Township Council - Special Meeting

Oh, okay. I thought you were going out. I was going to say we're getting ready to start.

Okay, we're live. Good evening everyone and welcome to this special meeting March 12th, 2026 of the township council. The meeting is uh being broadcast live on channel 34. It's streaming live on the Montlair TV34 YouTube channel. It's available on demand and can and will be rebroadcast. This special meeting is called pursuant to the provisions of the open public meeting act. Adequate notice of the meeting has been provided transmitted to the official newspaper on March 5th, 2026. Posted on the bulletin boards outside the Montlair uh municipal building and have remained consistently there. In addition, a copy of the special meeting notice is and has been available to the public and is on file in the office of our township clerk. Please stand for the pledge of allegiance. 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, with liberty and justice for all. Madame Clerk, please.

Deputy Mayor Anderson, absent. Councelor Birmingham, absent. Councelor Damato, present. Councelor Harrison, present. Councelor Toller, good afternoon. Present. Good afternoon. Councelor Williams absent. Mayor Baskerville

present. And I'd like to extend my apologies to the members of the council who were not able to be here. Councelor Birmingham, Shen Anderson, and Rahome Williams. um because of work schedules. As you know, this is very important to all of us and we all make every possible effort that we can to be present at all the meetings because this meeting was scheduled at 3:00. Uh their schedule did not permit them to be there, but we had some township uh business that had to be handled um in an urgent manner today. So, I just want to let them know that that we appreciate their dedication and know that they would be here if they could. We're going to begin with pending ordinance on second reading. We have three pending ordinances on second reading. Um let's start with pending ordinance 02604. Councelor Damato, please.

Uh first, did we Mayor, did we want to have public comment first? No. Uhuh. That's going to be Thank you for reminding me. Public comment will be at the end of the meeting. Pending ordinance 02604. Uh pending ordinance 02604 ordinance to amend chapter 65 affordable housing of the code of the township of Montlair and I so move.

Second um that people from the public that wish to be heard on this. Before we get to the public, um I want to ask our attorney, my understanding is there were a number of um nonsubstantive changes to the ordinance um from what was introduced. Do you do you want to do those or I will um I don't believe that there were any changes were the changes to 26 or 465 the one that we're currently um I have the changes for the next okay thank you council members any discussion

just a moment mayor council Harrison did you want to address them in public or you just No she said they're none for this particular one and when we get to the next two where there's some changes if we can do that in two minutes then I will allow him two minutes like everybody else that will had two minutes this evening okay hearing no discussion there was a movement then a second roll call deputy mayor Anderson absent councelor Birmingham absent councelor Damato yes councelor Harrison yes councelor Toller yes councelor Williams absent Mayor Baskerville.

Yes. Now, at this time, um, Councelor Harrison, if you would be so kind as to lead us through the, um, changes that you think are very important for us all to know and the public. Um, are there there documents in the back for the public to get if they wanted to read along with us? The agenda is in the back. Okay. So, the agenda's in the back. If if those of you are here and don't have copies, feel free to get one. Thank you, Councelor Harrison. Okay. Um,

the we're on 0-26-05 and I believe that there's some changes that have been made to the 2605 and 2606. Yes. Thank you. 604.

Did I just hand them to you? These this one. Did you get a copy? No, I just handed Bill the highlight. No, not that. There was more. I have mine. I think that is this what you gave me second reading that the public should have a comment on. Yes. But there were um um Thank you, Mr. Scott. There was some changes. And so before I invite the public to comment on this, then I'm going to he's going to tell us what those changes are. Then I will invite the public to comment and then we'll comment.

You just voted. I called for that. I called for the public comment on that first. No, we didn't hear that. We did not hear that. Okay. So then if you want to come and make public comment on that one, you could come now. No, I just members of the public may want to see. We didn't hear the call. Okay. I did it before councelor Harrison said what he had to say because he thought we would make some changes there. I'm sorry if it was not clear. No, because he wants us to go back to the other one.

One observation for the benefit of the audience and the people who are watching us in TV. It's better that you identify the audience with names, not only the number so people can understand what you are voting for. Thank you so very much. Yes. Thank you. Just a point of order. I would request that you move public. A point of order. I would just request Frank Rebachi. I would request you move public comment. Okay. after the second readings but before any first readings. Okay.

Thank you. I make a motion that we move the public comments to the end of the meeting.

Hm. It's up to you because you know I am unfortunately the things because of the back and forth about the timing of this meeting that have to get done. So your call I guess my question is before a second goes up is um the public comments that Mr. Rebaki Rebaki is referring to as general public comments, not the public comments for Yes. the ordinances.

Yes. Yes. Um, counselor. So, all of the public comments for the ordinances will be as we go through them. I am moving the public comment that's in error up here to the end of the meeting. Um, again, we will hear from the public on any matters after the ordinances. Yes. But if we're reading about an ordinance, they're still allowed to come up and have a say. Yes, Councelor Toller. Okay, I'll second that then. Thank you. All in favor?

Any opposed? to what's the question is to move public comment to the end of the meeting. I oppose.

Okay. So that that's the decision that you make. I um explained prior to my coming here that um this meeting was not scheduled um appropriately that I was expecting to have the meeting at 5:30. It was changed to 3:00. I changed my schedule around twice because it was very important for me to be here. And I have a commitment now because I had to change it around again. It's your call because I have a certain time that I will leave here and you guys can stay as long as you can. But I also have commitments that I and and you know that I had something scheduled here. So in order for this meeting to take place to leave,

I don't know. I don't know how long it's going to be. Those are things that are out of my control or things that are in my control or that I changed my life again so that we could have this meeting and that I have things that I had committed to that I really have to be at. And if I didn't feel that way, I wouldn't even be sharing this at this point in time. I expect that we'll be able to do all of it. But in case we're not, my preference is that you all carry that on for as long as anyone wishes to talk. But I do have to be somewhere because of that time switch. But there but there are only four of us. So if you leave before public comment, we won't have a quorum.

Okay. So should we just cancel this meeting and reschedule it to another time or what should we do? Allow people to speak. Just allow people to speak and they can be quick. All right. So you know I'm voting that that happen at the end of the meeting. And if it doesn't, it just doesn't. You know, I'm going to do whatever I can do here. I know that everybody thought that they could add some extra things to an agenda. So, let's just go. We'll do it as far as I can and then I will just excuse myself comments according to the agenda.

I can do that. Okay. So, that's what I'm going to do. Thank you. Now, we wasted time on that. So, are there people here that wish to be heard on the ordinance 02604? the title.

It's an ordinance to amend chapter 202 land use procedure of the code. This is all uh affordable housing related amendments to our code that need to be done by March 15th in order for us to stay in compliance. It's that's why we're having a special meeting is to do that. So the there are three pieces, three ordinances on second reading that the public can comment on. So that's what that is. And if anybody Mr. Scott, did you want to speak on this one? Someone may want to speak on

Okay. We're going to go then to the pending ordinance 026-05. And I ask councelor Harrison because he's going to read that this by title and he's also going to read this specifically the changes that were made. This ordinance the council voted this is ordinance on second time but he is going to read the changes to this one because it's not the same as it was when we went there. So whenever you're ready councelor Harrison so this is an ordinance to amend chapter 202 of the land use procedures of the code of the township of Montlair. the there have been a number of nonsubstantive changes to this ordinance. First, uh, by law, this ordinance was referred to the planning board for their comments, and the planning board correct requested that section 202-43 be amended to to read to delete the references to to churches, synagogues, and other and simply read be used by houses of worship. So, it includes all houses of worship without delineating any of them. In addition there in the definition of affordable housing trust fund the word trust was capitalized and not cap and was not capitalized otherwise. So it's been changed to not um the um in section 202-47A1 the first use of the abbreviation AHMS uh is now spelled out. Um the lettering in section 202-48 was corrected. There were there were two subsections A and it

was corrected. Um those those are the changes to I not sure I had some other Why isn't this red line? I mean we can't really this should be on red this should be redlined. I don't know why it's in black and white. It's very hard to determine what was changed and what wasn't. And second, I didn't hear, but bills moved in a second. I have uh I I don't have a You don't have a No second. And is it to amend to amend you copy the the motion? The mayor's a second. And now he'll make the motion to amend.

Yes. Thank you. The amendment. I move the amendments second. Madame clerk for the amendments uh read by councelor Harrison. Deputy mayor Anderson absent. Councelor Birmingham Birmingham absent. Councelor Damato yes. Councelor Harrison yes. Councelor Toller no.

Councelor Williams uh absent. Uh Mayor Baskerville. Yes. At this time, I'm going to invite all of the guests, please, who wish to be heard on an ordinance amending chapter 202, land use procedures of the code of the township of Mont Clair, New Jersey 02605, to please come forward, Mr. Scott. Oh, I I'll say something. uh Sarah Avery. Um these uh changes that are being made to this trio of ordinances, you know, the township was aware that these changes had to be made, you know, as of um December 29th when the uh settlement agreement was signed. And so now it's almost 2 and a half months later. And uh just to emphasize the mayor's frustration with having to call a special meeting and the difficulty in uh ensuring that there was a a quorum. I think it should be noted that the council has been put under some level of extra stress and strain to accomplish this task. And I think that in the future when there are deadlines to be met that there should be better planning to make sure that all the parties involved can be better prepared. Thank you. I I certainly appreciate that very much, Miss Avery. Thank you,

Mr. Scott. Good evening and thank you for bringing that to my attention.

No problem. Good evening, everyone. Good evening. Evening. Afternoon. We'll get to the evening. Good afternoon. We'll get that evening at some point in time. Okay. As far as the affordable housing uh chapter 6 6500 with the programs that had been listed for modifications uh back in 2018 when I was co-chair along with Dedra Malloy we had made several of those program changes at that point. So I didn't see a lot of substantive changes at that point. There were some wording changes, but a lot of those changes we initiated and I guess at this point they're being updated. So, and also still a member of the housing commission, I did not have a problem with the changes that are being uh permitted. It just it just seemed like a lot uh at that point, but uh you know, all the different programs have a you know, a lot of different twists and turns in it. So, I guess it just had to be spelled out. Okay.

Yes. Okay. Thank you.

You're correct. And and I'd like to personally thank you and and and Commissioner um Malloy. I know how long you both and many others, but you both um have been working on this and and have laid the foundation of much is of what is in here for over about at least 20 plus years. And so I'm very grateful. You you did make our job easier and you are correct. I don't see anything in here that I would consider a substantive um change, but I always defer to our attorney. Thank you. Anyone else um in the audience who wish to be heard, please come. Okay. Uh council members, please. Roll call.

Deputy Mayor Anderson, absent. Councelor Birmingham, absent. Councelor Damato, yes. Councelor Harrison, yes. Councelor Toller, yes. Mayor Baskerville, yes. Thank you. Councelor Williams, absent. I apologize.

Mhm. Um Councelor Harrison, please would you lead us through the um this is number C from the pending ordinances that we're doing this evening. And this is the third one that is pertaining um to the affordable housing trio that we're dealing with this evening. This ordinance is to amend chapter 347 zoning of the code of the township of Montlair, New Jersey. Councelor Williams, please. I mean Harrison, I'm sorry. Did I call you Williams twice? Just once.

Oh, it's the pending ordinance 0-26-6 is ordinance to amend chapter 347 zoning of the code of the township of Montlair. This is again making a number of changes to reflect the settlement agreement that was reached. Uh the planning board recommended that um one change be made in terms of the calculation of affordable units when it's a fraction of an affordable unit that has to be built. So to deal with a different ordinance change which was made another time to require that uh one quarter of the units um in an application that receives a use variance be affordable. And it's to the prior ordinance referred to divided by five because ordinance only allowed one unit in five to be affordable. Uh and it's just making that correction which is a nons substantive change. I move that amendment.

Second. Did we hear from the public on this yet? We did.

No. Oh. Any members of the public wish to be heard on this, please come forward. Okay. William Scott, 23 Cedar Avenue. Uh, just trying to get my my thoughts together here. back in December 16th of 2005. Uh as relates to item number 356. uh with this new ordinance, you're turning around and removing uh the items that you had approved back in December 16th of 2025 as it relates to uh let me just be clear.

I'm sorry. What number did you say, Mr. Scott? Yes. Uh uh it was section 3 347- uh 156. Okay. Thank you. And that's the applicability. Okay. Uh and then section in the following criterias that were put in in O in 20 25 December 16th of 2025. You're turning around in this new ordinance and removing uh those requirements. And I was just I'll start with that one just to determine. Do you have Can you tell us which ones? Please, you have it. Do you need my copy to tell me or you have your copy?

Who wants to read from the old one? I think just go. Well, you don't have the ordinance. Planner tally is behind you. Hold on. Let's see. No, no, this is this is what I was talking about here. In December of 16, 2025, the following uh criteria applied. Okay. Yes. This part. Yes. Okay. Because that's that's addressed in the affordable housing ordinance. So it no longer needs to be the inclusionary. Okay. Matter of fact, I I went to we kind of

Oh, take your time. Are you talking about the ones where then the bottom where it says at least 20% of the affordable units are two bedrooms and that part down at the bottom? Yes. Okay. That that's a part of the inclusionary zoning ordinance. Yes. Right. And then when I went to the inclusionary zoning ordinance as it stands on the books today, that's not in there. So I was wondering that was approved, you know, back a couple of months ago. So you know, I was wondering a little updating is required. Okay. At that point, so we're current. Yep. Okay. Okay. Because we look at this stuff. Yes. Okay. Now, moving on to the next item. Okay. which is a little bit more concerning which would be uh 347-1 157.

Mhm. Okay. That deals with the uh the design construction of affordable units back in again December 16th of uh 2025. We were we had uh requirements put in place to make sure that the affordable housing units were substantially the same. Exactly. Yes. Is the market rate units. Yes.

Okay. And the reason we were doing that because I had taken the time to go back over several developments and had identified a lot of the new developments were producing units that were between 25 and 30% smaller than the market rate units. Well, now we're turning around and putting pulling that back out again, allowing that development to go back to uh making the affordable units smaller again. And I I would I'm definitely concerned about that.

Well, I I appreciate that. I'm I'm concerned about that, too. Maybe we will have um planner Tally come and just give us a little bit of understanding because I remember we worked very hard. In fact, we went to the affordable units and we wanted to make sure if there were granite in the um market rate that the affordable units had granite. If they had washing machines and dryers in the market rate, we went and made sure that they were putting washers and dryers in the affordable units. And we did a lot of work to make sure that they were pretty much comparable. And then in addition to that of with the smaller bedroom size. Yes. And even in the two bedrooms or three bedrooms, the market rate units would have two bathrooms, two and a half bath bathrooms in the affordable ruins would only have one bath. Okay.

So, you know, that that was in terms of that's why we put it in there at that time. Go ahead.

Okay. Thank you. Planner Tally, can you help us um better understanding the thinking now? The new uniform housing affordability controls establish much stricter requirements for this than were prior uh previously in the ordinance. Um we incorporated the new requirements in chapter 65 which you just adopted today. Previously in in the new chapter 65 affordable housing ordinance. Um starting on page 65 section 65-7 we have occupancy standards. We have specific requirements for um developments that include for sale units, for developments that include rental units. So, what was in the inclusionary zoning ordinance was moved into our new affordable housing ordinance and um rewarded to to to correctly reflect what the new U-Hack requirements are.

Can we change the language on here? Change reflect a smaller unit size requirement. It requires what it does is it reflects the new requirements established in the U-Hack. Okay. Okay. Which requires and I don't know what the requirements are right off the top of my head right now, but they are in the new U-Hack requirements because we we pulled those requirements previously out of the old U-Hack requirements to make the unit substantial. So,

so we're still doing it. We just moved it from the O into the affordable housing ordinance. Okay. So, what I I want to know is the the bottom line. So, will they be, you know, of the same type of, you know, size and and and materials and quality of excellence? Absolutely. And I think we wrote there, every unit must have a window in the bedroom.

That wasn't in there before. It's in there now. Is there any way to include language in this portion that says please refer to the language in U-Hack on whatever the resolution is so there's no confusion and misunderstanding because if it reads this way and someone comes in and wants to develop they can easily say well it doesn't say that but if we add language to this paragraph that says please refer to blah blah blah per UAG then there's no confusion does that make sense I don't have it that I don't have the citation right now. That's the problem.

So, after today, if we want to amend this, right? I was just wondering I I think um that we can come back and amend this or right, councelor Toller. We have Okay. But I'm trying to just understand and um madame attorney, maybe you can can make sure that I'm correct. If we do this today, because I understand we're under some time constraints with this, then as councelor Toller pointed out, we can work on how we want to put the amendments and then come back at a later date. Is that correct or no?

My understanding that it's not set in stone that there will probably be amendments in the future. This is just to memorialize the settlement. Um, if we wanted to add language, I I do believe councelor Hass has a point of order that um, mistakenly I was not made aware that there were actually some nonsubstantive changes um, to the first ordinance 65. So if we could go back and rear the vote. Okay, that

certainly things happen. I appreciate that. But we're going to keep moving um forward and try to get a better understanding of everything. So on this one, since we're here now, we're understanding that we are recognizing what councelor Toller is suggesting. I like your suggestion, councelor Toller, and we have the ability to go back into amend, right? And as well as on the other one that uh Mr. Scott mentioned, but you did get clarification. You're satisfied with the other ordinance that we read. Yes. where the language was removed, but it's referring all these references need to be included in this current ordinance because without it down the road, this gets very tricky. It gets very odd. It gets very weird. Yes.

And people can easily say, "Well, this is what your ordinance says." But without that paragraph that says, "Please reference A, B, and C, X, Y, and Z." I'd like to see that included. I I think that that that's something that I would definitely um be in favor of. Councelor Toller. This is Yes, Mr. Scott. Okay. No, take continue whenever you're ready. Well, that that's I'm You're good. For now. Okay. For now. Thank you. All right. Now, now we're going to go to um pending ordinance 026-04. And I'm going to call on uh Councelor Harrison once again to lead us through this. And there's some non There are some substantive changes.

There are no substantive changes.

Oh, there are no substantive changes. There there are some nonsubstantive changes. There were a number of citations that were incorrect that were corrected to reflect the actual section being referred to. Um the there are some numbering sections at section 65-3E. The numbering was corrected. The um use of township and municipality was straightened out to be clear. We're always talking about the township of Montlair. Um um municipal housing leazison is a defined term. So that was changed to be capitalized. Um there are references to some agencies by abbreviation. They were the full names of the agencies were set forth. Um uh there's a change one place it said any municipality it was replaced by the township. Um section 6515G was amended to start the township. Um low-income housing LIHC was defined and spelled out as to what that stands for. Um and re a reference to chap subchapter was changed to chapter in section 65-8 80 18.1b um and 18.12. Um the definition of inclusionary development was erroneously deleted. Um there was a missing section that was u the numbering was corrected. And there was a reference in section 65-6 to prior rounds and it's now

spelled out to be rounds one, two, and three in case we actually get to round five. Um, and there was an inconsistency in dates and a uniform December 20th date was put in section 65-15K. Okay. Thank you, madam cler. I so move those amendments. Right. Second. Um I apologize. I had the motion still open for the last one which is O-2606. So can we finish that one before we That was a motion to do the planning board amendment. I hear what you're saying. Yes. Yes. Would you call the role on that, please? So this is to amend 26-06.

That was on floor. No, that was on the floor and you moved and second it. And now I need a move and a second it to accept the amendments. Yes. So moved. Second. Okay. For the amendments to pending ordinance 026-06. Deputy Mayor Anderson absent. Councelor Birmingham absent. Councelor Damato yes. Councelor Harrison yes. Councelor Toller yes. Councelor Williams absent. Mayor Baskerville yes. Thank you. And now to adopt the amended version of O-2606. Deputy Mayor Anderson absent. Councelor Birmingham absent. Councelor Damato. Yes. Councelor Harrison. Yes. Councelor Toller.

Yes. Councelor Williams absent. Mayor Baskerville. Yes. Thank you. Now we're going back to old 2604. I I move the amendments. Second. Deputy Mayor Anderson absent. This is for the amendments too.

We need to any comments to the amendments. Go ahead. Do you have any? No. No. The public before the vote the public does any comments to the amendments from the public hearing was already. Is there anyone from the public that wishes to comment on this before we go on to the ordinance to um discuss the deer the wildlife management? No, I'm sorry. We're still on 04. Correct. But um counselor, they were saying that we needed to offer the public to to come in. Oh. To talk amendment. Okay. For chapter 65. Correct. Okay. on the phone. This is

No, we're still on this one. We're trying to get through this. When we get through this, then we're going to come to the one that I think quite a few people are waiting for. Thank you. You're welcome. Yes. So, we're just going to vote. Yes. This is for the amendment. Deputy Mayor Anderson absent. Councelor Birmingham absent. Councelor Damato, yes. Councelor Harrison, yes. Councelor Toller, yes. As long as we're making those reference changes. I just want that on the record. Thank you. Yes. Councelor Williams absent. Mayor Baskerville. Yes. Thank you. And then just to do the vote as amended. Yes. Uh the first movement I had was Damato and Mayor Baskerville that still stands. Yes.

Okay. So, Deputy Mayor Anderson absent. Councelor Birmingham absent. Councelor Damato as amended. Yes. Councelor Harrison. Yes. Councelor Toller. Yes. With the amendments on the record. Councelor Williams absent. Mayor Baskerville. Yes. Thank you. You're welcome. And now we're going to go on to new business. Um number D, Councelor Toller, please.

Sure. Um this is new business ordinance to amend chapter 82 animals the code of the township of Montlair as county New Jersey to prohibit the use of lethal methods of wildlife management within the township of Montlair. Um, I so move and the ordinance number is 26-xx because this is an introduction. Thank you. Second, you want to first? We have to take comments first. Do you guys have comments? I'm sorry. Councelor Harrison wanted to do something first and then we can take the public comments. Yeah. Thank you.

I'd like to propose amending what was handed out by in in replacing deer with native wildlife in multiple places. So the first place would appear section 82-46A deer would be replaced by native wildlife. 82-46B it would be lethal native wildlife management. 82-48A it would be deer would be replaced by native wildlife 82-48B deer would be replaced by native wildlife 82-48 C deer would be replaced by native wildlife 82-49

deer would be replaced by native wildlife and the 47 also

quickly what this why this is happening the the we have we have been trying to do this for a while. The original version of the ordinance dealt with wildlife generally. There were concerns about what that was including. Um we've gotten comment a couple of comments on how to deal with that. I thought the way that best dealt with it is to reference native wildlife. So we're not protect contrary to our view on human immigrants. Um animal immigrants we have a different view of but uh but so they will be protecting native wildlife. There are some potential complications but I think in discussion with fellow council members that can be addressed as we discover problems with things people don't think we should be protecting. And it sort of ties into one of the amendments in the previous thing which was to not uh privilege certain houses of worship over another and to just say houses of worship. And so instead of saying deer, we're saying native wildlife.

And I'd like to just thank um the public for um robust input on this. Um, particularly I'd like to thank the PRCA and Jose German for um helping us with this and suggesting that we even use the the uh wildlife um and the native that um copy that you sent us. So, I appreciate it all of you. Last night I got maybe about 50 emails telling us to please support this. I think um for me I I was already in favor of this, but it was it was it was nice to see that you all would take your time and um send us your opinions and encourage us to support that. So I'd like to um thank you all council people. Yeah.

Yes. I just before we're gonna Sorry. So since we're thanking people, I want to thank some residents who also helped myself.

Council Birmingham, Council Harrison. Yes. um to better understand what we were dealing with here with the deer count. Um so, thank you, Councelor Harrison, for bringing the public up to speed on this. Um this wasn't an easy task. We've heard from a lot of people. Um we believe that this is the best uh ordinance we could come put together, if you will, to ensure that we're doing the right thing here in the township of Montlair. Um this was shared with the MEC as well for a glance. I did not really think that they needed to provide any feedback to us because we had pretty much a rockolid ordinance, but I thank them for taking the time to look at it as well. That's it. Thank you. Good. Thank you, Madam Clerk.

Attorney, do we call the role to amend to change steer to Okay. So, I just need a movement and a second for so move. Second. Yes. This is for the amendment. So, this is to approve the amendment. Yes. Deputy Mayor Anderson absent. Councelor Birmingham absent. Councelor Damato, yes. Councelor Harrison, yes. Councelor Toller, yes. Councelor Williams absent. Mayor Baskerville, yes. Thank you. And then this is to adopt as amended. Yes. Deputy Mayor Anderson absent. Councelor Birmingham absent. Councelor Damato. Yes. Councelor Harrison, yes. Councelor Toller, yes.

Councelor Williams absent. Mayor Baskerville, yes. Thank you. Okay. Um, and just in case you're wondering, you will all have an opportunity. We're moving along well here. It's not even four o'clock yet. So, you will all have an opportunity to come down and be heard. So, don't start whispering like, "Oh, she's not going to give us a chance." We're going to give you a chance. I'm trying to move it. So, you will have a chance. Thank you. Not now. Well, not now. I was just letting my friends over here know. Not now. I'll call you. Okay. So, now we're going to move on. We have one more thing on the agenda before we get to that. Okay. We're almost there. the resolution and um councelor Damato please. Um rescending the award of the contract.

Yeah, I know. Uh but I don't have a resolution number. Okay. Um attorney, can you help us? Is there a number? Okay. Resolution, excuse me, resolution rescending award of a contract to Visual Computer Solutions, Inc. and rejecting all proposals for RFP26 P22 police offduty detail management system services and authorizing readvertisement through competitive contracting and I so move second attorney did you um would you help us with why this is here and what we're doing please

um there was a contract awarded and pursuant to um after reviewing through the purchasing department. Um there was uh litigation filed with respect to this contract from heart housing extra duty solutions versus down to Montlair under docket number ESXL 1589 which emphasized the need to further review and revise the actual specifications that were originally um advertised. And so all we're doing is we're basically um resending the contract rejecting all of the proposals and we're going to go back out to our request for proposals with the appropriate specifications.

Thank you very much. Did you move and I second it? Okay. Discuss. Discussion. Council. Madame clerk, please. Deputy Mayor Anderson absent. Councelor Birmingham absent. Councelor Damato. Yes. Councelor Harrison, yes. Councelor Toller, yes. Councelor Williams absent. Mayor Baskerville. Yes. Thank you. Now, this is one of my favorite times. Um, anyone that's here at this point in time, please, if is there a paper at the table today? I don't even know if they put it up at 3:00. Okay. So, if you once you sign there, please come forward. If you want to line up if it's like a lot of people, however, they didn't get numbers tonight. No, I mean today the numbers last.

Okay. Well, we'll just respectfully, you know, bring yourselves up. So, whoever wants to come, number one, and when you come up, please, if you just give us your name, and we'd like to know if you're a Montlair resident. I mean, everybody is welcome, even if you're not. Uh, yeah. Usually, we go along the wall, but wherever you're comfortable, it's not like a big, you know, bull chambers tonight. And we'd like to know who you are. Hello, my name is Jacob. I do live in Montlair. Um we are here today from Monontlair High School. Uh there were many other students who wanted to come today as I'm sure you all know from the many emails that you received. Yes.

Um but they couldn't because you know we have a lot of after school activities going on right now. But they would really like the chance to also speak at an evening meeting. Um so first of all we want to say that we appreciate our principal, our teachers, the mayor, council members, and other community leaders who are making sure to make things better for everyone in Montlair. Thank you. But honestly, it can be hard being a kid right now. We deal with things like bomb threats at school. We see wars happening around the world. Summers feel hotter and winters feel colder.

We hear that cuts might be coming to our schools and a lot of the future just feels uncertain. And because of that, it's also so hard to hear that the town might even be considering killing deer. That's something we imagine happening in other places. And it does, but it doesn't feel like something that should happen here in Montlair.

That's right. a town that talks a lot about being humane, about respecting life, and about practicing non-violence. We're asking you to pass the non-lethal deer management ordinance. If we don't, we could risk public safety and moving away from our community's commitment to treating animals humanely. Honestly, it's kind of a privilege to live in a town with so much wildlife, including deer. And yes, sometimes they can be a nuisance, but they're also a part of what makes living here so special. Now, I love seeing them on my walks through the many parks in Montlair. And oftentimes, I see the same family. I can recognize them by just the size of the two fawns and the mother. And it's always just nice to see them roaming around knowing that they can feel safe within the boundaries of our town.

Um, and because of that, any issues involving deer should be handled thoughtfully and humanely. Uh, and now I'm going to hand it over to my friend David. Thank you. Good job. Thank you. Yeah. Excellent.

Hello. Hello, my name is David. I'm also a student at Monontlair High School. Um, we also did some research about what deer culling actually means and what it looks like in real towns. We want to share some of what uh some of that with you in case you're not familiar with it. What we found was pretty disturbing. It's not really hunting. It's more like an extermination process. One method is called trap and bolt. Deer are lured in with food. A large net or trap suddenly drops on them. The deer panic and struggle in the net. workers restrain them and then a captive bolt gun, the kind used in slaughterhouses, is used to kill them. This happens in parks and open spaces where people normally go. Another method involves controlled firearm killing. Deer are lowered into certain areas. Shooters wait in treeands and shoot them from above with rifles. The bodies are then loaded into trucks. These operations are often kept quiet to avoid controversy. Residents sometimes hear the gunshots. This actually happened during the deer calling in Hilltop Reservation in Cedar Grove. People posted online saying they heard multiple shots and were scared and later were disgusted when they found out what it was. Some towns also allow controlled archery hunts or on public or private property. Hunters shoot deers with arrows, often from treeands, but arrows don't always kill immediately. The deer can run away wounded and die later after being tracked. Residents report seeing deers with arrows stuck in their bodies or injured. Animals running through neighborhoods. In Saddle River, someone reported seeing a deer that was still alive with an arrow stuck in its head. Sometimes deer die in people's yards. Because arrows rarely kill instantly, wounded deer can travel long distances before collapsing. We also found quotes from residents in places where these programs happened. In Saddle River, one resident said, "Many times they're not dead. They wander in excruciating pain from one property to the next. Another resident said, "We could have friends over with kids running around. Someone's

life could actually be in jeopardy." A Bergen County resident wrote in a letter to the editor, "Deer may bleed out for 24 to 48 hours before dying a horrific death." A resident in Day Paris, Missouri said, "A stray bullet from a high-powered rifle can go a couple miles." And a resident from Lancing, Michigan, said they feared that it's only a matter of time until someone actually gets hit by a stray bullet. In Georgetown, Texas, residents protested a trapping program. People described hearing deer screaming after getting caught in the nets, panicking and thrashing before being killed. One resident said, "A gear deer could take off and go into anybody's backyard. God forbid you have children playing around outside." We trust that you all can see why even the possibility of something like this happening in our town is really upsetting and frightening frightening to us. We hope you'll pass the non-lethal deer management ordinance. Thank you all for listening.

Wow. Thank you for the information. Wow. Yeah. Is this general? Sure. Yes. This is Is the supposed to be two minutes or three? Well, I'm I'm being a little bit lenient today. So this let's try and see where we go. At the beginning of the meeting I did say two minutes but it's hard to really determine because you don't know how many people are going to be able to come up if this is an indication. You can have we'll give you three minutes. Okay. Yeah. Okay. So I'm allowed to start. Yes.

Okay. I want to start this off by saying that I understand that you all have other things to do that are important, but we the people also have things to do. Yes,

we voted for you to listen to your constituents. So, we'd appreciate if you do so. With an increasing deer population in Monontlair, raising biodiversity concerns, and mounting pressure to address them, many residents, including myself, are concerned about the possibility of taking the easy way out, killing them, also known as deer culling. "There's no question that we love our deer," says Jonathan Gruper, the president of Bonsel Wildlife Preserve Conservancy. "It's strictly for surveying," Lisa Johnson of the Monontlair Office of Sustainability says. Well, if that's the case, I see absolutely no reason for you all to turn down a preventative measure like the proposed ordinance that would prevent the culling of any deer at any time in Monontlair Township. We see this practice done throughout Essex County, and we the people don't want any part in it. To put it bluntly, I see no reason for you to allow the luring of deer into forest to be shot to ever become a possibility. Frankly, I'd find that to be quite an ugly practice to allow along with many residents of Montlair. As seen, there are other ways besides culling to address invasive species like deer, including fertility control with imunocontreceptive vaccines or landscaping choices that may be less palatable to deer. I know it may be hard for some of you guys to live without your plants, but I promise you'll live to see another day. Essentially, there's no reason to say no to the outlawing of deer culling or any lethal methods during non-emergency times in Monontlair, New Jersey. Pass ordinance O-26-X. We put our trust in you. Now, it's time to restore that trust for us. Thank you.

Next guest, please.

Dear Township of Montlair, my name is Lorenzo Sone, a junior at Monontlair High School. I've recently just moved here from San Diego, California to live with my grandmother who's been a resident for 45 years. One of the most special things of living in Monontlair is the wildlife. I'm quite fortunate to live next to two uh two adorable baby deer that I'm quite happy to look at during the summer, which is why I ask you to support this ordinance to stop the lethal uh methods of ma managing wildlife and deer in uh in Monontlair. To be clear, the issue is not that deer are on our our property, but we are on theirs. Rather than employing lethal management methods, we should focus on ways to improve our infrastructure to better coexist with them uh with the wildlife. Not only is deer removal expensive, but it is an impractical suggestion that annual culling will resolve the concerns of Monontlair residents such as garden browsing. Please take a minute to think what you want the future of Monontlair to look like. I imagine a place where the animals in our area can peacefully coexist. I don't think you'll find a single person here today that will state that there is no concern with living with the deer. But to suggest and uh but to suggest that planned and quite frankly inhumane ways of killing animals such as culling will fix this issue is ridiculous.

Yes. Thank you. I appreciate you for uh I appreciate you listening to my time. Thank you. Well said. Next guest, please.

Hi there. Did I do it? Good. Good afternoon, sir. Good afternoon. Um, I'm going to be super brief. Just had school pickup and we're off to drama class in two seconds. So,

um, I I I these things don't happen in a silo, right? So, we're we're asking to prevent the lethal management of deer uh and other native species. But under that same umbrella, I think um one of the purposes that has been rolled out for why we would participate in these calling activities is to preserve our forest and parklands, right? And I think it we can't help but shine a light on the fact that we have all our township has participated in what seems like a willful degradation of our parks parkland specifically as we have dumped front loader after front loader into uh both Essex and Eerie Park around baby trees and Heritage Oaks. Um, and it just seems crazy that those are things that our tax dollars support, right? Whether that's the care of the trees, the planting of the trees, which we say we need to protect by keeping the wildlife out, and yet we then take the steps that degrades these resources that we have in town, these wonderful parks. Um, so I just think it's a a matter of kind of we again, we can't look at it just in one little area, but we have to look at the whole thing and make sure that if we're going to be protecting our parks and saying we need to protect our parks from wildlife, we should actually protect them for wildlife. And that's it. Thank you.

Thank you very much. I appreciate you. Next guest, please. Hi, I'm Beth Dero and I'm a Montlair resident. Um, and I spoke a couple of weeks ago at your last meeting and I'm really delighted that this ordinance is being considered today. Um, and I thought it would be good to reshare my comments from um because they're very pertinent today. I've been following the issue of deer since November and guess what? I'm really concerned. Um, doing a count, it gives the impression that you want to know just how many deer are in town. And that and that's really why do you want to know? They want to know because they want to eliminate them. And I know in other towns, this is how it begins. The towns say, "Oh, there's too many deer. Uh, we got to get rid of them." Um, and that's really subjective. It's not scientific. Uh it can be a pain as others have said when deer eat our plants or are in the road but uh maybe we can and should start use smart start using smart planting techniques and and deference methods in our parks and wooded areas. This is a good uh use of taxpayer d dollar dollars. Um the leap from that to possibly killing them is outrageous. It's cruel and puts public safety at risk. Not to mention doing that cost taxpayer dollars. I believe the county has already spent 1.5 million on deer culling. So please pass this ordinance that clarifi So please pass this ordinary ordinance that clearly reaffirms our town as humane, nonviolent, and forwardthinking. If non-lethal is what you believe in, then it should be a no-brainer to pass this quickly. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Next guest please. Good afternoon. Hey, good afternoon.

I am Jose Gomez. I has been a Monontlair resident for 26 year now and also the founder of the Monontlair wildlife habitat co-founder. Um this um what is happening today is so great is so amazing. Mont Clair, thanks to you, is pioneering across the state of New Jersey creating an ordinance to be inclusive for all wildlife, not only deer but all wildlife, native wildlife and I feel happy because I has been collaborating with all of you individually and I you know giving you the guidance to to add the inclusion because the problem is clear but now we have a protection. Yes,

deer and all native wildlife are protected and will be protected thanks to your work. So congratulation because what you are doing is is positioning the township of Mont Clair across the state of New Jersey in a leadership position about environment and wildlife protection. Thank you. Thank you very much. We appreciate you. Next guest, please. Good afternoon, mayor and council members. Good afternoon. I am Karen Saxs. I'm a Montlair resident and president of Hi,

president of the Friends of the Monontlair Township Animal Shelter. I urge you to pass the ordinance banning organized lethal deer management. And I also want to applaud you for um including native wildlife in that um definition. I'm thrilled to do that. But I'm going to talk about deer because I didn't realize that that was going to be uh amended as such. Um why now? So timing matters for this ordinance and why are we discussing it in a special session? So the town recently received a grant to conduct a count of Montlair's deer population. While that might sound benign in town after town across New Jersey, surveys like these become the precursor to organized deer culling programs. In fact, many time many towns do the survey knowing that they're going to be end up doing a culling program. So it's making sure the numbers bear out. We have seen this pattern in communities such as Princeton, Bernard Township, Livingston, Milburn, Bedminster, and Basking Ridge. Passing this ordinance now ensures Montlair will not follow that same path. The small grant Monontlair received for a survey may appear fiscally responsible, but in town after town, that first step has opened the door to lethal programs that cost taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars to millions of dollars. And once they begin, they never stop. We can see that clearly right here in Essex County where they've spent over 2 million taxpayer dollars culling deer year after year over and over again because the deer simply repopulate. Culling simply creates a perpetual cycle of killing to limited effect and at great expense. And I just want to go off um cuff for a second with my notes because even showing up here today some people said why do we even need this in Monontlair? We you know this is Monontlair. We're humane. We have a a deer coexistence policy. Um, but right now, NJP, community-based deer management manual, actually encourages municipalities to modify existing no discharge laws to allow for hunting and calling of deer. A proactive no callulling ordinance would explicitly block this path and prioritize non-lethal methods.

If you have some more, go ahead.

Very quickly. Very quickly. Um, I know I and other speakers here tonight are known as animal rights activists, and I would push back on that framing. We are residents who care deeply about this community, about fiscal responsibility, about following the science, and about living in a town that approaches problems in a humane way. People choose to live here because they share those values. So at a time when violence often feels normalized and empathy in short supply, this council can model something different that humane solutions are possible and coexistence with wildlife is achievable. I urge you to pass this ordinance this afternoon. Thank you. Thank you very much. And and I wish you would have come up earlier to share that information because the information that you shared here. I was grilling councelor Toller and councelor Harrison know cuz I was trying to see how we can condense it. I said why do we have to do it? whatever. You answered all of those questions so well. So, I thank you for that and your work at the animal shelter.

Hi, good afternoon. Good afternoon.

Uh my name is Anna Gman and I'm a resident of Monontlair. Uh I want to express my sincere gratitude to the council and to councelor Harrison and council person Toller for pushing this forward. Um, this was the right decision for our community, for our green spaces, and for the wildlife that shares this township with us because it's evicted from fragmented forests. It's worth pausing to explain why native deer matter because the case for this ordinance is stronger when we understand what we're actually protecting. White-tailed deer are a keystone species like oaks. Scavengers, including bald eagles, crows, and carrying beetles, depend on deer, while shed antlers provide essential calcium to small rodents. Uh, which in turn become prey for hawks, owls, and foxes. Remove deer from this web, and the effects ripple outward in ways we may not immediately see. Monontlair's parks and woodlands are part of that e ecosystem. The deer can certainly be a nuisance, but so can I. And you guys don't kill me. You manage conflict with me, and that's exactly what we're doing here. This ordinance reflects something important, that a community can choose to live alongside wildlife rather than in conflict with it. Monontlair has now made that choice permanent and binding, and that is worth celebrating. The council has demonstrated genuine civic leadership and conflict management. You've served as a role model for how the civic process can manage conflict rather than create it, which is something our BOE could use a lesson on. Thank you.

Oops. Thank you very much. Next guest, please. Good afternoon. Good afternoon.

My name is Gene Leuen. I'm a Monontlair resident. I'd like to join the chorus of people thanking you for your unanimous adoption and changes to the ordinance today. Um, today I'd like to focus specifically on public safety concerns around car collisions with deer, which can be used as a justification for lethal practices. I believe those concerned those concerns are often discussed as a one-dimensional issue with a simple solution. Fewer deer means fewer collisions. With that, while that seems logical on the surface, if you dig a bit deeper, you find many questions and contradictions. First, it contradicts our town's core beliefs. to quote the animal control section of the town website, quote, "Montair Township believes in and follows a policy of peaceful coexistence with wildlife." We should be looking at the issue of car collisions with deer through that lens. Second, I have a strong suspicion that in many of the collisions, the driver is going over the speed limit, especially now that the speed limit has been lowered to 25 miles hour on all township roads. Do I know this for sure? No. But there's a great deal of anecdotal evidence as well as shared concern about driving safety from initiatives like the complete street department's vision zero Monontlair. Why are we not approaching the problem of car collisions with deer by also considering the driver's culpability? In the spirit of gathering data to aid policy decisions, wouldn't it be useful to be able to answer the question, how fast are drivers going when they hit the deer? Of course, this sort of data collection and analysis would be useful for understanding and addressing speed related public safety concerns overall. The impending deer count is frequently justified with statements like we can't make decisions without data. Let's apply that same reasoning to address driver safety in general with the side benefit of understanding car collisions with deer. This would lead to informed decisions on non-lethal conflict

management solutions such as improved signage, speed enforcement, targeted fence installation, speed hump, uh, speed humps, modifications to street design, etc. As you can see, when you overlay public safety concerns with deer collisions with similar concerns about driving safety in general, there's a huge overlap in that vin diagram. With that in mind, let's honor our town's philosophy of peaceful coexistence and support the broader public safety efforts that are already underway by focusing on driver behavior and the design of the streets we drive on. Thank you for your time. Excellent. Thank you very much. And for our um last resident speaker of the day, please.

Hi, Jessica Stoulsburg. I live in Montlair. Um, I'm going to end up being a little bit redundant to some previous speakers, which is actually always nice because it shows we're all sort of thinking similarly. And also, thank you very much to all of you for your a lot of attention and patience and time on this over the last several months. Um, I just do want to discuss quickly the

uh what's in chapter 144 of our municipal code, which says it shall be unlawful to fire or discharge any firearms within the territorial limits of the township of Monontlair. So in and as someone did cover this, but I'll just reiterate that in addition to all else you have heard today, the ordinance before you also serves as a significant guard rail for human safety. It safeguards Montlair's firearms ordinance. It means that you cannot be asked in the future to amend this firearms and weapons ordinance as that is what will be required if you are ever asked to use spaces within our territorial limits for lethal deer control. To do that, you will first need to say yes to the discharge of firearms and weapons. and in so doing upend a long-established firearms and weapons ordinance. This is what has occurred in other towns. Your commitment today on the ordinance before you will also serve to protect our firearms and weapons ordinance and in turn this continues to protect the Montlair community. Um I also want to connect um as a previous speaker did this issue with protecting our trees and parks in Montlair. Um, as you all did receive an email from me earlier this week, I think, um, I am so dismayed at what happened at Erie and Essex parks. I don't know if anyone on the Deis has visited these parks. Has anyone seen it in person?

Yeah. Okay. Absolutely. Saw it. It's it's it should be unacceptable and it should demand immediate remediation on the part of the town.

I didn't get a reply from anybody. Um, so I did bump into somebody um who's not here today who told me that she had been told that salt can be good for the trees. If you any of you have heard this from anyone on your staff, you were being severely lied to and gas lit and it's just so alarming I like almost fell over. So I'm just going to read to you a couple quick things from a certified Ruters environmental stu steward that I have worked with who lives in Madison, New Jersey. Salt is not good for any plant. Unlike salt spray injury, soil salt injury is slow to develop and injury progresses over several years. Deicing salts, which is what that snow is filled with, create a wide range of problems. Salt is highly absorbent and binds tightly with water, preventing roots from taking up water. Thus, even when soil moisture is plentiful, high salt levels create an artificial drought-like environment, compounding the problem, high concentrations of soil salt can actually draw water out of the roots. When roots do absorb salt, high concentrations will eventually kill roots, causing trees to decline over several years. At high concentrations in the soil, sodium will compete with essential nutrients for uptake. Roots will also absorb toxic levels of chloride from deicing salts, which accumulates in buds, leaves, and twigs, causing desiccation or drying. Since an affected treere's health is compromised, it becomes more susceptible to insects, diseases, and drought stress. With regard to soil texture, trees tend to be more salt tolerant in sandy, well- drained soils than in heavy clay soils as the salt is more easily leeched through the soil by rainwater. Monontlair has clay soil. the oak trees, which are the ones that are currently being slowly killed by what is they are literally buried in right now. While some species of oaks may be tolerant to

salt, I would take that with a grain of salt. This is her quote, pardon the pun, because most trees in New Jersey are already stressed due to prolonged drought or drought watch conditions. And trees planted in parks and urban suburban areas are already under tremendous human-cancaused stress due to soil compaction and other things. So, I'll stop there. I beg of you, please bring back the trucks. Remove what's left because everything that's left is just going to keep melting and absorbing down into those fragile root systems. There is still time to make this less egregious. That's where we're at. A huge mistake was made in choosing those sites for this snow. So, in the same way we're looking to protect our trees and protect our wildlife from other wildlife, can we please protect these parks from us and from you because the mistake was made somewhere inside 205 and it really still can be corrected. And Mayor Baskerville, I watched a really compelling planning board meeting this week and you said something that to me is one of the most powerful things that can come from a mayor. It's not right. you were talking about something that was happening and you said it's just not right and I really hope you can carry those words to this issue and many others.

Yes. And really let's can we please look at what has happened there and correct it as soon as possible. Thank you very much. I'm sorry. Please, what is your name? Because I was Jessica. So Stals Stalt Solz Z Stoulsburg.

Stoulsburg. Okay. So, I actually have um your your email here. And first of all, I was trying to figure out and I apologize to you if you didn't get the followup when I put reply because I immediately did send to the manager and to the department of um community services because it's extremely important. And while the result didn't turn things away, you and perhaps myself and I'm sure some others here would have liked to see, I I can state for a fact that I know that the manager immediately went over there and took note of what had happened and and he was not pleased with that either. So I know that it is something that we are all really disappointed with. I know I can say with certainty it is not right and I know that we're addressing it. I wish I had some specifics for you right now, like, well, this is what's going to happen. I'll probably be very comfortable in saying that I don't anticipate that that will happen again. And I'm sorry that we didn't get back to you in a way that was something that was showing um the passion that we share similar to yours.

Well, thank you. Does that mean that you're going to look into having what's left removed? I can ask that, but I can't promise it. May I? Yes. May I? Councelor Toller might have more information because she's on a a committee that works closer with that, but let's find out. Council

Toller. Um, first I just wanted to say thank you, Miss Dolberg, for that email and those pictures. Um, and I just wanted to put on the record, councelor Damato and I asked the manager a few weeks ago for a report. We're trying to tie down which vendors are moving snow in our township u because we got a lot of complaints about the streets just not being done well during the last snowstorm. So once we get that report back, we can kind of pin down who the vendor or persons were that worked that area. So hopefully we'll get it from the manager very soon. Um, but that's looking backwards. No, no. What I'm saying is we still need to identify. You said it's you said it's happening with someone here at 205. That very me very well may be true,

but she wants some work now. I think that now that it's happened, what will we do moving forward? I think we can ask the manager to see if DCS can come.

I had spoken to Dr. Johnson when it was too late at that point. And she had actually recommended that maybe there were a couple parking lots that could have been used in place like Damp and the the school that's closed down. So at least there are no trees there that will be killed in the process. And I helped identify for them locations that have been used in the past because in the past it seemed as though we were putting some snow here, some in other areas, but I never remember seeing anything like the mounds of snow that was dumped in that. We have a um well, as you know, much of our township, you know, the manager, the head of the department of the community services knew to the neighborhood and so maybe they were not, you know, we've never seen snow like this. I'm not making an excuse for them. I'm just saying what went through my mind. I agree. I certainly will commit to um asking the manager, manager, what are we going to do? Is that a possibility? What is a cost there? Is it going to make a difference if they take it off tomorrow now that it's been there for so long? I think I'm hearing you say yes, get it off as soon as possible. So, I'm going to go back and relay that. I just can't um give you a reply what will happen after that.

I appreciate it. Thank you. Um Councelor Harrison has something here. Yes. Yeah. Just go ahead.

Um the you know on day one of this um I emailed the manager one one of the this form of government the council cannot direct township employees other than the manager to do things on day one. Uh when some of the neighbors reported what was happening across from the ice rink, I drove by and um sent an email to the manager. I have sent multiple emails following up um the as did a number of other council members. We had a meeting with um public works staff to discuss why this was unacceptable and two um and not dealing with your immediate issue of you know one of the things that turned out there is no there was no township policy on what to do if you have a big snowstorm and I think there's a commitment that there will be a policy so you know five winters from now when this re repeats itself because

just 10 winters you know Even though I would be very happy if we had a lot of snow next winter, I suspect that's not likely. We need a written policy in place. Uh they also committed to monitoring re um what's going on because I had a whole discussion about salt. It's not being good. Um, you know, we wonder all of us will bring up with the manager about the possibility of removing um the very impressive amounts that in my view they kept gratuitously. Two and a half weeks after the snow,

they cleared my oneb block long street which had no access, no safety, no nothing issues. I came home that night and said, "Oh, good. They didn't do my seat. they had enough sense and 1:00 that morning there they were taking in and given you know we had the giant pile was already there you know it so that was another nice email I sent to the manager as to why and then the next morning I go driving off and see the recycling truck picking up both the paper and co-mingled together which is because I'm sure the crews are out at night which means reduced money for the township So this besides the environmental effects this was we were paying crews overtime multiple multiple nights to go remove street from snow from streets many of which did not need there's some streets when right out here that clearly need to be street even when there's no snow on it they're too narrow um but when there's snow and I understand that but we need to have a policy going forward to where are we putting the No. Um,

good. Thank you very much. Um, councelor Harrison, I think the deputy manager wanted to say something and then I'm going to ask Mr. Rubcki, who I'm always happy to see join us, to come on forward and then we're going to wrap this up. Council Harrison, I was just going to say that I'll follow up with the manager tomorrow to make sure we we begin a snow plan. I mean, there was one years ago, but it was a whole different ballgame because Montlair is pretty landlocked. And if you you recall, we were putting snow in the parking lot at Nishaw Wayne, right? Over on Oak Street down in Nishawane. And this the problem exists and no matter where where you put it, except for uh McAdam.

And maybe you can join us in asking if there's a chance it'll get removed. I don't know how how are you with that, Deputy Man? I will follow up with the manager. Okay. Uh tomorrow morning. Okay. Great. Would you like me to call to camp and see if there are parking lots available for a small fee? No, we will take care of it though. And I'm aware of that parking place and and I'm going to also have a personal discussion. So we'll see. Um if you like I do have your email here so I can just let you know that this is what I did. Mr. Rubaki and thank you again very much. I appreciate you um for coming in Miss Jessica. That's right. Hi everybody. It's always a pleasure to wrap things up for Good evening sir. Good afternoon still. Come on. Let's not move along.

Okay. Quickly, I just want to say thank you to the four of you for passing the ordinance on the non-lethal uh wildlife management. And my hope is that your colleagues that couldn't be here today will join you in making it totally unanimous when you have the public hearing. So, I look forward to that. Um, there's just one other issue that I like to bring up or give you a heads up on and it's at the state level and at the county level and it might affect the township in some way. Um, and that's the issue of citizens bank. Um, and I'm sorry I didn't hear you. What did you say? The issue of citizens bank.

Oh, okay. Um, and there are certain things going on at the governor's level. Absolutely. And the county level and their involvement and citizens bank involvement in funding certain um immigration issues. Um and so I believe you guys do some business with Citizens Bank. So there might be some ripple effects downstream. I just wanted to bring that to your attention so you could get ahead of it. Thank you very much and I I appreciate that very much. Um Mr. Scott, were you trying to get in here before the I can only give you three minutes. In your respect, I'm only going to take less than a a step.

Thank you, Mr. Scott. The recycling is not being uh separated when it's being picked up. They're still throwing cardboard in the uh uh plastics in the same uh truck and and I saw that today. So, I'm just wondering how long that that's going to continue. I don't know. I I didn't hear that it was not going to continue. I haven't gotten any notice. Does anyone here getting notice that they were going to start doing um No, that's when I picked up mine today. They they you know, yes, they picked it up separately. So, I I saw today they're continuing to throw both uh items in the same truck. Okay. I was told that that we're aware of that. Okay. All right. Just Thank you.

Thank you. Okay, everybody. Again, thank you very much for coming here at the 3:00 hour and working with our time constraints. Appreciate you. Second. All in favor? I Amen. Let's get out. Hallelujah. Yes.