Borough Council - Regular Meeting

Council meeting of Borough of Compton Lakes Mayor and Council on Municipal Cooperation in the County for State meeting will begin at 7 p.m. on April 22nd, 2026 in the Municipal Building 25 on Establishment, Compton Lakes, New Jersey, consistent with the Open Public Meeting Act. The meeting will be open for public comments and will be in accordance with the terms and conditions of the Borough's Municipal Code and Codex.

Do we stand for a flex loop? 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. Please bless this merit council and the door break on the best of pomp and bliss. In conformance with the open public meeting law, public law 1975, chapter 231, adequate notice of this meeting setting forth the time, date, place, and purpose of this regular meeting through notice posted on the bulletin board and the municipal building mailed to all requested and paid for the same and published in Suburban Trends. Roll call, please.

Mayor Satt.

Here.

Council President Kent.

Here.

Councilman Day. Here. Councilman Cruz. Here. Councilman Hinton. Here. Councilman Sanders. Here. Councilman Bennett. Here. With us this evening is our mayoral attorney, Mark Samarero, and our mayoral administrator, Michael Phillips.

All right, thank you. For my updates, just two quick updates. If you haven't been to the new Joe Grill complex, which I'm sure everybody's going to talk about with the parade, it's really a nice looking place down there. It came out very well. I've gotten a lot of calls and compliments on how it's working and moving and the traffic's flowing. And it looks so nice down there. So that's a new field. That's a big deal. The last time we did some major improvements were Willow Field. That was maybe 10, 12 years ago. How long was that, Tim?

Oh, yeah.

So this is a big improvement down there.

No, it's longer.

Yeah, so if you had a chance and you want to take a look at it, it looks great. And we just took a tour of the new Civic Center, which will be opening. That's where we were before the meeting. Again, the building came out great. A lot of space. We'll be talking about how we're going to be using that for our community in different ways. And there might be a chance for members of the community to take advantage of using that space besides our local volunteer groups. Again, that was a project that was put together. The whole building was taken care of and paid for by the Meridian Corporation who built the building next to us. There are no tax dollars that went into redo that. They did give us a second floor on the building and all new bathrooms, and everything inside is brand new. That came out really good, and I want to thank Meridian for that. It's a big improvement for our town. For people who don't realize, our Civic Center was used for many, many years, almost daily, for many events. And when we had some issues with leaking in there, we had to close the Civic Center down. It's been closed now probably four years, I would say. Liz, four years maybe?

As long as we're down.

Maybe even longer. So this is a big, again, a big improvement to the community to have our civic center back. So I thank you. Okay. Motion to open the meeting for public comments. Motion. Councilman Benning. Second. Councilman Cruz. All in favor? Aye. Anyone against? Anyone from the public like to address?

Good evening. George Papaw, 1104 Colfax Avenue. Obviously pumped and late. Thank you. Again, I'm back here. I've been quiet for the past two months. Nothing has gone on as far as advancing or resolving the issue as far as the danger that my family is forced to live in. First, there was a letter that It's supposed to come from the borough engineer. Now they are talking about a letter I never received a year ago that I should sign off on. I have no idea what they're talking about. Nobody wants to tell me what's in that letter. But George, sign off on it, and maybe we'll move ahead. I mean, these maybes are dragging out. It's been two years since you approved and paid for the price of Hauser Engineering's putting together a plan to solve the issues around my property. But again, it's been stuck there. Nothing's going on. And now I keep hearing that we may have a meeting next week with the insurance company. But so far, I haven't heard from the Morris. They're our customer. Our tax dollars pays them and keeps them in business. I can't understand why they're not being responsive. Now, I'm not faulting anybody, but somebody has to push them in order for them to wake up and get something done. That's what I'm asking, because my family should not live with a dangerous situation that we have been putting up with. I'd appreciate any assistance that anyone can give me. Thank you.

Thank you. Anyone else from the public like to address? Seeing no one, can I have a motion to close the public session? Motion. Second. Councilman Hinton, Councilman Sanchez, all in favor? Aye. Against? Look, we've talked about this numerous times. We're trying to do our best we can to help you. There's two routes this can go. We can keep pushing the way we're doing. It's going to take a little time. Or somebody comes back and says, above us, above this town, and says, look, this is what it is. Prove the damages were done. This is not what we wanted to do, by the way. We are not going that route. We don't agree with that route. But somebody else could come back and say, they need to prove what the situation is there. We can't just go by word of mouth. So that's why it's so important that we get all this documentation from the engineer to prove what we're asking for. The problem is, and I was going to talk to you offline a little bit, but there was probably some conversations you've had with other administrators about what was done to your property. The problem is that wasn't recorded right now. So we're looking for that data. We're going back through emails. And it's going to take some time to find all these emails. They could be 10 years old or longer. If we can identify those emails, that would help us greatly. So that's what we're doing right now. The last time the engineering firm went out there that we have record of from our town is 2013. Now, we know the engineers have been out there since. We don't have any record of their transactions that they put on paper for that. So we're, again, tracking that down.

Your current engineering firm's been out there like four or five times now.

Mike, is that true or that's not true? Yes. So do we have any record on that?

Not in his favor.

Right. That's the problem, to be honest. We're trying to make this work for you.

You're paying for the borough engineers and they don't give you a report? They don't document anything?

This is before Michael was involved. There was another engineer firm that went in and did some work there, but they didn't give us a report. They're the ones we're tracking down. That report is very important to you and to us. So we're trying to do the best thing we can for you. You've got to give us a little time, and we'll make it work. We're trying to work. I know it's been a long time, but you've got to give us some time to make this out. I spoke to the gentleman today personally, the insurance person handling this for us. And I suggested to him, because besides you, I'm the only one that's been involved that long who goes back to know it. I said, so I should be part of these meetings and see how much information I can add to these other groups who don't. So we are going to have a conference call. He sent me all the emails. A conference call on discussing how we can move forward to make this work in your favor. You just got to give us time. That's all I can tell you.

How much more time?

I can't answer that. But to make it work in your favor, you got to give us some time. That's all I can say about that.

16 years. That's not enough time.

I understand. Okay. Motion to approve the following minutes. Regular meeting minutes, April 8th, 2026. Close session meeting minutes, April 8th, 2026. Can I have a motion? Motion. Second. Who was that? Councilman Bay, Councilman Vanden, all in favor? Aye. Against? Bills and claims as listed below. Can I have a motion? Motion. Second. Councilman Vanden, Councilman Cruz, all in favor? Aye. Against? Consent agenda? Anybody looking to remove anything? No? Okay, Liz.

Whereas the mayor and borough council, the borough council has the consent agenda consisting on various proposed resolutions, whereas the borough council, the borough council does not desire to move resolutions for individual actions from that agenda. Now, therefore, the results of following resolutions on the consent agenda are hereby approved. Resolution 26-286 through 26-194.

Motion to approve the resolutions. Motion. Councilman Hinton? Second. Council President Kent, all in favor? Aye. Yes. OK, ordinances.

First reading, and that the presented code's final adoption on May 13, 2026. Ordinance 2614, anointing for amendment chapter 10, animal control, section 12, feeding of animals, subsection 12.2, feeding wild animals under revised general ordinances of the .

Motion to approve ordinance 26-14 for introduction. Motion. Councilman Hinton. Second. Councilman Sanders. Roll call, please. Can we have a discussion? I'm going to get the roll call.

Councilman Day.

Yes.

Councilman Cruz.

Yes.

Councilman Hinton.

Without a doubt, yes.

Council President Kent. Yes. Councilman Sanders.

Yes.

Councilman Day.

Yes. All right. Discussion? Do you want to ask something?

Yes, so we were going to do a section on education, and I don't see it in here. We were going to talk about how we were going to educate the public on the feeding of wildlife. We talked about that.

You mean you want it part of the ordinance?

Yeah, absolutely.

I would defer to Mark, perhaps, if that's appropriate.

We don't usually do educational, do we?

Correct. That would be putting some burden on us where ordinances are regulating the contact of individuals. So I think that we certainly can do it, and we can do that by way of resolution, Council President. But I don't think that it necessarily would be necessary or appropriate in the ordinance unless it was tied to a penalty that they participate in some type of educational provision, but I honestly think the probably best way to handle it would be by way of resolution to establish some type of protocol and system for education, whether it be a link on the website or something like that.

Okay. Only because when I spoke about this at the last meeting, one of the things that we said before you were going to find or anyone when you were going to be looking at education, educational programs. And I just want to see it in you.

Well, what I'm going to do is I'm going to make you part of a conversation that we'll have about education. OK. My guess isn't just a guess. It's going to be the standard ways we're doing it now, which is our calendar, social media, those ways. And we should have education. And again, we're not doing this to find people. There's going to be someone knocks on the door, explains the ordinance to them. You know, it says, by the way, and we've had this, when we had our meeting with the ordinance committee, the animal control person said, I'm not going straight, I'll be knocking on the door, explaining why there's a new ordinance, why you can't do it. You know, give them time to fix it. Right. Keeps doing it, gives them time again. But, you know, if they just keep ignoring it, then we'll have to be okay. I would like to see that one. I'd like to see that in writing somewhere. Are you looking for... However it should be. You're asking about the education. So the education is going to be, and we'll meet it, but it'll be social media, it'll be our calendar. The way the Animal Control Officer handles it is her job to do it. We don't tell her how to do that. But she's told us, and I was at the ordinance, Bobby, if you want to speak, when she said at the ordinance committee,

um I mean it aligns basically what you said mayor is that obviously they were not going out there but they did feel like education was critical obviously to address a lot of the residents today that still feed wild animals on a daily basis I think you could walk around town in certain parts and you see that so but just to agree with the mayor I think that it's something that should be done separately as far as a presentation deck and it should be held hopefully by somebody such as animal control to come in here and kind of guide the residents on what they should do, what they should not do. I know in the ordinance itself, it does discuss feeding birds and things like that, which they're allowed to do. But I think that would be the best course of action is to work with animal control, obviously. Mayor's gonna invite you to be part of that conversation and to discuss what key points need to be included. And if it's something we can also keep on the borough website for future reference after the training is done. But I think that's the best approach. And I think the animal control officer was alluding to that.

So Mike, maybe what we should do is talk to the animal control, including Maria on that. But maybe bring her into a council meeting in the near future, just to explain what the goal is. And coming out of her mouth, because she'll be the ones knocking on the doors, explaining where she's coming from on this. It's not like we're knocking on the door and we're going to go after them. I have a tendency to believe that some people might fight this a little bit, and if they continue to fight it, there has to be an end result to this. We're going to work with them, and they've got to work with us. She's great. She'll do a great job. I'm okay with that, but I noticed that you changed.

There was a $100 initial fee of $100 up to $100. Now it's $500.

I think the committee thought at the time that 100 wasn't really going to talk.

Yeah, we did increase the dollar amount. That's more of a deterrent, we hope, so people can follow the privacy of the ordinance.

Without the education, without explaining where they're at, giving them a chance, that's a pretty big jump from 100 to 500. So I just want to be very fair to the people. And there are a lot of people. It's not just one or two. There's quite a few people who feed the animals in town on their property. If we're talking an off-site in a park, I've got no problem with this. But we're talking private property. Now I have a question. Because we're talking about doing something on your property that you pay a lot of taxes for.

But I think the argument from the ordinance committee was you are doing it on your property, but you're bringing animals that are not on your property from other areas to your property. And then the neighbors who border your property are concerned that you're bringing these animals to my area and I don't want them there.

Right, right, and that's why we said, and the penalty portion of the ordinance. So I feel, well, that's helpful.

Well, if I may just make one issue to address the council president's concern. It's a range of a penalty from 50 to 500. So I think that the police department or the enforcement have a pattern practice of not necessarily imposing the uh most it could for the first violation so i think that you're probably talking about something that's uh that the maximum penalty would probably only be imposed uh for something that's particularly egregious or or some type of repeat occurrence that's what we really talked about in the ordinance committee whereas second third fourth offense now you're going to get the maximum Correct. And obviously the judge imposes the penalty and there's a recommendation. So if our personnel are instructed that, you know, be gentle, the whole idea is to get the result and not the money, I think that we probably could accomplish a goal.

And saying that also, don't forget, if they get to that level where it's a fourth or fifth, they're going to go to court, and they're going to plead their case also to the judge. We hear, or the animal control officer is not going to make that determination, the judge is. So they would have that opportunity. But I hear you. I mean, there are people, this is a new thing, but it's educational, which we have to do.

Right, and that's missing.

And she aligns with what you're saying, President. She was very mindful of the residents. As far as her approach is concerned, she always just wants to speak to them. She'll discuss what they're doing. And that for me is not the point to go up to the home. And obviously, even if it's a first offense, to issue a citation or most likely a warning not to do it again. And she was great. She was great. No, we should hear.

I don't know who she is.

She was wonderful in the meeting, and she's very conscious of that, but she doesn't understand.

But I'm voting on the words, and they're missing.

At another point, an employee in the past, I think is retired, but from the MUA, used to feed the animals, the deer, at the MUA. I think that employee is gone, but just so our liaison can bring to the MUA that this includes the MUA.

This holds for true for everybody.

Everybody, that doesn't matter where you are.

Okay, 2615 ordinance.

In order to present the Article 2, Administration, Section 42, Police Department, Subsection 42.55, Awards Program of the Municipal Code of Valero Conference.

Motion to approve Ordinance 2615 for introduction. Motion. Second. Councilman Bennett, Councilman Cruz, roll call, please.

Councilman Bennett. Yes. Councilman Cruz.

Yes.

Councilman Hayden. Yes. Council President Kent. Yes.

Yes. Yes. Okay. Any discussion? This is just for the award program that the chief is going to run starting now. He wants to put in ordinance how we hand out the awards. It's up to him to decide that. I do have a question.

Okay.

On the last page of what we were sent, there's a Medal of Honor, Police Combat Cross, Medal of Valor, Lifesaving Award, Purple Heart Award, Meritor Service Award, Distinguished Performance Award, Unit Citation. God bless the police and all that they do. I'll definitely support them. But this many awards, is this normal?

It's part of the, he took this off the police standards. Doesn't mean they're going to all get these awards all the time, but it gives them an option to choose from those awards. I can tell you we're going to have an award ceremony shortly. There will be a couple of those mentioned given out. And, you know, that could be a life-saving award. That could be a first-year boundary. It could be any of those things.

Just my realization, I didn't realize there was that many awards for the police department.

Well... For the military, yes, but I didn't think... You know, as we know, it's a military-formed organization, so they probably get a lot of their information from the military, but that doesn't mean we're handing out all those awards. It just means these are the ones they could choose from.

Any other questions? No gold award?

Gold star? No. Okay. Final adoption ordinances.

An ordinance repealing Ordinance 2605, amending Chapter 190, Article 14, proposed a borough confidence to address the borough's affordable housing obligations under the Fair Housing Act and the Uniform Housing Affordability Controls for 30 through for 60 months thereafter.

I'll let you. Yes, thank you, Mary. As I had explained upon introduction, this ordinance is repealing rezoning for affordable housing that was initially implemented for 430-460. The property was no longer needed to complete and satisfy our affordable housing obligation. It was utilized as a safeguard because we had to shore up other locations, which we did, rendering this property not necessary on today's date. So as a result, I drafted this ordinance to rescind that zoning. It was referred to the planning board. Last night they did. Yes. And they acknowledged, particularly since it wasn't needed to satisfy our obligations, that it is consistent. So we just need a majority vote. And it will effectively repeal and allow the zoning to remain as it was.

So basically, the zoning goes back to what it was initially. That's basically what it was.

Correct.

Yeah. Motion to open the meeting for public comments on Ordinance 26-11. Motion. Councilman Cruz? Second. Council President Kent? All in favor? Aye. Against? Anyone from the public like to address just this ordinance? Seeing no one, motion to close the public meeting on Ordinance 26-11. Motion.

Second.

Councilman Sanders? Councilman Cruz? Is this a roll call, please? Is this a roll call?

Oh, no, sorry.

All in favor? Aye.

Was there a motion? I don't think there was a motion. Was there? No, I'm going to make a motion now. Is this to close the public session?

Yeah, that was closing. Any discussion from the council on this?

The only discussion I have is, do I have to abstain? Yes. Correct. You abstain the first time, you're going to abstain the second time.

Motion to approve Ordinance 26-11 for final adoption. Motion. Councilman Santers? Second. Councilman Benning? Roll call, please.

Councilman Hood?

Yes.

Councilman Cruz?

Yes.

Councilman Hinton?

Abstain.

Council President Kent?

Yes.

Councilman Sanford?

Yes.

Councilman Beck?

Yes. Okay, good. Thank you. Thank you. Under my report, we had a conference call or Zoom meeting with the governor's office and some high-level individuals from DOT about getting money for our DPW garage. There was a representative from the governor's office on the call, along with Senator Joe Panaccio was on the call, and a couple other members of the governing body from the state. You know, we explained our situation. I thought we did a good job explaining what we were needing and what we were asking for. They did ask a lot of questions, why we need it, how we're going to get it, how we're going to fund it, you know, certain things and would we use it over one year or three years. You know, it's the first step in trying to get some of the money from the governor herself to put towards. This is roughly a $10 million project to replace the DPW garage. So we're looking to get as much funding as we can so it's not on the taxpayers to replace that building. So I took it as a good meeting. I'm sure there'll be more to follow. Senator Panaccio has been pushing very hard for us, I will tell you that, to make this happen. He's involved in every conversation I have when it comes to this discussion. with our local reps and now we're up to the governor's reps. You know, we didn't mention last council meeting that Congresswoman Poe has taken interest in this also and might be getting us some money, which would be a great help also. So we thank her office for doing that. And we'll wait and see. I think, Mike, is it correct, June 30th we maybe have a decision on that? Yes. So we would have a decision from the state, from the governor's office, if we are getting any money by June 30th. So let's keep our fingers crossed on that. Next Friday, I have a meeting, which came out of the blue for me. You know, for years I've been fighting to protect our flooded communities on the south side and everywhere else. And I had said for years that I thought if they could lower the reservoirs a little bit before a storm, that would help. Now, the problem with lowering the reservoirs before a storm is they lose money if we don't have a storm because they make money off the water. So I had suggested to our state legislation that the state should back the idea of paying them if we don't make the money back. I guess some other mayors who are newer to this or recently elected brought the same situation to some politicians. And now we're going to have a meeting, again, this is probably many meetings we've had on this, involving numerous towns surrounding us. Again, Senator Panaccio seems to be the forefront on this, but there will be Assembly and Senate from Bergen County and Morris County and different districts all involved in the call. So I'm expecting probably maybe 20 people on this discussion. And I'm going to present, now the question has come up about lowering Pompton Dam and I'm going to tell them, we've had an expert tell us this by the way, this isn't just my decision. Lowering Pompton Dam really doesn't make a difference because it's such a small lake, it doesn't really make a difference. It's really the reservoirs that our concerns are. When they start spilling over, they fill all our creeks, they fill all our rivers and that's where all the water comes. But to some of the towns south of us, they see the dam and they think the dam is holding back a huge reservoir of water. So they want to either open the dam all the way and keep it open all the time or empty the reservoir completely before a storm. When I say the reservoir, Pompton Lake. Pompton Lake is maybe 10 feet deep at the most. It's not really that deep, except maybe there's a little channel in the middle. Oh, and by the way, the DEP commissioner is supposedly going to be on this call also to help us explain where he's coming from. So I'll give you more information when that comes out. I attended the planning board meeting last night. I'm sure Councilman Sanchez will talk more about it. Like I said, Joe Grill came out great. Really a nice improvement to the town. If you haven't been down there and you don't even have kids playing in the sports programs right now, take a walk down there. You'll be pretty impressed by what's going on. I know Michael will talk about in his report, but we finally got the paving done on Waterville and Albany, which is a holdover from last year because the weather got bad. I know those residents have been holding out a little bit because they had to wait a year, but we finally got that done. And that is my report. Council President Kent.

Mayor, could I just ask you, when they ask you about Pompton Lakes, what is going to be your recommendation?

To not look at Pompton Lake itself, lowering it, because it's not going to make a difference. It's such a small lake.

It's technically a river, it's a dammed up river, so anything that we lower is going to spill.

I think some of the mayors are suggesting or implying to the DEP is And this goes back, and maybe Maria is really the only one who remembers this, when we talked about when the dam was built by the Army Corps of engineers. You know, there was a whole argument, should we even have a dam there? Should we just let the water flow naturally the way it's going? And now we're back to that argument. Well, it's too late. There's a dam there, and they're not going to take the dam down. So I think what some of the mayors are suggesting is to leave the dam open all the time. I don't think the DEP is going to agree to that. They don't have a man in the tower like in the old days. I've been here long enough where there used to be a man standing in the actual tower and watching how the water flowed down the river. Now it's all computer modeled. And that's what it's based on is the computer model. The computer runs the gate. So we'll see what the DEP says to that suggestion. But I think that's what they're asking.

OK. OK. Because I know some people that live down south and feel that maybe just even aesthetically, emotionally, is a good idea to get rid of the water first. I don't know if it helps or not, but that's come up a lot.

We've had Joe Scoopian, who was our water person, said, just what you said, it sounds good, but it's such a small and narrow, and like Councilman Bennett said, it's just really a river running through there. You're saving a couple minutes before the reservoirs fill that whole thing up again.

It fills up with water.

Right. So it's really, when you think about it, and I'm not even going to say this, when I talk about the reservoirs, like in Wanaque, the Wanaque Reservoir, that's getting water from the New York reservoirs, right? So this is a chain that moves all the way up the East Coast, kind of. So it's not just stopping a reservoir, but those reservoirs are so large that if you take five inches of water off the top of a reservoir, it's going to take hours or maybe even a day to catch up to the spill level before it spills over, which buys us some time. So that's where I'm coming from, at least, right? I know Councilman Kemp and myself go back to when there was talk of building a tunnel from Pompton Lake all the way down to Newark underground, 15 feet wide, dug into buying all these homes. This has been thrown around a lot. And I understand, especially newer towns right now are flooding that maybe didn't flood before. So they're blaming us a little bit in the fact that we have the dam. They think there's a control. We have no control.

I also attended the Little League Parade and I gave the season address in light that the mayor was unavailable to attend. It was wonderful to see all the little kids, 200 or something, 300 kids maybe there, you know, something like that with the coaches and the mayor of Riverdale, Mr. Paul Corelli. It was nice to to see him there because we also include Riverdale in our Little League and sports programs. So he was very nice to walk with. It's a lot of fun to out. So yes, so the new ball fields are beautiful. We were not allowed to stand on them because we're not ready yet. We're hoping that they're going to be done maybe in June. They need at least a month for the sod. When the sod goes in, sod has to knit. We're going to do everything we can to make sure those fields are ready properly so we don't lose them because we're trudging around on them too soon. I'm looking forward to the opening day event when we cut that ribbon. I wanted to make sure I said that. Our open space committee, I was also attended our open space committee, we put together because we are so, have been so successful this past two years in getting some of our projects done, we started a subcommittee and it's just by, you know, just by raise of hands on assessing where we're going to go with our prime field at our prime park, which is Hirschfield Park. So we went down there last Friday. We looked pretty much to just a basic field tour. And we looked at Picnic Grove, some of the areas of concern. The park is aging again. Some of the trees are 70 years old and they're maturing out. Councilman Hinton came with us to represent the Shea Tree Commission because they do a lot of tree pruning and removal, so it was very nice to have you a part of that. And then, of course, all the different boards were there pretty much. We had a very good representation there. And what we're doing is we're putting together a list of the inventory of what's there and then kind of what we want to see in the future. It's not something that's going to happen overnight. It's going to take a little while to do all that, but We're looking at that now and we're looking at next month, we're going to be meeting with the chairman of the Passaic County Open Space Commission in Patterson and they're going to come up here and we're going to talk a little bit about funding and what is, where we can get maybe more funding, maybe better that are grant monies, because if we don't have the grant monies, it's very hard to do these big projects.

And we pay into that.

And we pay into that, and they know it. And other towns do get more. Wayne gets a lot more. So maybe let's see how we can maximize our grant applications. We do a very good job. We've never had a problem. Just so you know, we've never, to my knowledge, had a problem with the county. But there's no reason not to invite them up and see how we can maybe do a better job. Nothing like that. So that's going to happen on Thursday, May 14, at 7.30. And the public is always welcome to come into our meetings. I personally, as far as a council person here, I've had no comments on the proposed budget, which I assume is good. Hopefully at the next meeting we're going to be voting on the budget and I think this is a good idea that people seem to understand where we, how we came up with that.

And a good presentation online that was put online if you wanted to see it at Uncharted Studies.

And people, you know, if you want to see it, you know, please take a look at it. You did a very good job, Administrator Corelli, very good job in explaining that. So, yeah, take a look at that. I also, walking down the middle of the road without any cars around us realized that our downtown is actually looking really good. And because the Meridian project is almost done, all of those ugly fences and the black tarp is gone. And they're putting in new sidewalks. So I think we're really at a turning point from there. I think we're at a turning point in our town so that the downtown is really looking really, it looked great to me from where I was standing. The garbage, there was no garbage. We were talking about it on the way because we were walking. So I think we're at a turning point once this project is done. And I'm very grateful for the Civic Center. That's amazing. That's an amazing building that we now have. And it didn't cost our taxpayers anything because previous administrations negotiated that as part of the approval project, which was very smart. And so that paid off nicely. And I also want to just wish everyone a very happy Earth Day, because Earth is our home. And that is my report.

Thank you.

Councilman Sanders. Thank you, Mayor.

I also attended the Little League parade. It was a beautiful day. A little warmer than the last couple days. And I didn't realize how long the pool was. No, it's a walk.

It's a walk.

I got my steps in. It was nice seeing all the kids and a lot of smiles on their faces. They're excited to get their season going. And the ball fields are looking good. for Board of Education. I wasn't able to attend a meeting last night, but I was able to get a tree donated by Site 1 in the memory of Carl Padula. The Board of Ed planted, they picked up the tree and they planted it on Friday, and they're going to have a ceremony before a board meeting in the near future. I'm not sure if it's going to be in before May's meeting or if it's gonna be in June. They'll let us know and I'll keep everybody aware of when that ceremony's gonna be. Last night I attended the plan board. We did the ordinance like attorney seminar said about the 26-11. We voted on it and it was brought up to us tonight. Obviously we voted on it. Krauser's complex, they are working on a new plan. That's the Krauser's on Hamburg Turnpike. They're working on new plans to meet the county's specifications. And there were no new applications. And then for MUA, just a reminder about the hydrogen flushing started on Monday. It will be performed for the next two weeks between the hours of 12 a.m. to 6 a.m. It takes the two weeks, and be noted that if you have any discoloration of water or water pressure drop, to turn on your water, the cold water, and let it run until the discoloration is clear. And that is my report.

I learned through years of experience that marching in that parade is not the hard part. It's marching back after you're done with the parade. So you've got to make sure you have someone give you a ride back. Oh, we used to park the car. We used to park the car. Councilman Bennett.

Thank you, Mayor. Absolutely right. Councilman Bay gave us a ride back to get our vehicles, our parts. I had my car dropped off. That being said, the Little League Parade, knowing that Mayor Mike wasn't unable to attend, typically I would fill in for him. And in years past, it's been not a good sight for me to toss out the opening pitch. So this year, I actually practiced. I had my neighbor down the street who was an actual baseball coach. Thank you, John Simino, down the street. for giving me some tips. And as it turns out, Mayor Corelli showed up, which took the pressure off me immediately. So I appreciated that. But then it turned out that he was warming up. And it turns out that he had the kids toss out the opening.

There might have been a reason for that. That's right. You might have realized that.

There was a reason. So that being said, thank you to everyone involved. It was a great day. And good luck this season. A library board met last night. This week is National Library Week, April 19th to April 25th. Ways to participate. Visit your library. Get a library card. Thank the librarians for their work. Library is a great resource in town. It's a quiet place you can sit and read for a little bit, kind of collect your thoughts. Great place for research and whatnot. A redevelopment agency was postponed until April 30th. Before the meeting, we also toured the Civic Center, as a couple of the council members mentioned. It's beautiful. Thank you to Meridia for putting that together for us. The graffiti issue that we spoke about last meeting, the one on the side of Babcock there by the theater has been removed. I'm very happy to see. It looks fresh paint, so it was probably within the last couple days, if not today. I discussed that just so you know at the bid meeting. Oh, excellent. As it turns out, there is an ordinance for just graffiti in general to be removed, and property maintenance handles that. But there is an additional ordinance for anything in the bid. They have 48 hours to remove it. So just for everybody's knowledge. And if you see graffiti, report it. Don't just let it sit. Don't assume that someone else is going to report it. Because when we leave it, then people think that it's OK. We don't care. Then you see more of it, and it just spirals from there, broken windows through. Lastly tonight, there's a science and technology showcase right by the high school. It goes until 8.30. I was there as the robotics coach. Our robotics team is represented there, as well as the flood board is also there doing demonstration on storm water management. Speaking of flooding, so with additional development and people putting in, paving their driveways, if there is a way to retain some of that water on your property using rain gardens, using rain barrels, that will help reduce the runoff into the street, into the rivers. And you might not flood because you're on a hill, but your neighbor's downstream. Whether you're in the same town, whether you're in the neighboring town, there's value to retain the water on your property. And that is my report, Mayor. Thank you.

And just for the public's understanding, there was supposed to be a redevelopment meeting next Thursday. It's been moved to the 30th. And there is a project being presented, which is what we call the Smith Project, which is the ice cream station and everything over there. So that will be presented at that meeting on the 30th. That's one big. I have a whole book here to read, so I'll go ahead and watch you read that.

Yeah, thank you. Thanks, Mayor. And I want to wish everybody a happy Earth Day as well. Here we go. All right. Motion to approve request for the Veterans of Wars of U.S. John Hand Tri-County Post No. 2906 to conduct the annual Memorial Day Parade sponsored by the John Hand Tri-County Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 2906 and the Borough of Pompton Lakes on Sunday, May 24, 2026. PARADE TO ASSEMBLE AT 1045 AT THE INTERSECTION OF LAKESIDE AND JEFFERSON AVENUES AND THE VFW MEMORIAL SERVICES WILL BE HELD AT 1130 AT THE VETERANS MEMORIAL PARK, JEFFERSON AND LAKESIDE AVENUES. PARADE WILL THEN COMMENCE TO ITS ROUTES FOLLOWING THE SERVICES AND ENDING AT THE VFW POST 2906 LOCATED AT 260 WANAQUAVE WHERE REFRESHMENTS WILL BE SERVED. THE POLICE DEPARTMENT WILL TEMPORARILY CLOSE THE ROUTE. PORTIONS OF THIS ROUTE INCLUDE COUNTY ROADS NOTIFYING THE POLICE, FIRE AND FIRST AID. Have a second? Second.

Councilman Bennett, all in favor?

Aye. All right, I'd like to make a motion to approve the Palmton Lakes Prevention Coalition Walk for Hope in conjunction with the Stigma Free Campaign and Mental Health Awareness Month to be held on May 16, 2026, rain or shine. Registration is at 9 o'clock at the Palmton Lakes High School, opening ceremonies to begin at 9.30, walk to begin immediately after the ceremony from Palmton Lakes High School to Rambo Ave and ending at Hirschfield Park, and returning to the Palmton Lakes High School using the same reverse route. Walk route approved by the police. County permits not required. Police fire and first aid notified. Can I have a second?

Second. Second. Oh, that was everybody. Council President Kent.

All in favor? Aye. Against?

Okay.

All right, next. Motion to approve the request of the Palmton Lakes Recreation to close Lakeside Ave from Romaine to Elks in Perrin Avenue on Sunday, September 6, 2026. Marine Day is Monday, September 7 from 7 in the morning to 11 at night for Palmton Day. County Police Fire and First Aid to be notified. Do you have a second? Second. Councilman Sanders, all in favor? Aye. Against? And the last one is a motion to waive permit fees for those vendors who will borrow a food license and wish to participate in Pop the Day.

Can I have a second? Second. Councilman Hinton? Can we have a discussion? Oh, sure.

Can you explain what this is about?

To waive the permit fees for the local vendors.

Oh, for the local, just the local?

Yeah, so any vendors that are from Ponton Lakes that hold food licenses already for the borough.

Okay, but the other vendors that are coming to the trucks? Outside vendors have to pay.

Oh, they all have to pay.

Okay.

Okay, all in favor?

Aye. Okay. I attended the EPC meeting. We are completing the last pieces of preparation for the river cleanup on Sunday, May 3rd. Registration takes place at 9 in the morning, or you can scan the QR code on the flyer to register early. The opening ceremonies will start at 10 o'clock. At 1 o'clock, we'll have refreshments and lunch for the participants back at Hirschfield Park. We'll hand out prizes for the most unique items, biggest items, things like that. We'll have backyard games set up this year. We'll put out basketballs, corn holes, stuff like that. And we actually even have a DJ coming this year to help celebrate the event. We don't have a sound system down there yet, so we figured why not just get a DJ. It's coming, it's coming. That's good. The DJ will be good. And then after the APC meeting, I attended the open space meeting. The Hirschfeld Park garage is very close to being completed. There are only a couple of small items that need to be taken care of. The building is ADA compliant, and the flooring is done. I know Councilwoman Kent and Councilman Hinton went down there and viewed it too. Also, the new bridge at Hirschfeld has been set, and you should be able to cross it, I think, pretty soon. I'm hoping. We're hoping. Flooring concrete tomorrow.

Yeah, tomorrow's concrete.

Yeah, I mean, the bridge looks awesome. It does change the way the property looks when you walk in. And then the Willow Field project was discussed. There were over 100 trees that were planted, and the fields have really come a long way and look great. Also, this Saturday, I'll talk about the little elite parade in a minute. And then we also discussed the Muller property at Lakeside Park. The DOT will take down the fence and put up the guardrail simultaneously with the paving of Lakeside Ave. And this project should be completed this year. I am here in August. DATE TO BE DETERMINED. DATE TO BE DETERMINED. OKAY. AND THEN I ATTENDED THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE DINNER MEETING LAST WEDNESDAY NIGHT AT AXTON'S. THEY HAD A VERY NICE TURNOUT. THE FOOD WAS EXCELLENT. THEY ALSO ANNOUNCED THAT THE SHREDDING DAY IS MAY 9TH IN THE HIGH SCHOOL PARKING LOT FROM 8 TO 11. PAINT AND PLANT FOR MOTHER'S DAY WILL BE MAY 9TH ON THE LIBRARY LAWN. AND THEN THERE WILL BE ANOTHER BID BUG SALE ON MAY 16TH AT THE HIGH SCHOOL PARKING LOT FROM 1030 TO 1 O'CLOCK OR UNTIL IT SELLS OUT. AND THEN LAST THURSDAY I ATTENDED THE BID MEETING The spring and summer strolls are pretty set. The first one will be Thursday, May 21st. They have approximately 40 vendors that will be coming in conjunction with our business owners. There will also be music and outdoor seating for eating. The stroll will be from 4 to 8 with a portion of Wanakia being shut down. And then on Tuesday, which was yesterday, the New Jersey Business Action Center performed a district assessment. Based off of that assessment, the NJPAC, they'll be providing the bid with a report. And so a bunch of people walked yesterday around the town. And then the BID teamed up with AVIDD. It was actually a friend of mine, so I'm really happy he was able to come in and work with the BID. The AVIDD is Community Services of New Jersey through William O'Brien, who's their transitioning coordinator. And it's a program for adults with special needs to get placed in different businesses. to kind of either work as volunteer or get paid. So Abel Gomez and William, they went out to several businesses to see if they would employ any of the individuals with disabilities, whether it be paid or volunteered. And a couple of the businesses, one of them, is actually going to take some of the information. So it's starting to work out. And then last Thursday, we had Our first Pompton Day meeting of the year, we already have almost 40 vendors, and maybe you'll be happy a lot of them are food vendors. Can't have enough food vendors. And different food vendors from the past, so it's already coming a long way this early. And then I also attended the Little League Parade on Saturday. Councilwoman Kent's speech was awesome. The turnout was great, and the Willfield Complex also looks great. And that's my report.

I'm going to go back to what you started. Just for the new residents, we do do a Memorial Day parade that is well attended. We walk from the statue of the monuments at the bridge at Lakeside down through town. And then we end up at the VFW in the back of the buildings where there's free refreshments, hot dogs, and soda. and beer to all the local residents. So please come out and support our veterans on the walk and then come back to the VFW afterwards for some refreshments. It's always a nice day. Councilman Cruz.

Thank you, Mayor. I attended the Board of Education regular meeting last night, but before the meeting started, there was a curriculum report being given by Dr. Caitlin Thomas, Dr. Scott Wisniewski, and an overview of the high school science department by Dr. John Manning and the students of the biotechnology research course. There was a lot of information that went on for the presentation, so I'm just going to highlight some of the key takeaways from this amazing program. So the district is focused on dual-engine approach to scientific literacy. This includes expanding health sciences, university caliber biotechnology, and state-aligned excellence. Fifteen credit foundational sequences rooted in hands-on experimental laboratory learning. For the 2526 course sequences of classes for this year biotechnology is required for ninth grade chemistry is required for 10th grade all courses incorporating mandatory laboratory component to ensure hands on experimental learning. They're also expanding the healthcare initiative. Current offering is Dynamics of Healthcare, which is a semester long for grades nine through 12. The healthcare rollout also includes CPR Basic First Aid, which is a dual enrollment through Passaic County Community College. Another course that they're offering as well is gonna be Medical Terminology for grades 11 through 12. This is a comprehensive study of medical language, anatomy, diseases, diagnostics, pharmacology. This is dual credited through Rutgers University. We do have the Biotechnology Research Honors, started in 25-26 by Dr. Manning. This is a rigorous university-level elective providing students with the opportunity to engage with authentic scientific research prior to graduating high school. It's just amazing. There's more I have here to read on that because it blows my mind where we are today. Let's see. Students go from technique to theory in molecular genetics. I don't even know it. Enzymology, bioinformatics, and emerging biotechnologies, which include DNA recombination therapies. And I do just want to point out from the slide, that they had offered here. So I just want to highlight that all of this is achievable through partnerships with Rutgers University, Seton Hall University, Felician College, and Passaic County Community College. And lastly, through the research, they get their work published. okay they get their work published in national database which is called NCBI nucleotide database and this goes from mastering the techniques during the initial investigative process peer review and data analysis I mean I cannot tell you there's a lot more to this but I'm gonna end it on two things the first thing we have one high school senior that's graduating with 24 credits already which is amazing if you guys you know where we come from that wasn't even feasible when we were in school at that time And the last item that I have, I'd like to congratulate Eric Gargadona. How do you say it? Argandona? You know, I thought I heard it wrong. He's the valedictorian, and he'll be attending Princeton, where he'll be studying political science. And I don't want to get the second one wrong, too. Dylan Tenoza?

I don't know.

Tenoza? Okay, he's a... Salutarian, did I say that right? Did I spell this right? Salutarian, attending Rutgers, where he will be studying nursing. And that'll do it for the report.

So you bring up the gentleman who's a valedictorian who's going to Princeton, which is amazing to me, was also the mayor. He took over as the mayor. And I know when my kids went through the school system, We have an outstanding school system for a small town. They went in with 15 college credits before they even graduated high school. That's impressive for a small little town to be doing. And it's growing. And it's growing.

And it's growing. We're competing. Not even PCTI offers what we're offering right now. Not at that college level where kids are already mastering a lot that science is here today and then graduate. Again, I cannot stress that 24 credits, you can just imagine what the course load must have been like to even achieve that and then to graduate with that knowing that you're probably going to forego most of your first year classes to begin with and focus on your studies.

People forget because we're kind of separated but we work very well with the school system and I've always said from day one, we have an outstanding school system. They put a lot of time and energy and the teachers do a great job in educating our kids so I kind of thank them for that. Councilman Hinton.

Thank you, Mayor. I attended a Shaytree meeting, and the fifth graders submitted their Arbor Day essays, so we're going to be reviewing those. And at the next council meeting or the council meeting after, whichever was arranged with Liz, the winners will read their essays. So we're looking forward to that. Shade trees getting ready to plant 16 to 18 trees this spring already. We're looking to plant trees along Albany Ave. Albany Ave was just paved and looking to put a line of trees right on down there. It's perfect. attended the seniors meeting. The meeting was kind of canceled. We had a spring luncheon instead at Il Palazzo. So it was well intended. We had a nice time. that was open space down at Hershfield. For all the years that I was with Shaytree and removing, pruning, and planting trees, I was always looking for a long-term plan for our parks. And I want to thank the council president and thank Mrs. Venon, who was organizing this and putting it together. It's something we really needed. to be done in our park system for a long-term plan a lot of the trees like council president said are mature or on their way out and we need to go year after year planting new trees so that the park stays shaded like this we're always used to that so i was glad to be invited thank you and um I was checking out a couple of oak trees there that might have some rot in it. Ex-councilman Ken had his chance when I was bending over to give me a kick, but he passed it off. He didn't, so I thank him for that. I'll speak to him. He was thinking about it, but he was glad about it.

I'm glad the mayor was not there. There's a lot of video recordings. That's probably why.

I also marched in the Little League Parade. It was a great event. Kids were great. I walked the whole room talking to Riverdale Mayor Carelli. And that man can talk. Yes, so we had a lot of nice conversations. But we were looking forward to Councilman Bennett throwing the ball out and seeing his curveball. put the kids through instead. We wanted to see Council President throw the softball out if she could have reached home plate.

Well, the little 15-month-old girl did a better job than I did.

But it was a great day, like Councilman Santer said. Yes, it is a long walk. I remember last year we had to pull the golf cart up on Ramapoab to pick the mayor up. Sure, come jump right in. We jumped right in, rode the rest of the way down. But it was a great day. It was a great event. Also met with the administrator and others for the final inspection of the Hershfield Park Recreation Building. And it looks real good. There was a couple little things that I spotted that the administrator is going to work on. And hopefully we can straighten them out. But the building looks great. And I hope it works out for the rec center. And that's my report.

Great. Thank you. Attorney's report. Any report?

I just briefly, Mayor, I just wanted to bring to the council's attention that we completed the final stage necessary for the Fourth Round Affordable Housing Plan. The final stage was preparing and filing a consent order that was signed by Fair Share Housing Center. They signed off on it. We filed it with the court. It had to be filed by the 15th, I think we got in. two or three days ahead of time. And we're just waiting for the judge to sign off on it. And then we will have our judgment of repose that will grant us immunity to 2035. And the only intervening thing that we have to worry about is a midpoint review in 2030. You know that we had maintained our immunity all the way through the process. And this will be extending it to 2035 when the fifth round of affordable housing will begin. And I do have a couple more ordinances that I think that we got to Mike's office that will be coming in the next one or two council meetings. And that's my report.

Thank you. And just for the public's understanding, this is important because if we don't have this done, like the attorney was mentioning, it puts us in jeopardy to be sued by these developers. for a remedy lawsuits and and you you start to see them popping up all over towns right now that you know maybe it's something the town didn't want but now it's being forced kind of down their throat and they can't really say no to it and believe me these developers know when you didn't file and they're right knocking on your door ready to go and say it's too late you can't stop me and and these could be big units these could be five six seven hundred units things. So it's very important that we do this. This affordable housing in general, and I think the attorney will agree with me, is out of control. You can see a lot of towns are very upset about how it's going, and it's changing the patterns of our communities. It has to be addressed at some point, and this comes from Trenton, it doesn't come from local places here, but it has to be addressed. I mean, I understand the idea of fair share and getting people into homes, but it also can't change the dynamic of a community. It has to be, both sides has to be like that. So I'm glad we got that done, so thank you. Administrator, go ahead.

Questions for the attorney? Last meeting I asked you about Schuyler Avenue drainage crossing. We've been paying that for years and years, and you said you haven't gotten to it yet. Have you?

I apologize. I don't have an answer for you yet. I will jump on that. That escaped me and I do apologize.

Quite all right. Okay. Thank you. Thank you.

Okay, Mike. Thank you, Mayor. As you know, the Willow Field Improvements Project continues to progress. The contractor has installed the sod within the fields today, and the hydro seeding will be completed later this week on Thursday or Friday. As the Council President indicated, all of the trees and shrubs have been installed. The contractor has agreed to donate flowering trees to replace those trees that were for memorial purposes honoring those who passed and previously served with both the Little League and the Soccer Association. I have asked Councilman Hinton a few days ago to work with Shade Tree to select a species for the contractor's donation as soon as possible. So I'll follow up with Councilman Hinton about that.

Thank you.

And again, we remain in contact with Little League on the project and are looking forward to it being completed. The borough recently met with the contractor for the Hirshfield Park Phase 1 improvements project for the renovations of the recreation storage shed. There are a few final recommendations from the rec director and others, including baby changing stations in the bathrooms, modified timer locks, a light in the attic, and gravel in the rear of the building for weed prevention. A change order will be on for consideration for the next council meeting, and we're hoping that the CO is issued soon.

Just go back before you jump to your next thing. Mike and I spoke also because we've gotten, I know I've gotten numerous complaints about the walk path there, even though it's not, it's towards the end of when we're going to do this. We are going to try to address it up front right now, even if it's temporary, to make it safe to walk with a carriage or walking with your feet, and that it is one of the last things that's going to get done in that project.

We are aware, I've gotten numerous calls about some larger holes in that walk path.

Thank you.

Please note that the borough met with our affordable housing administrative agent Triad Associates today to review new and existing developments in compliance with their affordable housing obligations. We are following up with Mark's office for further information and documentation on a few of the properties in terms of marketing the units. So these units are required to be marketed whenever they're new or sold. So we're just making sure that these developers are in compliance with those requirements. So we are on top of that. As mentioned before, Meridia Cappadagli has been performing the streetscape installations as part of their project. The borough engineer has been on site for site inspections and compliance. Meridia does plan and has agreed to pave, I'm sorry, Meridia plans on paving the Lenox Ave private parking lot and the Babcock parking lot by the end of April or the first week of May. We have been successful in having Meridia agreed to pave the area where the old police department trailer was, as well as in front of the borough civic center where there is a new retaining wall being installed by the DPW. So we thank Meridia for their ongoing assistance and support with that. For those of you that don't know, the borough does have federal funding in the amount of $500,000 for the renovations to the Pompton Lakes Public Library, which has been subject to an environmental review period through the federal government processes at which the state's Department of Environmental Protection Historic Preservation Office has signed off on our project officially. And we are now working with our historical architect on the final design and bid specs. as a future proposal will be presented for consideration to the governing body in the near future. And I did want to highlight our chief financial officer, Peter George, as you know, has accepted a position with the township of Montclair to be their CFO. So I wanted to thank Mr. George for his service to the borough and wish him well in his future endeavors. And as a reminder to the public, the municipal budget public hearing and final adoption is scheduled for Wednesday, May 13th at 7 o'clock. All are invited to attend and provide comment. Thank you.

And I just want to go back to what you mentioned about Meridian. You know, when these projects are put together, they're done through a an agreement, and we follow the letter of the law on the agreement. But numerous times, myself and the administrator have reached out to Meridian and said, can you do this for us also on top of this? And they have the right to say no, because it's not part of the agreement. But to date, they haven't said no to any of the things we've asked. And it's saving the taxpayers' money at the end of the day. That paving alone is $20,000 to $30,000 to have it done. So we do have to identify that besides the civic center, which they built, they are trying to help us as best they can. So it's good to see at least we have a good partner in Indian development that's coming in. So I'm happy about that. Any questions for the administrator?

Only, where did they move the jack maple that was in front of the city center?

We didn't sell it. We moved it to Hirshfield Park. But I was told it's a $600 tree. There was a lot of discussion about that. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It has been relocated. We were at the planning board meeting last night and We saw it gone, and we're like, uh-uh. I said, I hope they didn't cut it down.

It was moved, yeah. Any other questions? No? Okay. Going back to the Civic Center rental agreement.

Thank you, Mayor. Yes. So as maybe the public's not aware, the Civic Center has been completed by Meridia Capodagli as part of the redevelopment agreement. Our DPW has been finishing all of the furnishings on the inside in the building. In all likelihood, we'll be given its CO this week. So it'll be open to the public and to the borough. So as part of that, our offices have kind of took a look at what the policy has been for the Civic Center, and we'd like to propose something for your consideration tonight. But before we get into that, the current policy was that the borough gets first dibs for any borough commission, committee, or board to use the facility during the week. And we did open it up to our nonprofit civic groups in Pompton Lakes. so we are recommending to keep that policy in place so first dibs during the week would be for any borough group that wants to go back there such as the flood board the historic commission or perhaps the business improvement district to move their meetings there those would all take first priority during the week and then we the recommendation is to open it up during the week to our nonprofit civic groups if they want to have meetings or events. We are recommending no fee for that. So any Pompton Lakes-based club or group can use it for free if it's not already being used by a borough purpose. And then on top of that, you know, we have this beautiful new building that, you know, we're always looking at ways of increasing revenue and opportunities for the borough. So we do think it's the perfect facility to rent it to the public for parties. So we've come up with a rental application and agreement for your consideration for the building. It would only be for Saturdays and Sundays from 10 o'clock a.m. to 8 p.m. You must be a current resident of Pompton Lakes over the age of 25. The renter must be present during the entirety of the event. You need proof of residency. There are specific details about what the resident can and cannot do on the inside of the property. including setup, cleanup, a damage policy, decorating information. You can't have glitter, confetti, or tacks on our walls or doors. No dogs or cats or pets are allowed. There's no smoking on the premises and grounds.

So the no smoking is important because, you know, unfortunately, the only place that you have an event that they can smoke is out in the street. So it's not like they can even go And the school has no parking. So it's really the street is where they're going.

We also have insurance considerations. We had our risk manager take a look at this agreement. And the JIC has signed off on this. So there is provisions there on insurance requirements. We talk about parking, what the violations are. The maximum capacity issued by the construction official is 60 people. So no more than 60 people can be in that building at once. So that's something that the agreement right now actually says 120 person. We are going to change that at 60. I just heard that recently.

Is that number from the building department or is that just a guess?

No, that is an official number. An official number.

Yeah. Fire department number or?

Construction official as part of their certificate of occupancy. So 60, we talk about technology. There's a TV monitor in the room available for use for both civic groups and parties. Garbage and recycling must be placed and sealed in the appropriate trash containers. There's a sink and microwave available for use. Tables and chairs will be provided. There's public ADA restrooms. And we go on and on. So the recommendation, again, is for parties in the evening. There's a few considerations to be had tonight if the governing body wishes to move forward in that capacity. You could decide to just keep it for borough and civic groups and not charge anything. But again, we have this beautiful building. That's what we're recommending. But we do have to talk about price. And we do have to talk about whether or not alcoholic beverages would be included in the rental on the weekends. And in my research, I have found that most borough facilities that have this type of arrangement, including Riverdale, Cedar Grove, and many others, do allow beer and wine on the premises. And that is on borough property. So it is allowed. We did confirm with the ABC. There are no special requirements. It's just insurance related. You have to make sure that we have proper insurance for that.

And they can't be selling it.

They can't be selling it and it can't be catered. It has to be BYOB. You have to bring your own out.

The one thing you didn't mention, which I'm sure is going to be asked, is about who's responsible to wash all this.

Right. So as part of the agreement, we were kicking back and forth the idea of having the DPW there during the entirety of the event, having them there before and after the event. We kind of settled on having perhaps a borough employee present at times. Maybe they're there in the beginning of the meeting and at the end of the meeting. But we do want to make sure that the event is properly managed.

You're talking about the parties now, not the meetings.

About the parties. So we were talking about that. I think that's still to be determined. Our thought process is if you had a party on a Saturday and a Sunday, the DPW would probably have to come in on Saturday because the Sunday people wouldn't want garbage everywhere. And the room would have to be cleaned, and the bathrooms would have to be cleaned. So there are overtime costs to that with the DPW. But if there is only one party on the weekend, perhaps a borough employee could suffice because the DPW would be able to clean the facility on Monday morning for the week. And that wouldn't cost extra overtime for that. So all of those items are built into the proposed fee that we are charging. We've gone back and forth. I've looked at Riverdale. I've looked at Cedar Grove. I've looked at Totawa. Riverdale charges for the community center, the Riverdale Community Center, which is larger and fits about 120 people, they only charge $350. And that's a much larger facility. However, we do have a newer facility. We have many other considerations to be made. And in all honesty, we think people will rent it regardless of whether it's $300 or $400. So we did arrive at the $350 proposed rate, again, for a Pompton resident. And we are requiring a $500 refundable security deposit, which is due two weeks prior to the scheduled event. In my experience with the Riverdale Community Center, people will damage the building and we need to have some teeth to recoup that because we don't have funds to keep pouring into maintenance and costs. So there is a refundable security deposit requirements as part of the agreement. There will be cameras. Right, we'll have cameras on the inside and the outside of the building, as all these other facilities do. So those are kind of the recommendations tonight, and we're here to talk about it.

So just before he jumps into the discussion, I don't know if you explained it well enough, that the employee that we're going to use could be a borough employee, would be at the event. overseeing it to make sure there's not hard alcohol being served or smoking inside or too many people in the building. So we will have eyes on that part of it to keep track of it because you have to because it's a small number. 60 turns into 80 very quickly and that can't happen, right? So that's part of the responsibility of the person that will be there. The only real issue that we were talking, as he mentioned already, is if we had a party Saturday and Sunday, somebody would have to come in on overtime to clean it on Saturday. If we only have one party on Saturday or Sunday, when the DPW comes in on Monday, they can take care of it and clean it on a normal day. So I'll throw it out there if you guys have any suggestions, ideas.

On that aspect, to have a borough employee on a Saturday at overtime What is their cost?

Well, it's not at overtime. It would be an hourly rate.

We were thinking about establishing a new hourly rate called the Civic Center Monitor. That would be the position. And it would be $16 to $18 an hour. And whoever those people are would sign up to maybe be the monitor that day. And the thought, maybe they're there in the building, or maybe they kind of hang out in here and just check on the building. Or they're on call. They come a few times a day just to check on what's going on. But that's kind of to be determined. But that's the thought.

And the other aspect in the front of the building, is for the police, for the women, and the back of the building is for the police. So we have police on both sides.

Right next to a police station.

Right next to a police station. The other question I had is on cancellations. You have here that the cancellation is made at least 30 days prior to a scheduled event. The rental fee less 50%. The rental fee is $350. So if they cancel, we're keeping 50% of that $350? That seems a little high to me.

And that's up for debate. That's what I found in other agreements.

I think the idea is, especially in the summer months, like in May, those hot weekends, we can't rent it now, and then they cancel out. Now we're going to try to recruit something back because we might not rent it. But that's debatable. I don't care what we do.

There could be other circumstances of the family . For them to lose 50%, $175, they need to cancel 30 days before.

There will be some administrative inconvenience on processing the application and calendaring it and stuff. Obviously, that's a business decision for the governing body to contemplate, but it's not without inconvenience or expense for the borrower a reservation for a canceled appointment just for consideration.

Right. And, you know, we've all had events. There is always a concern that if you cancel the event, you're paying something. Now, what that number is, is it 20%, 50%? I don't care. You guys can decide that.

I understand that completely, but I just thought 50% was a little high.

And how does everybody else feel about it?

Because if we get closer to it, if it's very close, I guess we've got to figure out a timeline. As we get close to the day of the event and they cancel, let's say, Last minute. Last minute. Not even a week, two weeks, I think.

Why don't we say 40% at 30 days and 50% at two weeks? How's that? That works. Is that OK?

If we do something like that, I think that'll be OK. And if it's less than 24 hours, they don't get anything back.

I'm being serious. I'm asking you.

If someone cancels the day of, that's a good question. That is an inconvenience to us. We're calling in people. Let's do this. 40%, 50%, 75% in the last week.

I think that's right.

Is that fair?

I did just have a question. It's more on the parties. Given the location of where that is, that's an active police station and parking lot. Also, parking is always a concern here. St. Mary's doesn't want to take the overflow. They're going to call us about it. If I have 60 people, that's a lot of cars. Yeah, sure. where are they supposed to put it? And, you know, to monitor the overflow, people come out of there to smoke or they're going to walk around. That is an active police station. And there's really no different walking path for people partygoers versus the police station, you're walking out right into the city.

I think, and it's a good point because it is an issue. My guess is if there's not an event going at St. Mary's, unofficially people might park there, but we always have the pothole that is ours that they could park in officially. But if, you know, the school, even if there's nothing going on, but we are never going to tell them to park in the school or St. Mary's. So our answer to you would be the pothole. That's where they would be parked. Okay. Oh, we got this new parking lot right here. That's not ours.

I understand that's not ours, but a lot of times you said today. I don't think on a weekend. We can use it during the day.

Yeah, I think on a weekend, though, they're going to use that full time. I don't think we'll have use of that. Well, you know people are going to probably try to sneak in. I can't tell them where to park, but Bobby's asking an official question. I think our official answer is the ponzo.

We've spoken to the police chief before. I don't think we're looking for a blanket approval tonight. I think we're going to have to go back on a few things. We'll have the police chief and I report back on the parking.

I have a couple of thoughts I'd like to share. For banquet facilities, generally speaking, zoning goes, and I'm not sure what Pompton Lakes does, usually it's one car for three seats. Maybe it's more like 20 parking spaces would be used on average than 60. And perhaps we charge a different rate for Sunday in order to recoup whatever the expenses would be for a double party scenario.

Does that work into the number?

Yeah, and Liz and I were talking about the hours are 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., but what if someone only wants to rent it from 10 to 2, and then someone else calls and wants to rent it from 2 to 8? So we were talking about maybe we break up the fee in two increments as part of the day, if you want a half day or if you want the full day.

Well, I think we might run into that.

That's a good point. So we also have to consider that as well.

That will definitely happen. No, because we want a minimum of time.

Yeah, but I would hope we do a longer...

It becomes burdensome for the DPW to continually clean after like a two-hour increment.

And by the way, on Sunday, if we had an early party just throwing this out there, unofficially, again, St. Mary's would be packed, right? So there would be no parking going on over there at all. And they even overflow sometimes into our lots, right? So that would be an issue also on Sunday. But the parking can make it work. But I think you're right. I think on a Saturday, especially in May with birthday parties and first birthdays and christenings, we could do two parties on a Saturday. I don't see why we couldn't. Yeah, absolutely. Especially if it's a young... I don't think you mentioned the DJ.

Yeah, there's no live band that's allowed, or no DJ. So we're not letting music blasting. You could have radio and whatnot, but this isn't the type of facility for a DJ.

Mike, I know that we have the security deposit. And he did a remarkable job with this, by the way. He almost put me out of business. I mean, there wasn't much to do. But it just dawned on me. I know that we have the security deposit, but if we have to clean it up, do we have a schedule of fees? If we don't, maybe what we end up doing is in the security deposit indicate that, set a price per person per hour necessary to clean it up so that they understand that's going to come out of the security deposit at this rate. They realize the expense associated with it. I think that that's real important, particularly if you have the double party on a day, because you're going to have to get people in quickly. And then it's public, lawyers ruin everything. It's public property. I didn't say that. It's public property. You have union tasks. I mean, do we have to have DPW folks clean it? I don't know. You'd have to maybe talk to Dean about it.

That one I don't know.

We use a private company for here, so I would assume that. We wouldn't get a problem on that. But for instance, the borough of Riverdale has a separate fee of $25 an hour for cleaning that they charge on top of the $300. But we tried to bake it into the whole fee. We didn't want to get confused with all these fees floating out there. But the security deposit is a good idea.

The other thing I would mention is, I guess in that contract somewhere, it should say the party cannot be outside either, right? Correct. In the parking lot. Like if it's a warm day and you've got 25 people hanging out, going back to Councilman Hinton's concern, we don't want 25 people hanging out in our police department line.

Right.

The overflow is going to happen. And that's why we need some of that.

It's going to happen, especially on a warm, gets hot, a lot of people in a... Are we going to limit, say the party goes outside somehow. Well, I think it's going to be up to whoever's the monitor for that to... Tell them to kind of go back inside. You're going to have to go back inside. It's an active police station.

You can't be out here.

Yeah, we don't have anything about outside, so we can add that.

Okay. Any concerns down here?

Did you say how many hours? So you're going to limit 350... Four hours max or two hours max?

Yeah, as written, it's 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., but now that we're thinking about it, maybe we do, you know, split that in half. So you can either rent it for a half day or a full day. Okay. To try to maximize maybe the revenue a little bit.

That's a good idea. Yeah. And we have, I guess we should put in that contract that they're going to be signing, there is no place to store food that's cold. I mean, another refrigerator in there. That's not for their use, really. I mean, are we letting them, say, bring a cake?

Yeah, no, the fridge is meant for that purpose.

Oh, just for that? Yeah. Okay. But, like, catered food can go in there? Yes.

Okay.

The timeline should account for a cleanup hour or something in between. In between. Right, exactly. Yeah.

Okay, so I think the only other thing, so we can talk about the beer and wine. I'm okay with the beer and the wine if you bring it yourself. This was a whole debate back and forth. You have a caterer who comes and says, oh, I can supply the beer, but that becomes a legal issue. Is that right? I don't know.

Yeah, I think that does become, because that becomes an ABC issue. Right.

If the caterer brings it, right? So if you bring it yourself.

And you can only have so many per year in a facility.

So the only issue I foresee... Not that I've been to a lot of these parties, but there's going to be people bringing in bottles of liquor, right? We know that. So what is the penalty or what happens at that?

Our insurer said it was okay. And that was the big concern, right? As long as our insurer is going to stand between us and any possible liability, I don't think that there's an issue. I've had family parties. I'm the one in Cedar Grove, and they had alcohol. I mean, it really made it...

usable venue I mean everyone commented on what a nice option this is well I think the issue though is if we go just beer and wine and we say that in the contract and then bottles come in then what are we doing because I know Riverdale ran into that issue right they keep your security deposit

If it's a circumstance that warrants that, I don't know.

So if that was the case, so that we don't have a dispute, we ought to indicate what circumstances result in the surrender of the security deposit, and that should be one of them, I guess. I guess it should just be a violation of the rules if you're outside, if you're smoking, if you're drinking. Mm-hmm.

Well, let me go back a step further.

How does everybody feel about bringing hard alcohol in?

Hard alcohol?

Well, I mean, if he's saying there's no... If they bring it, right, if they bring it themselves, then there's no liquor white control concerns.

If they bring alcohol themselves, did the GIF indicate that there was a limit on their identification, hard versus soft? No. So then I don't know that there's much of an issue. a wild person and going to have a party, I'm not going to have it on top of a police station. I made some bad decisions in life.

That wasn't one of them.

So how does everybody feel about that? That's another part of this. I'm going to say this, though. When Riverdale first opened, they had an unlimited, you could bring whatever you wanted. And they did run into some issues over there with the hard alcohol, causing some problems where police got involved. And that's why I think they switched to this new thing with beer and wine. But if we want to try it and see how it goes, and if we have issues, then we stop it. That might be the way to go. I'll leave it up to you guys. Yeah. See how it goes. All right, Mike. So let's list it as we'll try. Internally here, we're going to try it. If we have issues in any shape or form, it goes to beer and wine.

Okay.

Is that okay?

Yeah. I got a question on the certificate of insurance. Is that for residents or just for commercial? How does that work?

How does that work? No, this is for residents. So what the resident should do is you'd have to call your homeowner's policy and add a certificate of insurance with the borough of Compton Lakes as an additional insured. Right. That's what Riverdale does. So that is a little bit of a burdensome step for the renter, but, you know, we just want to make sure.

That protects us. Right.

Plus the price. You're not renting a place.

I just had a couple.

Yeah, the price, the phone cost more than it should be. Exactly.

It's not pricey, is it? I have one other question real quick, too. I know there's no smoking on there. Just want to make sure, should we add in, like, there's no vaping either? That's a good point.

Is vaping illegal on premise?

Well, if you say it is, then it is.

I don't know what our ordinance reads. Does it read vaping?

I don't think so. But we could add signage, right, Mark?

You certainly can add signage, but if we have no smoking, just put the word include vaping, including vaping, and you're fine.

Because I got a feeling people will vape inside just because of the way the product is.

Don't disagree.

And look, again, this is a moving experiment, right? So, you know, it's a good idea. I think the residents will use it. If somehow it gets abused or the liquor doesn't work or the vaping is a problem, then we're going to fine tune it, right? So we'll start with this. You know, I think it will be, you know, there's people always looking for a little room to rent, and it's not that cheap anymore to do.

Especially with these apartments coming in. Yeah.

But they're not a homeowner. You're going to put them in a disco lane? If they're not a homeowner.

So if they're not a homeowner. Disco lane? All right. Is renters insurance? How do you get it if you're not an agent?

Yeah, you should be able to get it to everyone. The person, no, oh, well, if you're not a homeowner.

Right, if you're a rent apartment, yeah, because you're a renter.

I don't have an answer for that. So we need to find an answer. That's a good point. I mean, there are people who are renting in the apartments that are not owning, so.

Is it a homeowner? Is that what it says?

I would think that a capital project requires them. I think you said a resident. I know a lot of big, a lot of these luxury apartment landlords are requiring renters insurance.

Well, we have lots of other apartments. All right, so that's something we should kind of check on to see how they would go about it. Now, is there a way, because when I used to do this for the sports organizations, we had a blanket policy that covered any event that went in there. Is that something we could do or we can't do?

Yeah, that's part of our whole chip stuff.

Right, so is there a way that we can take that step out for the residents and we're covered?

I don't know. I could find out.

Because I know, you know, we've had other events. Soccer, for example, soccer is covering the gyms now. So we just list all the gyms that we're covering. And it's the same with basketball, right? We listed all the areas. Even the shed. Right. So maybe under our insurance, we can just list that as a party area for this event, and maybe it will be covered. If we could do that, I would rather do that if possible. That's a good point, Mike. All right. So anything else? Anybody have concerns? I mean, we'll see how it goes. So when... Unfortunately, the season is right now, right? Are we going to make that?

I'm thinking at the next council meeting, we'll have a second workshop with the final draft, with the police chief here, just to answer all of these questions. And then we do need to have Mark write us an ordinance on this initiative. So we're talking about two readings for the ordinance and a reading for this.

So we're into June already?

June 1st. By the time we advertise it, it's going to be late summer. Any other questions on it? If I may, for the record, once the CO is issued, we are going to work on announcing to our borough groups that it's reopened and also as the clubs start to come in and the civic groups start to book those and get those straightened out.

Well, can I just add something to that? I forgot to mention it before. our borough established liaison groups they get first run at at any of that right correct but after the fact even say they need to do a registration for basketball and they need three days to do that that's once a year or once every six months whatever it is but there's a group i'll say the girl scouts in there on tuesday How does that work?

Our thought was first come, first serve as booked. So if the Girl Scouts book it for tomorrow...

They book every Tuesday for...

I don't think we're going to book out a year. Oh, okay. We don't want to get involved in that.

All right, so that's how in the previous years, that's how it used to be. For example, baseball had it booked every Thursday at 8 o'clock. No. Okay, so then...

I think we're going to go month-to-month. If they literally come in and say, we want to book it for the whole year on Thursday nights, we're going to say, maybe we'll take it on a month-to-month basis.

So they're going to have to call you every month?

Yeah. We're going to work it out. You want some flexibility for other folks.

But that doesn't work for the boards, right? So if the bid wants to say every Tuesday at 4 o'clock, they're OK to do that. Why not? Okay, so any of our boards that we're working with within town can do a yearly setup. Right. Okay, then the next stage down would have to do a month-to-month rate.

Because we're nervous that the Little League comes in, or whoever it is, and says we want it every Thursday for the whole year, but then mid-year historic commission comes in and says, hey, we want to do this great event. Well, we already booked it for this group for the full year. I'm okay with that. And really the borough should take precedent. Yes. That's what I'm saying.

That makes sense.

We'll work it out.

OK. And then just so we know, as a council here, if we wanted to have a meeting, spur of the meeting, like we use the map room, and somebody's in the map room, say there's court, we theoretically have the front room in there to use as the new map room, correct? We're not renting the front room out?

That's going to be part. You're renting the building. Well, the building, meaning the big room and the little room.

No, I'm saying for the groups.

You could rent separate rooms, yes. You could give it to historic on the little room and the little league in the big room.

You could do it that way.

Because it has separate doors.

So if someone asks to require a small group once a month, we can give them the front room? Yeah.

We did that in the past.

Yeah, we had, but it was much more unorganized. As long as they're not using it. Well, you know, the issue I... I ran a lot of those groups before I was involved. And people would say, I won it every Tuesday. But they didn't show up every Tuesday.

That was the problem. But when we booked, what we did was, an outside group booked it. a board or something wanted to use it, we called the outside group and told them. That's what I'm saying, right. They couldn't use it that night, and they realized that from the beginning.

Right, and I agree with that, by the way. So if football said I want to do our registration and I need four, so summer camp's doing interviews right now. They would use that to do that, and they're going to say I need Tuesday through Friday to do that. There might be another group in there, but they would get bumped is what I'm saying. Yeah, okay, I agree.

As long as the group using the large facility is not using the kitchen also. when you have two groups in there because then they'll be walking through with a smaller group.

Yeah, I would hope they're not using the kitchens for those kind of meetings.

Right. But you have to look into it. Right. Okay, so.

And I'm telling you, Liz, you'd be the one scheduling or who wouldn't? My office.

Yes.

Your office, okay. It's always been under the clerk's office. Okay.

That calendar's going to get very filled up very quickly.

Very quickly. Okay.

Any other questions about that?

No. Okay. The next one should be easy. Go ahead, Mike. Thank you. We did receive an email from the chairman of the Environmental Protection Committee. They are looking to amend the borough ordinance to add one alternate member to the roster of the committee for purposes of absenteeism considerations. So we did have Mark look at that. There's no statutory or local regulations preventing us from making that change, so we are recommending

uh an ordinance to add an alternate member to the environmental protection committee and if anyone has any questions or concerns anybody have problem with that no okay and mike you have that one now right or uh no i need that yeah thank you okay um motion to open the meeting for public comments motion councilman bennett councilman crews all in favor against anyone from the public like to address No?

Yes, is that a hand up? Yes. Come on up. Dave . I know you'll answer the questions at the end. You said something about the DPW garage costing like $10 million or something for the repairs or something or other. Oh, it is? And also, what stroke did Steven say is coming up? And also, how's the bridge that's down at Hirschfield coming along? And . OK, what? Yeah, I did see Mike play football at the high school games, so he left. Yeah, and... Let's see... I still can't beat Stephen in words of French. I'm still trying. And Scott met Trilley's game this summer at Citi Field. And that's it for me. And you mentioned Yankees.

Yankees.

All right, Dave. Sit down. Stop asking questions like that. Anyone else in the public likes to invest? Seeing no one, can I have a motion to close the public session? Motion. Councilman Hinton, Councilman Sanchez, all in favor? Aye. Against? DPW garage, no, we're going to replace the whole building. We're building a new DPW garage over there, and that's why it's expensive, and we're moving it. The bid is going to be putting on an outdoor dining where they close the street, kind of like a stroll on certain Thursdays at 4 o'clock, starting with the first one to the 21st. So part of Wanakee Avenue will be closed. They'll be putting tables in the streets, and there'll be vendors there. I think that's the date, right?

I believe that was the date. Yeah, May 21st. And the bridge is in.

We're hoping it's going to get cement on it tomorrow or soon. And then once it does that, it's kind of almost open, ready to use. So we'll be getting ready to use that bridge pretty certainly soon. Okay. Motion to close the public session. Oh, I did that. Approach to the floor. Anybody? Go ahead.

I just have a question. Oh, I'm sorry. I think it's for Mike or for Councilman Haynes. The flags, the veteran flags.

Oh, good question.

Because we're going to have that parade, and they're supposed to be up.

Are they up?

I hope. Yeah, so what's happening with that is if everyone remembers last year, all the flags were getting tangled. So Dan and I thought about it, and we realized that a smaller flag would not get tangled because the flags were larger. It was wrapping around the pole. So, we are ordering all new small flags, and every other poll, we've decided to have a 250th anniversary of the United States flag. So, you're going to have an American flag, a 250 flag, an American flag, and so on. So, we think it'll be a nice touch to the parade, and we are working on that.

Okay, and what about the veterans? They bought the flags with the veterans?

Yeah, those were only meant to be up for one year, so I don't know what the plan is.

I will talk to Bob to see. I would like, hopefully he puts them up or he wants them up for the parade, I would think.

I think they do.

I don't know the answer to that.

But for the memorial banners for like the public to purchase? That project was with then Councilwoman Polidori, so I don't know if that's something the governing body wants to do. We're certainly more than happy to facilitate that, but that would be for next year at this point, because it's too late.

Right, so I think what you're asking, we haven't gotten any new water plants. Oh, you haven't? No, so we have what we had last year, or the new 250s that we're going to put up, smaller so they don't wrap. Maybe you can reach out to Bob or I can reach out to Bob to see does he want those up for the parade on Wanaque Avenue, the veterans ones. Right, the ones that were up last year. Right, right, right.

Okay. Actually, I went to their meeting and they seemed to indicate that they did.

I would think they would, but I don't know. I can't say this. That's fine. Okay. Bobby, did you have something?

Yeah, I don't know if anybody's had a chance to drive Lakeside by the school.

Yeah, we're dealing with that right now.

Oh, you're good because I didn't see it. And my Jeep was not too happy about it.

The new speed bump? Oh, yeah.

Yeah, the new speed bump. I'm driving, you know, 23 miles, boom, boom, boom, boom.

So what happened there?

The Jeep isn't here, but the contractor who was doing the work there never contacted anyone to do a road opening permit. And he did one illegally and did a horrible job in filling it. And there were certain crimes that he was supposed to do. Lots of complaints. We actually had a travel trailer, like a landscape trailer, lose our axle going over there. So they're in some trouble on that. And the police is dealing with ticketing and that whole situation. But I think tomorrow, wasn't it tomorrow, they were supposed to do that? But they didn't get police involved.

Yeah, if I may, when you take out a road opening permit, you're supposed to coordinate with the borough engineer's office to make sure that the resurfacing is done properly in accordance with borough standards. And this specific road opening permit applicant did not contact the borough engineer and did the restoration without our knowledge, resulting in this condition. So they are apparently doing it tomorrow, I believe. I think it's tomorrow. And the borough engineer is aware.

But yes, we're well aware that was a problem. I've been asking for speed bumps for a year. Well, you got one over there.

That's not the one you want.

I just want to remind anybody who's interested, this Friday there is a fireman beefsteak in Bloomingdale. If anybody's interested, they might still have some tickets. It's supporting our fire department. Any other questions?

Yeah, I just got a couple quick just announcements to me. I was talking to Pedro. So the Mazzello family of Pompton Lakes, they own Brother Bruno's. They're having a 50th anniversary this weekend. And it is on Sunday. For anybody that wants to come out from one of the four, they're having live music, artists, vendors. So if you have the opportunity, stop over. And then Thursday, tomorrow night is the Pompton Reform Community Dinner again. So I encourage anybody to come out. Starts at 5.30. Who's sponsoring that? Rotary again. So I'll be serving, you know, Pastor John's chili will be there, the whole deal.

For the public, that is offered for free of charge at the Reformed Church, 5 to, what's the time? 5.30 to 7. 5.30 to 7. Anyone's welcome to show up and get a free nice dinner. That's usually sponsored by one of the local restaurants. They do a great job, and I've been there many times serving. It's a nice event. Fried chicken and hot dogs tomorrow. There you go, fried chicken and hot dogs.

And chili and salad and that stuff. And then one last thing is, I know a little conflict, but the Elks is also hosting a pasta dinner this Friday from 5 to 8. Yeah, the proceeds are going to benefit special children's charities. Okay, any other proof before?

No? Motion to adjourn into closed session. So motion. Councilman Venning, Councilman Cruz, all in favor? Aye. Against?

Thank you, everyone, for coming.

In closed session, we discussed negotiation and personnel. And we're going to read an ordinance. Do we have to open the door?

A resolution, I'm sorry.

Mike, do we have to open the door? Yeah, there's somebody out there.

Resolution authorizing inter-local shared service agreement between the Township of White Rock and the Borough of Pinecone Lake Certified Municipal Finance Office of Services for a period of May 1st, 2026 through December 31st, 2029.

All right, can I have a motion? Motion. Second. Councilman Begg, Councilman Cruz, roll call please.

Councilman Begg.

Yes.

Councilman Cruz. Yes. Councilman Hinton.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes. Yes. Thank you. Motion to adjourn. Motion. Second. Councilman Bennett, Councilman Sanchez, all in favor? Aye. Against? Aye.