Township Council - Regular Meeting

Yes. Okay. Good evening everyone. Welcome to the township council regular meeting of February 24th, 2026. This is a regular meeting of the council, the township of Montlair. It's being broadcast live on channel 34 and streaming live on Montlair TV34 YouTube channel. It's available on demand and can and will be rebroadcast. This meeting is called pursuant to the provisions of the open public meeting act. The meeting was included in the annual notice of the meeting schedule as set forth in resolution R-25-352 adopted by the township council at its regular meeting of November 25th 25 advertised in the official newspaper on December 25th 25 January 1st 26 and January 8th 26. It was posted on the bulletin boards outside of the municipal building and has remained continuously posted. In addition, a copy of the annual notice is and has been available to the public and is on file in the office of the township clerk. Please rise for the pledge of allegiance.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you, Madam Clerk. Will you please do the roll call? Deputy Mayor Anderson here. Councelor Birmingham absent. Councelor Damato, present. Councelor Harrison, here. Councelor Toller, good evening. Present. Good evening. Councelor Williams, here. Mayor Baskerville,

present. Thank you. Um, at this point in time, um, we're going I'd like to make a motion that we move into executive session. Second. The purpose of the executive session will be contract negotiations and uh, personnel matters. All in favor?

Any opposed? Thank you. Um, if there are members of the public who are not directly involved with this, I'm going to ask you to please leave and we expect that we will return around 6:30ish 6:15. Um, but we will open the doors, invite you to return at that time. Thank you so much. because I said public.

Good evening, Rick. Are we on? Yes, we are. Okay. Good evening everyone. Please come in and uh get situated as soon as possible. We are um getting ready to move right into the um approval of the minutes. I make a motion that we um remove ourselves from the executive session and come into the public session. Second.

All in favor? We're we're voting on whether to come into the public into the public session now. You know, regular session. All All opposed. Any abstensions? Okay. Thank you all for joining us. Um there seats down front. If you don't have one in the back, if you wish to um be heard this evening, please sign in the book that's at the front table here. And when we get to the topic that you're interested in, we will um acknowledge you and and ask you to come to the podium in the front. Madame clerk, um we uh did everyone have an opportunity to to review your minutes?

We don't have minutes. We don't have any minutes. Okay. So, we won't uh we have no minutes at this time, so we'll move on. We have a right. We have a public hearing and we also have a presentation. Um

Okay. Okay. So, we're going to go um right into the um public hearing that we're going to have on the Canterbury Park improvements. So, at this time, um may I please have uh engineer Norberto and the team that's going to come please and present the Canterbury Park improvements. We're going to ask that you allow for the presentation to uh be completed before you begin to ask questions. And certainly the questions and suggestions and uh comments are are very important and valuable. We want to hear them. But we would like please for you to hold them or if you need to write them down um until the presentation is completed. Thank you. This is on the agenda tonight. Um, agenda item A, Green Acres Application. is the resolution enabling the state of New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Green Acres Application in support of the Canterbury Park

Improvements Project. We'd like to welcome our township engineer, Mr. Norberto Hernandez. Thank you for joining us.

Thank you, mayor. Um, thank you, everyone. Uh, good evening. Appreciate the opportunity to speak. Um, and as the mayor introduced already, this is in fact the public hearing for the 2026 Greenacres uh, grant application that we're looking to submit, which is in support of Canterbury Park. So, before I go into the actual scope of the project, I just want to go over a little bit of what the Green Acres program is and some of their requirements. Uh the Greenacres program is a statef funded program uh which is looking to really promote, encourage and um and uh fund outdoor recreation facilities that could be in the form of both passive and active recreation. Um indoor facilities, community centers, um other you know such as Clary Anderson for example, those are ineligible facilities under this program. Um and with that once a funded project is awarded uh through through this program uh that facility must be open to the general public at large. It cannot be restricted based on residency um in that sense and uh one aspect is um available as far as scheduling that is permitted. However, again, you cannot encroach on that accessibility um access uh uh through other uh residents for other towns.

Can't cannot cannot apologize. Here's supposed to be a want to see if the lights go out. Would it help? You think this row?

No, that's too dark, right? Okay. Can you try the next slide?

The images aren't attached, it seems like, to the uh to the slides. They're not showing up. Depends on what year that was taken. I did have a giant pool in the yard. Couldn't afford to keep it.

little work around here, but I think we got we got it. So, on this slide, um I have a a general aerial overview of the park as it exists today. Um just quickly run through for those who may not be familiar, haven't visited in some time. Uh going from north to south, we have the main pathway that runs through the park. uh provides access from Wdale Avenue down to Pleasant Way. Uh that was actually redone fairly recently, so we're not looking to do any changes to that at this point. Um really looking to use those funds uh for other areas where they're most needed. Um so starting with the playground at the northern portion of the property, uh that is included as part of this application. um as well as the basketball courts which are located further to the south in between the walking path and the uh well nituin brook is immediately adjacent to it. Similarly, the tennis courts across the brook which is between the municipal boundary with Glenn Ridge um that's a aspect of the application that we're looking to address as well as the walking path and the um outdoor recreation uh fitness area as well. So here we have some photos of the uh outdoor fitness area as it is today just to give some uh some background on how it looks today. As you can see uh the surface of the equipment area is starting to deteriorate. There's weeding, grass growing through as well as the path itself deteriorating, color is fading. Um, and it's uh it is just, you know, normal course of the life cycle of of the facility. Uh, it's in it's in it's in need of some attention at this point.

Here we have the basketball court. Um again there's a significant amount of allig alligator cracking that's forming throughout the court other areas with deeper uh longitudinal cracks as well. Um which again is not unexpected um given the environment that we live in uh in this region of New Jersey. Um it's it's at the end of it life life cycle. Here we have the tennis courts. Uh very similar to the basketball courts and the shape that they're in. Um and as you can see on the image on the right on the far right, uh that's actually one of the posts for the nets. Uh which is looks like the uh foundation for that post is starting to separate from the surrounding surface. Um so again, it's it's uh it's it's time to to get this uh redone. Uh last set of images I have here are of the playground. Um again this surface was actually redone I'd say about four to five years ago. Um however we did not replace the equipment pieces at that time. Uh this project would look to not only replace the uh surface, which as you can see is already started to deteriorate, come apart, um but also replace the equipment pieces with uh more, you know, modern um and and current uh features, uh while still maintaining the essence of what the playground is is intended to be. So here here we have a uh conceptual rendering of what the um proposed improvements look like um and if completed what the park would look like as a whole. And and what you'll notice

is it's very similar to what exists today. And that's intentional. Uh we're not looking to make any drastic changes to how the park is uh is situated and laid out. Um really just looking to maintain what's there and and make some improvements where we can where we think they make sense. Um and some of those improvements again the playground will be redone. Uh we want to rebuild that from the ground up. Um that includes new surfacing and as part of this application similar to uh the Nishuain Park playground um that we are looking to um get underway uh soon likely in the summer as far as construction. Uh this has a um uh recycled cork surface that we're looking to include here as a eco-friendly sustainable option in lie of the port in place that exists there today. Um but the footprint of the park itself uh is looking to be unchanged. And um you may notice if you look closely enough there's some semi-transparent like red squares kind of throughout the park. Uh those represent shade structures uh that we're looking to include over some of the benches as well as uh some of the play equipment as well which don't exist today.

Play equipment. Yeah, some some of the fixtures have some um coverings over them. Uh moving down uh south of the park. Uh next we have the uh basketball courts which again a very similar location to where they exist today. However, we are looking to slightly shift them over a little further to the west. Uh twofold uh reasons as to why we're looking to do that. Um first and foremost, we're looking to get a little further away from the brook. Um the current uh location of the basketball courts is right on the line of where the floodway currently is. So, we want to try and um get away from that as much as we can. Um and also we want to provide improved accessibility from the main path through the park to provide access to the um basketball court as well as the tennis courts uh further further to the east. Um so there's an accessibility upgrade um there as well. Um and moving further to the east we have the uh the tennis courts which um again looking to rebuild that in the same footprint as it is today. we are limited with respect to what we can do there because of we have the brook right to the to to the west and we have a fairly dense tree line right to the east and the uh boundary with Glen Ridge is is right beyond that. So we can expand or we're not looking to expand at all there. However, the one I'd say biggest change to the park as a whole is we are looking to um incorporate uh two pickle ball courts at this park uh within the footprint of the tennis court. So, in essence, you will have an option to play either tennis or pickle ball. Um, and that really is a result of uh some uh communication and engagement we've had with the community. Um, and I'll get to that in a little bit more detail uh in a bit, but as part of

this application, we were required to um aside from this public hearing, obtain feedback and comments from the community. And we did that in the form of a um online survey which was posted on the township website. Um and um a significant portion of the concerns that we received regarding the pickleball courts was a um sound, which I'll get to in a bit. Um but also just the loss of the tennis courts. Um they're fairly heavily used by the residents in the area and they did not want to lose that facility. So we made some modifications and now we're including that along with the pick pickle ball court. So it will only be an addition to and not a subtraction or swap of uh benefit to the community. As far as the sound is concerned, uh we have included an additional row of evergreen plantings um along Nishwain Brook between the tennis court and the basketball court. And again, that's intended to block sound as it travels um and keep it contained within within that area of the park. Um on the east side of the courts, um we did have discussions with the mayor of Glenn Ridge and the burough administrator as well about this project. Um and we um informed them that, you know, they obviously raised some concerns about the noise as well. Um and uh what we informed them was our plan is to attach what's called um acoustic barriers or panels. These get affixed directly to the fence. Um, you could think of them as a um a thick blanket if you would. Uh, they're multi-layered and the the they're designed to specifically absorb the noise generated by pickle ball or any other activity or equipment even machinery and um and block the sound from going through the chain fence as it

otherwise would. And these can lower uh sound levels by about 20 dB just with the with the um with the panels affixed to the fence. So we think that along with the vegetation surrounding the park um and the courts specifically would be um you know a significant improvement as far as generating um a lower sound level to this to um to the neighborhood as a whole both on Glen Ridge and Montlair alike. Um and um and we you know we can obviously look to as we get further into design look to perhaps include additional screening and plantings as we can. One option would be potentially rotating the basketball court as it's shown right now in a more east west direction to a north south direction which may allow for a second row of plantings to be installed there in lie of the one. But again we can get that further down the line once we get to design. um uh that that's also potentially an option as well. Lastly, we have the walking path and the outdoor equipment area. Again, u we're not looking to make any significant changes there. As I understand it, a lot of thought and effort went into the original design of that um that walking path. Believe it measures exactly a/4 mile, one lap around. And um you know, we're not looking to impact any trees or the sledding hill um at the at the southern port portion of the property. Um as it sits today, uh we're looking at a total project cost of approximately 2.3 to $2.6 million. For context, uh we have received prior grant funding from the state. Most recent was Mountainside Park. uh we received just shy of $ 1.9 million in grant funding for that uh application. So um we'd be looking to make that request the state tonight as

part of the resolution. Um and one last thing I'll touch on as part of the grant application. Uh we are required to um perform an environmental impact assessment of the project to make sure we're not adversely adversely impacting the the environment in any way. Um, and as I discussed, you know, we're looking to not only um look at environmentally sustainable options as far as cork surfacing for the playground, um, but also including shade structures where none currently exist, additional tree plantings. Um, looking to separate ourselves from the more regulated areas with Nishin Brook. Um I think we've taken careful consideration to make sure we do not um encroach in on the environmentally sensitive areas as much as we can. Um so um again and if any other questions on that I'm happy to answer that. Uh last slide I have just a brief summary of the uh survey responses we received. Uh there was a total of 48 respondents as part of the survey and the majority of which were within the fourth ward um diverse age groups um of those 48. Uh but majority the vast majority actually uh was actually in favor of the town submitting for the grant application. But not only that, indicated that uh should the town renovate the park as is being proposed tonight um that they would uh consider visiting the park and utilizing it more frequently. And um of the facilities that are most frequently used, again, it's the uh walking path, the playground, uh the outdoor outdoor fitness area, as well as the basketball and tennis courts, all of which we're looking to improve upon this uh in this

application. Um and again as I mentioned earlier the majority of the responses that we received as far as um maybe not in favor or just concerned with the pickleball courts um again it was noise and um just the thought of losing the tennis courts which was on the table originally that's now been revised based on the feedback we received to address the loss of the tennis courts and now additional sound mitigation measures as well. Can you just say that last part again, Nberto? You said after your survey results, what's been revised?

We revised the plan to maintain the tennis court and add in pickle ball with it as opposed to replacing the tennis court with pickle ball completely. H Okay. Are you done with your presentation or you still need to tell us something because I have some questions. I didn't want to interrupt anymore. If you feel free. Okay. So, you said that you are Oh, thank you. Yes. At this time, um I guess we're going to move in and give the council an opportunity to ask questions. We'll begin with councelor Toll.

Sure. Thank you. Um so, when is this application due back in? That's my first question. Then my second question is if there are any changes that need to be made, how does that play into when it's due? Will we have to have another hearing? Do we have need to have another meeting? I have a lot of questions, but I'll let you answer those first. Yeah. application is due this Friday, February 27th.

Um, so once the prerequisite of submitting is this public hearing as well as uh the governing body voting to approve the resolution to authorize to submit for that application, but the application is due um this Friday. As far as what happens after the fact, as we've done with other projects in the past, including Nishwin Park playground project, we will continue to engage with the community, get comments, feedbacks, and make modifications and changes where we need to to make sure that the uh project meets the goals and expectations of the neighborhood.

Okay. And the idea of the pickle ball court was something that you drafted and created when you put in the application on your own or did you get residents feedback when you put that?

That's something that was discussed. Um so you back up. Um when we um originally came up with the idea of applying for this grant application specifically for Canterbury Park uh we had a meeting with various department heads including the township manager uh where we discussed uh potential options to submit for this grant. Canterbury Park was selected uh based on its obviously condition um but also um in discussing with the recreation director there was a desire from residents to incorporate pickle ball. Um we presented the idea also to the human services committee discussed it there. Uh we discussed it with the uh recre uh parks and recreation advisory committee as well who are also in favor of the project. Um and like I said we also had the community engagement um through the online survey as well

because your survey results that you showed us it says that people are not in favor uh of incorporating pickle ball. The noise have you done any studies on what the noise would be on that? because I know this was tried at Mountainside and it didn't go over well. So, I'm just curious why it's being brought to Canterbury um at this point because that area is very tight. I don't know if it can handle the traffic that pickle ball would bring and I'm just wondering if you have done any research on what the noise the the speed noise is and how that works.

Yes. So, as far as the noise that's generated by pickle ball, that obviously varies. It can vary based on who's playing and the type of equipment they're using. There's options to use um like quiet paddles or softer u uh there's an option for the player to bring a quiet paddle to the park. Correct. That has nothing to do with if that's going to work. We have no control over that. Right. So the pickle ball speed is 20 to 50 miles hour. Games last about 20 minutes. Rallies last about at least 6 to 10 seconds with an average of four to six shots. That's a lot of noise. A lot of noise,

right? Which is why we're including the depending on the type of equipment a person would bring with them is something we don't have control over what kind of paddle they bring, right? We can't tell them what to bring, right? But that's in addition to the sound mitigation that we're pro providing on the fencing itself as well as the additional landscaping that's provided along the perimeter of the facility as well. So again, you add that as another layer on top. You know, again, this is in the preliminary planning stages. You know, perhaps there's a way we can create an ordinance to require. So, after hearing from the public tonight, you may have to make some adjustments to the application. Is that correct? Depending on what that feedback is.

Okay. I'll let someone else know. Sure. I want to um just um help our our engineer out a little bit with regard um to answering your question, Counselor Toller, about how how this came to be. Um originally, I I've served on the Park and Recreation Advisory Commission for many years with an outstanding team of people. Marcial Ma is the co-chair um and just some other incredible people that know our parks very well and have been great stewards of the park. And at one of those meetings, we were trying to um figure out where a good location for pickle ball might be. It was brought to our attention that pickle ball was something that, you know, residents in the township said that they wanted to have. And at that time, without going to the community and without giving it a lot of thought, I mentioned that Cant Park may want to be considered because the tennis court was not used much. In fact, the majority of the time the tennis court is used for dogs to defecate and and leave poop there. And that that that was not the best use of that location. um and there was not a lot of discussion. So how that went from that discussion um to where we are today you know must have been on a fast track but I would like to say that after speaking to the neighbors and after experiencing what we experienced in Brookdale Park and they tried all types of things to abate the noise so that the residents could rest peacefully in their homes and relax without the sound of the pickle ball. There seems to be something that is very difficult to prevent the sound from traveling. And after I went and spoke to many of the neighbors personally and I've lived there forever and my family was a founding member of Canterbury Park, I would like to reig on

the thought that this should go in Canterbury Park. Canterbury Park is a um it was built as a uh passive recreation best pocket park and the so based on that we've never had like a lot of loud noises. The neighbors are great stewards of this area and both the Glen Ridge Avenue, the houses that are closer from Glen Ridge and the residents that are in closest proximity to the pickle ball court do fear that they will not be able to, you know, rest and enjoy that park which is basically was built based on the fact that the houses in that area have much smaller backyards and this would be a local area where the neighborhood children can come and relax and and have some passive recreation. So, the recreation the uh recommendation that I gave in passing during a uh um PRCA meeting without having done any, you know, investigation about what the community wanted is something that I I now want to be reconsidered because I think that it will not be in the best interest of the neighbors that are in closest pro proximity. In addition to that, I was brought um to my attention that when they were planning this on Mountainside, you know, they were trying to plan extra parking spaces because it would encourage people from all over to come in, you know, to play pickle ball. This is not that park. This park has no parking and it is again it's for passive activity, you know, for um nearby people. There's no parking. So, it just doesn't seem now. And I'm sure residents will come forward and those that are in close proximity will share, you know, what their feelings are, if they still stand um where they spoke to me or if they change their mind, we should hear from them.

Yeah. Thank you, mayor. And I just wanted to add the pickable uh decibel is 65 to 75. Your survey here where you have what's the age range for the people in the area? If you take a look at the color coding, you know, people over 50 and 60, 40, 50, and 60 answered these questions. And I'm sure at the end of the night, they don't want to hear pickle ball, but that's just me pointing out your survey results. And I just wanted to put the decibel levels on the record at 65 to 75. So, I'm sorry. Go ahead, Council Williams. Councelor Williams,

just I'm just curious. So, I was listening to what you were saying and you're saying that this is intended to be a passive park, but everything in here is is basketball, it's tennis, it's it's not passive activity. So, are are we scaling looking to scale back everything that's in here or just the pickle ball?

No. So, so there there no competitive um competitive sports in there at all. If you look at the twoperson tennis court that is not like a competitive like it doesn't have um competitive sports like no football field the basketball court originally was it's not um standard size court I guess and maybe they'll build it to that or whatever but it was never built for like competitive aggressive sports. I remember and many people in this room who've been in the area for a while may remember when they didn't want lights up at Woodman Field, right? An athletic field for the township for the high school and they said, "Oh, let's bring, you know, lights down to Canterbury Park." So, it seems as though Canterbury Park has been a park that that people come to, I guess, as a last ditch effort. They didn't want the noise up at Mountainside, and rightfully so. They didn't want it at Brookdale Park and in fact they shut that down. And I just think that you know now to just insist the smallest in close proximity. The houses are closer to that pickle ball court there than than most of the houses would have been at Mountainside and even Brookdale. And so when the park was made, we had the coasting hill which was open and we talked about things and and I asked I don't know if you were able to find the original Green Acres application because in there we talked about things like bird watching. We talked about things like a place where people can come bring a blanket and read a book. And so when the original Green Acres um submission was made, it was all about just having um an area where there were not competitive um athletics and team sports. I guess um councelor Williams, I guess team sports like, you know, competitive would be a better way to describe that. It's not there. Um so there was never any intention for that. They even tried to put a baseball field

in there one time and then they went back to the original um green acres application which was for you know more passive activities. Mayor Yes. Someone said mayor and I don't know who was that councelor. Oh I'm sorry. Deputy mayor. Although I don't know.

Okay. Uh I I just want to acknowledge I I I do understand Councelor Williams's point and I just also want to just acknowledge based on the survey results that 29.2% of the respondents said that they would like the township to incorporate the pickle ball courts into Canerberry Park. I understand if um you know if the decision is going to be made not to, but I I really don't want to completely discount uh the almost 30% of residents who said that they would like it. Um

are those near residents? Cuz I think it matters whether they live close or whether they live on upper mountain and want to drive down. I'm just making the point. Um I just want to acknowledge that there are some people in the survey who did um express that they would like to um I have a few questions, Mr. Hernandez. So, um uh the storm water management improvements that were noted, can you say a little bit more about what um what those are for the plan?

Certainly. Um so, we are proposing u some new pathways um not many but some um running through the park uh connecting the various facilities. So what we would look to do is similar to what we did recent rec recently at Wong Plaza Park is utilize permeable asphalt pathways which although asphalt in material they allow for natural drainage through the pavement um as opposed to our parking lots and roads that don't. Um, and it also has a a storage bed beneath it of stone which provides for some attenuation of storm water in addition to just, you know, not allowing it to run off directly into the brook that's immediately adjacent to to the um to the park. And we could always look to incorporate um additional measures as best we can um as we go through the design process, but that at a minimum is what we look to include.

Okay. Um, so but what I just I think I just heard you say um that's a minimum and there is an opportunity to incorporate more ideas. Um okay. Um and I also read that uh there are no that all mature trees are going to be staying there. Nothing's going to be cut down. No tree removals. And are there um there going to be additional tree plantings? Um that's what I heard

as was presented tonight. Yes. Yes. Um and uh in terms of um because this is Green Acres funding, this would be Greenacres funding. Are there do we have other um sort of like courts and things? Um because that means that they have to be open to everybody, right? So, I was just wondering if we have any um like tennis courts or anything in um other township parks um where we might think about, you know, charging a fee for non-residents. Is that something that we could do for

It's an option. Um however, there's a process to go through that. You have to get approval from the state. Um you can charge residents and non-residents different fees. Um however again possibly be approved by the state and the funds that are generated by those fees need to be exclusively used for maintenance and operation of that particular facility. Thank you. Yes. Um Council Damato.

Um well I'll say on the bright side the pickle ball will annoy the hell out of Glen Ridge, won't it? I mean, so I have one near me of my constituents in uh in Brookdale Park, and it is it is it's heavy duty, and the um ablation materials that are on the market right now don't really seem to do a lot. So, the county has come in and put in heavy blankets uh uh on all four sides, and it it's not it's not really helping. Um, pickle ball courts are an unusual thing or any noisy thing like this, ski shooting or whatever that it is you're there are other places that are sort of offloading their problem onto you which is sometimes a theme for us like you know people from other communities will come and take advantage of this thing that we have. So I think we need to be very very careful and everybody in that neighborhood really their their voice does get an extra you know they they have to be listened to extra extra carefully

and I would say that especially because in Mountainside Park we you know we were through that. Now else-wise, um I would just say that like I know that there was a process here with the parks and wack committee and and the human services committee, but it is a little un um unhappy for me as the head of the facilities committee that this is the first time I'm seeing this on a Saturday basically before being asked to vote for something on a Tuesday that's going to be there for five or 10 years like and I know these deadlines creep up. But just if we're going to do this right, we need to get ahead of the eight-ball a little bit.

We had this experience in watching Plaza Park. Yeah. Yeah. And Mountain Side. And I know that you're, you know, it's a fire hose of stuff that you have to deal with, but but this is it really we can't do it over the course of a day or two

on the council and and you know, we're all getting to vote for this. So again, I would say that based on everything I know, I love the I I mean, genuinely, I think it's great that pickle ball is this great thing. I would like to do it. It sounds like a great sport. Um I also actually do like ski shooting and go-kart racing. I wouldn't put him in a park nearby. It's just it's it's tough, but that's the way I would be on it. Ma'am. Yes. Um councelor Toller.

Sure. Thank you. Um, thank you for that, Councelor Damato. I appreciate your words there. Um, I too live across the street from Glennfield Park and if you know where that pickle ball court is to Woodland Avenue, I can hear that every single day and that's quite a distance. Um, I did have a question about the shade structures that you said you're going to put over the benches. Will there be any type of sun sales put over the new play equipment for the children? Can money be used there if we decide we want to remove the pickle ball court? And certainly the walking path. Are we considering or have you considered any type of native garden flowers or plants to go there?

Um you know it's a beautiful park. Those cherry blossom trees that not cherry blossoms. What are those purple trees? I can't think of the name of them right now. Those are beautiful. That archway. It would be nice to put some more flowers there. Um but I'm just curious about the sun sales. Has that any consideration been given to putting some sun sails over the equipment? Yeah, certainly. Um, some were already included as part of that um conceptual level design. Um, but we can certainly look to include additional if if if so desired. That's not a problem.

Okay. And then I hear you talking about the brook, right, and some things being close to it. And maybe Mary, you can answer this question too. Has there been any issues with the brook in the past that we need to be concerned about for the future? cuz as far as I'm know there's been no flooding, no nothing. So I'm just wondering why we're bringing the brook into some of this decision making and moving things if there's been no issues. Have you been aware of any issues with the brook there? Not particularly. No, but again, we're just looking to make improvements where we can. Um just because it has not been an issue yet doesn't mean that one day it won't be. Um so we're just looking to be a little bit proactive there in that sense. Okay, that's all. And um we don't have any parking down there. You're aware of that, right?

I'm aware. Okay. Um, unless someone else has another question. I don't want to hold up the evening. Council to Birmingham.

Um, no. I mean, I would just defer on the pickle ball. I understand that there's been different opinions on it, but I think um if it's not desired and I do think the fact that there's not parking there is also difficult because I think games are quick and people like my understanding is that people will rotate in and out and and so that there might need to be a lot of cars or there might be a lot of people. So, I would defer on potentially redoing it as a tennis court and and that I think is what you did with Mountainside, right? Like you have the option there.

Um, can I just ask though, can you send the information on the um sound dampening material cuz that I believe that was promised at the skate park um when they put a new skate park in there um and that was never installed. So, can you send that information so we can get that? Thank you. Sure. May I just ask one more question? I'm sorry. Yes. Um, councelor Ter, the outdoor fitness area, you weren't going to do any changes there at all or we're we're reconstructing that area, but it's very similar in kind replacement.

Like I said, the walking path alignment, we're not looking to make any changes um to that itself, but we're redoing it because it it's just aged at this point, as well as the equipment that'll be replaced, the new surfacing um but very similar to how it exists today. Okay. Right. I guess the next park project we'll get it in advance, right? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, yes. Yes.

So, at this time, um please, if it's okay with you, um engineer, um may I invite the public to come forward? People that wish to be heard on this this this part is just for the Canterbury Park. This public hearing just for the Canterbury Park, please. Yeah. No, you you you you won't have a number maybe for this, but we still do need your your name, and it would be helpful, please, if you let us know if you live by Canterbury Park or not.

Thank Thank you so much. Uh your honor, uh Phil Johnson, I live at 55 Chestnut Hill Place. Chestnill Place is the is the road that parallels Canterbury Park on the east side in Glenbridge. I've lived there 25 years, very proud resident of that space and um some small split level homes and I'm here on behalf of my other fellow res neighbors who are who live I think appreciate the comments council member Toller Mayor Baskerville for your comments about the noise. Certainly noise is one key consideration. Yeah.

Um one of my neighbors is an overnight nurse at St. Barnabas. So, she works 7:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. So, sleeping during the day and that repetitive noise and the frequency of that noise is very difficult in terms of um managing that. I appreciate the the engineers consideration of noise ab certainly if this were to go forward as a pickle ball option to have something like that in place, but we would really appreciate, you know, re renovating it as a as a tennis court, keeping it in that in that use as it as it was primarily determined to be. Um, last comment on the environmental um environmental impact assessment that was included. It states, quote, "Noise levels will return to pre-construction conditions typical of a public playground. I think as council member Toller referenced, the noise is not the same. Tennis is not the same as pickle ball in terms of noise. Um, and I think it, you know, having the current facilities as they are is more in in um in how how that neighborhood how that neighborhood park should be operated. So, thank you so much for your consideration. Thank you for joining us. And yes, the um Glen Ridge homes would be much closer than any of the homes in Montlair. So, it's important to us that you're heard. Thank you. Good evening. Thank you for joining us.

Hi, my name is Daniel Derico. I live at 430 Washington Avenue in Montlair and my twin boys grew up at Canterbury Park. We live a few blocks away. It's like a hidden gem. It really is a quiet oasis which I think might be threatened by the pickle ball. Um, but we appreciate the basketball courts, the open field, the sledding hill, all those things are great there. But, um, I believe that the park is really too small for pickle ball. And I really don't think I quite trust these, uh, additions that are going to make it more quiet. You know, some extra trees and things like that. that it just seems like the sound is going to penetrate them. Um, I've read uh that the sound of the pickle ball is more like a car backfiring than like the the like kind of almost like the gentle pong from a tennis racket. And the uh I don't play either tennis or pickle ball, so I have no uh investment in either one, but I just feel like pickle ball probably is not the best choice. The the yards that back up from Glen Ridge are really bright are right there, except for a chainling fence. The sound is going to go flying over there. We don't want to have lawsuits or more complaints from between towns about it. and then they have to rip up the pickle ball afterwards anyway. You know, I'm just thinking ahead. So, um anyway, that's my feeling about that and uh I hope you do the right thing. Thank you.

Thank you so much. Next guest, please. Hi, Janet. Five place Montlair. Good evening.

Good evening. I live uh directly across the street from Orange Road, so I visit this park quite frequently with my dog. I just want to say there's a couple of things that need to be understood and I wish you had come to the neighbors who butt up against that area. The square uh footage of that it's 8 acres that's it. Brookdale is 120 acres. Mountainside is quite large. And I wanted to ask are there any pickle ball courts on the other sides of town or any other any of those other parks? There's frequent lawsuits all over the country in South Florida, in Idaho for the relentless noise. And the decibel is over 70. And it's also a C6. I don't know if you understand pitch. If any of you are musicians and understand pitch,

but a C6 sound is like the beeping of a garbage truck, which it is grading on the nerves. There is no way to buffer pickle ball. Yeah,

the paddle is hollow as is the ball, which is why the sound is so disruptive. I please do not want to hear. I moved into this neighborhood because it was so quiet and uh Canterbury Park, like the name, it's like a fairy tale. It's quiet. It's serene. We do use the tennis courts. Maybe you weren't there when, you know, the tennis courts have been used, but I have personally gone over there when I could play tennis years ago and use the tennis courts. I also would like to ask you, why are you changing the basketball court when there's been no flooding? There's been no flooding issues. So, why would you need to move it and spend that money? Why not send that spend that money for other things? Also, you talked about not removing any of the trees. There are widowmakers in that park. There are old trees that are over a hundred years old in that park and you do not walk underneath them. They are breaking off. They're old. They're over probably 50, 60, 70 years old. I have a tree in my yard that's over 135 years old and we maintain it. That park is not being maintained now even with the trees. So, you're saying you're not going to remove any trees? You have to. It's very necessary. Um, I don't want to go over my time, but I just want to say that I don't think it will work. We don't want it. Um, when the kids go there, like you said, like um Mayor said, they're Mrs. Mayor Baskerville said, this is a non-competitive park in every way, shape, and form. When people are working out on the fitness equipment, they're usually two or three or four or five people. I would love to know what you're going to do with that because I have actually gone over and worked on it. A ballet bar would be lovely, you know, or something like that. Um um a little more um cushiness, but I don't see any reason to move the basketball court if there's no reason to

just resurface it. So, that's that's what I wanted to say. But I do see a lot of lawsuits happening and I would probably be one of them. So, just be warned. Have a good evening. Thank you very much, Miss Hubart. Next guest, please. Welcome.

Hi. Oops. Hello. I'm Dear Carter. I'm from Franklin Place. Um, which, uh, and I used to live on Willowdale, which backs right into Canterbury. Used to look out my window to see that tennis courts were being used or not. If not, I would go over there and play tennis. I use can C Canary Park four seasons out of the year. I'm there all the time when the trees bloom, when they don't bloom. I've walked through that scape of woods in the back. I've even planted children uh trees there when my kids were little for Arbor Day. Um and there are some standing dead back there that need to be replaced. I don't know if there's a disease going through there or not, but that's somewhere to put some thought into because that is a beautiful wooded walkway for bird watching. Um, and it is a passive park. You can go in up there and you can see people sitting up on the hill with their puppies. Children are sleigh riding. There was one time I went there and they were it was hot and they were they had made this huge water slide out of plastic bags going down the hill. It was all these neighborhood kids that backed up to it.

So, that is a passive park. It's used, it's played in, and it's been lovely. And I've lived there for over 30 years. and I go there all the time. So, thank you. Thank you for coming. Next guest, please.

Good evening. My name is Michelle Blanchfield. I live at 11 Willowmir. So, directly across the entrance on the corner of Willowir and Willowdale. Um, I can attest to there not being any parking and a lot of people coming from outside the neighborhood on Saturday mornings to have their little ones do a little soccer tournament at 7:30 in the morning on a Saturday when you want to sleep and they're waking you up. But yeah, so I'm all for not having pickle ball either. And I've been enlightened and educated. So, I want to thank you and the public for sharing the information about the volume of noise and the level that you know would irritate and upset a lot of us because I moved there over seven years ago because of the park. It's a beautiful park. That's what attracted me to that neighborhood. I've lived in Montlair for over 20 years, but fell in love with that neighborhood. And I have a couple of things. Um, first, the uh deputy mayor Anderson mentioned the water drainage. I want to make it a point to make sure you know that there is um after even minimal rain there's a number of puddles that form along the pathway from the Willow Mirror Willowdale entrance corner, you know, down towards the entrance of the playground and so it forms a lot of puddles and you imagine little kids right playing in the playground but then they get all dirty. So maybe consider having some kind of garden there that would naturally collect the water that forms. I think that would maybe be a good idea. Um also, sorry, I have a couple notes here. Um there's the no mention of the gaping holes that are in the black iron fence that right now is right adjacent to the basketball courts cuz every time we play basketball, the balls fall in the cracks and then they go into the creek and you have to go down and get them. Um, also I'm really hoping that you keep the monkey bars in

the adult area, uh, because I use those all the time. Really great for upper body strength. And we need some shade over there. There's no shade in that area.

Um, and I I'm not sure about this, but I think it's our neighbors that have kept for a long time um, the soccer post there and a lot of kids come and play. I don't know if the town would even just be able to put up just the post so that parents if they want to bring their own net in the survey I specifically asked if along that same field you guys could just implant like the metal post so that we can come and put our own for example volleyball nets and then we can play volleyball if simply the posts were allowed to be there cuz right now we have to drag our own posts and it's really hard to set them up and bring them back down again. Um, and uh, this might sound a little odd, but it's true. Um, we've found, parents have found in the playground before used condoms in like the slide, right, that's enclosed. So, I love those slides. When I take my kids to Glenfield, I'm all about going down the enclosed slide. Like, love it, love it. It's so much fun. But think about having one with a, you know, like one that you can't lay in comfortably, right? Or maybe it's like open on the bottom and like really seriously. And then they are

lastly, I'm one of those strange people that really enjoy walking behind the tennis courts in the wooded area. So I hope that no barrier goes up there. I'm very precautious with the ticks and everything, but in the when it's no vegetation, I take walks in the winter. So hopefully that'll Thank you guys. Thank you so much. Thank you for coming out. Next guest, Mr. Carr. How are you?

Hi, my name is Bill Carr. I live at 11 Perine Drive. And uh if you know anything about Perine Drive, it's right in the park. I would like to say that I see people playing tennis on a regular basis when the weather permits. A couple of things. One is there's a sign right uh at the beginning of the park on P u Peron. I think that sign must be I don't know how old the park is, but it must have been put there when the park was put there saying that the park is open until 10:00 and you're not supposed to be in the park after 10:00 and nobody can read it. I think that that sign should be uh not a big sign but just you know it's only about a foot foot and a half um wide and and long but it should be redone so people can can read it. Also, I have seen that people come into the park after 10:00, especially in the summertime, and I have called the police and the police never came. So, I'd like to issue a complaint that if a citizen, I give my name, I'm sure my number comes up, but they just poo poo it and don't come. I would like to say that I've been at um 10pont since 1998 and since I've been there there's been a lot of things happening there. There was a murder suicide um 100 yards from my house and I think that as a taxpayer pe the police should come when there is a complaint. Also, uh going to the uh pickle ball

situation, I do think that um it's a it's a non-starter for me. As I said, people do play tennis. Also, there's no parking and I agree with the mayor. It's a and um um council woman uh told her it's a passive park. People come, they walk, they walk their kids. Mostly it's basketball. It's the walking the the uh walking um course and it's the playground that is really used. It was used just today and it's snow. So, so if I could put my bid in um you can put pickle ball somewhere else. um listen to uh the police department if they're here should listen to taxpayers especially at Canterbury Park and I don't want to be morbid but I'll repeat there was a murder suicide at Canterbury it's a nice park but you know things happen so that's that's all I have to say

next guest please hi hi um good evening so Um, thank you for putting cork surface that does not go unnoticed and um, it means a lot that you're choosing a material that's not a prochemical and that will remain cool. Um, I wonder if you would talk maybe with the residents um, to see if they would welcome maybe a water element for kids when it's hot in the summer or not. I know that that can attract people. Um, but with hot summers and not everybody has access to a pool, that might be a nice thing.

Uh, and then I know you mentioned shade structures, but if there's any kind of way of landscaping additional trees there for shade around the playground, that might be nice as well. Um, just a note about green acres. So, Green Acres is not just for recreation. Um, it's open space for recreation and conservation purposes. and the development of outdoor recreational facilities. So, you could apply for a Greenacres grant and do absolutely nothing recreational and still apply for it, right? So, like I think we need to start thinking a little bit about that when we look at our parks. we don't have that much open space but um I think every opportunity to get money from green acres should also help us in our goals um towards climate mitigation and resiliency and sustainability um and the parks and wreck commission is fantastic and you know they take care of everybody having fun and having activities in town but I'd encourage you to talk to the environmental commission to the sustainability office

and to just sort of approach these opportunities um cuz $3 million is a lot

um holistically so that we can maybe get as many needs put in uh in one area as possible. It would be cool, especially if we're getting free money. Um I would also point you to the updated guidance for community engagement. Um, which really brings us to a place where we need more uh community engagement about these projects way before the public hearing. Um, especially when the public hearing is only 3 days before the deadline. Um, and that that I think they've made it even more important in the application because of potentially controversial things like pickle ball and artificial turf. Um, and so it's really good for everybody to have uh a moment and say, and for the survey, 48 respondents is just not a lot. I don't know what the population is in the fourth ward, but it seems like a tiny percentage. Um, so we need to do better with surveys, I think, um, with whatever mechanisms we can for outreach. Uh, and my other question was, and I'm almost done, the tree canopy at Canterbury, are you able to find out like how much it has decreased? I know uh Miss Huber, you know, rightfully pointed out that there are trees trees don't last forever. They're trees that are aging. So, a um obviously they need pruning because they might be super healthy but might need some limbs pruned. But we need uh like a um succession plan because once those trees are done servicing our air, we need their baby trees, you know, coming up to do the job for the next generation. And we can't not think about that. And these funds can be used for a succession plan for trees uh native trees obviously. Um and my last two questions are the permeable uh asphalt that is that like the one at Wang and is there a chance to explore a non-petrochemical material like permeable concrete um which would

achieve the same thing but not fund the prochemical industry. And lastly, same thing with the running track. I think I'm assuming it's made of recycled rubber crumb. I don't know what other options there are, but in the same way that we explored different surfacing options that are non- petrochemical for the playground, perhaps there's like a plant-based I think I read something, I don't know, not my area of expertise, but I think there's a plant-based um material for running tracks that might be again a really cool thing from Enclair. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Next guest, please. Good evening, Johanna Coxer from Lincoln Street in the fourth ward, but not near Canterbury Park. First, I want to thank you for improving Canterbury Park. And I was really glad to hear that no trees will be cut down and they will be 100% native species put in. Excellent. And I like the previous speaker suggestion to use some of the money for succession planning for trees for the future. All right. Um, and I'll add my voice to the anti- pickle ball court contingent. Thank you. Thank you very much. Next guest, please.

Hi, Jessica Stolesburg. I live in Montlair. I just I had a few questions. Um, you said you got 48 surveys back. Yes. That's just through the town website. That's how people accessed it. Um, did you let the people who lived adjacent to the park know that this was that there were changes being made right by their homes? Was anyone contacted? Believe the communications director sent out email notifications and um, uh, posted on social media. That I do know for sure. Uh, so emails were sent to res. I'm not sure about the email blast, but I do know that it was posted on social media. My guess is right. Thank you. I'm guessing our communications person doesn't have access to Glen Ridge emails. So,

I don't believe so. No.

Right. So, we there was a neighbor from Glen Ridge here where um while one counselor might think it's fun to make his life uncomfortable, um it sounds like not contacting the neighbors that are literally going to be impacted by changing changes at a park is something that maybe we need to be considering when we're doing projects that impact whether it's only Montlair residents or the adjacent Glen Ridge residents. like people, you know, in the olden days, people got letters dropped off, you know, at their door, you know, you can get addresses, etc. The other thing is regarding pickle ball, really surprised to see this come up again. It's almost as if, wow, we dodged a bullet in the first ward and now they're going to try in the fourth ward. And I don't know where it's coming from, but do you know the distance that's recommended for pickle ball carts from residences? Do you know what that is?

Believe it's desired 500 ft. So these are these 500 feet from all those homes. No. No. Which is why we had the mitigating factors included. So some some trees are the mitigating factors in addition to the acoustic panels. So I think the 500 ft isn't when it's wide open. It's just 500 feet. How many feet are these pickle ball courts from the homes? I don't have the number off hand. I'd say probably 100 to 150.

Okay. So, I think right there pickle ball courts have to be taken off the table. This is if anybody wants to Google pickle ball courts noise issues, see what's in your see what comes up from a Google response. Uh this is as other people have mentioned this is a national hazard at this point. And I I so again, you know, if 30% of the respondents wanted it out of 48, that's not very many. And I don't think it's worth really impacting the lives of the people around it. So I just I'm I'm really here to comment about that. We've got to improve the the communication so that people really know something's happening because I don't know about most people in this room, but I don't go to the town website very often,

right?

I go to actually find out the schedule of the meetings and that's kind of about it. And a lot of people go to find out when they're how to get their pool pass, but they don't go to say, "Hey, maybe something might be happening in my neighborhood that I should know about." That's just not what we're using it for. And I think that dissemination of these kind of projects is simply not reaching the general public. And I think that really needs to be improved upon. And lastly, I noticed that their benches on a concrete slab. Uh we know that there were some sort of things weren't as people had hoped uh in many ways for the Wong Plaza renovation. If anyone wants to go see what happens when penas got get thrown half-hazardly onto concrete slabs, go to Wong Plaza, please don't do that at this park. Give people a comfortable, cool place to be that's nestled surrounded by some plants. I mean, there's got to be more to do than sit them give them seating on a concrete slab in the wide open. Um, so I hope that also can be improved. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you very much. Next guest, please. Um, good evening. I'm John Pasante. I live at Rosedale Avenue. Um I own and occupy a home there. I'm about half a block from Canterbury Park. Um I am here to make a single suggestion. Um with respect to the non-petrochemical flooring, the cork flooring, have you given any thought to making it um from renewable or re excuse me, recycled cork? It is. It is. It is.

Okay. Excellent. because um cork grows on the bark of oak trees in the Mediterranean basin, mostly in Portugal, and they've been producing significantly less cork in recent years due to climate change. So, I would really strongly encourage the township to consider using recycled cork. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Um and so at this point in time, I'd like to thank everyone that came out um to be heard about the Canterbury Park um improvement plans. And we're going to move on uh to our next presentation that we have um and our um councelor Rahm Williams will tell us a little bit about that and um ask that our team come up to present. Councelor Williams. Well, I don't I'm not presenting, but I'll I'll introduce uh some of the town's employees who I've been working with on on this project. We've basically been looking at all of of the parking lots and the parking decks in town and comparing them to other towns and trying to adjust the pricing so that you which hasn't been uh adjusted since 2019. Adjust the uh parking uh pricing so that it matches kind of the maintenance that's required to maintain all these lots and and decks in towns of that nature. But I'll I'll leave it to the experts. Uh Jake and Manny, take it away.

Um councelor Toller. Okay. Thank you. Good evening and thank you very much for joining us. Good evening. Good evening everyone. I'm going to turn this microphone off. Good evening everyone. Um and everyone at home. Uh we just want to do a quick uh parking utility presentation of uh why we feel that the rates uh meter rates permit rates uh need to go up. Um my name is Emanuel Germano. My name is Jacob Neman. For those in the public, I'm the new complete streets director in town. Uh very excited to be here.

So um I guess we're going to start with the basics and parking in Montlair. Why does a parking utility exist? Um, parking is a limited resource that we have that you know is allowed to the township that we need to we need to control, we need to monitor. Um, it needs proper management. Uh, it serves the resident stakeholders. Stakeholders be the township. Um, and what we do is uh by way of per by way of permitting uh metering and enforcement works to ensure the parking is available uh safe and responsibly allocated. Um it's something that we um we feel that

yeah it's it's the way I think about it and I think the way Manny thinks about it is there's a dual mandate for the parking utility. That mandate is to one uh collect the revenue it needs to maintain and provide the services it provides and two it's to responsibly allocate one of the municipalities um few intrinsically scarce resources. We we only have so much land in Montlair. It's about 6.28 square miles. It's not getting bigger unless you know something I don't know. That being said, only a portion of that land is municipal land. And uh in talking with the township's tax map engineer, about 17% of the municipality is right of way. That's not just the paved parts of the streets, but it's uh the area the town is responsible for. That's an incredibly limited resource. And in Montlair, it's incredibly valuable. The parking utility is the one who's responsible for managing that scarce resource.

So, in saying that, we also there's there's something here that people don't understand, and that is the enforcement part of it. We do enforce the parking utility does enforce the parking. However, the return on the enforcement, the revenue from enforcement is cents on the dollar. Uh we do not write tickets just because we want to write tickets. We do not write tickets for the township or for the utility for that matter to make make a lot of money. So the only re reason we do write tickets is is what we call behavior modification and that's to enforce the laws that are in the that are on the books. Um we are self-funding and because we are self-unding we have to be careful with you know with with that information

to touch on that. I think one of the the examples of this that I would look at is the 2-hour limit on parking. uh if the all the utility cared about was raising revenue, we wouldn't care where that next two hours worth of money was coming from. But we do care. The reason that time limit's there is to ensure that that parking, whether it be a 2-hour spot or a 1-hour spot, whatever it may be, to ensure that it turns over. Uh that parking space is a public resource. It's owned by the municipality, it's managed by the municipality, and it should be available to other uh people in the municipality, other stakeholders. And so that 2-hour limit, it's not about making more money. It's about managing that resource and ensuring that parking is available for folks who need it when they need it. That being said, the utility has other options for longerterm parking. For example, the decks. The 2-hour limit doesn't apply in the decks because we have capacity there and space for folks to ensure that we're meeting the needs of all different users. There's night permits for those who only need to park during the evenings and day permits for those during the day. It's about meeting the needs of residents, stakeholders, businesses, not just making money because that's not the goal of the utility other than paying its bills.

And to add to that, the meter rates haven't changed in 2018. Um, so our our our meter rates seem stagnant, but yet the expenses that the parking utility has been dealing with have gone up year after year. Um this is something that we has caused us to defer some maintenance that we really should be doing. Um it's uh we have an aging infrastructure and some of the decks. Fullerton deck everyone knows that needs some serious work on it. Um and for long long-term stability and financial stability we we it it's we need to raise the rates. The parking modernization um because we haven't changed anything since 2018. We still been changing some systems around. We implemented a license plate recognition system which basically facilitates our enforcement officers for it enforcing the the the permits. Um it lets us um uh it lets us automate the system where before they would have to look up every single individual pass to make sure the pass was uh a valid pass. Well, now this the cameras can take do that that job for us. Um that information does not get shared by the way uh council Harrison just so you know um that is an information that we keep to ourselves. Um it is it is internal and that's it. Um in addition to that we also had to upgrade our equipment. I don't know if everybody remembers or not but when the meters all died when Verizon decided to turn off 3G without letting without notifying us um it was a costly expense to upgrade all the meters to 4G. We we upgraded from 3G to 4G. Uh it cost the town almost $200,000 to to do that. Uh it cost the parking utility actually, not the town, but the parking utility. I refrain.

Um and the reason we're actually changing right now from meters to pay stations is because we see that in the future 4G is going to go away and something else is going to come along. Whether it's going to be 5G, 6G, we're not sure. But the these pay stations um are going to be a lot easier to upgrade and it's uh it's a module that we can actually change out in the field as opposed to before we had to change all send all the meters back to the vendor for repair. Um along with that we also have uh online app payment uh which is I would say right now is about 75% of our uh revenue is coming from uh app payments just so you know u sorry app payments and credit cards and one of the things to understand about that shift to a more automated digital system is it exists alongside the traditional system of going around and collecting change out of parking meters. So, we already have the fixed costs of picking up change, uh, selling permits, all of that. And then you add on all these digital infrastructure costs, uh, that have layers on top of them, whether it become transaction fees or processing fees, which are borne both by the parking utility and in some cases residents. And so there have been real changes in in how transactions are processed. And that's meant significant new costs for the utility. So all of this goes towards uh an understanding of the role pricing plays in the broader management of the municipalities curb space, street space and right of way by making sure that we're properly pricing parking, excuse me, uh properly pricing parking, which is a limited resource in this community as we all know. uh we are better managing the curb space, making sure that it's available to those who need it most at the time they need it most. And in addition to that, that leads to safer and better behaviors. Uh a lot of the behaviors

that we see in our most congested areas such as Bloomfield Avenue are annoying as a driver. They slow up traffic and increase congestion, but they also lead to really unsafe behaviors. Uh if you've got folks double parking because they can't find a loading zone spot, that's not only leading to the traffic behind them stopping. It's leading to cars jutting out and trying to move quickly to get around them. It's leading to rapid unexpected behaviors uh both from drivers and pedestrians. It it's not safe. It leads to people parking in no parking zones, which are no parking zones for a reason. It blocks fire hydrants. There's all sorts of issues that come about, negative externalities to this improperly priced parking. If you charge the right amount for the parking that you need to, you will ensure that there's space available. So those sorts of disruptive, dangerous behaviors don't have to happen because folks don't want to double park. They want to park on the curb where they can do so safely, but they do it because they feel there's no alternative. This goes to the necessity of uh some changes to municipal policy we think should be considered by the the governing body. Uh that would be better management of our pre-existing loading zones and an expansion of similar kind of shortterm parking resources. So right now the township's loading zones I believe correct me if I'm wrong Manny are available from 8:00 a.m. to 6 p.m. They have a 30 minute limit and after 6 p.m. it's the wild wild west. There's no metering of those spots. There's no regulation of those spots. By changing the regulations of those loading zones, uh you allow for a better management of that scarce resource. Uh you ensure that the township is not missing out on on on the revenue that comes from maintaining those spots. And it uh sorry uh you ensure that the the loading zone remains available when it's

most needed. Right. When are folks picking up food on Bloomfield Avenue, getting in and out of Ubers? It's happening in the evenings and and having the loading zones continue to be enforced after the 6 p.m. hour is going to ensure that that space remains available when it's most needed.

And to add to that, um by by meaning we want to monitor the loading zones after 6 p.m. doesn't mean we necessarily have to charge after 6 p.m. We can do something like other towns do where we have 15minute uh parking. You have to start a session with one of the apps. You park for 15 minutes and after 15 minutes you do start getting charged. So we can still offer the free load free parking at loading zones, but at this point we can control who's parking at the loading zones and for how long they're staying because like like Jake says it right now it's the wild wild west out there in the loading zones.

How does all of this tie into complete streets and safer streets? We touched on that before when it comes to uh better management of curb space leading to safer driving behaviors. Higher curb space turnover, right? Making sure that parking remains available to those who need it means you've got less congestion because you've got fewer folks circling. It means you've got fewer erratic behaviors or undesirable behaviors because they're uh there's space in legal, safe, regulated spots. And it coincide and and all of those changes coincide with the township's vision zero goals, right, which is to eliminate fatalities and serious injuries on municipal roads in in Montclair. Uh by limiting dangerous behaviors, we we limit the risk to everyone else on the road. any holistic parking management plan needs to consider the way people actually use the roads and the streets and and we have to consider uh that behavior and not just assume they're going to behave like we want them to. If they did, they wouldn't be parking uh double parking. They wouldn't be parking in striped locations. And so by adapting the curb space management to allow for more short-term and rapid turnover of spots, we're going to do a better job making sure everyone can get where they need to go safely.

So with that being said, um we're proposing that or we're suggesting that the street meters, which are currently $1 an hour, go up to $150 an hour. Uh that the lot meters that are 75 cents an hour go up to a dollar an hour. We're also suggesting that on in the CBD area because we have decks available that we raise the uh meters to $3 an hour after 5:00 pm from Thursday through Saturday. We didn't pick this out of the air. This is all data driven stuff. This is information that we've we data that we've gathered, reports that we've gathered that these are the busiest times of the this is the busiest times for the meters in the CBD area and also that these this is the um the area that's most congested in town. Um, we can't do this in le upper Montlair, for example, because there's no parking decks up there. Uh, so it's not like we can say, okay, if you go park at the parking deck, it's going to cost you X, but if you park on the street, it's going to park you X. And I don't I I'm pretty sure that Monontlair from the data that we've received does not get as busy as CBD area. Um, in addition to that, the the me the the monthly permits, uh, if as you see in this chart, um, we're a little bit on the low side as far as what we charge currently for, uh, for monthly permits. We took these are all towns that have New Jersey Transit access, and this is why we we took these towns. There are the towns that charge less, but they don't have New Jersey Transit access. They're not similar to to Monontlair. So we proposed on the surface lots that we change the night permits from from 45 to 50, the non-train lots which is the non-commuter lots from 50 to 60 and the train lots from 60 to 7. Now you see that it's an 11% increase a 20% increase 17% increase. But if you take it average from 2018 18 till now your actual increase is actually like 1.4%. Which you know is actually not that big of an increase. The problem is that it hasn't been done.

Uh for the decks, uh we we proposed that the Bay Street, which is currently $100 a month, be changed to 125 a month to try to bring it up to speed to bring it up to current value of what we're charging at the Crescent Deck and Midtown deck. Um and as far as the uh the standard decks, which would be this, this would include Crescent Deck and Midtown deck, we would change the day permits from 70 to 75, the night permits from 60 to 65, and the 24-hour access to 130 from 130 to 140. Uh in addition to that on Bay Street, I know there's been a lot of demand for Bay Street to have night permits. So we would like to have a night permit for $65, which is uh the same as the night permits at Crescent Deck and um and and Midtown Deck. Uh this we calculate more or less that we're going to get approximately a meter revenue increase of 35% per year and a permit revenue of approximately 14% per year. I know 14% is not a lot. And uh it is a lot, but it's really not a lot considering we haven't raised it since 2018. And it's not something that we're we're not trying to rob the residents. We're not trying to we're just trying to keep the the uh Montlair parking utility, you know, alive and and well, all of these investment all of these investments are done ultimately to better manage and serve those who need parking in Montlair. Uh these investments allow for the payment flexibility that comes from the pay stations, right? Being able to use Apple Pay or Google Pay uh to make payments. It comes from the updated night permit permit system that relies on license plates rather than you having to hang a piece of paper on your rearview mirror. It allows the utility to maintain the infrastructure going forward. Uh you know, I'm sure the 3G to 4G switch is not going to be the first unexpected hundreds of thousands of dollars we need to spend in technology. uh and and this allows the utility to be nimble enough

and responsive enough to keep serving residents uh while also keeping its uh books balanced. It's also invested in ensuring enforcement is done more efficiently and uh responsibly and yeah and so we've got kind of to to start to sum it up some recommendations on the policy side some recommendations on the practice side on the policy on the policy side uh we want to update the meter and permit rates we want to raise them to at least where we proposed to ensure the continued financial soundness of the parking utility and ensure uh proper management of the curb space. We want to adjust the meter hours to account for actual usage. Right now, they end at 7:00 and I don't know if you've been on Bloomfield Avenue after 7:00, but there are still plenty of folks out. Uh and that goes for all around town, right? Making sure the the meters are operating when people are using the parking is uh of vital importance from the management point of view. We want to amend those loading zone ordinance to ensure proper management of that limited curb space and then increase the availability of similar short-term parking. Right? It can be a loading zone, it can be a drop off zone like exists on Church Street, but we think it's reasonable that we have at least two of those per uh block in in in the business districts to ensure that when someone needs to just run in and and pick up their food or get dropped off by a cab that there's space for them to do it. So they're not double parked, they're not blocking crosswalks, and they're not uh causing other issues on our roadways.

And these drop proposed drop off uh pickup uh areas will be uh also monitored. Again, we we can offer the the same setup that we're going to be doing with loading zones depending on the amount of time that we set these up for. Um,

and then just on the practice side, we think it's really important that we make decisions as a as a utility based on data, right? We should be responsive uh to what evidence is showing us. And if that's showing us that parking is underpriced because every single spot seemingly is full uh just about every day on uh in some of our business districts, that probably means uh there's an issue with the the management of it. uh we want to do a review of our best practices annually. That doesn't necessarily mean changing rates annually, but it means looking at the data and saying, "What do we need to do to make sure that the utility remains financially sound, but that we're also managing uh our parking appropriately. That can be policy changes, that can be rate changes, whatever it may be. And as always, communication ought to be robust. It ought to engage the public before and after these uh changes are made. And it should be an ongoing process in transparency, right? The the utility is of the township government. It is a publicly accountable body and and accordingly, right, we need to be transparent and straightforward with what's going on there. Uh and those are our practice recommendations and any questions.

In addition to that, we will be working with complete streets on all the everything that we do. So that's why we have uh Jacob here because we want to make sure that we work together on all these policies and rate changes and everything else. Great presentation. Thank you very much. Counselors want to go council Damato. Thanks so much. Uh you know great show. Uh not to put you on the spot but just to get some numbers some rough rough numbers. Um the percentage of of metered spaces in the central business district by your definition between lots and the street is roughly what? I believe the number was around 700 if I'm not mistaken

on the street. Not that's on the street not including the lots. The lots may be an additional 300 or so more or less. You have Maple Plaza, Valley Road, South Ferton, Plymouth. Um, and then you have the decks. The decks themselves actually are about three. The present deck is 420. The Midtown deck is around 390, I believe it is. So, in the decks, we have significantly more than we have on the street. The the Midtown deck alone is, I double what's on Bloomfield Avenue for the entire stretch. The decks have a ton of capacity. And that doesn't even count the private decks uh that also exist in in the central business district.

And what is the you know running key number for the utilization of those decks? Like let's say the mid the new Midtown deck which is Glennidge Avenue. So the Crescent deck has been filling up lately. Um but it but it's also as as it fills up it also you know people leave and people it basically we're turning it around um on Fridays and Saturdays depending on the weather. Uh believe it or not, um we're filling it up uh maybe sometimes twice. Um sometimes three times. Uh the Midtown deck, however, it's only when there's events at the Wellmont is when it seems to be filling up the as far as um on a regular Monday through Monday through Wednesday, it's not filling up at all.

Okay. One other question is and this would be uh necessarily sort of anecdotal. Is there uh less you utilization of the transit stop permits that have always been in very high demand. In other words, like when you go through those lots like the upper Montlair lot at, you know, or or at Wong Plaza, I guess, you know, the lot that's behind Fairfield Street, are we seeing more empty spaces during the day because of maybe people working from home, or is it largely unchanged?

So, it's it's the same as Bay Street. I'm going to use Bay Street as an example. Um, Bay Street deck, uh, Mondays and Fridays are probably half empty. Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, Bay Street is filling up at um by 7:00 between 7 and 7:30, the deck is full. Is that different than it was a few years ago?

Since CO, we've picked back up again to normal. That's that's the normal the normal thing. Same thing same thing goes for our surface lots, too. So, all our commuter lots, you may drive around on a Friday afternoon and say, "How come you're not selling more permits? How come I'm on a wait list? Uh the lot's half empty, and this is ridiculous." Well, the reason for that is that somebody is paying for those even though the spots may be empty, somebody is paying for those for the spaces. If I sell you the space and somebody else already pays for the space, you become becomes an issue like like you have with the airlines where they double sell and then people people are not going to find parking spaces.

True. True. Now, the last one is do you do you believe that at these proposed rates I'm sure probably the answer would be yes, but do you really believe that at these proposed rates you would see a change in behavior? Let's say on a Friday night when people are coming in to go to a restaurant that people will, you know, I mean, if they're spending $75 on a ve shop somewhere like in Montlair now, like are they really going to go into the deck? Like, how is that going to change? Is that going to change behavior, do you think? So, so the the pricing of the decks is going to we we're not proposing changing that, right? That's still $2 an hour. What that does is that encourages folks who would be considering a street spot to go towards the deck,

right? There's a a persistent problem that any parking management faces, which is that parking decks are not great places uh to spend time if you're not a car. They're they're not uh generally the most desirable. And so people to an extent avoid them. They need to be encouraged to use them. And by pricing the street parking at a higher rate because of its greater demand, you encourage folks to consider the deck. Right? If you know you're going to be out to dinner for two hours and you can save two bucks by parking in the deck rather than the lot, anyone who's price conscious is going to make that choice. And and and it it goes to the idea of management rather than revenue generation being the goal here, right? If you just wanted to make more money, just raise prices across the board. But that's not what we're seeking to do. We're seeking to better manage a scarce resource. There is availability in the parking decks, whether it be uh the Midtown deck, Bay Street after hours, or even the Crescent most times, right? The fact that it's filling up sometimes doesn't mean it's not available most times. Uh and if it's filling up, that just means we're doing a good job using it. It's all good things. Uh it's about management. And so by keeping the deck pricing lower, you're going to encourage folks, nudge folks, not make them move uh towards the decks when they're able. And by keeping the street prices higher, you ensure that when someone really needs that space, whether that be a short-term spot, right, to drop someone off who may have some mobility challenges or someone who needs to be closer, they're driving themselves, but they need to be close. If you have the the better management of that curb space, you can ensure that that space is available to them. You can ensure that they're easy easily able to park near where they need to be.

Excellent. Could you just rewind the the to that page to show just for people to be able to see the proposed rates? Yeah. No, no, the deck one or one more. No, the uh the on street and deck. Oh, this this so this this is your metered

this would be the meter increases. And again, like you just com, you know, commenting on what you just said, we could have raised the proposed streets up to we we could recommend raising up to $5 an hour, which a lot of towns do. But, you know, we're trying to be reasonable here. You know, we're just trying to like like Jake said, trying to nudge people into the decks just to try to make it a little bit, you know, easier on this on the curb on the curb parking. And that also explains why the lot

that also is the grounding on why the lots are lower than the street meters as well. Right? A parking lot or a parking deck are uh better from a management perspective because you're concentrating the parking in a location that's not directly going through the central business district, not directly going through the curb space where people need it. And so by keeping those prices lower, you nudge people uh towards those preferred options. There is one other thing that I didn't touch on here, which is we're also considering or exploring the changing of rates based on resident versus non-resident as far as the permits go and as far as commuters go. Uh this is something we're exploring currently. We're talking in we're in talks with New Jersey Transit about it because a lot of our commuter lot or not a lot, all of our commuter lots are partially owned by New Jersey Transit. So because of that, New Jersey Transit considers any New Jersey resident a resident. So for us to charge a Montlair resident one price and somebody who's from a different town in New Jersey a different price is a no no as far as they're concerned. So we are working we are exploring we are talking to them about this just so everyone is aware.

Question. Thank you very much councelor Toller.

Hi thank you for your uh presentation. the Montlair Y parking deck. What kind of revenue does that generate? And it's my understanding that the township has some sort of agreement with that very top level. Are we losing money by allowing the top level by allowing the top level to be rented out or reserved for someone? Do you know how much money that deck generates first? And if we're still allowing that very top level to be utilized by someone? So currently the top level is uh being is being rented on a monthly basis. They pay for every single space up there as a monthly permit. Um that being said, it is it is an agreement I believe that's with the township that was posted a long time ago. Mr. Scandalbar may be able to touch more on that. I'm not it was before my time, but it is an agreement that we have with those businesses in the area to rent those spaces out. Uh the amount of revenue council I would have to get back to you on the exact amount of revenue that that

if these changes go into place that top deck person or persons would have to pay this. Oh absolutely absolutely and I just want to know when you get a minute to you can email me the costs for the wide deck what we're making. Absolutely. Thank you. It's also worth mentioning that deck correct me if I'm wrong many is treated more like a metered lot uh because of the era of its construction. Uh it's not able to be managed in quite the same way. And so the rates you're paying there are the equivalent of a lot rate, not a rate.

No. And I respect that, but I'm just saying I've had residents who've emailed me to ask about parking on the top level and they can't. So because it's being reserved or someone's paying for spots, you know, now they're forced to go where? On the street or find someplace else to go. So it's just something for us to think about. If those spots aren't being utilized Monday through Friday, maybe we need to look at the agreement or

Well, council, the thing is the thing is that those spaces are being paid for. It's this is m the same thing as like for example the surface lots. Just because there's nobody parked there doesn't mean the spaces aren't being paid for. So because the businesses may have 20 cars today doesn't mean they'll have 100 cars tomorrow. And that's that's the that's the problem we we face with that deck. However, just so you're aware, we are in talks with them. We're also another thing that we're exploring is actually being able to park uh night permits there at night. Thank you.

Okay. Thank you very much. Um Oh, I'm sorry, Council Birmingham. Um, yeah, I I really am very interested in Bloomfield Avenue and the really getting to the modern world of people hopping in and out of their cars um to get Uber Eats, you know, pick up and then also picking up ride shares. Um, I had a really scary experience a couple weeks ago when I was um waiting for a lift. Um, and so when you're talking about the loading zones, um, and I know I think I've seen other towns do this. So you would have a loading zone during the day and then there would be a sign that would say like 15 minute parking after 6 or something like that. It the the actual form it takes is really it can be designed in any particular way. It can stay a loading zone right a right now it's a half hour. It can stay a loading zone all night. We could decide to transition them to be shorter term than that and say after 6 it becomes 15 minutes because you're probably getting away from deliveries to businesses and moving more towards that pickup and drop off. Uh Church Street has a 5minute drop off zone where you can only be there for 5 minutes. It really is is is in your court to decide what you want that change to look like. But our recommendation is a a a significant increase in the availability of that sort of short-term parking. And and that doesn't necessarily have to be charged for, right? As as Manny was saying, it you don't have to set any price on that. And that goes to again that dual mandate. We're managing a resource. We're not just pricing it. And management means in some circumstances you keep it free and readily accessible, but you back that up with the enforcement necessary to ensure that folks are behaving the way you you you want them to. If you don't enforce a loading zone, the sign does no good.

And no, I was going to turn to something else just

um No, and I I also wanted to be fully transparent here um in that what you're doing it really is in terms of managing is really important and keeping the utility self um sustaining is very important. But um as we were talking about in our finance committee last week in New Jersey, there is just very limited ways for towns to raise revenue outside of property taxes. Unlike New York, Massachusetts, it New Jersey, it is property tax, property tax, property tax. A and but you are allowed in New Jersey when you have a um excess revenue in your utility to transfer some of that over to your municipal budget. So Princeton, for example, transfers $1.8 million of their parking utility to their municipal budget. I think Bloomfield is like 800,000. And last year we did transfer 1 million I believe from the utility to the um uh municipal budget and that is as we know we would consider it somewhat taxpayer relief

because it's not coming out of property taxes. So I just want to be transparent that all of what you're doing is not for that reason but it does again because you know for example we are we know we have a lot of visitors coming into town you know I think of it somewhat by charging them a little bit for parking they can contribute to the repair of the roads that they're using so you know and we can then shift that you know that doesn't just have to be on the Montlair property taxpayers so I just want to be fully transparent about that in in in how where all the money goes. So, um thank you though. Thanks. Thank you very much. Um councelor Yes, Council Williams.

Uh great presentation. Yes. So, I don't want to get ahead of my skis here, but one of the things that we would like to do and contemplating is potentially would uh pick up drop off to potentially on Bloomfield Avenue, every corner to have a pickup drop off. Uh that will make uh make it a little bit easier for how we use cars now with Uber Eats and things of that nature. But there's a lot of work uh to be done on that. And and by the way, not not just Bloomfield Avenue, but we were also talking about Valley Road as well. So in Upper Monontlair as well. So

yeah, good. Thank you very much. We appreciate it. Anyone else? Manager, attorney, anyone? Nothing. Okay. Um thank you all. Thank you very much. I'd like to make a motion that we pass the resolution enabling the state of New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Green Acres Application. um to support the Canterbury Park improvement projects minus the pickle ball. Second.

Is that a substantive um change I can ask our attorney? Thank you. I appreciate it. Council Williams. So,

so does this mean so the pickle ball I don't know how much the pickle ball cost but in this and from what I read there's matching funds we could potentially I think get a loan but if we don't get it then the town is on the hook for that. So, are we adjusting the number uh the scope of the project or or we're passing it and then we're revising the scope the cost down later on with more public input. Um, did you want to address that because I'm I'm not um able at this point in time to actually let you know. Is still here. Does the manager want

I thought I remembered with the mountainside park that it was put in as like a tennis court, you know, like cuz I think we would still want the tennis court to be repl we and we do still have the tennis court in it. I just think that we should be very clear that we're not in favor. Um I mean the way I'm introducing it is the vote is to pass it without the um pickle ball court and I so moved and you second it. Is there any further discussion or we ready to vote? I'm sorry. Just Yes. Um Deputy Mayor,

I'm just reading the resolution. Um and it says we're seeking to obtain funding in the amount of $2.98 million in the form of a $1.4 million matching grant. and if available the $ 1.588 million al loan from the state. So that means we're we're not obligated to pitch in um matching funds un unless we get correct unless the funding aotment is less than the cost of the project um then the township would uh contribute but um depends on what we get for the funding. Okay. May I just ask I'm sorry.

Thank you. Uh you will email us tomorrow the changes or recommendations that you heard from the residents as well as from this council. Yeah. Um because when will the application change need to happen or the the changes that you mentioned we could make down the road? When will that happen? Well, assuming there's um um a desire to keep uh the tennis courts, we can make the change and eliminate pickle ball tomorrow. Absolutely. Keep the tennis courts. You can kill the pickle ball. Yeah. No, we'll do that tomorrow and it'll be included in the submitted application. That's not Thank you very much, Madam Clerk. Please. Thanks. Deputy Mayor Anderson, appreciate you. Uh, yes. Councelor Birmingham, yes. Councelor Damato,

yes. Councelor Harrison, yes. Councelor Toller, yes. Councelor Williams, yes. Mayor Baskerville, yes. Thank you very much. And thank you to all of the public that came in and helped us through this process. Um, now we're going to move on to pending ordinances on second reading. Did you want to um go and bring Did you want to go? Um, deputy mayor, please.

Okay. Um, so this public hearing after this, right? So this is um pending ordinance 0-2601 an ordinance to amend chapter 341-8 temporary service during building construction. I move any discussion I think that we we need to we need to open the public hearing.

Oh okay. I'm going to open the public hearing without objection. Um, is there anyone who is present who wishes to be heard in relation to the um, ordinance that the deputy mayor just read? Ordinance 0-26-01 pending ordinance 0-26-01. Anyone wish to be heard, please come forward. Council members. Madam clerk, please. Deputy Mayor Anderson. Yes. Councelor Birmingham. Oh, absent. Councelor Damato.

Hi. Councelor Harrison. Yes. Councelor Toller. Yes. Councelor Williams. Yes. Mayor Baskerville. Yes. Um. Yeah. Go ahead. Just read them.

Okay. Okay. Okay, this next pending ordinance is O-26-02, ordinance to amend section 327-5, vehicles and traffic one-way street code of the township of Montlair, New Jersey. Uh, and this is to designate Lynen Avenue um going west uh as a one-way street in the direction indicated. So, limits from Orange Road to Willowdale Avenue. I move second. I'm I'm going to open the public hearing and I invite the uh guests please to come down and be heard. Council members, please. And again, just for the public and those at home, this ordinance, because I think you just kind of faded out there, um Councelor Anderson, Lynen Avenue West, uh with limits from Orange Road to Willowdale Avenue will be one way. This ordinance goes into effect 20 days after. So, the people in the fourth ward, I just want you to understand and pay a little more attention to the signage out there, but this will be for the betterment of the neighborhood.

Thank you. Um, Madame Clerk, please. Deputy Mayor Anderson, did you move that? I did move that and I Okay. Okay. Yes. And I vote yes. Councelor Birmingham, I'm sorry. Oh, I apologize. Oh, sorry. Yes. Councelor Damato. Yes. Councelor Harrison. Yes. Councelor Toller. Yes. Councelor Williams. Yes. Mayor Baskerville. Yes. Thank you. Um, Council Harrison D, please.

The pending ordinance. This is a pending ordinance to authorize execution of a financial agreement between between the township of Monontlair and Lacawana Monontlair Urban Renewal LLC for a phase three development project to be developed on block 3,213 lot 2 and block 4,22 lots 4 and 4.01. Are you moving or we're not? No. hearing. Okay. Aren't we having a hearing? I thought we were having I thought we were having a hearing.

Off it to the public. You're not going to move it. Okay. At this point in time, if there are members from the public who wish to come and be heard on this pending ordinance, please. This ordinance is pending ordinance 0-26-03 authorizing execution of a financial agreement between the township of Montlair and Lacawana Montlair Urban Renewal LLC. Anyone that wishes to be heard, please come down and mention your name. Oh, you have numbers now. Okay. You don't need right now. This is just like a um hearing. So, you don't have to have a number. You could just come down. Please let us know who you have are. Um and we're going to give you two minutes. We do want to hear from you.

Good evening. Good evening. Um I'm just speaking uh very quickly on behalf of in support of urge you all to vote tonight. Sorry, the mic.

Oh, there we go. It's the first time I've ever been told that I wasn't loud enough, but um uh good evening. I' I'm just um speaking in in support of Lacawana and asking you to vote. Uh yes, tonight um I've I've come before you before in support of of this uh development. Um, but things have changed since the last time I was here, which is that I've been afforded the opportunity to be in the space um while it's in its temporary use in setting up a um uh a market that is uh designed to bring uh regionally grown food um nutrient-dense food to the community um to to meet all of our socioeconomic needs in in this town. And um I've been afforded that opportunity because of the um uh ease and support that we've received from the developer to to allow us to incubate this business. right now. Um I will say that um the development of Lacawana will actually mean that the business that my wife and I are incubating will actually by definition have to go away um in being replaced with a much larger um uh grocery store uh to to service the the fourth ward. Um but yet I still speak in support of the plan because as a Montlair resident of over 21 years um I feel that this development and the revenue that it will bring to the to our township is really important. And um um I've I've had the opportunity to be there uh every day when I'm not at the farm um uh to see what this space can be. Um, I don't think it's come anywhere close to its potential and I believe that the development that's been proposed should bring it to that potential and and the the promise of having a space that actually captures um the true notion of Monontlair, a space of gathering that captures our diversity, captures our sense of

community, our sense of usness, as you will at a time when uh maybe we're all a little too driven by our our own personal interests. So, um, again, I I I I believe strongly in this in the vision of what this place could be. So, and hopefully we'll find another place for our market. So, um, thank you all and have a good night. Your name? Thank you. And thank you for your business. We appreciate it. I'm so sorry I didn't give my name. I'm Charles Rosen, uh, Irwin Park Road. Yes. Thank you, Mr. Scott. Good evening.

Good evening. Uh, William Scott, 23 Cedar Avenue. I'm also a member of the, uh, Monley NAACP. I'm the housing chair. Um, now this this agreement is a part the actual financial agreement. That's that's a yes. I see some history. Oh, yes. I'm sorry. I didn't know. Yes.

Okay. And u when they had the uh town over the fourth board meeting uh last week, there were recommendations uh or requests for changes to this agreement. And as a member of the NAACP, uh we had made a recommendation to uh wave the 30-year exemption for rent control uh on this project uh because we're looking to really maintain more affordable affordability in the new market rate units uh from a rental standpoint that are coming online in the township of Monontlair. So, I was just wondering, you know, we had an opportunity to uh express that uh request and I'm wondering not only our request from an NAACP, but were there other requests that residents were making uh in regards to this uh agreement, the pilot agreements and things like that? Uh has anything been uh reconsidered or this is basically the same agreement that was presented at the uh fourth word meeting last week?

Okay. So, councelor Harrison, by definition, this is the same agreement that was presented. It was introduced on first reading and we have to present what was introduced on first reading for second reading. If based on the public comments are received both at the community meeting that was held last week or the meeting uh comments, we then could amend amend it. But we couldn't amend it between when we introduced it on first reading and tonight. But we will listen to your comments and then make a decision whether any amendments should be made or not. And if they're substantive that the ordinance would have to be reintroduced. If they're nonsubstantive, we could march on tonight.

Okay. And and obviously, you know, we're we're really concerned about the affordability of uh new market rate units coming into town. if this agreement is is approved and those changes aren't made, you know, you're you're you're going to be affecting not just the initial 210 U residential units, but I mean, you're going to have uh we should look at these as families. These are families that are going to be living in these uh market rate units over the next 30 years. And you would want to have some type of assurance that the residents aren't going to be looking at 10, 15, 20% increases on an annual basis. And I think this is the opportunity to really put this in place. And Monontlair is not the first town to do something like that. It's been done in Newark, I believe, in Jersey City. And there's other towns uh in New Jersey that have made u uh the new developers or development of market rate units uh with to pull that exemption back. So there would be some controls on uh increases over whatever period of those developments. Monontlair, if this agreement goes in place, it's 30 years. 30 years, they're going to be able to make a lot of money on the market rate units moving forward. And and I I I did look through the agreement and I was wondering uh is there any provisions in this uh agreement for uh Airbnbs?

Speak. No, that's that's not in the financial agreement. Okay. I just wanted to make because that's another uh opportunity that rents uh uh short-term rentals are very profitable and there should be some codes uh controls in that from Monlair standpoint because we do not have any regulations in place in this township for Airbnbs and of course we know the Olympics are coming. Airbnbs is a big business in Monontlair. there's hundreds of Airbnbs which is really pulling away uh rental units uh availability in the township as well. So there's there's a couple things we really need to start taking a hard look at. Thank you.

Thank you very much. And um that's what this session is for all of the people in the audience who may wish to get up and and be heard. Also, this is a um a a public hearing, so you're welcome to come down um and and be heard.

Thank you. Uh, good evening, Sarah Avery. Um, I spent um a significant amount of time looking at that financial presentation that NW uh presented at the meeting last week in which that financial advisor concluded that it was reasonable. Now, I'm a retired certified public accountant with over four decades of experience in the public accounting industry. My business focused on reviewing complex contracts and documents to provide assurance to clients that they were making the right financial decision. The information that NW Financial presented does not it does not bear any resemblance to either the redevelopment agreement, the phasing plan, the construction timetable, even the revenue numbers used to project the gross pilot don't even come from the annual cash flow. I hope you're all familiar with this. Furthermore, this annual cash flow assumes that the property will be completed and fully rented in year two. Now, we know that's not true because there is a phasing plan and there is a construction schedule. So therefore,

the project could not possibly be fully completed or fully rented until at least year nine. But furthermore, that financial presentation assumed across the board for every metric a 2% increase year-over-year. Now again, when you're talking about estimating what conventional taxes would be, conventional taxes, they're not increasing prata 2% year-over-year. They're going to increase based on assessments. Um, another problem is some of the numbers. If you do the math on those pre on the schedule, the numbers don't even agree. The numbers are different. Plus, if you look at the numbers presented for the number of public school children, I think it was a low of 26 and a high of 31. If you recalculate using the metrics in the presentation, um you would get a high of 50, a low of 53 and a high of 65. However, for the affordable housing units, you have to meet the HUD occupancy standards. So, the occupancy on those units is higher. And so when you adjust those calculations to take into consideration the HUD occupancy standards, it results in a low of 58 and a high of 70. So without going into any further detail, it would be

irresponsible for this council to make a determination and vote in approval of this financial agreement based on financial information that is completely false and incorrect. Thank you, Miss Avery. Are there other people who wish to to come down? Please. Also, if you have um documents and you've done some data and different things that you would like for us to look at, you're always welcome to email us um your information and we will read it. Thank you. Good evening.

Hi, uh Tony Martin. Um, I don't have documents, but I did spend some time today looking at um a 15-year-old report done by the state controllers's office on the status and effectiveness of pilots in spurring development and the cost benefits of that. Um, they had grave concerns 15 years ago. I think we should continue to have serious concerns. Yes. Uh we the charts that I've seen show that over 30 years we'll get more from payment in lu in t in lie of taxes than from regular taxes. But I I when I read this um controllers report today, they talked about how there's never any followup on these agreements. How uh you make an agreement and then you don't know whether or not it's actually been to the benefit of the town. I know that's true in this town. We we don't have a full accounting of what the previous pilot agreements have done for us. I would like to see that. I also just urge weariness. I know it's been a long time coming here, but because of our financial situation as a town at this time, I think we have to be so careful in giving away any tax breaks, any subsidies, and I believe that um a pilot agreement is a subsidy. I'm also lastly very concerned about the uh price

of the rental housing as um Mr. Scott and the NAACP and the tenants organization of Monontlair have pointed out um the market rate housing is going to set the tone for uh it's 210 units all at once um or coming in on a rapid platform and um we know that where Monontlair rents have been going we've I've seen a projection of how much they might be charging charging for um rents at a new built Lacawana Plaza. We're talking, you know, close to $5,000 for a two-bedroom apartment. That's not the direction we want to be going, I don't think. Um I know there's I know there's affordable housing in this, however, uh still. Thank you.

Oh, thank you very much. Good evening. Good evening everyone. Dear Dr. Mallaloy, uh, Monontlair resident. Um, I just want to say close to $5,000 is really low because I just checked out an apartment at 37 Orange Road. Almost $6,000 for a twobedroom. That did not include parking. Uh, but that's not what I came up here to say. I wanted to speak about the the pilots and the two-year um stabilization. Uh don't know exactly what specific part. I'm assuming it's phase a the first phase that is anticipated per the construction schedule to be stabiliz stabilized in year two. Um which is very aggressive. But it sounds like to me that over the eight years and I think as it was described and I guess someone will correct me later is that the stabilization is going to come in waves as the phases are built which means that you're only going to get a certain portion of pilots at each phase. And so it's my hope that you understand what kind of revenue those pilots are going to render to the municipality at each phase and whether or not as the phases escalate due to the others being constructed, there is an escalation clause built in as it um advances. Um, I do think that it warrants a further examination of the pilot agreements and the financial um, benefit uh, to the community and I just wanted to to the municipality I should say and I just wanted to point those things out. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Next guest please.

Good evening again. Johanna Coxer, Lincoln Street. I'm in favor of developing Lacawana Plaza. I am not in favor of a pilot. A pilot is a subsidy. Thank you. Thank you very much. Next guest, please.

Ariel Xad. I'm a Monontlair resident. Um I uh for the 20 years that I've been here, um we have uh I'm just going to repeat something I said last week. We we've been told that we need development uh in order to defay our very high taxes and that this development demands pilots and the history of pilots does not coincide with a project like this. Um but that aside the I feel like now the argument is well this is better than nothing. I the better than nothing argument is not a good argument. Yeah, it's better than nothing maybe, but we haven't even been told what the full expenses are compared to the revenues. I have not seen that. Is that available? the full expenses to the town

to the town that it is

the every all the expenses related to the project. Okay. So, um, you know, we we are at a point in our town right now, $20 million school budget, crumbling municipal building, crumbling police building, super tight municipal budget, numerous tax increases, potential huge tax hit coming up. So, the we've had these pilots for 20 years. Better than nothing, but not great. not really helping this town to get to a place where it needs to be and offering a subsidy to a developer when the rest of us are shouldering the burden for all of these problems. Every resident not fair. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Next guest, please.

Hi, Lauren Berman. Um, I attended the finance committee meeting which was a extremely informative lesson on a lot of the cost pressures here and um our limited ability to get revenue. And I was I guess in some ways convinced that like perhaps there is some legitimacy to having a pilot to the limited extent that we have no other way to get revenue and we could get some kind of additional source. But that is completely undermined by the idea of presenting one that starts at the minimum 10%. And I mean, listening to Ariel say better than nothing, I don't know that it is better than nothing because it sounds like this is maybe a net loss to the township. I mean, all the numbers that Sarah was presenting about how many kids are going to be in the schools. We also know that the per pupil spend data is garbage. So, I don't I don't know if I agree with you about better than nothing. I think that we're maybe we're going to be footing this which is worse and we don't have that money. So I I mean many people here have disagreed about the project whether it should happen whether it's a good design. I think the township is basically unified that this financial agreement is written is totally unacceptable.

Thank you very much. Next guest please. Good evening. My name is Lonnie Summer Padilla. I'm a resident of Mont Clair. Um, and I first just want to say I do support developing Lacawana Plaza. Um, I think something needs to happen. um it can't sit there like that for another 10 years. Um and I also am in support of a pilot simply because I do think that it um it gives us a better chance of retaining our tax money um rather than it paying regular taxes. Um, having said that, I do agree with what Lauren just said. Um, I do think that the 10% the bare minimum is a bit low. Um, I don't like to make the perfect the enemy of the good, but um, that report that came out, the analysis of the cost to the township, um, looking at that and you know the what they said would be the number of children in each apartment, that doesn't seem like that would be the reality. Um, I could easily see two to three children in an apartment. um especially given the cost of rent um and the cost of purchasing a home here. Um so I I think it's a little low um and I'd like to see it come up. Um and most importantly, I hope that you will share

the pilot funding with the schools because they need it and it's the fair and right thing to do. Thank you. Thank you very much. Next guest, please. Good evening. Good evening.

Uh my name is Jeremy Fitana. I'm a resident uh business owner and I'm the director of downtown Montlair. Uh so I was at the meeting last week um when you guys gave the pres presentation. The uh the money guy over here also he um he was explaining well I didn't know this was happening tonight. So and I wanted to say something last week and I didn't I don't know but I felt I guess now would be a good time since I'm here on the night of. Um, so what I gathered was they're they're ask you're the you guys are asking the public if you would pilot money to help build the Lacawana invest into Lacawana Plaza. But with that pilot money um there could be a return on it and you guys can make money from the investment. Is that correct? Is that is that the you know the the gist of things? I mean one, do we want to stare at an empty lot? Do we need a fourth ward um uh shopping um you know uh food store? Yes, of course we don't. We would like to have it built up. I mean, as a business owner, I think it would bring foot traffic. Um I mean, I'm not against the the the the construction of of Lacawana Plaza. I mean, if it makes sense to um put in the money uh to to uh make get an investment and pick the investment and get some money back in from the pilot to give and help with the schools like Lonnie said. I think that would be great. Um I'm a father of five daughters. I mean, I'm the PTA vice president of the high school. I know the the problems that we sit in at the at the high school at the in the school district itself with our $20 million, but you know, so if some of that money Yeah. If that can come back, that would be great. I mean, if that's an investment that you see and that you guys feel at the end of the day that you guys, you know, collectively come up with, um, I mean, that would be your decision obviously. Um, I do want to see Lacawana built because I think it would be bring more foot traffic to the

businesses. It would be better for the community and for, you know, for the business owners out here. And, um, you know, of course, uh, I I don't have the numbers. I don't know what you know the deals are or or or how much um I know that uh I I don't know is is is low or no affordable is that I don't know what is that is that like 100 grand these days I I don't understand you know what I mean like it's not it's not that affordable either right so obviously we want to have you know some affordable too so I'm I'm I back that as well you know so if there can be some type of you know management there. I, you know, that would be great, you know? So, so 20 years down the road, we're not paying $10,000 for a two-bedroom, you know what I mean? Like, that's that's cool, too. But, uh, yeah. So, I just, you know, throw my two cents in there. I'm down for Lawana Plaza to be built. If the money from the pilot that you guys, if you guys agree, I mean, I believe that they're going to build it anyways, whether you guys give the money or not, but if you do and you can make some money back, give some back to the schools because, you know, we really need it. So, all right. Thanks.

Thank you very much. Next guest, please.

Mike McDonald, Llewellen Road, uh, in Montlair. First of all, thank you for all of your your time and service to our township. Uh, I know it's a heavy lift these days. Um, I'm here to speak in favor of Lacawana Plaza. Uh, I looked back at my notes and um, I think I first uh sent a note to the old the former uh, council in late 2022. um about the redevelopment plan and I recently shared a list of 15 elements of the plan um that our family is excited about. One, two, and three being the supermarket, but the affordable housing component. Um the work workforce uh housing component. My dad was a cop for 33 years. Um also look forward to coming back and speaking on behalf of uh our fire department heroes. Um but the uh historical preservation elements and the revenue potential. Um, and and I agree, you know, I I'm hoping the town is partnering with with our schools in a more, you know, significant way, including here, but uh uh totally in favor of of the Lawana Plaza development. Thanks.

Is there um anyone else?

Okay, I see one other. Is there anyone after are we only talking about Lagawana Plaza or Yes, this is here this is for now. So if you want there will be a public comment um period later on. Okay. So um council members discussion deputy I at this point I would like to make a motion to table the vote um for this particular ordinance.

Second. Um the reason being that um we had a really uh good uh public meeting um last week um the community meeting at um the firehouse. Um after that meeting we uh gathered many of the questions um we tried to were trying to get answers for you know to sort of talk through all of those things. Um, and also, um, I think it would behoove us to take, um, the comments that we heard today, um, and consider some of them. Um, and, uh, and, um, and I mean, we do have to eventually make a decision. Um, but that would be, uh, my suggestion that we move to table the vote.

Okay. So, um, we're moving to table the vote to the March 17th. Um, or are we going to do something else? Okay. Yes. Um we on the March 17th if it's brought back up, we would have our ability to talk about it. Yes. Then we would not just go straight to a vote. Correct. All right. But thank you. Yes. Um Councelor Toller.

Sure. Thank you. Um just to kind of piggyback off what deputy mayor said, um we really want to take in everyone's considerations whether they're pro, for um against. There's a lot of emails that we've received. There was a lot of feedback that we received at that meeting on the 17th at the firehouse. Um, we also just need some more time to digest it all before we make such a decision. Um, so I I I sec I know that the mayor second to um table this. This is a lot to process and a lot to take in and I don't think this council was given adequate time to really digest all of the numbers, all of the data, all of the information that was presented to us. Uh so please allow us some grace while we take some more time to take in take this all in. This is a this is going to matter to all of us. So just allow us this grace if you will.

Um and we'll try to be back on the 17th with an answer. Thank you. By the way, just one more thing before we we end. And I don't know if anyone else um on the dis wants to say anything. Um I do want to just remind everyone that on the township website um information um about the redevelopment plan that the one that is approved um the financial agreement um presentations uh you know the the application um for the pilot they're all available um excuse me

yes um the meeting uh the recording of the February 17th meeting is also available um and I would just encourage everyone to um review all of those. Um we're trying to provide as much information that we can to the public. Um so um and and please do send us your questions. Um again uh you know we do have to make a decision on this. Um but um in the meantime uh you know just know that all of this is available including FAQs about pilot and how it works. Thank you very much. Yep. This is a one last thing and then madame clerk

I would also speaking of extending people grace please extend some grace to the people who are working for us to help unpack all this stuff. Um it's very complicated um

in terms of people thinking that they have a good better idea of a half a percent or a percent this way. We have people who have worked on this for decades. I'm a a skeptic when it comes to people like this sometimes, but there is no indication whatsoever that these professionals are working for anybody else other than us and working very hard at it. And so, please do not think otherwise unless you have specific evidence of it. They're working hard and for us. Thank you. Thank you. Yes. Uh attorney, please. Mr. Mike, please.

Uh, I'm speaking on the motion to adjourn. We have a deadline to approve the redevelopment agreement and the redeveloper as of uh, February 28th. That's that's a separate resolution. That's that's a resolution that's on the agenda that will be acting, but we we do need to extend that. That's not going to be voted. Um, which I'm sorry. We were going to vote on the on the ordinance for the financial agreement and on the redevelopment agreement together uh this evening. But right now, this is the um pending ordinance. We're going to table this until the meeting, this particular one. Then the ones there's three that you're talking about that are next, right? We have D, E, and F. Which one? I don't know which one you're talking about. Then it is your um resolution

extending the approval of the redevelopment agreement which we passed back in December. Yes, we're aware extended it to February. And we have that also on the This is on the agenda. Okay. I was We didn't get there yet, did we? No. Oh, we didn't get there yet. That's why I didn't No. No. We're still on number 24 on the agenda. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. I I appreciate it. We we're not there yet, but as soon as we can um table this, then we'll be ready for that one. Thank you very much, Madame Clerk. This is a table the um pending ordinance 0-26-03 to the March 17th, 2026 meeting. Deputy Mayor Anderson, yes. Councelor Birmingham, yes.

Councelor Damato, yes. Councelor Harrison, yes. Councelor Toller, yes. Councelor Williams. Oh, absent. Mayor Baskerville. Yes. Thank you. Um, councelor Harrison.

Oh, we have to. Yes. Okay. This is an ordinance to amend chapter 65 affordable housing of the code of the township of Montlair. This is to comply with the agreement which was reached uh on our fair share and affordable housing plan to implement changes that are required by the state. We tableabling it. We're just moving to I thought we had to pass this. I'm sorry. I thought we had to pass this. No, this had to be heard by the planning board. Isn't this the one you said we have to table? Because it wasn't discussed.

Both of them have to go. Yeah. Uh I'd like to make a motion to table this second. Madame clerk. Is it tabled to the next meeting? Yes. Um thank you. No, this is not the one. Oh, okay. Planner tally. I thought it had to go in front of the Oh, it does. So, that's why we have the special meeting. Okay. I'm I'm making a motion to table this until we have our special meeting that has to occur before the 15th. Okay. Right. Right. Yeah. Yes. And it would have to the ne the planning boards will be considering this this ordinance. Yeah.

On March 9th. So the table it for either the 10th, the 11th or the 12th. Yeah, the we have the board of education election. So that's not a viable date. Council, can you look at your schedules because we're trying to do it on the um Friday the 11th? What was what was that date? 11th be Wednesday. We're looking to do that. Um the 11th is the Wednesday. Hm. The 11th.

So, Tuesday is the board of ed and then I spoke with uh the people in our clerk's office and they were trying to either do it 12 or 13. So, um we have to do this. Does the 13th, Friday the 13th work at 3:00 or the 12th, mayor? Or the 12th? Both work for me. Okay. Okay. We were planning on having a special meeting on the 7th. Couldn't we advertise that as a regular meeting? Okay. Hold on. We're having a special meeting on

the 7th if we have a little bit of business. March the 7th. Uh, councelor Demano, that won't work because you have to the planning board has to consider it first. And the planning this they're going to do that on the 9th because we canled last night's meeting because of the blizzard. We'll do it on So their next the plan next planning board meeting is the 9th. Right. So March 9th. So this board of ed election. So we can't use that facility. So to be No, it's on the 7th. H right. It has to be after the planning board. The planning board has to offer their opinion first on the 9th. I knew that. Yeah.

Okay. So we're looking at the 12th at 3. Councelor Toller. Yes, that's fine. That's fine. Okay. Okay. So, you're going to make a motion to do it the March 12th. Okay. I move to table that ordinance until March 12th at 3:00. I second that. Special special town council meeting. Hm. planning. We We can't act.

Yeah, we can't do it until the planning board has it first. Even the other one, the next one too, right? You want to do that? Can we wrap this up? They're going to bundle. We call this a bundle four, five, and six. Yes. Thank you.

This is an ordinance to amend chapter 202 land use procedures of the code of the township monk monlair. This again is to implement the agreement we reached for fair share plan affordable housing element. Um again because the planning board did not have a chance to review it because it snowed on Monday. Um um uh we have to we cannot act until the planning board has had its chance to review it or 45 days passed and 45 days have not passed. Um, so I move to table this until March second 12 12 at 3:00.

Yes. Council to second. And this is to table all of them. Yes. All three. Yes. Deputy Mayor Anderson. Yes. Councelor Birmingham. Yes. Councelor Damato. Yes. Councelor Harrison. Yes. Councelor Toller. Yes. Councelor Williams. Yes. Mayor Baskerville.

Yes. Okay. Um before we move on, I'd like to move to amend the agenda so that after public comment for those people who have been sitting here and don't want to listen to more interesting topics to add uh for introduction um an ordinance prohibiting the use of legal methods of deer management within the township of Montlair by the township of Monontlair. Um um second second. Okay. This is just to amend the agenda to put it after the public comment period. Madam clerk,

and just for the record before you take uh roll call. Council B. I was looking the attorney was absent for several days and we had snow. So that's why it wasn't. This this was discussed at the agenda meeting. Madam clerk, but not public. It wasn't on the public. No, she said we can introduce it tonight for a discussion. Just so you know, Madam Clerk, Deputy Mayor Anderson. Um, yes. Councelor Birmingham. Yes. Councelor Damato, no. Councelor Harrison, yes. Councelor Toller, yes. Councelor Williams, no. Mayor Baskerville,

yes. Okay. So, now we're moving on um to public comment. Now, those of you that have those numbers, you can look at your number and just come on down. We'll start with number one. Uh huh. Numbers. Okay. Just come down as your spirit moves you then. If the numbers are not um accurate for some reason, please just come forward. If you have number one, come on down. You have a number.

What happened? Nope. They didn't come down. What do they like? Why did they say no? Why didn't they want to put this on? Good evening. Yes. Thank you. Good evening. Thank you for joining us.

Um I my name is Maria Badoro. I'm a resident of Monontlair and I was uh watching the parking presentation and I want to repeat what I said last time last meeting. I'm against of any uh LPR which is a license plate um recognition system. I'm against uh on on the implementation of those. Um, I'm here tonight to express my deep disappointment that the Montlair Trust Act is not on the agenda. That omission sends a troubling message to many residents who are living in fear right now. We are here because the this issue cannot wait. As public officials, you have a responsibility to protect all members of our community, including those who may not have h immigration status, but who are nonetheless our neighbors, co-workers, classmates, and friends. They contribute to Monontlair. They raise uh families here. They work here. They build lives here. across New Jersey um and throughout the country, undocumented residents are being detained in ways they that create widespread fear and instability. Families are being separated. Children are being traumatized. Uh parents are afraid to drop their kids off at school or go to work. I do not want any child to come home from school to an empty ho house because their parents were was w weren't taken away. I do not want neighbors to live in constant fear of stepping outside their front door. I do not want Monontlair to become a place where silence replaces courage. The Monontlair Trust Act is about trust between residents and local

government. It is about ensuring that our local resources are used to protect public safety, not to instill fear. When communities trust local officials, everyone is safer. When fear dominates, crime goes unreported. Cooperation disappears and families suffer. I know that we are not an island. We cannot stop ice rates from happening in our town or our state. But we must do everything in our power to prevent unnecessary family separation, trauma, and fear in our town. Leadership requires courage. It requires moral clarity. If we truly believe in protecting all residents, then we must act like it. I urge you to place the Monontlair Trust Act on the agenda and move it forward. Our neighbors are watching. Our children are watching. History is watching. The question is simple. Will Monontlair stand for protection and dignity for all or will we remain silent? Thank you. Thank you very much.

No, no, no. I I'm I apologize. No, it's always great to see you again.

Sorry. Thank you. Uh I'm more prepared for this speech right here. I apologize again. My name is Jeremy uh Fatana, resident, business owner here. Um so good evening uh once again, mayor, council members, and fellow residents of Montlair. I stand here tonight to speak about something that should never be reduced uh to a line item on a spreadsheet. Uh the safety of our community. We need our firefighters. Uh and we should not downsize the Monontlair Fire Department. Firefighters are not just responders to fires. They are first on the scene for medical emergencies. cars, accidents, gas leaks, carbon monoxide alarms, storm damage, and mutual aid uh calls across our town. In many cases, they arrive before anyone else. When a child can't breathe, when a senior collapse uh when a home fills with smoke at 2 a.m., minutes matter. Um staffing levels directly affect response times, and response times saves lives. Uh Montlair is a dense, vibrant, and growing community. We have historic homes, multif family residences, busy downtown businesses, schools, and major roadways. That density in uh increases risks. Uh older housing, stock increases, fire spread potential. Uh large community events, increased demands. Cutting firefighters does not reduce emergencies. It only reduces the ability to respond to them effectively. Uh downsizing also increases danger for firefighters themselves. National uh national safety standards exist for reasons. Uh fighting a fire safely requires a full crew. When staffing is reduced, it risks increases not only to the public but to the men and women who've putting their lives on the line for us. And let's be clear, strong public safety reports, property values, economic development, and business confidence. Uh families more uh move here because they feel safe. Businesses invest here because they trust our infrastructure. A fully staffed fire department is part of that foundation.

Uh this is not about tonight's budget. It's or the budget that you're trying, you know, you're trying to make uh uh get back. Uh it's a it's about long-term resilience. Uh it's about uh prep u preparedness. It's about ensuring that uh when someone in Montlair dials 911, they get the fastest, strongest response possible. Uh we ask our firefighters to run toward danger when everybody else runs away. At least we can do is make sure the staffing is there to support the jobs and safety effectively. uh for the safety of our residents, our businesses, our children, and our first responders. I urge you not to downsize the Montlair Fire Department. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Next guest.

Good evening. Good evening.

Uh Laura Kenny. I live in Montlair. I'm here again tonight representing Montlair Indivisible. folks are here tonight as well as I know other folks uh to again reiterate and emphasize the urgency to act on the proposed Montlair Trust Act. Uh, I don't need to explain why the town of Montlair must say no and choose categorically not to become complicit with ICE, with their violence, their abuse, and in the terror they are subjecting our immigrant residents and American citizens to. The council needs to act before ICE descends on our community. The Monontlair Fund for Educational Excellence recently held a meeting here where community groups from all over the area came together to prepare to assist our immigrant neighbors during this crisis. MF is doing an extraordinary job as are so many of Montlair's community groups. Tony's Kitchens, Catholic Charities, Head Start, the Human Needs Food Pantry, multiple faith communities, just to name a few. We know, as uh the speaker earlier pointed out, that families are afraid to go to Tony's Kitchen to get food for fear that ICE will snatch them off our streets. We know that families are afraid to bring their children back and forth to school. We're working to develop a system to help our immigrant neighbors with this, but we can't do it alone. We need our town council to demonstrate that we will not miss this opportunity to take a strong position against the illegal and abusive tactics employed by ICE. We want the Monontlair

Council to include the Monontlair Trust Act on the agenda for discussion at the next council meeting and then to without delay adopt the Monontlair Trust Act. We in the Monontlair community are working hard to do our part to stop this abuse, this trauma, this violation of our rights and of our conscience. And we need the Montlair Town Council to do its part. We need to see your leadership on this issue now. Thank you. Thank you. Next guest, please. I think you're up to number four. Mayor, just there's a list right here. Everybody took numbers. We got early. We all waited in line.

Thank you. Next guest, please. Miss Malloy, come on down. Thank you. Next guest, please. and you can line up over on the wall if you'd like to. Go ahead, Miss Mallaloy. Thank you.

Good evening again. Um, I would like to say uh request that you seriously consider reducing the staff at the Montlair Fire Department. Um, I think reducing the staff could pose a risk to those that would remain by a reduced staff. Also, how many of us would be willing to run into a fire? They just put out an exploded car the other night. I mean, they prevented further damage elsewhere. So, I think that's something that we should really uh want to protect and preserve because they do an amazing job protecting this community and neighboring communities. Um, the other thing I wanted to speak about although the pending ordinance 026-04 was tabled uh is the deficient housing unit definition. a housing unit that is one over 50 years old and overcrowded, two lacks complete plumbing, or three lacks complete kitchen facilities. That's the revision for a deficient housing unit when it used to read with health and safety code violations that require the repair or replacement of a major system. Major systems includes weatherization, roofing, plumbing includes wells, heating, electricity, sanitary plumbing including septic systems, lead paint abatement and/or loadbearing structural systems by reducing the definition of a deficient housing unit. My question would be, which doesn't have to be answered now because I know it was tabled and I will attend the next meeting. what loopholes or risks stand with deficient housings as it relates to co code violations for affordable units. Um I is is this opening up an opportunity for a challenge against the municipality to

say well you know my unit you know might have serious infestation or some other significant life safety hazard like mold. uh but it doesn't say so in the ordinance. So is that a loophole that someone's attorney can bypass? Um the other thing is um the affordable housing liaison describes several um tasks that the affordable housing administrator used to do um and maybe still does. I don't know. So is there any overlap there? If there is, why? Uh, and then as it relates to the affordable housing administrator, this is not related to this particular ordinance. When was the last time they revised the uh weight list? Is that list being monitored to cross off or eliminate people who either are no longer in this region, no longer want to be on the weight list, no longer qualify, or is it just a list in perpetuity? Thank you so much. Thank you so much. You next in line.

Good evening. Good evening. Uh thank you all for funding uh having this meeting and being here and taking all your personal time. I know it is a big endeavor serving the community. Um, I respectfully request to have a pause on a memo that was written to lower the staffing of the Montlair Fire Department from a minimum of 16 to 14 effective March the 5th. Um, I asked to put a pause on that because after the council had commissioned a report. Can you please state your name for the record? John Fier. Yes. Thank you. FNBA president local 20 Montlair Fire Department. I get it. That's just a procedure that we try to adhere to and not everybody maybe at home or whatever knows who you are. We know. But thank you for being here. Understood. Thank you, mayor.

Um, so again, after the commission that spent upwards of over $40,000 on doing the research for this and we all said that we would do a deep dive into all this data, I'm feeling and the members that I represent feel that, you know, the final report was issued to us around January uh 19th. This decision rolled out on February the 6th uh hasn't given us much time to really analyze all the data. Some of the report said it was data deficient. Some of the things in the report recommended a whole bunch of recommendations. And that's why I'm here tonight representing my members and the public that I serve to say I think we can all look at this collectively and work together and inform the union of all the information that is and work with the chief, work with the administration. I've worked with the administration and past councils on getting radio systems, getting fire engines, work on firehouses. We've had that kind of dialogue with the commission of the council and body and I challenge you all to help and engage in that. I send a lot of emails. I hear from some, I don't hear from others.

I think there's a lot of misrepresentation out there in the general public that come to this stand and they speak on things. Uh sometimes the budget is misrepresented. It's inflated. Sometimes it might not be truly accurate. I understand there's costs involved with everything that the town does. Uh firehouse wishes. I there's people that say they might want additions and second floors and and third levels. None of that is something that's done internally on us. So I think there is a slight disconnect between the facts and what's actually happening in our house and what's getting communicated and then what the public is actually hearing.

The public comes up here a lot of times and people think of it as being gospel. They're like, "Well, they do this, they make that, they live here, they live there. 95% of it's inaccurate and I feel that as a body you're not coming to the defense of your employees which is myself and all the people that I member that I represent. Some are in this room, some aren't in this room. Some are at work right now. Some ran by on a call right now. Some responded here for other reasons. Um you know once again everything sounds good on paper and pen, but I think some of this real life practical implementations of this is not really always the way it's supposed to be without a vigorous discussion to find out what these things mean. They sound great on a memo. They They sound great to the fantastic people. I'm going to save you a ton of money. I'm going to get you this. I'm going to get you aid from here. I'm going to get you mutual that. I'm going to have automatic aid come every single time until it doesn't come. And now my first responder title is now second responder and third responder. And that's not what I took the oath for. I mean, I'm just going to call it straight what I say it as.

Third responder is means somebody's going to something's going to happen. Okay? I'm not able to do what I can do. If I have 16 of this and 14 of that, the 16 is going to do more than the 14. So, I'm going to yield my time. I'm going to respect the laws of the three minutes. And all I can say is the last thing is minutes do matter. Thank you. Thank you. NEXT.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. Manager Marks. Good evening,

fellow township employees, members of our township community. My name is Tim McGlaughlin. I am the union vice president for Monontlair Local 20 and former township resident. I took an oath to protect this town and that's why I'm here tonight. I'm here to protect the town from itself. I'm here tonight to ask that you, the voting body, strongly reconsider the reckless decisions that you have made and force the manager to implement on March 5th of reducing our daily minimum staffing. This decision that was made to reduce the daily minimum staffing for the Montlair Fire Department will negatively impact the public safety of our residents and the many guests that we receive each day that patronize our local economy. It will increase response times. It will reduce the amount of firefighters responding to a variety of emergencies. It will cause a delay in the vital assistance getting to the very people who have voted to put you in the chairs on that deis. A fire doubles in size every minute. If there were a fire on Mount Hein Road right now with a family trapped on the second floor and truck two were sidelined for the day, there would be a delay of 8 to 10 minutes for a ladder company to respond. I hope you all know that. How long can you hold your breath? The study you site for the justification to make these cuts is 133 pages long. It's chalk full of really good information. and helpful information. Information you have seemingly bypassed in the interest of saving pennies per day per household to rationalize the long-standing opinion of one counselor that believes our budget is bloated and in need of fiscal reconstruction.

You represent our town, every one of you. Your job is to represent those who have voted you in. Your job is not to inflict your own agenda to the detriment of public safety. The results are in the public support for right sizing and proper staffing, to quote the study, is in favor of more, not less. And we have the metrics to prove it. We have nearly 1,000 signatures on a petition from stakeholders that are staunchly in favor of public safety. You will have to live with the fact that you are jeopardizing the public safety of our community by voting against those metrics and against those stakeholders. This town has already experimented with the idea of reduced staffing to save money and that led to one of our members losing their life in the line of duty January 1st of 1991.

My uncle 35 years ago last month died on my sixth birthday gave his life for everything for this town. There have been four other professional studies commissioned over the last 40 years. Each one of those pointing to a need for more and not less staffing for the Montlair Fire Department. How many more studies are we going to ignore before we lose another life in this town? Will it be one of our members? Will it be a member of your family? Will it be a member of the public sitting at home that has no idea that you're gambling with the well-being of their family in exchange for 24 cents per day per household? The choice is yours, counselor. Counselors, what will it be?

Thank you. Next guest, please. Good evening, Mayor, Council, Manager Brian. My name is Steven Misha, lifelong resident. I was on the fire department for 40 years. I'm retired as a battalion chief. My first year in a job, we had 88 personnel. 40 years later, when I retired, we had 88 personnel.

Today, we dropped 20 personnel. We're down to 68. How did that happen? Attrition. People retired. They weren't replaced. Why not? Why? We have a large population, larger than it was when I came on and when I retired. All these buildings are being built with with residents. Who's going to take care of them with the numbers that we have right now? We need manpower. We need manpower. There was a company that you paid for to perform a study on the fire department stated we need more personnel, not less, not downsize, but to bring the numbers up. Okay. We need a minimum of 16 personnel per shift. When I was on the job, we had 20 personnel per shift. Okay? We need manpower. We need manpower to do the job.

Okay? I personally fought working structure fires in snowstorms like last night, like yesterday. But we had 20 personnel. We called for mutual aid. They're not coming. They've got their own problems. They can't get here in snowstorms. So, we did what we had to do with what we had. You can't do that with 14 personnel. It's not going to work. You're putting the public's lives in danger.

You're putting the firefighters lives in danger. Doesn't work. What are we going to wait for? A tragedy and say, "Oh, geez, we should have done this. should have done that. No good. Manpower drives the job. You need manpower. We cannot perform efficiently and safely for fire and rescue operations below minimum fire standards. We are here to protect life and property. Life and property. Truck two goes out of service, it simply exacerbates the situation in Upper Montlair. They're at a loss. Like firefighter McLaclin said, you don't have that ladder truck there. Somebody's in there. Who's going to rescue them? Time is of the essence. Time is of the essence. That's the same thing with the south end. They're not protected either. You have station 3 has hasn't been open in a couple years now. What are we doing? That is the anchor of the south end. We've been depending upon that station for years now. It's just sitting there dormant. That's time factor. Another time factor that that we're wasting. Okay. Bottom line is this. We need to add personnel, not take personnel away for public and firefighter safety. If we don't, they're all at risk. And the bottom line is we should follow the standards and do the right thing. Thank you so much.

Thank you. Next, please.

Good evening, everyone. Mayor and Council. Good evening.

My name is Thomas Hargraves. I'm a lieutenant here with the Montlair Fire Department. Myself and the people you see in this room have been to fires, rescues, and other emergencies. Our actions, amongst many others, have had a direct impact on people's lives here in Montlair. You can manipulate all the data you want. You can compare us to towns that fit your narrative, but at the end of the day, we have something that you don't. We are the subject matter experts in the fire service. You are not. You love to act like the subject matter experts and tell the public that towns to the west are volunteer. Why haven't you told them that they average 300 calls annually and that last year in 2025 we did 2,500? You won't listen to the fire chief. You won't talk to the FMA. So in 2025, you commissioned a comprehensive study of the Montlair Fire Department for almost $50,000. That study gave 44 recommendations that support what I am standing here telling you. The study says on page two, "Staffing shortfalls are a general theme." This will be the fourth study over the course of a 40-year period that this township has paid for and then ignored. The optimal staffing standards recommended by the four studies range from 87 firefighters to over 100. You want us to have 70. You have taken the study and cherrypicked three lines from 133 pages and given an order that goes directly against it. An example, the study says initial response and adequate staffing levels should be addressed through increased staffing and development of automatic aid response to fires and emergencies within the coverage area. Page 52. Your order to the fire chief says that we should decrease daily minimum staffing to 14 from 16 and develop automatic aid agreements. I don't think I have to explain that that's not the same thing. You're hiding behind money.

I have personally helped draft emails to this council since you were elected. Myself and the FMBA have requested your intentions for the fire department, requested meetings, hope to sit down together like human beings and try to find a solution that doesn't put the public at risk. To the public, the firefighters here tonight will likely be the firefighters here tomorrow. Our lives may change a little bit, but most likely not. We're doing this for you. We have waged this battle for you, and they are taking away our ability to help save your life. If you need to be rescued or helped, you will simply wait longer after March 5th. Station 3 in the south end remains closed and now our staffing is being reduced. the entire town will suffer. And it may not happen in the coming months like the council wants for their so-called data, but at some point people will get hurt or worse because of the township's decision. In the time it took me to read this, the person trapped in a building fire will still be trapped, holding their breath, waiting for a truck company to rescue them. The person held by their seat belt upside down in their car will still be waiting for a truck company to rescue them. Some areas of Montlair are going to experience a 10-minute difference in truck company response. These are the facts. They are backed by four reports. The fire chief, the FMA Local 20, and I thank the few of you on the township council who work for the people and not for yourself.

Thank you. Next, PLEASE.

Thank you. Hello, council. Pleasure to be here. Good evening mayor everybody. Uh first of all my name is CJ Miller.

Live on Summit A upper Montlair in response district that's uh very important to this uh meeting here tonight. I'm uh from a big family in town lived here all my life 60 years. I got five kids of my own. I've always looked out for the community. I've owned a business in town 35 years. Monontlair Tree Monontlair Fire and uh you know I'm really all about the town and looking out for people. I've never been up here, but uh you know when when it's near and dear to the heart, you got to get up and speak your mind. So that's what I'm doing. These are my brothers. I've retired uh as a lieutenant two years ago, 28 years ago right here. Got sworn in. And there's nothing but good feelings, good spirits. When someone's there, families are there. They want the best. and they know that the guy up there has been background checked and he's given his best. They know that kid their whole life and they're like damn damn happy to have him.

And so that's pretty much what all these guys behind me are. These guys take care of their bodies. They train like hell. They're there in a minute. When I got on the job, I was so impressed by how quick these guys grab a tool and do everything and they're right on it. They don't mess around. And when things start going other than the job and it could be a council and I respect all your council men there long meetings a lot of time you guys put in um but you know I've seen through the year I've seen I've known five different mayors you know through the years people when they get elected they kind of have a goal to go in they have an agenda a little bit and there is an agenda here I'm not going to lie not going to sugarcoat it one of the council people and they talk a lot and talked about volunteer departments and everything. Hey, we've been here 100 years. Do you want a volunteer department? I mean, I've been around. Guys can't volunteer to coach a team, let alone go run into a house in Up Mountain. You know, the last 15, 20 years, everything been on this town. It's just gotten bigger and bigger. Six and seventory buildings popping up left and right. Hotels, we got 10 schools. We have a state college. We have a hospital. You're talking 14 guys. I mean, come on. 15, 16. You need the staffing. You got all the apparatus. It used to be four men on a truck. They scaled it back to three. All right. There's a two in, two out rule. You go into a fire. You got two guys in that fire. You supposed to have two guys out there ready to help them. Now you're going two, you know, one guy out. So you got to team up. You got to do what you got to do. We do a lot of exercises. How to save firemen. You know, my first day on the job, it's the same thing with say at the firehouse. I mean in the when we're doing trees equipment is equipment property you know that's number two number one is getting your cell phone get you know and you know you get you're in that firehouse

you lay and you you pray to at night you say if somebody goes down I want to be there you know you're looking out for the community so these guys whatever you do for them they're going in they're going to do it but it's up to here you know it's easy to lose your life if you're not protected. You get electrocuted, fall off a ladder, equipment, explosions, smoke, but don't kill a guy at a council meeting. Okay? And that's that's what's going to happen if you don't take care of your business here. So, I'll end it on that. One one thing, trucks, you're talking about truck two. I was on truck two. If you know about fire, the truck company, what's it do? First thing it does is open the door so they can get a hose line in. Second thing it does is search. We got to search for people. Is there anybody in the house? Third thing it does take care of the utilities so we don't have gas explosions, electrical problems.

Third thing to the house. So there's another way out for residents or their own firemen. They get up on the third floor, they get trapped, they can't get out. You got to have the ladders. Talk about mutual aid. We go down one ladder. We're not sending our truck to other companies, other towns. So, guess what? They're not coming back. You know, it's got to be mutual. Yeah.

And Glen Ridge, there's a lot of hurt feelings about the contract. Hey, you got to get in a room and you put your big boy pants on and be able to talk about these things. Our costs go up. I know it's a a sliding scale, it's going to be more money, but hey, our our life, our health insurance goes up. Let's talk about it. Throw some money in. Throw some money in the pot ridge. You have an open dialogue. They're no fools. They're not, you know, you think they're getting over, but they'll help out. And what would I say if I don't like paying health insurance, but I got five kids. Sorry, Caroline. You're out. You know, I got to save some money. It doesn't work that way. All I'm saying is thank you for what you do and do the right thing.

God bless. Thank you, CJ. Next, please.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. Good evening. I want to start off tonight by saying good job. And I'm saying good job because you all listen to your residents today.

Oh, I'm sorry. My name is Eddie Donley. I'm president of the FNBA. I have the privilege and honor to represent the men and women standing behind us tonight. I say good job because you listened to your residents tonight. It took 48 people to moan and groan about a pickle ball court to have you amend the ordinance to take the pickle ball court out. You tabled the Lacawana Plaza ordinance because you listened to your residents. You heard today that we have a thousand signatures. You're hearing from people in not just your firefighters. You're hearing from residents behind us today that are saying, "Please reconsider what you're doing." I never thought I would have to equate the fire service to pickle ball, but I'm going to tonight because I heard some really unique things over a pickle ball court. Folks came up here and talked about national standards for noise and how paddles work and how many people show up at these events. That report that you have in front of you talks about the national standards that we need. It's all over that report. Whether you like it or you don't, we are the professionals. Chief Duncan, FNBA Local 20, us at the state level. We are the men and women that know what we need to do our job. We know it. We do it all over the state. We're coming here today to ask you to pump the brakes on March 5th. Please talk to our local. I know your BA is a is a is a good financial manager. We've looked at the budget. There's ways to get creative before you need to cut staffing. Sit down with the men and women behind me and talk to them. Work through it.

You cannot just go to to taking cherrypicking that report on a couple words that you believe say lower the staffing. That report is riddled riddled with sentences and paragraphs on how adequate staffing saves lives. There's no other way to say it. No other way to say it. And I just want to if you if you will, I I just want to respectfully disagree with uh Councilwoman Birmingham who talked about New Jersey being uniquely situated to only create revenues by property taxes. This union, I will tell you this, forward thinking. We worked in Atlantic City and we worked in NORC to come up with ways. Those are fiscally strapped municipalities. Fiscally strapped municipalities. We worked with them to come up with creative ideas on how to infuse dollars into the municipality to offset costs. We did that. You can look at uniform construction code. You can look at fire inspections. These are all things that this union will partner with you. We'll partner with you to come up with ideas that can help maintain the staffing that we so righteously need. You cannot blow this town up in development. I mean, listen, I grew up in Irvington. I used to come up Bloomfield Avenue as a kid. I remember what it used to look like. It's exploding. You cannot develop a municipality like that and not consider the services that are needed to work with that. You can't increase the the students that have to go to the school. You can't decrease the fire department by putting all of these structures on Bloomfield Avenue and now another Lacawana Plaza which is going to infuse more folks, more more units, more um more commercial properties. You need to

grow your services with the municipality. I I implore you tonight, please pump the brakes on March 5th. Do the right thing. Talk to this union. come up with creative ways to get you out of whatever fiscal strapping you're under uh this time. Thank you. Thank you.

Those are some really tough acts to follow. But Maria Elena Marzulo, Monontlair resident for 50 almost 59 years. um business owner in which a business was ravaged by fire and if it wasn't for the Montlair Fire Department, it would have been leveled. We speak of infrastructure, parking, we need to upgrade internet, we need to upgrade that, but we we're decreasing the support services in which help all those businesses function. 41,000 residents in Montlair, 8,000 residents in Glenn Ridge, a huge hospital and hospital facility across the street, parts of Montlair State with 14 people. You know, I'm going to show another side of the fire department that maybe the statistics don't show, but all these men and women went out and I'm also the director of the community outreach program, which during the pandemic, we fed over a 100,000 people. And whenever we needed help,

we called the police department and the fire department on their time off and they came and they helped and they fed this past Thanksgiving 400 families. And at Easter we do the same. They help us take care of First Monontlair House on their time off. Yeah, they're doing this on their time off shows that they care about Montlair and its residents and I think we all need to show that we care for them. Thank you.

Thank you. Anyone else that wishes to be heard, please come forward.

Hello Sarah Avery again. Good evening again. Number 20 if anybody

keeping track. Uh yeah, fiscally strapped. That's what Montlair is. And why is Montlair fiscally strapped? Well, it has a lot to do with the pilot deals that have been made. There are eight on the books, none of which have been evaluated to determine whether or not the performance over time has even approached what was promised. Now, Councelor Damato says made a flippant remark about a percentage or two. We're not talking about a percentage or two. We're talking about millions of dollars just on the land tax credit alone. Because this financial uh proposal gives the owner investor a credit for 100% of the land tax. The land tax is comprised of four or five different elements. uh which is the municipal assessment, the county assessment, the library assessment, the county open space assessment and uh oh the school assessment. So when you give a credit to a pilot of 100% of the land tax, who's going to make up the school portion of that land tax? who's going to make up the portion of the county tax because the assessment the assess the property assessment is a number set in stone. The tax rate is a number set in stone. It is fixed and determinable.

So therefore, if you give a pilot a credit for 100% of the land tax, then that difference, the county tax, the county open space, and the school tax that gets paid. That gets paid whether you like it or not because the property valuation is the property valuation and the tax rate is the tax rate. So the check gets sent and that money comes out of the township's pocket. So what has to happen is all of those eight other pilots that are on the books, those agreements have to be looked at to see if they got a credit for the land tax. And then you're going to if you do the multiplication because it's a $13 million difference on this particular proposed financial agreement. 13 million over 30 years times 8 is $104 million because what was promised to the residents we have to develop to increase our ratables to keep taxes low. But Montlair is number 13 out of 500 municipalities in this state having the highest taxes. So the math doesn't work. And I just want to say as far as the fire department is concerned, I take it very personally when residents come up here and um badmouth the fire department and say that, you know, they're really not doing anything to earn their pay because my daughter is married to a Montlair firefighter and my son-in-law

is the father of my fourmonth-old grandson. son and if his life is going to be put at risk because of looking for a million dollars in savings when this town burns money on a regular basis. I take it very personally and thank you very much. Any other guests that wish to be heard this evening? Now is your chance. Please come forward. Hi there. I'm Beth Dero, a Monontlair resident. And on a totally different topic here, I'm um I'm been following the deer issue in Montlair since November. I've talked to a few different people and you know what? I'm really concerned. Um and I know others are too. doing a deer count um gives the impression impression that you just want to know how many deer are in town so you can um but actually it's so it so they can be eliminated. Um I know in other towns that's how it begins. Um you know so many towns say, "Oh, there's there's too many deer. They're eating my hydrangeas." People can learn how to deal with their their gardens and their plants. um we can teach them but um you know we can we can really work on that. It is a real problem but we killing the deer is somewhat outrageous to just go and say we're counting them but actually we're counting them because after they count these deer the town set what they call harvest goals. Yep. That's what they call them. Harvest goals. And they hire United bow hunters to shoot them

with bows and arrows, leaving some deer walking around wounded and suffering. Or they hire people to stand up in trees with their guns and they lure the deer into the um location with corn and they shoot them from there. Mothers, fawns, and families are shot from these guys that have lured them in. It's not just a natural, oh, I'm going to hunt my dinner. The these guys have lured them in for that. Um, sometimes the fawns are off are off are, you know, just orphaned and and now think of that suffering. The social dynamics of a herd is destroyed in this manner of hunting or culling. And for what? Just to have beautiful hydrangeas in Monontlair. Um, you know, there's other ways. Uh we don't have to be just concerned about aesthetics. We know that the town the neighbors are concerned and want the town to do something, but there are other ways. Um um I found something very helpful. It's this um New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife and it's it's really a a perpetual cycle of killing diagram and it really shows that this there's more to this than just getting rid of um some deer. Fish and wildlife facilitate excessive deer numbers. They work to ensure successful hunting experiences which result in higher sales of hunting licenses. That gen generates revenue for their budget which qualifies the state for millions in grants which are are used for practices to proliferate deer and keep them healthy. Um I think I heard you say tonight that an ordinance was

added um today. Um, if that's the case, I urge you to vote in favor of this ordinance and show what Montlair stands for. I'm confident we can find ways to deal with the um the deer and and find a better way to manage this, protect drivers and gardens and do it in a way that's more progressive and more Montlairike. Thank you. Thank you very much. Are there any others that wish to be heard this evening? Come on down, please. Oh, hi. Good evening. Good evening.

Bet you're happy to see a tree hugger. Um, walk down many blocks in Monontlair and you feel it. The shade, the stillness, the light filtering through a canopy that took decades, sometimes a century to grow. Those trees are not scenery. They're infrastructure. Critical infrastructure, especially in overburdened communities. They cool our streets, filter our air, absorb our storm water, and hold this town's character in their roots. And we're losing them. Not dramatically, not all at once. Quietly, permit by permit, stump by stump, while an ordinance written for a different era has lost all its teeth. Between 2022 and 2024, Monontlair issued removal permits for roughly 430 trees per year. In that same period, only about 263 replacement commitments were made annually. And those are commitments on paper. We've not implemented yet a mechanism to confirm a single one was ever planted, even though all it would take is an email or a text or a phone call to follow up. Meanwhile, our tree fund collected as little as $5,000 in a year. That won't buy and maintain a dozen street trees. Our ordinance requires one replacement for every tree removed, one sapling for a 40-in oak, one whip of a tree for a specimen that shaded three houses. Nine of our 10 peer municipalities have already moved beyond this. Princeton scales replacements by trunk diameter. Summit calculates by canopy lost. Morristown charges $500 per tree. Monontlair charges 250, the lowest in the region, and generates almost nothing. Over the past three years, a DBHbased formula would have required approximately 1,800 more trees to be

planted than our ordinance demanded. 1,800 trees. That is not a projection. That is what we already lost to inaction. Those trees are not coming back. But the ones removed next year still can be replaced properly if we act now. I'm asking council to adopt a DBH-based replacement formula. So large trees requiring proportional replanting to set sorry. So large trees require proportional replanting to set the fee in le of planting at 500 up to 2,000 per required replacement tree and deposit every single dollar into a dedicated tree canopy and sidewalk fund. to require verification of planting before a certificate of occupancy is issued, to track survival for five years, and to publish an annual canopy report so every resident can see what is being lost and what is being gained. Every year we wait is another 600 trees we will never get back. This is not a complicated problem. Please make this happen by Earth Day.

Thank you. Next guest, please. Good evening, mayor and council. Thank you. Thank you for your time this evening. My name is Holly Felbur. I own Barbara Eclectic in at 594 Valley Road. I'm a member of the Upper Monontlair Business Association. I'm actually up here for two reasons. The first is the presentation that was made by Manny regarding parking. Is this the time to ask questions or should it be at another meeting? you can um share your comments.

I have one quick comment. Currently, where my building is located, the parking lot immediately behind is the upper Montlair Plaza. We currently have three businesses that are considered drop off businesses where parents drop off their kids and then park sit in their cars with the engines running and they sit in our permit spots. I would like to see that um the ticket price for a non-permit parking in a permit spot be raised. I think that could be a creative solution

to maybe making a little more money for the town and deterring people from parking in permit spots. My other comments about that I will save. Now, I'd like to just say a couple words about Montlair's bravest. We've talked a lot about the fires that they respond to, but what about everything else? What about the car accidents when a pedestrian gets hit? When there's a medical emergency in Upper Monontlair, which will be very affected by this budget cut with the brown out of the one truck, suddenly we will have fewer people there. We don't have a police station close to us. So, it is our bravest who respond to so many calls and they are there so quickly because of where they're located. Another thing I find curious, every town has an ISO rating based upon the fire department. All of our property insurance, business insurance is based on the ISO rating. Has the council looked at how this budget cut will affect the ISO rating? Will Montlair be downgraded? Thus, every single resident's property insurance will go up. The insurance to for this building will go up ultimately. Will that cost more money than what is the proposed savings in this budget cut? Can anyone answer that? Has anyone looked at that? We're not doing this now.

You'd like to. No. Please continue. Oh, I just I find it curious because there will be a financial impact on individual property owners. Even I think apartment insurance will go up. So, I think we have to be careful to maintain the ISO as it is because as we all know, insurance has gone up precipitously in the state of New Jersey. if anyone's gotten a renewal lately. Thank you. Thank you, Holly. Next, please.

Hi, I'm Parker Chihawk. I'm uh with from Harvard Street. Um I'm here in support of the Monontlair Trust Act, as I'm sure you know. Uh thank you for the work you guys have been doing um with legal and with everything in the committees. Um, I did not hear back after the committee uh meeting last week, I believe. Uh, I'm curious to know what the status is. I don't know where we are with it. I'm hoping it'll be added to the agenda for the next meeting. Um, one of our one of our uh more well-known residents and uh ex- head of DHS, Jay Johnson, was interviewed uh on February 6th or did a did a speech on February 6th at the Harvard Kennedy School. Um, I want to quote him. He said that ICE is toxic. CBP is toxic. This is a toxic toxicity that we're trying to keep from spreading. That's why we're creating this buffer. That's what this trust act is about is I've heard Modlair's uh police department doesn't need this. They're good. Okay, fine. Create that buffer. I don't believe it. It's not that I nothing against the police department itself, but I can't go on trust. I can't go on trust me, bro. These cameras are are only for our safety. or I can't go or I can't go with Monontlair police will do the right thing because that's what they do. That's not enough. We need to codify these things. The other thing that uh Jay said is I lost it. Uh it's he said the department is out of control. Again, we need to create this buffer between these two the between our town and these outofc control toxic uh agencies. Um, as I said to uh uh last week, I don't feel like we can trust the federal government at this point to to protect us. The state government wasn't

able to pass the the three immigrant trust act resolutions. So, I'm relying on you guys. This is the time to step up. This is the time to actually show the community that we stand and care for them and we will protect them. So, I'm hoping that you will add this to the agenda for next week. I'm confident you will and thank you for your time. Thank you very much.

Hi, Mayor and Council. Um, Donado, Don D. Toronto. I was on the fire department for 33 years. I was president of the FMVA for 12 of those years. I just want to let you know where uh the the number 16 came from. First of all, in the NFPA 1710, uh that speaks to 16 uh on I don't shift, but there was a uh starting probably in 83 84, there was a five or six of us that were going to um Randle's Island for the FDNY training sessions that they used to give every Saturday morning. And um we were going pretty often. And what we were learning there was uh 16 minimum 16 is key. But the same fire that we would have in a three family house here the FDNY when they got that coming in as a fire they would have 66 um firefighters responding. Uh at that time we were sometimes even going down to 11 and 12 per shift which was very very dangerous and and was scary for just being on the fire department. We we through negotiations we came up and it's almost a little probably a little more than 30 years ago. We came up with 16 as the sweet spot because at that time we had 21 per shift and with three on vacation and a couple whatever else. We would never really go below 16. Um that truck uptown I I I served on that when I first got promoted to lieutenant. Um and believe me it's key. Uh Mont State is there. Um the way Montlair is being six miles long, it you just need those two two uh two trucks to balance it. At the time that we were going to to the FDNY things, we were not doing truck work. We were learning how to do truck work. Then

there's a difference between engine work and truck work. The engine, they put the fire out with the water. The trucks do rescue, do ventilation. They go ahead and they go ahead of the engines often. So, it's very very important. Uh, in the 1990s, the chief at the time wanted to go to a what he was calling the St. Louis Quinn concept, and we were here just like tonight, we had all of our members there to to fight that. In the meantime, we've had two studies, five different studies that studying Monontlair, and as they they've said before, they've all come up with the same thing, the manpower and and what our needs are. The other thing is when we took over when we were getting paid for Glen Ridge and we were getting going to the calls in Glen Ridge on mutual aid, the other towns were reluctant to to come. They were like, "You're getting paid. We're not coming." And and they they have the right to refuse and and they they have refused. And I was I was a battalion chief. I had a fire when they were when they they were refusing to send rigs. So there's there's a lot of complications with it. What Eddie Eddie had said before and what John Fra said, I think you should meet with them. There's there's other other ways to to work all of this out and I think you should hear about it. All right. Thank you.

Thank you, DANNY. YEP.

Good evening again, Lonnie Summer Padilla, resident of Montlair. Um, this may be the understatement of the year, but we are really living in incredibly stressful times and for a lot of reasons. In Montlair, we have spent the better part of the last 12 months in a ruthless debate amongst neighbors. And how long it will take to repair the damage done to our sense of community as a result of the debate on how to address the school budget crisis remains to be seen. I get it. This issue is personal. Much like the issue of budget cuts to the fire department, we are talking about people's livelihoods and the people who save lives, firefighters do what only few other people in few other professions do. They run towards and into danger, risking their lives willingly. They do not run away from it. That is commendable. But we cannot ignore the crises that our community is facing due to strains on our school and township budgets. Residents are paying astronomical amounts in property taxes and we have already had longstanding members of our community move out because it's simply is no longer affordable for your average family. Something has to be done. Manager Marks, I cannot tell you how refreshing it is to have a town manager who makes recommendations based on analysis and data. The study conducted by New Jersey Community Solutions that your rationale is based on made it clear that even with closing the firehouse 3 there there was no data to support that a single resident would not be adequately serviced by the fire department. Does that mean that every resident has the ideal situation? No.

But every resident would have what is considered to be adequate. That is the same compromise that the school district is being confronted with. We may not have the ideal and the fantasy right now. We simply can't afford it. But we can ensure that every student has what is considered a free and appropriate education. Appropriate, not ideal being the key word. If we demand more than what is considered to be appropriate, that means that we have to pay for that. And that is simply not viable for many of us. No matter what, we know that our taxes are going up as a result of things we do not have immediate control over, such as the skyrocketing costs of health insurance benefits. If you are not going to increase efficiency in our municipal services, then you will not be able to offset the increases that you cannot control. And that would mean that many of us will be forced to move out. I have to believe that this is not the outcome you, the council, want. I know that each of you care deeply about the people of this town, and I hope that you will create a budget and make decisions from a place of care and careful consideration. Thank you.

Thank you.

Hi, Lauren Berman. I am here to support the manager in his decision to rightsize the fire department effective March 5th. For those who may not be aware of specifically what the upcoming changes are, minimum daily staffing is being reduced from 16 to 14 firefighters, resulting in a brownout of truck 2 at the Uptown Valley Road Station. I live almost 1 and a half miles northwest of the Valley Road Station. This means that I live in one of the most compromised homes by the brown out of truck 2 and I support this decision because I feel that my family and my property are reasonably safe with minimum daily staffing of 14 firefighters and one truck in Montlair. Why would I feel that I'm reasonably safe with this reduction? We can always have less risk and faster response times. That does not mean there is not a line that should be drawn. It's important to us as a community to be reasonably safe from risk of fires, but also to have other things. This change moves Montlair into closer alignment with our neighbors who have professional fire departments and are also all reasonably safe. This does not move us to a volunteer fire department, nor am I advocating for one. I read the report commissioned by the township prepared by the former fire chief of summit. I found it to be detailed and thorough, and I learned a lot from it. The change that Montlair is making is reasoned and appropriate. West Orange and Bloomfield, the comparison towns in the report, both have minimum staffing for fire suppression of 13 firefighters and one truck. Milbour, likewise, has one truck. South Essex has minimum staffing of 14. I have not heard nor read anything that makes Monontlair inherently more dangerous than our neighbors, nor that those residents feel unsafe. Setting aside staffing for a moment, one area of particular concern to me in the report was the failure to issue fines for repeated false alarms. False call

responses constitute almost half of the calls the fire department responds to. And naturally, when responding to a false alarm, which must be treated as a fire, a true fire emergency will receive a delayed response. The report found that the fire officials are not enforcing municipal alarm ordinance in order to reduce the number of false alarms. This is just one example as the report outlines 44 recommendations, one of which is related to staffing. There are many steps that can be taken to make us more prepared for fire emergencies. Yet, I haven't heard a single item related to the 43 other recommendations mentioned by one member of the fire department today in terms of anything that they're willing to do other than ask us for money to make us more safe based on all of those findings. Why? And to be clear, the staffing recommendation offers automatic aid agreements as a means of increasing the response to those fires that need them in such big developments. Thank you for standing firm. We witnessed a a smidgen tonight of what you have to withstand in order to do it. And really, thank you.

Thank you very much. Is there another guest who wishes to be heard? Mr. Scott, I think I'm the last one. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Okay.

William Scott, 23 Cedar Avenue. Uh longtime resident of Monontlair for 76 years. Uh I lived on Orange Road for 30 uh seven, eight years. And then I've been a resident on Cedar Avenue for about 35 years. Uh right down the street from Firehouse number three. And uh uh during my 30-year residence there on Cedar Avenue, I've heard that fire truck go down to the senior citizen building on many occasions and I'm saying that they are service providers. They're providing a service for our seniors to go in and find out what's going on. I mean, we we are this town is growing. I think between all the major redevelopments, we've probably put in over a thousand units over the last 20 years. That's probably a couple thousand residents. I don't see how in the world you could consider cutting your fire department when your population is growing. It just doesn't make any sense to me. And in in regards to the fire department, the police department is in the same scenario. They're providing more services with a larger population that's continuing to grow in Monontlair and probably will continue to grow for God knows how long. Uh so, you know, to to consider cutting a fire department or your police department. uh we've gone through cutting services uh with our municipal workers. We've outsourced so many of the different uh um um uh jobs uh over the years and now we're at a point where we want to consider reducing our fire department and our police department. Unacceptable. I feel very comfortable uh when I had a scenario uh I had a little fire in my backyard. I placed a call and they were there in a matter of minutes. They came from firehouse number three. I see the firehouse uh support out of that firehouse over many many years, 35 plus years. And why we have determined that we don't need that firehouse uh because we want to save a couple of dollars. I have invested in Monontlair. I've paid

thousands, hundreds of thousands of dollars of taxes. I'm a landlord. I've got three generations of my family living in this township right now. I'm going to invest whatever it takes to keep my comfort level the way it is for the last 76 years of my life in this township. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Scott.

Mike McDonald, uh, Llewellen Road again. Good to be back up here. Um, I think probably the most important line item in a township like Montlair is having a professional, well-trained, responsive, and robust uh, first responder team um, fire department and police department. And if there's one line item on the budget that I don't want to be minimum or average or adequate, it is the people coming to save people's lives when there's a fire or an AC, you know, a car accident. Um, so I would completely support all the firemen and the uh the others that have supported, you know, the fire department and putting a pause uh on on this March date. Um, so thanks much.

Thank you. Okay. Thank you so much guest for joining us this evening. Um, and now we're going to move on.

Oh, you wanted to move 24. Yeah. You want to do that? The bill's list. You wanted to move. We want to move number 24. to Can we follow the same procedure and move to amend the agenda? Mayor. Yes. I'd like to make a first of all, I want to know what we're doing with you put something on the agenda, right? It'll go after if assuming Susan makes a motion to amend to put number 24 next, then I'll go after that. Okay. Deputy Deputy Mayor, you want to do number 24?

Yes. I'd like to make a motion to amend the agenda to move um resolution number 20, item number 24. Second. Okay. What are you What are we going to do? Can we do a vote voice vote? Yeah. Yes.

Would you please read in um the record for those at home and those that are here what number 24 is, please? Okay. Number 24. Agenda item number 24 is the resolution of reaffirming the designation of BDP Holdings LLC as the redeveloper of the Lacawana Plaza redevelopment project and authorizing the execution of a redevelopment agreement between the township and BTP Holdings. And there was moved and second. I move to Madam Clerk. We're amending the agenda first. Okay. The request was to amend agenda to move this.

Roll call please to earlier agenda. Okay. Deputy Mayor Anderson. Yes. Councelor Birmingham. Yes. You said yes. I'm sorry. Councelor Damato. Yes. Councelor Harrison. Yes. Councelor Toller. Yes. Councelor Williams. Yes. Mayor Baskerville. Yes. Now, I guess um Councelor Harrison, you want to do something that's not on the agenda? No, I we're going to do something else over here. Okay. Yes, we just did. No, we've voted to amend the agenda to Okay. So, you moved it now. Did you move this now?

I did move I did move it. And who second it? I did. Okay. Okay, Madame Clerk. So, I called the role to move it up so that we can now you want to make the amendment. No, the amendment was the first thing. So the when I called the role, it was to amend the agenda to bring up number 24, right? So now you want to vote on it 24. Vote on 24 without an amendment. You just want to vote on it. Okay. Okay. Okay. Madam clerk,

we discussed earlier changing proposing a change to the redevelopment agreement to address workforce housing. Are you correct? Would you like to make the motion to amend the resolution? There's a motion on the on the on the floor now. You just made another motion. No, no, she she did. No, no, she asked would he like to make a motion, right? but she made one before that's on the on the floor right now. So, the the one I have for Deputy Mayor Anderson, I apologize, is to uh vote on item 24, which we've already done. So, there is an amendment to it.

No, no, there is. What I moved was to amend the agenda to move item 24 up to earlier in So, I've done that. But then you started another motion. and you move something else and we were in the middle of that and then everybody started talking. So I guess we'll just what what is it that you want to do now? You're going to vote on item number 24. I just implied that because of the previous conversation there was going to be an amendment on item 24. So correct. I just need clarity on what we're doing. If we're going to first vote on an amendment or are we just voting on number 24 as is? We're voting on number 24.

No amendment. An amendment to the Right. But I thought we just amended it. No, we did not. Oh, we moved it up. Yes. Okay. So, now we're going to vote on an amendment for number 24. Yeah. Okay. And director Tally can come up so I'm not relying on my handwriting. Okay. Okay. All of this last minute stuff that wasn't on on our um agenda. We discussed this. Yeah, we didn't discuss that.

So So let let me I make a motion that we amend section 2.09 of the redevelopment agreement. And obviously the redeveloper will have to agree. And I'm going to stop in the middle. So the second paragraph in that section will read, "The workforce housing unit shall be administered by the township's designated affordable housing administrator in accordance with section 2.08 above." Then the remainder of that sentence is deleted and replaced by I left that sentence on my desk upstairs. So I apologize I didn't bring it down here with me. Take a break. Thanks.

You want me to run upstairs and and grab that? No. Okay. Really? No. Do we have do we have a copy of the amendment? No. No. No. We've discussed that in executive session and Janice wrote Miss Tally wrote down the information we wanted to include. She would need to go upstairs and get it. We can put this back to the none of us have a paper copy of the amendment that we're trying to

I can I can actually No, I can tell you what it said if you give me a second here. I know where I got the language from. Um, so section 2.09 09 would say the provisions of section 208 above and um the construction deed restriction monitoring administration and uh rentals of the workforce units shall be otherwise consistent with the provisions of NJAC 580-26.1SAC. Okay, that's what I said.

I move that amendment to the redevelopment agreement. Second. Okay. Call the RO. So, this is on the amendment. Councelor um Deputy Mayor Anderson. Yes. Councelor Birmingham, yes. Councelor Damato, yes. Councelor Harrison, yes. Councelor Toller, yes. Councelor Williams, yes. Mayor Baskerville abstain. Now, where are we? You want to do something else? I need a movement to adopt as amended.

I now um make a motion to adopt uh the resolution as amended. Second. Deputy Mayor Anderson. Yes. Councelor Birmingham, yes. Councelor Damato, yes. Councelor Harrison, yes. Councelor Toller, yes. Councelor Williams. Yes. Mayor Baskerville. Abstain. The ones that are here for H. Pass the ones that the staff are here for. I'm still trying to find out. There was something that was put out here earlier by councelor Harrison and I'm trying to figure out what is that. Who's the ordinance for deer management?

Right. Do we have that in paper um tonight either or that's something that we're just adding out to too? Did anybody see that? Mayor, it's being introduced by title only, not by substance and uh for first reading by title only. Okay. So now we're just doing that without having it on the agenda at all. This is something new. It was amended. It was added to the agenda just

right. No, I'm just taking notes. So when other people want to just add stuff that's not on the agenda also, then they should feel free to do this because we keep talking about wanting to do things a certain way and then we get in here and we just do it whatever way anybody feels like doing it. So where where are we now? According to the amended agenda, we're discussing the deer ordinance, which I will do and give a full explanation of why we're here, which was not doing things out of order. We followed the procedure. The attorney was not available to finalize it. It was discussed at the agenda meeting was agreed it would be on. The attorney did not have a chance to finalize it. And let me back up a step and do this. When we when the council before I was here in August approved the deer survey, there was an issue with the wording or something. It had to be reapproved after I was here where while there was no public comment when it was first approved. There was much public comment and concern raised by residents based on experiences in other municipalities that these surveys led to deer culling in suburban towns. That surprised me. I mean, it's I'm fully aware that this occurred and they were concerned the same thing was happened in Montlair and that was expressed by one resident tonight. Um, we added words to the resolution accepting the grant for the survey that this would not result in killing. There remain concerns looking at the existing township ordinances. There were a number of gaps. A very broad ordinance was drafted that dealt with a bunch of

issues um with flaws. Uh, also dealt with all wildlife initially. that was um um created a bunch of complications including rats, mice, fos. People probably do want to kill them. Um and so we limited the ordinance to um just dealing with precluding the township from simply participating in any killing or culling of deer. And just to do the title of the ordinance to it would is an ordinance prohibiting the use of lethal methods of deer management within the township of Monontlair by the township of Monontlair in reinforcing non-lethal conflictbased management approaches. And I so move.

So we should table it because everybody seems to be confused except for maybe one or two two people and I don't have anything at all in writing. You know and um this process by and excuse me may I speak? Yes council William. this process. I I don't I would have preferred that this have gone last so that the employees that are waiting here for their stuff to come up, we can pass it so that they can go home. I mean, I don't know why this needed to be done right now. I don't know why it needed to be on the agenda at all. So, I can answer that.

I wanted to to to know what was so urgent that it couldn't wait until the next the next meeting. So, here we are. uh it needed to go on today, tonight rather, uh to coincide with the deer count that ends, I believe, at the end of March. Is that correct? Myself, Council Birmingham, Council Harrison. Uh we've had meetings, small working group meetings, um to come up with this new language for the deer ordinance. We've worked with some residents who are I'm going to call them experts, if you will, uh to get this here. We I did ask that Council Birmingham and Council Harrison share it with their committee members, which I believe they did share a draft. Our attorney was handling it to put the final touches on it. She was out for two days and then we had snow so it wasn't be enough time to put it on for tonight. But this absolutely must be voted on this evening to ensure that we are in compliance if you will or in alliance with the March count for deer.

When what is the deadline for that? Um it's March. The count will be done in March. Right. Right. So we have two three meetings in March. So I'm just trying to figure out again what is the deadline such that this had to be done today. Well, we'd like to have this non-lethal ordinance in place prior to the count just to ensure that they and we we followed we we followed every procedure. Again, the reason it's being introduced tonight, one of us moved, the other seconded, asked to be put on the the agenda. It was discussed at the agenda meeting. It wasn't like we're doing this out of sequence. It just didn't work out. it was shared and email with everyone.

Saying but again still, you know, now if we're going to start just taking stuff word of mouth and not having anything to go by and we just have to we're going to verbally start doing things and that's a new thing that we need to add to what we're going to be doing our our strategic plan on how we're going to do these meetings. No, Madam Mayor, I'm sorry. That's that's not what we're doing here tonight. And then ask people to vote even though there's no nothing for them to look at. Well, we've asked the attorney to print out some copies and she has them here. Okay. For us to review. Yes. Where is it? It's not it.

The ordinance is not in final form. It's being introduced by title only. I said you wanted to introduce it. It could be introduced by title. I only gave that option because title. We've never done that. So, can you explain what that means to all of the public?

Um, so under um any form of government, it it's actually a general um under NJSA 40 and I can find I believe it's 49. Um when an ordinance uh a township would like to introduce an ordinance and there's time limitations or whatever have you, they can introduce an ordinance by title. And the only caveat is it it's not formally adopted and cannot be formally adopted until after a week of public notice. So it provides um since our next meeting was March 17th um what I had suggested was that it be introduced by title, we can then work on it so long as it's published to the public and the public has notice of the wording of the ordinance changes one week before we put it on the agenda for a vote. And that is a proper procedure under NJSA in certain circumstances. It's not usual, but it can be done that way.

It's not usual. It's it it's up to the council if they want something on the agenda. It is an option to introduce by title. And that's the option that I gave for for any reason. There's no specific reason that it says it. It's an option. We're learning new things here and the plan again. Um that I gave options based on the statute and this is the option that was selected by your council persons.

This can go on for is it the 12th or the 13th? It can go on this the 12th. We can go on for that. We just came up with the 12th during this meeting. So that's why we were saying the 17th. The 12th became an option behind some other agenda items, but it can definitely go for the public to see. As our attorney mentioned, it can go on for the 12, but we need to introduce the title tonight. So then could it go on the agenda for the 12th first reading f with a with a full so we can all everyone can read it and then 10 I believe we have a meeting on the 24th is that correct so that could be the second reading

absolutely so that way you're we're accomplishing something very similar in terms of right so you need 10 days so that that's enough time right so you could do the 12th to have the I'm I'm just this is a suggestion that I'm again to accomplish something very similar because the the nobody's read it right it's still being worked on so it could be the 12th introduced and then second reading on the 24th which would accomplish something very similar to what we would be doing anyway And that's the council's option to that's just a suggestion for something

as the council the council desires in terms of having the full text is the typical uh general way but the option is also there for title depending on the circumstances. Okay. And again if every counselor can just check their email you should have the draft that Ruby's working on. I'm not sure how much other changes you have to make to it. No changes. So she made no changes. It was shared with this council. Okay. So, there was a motion and a second, right? Did you make somebody made a motion to do whatever this other fancy thing is that we haven't done before? Just introduced by title. Okay. Not by substance.

So, Madame Clerk, so we can do that. We can not vote for that and then we can vote on what councelor Birmingham suggested. I think that was an excellent suggestion. putting it out there because we don't we we really haven't we haven't before introduced by title and just to give people again the opportunity to read what we would be discussing and have any type of and we would have it done by March 24th which is and and the deer count is going to be done

and we're familiar with that process. I have no issue with that suggestion. I don't really understand why the urgency. The simplest way to do that is for me to withdraw my motion. Okay. Second. So I withdraw. Second. Just Amina has to withdraw and then it's gone. Withdraw. Okay. So do you have to make a motion? We put it on or we just put it on regular process. Good. Okay. So, can I slam bang this back or I can keep?

I just want to confirm that it's going to be on the 12th because I need to advertise a public. It only works for me if it's on the 12th. Yes. Thank you. That was the original. Okay. Now, we want which staff member. Go ahead. Read whichever one you want next. Right. But, um, someone mentioned something about there was some staff people here that needed to be heard. Um, is there um any of the uh council want anything removed from the consent or can we go through the consent as is? No, I'd like a couple nine and 14.

Nine and 14. Anybody else? We're talking about the consent agenda going through it as is. 9 and 14 are out. The um

Madame Clerk, I just wanted to make one comment that um number 15, I believe in the resolution I had the Ezra's name was misspelled. It should be R I F K I N in in um resolution 15th. It just wanted to note that. Excuse me. 17. Number 18. 19. Who is that? Okay. Okay. We want to withdraw 17 and 18.

20 should be off the consent agenda. Yes. This is a consent one. Okay. So, we have nine and 14 pulled from the consent agenda and 17 and 18 withdrawn. Anybody else? 20 is coming off of the consent agenda. H So yes.

Okay. Councelor Damato, did you want to lead the discussion on number nine? Everything else and then come back to those. I'm fine. That's fine. Um do we want to do the bills list by Amina, did Council Toller? Yes. You want to pull that because you're usually very eagle-eyed on the bill's list. Um, I have questions, but we don't need to. Yeah, we're going to have to pull it cuz I have questions. Thank you. So, we'll take the list out. Did we pull 22? Just because I have some questions. 22, I guess. 22 and 21.

20, 21, 22, 9, and 14. Coming off the consent agenda, May I ask a question? Do you actually have to pull things off the consent agenda if you have a question? Because if manager Marks goes through it, you could just ask your question right then and there and we don't have to pull things. Well, we can just do all of the consent agenda. That's what I was saying. Right. But if if it's not a lot, then we can vote on the consent agenda and it leaves us with five things versus a zillion of five. So, can we call the role on the consent agenda? I need I'd like to sorry I'd like to pull off 19 as well.

18 n 19 20 21 and 22 on that page. And yes, okay. Can we do a roll call on the consent agenda? Just to confirm, the numbers that were removed are 1, 9, 14, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, and 22.

I'm sorry. Did you repeat those? 1 9 14 17 18 19 20 21 and 22. I need a move a movement for the adopt the second. Deputy Mayor Anderson. Yes. Councelor Birmingham. Yes. Councelor Damato. Yes. Councelor Harrison. Yes. Councelor Toller. Yes. Councelor Williams. Yes. Mayor Baskerville.

Yes. Okay. Starting with the bill list. What are what are the um ones that someone said that the staff people needed to speak on something. Yeah. Are there any who who are there any staff members who are here who are here that where we could do your um 14 do we want to do that one now? So then we're going to or 14 Mr. Wait Austin, what were you here for? Just there's questions on number nine. Oh okay. Okay. So we're going to number 14. No. Number nine.

And then we're going to go to number nine. Number 14. Should we do N? Okay. Mr. Ashley, they're nominating you for number nine. So, you don't want to do number 14? You want to go after him? Okay. They're very courteous. We could have done all of this over the weekend when I asked for it. Nobody responded but you. You were the only one who responded. I pulled nine. Nine. So, hello Mr. Ashley. Hello.

Good to see you. Nice to see you. Can you please explain to me and my constituents what $100,000 in engineering for the parking lot of this building consists of? So that would be how many spaces first of all if I can ask are in this are in this parking lot. Um off the top of my head I don't have the number of number of spaces around 100 right

again I don't have the number on the top of my head but that that is for we're looking to bid out that project. This was something we had looked to do with our co-op um for the road program. The problem with that is that those numbers are um those contractors when they bid out for those those co-op prices, they're looking to do mileage of roads, so roadways. um the the vendor that got the uh award last year um wasn't so interested in doing uh parking lots because it's takes a whole another mobilization and you don't get as much tonnage done in it one single project. So in order to bid out this this uh this particular lot with the addition of the bank lot it needs to be the specs need to be made and needs to be bid out. So there's a cost associated with that. it was just going to be a standard mill and pave that we could do with our co-op prices uh pricing, we wouldn't have to do the bidding process

and roughly. Okay, so I did not know. So that's some good news in there that it does involve the PNC building which is a new which will be that I assume will be after the building is demolished and then the hole is filled. So there'll at least be something new rather than Yes. restriping a a will the layout of these parking lots change dramatically. So that we're working with the parking authority on um to lay out the uh the parking spaces and he would have a better idea of that on particular layout than I would.

Okay. because we are in fact looking at this location as not being something that we will be using for the next 20 years or something like that. I'm just looking at this number of $100,000 and trying to make sense of it as a you know person new to government. But that also includes the addition of the handicap ramp in the back of the building, the engineering for that. Okay. Yes. So it's not just the parking lot. That's that's the project as a whole. Okay. Sorry. Uh, and then the bike lane improvements. So, this is how many linear feet or roughly how many miles of this is it?

Again, Nberto, do you know the exact Yeah, Mr. Hernandez maybe. You have a number on you?

No, I don't have the number exact number on on me right now, but I will say that um it would run. See? Oh, this is it here. Uh yes. So, it would run from um well, Cedar, there's two streets. Cedar Avenue um is one of them. Run from Harrison all the way down to the county limit of Orange Road. Um and then Orange Road on the townships um on the township side from the intersection with Union Street all the way down to Llewellyn. So how that figures out, I don't have the exact

to Llewellyn. To Llewellyn. Yes. Not to Cedar. No, because at that point, Orange Road converts to county. Oh, Orange. I'm sorry. That's right. That's right. Okay. I got it. Yeah, I was thinking. So, we're working we're confined to work within the township jurisdictional limit. Um, and that's as far as we can take it, at least for now.

Okay. Again, I'm just pushing on these numbers. I mean, we've have had to have some of our employees here tonight and have, you know, tough talks about money and and like these are numbers. I'll just tell you that I look at some of these numbers sometimes and I think, is this the number for the engineering or for the actual work? This first happened when we looked at the engineering for the bike lane on Glenidge Avenue where it was $400,000 for about a quarter of a mile. And I correct I couldn't believe that that was actually not the actual work but the paperwork. Correct. So with that one that's a the big difference there was the the funding source. Right. So that it was a federal project. It was free money a whole bunch of

Yeah. Now I pay federal taxes too. Yes. Um I I I mean I don't there's nothing else I can say other than I just have to just just too that that is not just the engineering that's the engineering and the oversight during construction as well. Um, so just to clarify that as well. Yes. Thank you. Sure. Are you done? You're done.

So I have a question on number 14. Number five, Maple Avenue improvements is uh community development block grant funds. In your background, it says $200,000 was received in funding. Um, but on your table, you're only spending 76,000. I'd like to know where the other 124 is going. Um, additionally, I have emailed and asked repeatedly that we do not need pedestrian scale lighting on Maple Avenue. Instead, we need those speed humps replaced. So, I just want to ensure that the scale lighting is not going. We don't the Maple Avenue is lit up enough with Glenfield Park. We don't need another light bulb out there. We just don't. Yeah.

I've sent emails to you, to Miss Tally, to Austin. We don't need any lights. Uh, more recently, we'd like to see the speed pumps be replaced because they are worn out. They're actually comical at this point. So, is there any way to add that? And then if you can tell me where the other 124 went or is going of this community development grant money because we're only spending 76 on Maple Avenue is what your sheet shows here.

It says Maple Avenue improvements 76K, but your memo or the background mentions 200,000. Uh well to just clarify the $76,000 that's not the cost for the project. That's the cost for the engineering design and oversight of the project. Okay. That's that's funded through capital township funding. Okay.

Um which has been budgeted for and is available. uh the $200,000 in grant funding. Um that was through the Department of Planning and Community Development who submitted that grant application that included the lighting and uh lighting included. I emailed Miss Tally numerous times. I don't I mean I don't understand who's at these meetings and why I wasn't called to the meeting to the lighting I believe is is limited to the section in front of Glenfield School which I don't believe has any lights. We need lights on Miller Street. I know that the county said no and you know we just don't need any more lights on Maple Avenue. That's something we can certainly discuss. But to answer your other question, speed humps are included in this project.

Is this memo going to be revised to say that? Because that's not what it says. It mentions traffic calming and road repaving. Okay. As part of the project. So it's not just speed humps. We're looking to upgrade the area because it is within the school zone. So there'll be school zone striping. Um pedestrian crosswalks will be enhanced as well. Additional flashing signage will be installed. So it's not just a streetscape project. It's much much more than that. We don't need any more lights. I'm going say it again. I hear you. Thank you. On the permeable asphalt, which we were talking about earlier tonight, there's some maintenance obligation with that. Is that correct to like

vacuum it out? We do that. Regularly maintained. Can we do that? Yeah. Uh we don't have any permeable other than the sidewalks. I mean that's we don't have any large scale. Yeah. Yeah. It's just a pathway uh really a but we go around once a year with that machine and

we haven't reached that point yet because they were just done a few months ago. But once we reach that cycle, yes, we have to maintain that. Deputy Mayor Anderson. Yes. Councelor Birmingham. Yes. Councelor Damato. Yes. Councelor Harrison. Yes. Councelor Toller. Yes. With no lights on Maple Avenue. Councelor Williams.

Yes. Mayor Baskerville. Yes. Okay. Number 14. Good evening. Good evening. Number 14. Yes.

Hi, council. How are good to see you? Thanks for staying. Um, so I believe and maybe the manager should should uh talk about this that there was some uh challenge to the changing of the vendor. Uh, uh, there is a uh, an esteemed uh, member of the community who is a I guess an adviser to that existing um, uh, company and they wanted um, asurances that the changing was for good reasons. Um yeah I don't you adviser the the letter

the letter challenge you can speak about it there's nothing really more I can speak about it other than to say that I would like to know your opinion on why you would have uh changed vendors just to perhaps uh uh uh calm their nerves. Sure. as to why that was a good idea.

No problem. So, we have a current contract with Extra Duty Solutions to handle all the offduty job management um scheduling and everything that we it was for two years with the option to renew for year 3, four, and five. Over the two years, we noticed some issues with their software. They had some problems including payment errors to officers, jobs posted with wrong times and dates, um jobs being posted late, and we decided that we were not going to just automatically renew with them. We would seek uh a request for proposal from other sources and other vendors. And that's what we did. We went out, we requested proposals, and we got three proposals. And we did some research, asked around other towns in the area, and they want liked the one of the the uh proposals better as did we when we did our evaluations. We went through the process that they have for the purchasing department uh guided us through everything. We rated all three vendors and it was uh the one that Jobs for Blue, the the company Visual Computer Solutions, Inc. that scored the highest. And we also confirmed with towns around uh us that use them that they are very happy with them. And their platform seems to be requested by even vendors that hire police officers. They say things like, "When are you going to jobs for blue?" They're just so much easier scheduling than what your current company is, Extra Duty Solutions. So, we have had some issues. So, we also have a uh schedule with our our regular schedule for our regular staff and patrol and our staff for admin staff is with a company that

right now is Power DMS, which we pay roughly around $6,600 to use that platform. It's separate from the extra duty solutions. We were going to move on from them anyway cuz it's just out out of like outdated and just we have to have spreadsheets and everything every day printed out just to be able to tell everybody where they're going. And we were going to move on to another company which Visual Computer Solutions is that company. They have a platform called POS POSs that includes the extra duty job management with our regular job management. So now we would be able to see the entire staff and where they are at any moment in one platform. We don't have to go to multiple software or multiple platforms to view it. So considering we were already going to do that and we were having issues with our current extra duty offduty management system, we just thought it was best to move on and not renew with them and and do a request for for proposal for the other vendors.

Thank you. I mean all I wanted to do was just you know interrogate the thing because it was but I would say one other thing which is that um it says here very sort of happily cost of the township of 0000 yes which I'm sure that that's true. The township government is not paying a part of that but the township as a whole does pay for extra duty activities and that should be recognized. I will recognize for the for the management of the soft the the schedules agreed. They do not pay for some of my residents end up paying. Okay. Thank you. Councelor Harrison,

I just uh asked the attorney the the attorney for the competing bidder raised number of legal concerns. Are you satisfied the correct procedures were file followed in a timely fashion?

Um I am. I looked at the letter. uh we were able to obtain the evaluation report. The evaluation report was then published to the public along with an amended resolution explaining um exactly how and why uh the township has is recommending that visual computer solutions be selected as the vendor. So all of the prerequisites have been satisfied. Any other um discussion? Nothing. Okay. I'd like to to move this resolution to award a contract to Visual Computer Solutions, Inc. for Police Offduty Detail Management.

Is there a second? Second, Madame Clerk. Deputy Mayor Anderson. Yes. Councelor Birmingham. Yes. Councelor Damato. Yes. Councelor Harrison, yes. Councelor Toller, yes. Councelor Williams, yes. Mayor Baskerville, yes. Thank you. Um, I think number 17 and 18. We were going to pull them, right? Do we have to table them or can we just pull them off?

We're not ready to do that. You have to make a motion to table. I'd like to make a motion to table 17 and 18 and uh 19. Right.

I think um council Damato asked for 19. We were going to um I'm making a motion to table 171 18. Did you want to table 19 also or did you want to have discussion on 19? I think if we're going to if you wanted to table 20 uh 20 then we should table all of them. I'll second that. So I I got a um Mayor Baskerville, you moved to table. I was still thinking. I said like 17, 18. You know, your brain was still working. So, it's a string bet, right? And whatever he said.

So, councelor Damato, you're moving to table 17, 18, 19, and 20. I will second the mayors, right? Teamwork. I I do he second. Okay. Thank you. And is this to date certain or to a date uncertain? Do you want to put it to the next meeting? Do you just want to leave it alone? And you 17 17. Okay. So that brings us up to 20 one. Councelor Toller, please. Sure. Thank you. Um I'm just wondering are we we're amending this contract here?

So um we are currently advertising for a director of information technology. I think we have some compelling applications. Uh I uh I believe this will be the last monthly management contract with uh Millennium Communications. Really? Oh, yeah. That's wonderful. Yeah. That was leading into number 22, but I'm still going to ask it. Did you want me to address 22? Um if anyone else has a question on 21 first. I I don't think I heard You said we're in the process of hiring an IT director. We're we're advertising and we'll be Yeah. So, I uh I am hopeful that we will have a uh candidate selected uh before the end of March.

Selected and perhaps on board. I really hate to see the Millennium team go. They're doing an incredible job. They're doing an excellent job. Yeah. And just whomever um just for the record, you know, the person you're interviewing um just keep in mind that the firehouse on Pine Street, the reception is really bad when we hold community meetings. that network really needs to be overhauled and that um you know we can't even use wireless mics over there and TV34 gets a little wonky so whomever the person is I think you'll be pleased. Okay, good point.

Well, no problems, Mr. Marks. And then for 22, if we're doing this, I'm just You said in your I think it was at the finance committee meeting you presented there would be no interest rate, correct? So, is it still zero interest?

It's still zero. uh APR for five years. Uh there are five and so Cisco is the manufacturer. They partner with Bank of America for financing. Bank of America actually takes uh advance advantage of depreciation. Um that's how they're able to keep it at zero APR. So, under the terms of the agreement, um the first out of five years of 5-year contract, uh the first payment would be May 1st, 26 for $320,000. And then, um on February 1st, 27, uh the second payment would be due of $57,438.31. And then on February 1st of 2028, the same payment, 50743831. And then on February uh 1st of 2029, the same payment of 50743831. And then on uh February 1st of 2030, the fifth year, 50743831. So it's zero APR for for 5 years. It's actually an excellent uh deal.

You said it's a good deal. It's an excellent deal. I mean zero APR in 5 years. Excellent for 5 years. I've never heard of that. That's excellent. Can you get a better deal? So, 57,000 is a good deal, y'all. Y'all heard that? Zero. Good deal. Okay. Okay. So, then do we want to vote on 21? Resolution number 21, resolution authorizing amendment number two of the fair and open contract to Millennium Communication Group, Inc. for information technology support services. I so moved. Second, Madam Clerk. Deputy Mayor Anderson. Yes. Councelor Birmingham, yes. Councelor Damato, yes. Councelor Harrison, yes. Councelor Toller,

yes. Councelor Williams, yes. Mayor Baskerville, yes. Thank you. Um, someone had number Oh, we did 22, right? So, we're ready to vote on number 22. I so move. Second, Madame Clerk. Deputy Mayor Anderson. Uh, yes. Councelor Birmingham. Yes. Councelor Damato, yes. Councelor Harrison, yes. Councelor Toller. Yes. Councelor Williams. Yes. Mayor Baskerville. Yes. Thank you. Um and can I'd like to make a motion that we do all the rest of the consent agenda as a consent agenda. Roll call. There's one. There's the bills list. We haven't done the bills list. The bills list. Okay. Thank you. Anyone want to lead a discussion? Councelor Toller, don't we have to read?

Listen. Does anyone want to do that? Councelor Toller. I don't have I had to rip mine apart because this was put together backwards. Sorry. Um, anybody ready?

Yeah. Uhhuh. Whereas invoices against the township of Mount Clair in favor of the following persons um for the amount set opposite their respective names have been received, duly audited, and found corrected. Um, this total amount is 3,154,6345. I do have some questions before I make a movement. Okay. Um, it's very hard to see what pages these are because this was actually stapled and put together, in my opinion, backwards. I know you said the young lady was out. Um, yeah, I'm just I'm trying to pull apart here. I'm trying to understand. Um, we have a payment for television.

What page are you on, please? Madame Mayor, I don't know. It's I think it's page four. Okay. Thank you. Mhm. Right. Tel Corporation for 79. Um, is there another vendor or is that just standard pricing that we pay for TV34? I do not know, but I could find out for you. Unless the uh I don't have anything on it. Okay. Yeah, it just seems a little high.

Oh, sorry. And um public service electric and gas. I see there's a payment. Um just wanted to know the status of those bill payments. I know Miss Tass has been keeping uh copious notes and making those payments. Just want to make sure that we're, you know, still ahead of the game, if you will. Nothing to report on except to say bills are paid on a monthly bills.

I'm I'm sorry. Please can you come down to the mic in case there are people still up at home that wanted to hear us? Thank you. In the meantime, I can say that there are no outstanding PSCG bills to be paid. Okay. Okay. Thank you very much, Deputy. I've approved all I had. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Tassy. So, is there a specific question about PSNG? I'm just asking if we're ahead of the game with our payments. I know that. No. Well, no. What I'm saying is

we're not Yeah, we're not ahead. When we first arrived, public service was so far bad, if you will. There was all this money owed. So, every now and then, I just like to get an update that I know that you're doing your due diligence. This isn't an attack or What I do want to caution is when you the bills do not reflect a zero balance. No, I understand. So, and we have not been able to get them to reflect the payments, nor do they reflect a zero balance when they're re received. Although we have paid although we have paid the invoiced amount, right?

They um in working with the Clary Anderson in order to they're going to be paying their bills separately. They did notice that there was two bills in 2025 that weren't paid. I put them through uh and they'll be on the next bills list. One appeared as a credit. Um, so there was no there was no nothing due and owing and one I I just must not have been in receipt of. So those will be on the bills list next. Okay. Thanks. Next.

And I guess this question is for Mr. Marks. I see there's Verizon Wireless on the the bill's list. Has that been satisfied? That huge outstanding bill that we probably don't want to talk about. Has it been satisfied? It's I know it was in the works. Um maybe so there are there's three main Verizon Wireless accounts that we've discovered. Unfortunately, the um in talking with the in talking with the representatives of Verizon Wireless is there's a long period of time in which no payments were made by the township. Right.

So what we're just doing is verifying which invoices are paid and unpaid. It's a threeperson team that's doing it. One of the team members was out for a week and that's why the bills aren't on this bill's list, but there should be a considerable amount for the next bill. Wonderful. Thank you for just an update. Thank you. Thank you. Quick question. Hi, Miss Tass. Hi, Mr. Damato. Uh are are we is is the uh Clary utility now getting its own bill separated? We are we're in that process. We're still in that process. We're in that process. Get an envelope with their name.

So, they don't get an envelope with their name on it as yet, but we're we're moving toward that. We're also moving towards some they're moving towards some energy efficient projects and they want to have their own bill. No, we are we are working on that that and in the meantime our contractor our management firm there takes the bill that you give them recognizes that bill.

41 Chestnut Street is one of the addresses on one of the main accounts which is the recreation account. So in order for Clary Anderson to be able to pay that separately that one line item, mind you the recreation bill has probably 40 line items. The oneline item has to come out of has to then become it become its own entity its own billing entity. It will be char as a utility the the as the um ice skating utility. The utility bills will be charged against the ice skating utility.

Your ice skating manager there and everybody over there is getting the information and they know what's going on. They know the numbers that they're they do that the utility is liable for because those numbers I imagine are going up. Yeah, they do. They're they're we're work they have a person the utility has a person at PSENG that they're working with. We have people at PSENG that we're working with and we've come together a couple times to talk it through.

Awesome. No surprises, please. Not to prolong this, but I was speaking to the ice skating ZAR um this weekend about this because I didn't see Clary on here on the bills list as a separate utilities, but that's on the come. That's to come. Yes. I just have one other question if no one else I didn't want to. It's on the bill. I'll go after you. This on the bill, right? Um Mr. marks on page five. Would you would you happen to know this says North American Trading House purchase of equipment for $118,000? That was my question. Thank you. That was my question, girl.

It says like rocket comp. I believe that's the composter. Oh, yes. And those are grant funded. That's the rocket composter. Thank you. Thank you, Norma. That that was that's correct. I anticipate. So I checked those are the grant funded. Yeah. Okay. Great. Like to make a motion that we accept bills list. Second. All in. Oh, Madame Clerk. Deputy Mayor Anderson. Yes. Councelor Birmingham. Yes. Councelor Damato. Yes. Councelor Harrison. Yes. Councelor Toller. Yes. Councelor Williams. Yes. Mayor Baskerville.

Yes. I'd like to make a motion that we adjourn. Second. All in favor? I opposed. Okay. You guys know tomorrow. Oh, okay. So, we're we're out.