Township Council - Regular Meeting

Well, it's a great evening. Yeah, because we're going to have about 30 or 40 seniors that want to come up and speak. Very disgruntled. We're on, yes.

Good evening, everyone.

Welcome to the June 9th, 2026 regular council meeting. This is a meeting of the Township of Montclair. It's being broadcast on Channel 34. It's streaming live on Montclair YouTube channel and it's available on demand and can and will be rebroadcast. The meeting is called pursuant to the provisions of the Open Public Meeting Act. THE MEETING WAS INCLUDED IN THE REVISED ANNUAL NOTICE OF THE MEETING SCHEDULED ON THE SCHEDULED AS SET FORTH IN RESOLUTION R26-064 ADOPTED BY THE TOWNSHIP COUNCIL AT ITS REGULAR MEETING OF FEBRUARY 10TH 26 advertised to the official newspaper on february 26 26 posted on the township website and bulletin boards outside of the montclair council municipal building and it's remained continuously posted in addition a copy of the revised annual notice is and has been available to the public and is on file in the office of the township clerk please stand for the pledge of allegiance I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Madam Clerk, whenever you're ready, will you please do a roll call?

Yes, Mayor, thank you. Deputy Mayor Anderson?

Here.

Councillor Birmingham absent. Councillor D'Amato? Here. Councillor Harrison? Here. Councillor Tolar? Good afternoon. Present. Good afternoon. Councillor Williams absent. Mayor Baskerville? Present. Thank you.

At this point in time, we are going to go into the executive session. I'd like to make a motion that we go into the executive session. The purpose of the executive session is matters of personnel. During the executive session, we ask all members of the public to please leave the chambers, and we anticipate that our executive session will take probably until about 7 p.m., And around 7 p.m., we're going to reconvene in the regular session and welcome the public. We want you all to come back at that time. And I so move.

Second.

Deputy Mayor Anderson? Yes. Council Birmingham absent. Councilor D'Amato? Yes. Councilor Harrison? Yes. Councilor Toller? Yes. Councilor Williams absent. Mayor Baskerville?

Yes. Who is this?

You're unmuted.

Okay. I'd like to make a motion that we return to the regularly scheduled portion of our meeting, the public portion of the meeting on June 9th, 2026. Is there a second? Second. Madam Clerk.

7 o'clock. Deputy Mayor Anderson, there's a click right there. Yes. Councillor Birmingham absent. Councillor D'Amato. Yes, please. Councillor Harrison. Yes. Councillor Tolar. Yes. Councillor Williams absent. Mayor Baskerville.

Yes. Thank you. I'm going to ask, please, that council members, do you have anything that you'd like to have pulled from the consent agenda? If so, I'd like to know. Yes, Madam Mayor.

Number one.

And Council D'Amato, anything you want pulled from the consent agenda? Number 32. Number 1 and 32. OK. Anyone else? 16. 16. 31. 31.

and 29. Just have a question.

Okay, 21 2021 and 22

I didn't hear you.

Yeah, they're all like this. It's 2021 and 22, right? Yeah. Okay.

Oh, yeah, 2021.

Yeah. Okay. Your Honor?

33. 33.

12. 12. Okay. Anyone else? Okay.

Mr. Feller, you're on the field list?

Yeah, we have.

These are the ones that I have identified so far.

1, 12, 16, 20, 21, 22, 29, 31, 32, and 33. Are there any others? Okay. At this time, we're going to take a break until 7 p.m., and we'll resume and have our regularly scheduled meeting at 7 p.m.

Thank you.

Okay, good evening everyone. Thank you for joining us on June 9, 2026, 7 PM. Welcome to the meeting. We're going to begin with the proclamations. And we have some wonderful proclamations. When we call a proclamation, please, if you're here to receive it or if you're a friend of the people that we're honoring, feel free to come and stand down front with us. After we do the proclamations, the next order of business will be public comment. Please, if you have not done so, will you please sign the clipboard on the front? Madam Clerk, please. Do I have a motion to approve the minutes?

I move. Second. Thank you, Mayor. Deputy Mayor Anderson? Yes. Councilor Birmingham absent. Councilor D'Amato? Yes. Councilor Harrison? Yes. Councilor Tolar? Yes. Councilor Williams absent. Mayor Baskerville? Yes. Thank you. Thank you.

OK. Do we have any of the Eagle Scouts with us this evening? If you're an Eagle Scout, friend of and family of, come on down. We're happy to have you all.

Eagle Scout.

No, just five. Just 13. Just 13 this evening. Okay.

I'm happy to see you all again.

Good to see you. So I'm so glad you could all make it today. So we're here tonight to congratulate five members of Boy Scout Troop 13 in Montclair, who all last week earned over many, many years of hard work and mentoring and acquiring a lot of leadership skills and life skills, the rank of Eagle Scout. The Mayor and Councilor D'Amato and I, we had the honor of being able to attend the ceremony last weekend. We were just so proud and I know the families are proud and they're proud of themselves. So I'm not going to read the entire proclamation because there are five of you, but I did want to share what each person, the names and what each person, a little bit about what they all did to ultimately get the rank of Eagle Scout. Like I said, it's many years of lots of service, and as you can see, they earned a ton of badges. So the first Eagle Scout is Henry Brackenberry, who's a senior at Montclair High School.

Step forward to the middle of the floor. Oh, right.

so for henry's eagle scout community service project um an animal lover henry is led a crew of about 20 scouts parents and friends including two fellow scouts from montclair's troop 12 to construct an eight um construct eight bat boxes which he donated to the conserve wildlife foundation of new jersey and if you're wondering what that's all about this is the boxes are used to re-home bats when they need to be moved out of people's houses Bats are considered a keystone species, which I just learned that term recently, because of their huge effect on biodiversity. They eat insect pests and create excellent fertilizer. And through a lot of research, you constructed the boxes to meet the bats' needs, led a crew over many days to actually construct the boxes. and you're going to study environmental science and English at Reed College in Portland, Oregon in the fall. Okay, second, Wyatt Foster. Come on over. Okay. All right, so Wyatt has been a member of 213 since the sixth grade. He's done a lot there. And for his Eagle Scout project, Wyatt, actually, I visited this over the weekend. He grew up near Wachung Plaza, and he decided to research, write, and design an information panel about the history of Wachung Plaza, yes, had it produced, and then installed at Wachung Plaza Park. And you should all go check it out. It's really interesting. you can learn about the pre-settlement history the rail line the plaza's design and more and you worked with the public library and the history center to dig up a lot of information maps and photos you you wrote and designed the board and you recruited fellow scouts to fact check and proofread it you also raised the money to actually have the board made and get the necessary town approvals which i understand might have been a little bit more challenging than expected but you did it. Wyatt is also a senior at Montclair High and among other things he's going to he's going to go on to Brown University in the fall to study engineering. Yeah okay so I'm going to do one more and then okay while they figure it out. Ronan Gross please step forward. It says Ronan joined scouting as a Cub Scout and then crossed over to Troop 13, where you served as a senior patrol leader, which is a very high, I think the highest youth position. And you did a lot of great things also. For Ronan's Eagle Scout project, he designed, planned, and led a crew in constructing two life jacket racks for the YMCA's Camp at the Lake. You looked at different plans and came up with a design all your own that you thought could work. Worked with about eight scouts, friends and family members. You stained pressure treated lumber and built the racks, which is awesome and they're going to be able to use those at the camp. And you are also, Ronan is a senior at Montclair High, a competitive swimmer, and he is heading off to Hobart and William Smith colleges in the fall to study finance, where he hopes one day to get a pilot's license, which is so cool.

All right.

I only get two. Jeevan, did I fall? So for his Eagle project, he developed, organized, and facilitated, that's a great word, three after-school urban farming and computer-aided design workshops for children at different Newark schools in the spring of last spring. He recruited a dozen scouts and friends as volunteers and partnered with the Rocket Club Academy, a STEM program in Hoboken, where he interns to co-design, deliver, and lead workshops that introduced underserved students in technology. He's also a senior, and he's been a member of the foundation's youth squad, founded by his cousin, his late cousin, and he's now serving as vice president of the squad and guides a student team that helps carry out the mission of expanding STEM access. It's all fantastic. You're going to take a gap year? No, you're a junior. I'm a junior, yes. You're a junior. You've done all this and you're a junior? I never did anything by the time I was a junior. In the meantime, he'll continue attending Troop 13 meetings and mentoring younger scouts, and I am very proud of him. Thank you. You need two more signatures on that. And last for now, but not least, because there will be more next year, hopefully. It's unbelievable, the productivity. Max Pearson. I love this one. So he was looking for an eagle project. He immediately thought of the Montclair Cooperative School, which he had attended from pre-K through eighth grade. Topping their wish list was a hefty, literally, project, removing a rotting wooden retaining wall that had collapsed, blocking part of the school's walkway and playground, and building a sturdier 50-foot replacement. So I know that Mr. Bateman said that there were horrific injuries to some of the adults that were involved in this. Moving the rocks around, it was a solid masonry thing that was done for obviously a fantastic cause and with great love and appreciation. That was done, he led a crew of scouts, family and friends, and finally constructed a new wall out of three tons of blocks. It also reclaimed a back entryway adding another emergency exit for the school. So the safety part of it So now he's a senior. He is a senior as you can as you can tell and he's a project manager on the on the robotics team captain of the swim team co-president of the model UN and model Congress wow that's pretty good and co-founder of the student action political organization he will head off in the fall also to be an engineer and study politics at UCLA Max Pearson

It's going to be quicker than two minutes.

Good evening. Michael Bateman, Scoutmaster Troop 13. I just want to thank this council. Mayor, thank you. Counselors for coming out to our Eagle Court of Honor on Saturday at Union Kong Church. We have been with Union Kong since the foundation of Troop 13 in 1911. Wow. we have been here service yes and I couldn't be more proud of the fab five behind me I call them the fab five this is what it's all about we are so lucky to have these guys in Montclair and they're gonna go out and do great things in this world and they're gonna be great leaders and it's all because of our our friends and neighbors and a great council Thank You mayor all right thank you everybody committee chair Louie Villafano thank you

We have a proclamation in memoriam of Susan Irby. Is Rebecca Irby here yet? Oh, hi. Thank you. So please, if anyone is here and would like to stand with us as we read this proclamation. into the record so it will be here in perpetuity and memorandum for all of the great things that Susan Irby did. Does people here know who Susan Irby was? Oh my gosh, you guys missed it, yeah. She's one of the great people that touched so, so, so many people in so many ways and I am really honored to be able to present this to you. Hey, how are you? Good, come on up. This is her daughter, Rebecca Irby. Susan E. Irby, lovingly known to many as Sue, passed away peacefully on April 21st, 2026, surrounded by loved ones after a courageous journey with Parkinson's and pancreatic cancer. Sue was a devoted mother, a fierce advocate, caregiver, community leader, beloved friends whose life work helped to shape a more inclusive world for all people, people with disabilities and their families in Montclair, but also across all of New Jersey and beyond. She became known for her unwavering commitment to disability rights, accessibility, dignity, and care. Among disability advocates in town, Sue was affectionately called the RBG of disability rights, a reflection of both her brilliance and her relentless commitment to justice, and indeed she was. I had the privilege and honor of knowing her since about 2008. Whereas, for more than 40 years, Sue lovingly cared for her daughter Leslie, whose life and spirit shaped so much of Sue's advocacy and purpose. Her commitment to disability inclusion was never abstract. It was lived every single day through love, through persistence, and the belief that every person deserves to be seen, supported, and included. Sue's advocacy extended beyond New Jersey she helped advocate advocate for and strengthen language connected to the American with Disabilities Act she contributed to the broader national movement for disability rights accessibility and equal protection While much of her work was rooted in New Jersey, her impact reached far beyond the state. Through her advocacy, Sue contributed to a movement that helped make New Jersey a national leader in protection services and quality of care for people with disabilities. And whereas her work opened doors for families, strengthened communities, strengthen people's understanding, and help ensure that people with disabilities could live with greater dignity, access, and a sense of belonging. And, whereas, one of the projects closest to Sue's heart was the all-access playground at Edgemont Memorial Park in Montclair. Everybody knows where that park is, right? Susan Urban. She was relentless with that along with some other people who may be sitting here. She helped to bring the vision to life so that the children of all abilities could play together with their families and their peers and they could feel welcome in public spaces. It's fitting that her celebration of life that was held at the playground, it was held at the very playground where she helped to welcome that into the community for others, a place that stands as part of her lasting legacy. Sue leaves behind her daughter Leslie and Rebecca Irby, her son-in-law George Mace III, her brother Daniel, her sister Marcia, and their extended families, and a wide community of friends, neighbors, advocates, families whose lives were changed by her courage, her humor, her compassion, her fierce commitment to justice. the family is also working with the township to establish a permanent memorial at that playground perhaps a plaque we're still in the in the planning stage of that in her honor it gives me great pleasure and such an honor if you knew so she stands for everything that I strive to be she was just loved she was caring she was giving even when her hands were So full at many times she still found a way to reach out to others and care for people. So I am proud to say that my life will be forever changed for the better because Sue Irby shared her time with me.

Thank you. Thank you so very much. It's such a deep honor and incredible to see when community comes together what's possible and i want us to remember that in these moments that are are very difficult ahead of us it's only through community and through coming together with a shared mission that we actually accomplish the world that we all deserve and that we all want so thank you all for being here and thank you thank you so much

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR COMING. pride our final proclamation for today is out Montclair we're honored to have the team here for out Montclair also if you just like to come and stand with us as we read this proclamation you don't have to necessarily be without Montclair if you want to come and stand with us we're celebrating the LGBTQIA plus community and all the great things that are happening in the township anyone else here that wants to come on down all right we have everybody yes yes anyone else okay

Okay, good evening everyone. Going to read a proclamation for Pride Month. Whereas our nation founded on the principle of equal rights for all people, but fulfillment of this promise has been long in coming for many Americans. Some of the most inspiring moments in our history have arisen from various civil rights movements that have brought one group after another from the margins to the mainstream of American society. And whereas in the movement towards equal rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer-identifying, intersex, asexual, and more people, a historic turning point occurred in New York City on June 28, 1969, the onset of the Stonewall Riots. During these riots, LGBTQIA plus citizens rose up and resisted police enforcement that arose out of discriminatory criminal laws that have since been declared unconstitutional. In the five decades since, civil rights for LGBTQIA plus people have progressed substantially. and LGBTQIA plus Pride celebrations have taken place around the country every June to commemorate the beginning of the Stonewall Riots. And whereas in communities throughout the country, some barriers that limit the potential of LGBTQIA plus Americans have been torn down, but too many continue to encounter discrimination and unfair treatment. There are unique challenges faced by sexual and gender minorities, especially transgender and gender nonconforming individuals of all skin tones, but especially people of color. And whereas all people deserve to live with dignity and respect, free from fear and violence and protected against discrimination during LGBTQIA plus pride month. We celebrate the proud legacy of LGBTQIA plus individuals have woven into the fabric of our nation, our state, and our township. And whereas we honor those who have fought to perfect our union and we continue our work to build society where every child grows up knowing that their country supports them. is proud of them and has a place for them exactly as they are now therefore the mayor and the council of the township of montclair do hereby dedicate and proclaim june as l g b t q i a plus pride month and celebrate the great diversity of all residents

Thank you very much to the mayor, the council, town manager. On behalf of Montclair, Montclair Pride, and our LGBTQIA plus community, I'm honored to accept the Pride month proclamation on everyone's behalf. I just want to say the most important takeaway is that Pride teaches us that progress is not measured by the absence of challenges, but by the determination to keep moving forward together and then it embraces and embracing them exactly and also to keep visible because visibility makes us stronger and we're talking about decades I look back through the decades and we have become stronger because we have become more visible we are here we're not going anywhere we're here to stay we are part of the community we are part of the world thank you everyone who supports us we have many allies and I appreciate that especially in Montclair we have to keep Montclair as a model for this that's why I moved here that's why my wife moved here we need to have the diversity that Montclair has always embraced in every aspect so again thank you to the mayor town council for this and the residents that support our endeavors and in our movement thank you very much

If somebody wanted to say something about an action.

Oh, action, a government action.

You have two minutes, and then after that, if you all want to take pictures, we can take pictures. Yeah, cool.

Hi, I'm Alice Liu. I'm so proud that my hometown of Montclair is proclaiming its support this Pride Month. Pride is many things. It's the freedom to live and love as yourself. It's the joy that comes when you can be who you are and be embraced by your community. And it's the responsibility to stand up for everyone. So Montclair, let's show our pride with this proclamation, with our laws, our votes, and our actions. We are talking about right now there is a bill that's going through the New Jersey State Assembly to protect health care and both the providers and the receivers of health care both for reproductive and for gender affirming care. So thank you everyone who's supporting this. We want to get this passed. We want it statewide because no one can take away our joy and we will not let anyone take away our freedoms. Thank you.

We were trying to move things along because we have things. Okay, thank you. All right, did you all want to take a picture? Thank you.

You all want to smile for the thing? Sure, sure. Is everybody in?

I don't want to block anybody. Here we go, okay. Smile, smile, and smile.

all right next up I'm before we get on to the public comment is did Boy Scouts from troop 12 come I was told that they were not here if they're here we did not want to pass they're not here right okay thank you so much Oh, we have one more. Oh, Make Music Day. Come on down. Sing your way on down to the mic. Sorry about that. You know it's not from my heart. I'm out there every time.

Good evening. Township of Montclair proclamation declaring June 21st Montclair Make Music Day. Make Music Day is an annual event held on the first day of summer inspired by France's Fête de la Musique and now an international celebration which takes place in more than 1,000 cities and countries across the globe. whereas Montclair will be holding its 13th Make Music Day on June 21st, working with local businesses, organizations, and residents, whereas Montclair Make Music Day is a volunteer-driven community event organized through Montclair-based arts nonprofit Indie Arts Montclair and the National Make Music Alliance of Towns and Cities. Now, therefore, the Mayor and Council of the Township of Montclair do hereby declare June 21st to be Montclair Make Music Day, and encourage people of all ages and abilities to responsibly gather and celebrate making music in spaces across the township.

Yeah. Thank you. I'll do it real quick. Go ahead.

I'll do it real quick.

Go ahead.

special thank you to the council who especially mayor yes exactly um has been with us since day one um mayor baskerville has been at meetings in our first year and uh we will be celebrating music it's also father's day on sunday june 21st we kept the language responsibly since the pandemic it's still in the resolution but we hope to see you out there and uh make music montclair thank you

okay next up is public comment please again if you did not sign the clipboard please sign it and we're going to get right to that

Councilor?

Thank you. Okay. In the public comment, all speakers must complete the sign-in sheet, which you did. Thank you. And everyone is allowed to speak for up to three minutes. Up to three minutes. Before speaking, please clearly state your name for the record. If you wish to speak on any of the ordinances on second meeting, please wait until we get to that portion of the meeting. Otherwise, any topic that you wish to speak on, you're welcome to. We will not be responding to you in this venue. however that doesn't mean it's not important that doesn't mean that we don't hear you we will hear you and if something requires a response we will we'll figure that out and get it to you as soon as we can and if anyone here wishes to reach out to individual council members or the manager we are happy to do that too by email you can call me I'll pick my phone up but I I do want you to know that just because we're not responding, it doesn't mean it's not important to us. First up is Ms. Carolyn Lack. Would you please come forward?

Carolyn Lack a 70 year plus resident in Montclair I have seen the ups and downs in Montclair and now I'm looking at the ups and downs of the vastly growing senior committee community in Montclair We've had a lot of frustrations over the years, particularly in getting a freestanding senior center. But I want to speak today about the good things that have occurred during this time. And many of the good things have been created by somebody who has now been taken away from her activities with the seniors. I'm talking about Michelle DeWitt. We don't know what happened. We don't know what happened, but I think tonight you're going to hear from many people who have been touched by what she has done for the senior population in Montclair, both in establishing new programs, in enabling programs, running trips, and actually leading some of them herself. She is loved by so many people, And now so many people are frustrated because she is not working for the seniors now. My hope is that you can find somebody who will mediate between the groups or group of people that are in controversy about this. So that very soon, Michelle DeWitt will be back doing what she loves to do. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Next guest is Samuor. The last name starts with the R. I'm sorry, I can't read the writing too well. Can you read that? The last name looks like it's a R-O-I-N-I. Is that R-O-I-N-I-O?

Some more?

Is there anybody that has the initials S-R that's present here that signed up? I'm sorry, we can't read the writing. It looks like S-A-M-U-O-R. Okay, I'm going to go to the next one. The next person is Barbara Golub. I'm sorry, thank you. Next guest is Barbara Golub.

evening good evening my name is Barbara Golub and I've been a 60 plus year resident of Montclair and an avid participant in the senior citizens program through the mill Montclair Institute for lifelong learning I'm here to express my deep concern over the termination of Michelle do it from her nine-year position as a senior citizens program coordinator the development of the many senior programs we have now. I personally have participated in the bereavement group, Spanish conversation, chair yoga, and birding programs at the Van Vleck Gardens and others. These programs nourish our minds and bodies, get us out of the house to meet up and make new friends, learn new skills, all of which have made us want to age in place in Montclair. That being said, I think what we seniors need most at this point is reassurance that these programs are not going to disappear now that Michelle is at this moment no longer curating and continuing them. Our hope is that we can count on Montclair to continue to provide our seniors with programs we have come to love and more programs as well. That our senior years continue to be as engaging and fruitful as they have been. Thank you for your understanding. Yes.

Thank you very much. Next guest is Sandra McGrea. If I'm mispronouncing it, please forgive me. It looks like Sandra Macrio. Okay, Cecilia Bustis. Cecilia A.

Thank you.

Hi. Although I am a resident of Verona, I'm connected with Montclair a great deal through the arts. And through having met Michelle not more than three months ago, my personal impression has been she is an absolute perfect person to work and represent for the senior community. I am going to be 77 years old June 14. And I think it's essential that we have a person that represents the community, the elderly community, and motivate us to go out, participate, meet other people. Through Michelle, I've made wonderful friends the past three months. And I think it would be a disservice for her not to be in this program. That's my personal opinion. And I hope you all reconsider reinstating Michelle.

Thank you so much. Our next guest is Vicky Romay. I move here. I'm sorry, will you please state your name for the record because I'm not doing well with the pronunciation and we need to have it for the record.

Vicky Romay. Thank you very much. So I moved from Florida four years ago to Montclair. At my age, it's so difficult to find a new group of people. And then I saw the program, and I start to come what was there. And I found so different things, event, teaching. English, Spanish, so many things at the same time that I say, wow, it's incredible that this community offered me that I am new here. So many things. I start to have new friends, and I start to feel that this is now my community. Because Michelle is the kind of person that is so open for everyone. She tried to give always something for you She always asks, what do you think about that? So it's so frustrating to know that she's out right now. And I don't know the other people, but for me, it was really very hard to understand what happened with this professional person that always is in the sight of the senior people. Thank you. Thank you very much.

Next guest, Joyce Booker, please. Joyce Booker.

Good evening, everyone. My name is Joyce. My name is Joyce Booker. I'm going to read so that I don't forget anything. All right. I would like to take this opportunity to express my displeasure to hear about the termination of one of your most valuable and respected managers. Last week, we found out that Michelle DeWitt has been terminated from her position as the senior citizen program coordinator for the township of Montclair. I have been a participant of the lifelong Montclair program for more than three years and a resident for the majority of my life, which is substantial. Michelle has served the Montclair community in an exceptional way during that time, and I'm sure that she's done so for some years prior as well. She not only coordinated the exercise programs at three different sites, but the craft programs at each senior center also. michelle always served with a smile on her face and made sure every participant felt welcome and appreciated i am not an art major in any sense of the word however michelle arranged for beading and painting instructors to teach us techniques which will serve us all quite well now and into the future i understand that stephen marx is new to his position as township manager so he just might not be aware of the value that michelle brings to this program and its participants I want him to be aware that he's losing an experienced and valuable manager if he doesn't correct this drastic mistake and restore her to her former position as soon as possible. Respectfully, Joyce Booker.

Thank you. Next guest is Kamala Khan. Khan. Kamala. K-A-M-L-A. Khan, if your initials are KK, I could be, but it looks like K-A-M-L-A, Khan. No, okay. Liz Zazi?

It's me. Okay.

Hi, everyone. I didn't prepare remarks, but I'm going to try to speak from my heart. And please state your name for the record. Sure.

Everyone, even though I say it, please, when you come up, if you would state your name for the record. Thank you.

Sure. Liz Zazie. I am new to being a senior citizen, and I've only been living in Montclair since 2004, but I do love taking part in the incredible activities that Michelle has coordinated for the seniors. I care passionately about where these events take place, and I'm very concerned that the place where I buy or used to buy my pool pass is somehow envisioned as a remedy for what is now no senior center. You see a room filled with so many people who are seniors who are here for Michelle because we care so deeply about how she cares about us. And I hope that her advocacy has not been mistaken for insubordination. I hope that her... I hope that her passion has not been confused with anger and I hope you recognize that she brings such incredible dignity not only to her position but to all of us because we are treated like people who matter and in a town Where understandably children are our future, sometimes the senior population is so marginalized that we feel like there are a group of eager parents who would just like us to shut up, pay our taxes, and maybe just leave and give them the real estate. And what we would appreciate, because we are taxpayers and we do care not only about this town but about each other, is to be treated with respect and to have a woman of Michelle's intelligence and passion dismissed. with no explanation to the people that she serves that truly care about her. The way she cares about us. We're told we can speak, but you won't answer us. And I understand that. But you need to understand that we need Michelle. We don't want somebody who's going to come in and pick up the pieces of what she created and attempt to do something that's going to be, pardon my language, half-assed. We need it fully asked. And the person for that job is Michelle DeWitt.

Thank you so much. I guess that's my time. Lydia Grillo next guest is Lydia Grillo I'm sorry the next guest is Lydia Grillo okay yes you sure you come down state your name you have your three minutes as well yes

Hi, everybody. Hi. Barbara Mulder, 35-plus year resident. And just to support what people have been saying, how instrumental I think Michelle has been, I tried to retire in about 2017. So it's about nine years ago, I think. And when I did and tried to reach out to see what there was for retirees, I pretty much was using the adult school and also this new thing, sort of new thing called Meetup. So, I mean, I was struggling, right? And there wasn't this sense of community. Fortunately, retirement didn't stick. I went back to work. I worked through COVID. I come back out. And lo and behold, there's an amazing program that has a diverse array of totally different things. So I'm trying to learn Spanish, right? And many things. But coincidentally, that is like a nine-year period that you have to think the correlation is this person who's been working there for nine years, Michelle DeWitt. And I just think that should be rewarded and recognized, not penalized. And I'll also just I'll also just add, I know there's efforts to try to find a centralized physical location, but this person, Michelle DeWitt, has been instrumental in making our decentralized approach work and to give people a sense of community without the physical building. And I think that should be recognized too. Thank you very much. Thank you very much.

Next guest is Carl Shekel.

Hi, my name is Karl Schuckel and... Good evening. I'm here today to talk because I believe what's happening to Michelle DeWitt goes beyond wrong. I believe this is an injustice. I'm obviously not a senior citizen, I didn't know Michelle for that long, but from the few weeks I spent with her working on an interview assignment for my journalism class during my senior year at Montclair High School, I could tell she was something special. That her story was something special, that the amount of joy she brought to everyone she was around was something special. When we talk about jobs, budgets, and staffing decisions, it may be easy to reduce people to notes on a spreadsheet, but Michelle is not a line item and throwing her appointment around borders on evil. She is a person whose entire life has been defined by service, compassion, and an extraordinary commitment to others. Michelle has spent years helping senior citizens in our community. The people she served were friends, family members, and human beings who depended on her kindness, patience, and care. The work she did can't and should never be measured solely on reports or numbers. It should be measured in the dignity she provides to elderly residents, the comfort she offers during difficult days, and the trust she's worked tirelessly to build with the people who needed her most. When I think about Michelle, I think about the story she told me of her family for the assignment I mentioned previously. Faced with obstacle after obstacle, she refused to give up on giving her child a loving home. She crossed oceans, navigated complex international systems, and devoted years of her life helping her son understand his identity, reconnect with his roots after a lengthy and complicated adoption, and build relationships with family members half a world away. That journey required patience, determination, empathy, and selflessness. Those are the exact qualities that made her exceptional at serving seniors. This is a woman who spent months in a foreign country visiting a child every day before bringing him home. This is a woman who dedicated years to helping her son find answers about where he came from. This is a woman who built bridges across languages, cultures, and continents because she believed family mattered. And now after spending her life caring for others, she is being told that her service is no longer valued. That sends a trembling message not just to Michelle, but to everyone in this community. It tells us that dedication can be overlooked, that compassion can be discarded, that the people who spend their lives lifting others up can be cast aside when it becomes convenient, that merit means nothing. So I ask the members of this council and town Not to look at Michelle as an employee or a number or a budget consideration. Look at the life she has lived. Look at the people she has helped. Look at the value she represents. Communities are not built by buildings, budgets, or policies alone. They are built by people like Michelle. People who show up every day and make life better for someone else. Losing Michelle is not just a loss for her, it is a loss for the seniors she serves, a loss for this town, and a loss for the values we claim to stand for. So I urge you to reconsider this decision and recognize what so many people already know. Michelle is exactly the kind of person our community should be fighting to keep. Thank you.

Next guest, please. Next guest is Maria Dyer. Next guest, Maria Dyer, please.

Good evening. Hi, Maria Dyer. Michelle DeWitt saved my life. I've been in Montclair for 45 years. My children have gone to the schools here, gotten on the bus, Nishawane, Hillside, Glenfield, Montclair High. They participated in sports and music and they met other children of different races and different religious and political beliefs. In 2020, everything shut down because of COVID. I was in the demographic of the most endangered population, seniors. Somehow, Michelle Dewitt became my new best friend. She introduced me to Zoom. I was able to get my classes on my computer. I was able to take many more classes in the comfort of my own home. I discovered that I was not the only one who had a new best friend in Michelle. She was the hub at the center of all of our days together. I met many new friends. We were not as frightened by COVID because of useful health information and fun distractions. I learned to play poker. It wasn't just that the classes at the mill. I had taken other classes other places. And I never walked out feeling the way I did after I walked out of a mill class. There was a magic happening as Michelle DeWitt choreographed every moment of our day. Her spirit was contagious. She brought out the best in every one of us. Classes grew. We expanded to Wally Center. Old people were driving up and down Bluefield Avenue, Valley Road, the library. We had birthday parties every month with live entertainment, sing-alongs at the senior housing facilities. we were experiencing the same diversity project that my children benefited from in the montclair public schools i now know and love a lot more people in montclair and the neighboring towns I am a senior whose life was saved because one woman envisioned a utopia of a senior community. Most recently, Michelle wrote a script about us and partnered with the Vanguard Theater to tell the story of the mill, complete with Broadway music and humorous sketches. Ironically, we have shut down the show temporarily. Our message for the play is that in spite of all the obstacles, we keep moving forward because of all the people involved. But we are heartbroken that Michelle seems to have been plucked from our midst without a chance to investigate what happened.

Thank you very much.

Next guest, please. One more sentence.

Thank you very much. The next guest is Diane Picciuto, please. Picciuto.

My name is Diane Picciuto.

Oh, I'm so sorry. It's such a beautiful name. I botched that one. Sorry.

I have to spell it. Thank you for your time and listening. I'm here in support of Michelle DeWitt. I love Michelle DeWitt. And I have told her to her face. i retired nine years ago and i loved it and it coincided with michelle's tenure with mill and it was my lucky day when i discovered mill i've taken numerous classes my friends and colleagues from mill see me taking notes i have three full journals of notes from topics that range all over the map And I credit Michelle DeWitt for her tenacity, her dedication to the job at hand. Given limited budgets and support, she is a bright light for all of us. I'm not in your shoes. I don't know what happened. None of us do when she was abruptly let go. But I have to tell you, we were all very shocked and alarmed. And we've heard this from others. My family has been in Essex County over 125 years. I love the area that we live in and Michelle DeWitt brought such heart and soul to her work. I worked for 45 years in a great career that spans many different areas, and I dealt in different ways with government officials, nonprofit donors, and others. I know a little something about customer service, dealing with others that are different from us, who have more power than us or less, and all age groups and diversity. And I have to say, I found Michelle to be top notch in dealing with the clients, seniors and others, to bring these programs to the fore. My colleague here from Mill mentioned COVID. That was a lifesaver for me, too, and for many, many others that kept going during that difficult time. And Michelle, i just i just think the world of her and i do hope there may be some opportunity to reconsider her stature in mill because she really and truly is the lifeblood of it thank you thank you very much our next guest claire ciliata please claire ciliata

Claire Ciliata, 279 Park Street.

This is hard to follow after that, anyhow. On June 3rd, with four votes, three to zero, one abstention, the zoning board determined that 260 Park Street is a commercial or NC zone. Why? Because the builder believed an erroneous map, as did his attorney, Mr. Tramulak. Mr. Sullivan, allegedly our town lawyer, said, and I quote, I haven't heard anybody present any evidence that says that the map shows that the property is in any zone other than an NC zone. Which map? And is that really the issue? Okay, then Mr. Tremulak, who was once Montclair's attorney and should therefore be extremely familiar with the zoning laws, stated in the best double speak I've heard in quite some time, said that if you can't rely on an erroneous map well, then, and I quote, that's terrifying. So here we are. Ms. Pickett's lawyer proved that the zoning ordinance has never been amended for this property, this property. Zoning ordinances have been amended, but never for this property, and therefore it is residential by law. Mr. Tremulak and Mr. Sullivan did not even try to prove that this lot had indeed been amended, or the ordinance. No valid approval can be given unless a proper de-variance has been issued. No variance was ever sought or granted. So my understanding under the laws of the state of New Jersey is this. The ordinance controls over any map. According to the law, the zoning ordinance controls not a printed map. A map is merely an illustrative aid. And this is New Jersey law. Ms. Pickett's lawyer showed that the ordinance designating this lot had never been amended to reclassify this particular parcel from residential commercial ever. No map can change that legal reality. A zoning map has no independent legal force. It is the ordinance that creates zoning classifications. A misprint on a map does not amend the ordinance. Actually, I'm shocked that this developer and Mr. Tremulak and our lawyer and Ms. Talley, who's been zoning person for 15 years, seem to review did not seem to review the zoning ordinance text they seem oddly to just rely on a map which a board member had already shown had several other errors including his own home so in sum the zoning ordinance has classified this property as residential for over a hundred years no ordinance was ever passed to change it a printed map error is not a law The developer has a legal obligation to review the actual ordinance before purchasing. No permit was issued, no construction has occurred. There is no reason to stop Montclair from enforcing its residential zoning. And I have laws to quote. I feel like I am being snookered.

Okay, thank you so much. Next guest is Gerald Feist. Thank you.

Gerald Feist. Yes, I would just like to continue what Claire was bringing up. The lawyer... our attorney presented six or seven maps going back to 1974 showing the property as a residential property and claire has found that you look at bonaventure intel verse borough of spring lake um 350 new jersey super 420 Appellate Division 2002, limits on estoppage against municipalities in Irving v. Township of Neptune, 305 New Jersey High Superior Court, 65-2. I'm not a lawyer. I don't know what this means. Division 1997, good faith, reliance, standard. It's just, again, one of these situations where something is being done without explanation, without legal authority, but just because, frankly, from my point of view, somebody has a connection with somebody else. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Next guest is Cathy Dewey, either a N-A-Y or a D-E-W-A-Y, 530 Valley Road.

Hello, my name is Kathy Denny, and I just want to add my voice in favor of Michelle for all the work she has done.

Just tip it down. That's what happens when you shrink.

Thank you for all the work she has done, all the time she has given, always in good faith. And when somebody works so hard, they should be rewarded and appreciated, not terminated. Thank you.

Next guest is Susan Spanier. Spanier? Spanier.

My name is Susan Spanier and I'm here. I don't speak well in public. but Michelle meant the world to myself and my husband, Joseph, who was involved for the last nine years in all the activities that Michelle put forward, or many of them. I just don't understand, and I wish you all could give us an answer. We all want an answer as to why. And now my husband is an invalid. He was not. He became an invalid. He went to an exercise class, which he loved. Went to ShopRite, came home with no bag. and fell, fractured his neck in two places and 17 stitches in his head. I was still working. This happened last April. Since then, I've met Michelle and she was a lifesaver for me. I have now become a member of the art program she put forward, the exercise classes and the play that was spoken about before. It's just very distressing. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Our next guest is Wendy Pollack. Wendy Pollack, please.

hi wendy pollock um i think everybody's done an amazing job of talking about how what a wonderful job michelle has done and how creative and professional and what she's brought to this program but i have another slight issue which is her leaving and firing has never been formally and formal formally announced to the senior community It's all been through word of mouth and friends talking. And I guess what's really confusing and disturbing is there's been a total lack of transparency, coupled with a climate of secrecy and fear. since Michelle is so valued obviously by the senior community obviously our input was never considered so it would seem her firing can't be based on her job performance and leads us all to wonder what it could be what could have been so precipitous or crazy that she would be fired after eight years of service without a backup plan without a plan b and obviously there is no plan b currently The senior programs are in three distinct, not close, locations throughout town, making it challenging to attend at times, and especially challenging to supervise. I mean, we see Michelle running all the time between them trying to manage it all. We moved here eight years ago. We pay significant taxes on a condo and utilize very little of the town's resources other than the senior programs. Seniors make up about 27% of the town's population, and with Michelle's firing, the multiple locations, and the lack of input, we don't feel valued or appreciated. We need transparency, we need clarity, Michelle Beck, and perhaps a town council that has our interests at heart. Thank you.

Next guest, Nick Keglia.

Good evening. Good evening. My name is Nick Giglia. I'm sorry. I've heard much worse. I am the founder and chairman of ROOT, Restore Our Transit in Essex. We're a nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy organization dedicated to enhanced service, expanded rider experience, and equitable access. I want to thank the Montclair Council, New Jersey Transit, and the task force for running the survey, whose results were recently published and will be fully delivered to the council today. The abrupt closure of DeCamp Bus Service three years ago left a significant mobility gap, and this was the first time residents were asked if they're satisfied with the current situation. When you look at the results, several themes emerge. First, residents adapted to the loss of service. The demand for transit didn't disappear, but the ways people access it changed. People are driving, changing routines, or finding workarounds. Root itself started with a workaround. I drove to Secaucus to attend a hockey game with my son and started asking bigger questions after running into an immovable constraint, a tired kid who didn't want to walk back to the car. Most importantly, adaptation should not be confused with satisfaction. The survey shows that 85% of the respondents want more weekend train service, 68% support extending weekend rail service beyond Bay Street, and 60% want additional bus service. These are clear and substantial majorities. They confirm what many residents have been saying for years. People in this community want better transit options. The survey allows us to move beyond asking whether there is a problem. The community has spoken clearly through the survey, but it also speaks through its actions. It speaks whenever someone asks how to get to a game, a show, or dinner with friends and whenever someone chooses to drive just because it's easier. The next step is continuing the conversation about how Montclair, New Jersey Transit, and the broader region can work together to provide service that better meets the needs of residents and visitors alike. This is not just a Montclair issue. Residents of Bloomfield, Glen Ridge, Little Falls, and beyond rely on the same transit connections and have a stake in this conversation's outcome. The survey identified concerns such as pedestrian safety around the Montclair Farmer's Market. Walnut Street is my neighborhood. I visit the market with my family whenever we can unless some kid activity prevents it. It's an important part of our community and I'm confident that solutions can be found that support both the market and improve transit service like other communities have been able to do. Thank you again to the council, Deputy Mayor Anderson, the task force, and the thousands of residents from across Montclair who took the time to participate. I hope this report serves as the beginning of the next phase of this conversation and ultimately leads to the better service our community both wants and needs. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Next guest, Don Zee. Don Zee.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. I'm a member of the working group the former speaker referenced, and I can't think of a more avid supporter of transportation in Montclair than myself. I won't go into all my transportation credentials, but I have to say that in spite of that, I take a very dim view of additional weekend train service further than Bay Street Station. The only reason this committee exists is that the camp bus lines, as the former speaker said, went out of business during COVID. The camp had provided hourly bus service to New York City on the weekends as well as weekdays, and combined with our weekend train service, residents had the choice of bus or train travel to New York City on the weekend, and it really worked. The issue I have is the committee's request for New Jersey Transit to provide train service that stops at every station in Montclair or in the weekend, just as it does every weekday. I'm going to jump right into my conclusion and recommendation, and then I'll go back into my reasons. And in most cases, the best solution to any problem is the simplest one. Here, the simplest and best solution is to have New Jersey Transit replicate the hourly weekend bus service that the camp offered for over 50 years and have hourly as opposed to two hour train service to Bay Street. I have two main issues. One concerns quality of life and the other I'll call life itself. The quality of life issues are the detriments associated with train service north of Bay Street. There is additional noise on the weekend, additional traffic delays on our 12 grade crossings, limited parking around our train stations, which is used by our retail merchants, and safety issues at the farmers market on the Saturday farmers market for consumers. My life itself category concerns overall safety. First, your own Vision Zero program the town has adopted. with the laudable goal of reducing the number of fatalities and risk of serious injury between vehicles and pedestrians to zero. And the goal is to get there by 2028. With respect to weekend train service, though, we're already at zero. There is zero chance of a fatality or serious injury attributed to train travel on the weekend. Once an additional train is introduced, the risk of an injury or serious occurrence statistically increases above zero. A train is an inherently more dangerous vehicle than a car. It has five or six times the stopping distance, and it cannot turn or swerve to avoid something in the tracks. Second are public safety departments, police and fire. Response time is everything, and waiting at a grade crossing for a train to pass or finish boarding or onboarding increases the risk of injury, serious injury or death at a fire or a commission of a crime. I don't have numbers to share with you, but the way I look at it in effect is, out of a seven day week two days are a little bit safer than the other five in summary these are the issues i'm not sure can be solved but the bottom line is they don't even have to be confronted if we adopt the simple solution of replicating the camp weekend bus service and having hourly train service to bay street thank you for your time thank you next guest is jennifer markham

Hi, my name is Jennifer Markham. How are you? I'm a senior in Montclair, been living in Montclair for over 40 years. And I just want to say that we are all in such disbelief and disappointed that Michelle had to be let go. And we don't know why. We are in the dark, and we are really upset about it, and we really want her back. And the fact that so many seniors have shown up today should be good reason as to why this is a major mistake that has been made to let Michelle go. So we need to know why and we really would like to have her back because we all love her and she loved her job. I settled in Montclair over 40 years ago and I retired about 10 years ago. And I looked to move somewhere to retire, which was very similar to what we have right now. We looked overseas, to Uruguay, to Spain, to South Africa. And we said, why are we looking so hard when we're right here in this town where we want to be, so we want to stay here? So we really would like to stay here. And my request is for you please to consider to bring Michelle back again, because we love her. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Our next guest is Jeffrey Grayson.

Good evening, Mayor Baskerville and council members. I'm Jeffrey Robert Grayson, and tonight I'd like to discuss the term boots on the ground. In the military, boots on the ground refers to the physical presence of ground troops in a combat zone. This is seen as a last resort because it ensures that there will be mass casualties on both sides. During the Civil Rights era, boots on the ground referred to nonviolent marches organized by freedom fighters to protest racial discrimination, segregation, and to secure voting rights. No one will ever forget what happened at the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama in 1965, in what became known as Bloody Sunday. Marchers would often sing the refrain, we shall overcome. In more recent times, because of repeated instances of police brutality and not guilty verdicts, boots on the ground often features the refrain, no justice, no peace. Here in Montclair, there has been a recent example of boots on the ground that pales in comparison to the above mentioned, but it is noteworthy nonetheless for reasons I will discuss here tonight. Recently, two council members put boots on the ground to tour the area of Sutherland Road, Stonebridge, and Graham Terrace with the intention of implementing speed and safety controls at the Harrison Avenue and Cedar Avenue intersection, and to also to convert Sutherland into a one-way. They received input on this initiative by the Complete Streets Director and Township Engineer who both suggested that traffic control on Harrison needs to include making Sutherland a one-way. The logic used to support this decision could easily be applied to 50 other intersections in town. If the councilors expended this much effort and energy to achieve this result, why hasn't the same enthusiasm been used to address the ongoing problems that persist at Union Gardens? Now I understand that counselors may prefer their boots to walk in neighborhoods with manicured lawns and million dollar homes. Union Gardens has non-working elevators, an unusable communal space in need of mold remediation, and properly disposed of trash that attracts insects and rodents. The superintendent is missing in action. The property management company doesn't seem to care about quality of life issues. The residents of Union Gardens have sought relief year after year and their concerns have fallen on deaf ears. I can't help but wonder what is the root cause of this apathy. Your voting records suggest that you don't care about the concerns of Montclair's African American community. Your policies suggest that in the near future you don't anticipate there being many of us left in Montclair. It's that apathy, those votes, and those policies that made seeing the boots on the ground of certain counselors marching in the African American Heritage Parade like watching someone tap dance on the graves of our ancestors. Thank you. Next guest, please. You have got to do better. Anna Grossman.

Hi, good evening. Anna Grossman, Essex Avenue. Montclair's own documents tell us what we need to do. Our sustainability and resilience master plan amendment sets a goal of 10% canopy increase by 2040, based on a 2016 baseline of 38%. I suspect our canopy is substantially less than 38% today, so we're already starting further behind than our goal assumes. We'd know if certain reports had been filed, but they haven't. Our Climate Action Plan names tree canopy as a critical climate mitigation strategy. The science behind these documents is not in dispute. This year, New York City released its first ever urban forest plan. Their chief climate officer described trees as one of the most affordable and accessible ways to help adapt to a changing climate. Their deputy mayor called the urban forest living infrastructure, and like every system that keeps the city running, it deserves investment, care, and measurable goals. Roughly 55% of Americans live in neighborhoods at least eight degrees hotter than surrounding rural areas. Trees are the single most cost-effective intervention we have. And yet, as Margaret Renkel wrote in the New York Times, we have somehow gotten the idea that planting a tree has the same practical effect and moral force as preserving one. A tree is a tree, right? If one happens to be growing in a place where you don't want it, just cut it down and plant another. That's exactly the logic our current flat one-to-one ordinance endorses. Tonight, we can end it. We have a structural problem. Roughly 90% of Montclair's trees are on private property. Our township is just over 4,000 acres, and public plantable ground represents roughly 6% of that. The math is brutal. We cannot reach our own master plan goal through public planting alone. this ordinance is not optional it's the only tool we have so what does this ordinance need to accomplish it needs to stop the net loss a flat one-to-one ratio one ornamental cherry for one 36-inch oak does not replace what is lost scaled replacement ratios are the foundation of any credible ordinance it needs to protect what cannot be replaced as rankle puts it we don't have 150 years to wait for a seedling to reach its full glorious height before we start protecting the trees among us A 100-year-old extraordinary tree is not replaceable on any human time scale. We need a genuine necessity standard, a preponderance of evidence, written land use board findings. Verona has this. Highland Park has this. Montclair should too. It needs teeth. And it needs to be equitable. The neighborhoods with the least canopy are lower income, with more heat exposure and worse air quality. The tree fund must go where it's needed most and help create and preserve canopy where we need it most. Before I close, Suzanne Atman, former chair of the MEC, spent countless hours on the preliminary version of this draft. This ordinance exists in part because of her efforts. That deserves recognition tonight and a reminder that humane environmentalism is how we honor the place we choose to live in and the obligation that choice carries.

Ariel Eckert. Ariel.

316 Park Street. Trees are not decoration. They are infrastructure. A mature canopy tree can reduce ambient air temperatures by up to 10 degrees. It absorbs storm water that would otherwise flood basements and overwhelm our shared drainage system. It filters the particulate matter and ground level ozone that trigger asthma attacks in children. These are not amenities. These are public health interventions and they are not reaching everyone equally. The proposed Chapter 324 is a meaningful step forward, but it will only deliver on its equity promise if two things happen. First, the tree fund must be directed toward the neighborhoods with the lowest canopy and the greatest heat burden, not simply within 1,000 feet of wherever the last removal happened to occur. That is a rule that follows money, not need. Second, the developer provisions must be in this ordinance. Development is where Montclair's largest single event canopy losses happen. And those losses do not fall equally across the township. When a developer clears a wooded lot in a lower canopy neighborhood, that community loses something it cannot get back on any human time scale. A sapling planted in mitigation will not provide meaningful shade for 30 years. Good urban design starts with the question of who benefits and who bears the cost. Tonight, I'm asking this council to answer that question correctly. Pass the strongest possible ordinance, direct the tree fund where it is needed most, and commit to the developer provisions now, not later. Our canopy is a shared resource. It should be shared equally. Thank you. Thank you very much.

Next guest is Jessica Stolzberg.

Hi, Jessica Stolzberg, Montclair resident. I always notice themes that come up in these meetings, and tonight is about how the leadership of this township protects the vulnerable. And I think we know that children are vulnerable. sick or vulnerable, elderly or vulnerable, and our environment is vulnerable. So tonight it's interesting to connect that it appears as has been a common theme for years and years since I woke up in this town that our senior community is vulnerable and does not receive from the township its due. And what we're hearing tonight is another sense of loss for the senior community. As you move forward with your tree ordinance that has been on ask now to strengthen for close to three years after a devastating loss at Woodman Field, I also ask that you consider making it as strong as possible because it really is for the future of Montclair. And I do know, and so sometimes when I come up here and you feel I'm criticizing or critical or aggressive, as I've been called, that there's a sense of not respecting what you were dealing with day by day and keeping our lives comfortable or easy, et cetera. But the great need of you to protect the future of this town and that what happens on this day is the decisions you make tonight, next month, the next month, could impact the safety of this community when you are long gone. And when we look back and we say someone got hurt on a sidewalk and we had begged the township to start protecting our sidewalks better in 2026 and they did not, that it will look back on who was in charge then, who made those decisions. Someone gets hurt, injured terribly on sidewalks. We have parents walking on streets with strollers. we will look back, what were we asking of this township, this town council at that time, and did they do something? So when it comes to the tree ordinance, I have learned today that the Department of Community Services has severed the roots of 20 legacy shade trees in Ward 1, that it was an accident. How did this happen? There is leadership that has failed. It's an act of failure when we are talking about protecting trees and trees have been decimated. And yet then someone says, give us $300,000 to subcontract for the company that will take them down for us after we have ruined them. It's mind blowing. We have learned Also, that the township has not been accredited by the state's urban forestry program since 2016. This is another example of failure. And it's not your fault, but you are the leaders now. And we ask you, please, protect our future and correct this failure. Thank you. Thank you. Next guest, please.

S, D, M something. I can't read the writing. S, the first initial is S, then it looks like D, and then M. The address is 14 Grove Terrace. 14 Grove Terrace. Okay, next guest is Johanna Coxeter. Johanna Coxeter.

Oh, awesome. Awesome.

All right. I'll give you props.

I'll give you props. OK. Good evening. My name is Johanna Coxeter, and I'm on Lincoln Street. And I'm halfway to memory care, so I have to bring up my little list. first I want to thank you oh thank you now I have an assistant thank you for the revised tree removal and replacement ordinance please support it and please strengthen it I do love that it prevents people from replacing a giant oak with a tiny ornamental cherry it's got a lot of good things in it but it needs to be stronger Developers cut down every single tree on a property. What consequences do they suffer? If we restore the certificate of occupancy hold, then we have some teeth. The two-year survival should be automatic, not on request. And there should be a two-year development bar for unpermitted removals. We need teeth in the ordinances. This would be a very strong deterrent. And please plant the trees where they're needed. Anything within the town borders should be acceptable. Extraordinary trees should require a clear necessity standard. Is it a hazard? A qualified arborist should assess it, and a committee of residents should address the situation. There's much more, but I wanted to hit these highlights. Please save our trees. Help our health, help our communities. This says it all. And one last thing, can you please provide transparency about the senior program coordinator? Oh, one more thing. An error on a map should not change a property from residential to commercial. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much. Next guest, Sarah Avery.

Sarah Avery, I live on Irving Street. Montclair's present affordable housing need is unrealistic and claims to be satisfied by excess credits on non-existent units. And Montclair has no prospective obligation because it is an urban aid municipality, which is a scam. People who experience housing insecurity have a much greater likelihood of suffering lifelong economic inequality and disruption of education. This occurs and is quote unquote legal because tenants aren't owners and aren't required to be notified when variances are sought. Tenants are disenfranchised, a discriminatory practice the township claims is legal. Under Council Harrison's leadership, the Zoning Board approved 112 variances on 18 properties, converting naturally occurring affordable housing into luxury. A significant group of people who lived on Mission, New, Washington and Wheeler Streets were completely excluded from the variance approval process and suffered forced displacement accordingly. This is creation of greater need. Montclair's need for low and moderate income housing has exploded and yet has no obligation to satisfy that need. And this was not unpredictable, as the 1975 Mount Laurel decision states, quote, even as we write, development proceeds apace. Once an area is developed, it becomes much more difficult to alter its social and economic character. montclair already has acquired permanently permanent exclusionary characteristics in the historically african-american neighborhoods the evidence fully demonstrates substantial detriment to the public good 18 properties with a history of tax liens converted to luxury and at least 141 naturally occurring affordable units converted to luxury and market rate rentals this practice undermines the general welfare of the community contrary to the central concept of the Mount Laurel decision Judge Sap Peterson wrongly concluded that the elimination of NOAA and the creation of housing insecurity is not within the program to address. That program is only charged with determining if the fourth round plan is compliant with the Mount Laurel Doctrine and the Fair Housing Act, which it is not. A plan claiming nonexistent units cannot be compliant. Sap Peterson further wrongly states compliance with the act and the Mount Laurel doctrine is achieved when the plan is fair. The evidence is irrefutable. Montclair's plan is not fair and reasonable and does not adequately protect the interests of lower income persons. It undermines them.

Thank you. Next guest is Marie T-R-E, T-R-E, T-R-E, T-R-E, T-R-E. Marie. No address listed.

What does this look like to you? Hello, and thank you all.

Tell us your name, please.

My name is Marie C. Hepp. I'm here to tell you a true story about Michelle DeWitt, longstanding Mill senior citizens coordinator who was recently abruptly terminated. And I say terminated because anyone who knows Michelle knows that she would never have willingly walked away from serving us seniors. I want to tell you about someone who wasn't just one of your ordinary employees, but someone who put her heart and soul into everything she did for us seniors. It wasn't just a job for Michelle. She has been a friend and a lifeline for us seniors. In the early days of COVID, Michelle found ways to bring us together. She set up cameras so we could play poker and figured out a way for us to place bets privately. It took forever for her to move the camera to each player's position, read our bets, and open our cards. It was such fun. Michelle brought us with her on vacation. She put the camera on and danced the rumba with her father so we could all exercise together. She set up a phone on Thanksgiving as she prepped dinner, sharing stories with those of us who zoomed in, those of us who were alone on Thanksgiving during COVID. She organized bus rides to events at Montclair State University, the Clifton Arts Center, the Newark Museum, and the Paper Mill Playhouse. Those activities did not exist before Michelle joined Mill. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. Events that built community amongst people who would never have been brought together. The ramifications of her dismissal are going to be felt for a very long time. This is a profound loss for us seniors. I could go on and on. What have you done to us? With all due respect, I am asking you, Mr. Steven Marks, as Township Manager, with a thorough investigation of what happened, and being more involved perhaps in the day-to-day operations for the time being, to ensure that this injustice never happens again. Only last week there were scheduling mess-ups, and no one knew how to conduct Zoom meetings, so those classes were unexpectedly canceled. We senior mill participants are extremely concerned about the quality and quantity of future mill programs. Apparently, at the moment, there is no one currently in charge capable of fulfilling those responsibilities. We look to you, Mr. Marks, to help sort out this mess and oversee next steps to ensure the robust day-to-day activities that the MIL programs developed under Michelle DeWitt's leadership continue to thrive. Thank you for your cooperation.

The next guest is Marie, maybe T-R-E-E-S. Is there someone else here that's named Marie that looks like maybe F-R-E-E-S maybe? Marie? Okay. Is there any Marie at all here that would like to speak? Okay. Next guest is Madeline Gale.

I, too, am here to talk. Hi, everybody. I'm here to also. Madeline Gale, live in Montclair on Elm Street. I'm here to also talk about Michelle DeWitt. I might not look it, but I'm a senior, too. And while I admittedly don't know much about the details regarding her losing her position as a senior citizens coordinator and leader of the mill, I wanted to share that she was beloved and highly valued. From my understanding, she created excellent programs and developed activities for seniors that were very well attended and greatly enjoyed. her departure is a huge loss for the senior community and it's really heartbreaking and distressing to hear all these folks who depended on her welcoming demeanor and warm smile and provider of a safe place for our elder population and her presence affected both the young and the old i take care of two small children and we often spend our time in edgemont park and we often went into the edgemont park house and whenever we were there she'd bring us to the window she'd show the kids the egret And also the heron that were there. I'm glad to say I see a new heron. I know the other one sadly died. But anyway, she always took her time to single out people, make them feel welcome, and do something special with them. And she even invited the young children and I to be part of the senior exercise classes. And we did them a few times with the seniors, which was really nice. So it's really disheartening to see that she's gone and our seniors are going to have such a great loss. I don't know the details. I don't know if she can be brought back, but if possible, I would love to see that happen. Thanks. Thank you.

Next guest, George Carper.

Hi, good afternoon, I'm George Kaufer, I'm a member of Root. I'd like to speak regarding the need for both improved bus service and hourly weekend service, at least as far as MSU, if not further. Both of those options are needed. The camp routes used to run on weekends. Now the Jersey Transit replacements are only running rush hours only. In addition for local service within the town, the 97 and the 34M don't run on Sunday or late in the evening. The additional train service to Bay Street and MSU would reduce traffic. and allow more flexibility with options with regards to traveling to Manhattan. As Nick said, adoption is not the same as the demand being met, and we'd like to encourage that additional transit service to come to the town.

Thank you. John Wentz. Good evening.

John Wenz from Midland Avenue, 132 Midland Avenue. I just have a few brief points in regard to transportation. First, I'd just like to say that if you folks are serious about moving Montclair into the future, then you'll do everything that you can to provide quality public transportation. It's going to be well thought out and perhaps a combination between buses trolleys trams and the train But a vital part of a functioning city or town is a good robust transportation system a definition from Complete Streets the policy reads a means to provide a comprehensive integrated connected multimodal network of transportation options through planning design construction, maintenance, and operation of new and retrofit transportation facilities along the entire right of way for all users of all ages and abilities. All users include pedestrians, bicyclists, persons with disabilities, motorists, movers of commercial goods, and transit vehicle users. And this is especially important to the 30 some odd percent or so that do not have access to an automobile. Finally, many if not most of you are in my age group, and my advice to you as a guy who leads what we call a Strong Towns local conversation, my advice is to pay attention to the changing world. Among other reasons that Montclair is so desirable is because most of it is walkable. That's what younger people are looking for. Through my work with the Strong Towns movement, I find myself spending more than half my time with people half my age. This is what they want. Young people are choosing to move away from an auto-centric world, and public transportation is so very important now, the future, and the next generation. Thank you.

Thank you. Next guest is Steven Avendorf, Cedar Grove resident. Steven. Next guest, Tony Martin, please.

Tony Martin, 41 North Fullerton Avenue. I did not know Michelle DeWitt. And I never participated in any of her programs. Quite evidently, I am vastly the poorer for that. And I want to say to everybody who's spoken tonight, I've never been prouder to be a woman of a certain age living in Montclair. What I did come to say is not as important as many things on the agenda and only glancingly related to senior rights. It is a little story. This is what happened to me today. I walked over to town hall and I thought on the way, oh, you know, i'm more vulnerable than usual i i have plantar fasciitis i'm not wearing the right shoes and then i got to town hall and i thought oh you know what i came here to pick up petitions to for several groups i belong to to participate in the july 4th parade ah i need the parks and rec department oh they were moved weren't they But I don't know where. So I stepped in town hall. Back to the issue of transparency for one second.

I had asked, where the heck are they going?

But I somehow never got that information, and it may be my fault. So I walked in, and I asked somebody, and they said,

It's at 219 Fullerton Avenue.

I live on Fullerton Avenue. I'd only walked half a block. I decided I'd walk further, even though my foot was hurting. And I kept walking and walking and walking. And I said, is it down here somewhere? Or somebody I met on the street? to buy the town dump. And pardon me, Public Works Department. That's what this person said. And so I walked all the way there. And there was a lovely little new building there I saw next to. the public works yard. And I went in. And I thought, well, this is really cute. Let's a lot farther. I hope everybody knows how to find it. And then I discovered that it's on the second floor. And my foot was really hurting me now. And the elevator's not working. And the elevator hasn't been working, apparently, for months since that office moved in there. I know your town hall elevator hasn't been working most of the time for quite a while. But I ask you to pay attention to this. Thank you very much. Thank you very much.

Samson Jefferson, I think is the last name. Is this Samson Jefferson? Thank you.

Yes, good evening.

I'm Rashida Samson Jefferson. I'm here to talk about Michelle. You know, there's a saying that says, don't take yourself so seriously, take what you do seriously. And so what I see is ego. a lot of times when people have certain positions that ego kicks in so they don't make the right decisions and this is what i see with what's going on with michelle all these fabulous Seniors here, progressive seniors, on-the-move seniors, get-down seniors, we need answers to know why Michelle is not here. She is the type of person who went above and beyond the call of duty, and I know what that looks like because I'm from an honored military family. I myself have been doing that since the 70s, when you give everything you have. This woman has done that. We need Michelle in this position now. And I'm gonna leave you with something. I apologize if it offends anyone. No ma'am, no ham, I don't give a damn. We need Michelle.

Yeah!

Next guest, please, Rhea Thompson.

Hi, everyone. Rhea Tompkins, Union Gardens. We have a few tenants with us. First and foremost, we would like to say we want to thank Councilman Williams. He has been listening to us more, and Amina, definitely you as well, you always do. Sad thing about it is, 87 unit, two elevators, one's been down now for almost a year. I don't wanna hear about no part like when the elevator broke down before, took us three years to get it back up and they told us part had to come from China. Don't wanna hear that again, okay? Number two, there's still mold in that basement, we have no utilization of that basement. We have no on-site property manager. We have no on-site super. So when things happen, especially on the weekends, we get no help. For a while, about for two months, we had no hot water every weekend. We couldn't get anybody. Okay, when we do call the number, it was a... like a rotary they will call us back nothing will happen so we didn't have water to hot water until monday or tuesday people are still being sent to court for things that they went to court with the previous manager oh by the way last time we was here we about three four property managers different property managers okay also this one here her doorknob, her doorknob for a whole month was falling off. That's a security and a hazard. The only reason that they finally came out today and still didn't fix it was because she included Councilman Williams, I think code enforcement and landlord tenant advisory. And of course, because I put the notice on about the town council meeting. So they knew we were coming up here. This is ridiculous. Okay. That we still have to live this way. Building is terrible. filthy the outside don't look too much better than the inside we did ask you you know you did tell us that you wanted to come and speak with some of the tenants we're just still waiting so you know what your schedule is like so we can partner with you okay i know y'all get tired of hearing it okay But we live here. We are living here because this is where we can afford to live. All right. And it doesn't matter if you're paying market rent or if you're paying a dollar rent. It does not matter. We have a right to live in cleanliness. Our door was just broke. From what, Saturdays? From Saturday. You couldn't get in the front door. So what were people doing? Taking the mat and sticking the mat in the door to keep the door open. So what does that do? That's a security hazard now. We have everything and anything walking in the building. For a while, we just got the smoke detector kept going off in the building. On their end, you couldn't hear it. I had to call, hey, you coming downstairs? I didn't hear it. It wasn't flashing or anything. So what happened? I had to email Justin Thompson. I did email him. And then my niece there, she sent emails. It just got fixed, we think. So thank you.

Thank you. Next guest is

Rachel Herman hi my name is Rachel Herman I am the vice chair of root and the communication chair of the Lackawanna coalition both are transit advocacy advocacy advocacy organizations person who has lived in both Montclair and Bloomfields for the last 25 years I find that it's very important that this area is transit accessible that's the reason I'm here I was a alum of Montclair State and so I stayed in this area because being able to transverse the the area and i am was excited to see that there was a transit working group a task force to see how much we can improve transportation and which inspired the bloomfields to also have a survey and glenridge now I want to address what Don Zeef had said. He mentioned driving several times. I understand he's on the committee, but why public transportation? Why is there no, why was he not considering the people that can't drive? There are many people, many people who are speaking tonight. I'm sure not all the seniors in this room can drive. Many are either being driven or use public transportation or Maybe they're still driving, but maybe they don't want to because it becomes unsafe as they're getting older. But you also are a diverse population, and if you are being friendly to people who have mobility and disabilities, then you would consider having more public transportation, and that includes having more train service on the weekends so people can get around independently. Nobody wants to have to rely on other people to get somewhere. So, you know, access link is not always a good option for everyone. And their scheduling is not great. So the survey represents the fact that we need additional train service. And I would like to see that the task force continue and look at local bus service because there's more and more traffic. and the amount of local buses are not enough to accommodate what is necessary. You also lost decamp service and the decamp service would have provided areas that are no longer serviced on Grove Street. So you have people who move here and now cannot get anywhere without having to walk far distances or rely on somebody else to get somewhere. And so given New Jersey's transits stated constraints around buses and bus drivers, which the township has heard directly from the agency, I believe our first ask should focus on improving weekend train service while also studying and planning for the eventual full restoration of the campus territory while buses are so important part of the transportation network. Thank you.

Next guest is Bito Havrila. Havrila?

Hello, my name is Vito Havrella. I am a member of ROOT and also a member of the Lackawanna Coalition. I'll be reading from our resolution calling for hourly service between Hoboken and Montclair State University on the weekends. First, Lackawanna Coalition is an independent organization advocating for better transit, founded in 1979 in Milburn. We meet every fourth Monday of the month right now at the Summit Library. LackawannaCoalition.org. Email info at LackawannaCoalition.org. And we also put out the railgram. See me for a copy. And we invite all to join the Lackawanna Coalition. So now I'll read some highlights from our resolution. From the 28th of November, 2020, 2022, again, calling for hourly service between Hoboken and Montclair State University on weekends, and meeting the Lackawanna Coalition held on November 28th in Milburn, New Jersey by electronic conference. The following resolution was adopted. Whereas the Lackawanna Coalition advocates for better service on New Jersey Transit rail line, including the Montclair, Bruin, and Morrison Essex line. And on weekends, trains run only between Hoboken, Bay Street, and Montclair every two hours, or less often, with no service to stations west of Bay Street and as far as Denville. And the weekend service standard on most other rail lines operating by NJT is one train per hour in each direction throughout the service day, but not on the Montclair-Bruton line. The present level of weekend service on the Montclair-Bruton line falls below the standard of service for most other lines in the system, thereby depriving residents of the area served by that line as frequent access to other places served by NJTN is accorded on such of the lines. The present level of weekend service between Montclair and Hoboken deprives riders on both the Montclair-Booten and the Morrison-Essex and Gladstone lines as much access to Hoboken and all connecting transit available as accorded on most other lines. And since the COVID-19 pandemic has subsided, The level of ridership recovery has been higher on weekend trains than on weekday trains without the NJT rail system, yet weekend Montclair service, excluding any service west of Bay Street, has not increased since 2010. And recent gains of weekend ridership specifically exceeded those of historic peak commuting hours. Stations west of MSU has no service at all, except during historic peak commuting times, where ridership recovery is the lowest in the system. Therefore, I resolve that the Lackawanna Coalition calls for New Jersey to trans-implement hourly weekend service between Hoboken and Monaco State University stations scheduled for connections West Eskind lines at Broad Street and Newark, and the trains that run on current schedule. Further resolve that hourly weekend service on Montclair-Libre Line be extended to Denville and Dover with similar service employee weekdays west of Montclair State University Station with full-day service on the Spectre-Portia line. This resolution, we sent this to NJT and all appropriate public officials in the area. And again, we ask you all to join us.

Thank you very much. Next guest, Robert Steck. We can hear you better up here if you're not yelling into the mic because it sort of muffles it if you get too close. Next guest, please.

Good evening. My name is Robert Steffel. Good evening. I'm an 85-year-old man. Three years ago, I was 82 going on 89. Today, I'm 85 going on 65. because of Michelle. No bullshit, no exaggeration. Michelle is one in a million. In Latin, sui generis. Cannot be replicated, okay? She has a visceral experience. You don't understand Michelle with the mind or even with the heart. It's something that you just absorb. It's like when you stand before the Niagara Falls, especially if you're at the bottom, and there's all this water coming down. Try to describe that in words. You can't. You feel it. Michelle has karma. If JFK walked in here, for us people who knew JFK when we were in college, He had a presence. Michelle, if she walks in, she has a presence. You go to the monthly birthday parties that we have, you have people dancing. She's out there dancing with them, and she's leading them. She cannot be replaced. Mr. Marks. You have a tough job, okay? And I envy you. I don't envy you. I feel sorry for every one of you guys because you are in a deep hole and you can't keep on digging. I hope, I really hope that somehow we can have a reorganization that we somehow can put the Montclair Institute of Lifelong Learning into another reporting structure that would be beautiful, okay? If I was to describe Michelle, I would say she is a force. She is the force behind our sales. I'm just going to repeat. I wrote a letter to each one of you. I found out on Friday the day that she was terminated abruptly. No warning. No. Hey, I don't know. I just know that she was abruptly terminated. Not Thank you.

Thank you. Next guest is Allison Tribus.

Good evening, everyone.

Good evening. My name is Allison Tribus. Tribus, everybody says Tribus. It's actually Tribus. I'm sorry. So I serve as the Vice Chair of the Montclair Environmental Commission. I came here tonight so you can put a face to the name that you've been getting emails from. What I wanted to talk tonight is about the tree ordinance that we were going to bring up this evening. I'm not quite sure if it's on the agenda or not. But anyway, I am here at your service to facilitate the passage of a stronger tree removal ordinance as required by New Jersey DEP and also by our community who respects and appreciates its tree canopy. My role as part of MEC is to provide the environmental guidance and recommendations for ordinances such as this to protect our natural environment. I want to get us up to par with a reasonable ordinance, so if I can be of assistance on the implementation part, I will gladly do that. I know that that is kind of the challenge here. I've been speaking to other towns and researching ways to automate and reduce the administrative workload, as I know that workforce capacity is a bottleneck. If you can clearly identify other bottlenecks, perhaps I can also recommend solutions on that. I applaud the increased arborist hours up to three days a week. I think that's a huge step in the right direction. I just want to make sure that the arborist is fully vested in Montclair and able to take on the demands of the job, given that we're an urban forest and not a rural forest. So it's quite different management. And I know that's something I can work with Dr. Johnson on. Both public and tree contractor education on this ordinance is going to be key, and that's somewhere where you could lean on MEC to help. To address those in town that I know are going to be skeptical or wonder why we're doing this and putting this ordinance forward, the Department of Sustainability is actually going to be working this summer using their green team to educate the public on the benefits to the community of maintaining and growing a tree inventory. The fear of burden on residents to take down hazardous or diseased trees can be subsided with details on what is in the ordinance as well, because I know that's another concern. In the proposed ordinance, if you're removing a diseased or hazardous tree, there's only a one-to-one replacement. And that's exactly as our current ordinance is, so no difference. And if that prevents a financial hardship, even to plant the one tree, you can get a waiver. The heavier replacement requirements for the three to four replacement trees applies only when someone electively removes a large, healthy tree, which they hopefully would have budgeted for in the landscaping project that they're taking on. And keep in mind that the goal of the replacement schedule that you see in there is to reduce the canopy loss. So it's not, you know, replacing. All the other speakers have said it much more eloquently than I can. You know, when you take down a large tree, replacing it with a little one, you're not getting a one-for-one replacement. There's been much discussion on this ordinance back and forth over email, and you're all aware of where MEC thinks it excels and where it falls short. There is work to be done, but with Mayor Baskerville and all the other counselors now at the table, I think we can move forward collectively to get a good ordinance passed. Thanks for your time, guys. Thank you.

Next guest is Ellen Resnick.

Hi, I'm Ellen Z. Resnick. I live at 415 Claremont Avenue. It just feels really wrong to say goodbye to Michelle DeWitt. She's someone who's, you've heard it all tonight, talent, creativity, innovation, kindness, compassion, organizational skills. She mobilized facets of our township from all walks of lives, all to create new and exciting opportunities. I understand, because I am a retired school administrator, I understand about human resources. I understand that it is difficult or sometimes not possible to discuss reasons for termination. But I'm going to tell you what is the word out there, and it's been said tonight, that Michelle was terminated due to what was termed insubordination. because she allowed lifelong learning members to express frustrations about resources which were not allocated to the senior community. I would like you to see it differently. I really would. There's a theory that developing a way to allow people who feel they have been overlooked or disregarded to express their frustration then they can channel it into positive community collaboration. This is exactly what Michelle DeWitt was engendering among all of us, and she should be rewarded and held up as exemplary for that. It's not insubordination. It is life-saving. It builds the determination for all of us as a team to move forward together. Thank you. Thank you.

Next guest is Jean Lyons. Okay, thank you. Next guest is Sandra Chamberlain.

Can I give a piece of paper? This is just aspirational, not literal.

Oh, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. No, no, no. The wire. The wire.

I am on Shark Tank, right? Thank you for your time. I'm Sandra Chamberlain. I've lived in Montpere for 46 years. I was on the Environmental Commission for two years on the Tree Committee about six years ago. The older I get, the more I fall in love with trees. Trees eat light. They carry water. They are chemistry laboratories. They inhale carbon dioxide and they exhale oxygen. After being cut down, they send their last dying nourishment to their children. They are families. They warn their neighbors of danger. They give us shade. They are home and sustenance to thousands of other species. They inspire all of us with their endless variety and beauty. And without them, we would die. I believe that when you love something, you nurture and protect it because life is fragile. After 40 years in Montclair, I have watched our tree canopy, especially some of the tallest and most beautiful, be cut down for convenience, for lack of imagination, or for lack of respect of these living giants. It's like shooting an elephant. Physicists who are studying consciousness and saying consciousness may be elemental are also saying trees are intelligent and conscious. In other cultures such as Japan, which is what the picture is you have, trees are revered. I would love for Montclair to be a town who sets an example as a town that values, nurtures, and loves its trees because just as we love and nurture our children, Our children need all the trees we can save and plant for them to live in a healthy town and learn by example that protecting and nurturing means love. I hope you'll vote to first strengthen by providing enforcement, then pass the new tree ordinance. We will all be very grateful. And without enforcement, the ordinance is nothing but words. Thank you very much for your time.

Thank you very much. Next guest, Lynn Stockhamer.

Good evening, everybody. Good evening. People have spoken at length about Michelle DeWitt, and I had a few different things. My name is Lynn Stockhammer. A few different topics I wanted to talk about. Michelle has been a strong, steady, welcoming, uplifting presence. And I will not read everything that I wrote about Michelle because there can't be enough said, but it has been. But I did attend a class Tuesday, that was today, wasn't it, at Wiley Choice. There was absolutely no presence of anyone from Lifelong Montclair. There was no sign-in sheet. There was no check-in seat. following class came in as we were exiting our class, there was no accountability whatsoever. I think there are considerations about this. Doesn't the county or town need to report attendance for funding purposes? Are there insurance considerations? Should someone have required assistance? Was there anyone present at Wally Choice to report? There just seems to be a lack of transparency in this town once again um i understand um it may have been something from the montclair local today that i read i don't recall um that the town has stated it's seeking a person to uh fill the role of michelle dewitt and all i say sarcastically is good luck I also understand that the town is required and I don't have any kind of statute to quote to post a job opening within a certain period of time if it's the case that there's an open position. I did look it up and I wasn't able to see anything posted. I thought that also we were required to be informed of why Michelle Dewitt was terminated from her position. We want an answer, Mr. Town Manager. Was there cause? We want Michelle back. I'll move on for that, but there really are a lot of people with their hearts broken right now, and I really can never forget Michelle reaching out to me personally, starting in 2020, and I think many, many people have such stories. I won't go into mine. As to Tony's Brook, the portion of the culvert on Forest Street, Madam Mayor, the last time I reported something, I think I copied it to just about everybody. I was told that in the future I should directly contact the fire department. So of course there was a next time, and this one was due to a noxious odor and not to dumping, public urination, cigarettes being tossed in, or any of the other things that occur with the broke. I called 911 to get to the fire department on Friday, June 5th. I advised them that I was told by the mayor that this was the proper channel to report. The officer who answered the phone told me she was familiar with the matter and she'd pass it along to the fire department, but she, quote, didn't think responders were being sent out anymore. I live right across the street and no one appeared. Sorry, I had so many other things to talk about.

Thank you. Thank you. Ellen, thank you.

Hi, good evening. Thank you very much. I'm going to be brief. I know it's a long evening. I live at 20 LaSalle Road. I've lived there for over 25 years. And I'd just like to start by, please picture me here with my 35 neighbors. We are the Ward 1 neighbors.

Your name is Ellen Vinkey? Ellen Vinkey, yes. Thank you.

We are the Ward 1 neighbors that one of the earlier speakers spoke about, where there have been approximately 20 trees where the roots have been cut, many of them 100 years old. Those trees, some of them will now have to come down. And we just want to be represented here and say that we very much support a strong tree ordinance that protects sustainability, that contributes to increasing climate action in response to climate change. There's a sort of a footnote here, and to be honest, I don't know enough about it because I came to the meeting very late. I saw the message when I was on the train. I've been involved with people in my neighborhood who, Jonathan Grouper and others, who have been much more vocal about this. I'm here representing them because they couldn't be here. But what I will say is that there was actually, as some of you probably know, a very significant mismanagement issue that resulted in these routes being cut. And just like the people who spoke about Michelle, I think we need accountability. Not to blame someone. I actually work for the UN in the Office of Internal Oversight Services, where I do accountability. learning evaluations I'm not talking about accountability to get someone in trouble I'm talking about accountability so that this never happens again there were important critical trees that are coming down and they're also to be honest with you creates a risk for the town because if we don't get enough attention by the arborist to identify the trees that really are at risk two things can happen one One, more trees come down than need to, which is a negative, obviously. And two, if one of these trees where the roots were, and I'm not saying this as a threat, if one of these trees where the roots were cut falls on someone's house, that's a significant liability for every single taxpayer in this town. I don't know if any of you have been here long enough. I'm sure some of you have actually. There have been people, I believe the former principal of Northeast where my children went to school, a tree fell on her and she died. So taking this seriously, making our trees healthy, nurturing them, but also making sure that the work that the arborist has to do. I didn't know that the arborist would only be working three days a week. With all due respect to the person that said that's an improvement, that sounds outrageous to me when we have the kind of issues that we have around trees in Montclair. It sounds like a liability to have the arborist work three days a week. But again, I say this completely with every positive intention. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much. that concludes our public comment portion if there's anyone here who I did not call your name who wishes to be heard at this time who has not been heard yes but please make sure you state your name please

Levi Siegel, I live in Ward 2. Just want to comment on supporting better train service to MSU on the weekends. I live in Upper Montclair, and we frequently go to New York on the weekends, but we don't take the train. We drive to a park and ride, which has more frequent service, because we find that frequency to be very liberating. You know, two hours from Bay Street really isn't enough. I think we really need one hour every hour to MSU. And, you know, there were concerns about, like, traffic when having the train to run to MSU. I actually think that that could reduce traffic because think about how many people are driving to Bay Street and are also driving to other park and rides who want more frequent service. If the train ran to MSU, they wouldn't have to drive, and they could instead use the train. And there's a lot of benefits with that as well, like less people driving. A lot less CO2 admissions. The people who live on the train stations north of Bay Street who may not own a car now have way better access to the train on weekends. And when I do take the train, it's very overcrowded. Definitely extending it to MSU every hour would more than double the capacity, which is really needed. I really can't imagine if you have a family and you have to go to New York, taking the train is not possible. There's no seats. It's so busy. And also think about the financial benefit. When we have more service to MSU, it's possible that more people will come to Montclair with that better service. And considering that NJ Transit has to operate this, we wouldn't really be paying for that extension to MSU. And so we would benefit financially from this extension. You know, not that many towns or places in the U.S. have such high-quality rail infrastructure, electrified, double-track rail infrastructure like we do. And I really think that we should take advantage of it over the weekend. So there's very clear demand for more service to New York. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Okay, now we're going to – oh.

all right thanks for the opportunity to come up ahava felicidad um president of the tenants organization of montclair the group that uh with the township everybody brought rent control to montclair so we've had rent control since may 9 of 2022. good evening honorable mayor dr baskerville and council So I have really just two, well, three things that I wanted to focus on. One is about our younger generations or the generations who are, and this is not like targeting, but it helps to put together the structure for my comment. Our millennials and our Gen Zs who are now renting in Montclair. And just I've talked to a lot of seniors who've had some conflicts with the younger generation living above and around them. And we just want everyone to just have a little more compassion for seniors. Not everyone knows what it is to be an elder. and the seniors have expressed concerns about not feeling fully respected or honored or talked to properly when they're engaging with neighbors who may have recently moved into certain units and we want everyone to be able to get along. including things that include like repairs. So if someone needs to get into another person's apartment for repair and it affects their neighbor, that you guys do your best to work it out. And if you need to speak with us at the tenant organization or to the LTAC, that that would be a really good idea to balance out some of the conflict of the cross-generational miscommunications. So that's one. Another is just a reminder for the parents out there about the children who are in certain places around town and people bring it to me and they say to me even when I go in the supermarket about what some of the kids are doing in places that they should not be. I don't want to state those places. People who are watching will figure it out. but neighbors tenants are calling in about children being in places they're not supposed to be so just kind of see where your kids are at so that they're being careful when I see them out I might say hey guys be careful because we're getting reports and about kids being in places that they should not be that are unsafe and we love our our kids in our community Lastly, just the issue of speeding. If everyone could be conscious of slowing down when they're driving, there are a lot of people speeding still in town, and we want everyone to be safe. I mean, the squirrels can't even make it across the street these days. I'm seeing more roadkill in Montclair than ever before. It's like being out on the highway going to Bear Mountain or something, but please slow down. Thank you.

okay I think that concludes the end of the public comment period the next the next items on the agenda are the pending ordinances okay good thank you interfering with our ability to hear what's going on in here

Okay, so we're going to go to pending ordinances on second reading. The public who wish to be heard on here will have an opportunity. I'm going to open the public hearing without objection. Is there anyone present who wishes to be heard in relationship to pending ordinance 0-26-21, ordinance amending the salary ordinance for the management non-unit group for the year 2026? Seeing no members of the public that wish to be heard, I'm going to close the public hearing. Are there members of the council who wish to be heard?

No.

I'd like to make a motion that we approve pending ordinance 026-21. Second. Madam Clerk? Deputy Mayor Anderson? Yes.

Councillor Birmingham absent. Councillor D'Amato? Yes. Councillor Harrison? Yes. Councillor Tolar? Yes. Councillor Williams? Yes. Mayor Baskerville?

Yes. men over the public hearing without objection for pending ordinance zero dash twenty six dash twenty two ordinance to repeal and replace ordinance zero dash twenty five dash sixty three removing from chapter three twenty seven vehicles in traffic and establishing new article two in chapter two twenty eight parking for the sale and use of temporary no parking signs. Is there anyone present who wish to be heard on this pending ordinance?

Please come forward.

Good evening again, Lynn Stockhammer. Please stop me if this is not appropriate, if this doesn't fall within what we're discussing right now. But in terms of a temporary- I'm sorry.

When you come back up again, you just need to give us your name. Thank you.

Oh, I'm so sorry. Lynn Stockhammer. This is just another aspect of the parking on Forest Street, both the illegal parking on the right side facing the parking garage at Glenridge Avenue from Forest Street and the parking on the left side, which is the valet from Marimoto. I was told by, I think, Councilor Williams, and also maybe the mayor and I don't know who else that the parking sign the no parking sign on the old auto top shop sign was actually not a town sign although it it's it's quite a facsimile in terms of the typeface the language and everything it says so it appears as if whoever currently owns or previously owned When at the time it was put up that property put up a sign I did not know that an individual or an investor is allowed to put up a sign That looks exactly like a town sign saying no parking from here to corner or whatever So you can't have it both ways either. It's a town sign and there's no parking from there to corner and and it there is indeed a driveway so technically people would not be parking in front of a driveway um or um you know there's either no parking or there's parking and that leads into another issue which I know is not appropriate right now thank you thank you is there anyone else from the public that wishes to be heard on pending ordinance 0 26 22.

No, seeing none other, I'm going to close the public hearing on pending ordinance 02622 and ask if there are members of the council that wish to be heard on this pending ordinance.

I would like Manny to- Councillor Tolo. Sure, thank you. The parking sign that she mentioned, are we going to investigate that? We have Manny here in the back to determine or ask the questions. You know, she's saying, I think she said that the sign is either not a township sign or it is a township sign or we don't know.

I have no idea.

That's something important because if it's not our sign, then do we remove it? I don't know. Maybe Manny can help us.

Good evening, everyone. That sign, if I'm not mistaken, I believe that sign was already spoke to DCS about removing that sign. That sign was not a township sign. There was no ordinance about no parking any time. But I don't understand who put it up. I don't know who put it up.

wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait we just thank you miss dot hammer we're going to take if it hasn't been removed it will be removed that's okay that's all i needed to do yes okay thank you we're going to move on um the council members the other council members have um discussion on pending ordinance 0 26 22. mm-hmm i wasn't here for the last meeting okay um this was a companion ordinance Okay.

That did not pass. So I did want to bring to your all attention in case it was missed. We did add temporary no parking signs as a companion to that ordinance and item number seven should have been read. It does say that

so what what are you suggesting now that this be done with item seven I'm just trying to figure out what would you

Okay. Thank you. Well, okay. Council members? Yeah. Councilor D'Amato?

No. Okay. I didn't know if you were good to say something. Can we just strike that passage for now? It's non-substantive. Without reintroduction.

So which one would we strike? This one? Okay.

But wait a minute. Would that require reintroduction?

Which... To move this along, I move to amend the ordinance to eliminate section 228-5B7. Okay, 228-5.

Where is that? I second it. No, I just wanted to see where it is.

It's on page 2 of the ordinance at the top of the page. And I second that motion.

All right.

Madam Clerk? Deputy Mayor Anderson? Yes, on the motion to amend. Councillor D'Amato? Yes. Councillor Harrison? Yes. Councillor Toller? Yes. Councillor Williams? Yes. Mayor Baskerville?

Yes, thank you. Moving on to, no, I'd like to make a motion that we close the public comments on the pending ordinances. favor any opposed then we have to vote on the amended ordinance yeah next meeting so there's no there's no public hearing until August no July 4 July July right we reintroduce the okay all right so we're going to move on to new business ordinances councillor D'Amato

Number C. An ordinance in Chapter 341.5, Section E permits required. Inspection and approval of the code of the Township of Montclair, New Jersey. And I so move.

Second. Any discussion?

Yes. Councilor Tolar. Is Mr. Primavera available? Mr. Primavera would you please join us hello so thank you for meeting with the facilities and infrastructure committee was it last week or the week before and we had a few changes that we wanted tweaked and the only thing that I don't see included is the word new development we had a conversation about

new homeowners and new development trying to make this as seamless and less confusing for residents to understand that it's not every single person that's going to have to do this it's for okay um so what i was thinking we could put in there if you'd like is anyone who is taking a mother law and splitting it into new tax lots is required to do this would that be better language

Well, it's about the language that our residents need to understand, so that's why I was asking for something very seamless to make sure that, you know, if someone had a question, I don't have to ask the attorney if that type of change could be added.

Well, I understand that we did change it. Originally, it had some other language, and I don't think we had any structure concerning it. that way it's not redevelopment has a specific meaning in the code we don't want it to just be a redevelopment area no no we were structure converting into a multi-family use the tax office would know that and then we also added that any structure that does not comply shall be subject to the same, I'm sorry, shall be subject to the same penalties as a delinquent water account, and that's the tax office. So it kind of, we change it to any structure. There was different language that we had earlier, and that way it would cover any structure, regardless of whether, whatever land use application, whatever development type it would be.

Yeah, I wasn't focusing so much on redevelopment. I'm just thinking about homeowners to make sure that they understand if you're building a new home. This doesn't apply to homeowners currently right now. This is for the future. Correct.

This is for anyone redoing.

It's not just new homes either. No, I know that. Yeah, it would be any subdivision. It would be putting up walls, making a two-family. We wanted to cover the panoply.

Okay. So, Councillor Tolar, are you suggesting an amendment? Because I'm not following.

Well, that's what I was asking the attorney if we could, but she's on the record stating that this word, any structure, is going to be suffice for residents to understand that it's for new folks, people building new projects, not current residents. Okay.

okay then did we add something to make sure that the tax office is accountable if you will so any sort of meter appointment or anything of that nature goes through the tax water and store office so the tax collector is aware of all these appointments she's involved with that okay

I'm just trying to make sure departments are working cohesively because without, and I'm going to call it Sesame Street language in some of these departments or, you know, can say, oh, it's not my responsibility.

I understand where you're coming from, but this actually benefits the tax water and sewer offices we discussed in the infrastructure committee meeting because of the sewer billing.

all right y'all email Michael primavera again so are we okay to go I'm with this anyone else I'll gladly answers thank you very much council members anyone else have anything on agenda item number C Roll call, please.

Deputy Mayor Anderson. Yes. Council Birmingham absent. Councilor D'Amato. Yes. Councilor Harrison. Yes. Councilor Tolar. Yes. Councilor Williams. Yes. Mayor Baskerville.

Yes, thank you. Councilor Harrison, E, please.

Number E.

this is an ordinance amending and replacing chapter 324 trees of the code of the township of montclair new jersey to establish comprehensive tree protection conservation removal replacement and urban forestry regulations at this time i would like to make a motion to table the introduction second and open this item for discussion. I'm not gonna, may I? Mayor? The reason why I'm making this motion is because we did put this version of the ordinance out there. It's been worked on for many, many months, reviewed and discussed with different stakeholders, including the Environmental Commission, the Department of Sustainability, and other departments. We really negotiated a lot of the language internally. And from my perspective, and the co-sponsor's perspective, it was really important to number one, first and foremost, have a much stronger ordinance. to not only protect existing trees, but to grow the tree canopy and make sure that we have a really robust living infrastructure, which trees are. And so while at the same time, making sure that there are no unintended consequences that will negatively impact some of our neighbors who may have financial challenges. We wanna make sure also that we protect the largest trees while also enabling the trees, even that size that need to come down because they're dead or dying or hazardous for there to be a relatively seamless way for residents to be able to do that. and so we have also received and we've read all of the suggestions that many of you who have spoken tonight have put forward and we've already started considering them some of the some of the suggestions are being incorporated and so I think Tabling the introduction to next month would be wise so that we can make sure that all of the suggestions are well considered and that we have something that not only is strong language, but that we're going to be able to, as a township, Effectively implement and and and so we're all also thinking about ways that we can do that and have taken action For example, you know, we would like to have an automated system for permitting and you know tracking removals tracking replacements and Trying to make it as user friendly for residents as possible. So Thank you.

I just like to say Thank thank you Deputy Mayor and thank Councillor Birmingham for all of the work and time that you put in to help to get to this point and to agreeing today with you know tabling it because when we met yesterday I know both Councillor Harris and myself were very very interested in tabling it because we received quite a few emails that had the same wonderful suggestions and I personally am very interested in reviewing all of them and I think that they gave it teeth and they really got us to a point that that made just gave it you know more strength in terms of moving forward and I think that they will be able to Well, I think initially it was said that maybe we would not be able to get the language so that they would know how to uphold what they were doing. But I think we can do that. And just wanted to thank all of the people in the township that gave us about the same I guess they're about seven suggestions and about maybe 15 emails it all had the same suggestion so I thank you all for taking your time to email we do read them and it's important and then I go through each one of them and so I agree with you so I want to thank you all for your time there counselor Harrison discussion

Our attorney advised me not to send proposed revisions to all members of the council, so I followed her direction.

We weren't supposed to send them to the public either, right? But somebody sent them to the public. Thanks. Mayor, when he's gone up. Okay, yes.

I'm not proposed I just want to get these out there to foster discussion among council members between now and the next meeting so hopefully we can develop a consensus on where we're going and adopt an ordinance I think as many members of the public have commented on our existing ordinances deficient and we need to adopt a stronger ordinance but it's also important that it be a workable ordinance the what I proposed and we'll figure out a way to get this on the website it doesn't involve me figuring out how to do it so we can you know get a strong ordinance that's workable. I mean, part of this is, you know, we have finite staff and it has to work in order for it to be effective and, but I, you know, I think we appreciate your comments as the mayor said and if we get comments on additional comments on these changes you'll recognize a number of them and some are new and different from my own perspective of this but you know I think the goal is don't wait until two days before the meeting to get us comments you know as soon as you can so we can move forward and get it something introduced that we will then be able to adopt in August.

Thank you. Council D'Amato?

Yeah, I would second everything that Bill is saying, that Councilor Harrison is saying. I would like to just focus on making it work, making it as simple as possible. I think somebody, Mr. Ziv, who was up here, said the best policy is the one that's the most simple. I think that the general sense of unhappiness that people often have in this town who follow policy and follow us is because of a sense that things are not executed well. They're chaotic. They're all over the place. It is because as an organization, this township does an immense amount of things that other places don't even try to do. And we deal with a new kind of a freak out every week. And so the ball gets dropped continuously. We all feel that. I was there in Fieldstone a week and a half ago. It fell on me to go look into the pits and see the cut roots of trees that were cut by mistake by an administrative oversight because of confusion and people trying to do too much. And people were gutted who were there from the township. And I mean, it was literally, I was looking into the abyss and it was very clarifying Yes. It was bad. I was there. And it's clarifying because the point is that it has to work. It can't just be, you know, and I did the word count on the first ordinance, the first draft of it, for the additions I noted was longer than the U.S. Constitution's first version, which was the instruction manual for the country. So I would like to see everything just get over the next month. I think it will be awesome to try to tighten it up because crucially what we cannot do is just create a paperwork blizzard and then have the real world stuff stay the same. That's what failure looks like. Success looks like not so much bureaucracy, not so much extra cost and real and an actual improvement to getting to that 10% tree canopy growth over the previous years. And failure looks like a lot of bureaucracy, nothing happening on the ground. and people squabbling over it. So we have to work on it, on making it work and talking to staff to make it happen. But the goal is great, and I'd like it to look like what my yard looks like. So when I moved in to that house where I live right now, there was a giant dying elm tree in the front. And we cut it down. We were told we had to. The previous owner did not do anything. Somebody said, you have to put in a new tree. I don't even remember the transaction. I think it was shortly after the week ordinance passed. And they said, you've got to plant a new tree. And I went, OK. And they said, what should we put in? And I said, I don't know. And they said, why don't you spend some money, put in a nice white oak tree? That tree is 35 feet tall now. It's beautiful. So it can work. We just have to make it as simple as that transaction.

I just want to say that I was really impressed with whoever added the part where it says add equity prioritization to the tree fund. tree fund expenditures currently follow a proximity rule money stays within a thousand feet of wherever removal occurs this sends funds towards neighborhoods where tree work already happens rather than to heat burdened communities that need canopy most and whoever put that in i want to thank you a lot i was really impressed with that because it's not all the time that when we do these things that people speak about equity and the need to do things like that So, I mean, that just is telling of how thoughtful you all are to come up with these things and to add things that I hope that the council will understand because it is extremely important. You know, we shouldn't just take a tree down in a neighborhood that has a lot of trees and then make it stay there. And so I really wanted to thank you, whoever came up with that.

counselor toller sure thank you um yeah i'm happy that we're going to table this and you know put some strength and teeth to it um you know it's been sitting during this administration since day one which is 22 months i know about a year ago i met with some residents we asked to see a copy of it took a little while to get a copy to look at it and review but i'm happy to see that we're going to table this put some more teeth to it council Harrison you mentioned you know that if residents have something to I guess add to something to try to email it in two days before but we they don't get the agenda until two days before but what we can possibly do is you know have a little ad hoc committee if you want to have some folks submit comments and continue to work on this so it's ready for July

I was hoping to get the changes I was proposing up on the website now. Oh, for feedback, sure. And so we can get feedback on that. Yeah.

And I'm just going to personally thank Suzanne Atman, Anna Grossman, and Jessica Stolzberg, because I've been in discussions with them prior to being a counselor. Well, I received thanks from all of them. let's just get it real and give the you know acknowledgement where it's due of course luckily this administration is listening to our residents and experts and we're gonna have something with some real teeth that we can be proud of going forward so thank you ladies okay counselor Williams anything okay

All right, so we're going to move on to...

Excuse me, Mayor.

Yes.

There's a motion to table this ordinance to 714. Oh, okay. You want to run the roll? Yes. Deputy Mayor Anderson? Yes. Councillor Birmingham absent. Councillor D'Amato? Yes. Councillor Harrison? Yes. Councillor Toller? Yes. Councillor Williams? Yes. Mayor Baskerville?

Yes, thank you. Councillor Williams, number F, please. Letter F. Number F. No, I'm just going to call them by the letters, please.

So, agenda item F. An ordinance amending, supplementing section 29 of chapter 202, land use procedures of the code of the township of Montclair, New Jersey. So moved.

Second.

I have a question.

Yes, Councilor Williams.

So, I guess the spirit of this is to drill down to who actually owns what, when, application is coming before either the planning or the zoning board so I'm just looking at the math here and 10% an entity holding 10% interest you want to drill down and then if anyone owns 10% of that interest you want to drill down so you want to drill down to someone owning 1% it would be 10% throughout let me explain okay so

Councillor Harrison. The municipal land use law requires for corporations and partnerships and other than Montclair, the rest of the world interprets that to be any non-human being entity. to go down and you have to keep drilling down so in the scores of municipalities where I practice a represent applicant the applicant is almost invariably a single-purpose LLC and when you're representing a national corporation you frequently have to go up six seven levels of each entity that owns at least ten percent of the prior entity has to be disclosed and that's the universal practice this was really in response to what Ms. Avery pointed out earlier of people coming in single-purpose entities and not wreck being able to because Montclair did not require disclosure for an LLC not recognizing until we were on our eighth ninth or tenth application partially that these were the same people coming in and applying and there's a second step for this it's also port of adjustment recommendation to address that, but the immediate step is so we know, one, it helps identify conflicts if you know, because when it's the 593 Park Street, LLC, you have no idea who's behind it. And so people know who's involved and know if there are any conflicts. And it's following the practice in the rest of the state. It's not doing something new or different. And it's just saying what has to be done for corporations and partnerships has to be done for LLCs, PCs, all the other infinite ways that lawyers have created that entities can exist.

Yeah, that's fine. Just in banking, you have to do that with your customer and stuff like that. I'm fine with that. The only thing that I was questioning here is you have an applicant that's coming up for one of these two boards. there's a single-purpose entity that owns 10% of this project okay so now you're saying hey entity I need to know who owns 10% of you you won't you own 10% I need to know everyone that owns 10% that's when you get down to the 1% right and that that's where I was saying I mean do we need to drill down that that level yeah that was no answers yes then the answer shows it's it's

It doesn't actually work like that. I guess in theory it could, but I didn't want to do something different than exists everywhere else in the state. It does that. I will not mention the name of the corporations, but a very large international corporation I represented. It was very much fun going with their legal department and figuring out their ownership structure where they have that to go up to the ultimate corporation whose name people would know is distinguished from the five LLCs in between. But it's what people do everywhere in the state. And I... And... The entities who are applying in Montclair, it's not, it's not, it should not be an issue. And it's something that they, if they have applications in other towns, they're doing already.

I have a question. Is that true for making people show their partnership agreements? That seems a little interesting.

That's what the law requires now. mean the municipal land use law requires that for partnerships partnership agreements so if Joe Mary and Sam each have at least a 10% interest in the partnership they their names have to be revealed deputy mayor

It seems pretty standard and if it is consistent with what everyone, you know, what's required throughout the state. I guess I just wanted to know, do we know if the land use boards are already requiring, have been asking for this?

Okay, this is a Board of Adjustment recommendation. The Board of Adjustment, in frustration about the council not doing anything with their recommendation, voted to change its procedures to require for an application to be complete that this information be provided, and I was still on the board, so it was at least a year ago. So that's been what the planning department's been doing for Board of Adjustment applications.

Councilor Tolar? Sure, thank you. And just for the record, you know, this is a result of discussions that I've had with Councilor Harrison prior to him joining the council regarding interest. You know, who's involved in these applications and us not knowing, coupled with many projects in town where we have open holes and they're not finished because we don't know who's behind these LLCs. And the last discussion we had regarding another project here in town, We were talking about those interests and who was involved in them with the Church Street project. So I went to Councilor Harrison to figure out is now a great time because we've had enough where we can, he told me the law changed, that there's something we can do. I just wanted to let Deputy Mayor Susan Anderson know, because I saw your email about why didn't this go through EDC. These discussions that I was having with Councilor Harrison

go way back before he was even a counselor and he brought this to my attention and I said sure I'll sponsor this so this is how this arrived here council Williams and any further no no madam clerk Oh councillor D'Amato yeah I just I just think it's it's more red tape and it's like the prosperity that gives us all this stuff that we have in this town and the nice trees is based on The corporation, which is separate from these individuals, and the idea that we need to know who's behind X percent of a company that's doing business, I'm just not really for that. It's intrusive, and it sounds like a shakedown. Why do you need to know?

How are you shaking somebody down if you want to know who's involved in building here?

Why would you want to know? It's a company.

Because we want to know the financials and make sure they have the money to actually build. I just said that because we have a lot of open holes here already, projects not done. Why wouldn't we want to know? This is not a shakedown. This is ensuring that people that want to come here and develop have adequate funds. We know who the people are. and that the project's going to get done properly.

Madam Clerk, will you roll call, please? I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Can I just clarify one thing?

Madam Clerk, will you do the roll call, please? Deputy Mayor Anderson.

Can I just ask one last question here? I just want to clarify what I'm voting on here.

Clarification.

So what I understand from this language is that it doesn't really, it has less to do with, you know, the financial viability of the company, but more about, like, the, you know, how... uh the interest of the applicant um in the company that's supplying for right for for the development to do the development is that correct

to know who has an ownership interest in the applicant.

Right. Yes.

Right. It doesn't.

Right.

Madam Clerk, roll call, please. Deputy Mayor Anderson. Yes. Councilor Birmingham, Adson. Councilor D'Amato.

No.

Councilor Harrison. Yes. Councilor Toller. Yes. Councilor Williams. Yes. Mayor Baskerville.

Yes. G. Councilor Toller.

Sure. Agenda item, letter G. Why does it say number G?

I don't know because I said it first.

An ordinance amending chapter 327, vehicles and traffic of the code of the township of Montclair, New Jersey, to redefine and amend section 41, special parking zones. I so move.

Second.

And I am. discussion yeah I'm just counselor told sure this was submitted by complete streets and director is that correct here hello hello everyone

so um did somebody else have a question before yeah can you please just explain um because i spoke to you a little bit yesterday and you said that you would come up and explain yeah sure so the special parking zone was created like sometime in 2018 what it did was it doubled fines in the special parking zone area in kind of digging into it um there had apparently been some Issues and the tool that was used to address them was like back-end enforcement being stronger. That area was then used to ground the changed meter rates to the doubling or the... $3 an hour on Thursday through Saturday. That was the area used. But the special parking zone wasn't covering the most high demand parts of town. It was leaving a lot of areas that would benefit from those increased rates uncovered. And so we wanted to do a couple things. One, we wanted to expand the special parking zone to ensure that where there was demand, parking was appropriately priced so that folks could find a spot on the street if they need one. Two, we didn't think the double fines was really accomplishing our goal of better managing parking in the area. Enforcement is a useful tool, but it only works after the fact. And so giving someone a fine for $70 isn't going to necessarily change their behavior on the front end. because they won't know what's going to happen. And it just felt punitive, frankly, to have this one kind of arbitrary area facing double fines. And so we wanted to move away from that. That being said, the special parking zone is a useful tool for identifying areas in town with significant parking demand. it's a helpful tool to allow us to target regulations that are necessary in places with the most demand so you know some of the spaces I know that were concerns mentioned about some of the streets mentioned not having meters on them and so why are they in the special parking zone right because there's still areas of high demand for parking and should we decide to adopt new regulations to ensure that parking is well managed in areas of the greatest demand, we have that tool already in place. It's not imposing any costs on anyone because you can't change a meter rate where a meter doesn't exist, but it gives us the tools we need to ensure that should we need to put in special regulations to ensure parking's available and abundant, we can do so easily without having to amend this parking zone every time.

Because if they don't have the parking meters now, so you're envisioning like years down the road or whatever I just don't understand why we need to include them if they don't have any meters like at this point in time I heard what you said but I'm still not able to follow the reasoning about something that may never exist the the reasoning is is to ensure that the area with the most demand for parking in town

has is basically highlighted and noted and that we can target regulations that may need to be put in place to that area right just because a street isn't metered doesn't mean it doesn't have heavy parking demand and doesn't mean that it doesn't uh need special attention so what will we be doing for it now how will it help us now it at this time right the only use of the assuming this ordinance passes Let me correct myself there. The only purpose of the special parking zone is to highlight where the meters will be $3 an hour from Thursday to Saturday. That's the use of the special parking zone at this time. And so it would have no change to a street that doesn't have a meter at this time. No impact, I should say.

So one, two, three, four of the streets that are here don't have meters. So that's like, what, half of them? 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.

I want to make sure it's clear. So those are the bounding streets. All streets within that zone, as laid out in the map, are included in the special parking zone. So the streets noted are the streets on the edge, essentially. And everything within it is included in the special parking zone.

Councilor Toler? So when you said we met, and I'm not sure who we is, but I thought we had a parking committee. Yeah. And, um, Who did you meet with to come up with this? I don't... You said, we met, we met, and you discussed, so I'm just trying to figure out. I... No, I'm trying to figure out who your we is.

I'll be honest, I don't recall saying the words we met, but I was talking to... I guess I'm not following.

Well, basically... Did you come up with this by yourself or did you meet with a committee or group of people? Because there is a parking committee and I don't recall.

Oh, I consulted.

I don't remember a discussion on it.

I consulted with Manny at the parking utility about the value of the double fines in enforcement.

Mayor, were you consulted? Oh, okay. There is a parking committee. So I'm just trying to understand. I mean, I understand he's putting meters up and fines, but is this needed at this time? Because in my opinion, it's just... I think far better things Complete Streets could be doing with their time. Is there a real reason we need to do this right now? Is there something you or Manny really want to share with us that why we should vote and do this now versus later?

I want to ensure that the parking changes implemented in the most recent council meeting are effective and accomplish the goals of the municipality and that the areas of town that have the highest demand for parking are adequately priced to ensure that parking remains available for those who need it.

And I respect that. I'm just thinking we need to really focus on some other things with Complete Streets. We've had two accidents in Ward 4 this weekend. I've emailed you the pictures. The same intersection. So if you have time to do this, maybe we can start talking about doing some improvements for road safety instead of something that this wouldn't go into effect to be

money to be collected until when it would take effect when the ordinance takes effect which is 20 days after second reading we have meters to install on many of the streets in the bounded zone yes not on not on all of the streets within the zone but on

I don't know I feel like this should just have gone through the parking committee first Council Williams and then Council Harrison Council William Council Harrison

Okay, so I'm confused on multiple levels. One, if you're describing a boundary, why are you including both sides of the street? Because that adds to the impression that we're doing something that we're not with streets with currently no parking meters.

I expanded from the pre-existing language in the code. And so I was using the pre-existing language in the code.

OK. But you're changing a bunch of other language, so changing. And then with what we just passed, does the special meter rates apply to parking lots? at this no the special meter rates apply only to on street meters not that is not what this says this says for special meter rates is hereby established include shall include all streets parts of streets and public parking lots within the area and you're picking up a couple of big parking lots by doing this which certainly creates the impression that a higher rate applies which is not in the ordinance we just adopted and not trying to take in the original area whether there were any public parking lots yeah but um I'm not I if we're not charging special rates in the parking lots that language shouldn't be here that's yeah understood council Williams

No. Councillor Damada? Deputy?

Oh, Councillor Williams.

Thank you. You caught me. So do we want to, to Councillor Harrison's point with the public lots, that's something that I didn't focus on. I guess it's a pretty good point. Should we just pull this back and then, or it's kind of an, is it a material change if we just strike the public lots out of here?

I think we need to discuss it a little bit further all the way around. Right. Streets that have no meters, I don't think should be here either.

Well, I mean, and I don't want to prolong this, so if we're going to table it, we can table it. But if there's no meters on the street, then there's no effect.

But it doesn't need to be in here, just like the parking spaces, the parking lots that aren't going to be in here.

Well, the parking lots would have an impact. on the parking lots but if we change if we change what we already covered to include that they're not included i think i think uh parking lots are currently included in the special parking zone but they're not included in the new boundary that he's creating i don't understand why we just won't take it

Next time, can we please have the items that are related consecutively? Which ones, Councillor? J and G. ABCDEFG.

okay you want me to go to Jay next then so it'll be like back-to-back I can take Jay but I will say that I have trouble also following this whole thing a little bit just I read the memo it's just so I'd like to make a motion that we table it was their motion on the

Okay, Council William made a motion and I second.

No, there was already one on, right? Yes, Mayor. Okay. Are we tabling this to July 14th? Yes. Okay. Deputy Mayor Harris, I'm sorry, Deputy Mayor Anderson. Yes. Council Birmingham absent. Councilor D'Amato?

Abstain.

Councillor Harrison. Yes. Councillor Tolar. Yes. Councillor Williams. Yes. Mayor Baskerville. Yes.

And then we want to go to agenda item J. Councillor D'Amato. I thought he said that these were.

No, no, I'm saying in general. Right. That things that are related. I don't even know if they really, I mean, they are related.

It's not related. J is not related. Okay.

so thank you very much um director neiman thank you okay um council harrison h an ordinance establishing article 10 valet parking regulations in chapter 327 vehicles and traffic entitled valet parking regulations i so move second discussion

um council williams i i think i'm well i'm gonna vote against this because i i don't while i i think valet parking needs to be regulated not totally abolished uh so you know that's i i don't think that this has any sort of uh exception in here for special events or anything like that so that's that's just my comment now deputy

um so number one i i i guess with the third whereas clause i'm just really not i'm not convinced that valet parking and just for the record i am not advocating for valet parking but um i just don't i am not convinced that valet parking reduces the number of public park parking locations to the general public but um i think um counselor harrison i i spoke with you before um with the restrictions, section 327-53, I noted that it says specifically commercial establishments providing valet parking services and their valet parking attendance shall be prohibited from using the right-of-way for valet parking. And so my assumption was that that was a purposeful use of language and that would effectively allow for the possibility of nonprofit, noncommercial entities being able to offer valet parking? And if that's the case, what would be the mechanism for them being able to do that? I mean, I'm generally more in favor of an ordinance addressing valet parking that regulates, that's more in line with other municipalities. Pretty much every other municipality that I looked up that has a valet parking law had regulation rather than a language like this. So I'm just trying to open up that discussion. Sure.

Councilor Tolar? Sure. I'm in favor of this. I understand what... Deputy Mayor is stating the enforcement is going to really need to be increased for this to work. Attorney, I think you mentioned that the word ban should not be used, but what was the other word that you suggested that we could possibly add?

I'm sorry. My advice was what it was.

okay well when you figure that out let us know it's okay it's been a long day let me come back to you we have to think about everything as a whole here and valet parking is just not the way it's not what we need to be doing for our residents here I mean who are we offering valet parking to I am in agreement with this and when we had

pretty robust discussion about it we were trying to visualize even if you look at some of the parking lots in town that allow for valet parking it's very nice that they do that for the people that get to use it but what happens is the cars that are in queue trying to get into those parking lots they black block the traffic so that the flow of traffic is impeded you know possibly causing danger and so when I looked at all of the lots that I'm familiar with in town that use a valet parking because I was trying to figure out okay so if we're just letting the lots do that what will happen but if you think about it everyone that I know of the traffic always get queued on the street and impedes the flow of traffic and so I'm not in favor of doing things that will ultimately interfere with the safe flow of traffic. And so I think that this does something that I'm in favor of.

And I think visitors, we should be encouraging them to use our parking decks. I don't really get it.

Yes, Deputy Mayor.

I'm wondering if Councilor Harrison would like to respond to my question, but in my view, the prior version of the ordinance effectively would accomplish just that. And I know because I've seen it firsthand with a business that has valet parking and offers it on a street. that's very narrow and happens to have a mostly empty parking deck right across the street. And so to me, the prior version of the ordinance had all this criteria that would effectively make it impossible or very difficult for in that kind of a situation for a permit to be granted. So again, I think the key issue for the valet parking situation that we're seeing now is like you said, the impediment to traffic, safe traffic passage. And I think that the regulation that we had in the prior version of the ordinance effectively would accomplish the,

getting rid of the valet parking in that situation I think that we have we have two options and and some good ones so why don't we do a roll call vote on this the way it is now and then if this is voted down and we have the other one that you know seems like that was pretty good too yeah as soon as I was finished speaking so that that's what I would like to do but I'm gonna give you an opportunity and then I'm gonna ask madam clerk to call the roll please

yes so um i've had a little roller coaster on this one uh since the last time around i don't like when i see valet parking it it as i put it to people like i'd like to see more the town have more Birkenstock and less Balenciaga kind of feel. And this is really, you know, I see it. And so I said it last time, I would like to get rid of it. And some very people who are really smarter than me and actually really kind of Birkenstock people, told me that I had it kind of wrong and that actually valet parking is they were singing the praises of it as both a better form of curb management and actually something that actually opens up parking for people because it is generally is used involving lots that are not normally used, that are not going to be used. And not only that, but it is like the 1.0 version of what I do. as you all know, believe will be a great future when cars are dropping people off. So it's like training for that great new future. And so I am quite conflicted and I'm mostly still against valet now. So I'm putting aside my distaste, my sort of aesthetic, you know, distaste at the whole thing and the fact that it it it makes me feel excluded and if i feel excluded other people when they see that are feeling like what's going on in town i put that aside to be like okay so it's moving cars in and out in a more efficient way but what i am concerned about The deputy mayor, who lives catty corner from one place, said, you know, but it's leading to this crush of queuing cars in the most dangerous possible way in narrow confines. So we have a safety issue. So it's a very conflicted thing. And then the third thing that would make me favor that first approach that we had is that, from what I understand throughout the state, municipalities have not had success um with a tighter uh band-like controls on it and will be in our suit and i don't want us to be sued we spend a lot of money we've spent a lot of money on lawsuits and it bums me out as much as valet parking does so I'm sorry to be wishy-washy on this, but I would like to regulate it in a way. I don't want us to be sued. I would like our attorney to help guide us on which of those two approaches is less likely to end us up.

Roll call, Madam Clerk, please. Senator Anderson? No. Councillor Birmingham, absent. Councillor D'Amato?

No. No.

Councilor Harrison? Yes. Councilor Tolar? Yes. Councilor Williams? No. Mayor Baskerville? Yes. Motion failed. I'm sorry? The motion to adopt failed. Thank you.

Next. We're on aye. Councilor D'Amato?

um an ordinance amending section 18 chapter 327 vehicles and traffic of the code of the township of montclair new jersey and i so move second discussion yeah just uh may i oh yes counselor my only question here is was this discussed with the boe because i i saw

In the memos, it was discussed. Yes. Manager, please.

Actually, I would defer to either Manager Mano or Jake Neiman.

Good evening.

Oh, there you go. That works. To be blunt, no, I did not discuss this with the BOE. We're having a lot of issues with our parking enforcement officers. having a lot of conflicts with the students parking there at 829 exactly or 828 or 827, whatever the case might be. It's causing a lot of problems because the neighbors are complaining and also the biggest problem is when people are getting dropped off they have nowhere to park um and that area is supposed to be for that so that people can drop off people to drop off uh students that are running late already um and so we figured if we change it to nine o'clock that changing the change to nine o'clock will uh prevent all that and give people plenty of room to park not have to double park and back up traffic and backup buses and everything else that's what's happening there

And that's fine. Thank you for the explanation. But I think something like this that's going to affect the high school probably needs to speak to either the principal or superintendent and stuff like that and kind of spread the word. Because we're going to pass this. I mean, we're going in the summer now anyway, so you don't have to worry about it immediately. But probably need to put this on their radar that this is coming and maybe get their feedback.

What do you think would be the consequences of the half hour? Is that what you're talking about, from 8.30 to 9?

One, I wasn't quite, I don't fully appreciate what's happening here, right? But I'm just thinking that this is going to be, if you're saying that students are involved and they're coming there and they're parking there at a certain time, so now you're going to have all these students, which I'm assuming that they have to start school before 8.30, right? So now they're going to be going someplace else to park that isn't right by the school. So just saying, maybe we speak to the principal or speak to someone from BOE about unintended consequences.

Yeah, I have a problem with that. and but just so you understand that that that my understanding that that area was designed was designated for the drop-off of students and so that was the reason why we wanted to change it to give to give the people that are running even later a place to a place to drop off and not you know have any problems with traffic so yeah table it until July what do you want to do with it maybe I think

should have a conversation with the principal Park has been a problem at Montclair high school forever parents yelling and screaming today are no different than the parents from the eighties so you know I think we have to really have some consideration for what we need to do talk to the principal Manny if you can and the superintendent first I think we just got to stop kind of caving to groups of people and their wishes we have to think about what's the best thing to do for the whole township. So this has been an issue since when I came out. Deputy Mayor?

So I do know, I am aware that this area in front of the high school is quite, has been quite a dangerous area for traffic. I think one of my questions is, well I have two questions. I am curious to know if we have, like, recent data about, like, traffic incidents there that could possibly be because of this. And my second question is, like, I'm just curious, if we extend the parking prohibition to 9 o'clock, I'm just curious, like, where would the students park?

Like, do they have— And maybe even some of the staff, right?

Yeah. I'm just— totally understand the reason for this I'm just trying to get an idea of what the options would be for people who need parking before staff and students have designated map that the high school gives them when they purchase the passes to to be able to park

There's also other areas. I mean, most of the students that are parking in these areas have an early lunch or something. So they wind up leaving before the four hour, because it's a four hour limit, starting at 8.30. So there's no parking there between 7 and 8 currently. So when they park, the clock starts at 8.30, obviously. We don't exactly chalk at 8.30. We drive by and chalk quarter to 9, 9 o'clock, whatever the case might be. But unfortunately, we've been having a lot of issues, as you stated before, with people parking there before that and just sitting in their cars. And when we ask them to please move, that's when the conflicts start. So the students and faculty both are parking there starting at 8 o'clock. That whole area is full. By 8.15, the area is full. And we've been trying to move people along, and that's when the conflicts start. If we figure we move it to 9 o'clock, that should end some of those conflicts, because now at that point, you're parking at 9 o'clock, and same thing with the permits. To answer your question about the permits, sorry to go full circle, they have they have they they have a map where they can park both staff and students they're allocated on all the side streets and if you drive around in the side streets you'll see except for except for authorized permits so there shouldn't be any issues with them finding a parking spot if you're running late i'm sorry but that's you know again that's going back to what you were just saying we're catering to everybody we're just catering to certain people catering and catering and catering and it's causing it's causing other problems

Is there any downside to you speaking to Principal Freeman and then we can get this on for July? Absolutely not.

We could also just vote pass it, and then you can have your conversation. And if you haven't had it by the next one, then maybe we table it or whatever it is. Then table it?

Why would we do all of that?

No, my point being here is you're just losing time. We're only going to meet once next month, and we have, I don't know, maybe four or five weeks between this meeting and the next one. Between that time, you can have that conversation.

So if we vote and pass it, then it's, and then he says no, then what? And then Freeman says, oh no, that'll really mess things up. Then we don't. Then what? Because we've already passed it. I think you should meet with the principal. Okay, so it's just, I mean, it's just, I get it. I'm just saying it's just two different ways to do it. So either way, I think that the main objective is to have the respect, to have that discussion with the principal, Freeman.

And if you could, when you're talking with him, I would like to know where, as a parent of a high schooler, where when people are coming during the day to do a short stop, where they're supposed to go. So maybe that side of the street would just be... you know, 15 minutes or whatever, or 30 minutes, because they close the loops in front of the annex, in front of the high school, and the north side of Chestnut is no standing, I think. That's correct. So there's nowhere for people to go. In the same way we've discussed this, there's nowhere to actually do a legal drop-off on Park Street, which is bananas. You know, south... bananas well it's just everybody's breaking the law I'm a felon I should be in jail for the number of times that I've done it but so I would check I mean we should be talking with them about all the ideas of what we should be doing around there but I agree with my colleague that we could just

Roll call, Madam Clerk. Deputy Mayor Anderson. Yes. Councilor Birmingham absent. Councilor D'Amato. Yes. Councilor Harrison. Yes. Councilor Toller. Yes. Councilor Williams. Yes. Mayor Baskerville. Yes.

Could we finish with all of these? Okay.

Okay.

okay it has the wrong title and I apologize to director Neiman that's why I thought it was related it was what is the title yeah

no it was in the original agenda that said it was a special parking so okay okay Jay in ordinance amending section 22 of chapter 327 vehicles and traffic of the code of the Township of Montclair this is to add a loading zone on Maple Avenue second

discussion councillor toller no i just want to thank mr marks for uh ensuring that this got prepared and ready for today because this street was somehow left out of the original group and uh thanks to jake for working on it uh under the direction of mr mark so now the red the store owners on maple avenue will hopefully be able to utilize this loading zone and be very happy okay thank you madam clerk

Deputy Mayor Anderson? Yes. Councillor Birmingham absent. Councillor D'Amato? Yes. Councillor Harrison? Yes. Councillor Toller? Yes. Councillor Williams? Yes. Mayor Baskerville?

Yes.

Okay. Councilor Harrison.

Okay. I move to read the Moncler Center bid budget for year 2026 by title pursuant to NJSA 40A-56-84T. Second. Do you have it?

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. Whereas? No, not yet.

We're going to pass this first resolution that permits you to read the next one just by title.

So he passed and I voted, so now you can do a roll call?

As opposed to doing every line item. Thank you so much, Madam Clerk. Deputy Mayor Anderson? Yes. Councilor Birmingham absent. Councilor D'Amato? Yes. Councilor Harrison? Yes. Councilor Toller? Yes. Councilor Williams? Yes. Mayor Baskerville? Yes, thank you. You're welcome. Councilor Harrison? Okay, so reading the entire... Read that one by title and make sure to just say the amount out loud. That's all.

Okay. Resolution to adopt the 2026 Montclair Center bid budget. The budget is for $1,094,552. So moved. Second. Madam Clerk?

You should ask if there's any members of the public who wish to speak to the budget.

Any members of the public who wish to speak about the bid budget, I'm going to open the public hearing without objection. If you'd like to be heard on this, please come forward at this time. Seeing no one, I'm gonna close the public hearing. Council members, seeing no one, roll call please.

Deputy Mayor Anderson?

Yes.

Councilor Birmingham absent. Councilor D'Amato? Yes. Councilor Harrison? Yes. Councilor Tolar? Yes. Councilor Williams? Yes. Mayor Baskerville?

Yes, thank you. At this time, we're going to have a discussion about the public transportation, public transportation. I had a request that we can discuss that okay the request has been withdrawn I apologize so we're going to go on to the consent agenda At this time the numbers that I have that will be removed from the consent agenda are 1, 12, 16, 20, 21, 22, 29, 31, 32, and 33. Are there others that we should move for discussion? No. Yes, thank you.

Madam Clerk. Yes, ma'am. I move to adopt the consent agenda items. I second. Sorry, I have to say that.

Oh.

2 through 11, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 19, 23 through 28, and 30. Second. Second.

Madam Clerk? Deputy Mayor Anderson? Yes. Councilor Birmingham absent. Councilor D'Amato? Yes. Councilor Harrison? Yes. Councilor Toller? Yes. Councilor Williams? Yes. Mayor Baskerville?

Yes. Thank you. Okay. Councilor Toller, please. The bill's list?

Sure. So this is bill's list resolution, whereas it invoices against the Township of Montclair in favor of the following persons for the amounts that opposite their respective names have been received, duly audited, and found correct. This is a memo from our CFO, Peter George, dated June 3rd, 2026. The following is a preliminary version of the bill list, aggregating to $46,187,750.19 to be presented for approval at the June 9th, 2026 council meeting. I so move. Second. Discussion? Council told.

Didn't you want this one?

I did because I thought Councillor Harrison may have had a question. I already spoke to Mr. Marks. Okay. But I didn't get some invoices that I requested. Even though it was asked of me on Friday, I didn't get them.

So you moved and I second? Yes.

Madam Clerk? Deputy Mayor Anderson? This is for the bills list, the adoption of the bills list.

Yes, the bills list. Okay, discussion?

Very quickly. So the Greenman-Peterson... tell me the page please it's on page it's the it's the design engineering for Glenridge Avenue so that has gone out and to that has already been gone out to bid this is the extension of the of the cycle track And this is entirely grant funded?

This is entirely grant funded.

And it's the design of the cycle track from Willow to Grove or from Willow to?

Can you try to identify it so we can all get on the thing? I don't know what page or where you are.

It's under G.

under g okay abcd in the general fund general green peterson okay thank you and there's like sixty four thousand fifty five thousand dollars it's to just before crane park it stopped at crane park and what what is your question

just wanted a reminder of what this was about and there and so then the uh north side of crane park is re being redesigned correct it's it stops just before crane parks i don't believe crane park's being touched okay yeah it's not

well there's a and it starts where i believe willow yeah it's it's because it involves moving the curve yeah there's significant expense and and and this is the challenge with moving the curb is you touch drainage you touch utilities and and it sends expenses and the bike path is going down there remember and this is just the engineering work that's that's just the paper paperwork okay and the permits yeah

Okay, great.

Deputy Mayor Anderson. Yes. Councilor Birmingham absent. Councilor D'Amato. Yes. Councilor Harrison. Yes. Councilor Toller. Yes. Councilor Williams. This is for the bill list.

Yes.

Mayor Baskerville. Yes.

Thank you. Who wants to read number 12, please? Someone wanted discussion on number 12, please. Okay. Councilor D'Amato. Yes.

uh resolution authorizing uh a fair and open contract for police off duty detail management to visual computer solutions aimed through competitive contracting i would just ask the manager to walk us through this oh

thank you for being here you're welcome just remind us though this one is going back and forth a couple of times yes so we were here in February and we passed it and town attorney recommended that we re advertise and we request proposals so we we did the resolution to cancel That contract all right, and then we requested proposals again, and we are back here again, too And everybody's happy and this is good. We're all happy with it We went through the process with the advice and consent of the QPA Okay, the narrows he walked us through everything and he drew up the resolution and And we're happy All right anyone else

Thank you all very much, not just for this, but for your service. We are really fortunate to have you. Thank you. We appreciate it. Roll call on number 12, please. May I have a motion, Mayor? Oh, I'm sorry. I thought Councilor... I did. I moved it.

And I second it.

Deputy Mayor Anderson? Yes. Councilor Birmingham absent. Councilor D'Amato? Yes. Councilor Harrison? Yes. Councilor Tolar? Yes. Councilor Williams? Yes. Mayor Baskerville?

Yes, thank you.

Number 16.

Oh, this was my request? Okay. Resolution authorizing award of supplemental services under RFP 23-P01 for professional arborist services with rich view consulting for community forestry management plan, tree inventory, and related urban forestry services. I so move.

Second. And what was your question, please?

My question really had to do with, I wanted to just confirm, because this increases the not to exceed amount to $50,000 for a term of one year, and I just wanted to confirm that we are indeed actually going from one day, like we're going to be able to have an arborist dedicated to us going from one day to three days.

So this is project-based. So they're going to be authoring our community forestry management plan, which is a requirement. They're also going to be completing the tree inventory, as well as working on the USDA tree grant. So I can't confirm that it will be definitely three days a week. There's going to be times where it will be three, and it won't be three. So it's also dependent on the contract they have with CCS.

Okay. So I guess my follow-up question would be, And you have been very involved in helping us parse through the requirements of the proposed tree ordinance. And under that ordinance, there is going to be probably additional responsibilities. So I'm just trying to figure out, I'm just thinking ahead as to whether or not we're going to actually be able to have an arborist who can help implement the tree ordinance.

Again, I hope so. The funding that I'm using is only grant funding. So again, that expires. One grant should be spent by the end of the year, and the other one expires at the end of 2020. So as long as it pertains to the grants that I'm working on, I do have funding for it.

Thank you. Dr. Johnson, I'd like to thank you for being here. I'm going to start implementing something new. when people come down to speak we all know who you are and we value you and we appreciate you staying here but I think for the purposes of people at home It would help if you would say, you know, who you are, what you are. So if they're watching, you know, they'll know who you are. I apologize. And again, no, it wasn't you. I haven't been doing that. But I'm thinking now, people are home. And I'm so excited and proud of you and everything that you do. I want people to start to identify you as a director of sustainability and know who you are, Doc. So thank you for being here. Thank you. Yeah.

Thank you for having me.

So I just have a question.

Councilor Tolar? Sure. I know that we don't have an arborist. And this hasn't been filed since 2016. And is that correct?

I do not know. I know that it wasn't filed for 2025. But before that, I do not know. That would be with DCS.

Yeah. So if you go on the NJUCF, you know, the accreditation provides liability protection for tree care. But with the NJDEP, there's nothing filed since 2016. So is this? kind of going to cover all of that back or you don't have that answer?

It doesn't state on the DEP's website that it hasn't been filed. It just states that we have been unaccredited since 2016 and that could be because we don't have the CEUs. So there's a requirement for at least 18 CEUs between two people for each municipality and there's been periods where we haven't been able to maintain that. So again, I can't say if it's because the report hasn't been filed or if it's because we haven't had the CEUs.

Okay.

Yeah, I can't speak on something that I'm not aware of. Thank you.

Anyone else? D'Amato? No? Harrison?

Madam Clerk, please. Thank you so much. Thank you. Deputy Mayor Anderson? Yes. Council Birmingham absent. Councilor D'Amato? Yes. Councilor Harrison? Yes. Councilor Tolar? Yes. Councilor Williams? Yes. Mayor Baskerville? Yes. Number 20, please.

Someone asked to have number 20, 21. That was Council D'Amato, 20, 21, and 22.

There's three related resolutions that relate to the townships. The manager is going to finish that sentence.

So as everybody probably knows, the schools had a special election on March 10th. There were two questions. Question one passed, which raised an additional $12.6 million in this year's budget for the schools. The concern is that when you have a referendum like this and you raise additional funds, when do the funds come due? So the honor about, I think it was, we adopted our budget I think on May 5th. I think the Board of Education adopted its budget the following day on May 6th. When a Board of Education adopts a budget, they also adopt an accompanying form called the A4F form. The A4F form is sent to the County Board of Taxation and lets the County Board of Taxation know how much money to raise for the schools. And the County Board of Taxation strikes a rate and sends that rate to the municipal tax collector. In the case of the $12.6 million from question one, there was no opportunity to spread that $12.6 million over four quarters. So the $12.6 million would have been paid out traditionally under two quarters, those quarters being the tax bills that are collected on August 1st of this year and then on November 1st of this year. If we only paid or if we only collected the $12.6 million over two quarters, there'd be an inevitable bump in taxes, extreme bump in taxes, and then the taxes would go down correspondingly in the two first quarters of 2027, which are due February 1st, 2027 and May 1st, 2027. So it was discussed at length in the Finance Committee by the Mayor and Councilors Williams and Birmingham. There was a desire for the town to take or issue a tax anticipation note to spread out the payments or spread out the taxes over four quarters rather than two quarters. So the four quarters that the $12.6 million would be spread out, would be August 1, 2026, November 1, 2026, February 1, 2027, and May 1, 2027. In order to do that, we have to issue what's called the tax anticipation note. So our financial advisors, there's a couple of corresponding documents that I handed out this evening. One is a letter to Superintendent Turner dated June 8th explaining what the town would like to do. On the rear of that is a schedule of when the $12.6 million is due from the town to the Board of Education or Montclair Public Schools. So Montclair, if approved, Montclair Public Schools would still get their $12.6 million in 12 equal payments of $1,050,000 between July 2nd of this year and December 14th of this year. They are made whole. So we're not deviating from that. But if we are able to issue, it requires two things. One is issuance of a tax anticipation note by the town. And the second is that's reliant on the Board of Education or the Montclair superintendent reissuing what's the A4F form to the county super the county board of taxation the county tax administrator board of that taxation asking for for permission to instead of the two payments of 6.3 million dollars each this year to spread the the um the 12.6 million dollars over the four quarters that i mentioned before There'd be four equal payments due by taxpayers of $3.15 million each. And over the course of the year, we would collect the $12.6 million. So the two parts. A, it requires the Board of Education, the Montclair School Superintendent to make that request of the county tax board. And assuming that the county tax board is okay with that. And then B, the town issuing the tax anticipation notes. The tax anticipation notes do have a cost. There is a schedule that I also handed out this evening that was prepared by Phoenix Advisors, which is the town's financial advisors. There's two options we would not be taking. Option one is for $6.3 million in tax anticipation notes. That would create, assuming we are able to get the tax anticipation notes at 4% interest, we would be paying approximately $198,800 in interest for the tax anticipation notes. Option two, which is not what we are looking to do, would be borrowing the entire $12.6 million. That is not necessary. That is not what's being proposed. But if you are, if the Mayor and Council are agreeable to issuing the tax anticipation notes to smooth out the tax payments, there is a cost and it's approximately $200,000. Does that make sense? Does that explain everything?

Yes.

Thank you.

Thank you for that, Mr. Marks. I just wanted to thank Mr. Marks again. I appreciate your advocacy for the residents and trying to work out a deal with our Board of Education. I'm hopeful that

You're welcome.

You too, Madam Mayor. I'm sorry. And whoever else is on the Finance Committee. Okay, Councilor Williams. Councilor Birmingham, wherever you are. It's important, you know, and hopefully the superintendent will agree because this will be less of a burden on the residents. The only thing I wanted to mention is that this resolution is for a different township.

Oh, that was an earlier, that was a typo that was corrected, that was an earlier version, so I apologize for that going on. That's been corrected.

That's the same thing I said when I saw that. Where is it? Yeah. Okay, so...

Awesome.

We can, yeah. You moved it.

Well, can we move all three or we have to do them individually?

Individually.

I think individually is best here.

So you want to move them? I'm happy to move them individually because they're all good.

Okay, so on 21. We're on 20, Mayor. On 20. Yes, ma'am. Okay.

Councilor D'Amato, you want to move it?

I so move.

Second. Okay.

Okay, Deputy Mayor Anderson. Second.

Yes.

Council Birmingham absent. Councilor D'Amato? Yes. Councilor Harrison? Yes. Councilor Tolar? Yes. Councilor Williams? Yes. Mayor Baskerville?

Yes. 21. 21. So moved.

21. Resolution authorizing the Chief Financial Officer of the Township of Montclair and the County of Essex, State of New Jersey, and other Township officials to undertake certain actions in connection with the sale and issuance of not to exceed 18,491,000 bond anticipation notes series 2026. So moved.

Second. Madam Clerk. Deputy Mayor Anderson.

Yes.

Council Birmingham absent. Councilor D'Amato. Yes. Councilor Harrison. Yes. Councilor Tolar. Yes. Councilor Williams. Yes. Mayor Baskerville. Yes.

And finally, a resolution providing for the combination of certain issues of bond anticipation notes of the Township of Montclair into an issue of bond anticipation notes aggregating not to exceed $18,491,000 in principal amount. And I so move.

Second. Madam Clerk? Deputy Mayor Anderson? Yes. Councillor Birmingham absent. Councillor D'Amato? Yes. Councillor Harrison? Yes. Councillor Toller? Yes. Councillor Williams? Yes. Mayor Baskerville? Yes. Thank you.

Number 29, please. Someone was interested in pulling number 29 off of the consent. Councillor Toller.

Councillor Toller, please.

Resolution 29. I'd like to move resolution 29. Is there a second? Second.

Madam Clerk. Deputy Mayor Anderson. Yes. Councilor Birmingham absent. Councilor D'Amato. Yes. Councilor Harrison. Yes. Councilor Tolar. Yes. Councilor Williams. Yes. Mayor Baskerville.

Yes. Thank you. Number 31.

Councilor Tolar.

I just wanted to know where we were in the process or the status of is this still grant money that we're using or have we exceeded this is grant money this the change order is covered by a grant so we've spent all of the grant money and now we're spending well I wouldn't say it's spent it's encumbered

But the project is underway. We had a conference call with the architects this morning, and we're probably about 30 days out from substantial completion. If you peek in the windows across the hall, the walls are going up, and the sheetrock should be up in about a week.

manager i just had one one concern i guess so if we're in the process of trying to decide our next steps in terms of where we're going and what we're going to do we're going to be here or if we're going to do some other things which i don't know you know to discuss or not then why would we be investing any more money there? Just like I wouldn't necessarily go and put a brand new roof or a million dollars worth of an elevator or anything until we're sure about where we're going and what our next moves are.

So we don't have an agreement to, a plan or an agreement to go elsewhere. We've already invested a significant sum of money in creating the senior hub across the hall. This is additional grant money. Even if we were to come to an agreement with another entity to, you know, move to a different location, that may be a year or two before, you know, that becomes effectuated. So that's a year or two of use that the senior hub could be having. Otherwise, I'm sorry? And learning. And learning.

yeah no okay I was just really you know just wondering that the same reason are we going to go ahead and get the elevator get a new elevator and fix the roof on this building because there's a lot of things that I think need to have attention we're going to be here for another two years which we definitely will be here for another two years

So for the roof and the elevator, that would be our own money. This was grant funded. So this supplements additional grant funds that were already spent on this project. Yeah. If we were to move, I would definitely want to make sure that whatever expense was reimbursed that the town outlaid would be part of that negotiated process.

Okay. so all right no that's good it's just that when i read that that's the first thing that came to my mind like okay we're going to keep putting money and if we come to an agreement where they say they just want to demolish the property but i certainly get it now and i appreciate you taking your time to explain it to me does anybody else have any questions on that one okay madam clerk may i have a motion for item 31 please

Deputy Mayor Anderson?

Yes.

Councillor Birmingham absent. Councillor D'Amato? Yes. Councillor Harrison? Yes. Councillor Toller? Yes. Councillor Williams? Yes. Mayor Baskerville?

Yes, thank you. Number 32, please.

So, we received a number of public comments urging us to include members of the public on this committee, which I think is a desirable thing to do. And I don't have strong views about how many members of the public, but...

So, Council, I'm sorry, Deputy Mayor Shin Anderson?

Yes, so this was actually developed by Councilor Birmingham to sort of go along with the new tree ordinance as you saw this committee as referenced, and I just want to emphasize the role of this committee, which and that the intent of the plan, the role of this committee is to create an entity that will allow for interdepartmental collaboration in implementing and carrying out the responsibilities under the ordinance. So that's why The plan is really to have the representatives be from among the township administration. I will note that this committee as proposed includes a representative of the Environmental Commission, as well as the Parks and Recreation Committee, both of whom are, you know, private, you know, like they're not township employees, representative of those already established committees, both of whom have responsibilities over trees and have some, particularly the Environmental Commission, they actually have a tree committee. And I think they will be good representatives for what is supposed to really be an administrative committee.

Yes, Councilor Toler.

Sure, thank you. I agree with Councilor Harrison. We should have members of the public, you know, the residents as part of committee members. It's very similar to Complete Streets Board where we don't have enough members of the community on board and residents are forced to attend the Thursday meeting at 12 noon. which is a little unbalanced in my opinion we have a lot of residents in town that have expert knowledge who have been very helpful not only to this administration but past administrations I really don't see the harm in adding residents as part of the membership committee if you will for tree canopy we have some experts here The other thing I wanted to say is I think we should table this until Council Birmingham is available. If she wants to discuss it a little further about adding members of the public to this membership, I think we should afford her that opportunity to at least weigh in. Those are my thoughts. I'd like to see members of the public be part of the membership committee because anything else is just not equitable. You have Parks and Rec, a representative, that's great. Environmental Commission representative, that's great. But we have some residents that actually have some really good information. Advocates for Trees, they should be a part of this discussion. Again, this isn't about us, this is about the future.

Again, so Mayor, I don't have an issue with tabling this until we introduce the tree ordinance. But again, this is intended to be a working committee, much like the Complete Streets Oversight Board. And there are other opportunities for members of the public who have expertise. It's unbalanced. Excuse me. I'm not finished speaking. It's unbalanced.

Go ahead and talk.

I don't interrupt you, so please do not interrupt me. Go ahead. Go ahead. So that is the reason why Council Birmingham proposed the membership of this committee to be this way. But I think that it would be probably better to table this until July.

I'll second that. And yeah, thank you for taking your time to explain. May I just want to say, Mayor, that we have to have members of the public on this. And I'd also like to thank you for having the respect to consider that Councillor Birmingham is not here. Anything else that's just inappropriate? Madam Clerk?

Deputy Mayor Anderson? This is to table item 32 until July 14th. Yes. Okay. Councillor Birmingham absent. Councillor D'Amato? Yes. Councillor Harrison? Yes. Councillor Toller? Yes. Councillor Williams? Yes. Mayor Baskerville? Yes.

number 33 this is requiring us to approve an agreement that's not been finalized the my understanding of the issues being discussed with public service tension involve dollars and what i'd like to add to number one and then now therefore be resolved and towards the end of the third line substantially in the form submitted here with provided that no payment from the township to public service electric gas is required second and um i'd like to add the mayor and council on number one can you add that to your second second thank you

right here now therefore be it resolved I'd just like it to say the mayor and council oh mine doesn't mine says the council of the township I must have gotten knuckle the first line has both the second now therefore has both and then the other one oh here okay so you moved it did you move it yes and who seconded it you did okay madam clerk

Deputy Mayor Anderson? Yes. Councilor Birmingham absent. Councilor D'Amato? Yes. Councilor Harrison? Yes. Councilor Tolar? Yes. Councilor Williams? Yes. Mayor Baskerville?

Yes, thank you. Now we're going to have a presentation about the transfer.

I'm sorry, Mayor. That was a vote on the amendments that were put on the record. I'm so sorry. Okay. Do I have a motion to adopt? Move. Second. Okay, as amended. Madam Clerk. Deputy Mayor Anderson. Yes. Councillor Birmingham absent. Councillor D'Amato. Yes. Councillor Harrison. Yes. Councillor Tolar. Yes. Councillor Williams. Yes. Mayor Baskerville.

Yes, thank you. Now we're going to have a discussion from the Transportation Working Group. As we all heard this evening, there's a lot of interest in what's happening what this group has been doing I'd like to personally thank you for all of your hard work that you've been doing this and yeah let's hear from our transportation working group chair

Well, I'm not the chair, actually.

I just thought that sounded good.

Thank you, I appreciate that. So I just wanted to make sure, so there are two committees under this working group that was established last year to explore more public transportation options and enhancing public transportation options for people. residents of Montclair and I just wanted to make sure that this council received a copy of this report that the committee members put together. This is basically a summary of all the work that's been happening for the last year as well as a longer form summary of the public survey results. As you can see, we received over 2,300 respondents to this survey, which was launched in late November of this past year and remained open for three months. There was quite a bit of advertising about the survey. And the other good part of this is that much like how we got weekend train service to Bay Street many years ago, there was an effort to reach out to our neighboring townships. that are along the Montclair Boonton line, who also, you know, particularly on the train, who who were interested in getting more service for their residents. And the other part of this working group is to, you know, look into the interest in I mean, obviously, we did lose a lot of quite a bit of bus service because of during COVID and after the camp folded. And, you know, as the survey sort of indicated, there are lots of people in Montclair who do not live within walking distance of a train, particularly people who live like on the Valley Road, that side of, and many of those are seniors. And so those are some of the things that were covered in the survey. We actually got the most number. I mean, we got the largest number of respondents, which is good. And, you know, I, Mr. Julia sort of summarize a lot of what was within this report. I think. For me personally, this is a matter of public transportation access is a matter of equity. A lot of people do not have cars in our town, about 30 percent, and that's established. We all know that the cost of gas and purchasing a car are skyrocketing. There are lots of families who do not have either reliable access to a car or only have one car. And you know, that's an issue for people who, you know, have two jobs and what have you. And you know, the other part of besides affordability is, you know, the having more public more transportation options can help reduce the number of cars that are on the road so I think you know this is something that I think is very much worth continuing to pursue we had initial meetings mayor you were there last June with with the higher ups at New Jersey Transit. They were the ones that actually asked us to do a survey to gauge whether or not there would be interest. And so that's what we did. We presented them with combined results of the surveys from Montclair, Glen Ridge and Bloomfield. We provided that report. They are looking at that information more closely. At this point, we are gathering the assistance of Assemblywoman Collazo-Gil in setting up a follow-up meeting where we hope to continue the discussions. And for number one, more frequent train service on the weekends and bus service that will serve working people, families, students, seniors. So just wanted to make sure that you had this and if there are any questions. I just think it's,

I just think it's interesting that Don Zeef is on the committee and I listened closely to his remarks this evening but I think that that's a good committee when you can have people that have varying opinions and express them because that's when you usually come out with something that's the representative of a large group so again I thank you for you know your hard work your time I thank you for inviting me to you know participate and and to keep up with what's going on yeah councillor Toler and then councillor Williams or either the other way yeah I just wanted to kind of piggyback off of the survey results because I know we've had some speakers come and

And they said thousands and thousands of people spoke. It's 2,300 people, so I've been advocating through the Transportation Ad Hoc Committee, which I guess this is a subcommittee of this committee. Is that correct, Deputy Mayor?

You mean the Shuttle Bus Committee?

The Transportation Ad Hoc Committee, because it broke off. That is this committee. Okay, so I don't know.

The working group and their dues.

Yeah, because I don't see my name here. I guess I got dropped from the committee, but that's okay.

You were on the Shuttle Bus Committee.

No, well, maybe I was, but I haven't seen any reports. So I'd like to, if you could forward the report that you mentioned that has, I guess, data and results from Montclair, Bloomfield, and Glen Ridge to everyone, that would be appreciated. The other thing is, I know that during those meetings, I was advocating that this group, you know, really do boots on the ground, knocking on the door, talking to the residents that live by the train stations, and that did not happen. You know, with over 40,000 residents in the town, 2,300 residents, that's just under 6% of our residents over three months. Those survey results are a little weak. I don't believe, and maybe you can clarify, If door knocking, flyering was done at any of the residents that live near the trains. I know I've spoken to people at Matthew G. Carter and they are not really interested in increased service because of the noise, because of pollution, because of congestion. You know, I've heard some speakers talk about the farmer's market, but no one's talking about the residents that live near any of these train stations and what type of outreach has happened or will happen to speak to them. You know, if you had a survey out for three months and it's under 6% total for residents, I don't know if that's a good enough thing to move forward with. That's just my opinion. I do like the idea of trying to get more bus lines back in service for residents to get around because it's needed. I'm really concerned with the things that Don mentioned tonight. Again, air pollution is real, congestion. EMS getting through, police getting through, fire getting through with more and more trains on the weekend. I beg that this New Jersey Transit Committee make the effort and talk to every single resident that lives around all seven of our train stations because under 6% survey results for 40,000 residents, in my opinion, is not enough to try to move forward on increased service. So I just wanted to put that on the record.

Deputy Mayor? Yes, so thank you for those comments. Number one, the survey was available, and I know for the shuttle bus committee, you did propose booths on the ground. Anybody was more than welcome to do that, but as we discussed under that committee, that is an exceedingly large amount of work. And so, again, I don't know if you actually spoke with any of the residents. With regards to the residents of the Matthew Carter houses, I did actually, I do remember asking you, who are the residents? And I'd be happy to speak with them. I'd be happy to meet with anyone at those apartments. I never got an answer. But there will be other opportunities for public engagement, and that's part of the plan. Because we don't actually have a response from New Jersey Transit. I don't think we're there yet. Per the report, public engagement is part of the plan. This isn't going to be, you know, it's not gonna be an automatic thing. There's going to be more negotiation. And as far as the number of survey respondents, I believe it's pretty, the numbers are pretty comparable to what we got back from the affordable housing survey that the EDC did. So I happen to think that, Even if we didn't get the number, if we didn't get a huge number, this to me is enough to indicate that public transportation is something that residents rely on, depend upon to get around, and it's worth pursuing.

i think and the process is still continuing yeah i just want to clarify one point yes excuse me mayor i'm going to clarify this one point please okay in regards to the matthew g carter uh residents i don't recall you asking me if you have an email for me i know that i've asked and i sent an email But, you know, you and Councilor Williams were boots on the ground to go knock and put flyers on doors on Sutherland. You should be able to go do that at Matthew G. Carter and not expect me to do it for you.

I'm happy to work with you on that.

No, no, you don't need to work with me. You should just go do it. You understand what I'm saying? Go do it. And in regards to this, one of these committee members, he actually owns a bus or some kind of company. I don't know if he can remain... non-bias in wanting more transportation because it would benefit this company on some level. It has a lot to do with it. Councilman has a lot to do with it.

Maybe we should just focus on the things that we agree on, which is which is probably the most realistic thing that would happen, which is that if we could advocate for bus links. So as Mr. Ziv said, this really came into focus with the demise of DeCamp. And remember, DeCamp was doing this for a long time, and the fact that They couldn't make it work. It does tell you a lot about the profitability of this and that we're not unlocking some great gift for New Jersey Transit, but giving them, we're kind of begging for something. But I think that my constituents, I have never met anybody who said that they wouldn't like to have an available bus into New York to Port Authority on on the weekends, it's a big ask. There's obviously some division on whether there should be weekend service. I've walked that neighborhood, and the number of people who said no was, for me, surprisingly small. Because if I lived quite close to the tracks, I might be against it. But I think everybody likes the idea of bus service. and they really miss that and so I would be in favor of exploring whether we want weekend service and then we are a constraint on that because I guess we do have a resolution or an ordinance as a quiet weekend thing that we would want to remove if we went to them for that and we can work on that if we want to do that but in the meantime I would Show me where I can sign and vote for a resolution to NJ Transit saying we would like bus service. You know, the old 66. And if they called it the 66, that would be even better.

There are surveys you can sign up for. Okay. Councillor Williams.

So it has nothing to do with what we were discussing. I just want to wish a happy birthday to my favorite constituent, my wife. Oh, happy birthday. I'm spending her birthday with you all.

Maybe you can make up for it. I'd like to congratulate Councilor Williams. He's being honored tomorrow night by the Montclair Thursday night by the Montclair Council. for just his outstanding leadership and and service to the community I'd like to join them I in fact have the honor of participating in that and so thank you very much there's still tickets left if anybody would like to purchase a ticket to come it's for the Montclair in the resources are all going to help Montclair in stay afloat as many of you know they've been dealing with some some difficult times just like all of us so yeah congratulations to you happy birthday to wifey and yeah is it when's your birthday happy birthday to counselor Harrison has something

To return to, I mean, I'm a big advocate of mass transit. One of my regrets of switching jobs is I don't get to take mass transit anymore. I miss the train. But to do this seriously, I agree with Councillor D'Amato that You know, I don't think we're going to get everything, and certainly we're not going to get everything right away. Restoring more bus services, I think the thing the town misses most. I think... The, I think there are practical issues with train service going to Montclair State, not only the running over people at the farmer's market, but the length of time for the round trip is a consideration. That was one of the things that first led to just going to Bay Street was because they could do the trip and back, I think, Having said that, I think pushing for hourly service, because there are days where I would have loved to take the train, but, you know, I can plan going in, okay, we get in early, but the coming back part, where it's an 8-11 or an 11 o'clock train, and go to dinner, like a 9 o'clock train, but there isn't one, and we end up driving, and And now that we don't have the bus option, which was always nice of, okay, if we're not getting a train, we can get the bus back. I think that pushing for that probably will have more of a practical effect than going out and I think there are practical issues from New Jersey transit. I think Don's reflecting that just in terms of his discussions when he was instrumental in getting the Bay Street service and at the limits of I think transit should look at it because it's I you know it it clearly is a deterrent just having two-hour service I appreciate that with the buses it clearly is something that

has farther reaching impacts than just Montclair. So I think that's the benefit of working with some of these other municipalities like Bloomfield, West Orange is also aware of what we're doing, Verona. But I'd encourage you all to read the full report. The survey did tease out some of the issues that we would have to address as a township. And again, all of this is currently in New Jersey Transit's court, and hopefully we'll be able to continue the discussion.

Awesome. I'd like to make a motion that we adjourn. I'd like for Councilor Williams to get home at least the day of the birthday. Second. You've got a half hour. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? No. Okay. Thank you all. Gone.