees. I'd have to go this because if you didn't like it, I wouldn't be here and you wouldn't have strong support. Next, please. So, in looking at 2025 data, we've had an interesting trend going on. We've had 181 tree removal permits were issued which involved 423 trees being removed. Now, that incorporated since there was a replacement factor that incorporated the $314 tree planting obligations and $184 tree planting recommendations. Uh $8,850 were received in permit fees. But most interesting thing here is that the uh the three main reasonions for tree removals that we saw in 25 where construction dead trees are poor and declining trees. Now we're going to touch upon that in a second or two. And another thing to keep in mind is that what we found in 2025 is the most frequently removed tree was the noroy maple. Next, please. So going over the trends over the past

five years, we've had more trees being removed due to construction. Whether this is because there's more construction activity or more activity on sites with had more trees on it. I'm not quite sure which way it fits, but that's what we've seen. We've had an increase in dead trees and an increasing trees. We did see a decrease in amount of ash trees being removed as the negative effects of the emerald ash border borer has come and gone and now the stragglers are are being removed. What we've noticed is that the um the dad and poor and declining. We've had some really interesting weather patterns. I think it was last year, last summer, I dug a hole in my yard to plant something and I went down six inches and it was dry as bone. So, we had a wet spring. Come after June, dry. Shallow rooted trees like the Norway maple and red maples and beach trees cannot tolerate that because they don't dig deep for the root systems as some of the other species. So, we're going to see a little bit of a cause and effect there. I'm not decreasing or saying yeah it's because of environment but it's just something to keep in mind as a trend. We also have other situations coming up with the um aging population of trees and new issues that are hitting our tree population like the beach leaf disease on hitting the beach trees and a few of the issues with the oak trees and bacterial leaf scorch. not bacterial leaf scores but some of the yolk decline and um some other issues. So we have these issues. Next please. As you know with the part of the ordinance we have a replacement factor. So what we started

to do we have a 12-month window before you go out there and start knocking on the doors. Did you plant the tree? We started doing that a little bit the year before and didn't go over too well. So the 97 property owners who have obligations to plant trees from 2024 um which involved 140 trees are now being sent letters tell informing them that the site inspection will be made by the end of June. Sort of gives them a nice reminder and it's a preface to us being out there and it's a lot easier than having a stick waved at our faces as they go knocking the doors. But on a 24 204 data on construction sites, one of three sites were planted, which is 73% of the trees that were planted. The other two are still ongoing, so we don't have a final on that. And in 25 the construction sites, four out of seven sites were planted already, which involved 56% of the trees obligated to be planted. Again, delayed in construction, completion, various factors take a toll in that. So, you you have to be a little bit realistic. Next, please. On a better note, out of the public trees, we had 114 service requests. 336 trees were inspected, 51 trees were removed, 110 trees were pruned, 16 trees were on private property, and four trees required no further work. We've seen a decline in the number of removals necessary on public trees along the streets. Next, please. So year over year over the past four or five years what we've seen is a trend that um

the counts tend to increase from 25 over they go up and down putting from 24 to 25 more trees are removed but only at a small percentage increase like 6%. And I think if you count the environmental factor there, that's what's going on. Then what I really like to see, what I love seeing was that the public tree counts have declined. We went from 145 to 108 93 and 51 last year, which is good, really good. Next, please. So under considerations of what are we going to do in the future we have in a nutshell the management cost for 25 came out to be a little bit over $22,000 a decrease from 24 26,900 I think part of that had the effect of that August um storm that we all dealt with um we mentioned that the removals and something I'd like to talk about at the sha tree board meeting and bring it up the right way is maybe we I'm not sure if Madison has a temporary CO status when new construction comes on. I'd like to see if that's possible. We've seen in other towns um when a new house is built to rebuilt a CEO is not given permanently until the tree obligation, tree planting obligation is given. So they give them a temporary one. It's sort of nice and it actually gets the foot in the door without anyone forgetting about it. Next, please. Of course, with all the the good news is always we've been having an active year. Uh we had a couple projects that were largecale which involved the projects that grew all the farms two or three Green Avenue and these potential projects involve significant mature tree

loss but we've been able to work with the developer with planning and shade tree board and being involved in Zoom calls uh with site visits and making recommendations and uh the juryy's still out which way that's going to go. So that's a state of the union from 20 state of the trees from 2025. You know, I do that on purpose. So any questions? Thank you.

Just a just a quick question. Thank you for all the information. It's actually very helpful and um good to know that at least some of the people, the homeowners are starting to replace their trees as expected. came across this morning um Bradford pear trees and 29 other non-native plants um are about to be banned by New Jersey. What is I don't even know if we even have Bradford pear trees in all up and down Main Street. Okay, so I don't know my tree identification folks.

If you see an tree in flower on Main Street right now, it's Bradford calorie pair. So the question becomes is once that goes into effect, do we then have to remove and replant or because they're there or does it depend on how they pass? I think with I believe with the ordinance is that they don't they're going to regulate planting new being forbidden. If you have you're not grandfathered in, but considering these trees are problematic and especially pear trees, they have a tendency falling apart in a storm that they're going to self-destruct on their own in short order. So it's just a matter of slowly what budgets allow no other issues take a little bit down at a time replace them.

Got it. Thank you. And it was that Yeah. Waverly place that's part of the project getting those out of there. Bob. Yeah. First of all, this was a great presentation. Thank you. And I can't overstate and I can't thank you enough for doing this because one, the environmental benefit of the trees that goes without saying, but anybody driving through town, when you're looking at a street, isn't it nice to see a nice treeline street that's important? It really is.

One question I did have, the homes that get the friendly reminders, what happens if they ignore the reminders? Well, we'll bring it up to the our township attorney and the the burough attorney and see what the next move will be. I I think it's one of those I don't want to say dangerous, but we got to be right in how we handle it. Yeah. I'm not going to make any um radical decisions on my own. Gotcha. At the backing of the burrow.

But no, I appreciate you telling them because, you know, people just can't go chopping them down and think, well, okay, it's done and no, nothing's going to happen. But I'm glad you follow up on it. Thank you. There is a little bit of dendrophobia. People get scared. They read the headlines. Yellow journalism, trees falling on a house. It happens. But there are motor vehicle accidents, the airplane accidents. I'm not equating it to be the same. However, there's a certain amount of risk and certain amount of care should be taken. And thankfully, we didn't hit that many this past year. A few, but not too many.

Thank you. Thank you very much. We can't get questions from the audience. Sorry, John. All right, real real quick, Rich. Thanks a lot. I know you're active part of the whole shade tree management board giving them some consulting. There's some some species of trees in the town that we want to keep but are having some disease issues. Beach tree. Peach tree. Yeah. Which I have a couple of. I don't want to lose them. Is there is there a plan? Is there any more trees that have issues like that?

The hot item now the hot item now is the beach trees. And I do f they have found at least they're not totally proven but uh the research has shown that is an injection that does work but it has to be applied I'm not sure annually or semianually uh to prevent that neode. It's a nemode that actually gets in the leaves and spread by rainfall and raindrops. That's why it's so hard to isolate and fix but it's inside the leaf and a nemode is extremely small. Uh um but so that's the biggest issue. Now there's ongoing issues. We went through the ash trees. Um going to keep an eye on some of the oaks,

but and we watch what we're planting now to avoid that problematic species and just keeping us in a diverse ver diverse species allocation. Right. What was that uh bug that was taking over for a little while? that very colorful bug that we we Asian long um I'm sorry that's the spot lantern fly. Wow. Good memory.

That that actually turned out to be a sizzle unless you had a grape farm, a vineyard or a crop of Atlantis trees, which no one in the right mind would want that because that's what they're attracted to. And it drops the sudi mold eventually starts suffocating the tree. But it's general tree population, you don't get that cluster of the lantern flies that would kill the tree. Yeah. It just looks unsightly. And right, we've had that high population. Two years ago, not bad at all. Last year, a little bit more, but I think we're going to always see this this sinus curve. Yeah. Up and down a little bit. Thanks, Rich.

Welcome. Thank Thank you, Rich for great report. And uh we we do have a second comment period. So if if someone wanted to ask a question or comment about trees, that'll be coming up after our um or ordinance hearings. And so now we move on to ordinance for hearing. Will the clerk please read the statement? Excuse me. The ordinances scheduled for hearing were introduced by title and passed on a first reading at the regular meeting council held March 23rd, 2026. They're posted and filed according to law. Copies were made available to members of the general public requesting same.

I call ordinances for second reading. Ask the clerk to read that ordinance by title. Ordinance 17-2026. Calendar year 2026. Ordinance to exceed the municipal budget appropriations limit and to establish a cap bank. Open hearing on ordinance 17. Anyone wish to comment, please step forward. Seeing none, I close the hearing. Mayor, I move uh ordinance 17-2026. Second. Any council discussion?

Just a quick reminder, we mentioned this last time, but the appropriations cap um allows us to hold two years of excess appropriation excess appropriations in it. Uh and that gives us and future councils the flexibility should there be sudden or significant increases in expenses such as rock salt, fuel, natural gas and al like. So this ordinance will establish the appropriations cap. Usually this is pretty ministerial but over the last few years we've had two situations where we've actually had to use the appropriations cap. Um the first was a few years ago when we established the uh ambulance services and uh last year for the pool as well. So um doing this each year gives us flexibility and financial health.

Thank you. Any other comments? Roll call vote, please. Mr. Landan, yes. Mr. Range, yes. Mr. Harland Pudis, yes. Mr. Forte, yes. Miss Cohen, yes. I declare ordinance 17-2026 adopted and finally passed and ask the clerk to publish notice thereof thereof in the newspaper and file the ordinance accordance with the law. Ordinance 18-2026 an ordinance authorizing the burrow of Madison in the county of Mars, New Jersey to enter into a financial agreement with RNO Madison Urban Renewal LLC for a subdivided portion of one derelda farms block 3303 lot 2.

Open hearing for ordinance 18. Anyone wishing to comment, please step forward. Seeing none, I close the hearing. Mayor, I move ordinance 18-2026. Second. Council discussion. Roll call vote, please. Mr. Landry, yes. Mr. Range, yes. Mr. Harold Pudis, yes. Mr. Forte, yes. Miss Cohen, yes. I declare ordinance 18-2026 and adopt and finally pass and ask the clerk to publish notice thereof in the newspaper and file the ordinance accordance to the law. Ordinance 19-2026.

Ordinance of the Bureau of Madison appropriating $1,500,000 from the water capital improvement fund to design and install PFAS forever chemical treatment equipment. Open the hearing on ordinance 19. Anyone wishing to comment, please step forward. Seeing none, I close the hearing. Mayor, I move ordinance 19 2026. Second council discussion Tom. So Jim, you baited me with this.

Smiling. You baited me with this, right? Last time we had our discussion. I I remember that we were going to hold $675,000 this year from our water fund and keep it in there, right? And now we have $1.5 million in surplus in the water fund. Is that right? Who am I talking to? Right. Settlement. Yeah. Litigation. Right. But these are payments for litigation that we participated in and prevailed. So approximately one point approximately $1.3 million of the 1.3

right capture year finally. Okay. I got for those at home. All right, maybe I should start it again.

The majority of the funds in this ordinance reflect a settlement of national litigation against DuPont 3M, other companies that have been unfortunately polluting, creating this situation around the country. We were parties as plaintiffs in national litigation. Those litigation matters were settled. Our payment was approximately $1.3 million of this $ 1.5 million. So, we had it in a reserve account. In order to spend it, we have to appropriate it. We now have to plan for it. There's a federal law that requires by 2031, we have to remediate these forever chemicals out of our public water supply. The standards used to be 0.40 um trillion and the um EPA, US EPA reduced that threshold number from 40 parts per trillion to 0.4 parts per trillion. We're not above that yet, but we anticipate we will get to that point and so we need to be prepared for it. That's a large expenditure that will be between 12 to 15 million that we have to spend as a community to make sure our water is safe for our residents and our users and guests. So this is the first step in that process to hire a company to to start to design those type of facilities that we would need to uh screen that chemical out of our five wells and make sure our water is safe for people to drink. So long explanation to a short question.

Okay. So this is not more of the burrows. It's a little bit more of the burrows nominal. But the next the next piece of this will be a very large capital contribution by the bureau that we need to right fund the actual construction of this work. This is only going to pay for the design work of these critical infrastructure.

Sure. But I request and I think this is great. We have to use the money for that anyway. The 1.3 million that we got from the settlement. So I know about that because part of my business is involved with that too. So anyway, but I just commented that a previous meeting when Jim made the presentation that in lie of tying up a lot of the bureau's money that we do use normally for infrastructure updates for tax for tax um really for whatever. Let's wait until we get a little bit closer. There might be an option and I want safe drinking water. So nobody say that I don't care about the drinking water because that's not intention. But there is things that will change in the next six years. I don't have the forecast on that and none of us do whether it'll be 12 million, 50 million or $5 million. As we get closer, we'll actually see what the state is recommending and maybe the state will help us. So, it's good to prepare. You guys are great about preparing for rainy days. I don't know what the amount should be. I don't know if we're going to bond part of it when it's time. We probably will. We have, right? We have some loans that are suns setting or terminating in a couple years. So anyway, I didn't know where that money was. That was my primary.

We we do have we have a bond we have debt service that's being retired in 2028 that pay for the renovation of this building, the construction of the public safety complex and the purchase of fire related equipment. So that debt service will end in 2028, which allows us to then have the financial ability without adjusting the budget to take that debt service payment that we're currently making and apply it to this new obligation to make sure we have safe drinking water. But I think Ry, and I don't know this, and none of you do either, that there might be some assistance from the state. I would count on it. I mean, everybody's in the same boat. I mean, you don't know in six years. Wouldn't I wouldn't count on it, but you don't know if you have a good governor now who's very sensitive to the money that we have to spend to

Well, the federal government the only aid that the federal government they're not putting money into this. They extended the deadline. The original compliance deadline was 2029. Yes, sir. And so many towns across the country said they couldn't make it. They'd be out of compliance. So instead of funding towns, they just pushed the deadline out to 2031. Sure. That's the only but I don't want to see us take money from like I said infrastructure whether it's Waverly Place redesign some of our other open community spaces that's all I'm just being conscious of the balance. Okay. All right. Thanks Jim. Debon and Eric. So two things. One it has to be done and operational in 2031. Correct. Correct.

It's not that it has to start. It's not breaking ground in 2031.

Has to be operational. Okay. So, and just my feeling knowing having done budgets for the soccer club and for things that where my job and my personal budget, better to save a little bit now, even if it hurts someplace else than to be scrambling if it turns out to be more than the 12 or 15 million. Um, or and if it's less, great. Then we can unencumber some of that money. But I think waiting to see what's going to happen in this day and age for me personally doesn't make sense. It makes sense to kind of pull it out gradually so that we can still do those infrastructure and Waverly Place which we've been talking about since the last time I was on council. But to to just say, well, let's wait and see what happens worries me when it a has to be done by 2031. And just from budgeting standpoint, saving a little bit at a time is easier than saving a ton. Eric,

just to be clear what action we took the 600 and 600,000 in change that uh we did not move in water surplus or water fund balance this year. Um is only a one-year decision at the moment. Um, next year as things become clearer, that council that sits may decide to continue to hold that money in the water utility or release it. Um, so the decision that was made was an in at the introduced budget is simply the decision that's been made for this year. Um, I think we will have a much better idea as this year progresses and this work is done. Um, because we're sort of saying, oh, it might be, you know, 10 million, it might be 12 million. Um, but we don't even know what we what project we're doing yet because it hasn't been designed, which is what this ordinance does. So the first step is to spend these dollars which are largely funded by the settlement and then we can decide um but to Deb's point I think you know it's probably going to to come up with 10 or 12 million between now and 2029 or 2030 when we're actually going to have to be doing this project is probably going to be all of the above. It's probably going to require some things that aren't on the books right now. It might require some borrowing, Tom. Um, and it might require um adjustments and fund balance. But, uh, the first step is to sort out what the project is. Um, we actually know the problem we're trying to solve. So, now we need to know what solution we need to budget for. So,

but but one comment, Eric, and and maybe this is fine language. It says to fund the design and install the PAS forever chemical treatment equipment. So, does that mean that another council could come in and say, "Oh, you guys said you were going to install it, so when are you doing it? Doing it like Deb said, like have it ready finished by 2031?" Or this certainly is not to install it. I know. No, it's not enough. Well, we don't know what it is, Jim. No, this is just hiring an engineering firm. We're currently interviewing three firms. Yeah. Who would design these critical facilities to scrub this chemical out of uh our public water supply.

Other towns who have actually implemented this have spent in excess of $15 million. Similar size towns to us with a lesser number of wells. We have five wells that we have to deal with. So this is a real obligation. It's a real safety issue for our community and we have to deal with it. The other challenge is the state has changed their policies. They don't want municipalities taking money out of their utility and then going borrowing money instead of using the the resources of the utility to address a problem for that utility. So here we have a water utility. We know we have an issue. They want us to take the money that's generated by that water utility to be part of the solution to fund it, not to divert it to a third party source. They actually have a rule proposal that's pending prohibiting that practice statewide. Not it's not directed at Madison. We've never been a bad actor in terms of that. We're classified as a state. We can self-examine our budget because we're viewed as a high achiever by the state of New Jersey, but they have a general philosophy. They don't want towns borrowing money when they have a utility that is generating a need that should be funded by the utility. So, that's another reason why those funds were not moved from the utility to the budget because we know we have this issue that we have to deal with between now and 2031. John,

just to be clear and and hopefully I mean Rey or Mayor Ray, correct me if I'm wrong. As I see this, this is a necessary prudent step. That's a first step that we have to take in order to go down the road and understand what our obligation will be. It's I see this no different than if an individual homeowner hired an architect to say, "I want to put an addition on my house." you have to go through that step first to understand what the costs are going to be so that you can understand what the scope of that project will be. Right.

Right. So I think you know it's it's we're fortunate that we've got some quote unquote seed money as large as the pot is to start this from the lawsuit settlement. Um but I think from where I sit I'm I'm in squarely in the camp with Deb. I think we have a uh very large fiscal responsibility that rests on our shoulders and um we have to be prudent in terms of planning this and understanding all the levers that we have to pull so that we can do this in the most expedient and fiscally responsible way for the people of Madison.

That's what I wanted the clarification to say what we're doing. So we're using money that we got. So I'm a settlement to design it and then we'll have a better better idea what these experts they were doing and we're using money from the settlement so the community wouldn't know that just from seeing this ordinance. I didn't even know it so shame on me for not following. I do remember that we got the money though. Thanks Ray for clarifying that. Yeah, as I mentioned there'll be different lever levers we will use to uh fund it. Yep. That's great. All right. Clean vote please. Mr. Landrean. Yes. Mr. Range. Yes, Mr. Harold Pudis. Yes, Mr. Forte. Yes, Mr. Cohen. Yes.

I declare ordinance 19-2026 adopted and finally passed and ask the clerk to publish notice thereof newspaper follow the ordinance in accordance with the law. Ordinance 20-2026. Ordinance the Bureau of Madison appropriating $100,000 from the general capital improvement fund for engineering design and permitting services for Glenn Wild Road and Green Village Road sanitary sewer replacement upgrade and related work. Open hearing on ordinance 20. Anyone wishing to comment, please step forward. Seeing none, I close the hearing. Mayor, I move ordinance 2020 2026. Second council discussion. Roll call vote, please. Mr. Landrian,

yes. Mr. Range, yes. Mr. Harold Pudis, yes. Mr. Forte, yes. Miss Cohen, yes. I declare ordinance 20-2026 adopted and finally pass. Ask the clerk to publish notice there of a news newspaper and file the ordinance accordance with the law. And now we're on to our second of uh two invitations for public comment. This is when you may comment on any topic. Uh same guidelines are in place. Please uh state your name and town and write the full address and name and town on on the uh clipboard. Try to keep your comments at three minutes, but we give you a one minute grace period.

Richard Zipper uh Madison. Um first of all, I'd like to thank the mayor and council because you have really big problems to solve. I can see that with the water and the lawsuits for the housing and all this stuff. And I want to thank you for listening to the little problems like the ones I'm about to bring up. Um I was going to talk about two things, but I found a third one tonight. Um Mayday, it used to be the first weekend in first Saturday in May and then they moved it when they changed the clean and green to the last weekend in April. Now it's back to the first weekend in May. Well, that was like a punch in the gut to me because my boy scout troop, which has done James Park for the last 25 or 30 years, has a camp out plan that weekend because we thought it was was moved to the last week in April. So, I'm asking if you're going to have Mayday or cleaning green or whatever it is, just stick to one date, either the first weekend in May or the last weekend in April. Okay? other groups have to plan around it. Um, okay. The one the two topics I came really to talk about tonight is um the uh Rosedale Avenue has two ball fields and a skating rink. Okay. It's the time of year now where the the road is just full of cars parked in the street. It's dangerous for bicyclists and also dangerous for people getting out of their cars. The cars now all have these blacked out windows, so you can't see if there's a person in the car or not. When you're riding your bicycle, if somebody opens the door and you're riding into the door, it's an accident waiting to happen. So, you have to ride in the middle of

the street. Have you seen the way people drive? Now, I'm not going to fight with a 3,000B vehicle on a bicycle. I wouldn't even be mentioning this if there weren't three huge parking lots right there. You've got pool parking lot, you've got the ice skating ring parking lot, and there's a parking lot at Sunny Vatal Field. And I've gone by Sunny Vatal Field numerous times. There's empty spaces, but everybody's parked in the street. So, I think the safest thing to do would be to have people park in those parking lots when they're having ball games. Um, the other thing I wanted to mention is um the nor the uh leaf blowers. Uh, I think that the I've been following it in the Madison Eagle and it seems like the leaf blower thing is kind of dead because nobody's going to be happy. There's one side says they're bad. Then you've got the landscapers who say they need them. The residents

One minute, Rich. Excuse me. What? One minute.

Okay. the the residents are part of the problem. Okay? If those things weren't so noisy, we wouldn't even be talking about it. Okay? And when was the last time you saw somebody raking their lawn or sweeping their sidewalk? Nobody does. So, I'm I'm suggesting a practical solution that I think everyone can agree with. We all want quieter neighborhoods. I say start small. How about this? No power equipment after 300 p.m. on weekends and holidays. Very small thing. I think everybody can agree to it and see how that works and then gradually maybe do something else down the line. But I think people want something done and I think just something common sense and practical would be better than creating some big kuruffle.

Thank you.

Hi, my name is Da Fakar. I live on 74 Shunpike Road, Madison, New Jersey. And celebrate my name. Um, I'm here um I'm a senior from Madison High School. I'm part of the environmental club at Madison High School. I'm one of the presidents and I was here to just discuss my insight on the affforementioned leafblower situation that is going on. Um and I'm just here to discuss um the importance of banning gas leaf blowers in Madison beyond just the noise implications. There are a lot of environmental impacts that the leaf blowers are having on Madison which I believe were mentioned in a previous council meeting. Um, just to touch back on that, I believe it was discussed that the negative environmental implications of gas leaf blowers included the um, greenhouse gas emissions that are being created by these leaf blowers as they're used throughout the town from the burning of their fossil fuels, as well as other carcinogens and lung irritants that people in Madison are breathing in every single time that these gas leaf blowers are used. Um, specifically I'm here to dive deeper on the pursuit of change when it comes to this kind of like specific problem. Um, we are aware thanks to research done by organizations such as the California Air Resource Board that um, majority of the emissions released from gas leaf blowers can be equivalated or from one hour of gas leaf blower emissions. It can be the the equivalent of 15 hours of driving a car or 1,100 miles of driving a car. And the reason that we use such a method of comparison is because we're aware that

um the burning of fossil fuels in gas cars is just as bad as gas leaf blower emissions. But even though we're aware of this problem, there's not a lot being done to change it. Um which is why banning gas leaf blowers is so important in Madison. Things like transportation aren't as easy to change because everyone relies on cars to get around even if public transportation, walking, biking is an option. But this is a more feasible option to reducing our fossil fuel usage within the town. Um, technology like this was created to make us more efficient in our day-to-day tasks, but this efficiency has come at the cost of our impact on the environment and it's affecting people throughout the whole town. Um, additionally, the banning of gas leaf blowers may require a shift in standards when it comes to lawn care because the transition will affect landscaping companies that perform the that perform um, gas leaf blowing. And it's important that in times of change such as this, um, frustrations can't be taken out on the people who are keeping our communities so clean and well-maintained, which is just something I thought I'd touch upon since by banning these gas leaf gas leaf blowers, it'll be a big change for everyone in the town. Um, the perfection of lawns is partially how we reach the point of extreme industrial machinery being used residentially and frequently throughout the entire town. And a shift in priorities also means um unification against a common goal that has nothing to do with the aesthetic of our lawns and how they look, rather how our actions are affecting our future generations. Um and just by fighting each other, we wouldn't be able to come come together and kind of um move forward. We would just kind of get stuck on our old fossil fuel consumption rates. So we need to make a change. Um, thank you for your time and for listening and have a great

Thank you. Anyone else wishing to be heard? Please step forward.

Jean Kovia, 79 Barnesdale Road, Madison. Uh, two two topics. Uh, Deborah, your question about the pear trees uh, Main Street. Um you cannot buy now pear trees with the new ordinance in the state. Uh but in addition um the shry board has over the last five years uh had a replacement program to remove uh the pear trees and we've done a lot of that down towards the brick lake Brook Lake area. Uh, and the second thing I want to share with you is that Melissa and her team is working on a large D grant and one of the items in there is to replace all of the pear trees on Main Street if that grant gets approved. So, okay. Um, I'm here as a resident um to talk about the leaf blower. Um I changed from a um local landscaper using gas equipment to a different landscaper uh who used only EV equipment about three years ago. Uh and the reason I changed is I could not find a landscaper uh who would not uh use the mulching option on their lawnmowers so that they would leave the grass clippings on the grass which in turn would feed the grass. Okay. And so the only vendor or contractor I found was an EV contractor who gladly um mulched mulched with the lawn mower. Uh and by the way also um had all the his blowers were um uh electric. Uh there was actually no change in the cost. So the cost was the same. Um one nuisance about going with an EV blower uh solution is that At times you want to go meet your landscaper to adjust whatever the service they're going to do. Um, well, two or three times I

missed them completely while I'm at my house because I didn't hear a thing because it was so quiet. So, there's a slight downside to it. You make sure if you're going to adjust your landscape, you got to give them a call ahead of time. But, uh, in summary, I think the, uh, EV equipment is the future. Um, and the sooner we migrate, uh, it the better off we're all going to be. So, thank you. Thank you.

They know who you are. Uh hello, my name is Gavin, or that's how I'd like to go by. I am also a senior at Madison High School and a member of the environmental club. I'm here to again like empathize on the previous statements on uh gas leaf blowers and advocate for the banning of gas powered leaf blowers in our community. I say the primary reason why gas leaf blowers should be banned is because the health issues vast gas leaf blowers can blow uh can blow as p it can blow blasts of air as powerful as a category 5 hurricane. And those and that in that air there's pollen, mold, and a lot of stuff that you do not want to be inhaling. They can also release uh carbon monoxide uh benzene, hydrocarbons and a lot of chemicals that can lead to asthma, lung cancer sometimes like it will lead to birth defects and gas leaf blows can also blow a lot of particulate matter in the in atmosphere which is which has negative implications for uh your health and Children are the most susceptible to these to these risks. When I'm outside, like after school, there's a lot of, you know, like landscaping crews using gas powered

equipment. And when people are like out there doing athletic activities, you don't want them to be inhaling these sort of chemicals. Uh because these chem chemicals like don't break down really fast. they can stay in the air for a really really long time and can and can travel really far. And then the next thing obviously is the the environmental implications. As DA mentioned, uh gas leaf flows can release as much carbon dioxide as a as what was it like a 15 hour drive or something like that. Yeah. and which obviously you don't want that because it will lead to a lot of unnecessary pollution and long-term consequences cuz and I think this is uh the the continued use of gas leaf blowers is a product of the lack of care for an environment because I remember like we used to use like leaf blowers powered by that that contained lead and even Even though those were banned in 1996, the lead still remains in our soil today, which can be really dangerous. And then last but not not least, the air the noise pollution from gas leaf blowers is also a huge problem. I've heard a lot of talk about like how noisy your neighborhoods are. And gas leaf blowers can produce up to can produce over 90 dB of sound. So that's another issue. And as someone who cares deeply about the environment, I know that my generation will be the ones that will face these long-term consequences and will

half a minute possibly be responsible for those consequences. One of the solutions I think can replace gas leaf blowers or electric leaf blowers. Although they might have like some of the consequences, it's much of it is reduced greatly. And not just that, it's also cheaper because they require less maintenance because they don't require fuel. And gas leaf blowers also have terrible like efficiency because they use a two-stroke engine. And

we got time, so we got Thank you. Did you Did you write your name on there? Good evening, Mayor Connley and our council members here representing us. My name is Michael Belt. I purchased my home on Kings Road in 1986. So, I've seen some changes in the life and community of Madison, and that's why I come to speak to you this evening to request our burough council enact an ordinance which provides a reasonable transition away from gas powered leaf blowers to electric equipment and other safer, quieter, and less environmentally damaging methods of lawn maintenance. For some 27 years, I had a landscaper who used gas-powered equipment. It was noisy. I could hear it blocks away as I returned home, and it was even worse when I was inside working from home. Some landscapers do provide hearing protection for their employees, but it does nothing to dampen the excessive loud noise from gas leaf blowers in particular that we the community encounter daily as we work as they work on our and our neighbors yards. In addition, the chemical toxins and dangerous particullet released into the air you and I breathe, especially from

two-stroke equipment, are hazardous to our breathing and our bodies. Workers who operate gas powered leaf blowers without per without wearing protective equipment for their ears, eyes, and lungs are at the greatest risk for health harms. Last year, I learned a new landscaper, one who used all electric equipment, was starting to serve the Madison area. Without delay, I sent an email asking for a quote. I received a quick response, and the price was identical to what I'd been paying my former landscaper. So, I decided to give it a try. Little did I know that the company Blue Sky Green Earth also used electric trucks to get to my house and this their jobs and that the owners and their crews were equally effective and efficient as to what I previously had. I can't begin to tell you how it continues to surprise me some days to look up and see the crew mowing away or edging or blowing leaves and grass away. And I didn't even know they were on my premises. It's a joy to continue doing whatever task I'm doing in my house without having to stop because of the incredible noise level. Knowing no one's hearing is being damaged and that there are no toxins being released into the air that you and I and everyone in our community breathes. If I wasn't already doing it, I can guarantee you I would immediately change. Thank you.

Thank you, Michael. Good evening, Brian Monahan, Green Hill Road. Uh, also uh in regards to electric leaf blowers versus gasoline. I realize that there's uh quite a bit of conversation going on with contractors to try to get them on board with an ordinance. From the other point of view, let's talk about the individual homeowner. I'm on the street of 15 houses. Of those 15 houses, seven of us do our own lawn maintenance, which entail entails, you know, cutting the grass and blowing the leaves. Of those seven, six have voluntarily gone to electric leaf blowers. As a matter of fact, almost all of them still have a gas powered leaf blower in the garage and have not used it in years. So, I'd like just for your consideration to also consider the other side of the equation, not just the contractors. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Brian. Kathleen Cacelli. I can't write my address because Brian stole the paper, but I will. Uh, 82 Central Avenue, Madison. I I want to applaud our Madison High School students for the research they did and all of the facts that they presented. Um, so I don't have to go into those facts because they've already covered them and a lot of people have already said some of the things that I would have said, but I do want to talk a little bit about um the initiative that that was that was dreamed up. Um, I've been following the uh press and um I understand I feel like the contractors heard about this all the wrong way. So when the climate action committee, the sustainable Madison committee and the um MEC uh dreamed up going for a $10,000 grant to supply our Department of Public Works with electric landscaping equipment. The intent was to be able to walk the talk before we asked the contractors to do that. We also intended to have training sessions in the fall to give the contractors the winter to begin to prepare for transitioning. And all of that kind of fell apart when we couldn't even get our equipment ordered in because of various technical issues with ordering it. Um so uh and I also want to say that the the whole thing is supposed to be an easing in and the ban as it was as it was conceived was going to be a temporary seasonal ban and it might not have even happened this year but we would work

towards that. And that idea is that it's a time of period, a time of year when the contractors don't have to use their gas leaf blowers because there are no leaves to blow. So a summer band, you know, who needs to watch people blow dirt and stones around somebody's driveway really. And um but I also want to say that you know there is the noise issue, there is the health issue. And I'm a little upset when I read that the contractors talk about expense and they don't talk about their workers because more than the residents, the workers who work with that equipment are directly impacted by using that equipment day after day, hour after hour. And as a person who's working on updating our community equity and diversity profile, that's one of the things that we would speak to is considering the health of everybody who works in the town. So, I do hope that we can continue to make some progress on our outreach about the deleterious effects of gas leaf blowers from a personal a contractor employee and a noise issue. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Kathy. Anyone else? And we do and we do have the electric landscaping equipment in the hands of the DPW. So maybe we can invite the uh high school students to come see a demonstration. Anyone else wishing to be heard, please step forward.

Seeing none, I close this part of the meeting. Just to um quick uh follow up on some of the comments. Uh Rich, great to see you back here again. It's been a while. So, uh I if you if you haven't checked with um Lisa Ellis, maybe the possibility the scouts doing the last whether it's still a possibility of doing the last weekend of April, still doing their park that they adopt might might still be worthwhile, but we'll certainly um uh talk make sure we're cognizant of when we set these dates that we give people good planning time for it. um parking on Rosedale. I I think what we can remind the various leagues to uh communicate to their parents parking lots first before you use on the street. Um we have restricted parking on one side of Richdale, Rosedale, but there there are issues obviously still going on there. And then uh most of the other comments were related to uh gas leaf blowers and appreciate the students taking the time and other comments and to your comment Rich. This is not not an easy one to work through. Um and we're that's why we're taking our time to do it right. Um we do have another meeting scheduled with um additional landscapers including Blue Sky Green. Uh so an all electric landscaper. We also have a uh what I would call I guess maybe a semi-green landscaper who still using gas equipment but is using mulching uh blades. So so not carrying the gr grass off and not blowing the grass off of the lawn, leaving it there in place. Also talking to uh customers about the value of leaving stuff in the plant beds and so on. So, uh, we we're continuing to have a conversations. Um, and to Brian Manet, um, yeah, comment the fact that, uh, half of Green Hill is, uh, cutting their own

grass. I think that's one of the highest ratios in town. So, was very interesting, but it shows one of the challenges and part of it is ed educating the customer as well as the deliver delivery of the services. So, all that's still going. A lot of work to be done. Um, and Kathy, you outlined it very well as far as we got to make sure we do all this work in education for whatever steps we take. And we now move on to uh introduction of ordinances. Will the clerk please read the statement?

Okay. The ordinance scheduled for first reading has a hearing date set for Wednesday, April the 29th, 2026. will be published in on the bureau's website, posted on the bulletin board, and made available to members of the public requesting copies.

I call up ordinance 21-2026 for first read and ask the burough clerk to read ordinance by title. Ordinance of the Bureau of Madison adopting the second amended redevelopment plan for certain property known as one Geralda Farms located at block 3303 L 2 as shown on the official tax map of the Bureau of Madison pursuant to local development, excuse me, pursuant to local redevelopment and housing law NJSA4A12A-1 to 89. Mayor, I move ordinance 21-2026. Second.

Uh, council comment. Um, so this is a revised redevelopment plan for Geralda 1, which as we know was a two building plan approved by the planning board in December, I think. um with uh but due to some issues at the state uh the plan for the second building is being adjusted. So this is a new redevelopment plan reflecting the updated plan. Uh if we pass this tonight, this will be referred to the planning board and we'll have a planning board hearing at the planning board meeting on April 21st. Thank you. Any further comment? Roll call vote, please. Mr. Landrian.

Yes. Mr. Range. Yes. Mr. Harold Pudis. Yes. Mr. Forte. Yes. Miss. Cohen. Yes. Now move on to consent agenda resolutions where the clerk please read the statement. Consent agenda resolutions will be enacted with a single motion. Any resolution requiring expenditure supported by a certification of availability of funds. Any resolution requiring discussion will be removed from the consent agenda. All resolutions will be reflected in full in the minutes. Mayor, I move R 127 uh 2026 through R 145 2026. Second. Any that need to be pulled?

Roll call vote, please. Mr. Landrean, yes. Mr. Range, yes. Mr. Carolis, yes. Mr. Forte, yes. Miss Cohen, yes. There is no unfinished business. Pro approval of vouchers. Will the clerk please read the voucher totals?

Yes. From the current fund, $199,19962. From the general capital fund, $225,72010. From the electric operating fund, $695,25456. And from the water operating fund, $9,81751. from the trusts 66,419.98. The total is $1,196,411.79.

Mayor, I move the approval of the vouchers. Second. Any discussion? Tom, I have a question. Sorry, I know everybody wants to go home and I do too because I've been working since six o'clock this morning. But you don't have to tell me what happened. Jim Ray, if you want to, that's fine. Uh, on page number six, you have a motor vehicle accident payment of $28,000. Is that something that we would recover that back from our insurance? I guess it was a big accident.

What's that, right? It's on page six. There's a damage from a car accident and the repair and it's $28,000. So, I'm just asking is that something we get back from our insurance? Yeah.

He doesn't have a mic here. Will this There we go. Okay. If I if you could give me the number, we we will email you. But yes, normally if there's an accident involved, we are uncovered by the GIF. So if it's someone has hit our equipment, then we would pursue reimbursement from them. If it's something that we've suffered the damage, we would present it to our insurance carrier to be reimbursed under our coverage. It's just a lot of money and it jumped out at me. So you know, we're already I'm already complaining about other expenses. I just wanted to know. And you have insurance. We have good insurance. We do have good insurance. Yes, sir. I don't know what the accident was. That's fine. Any other discussion? Roll call vote, please. Mr. Landrean, yes.

Mr. Range, yes. Mr. Harold Pudis, yes. Mr. Forte, yes. Miss Cohen, yes. Under new business, I'd like to announce the following appointment that is not subject to council confirmation to the historic preservation commission. Brian Mortonson of Mr. Myrtle Avenue is alternate number one member for unexpired term through December 31st, 2027. And with that, I'll entertain a motion to adjurnn. Mayor, I motion that we adjourn the meeting. Second. And all in favor? I. Thank you very much.