Village Council - Regular Meeting

You know, Paul is now

He's fine. adopted two trees. The last time I talked to Yeah. Oh. Nothing. Pretty good.

Yep. Almost. Good evening. This is the village council public workshop. The date is February 25th, 2026. Uh the time is 7:30. Adequate notice of this meeting has been provided by a posting on the bulletin board in Village Hall, by mail to the Ridgewood News, the record, and by submission to all persons entitled the same as provided by law of a schedule, including the date and time of this meeting. Roll call. Council member Mortimer present. Deputy Mayor Parn has not yet arrived. Council member Whites here. Council member Bundrad here. And Mayor Rajenos

here. Will you all please join us in a salute to our flag? 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. And we will go right to public comments. Comments are limited to three minutes per person. When there's one minute, the bell will ring. And when time is up, I'll say time is up. Oh, I don't think the mic is on. Is it on now?

It is now.

Ann loving Ridgewood resident. A number of years ago, there was a reporter who frequented these meetings. That's when there was a different Paul sitting in the mayor's seat and his name was John Coer. He was a published author and in the preface of one of his books there was a quote that I liked so much that I copied it and put it on my refrigerator. It reads as follows. Quote, "For there is no more difficult obstacle to overcome than that of the closed mind." I just thought that was magnificent and I have it on my refrigerator. And the reason I'm bringing it up tonight is because I believe that the four of you who are here tonight have closed minds regarding the artificial turf. We are literally besieged by articles week after week about the hazards of turf, about the hazards of PAS. Uh I sent one to you guys last week. I know other people send them. I have sent others. There is no shame in changing your mind when you get new information. And we have increasingly more information that there's no upside to artificial turf. And it is my sincere hope that you will open your closed minds and put a natural grass field at Shuddler. Thank you.

Thank you, Ian. Denise Lima, Ridgewood resident. Um, thank you for letting me speak today. I have a lot of topics, so I'll just go through them pretty quickly. Um, snow removal. Thanks Keith and the team and everybody for everything that you guys did for the removing of the snow and the roadways. Um I think you guys did an outstanding job. I think we're all spoiled with not having snow and not having to dig out as much. Um so I think we forget what it's like. My back is still hurting from shoveling. So um and just wanted to say thank you. I think Rididgewood AB and Maple. I was out very early right after the snow. I think needed a little more TLC, but otherwise really good. um saw the announcement about Nancy uh recreation pro of the year. That was great. I sent a few emails about pushing more on the park side about with Nancy. Um fixing up Tweeny Park. Um Pam, I think you were going to maybe talk about that during your update and the picnic benches that I've talked about for three years. Um both of those because I'm worried about the budget concerns uh for both of those. Um the weekly newsletters are have been wellreceived. Um thanks for sending those out. I think we had a little slip the last week or two about the crescent lighting for Ramadan which was not in the newsletter but the event happened but nobody knew about it even though it was talked about here. So I think it's just coordination and getting everything together. Um hopefully I didn't see on the agenda but the budget the municipal budget uh when

are we going to see the budget friendly version ahead of the introduction the process so Keith maybe it's part of your discussion today about you know the process and when that's coming because I I don't see it still um on the village site. Um, I sent through a request to make a change to the recycling coach, um, to add a calendar and a link to make it less clicks for everybody and that was done. So, again, I want to say thank you to the team for doing that. Um, Shedler, I don't know if there's an update on Shedler. Um, the bid went out for 2.6 and Keith, you were going to talk to Bergen GIF to get the rest of the balance for that. So again, just looking for an update. Also, the NJT sent out an update on 22 um with some resolutions and also nine additional conditions. One being a new architectural landscape design. And then do any of those nine now need to be included in the budget? And are there updates to those new nine items that we didn't factor in to that? Um Keith, last meeting you said the planning board for the discussion about the meeting about parking for downtown couldn't happen here because the planning board was being

Yeah. done. Okay. And anybody that's on uh hybrid, are we booking those online so we can see them for future use? That'd be great. Thank you. Thank you, Denise. Anybody else?

Cynthia O'Keefe, Rididgewood resident. I guess the bell is gone. Um, so last week, Katherine Schmidt offered an idea. Um, negotiating to Yes was a book that she talked about. It's how to make the pie bigger. And you know, I think it definitely I've read that book. It's actually a good book. And I think that, you know, she brought this forward to um to kind of ask each one of you to embrace maybe the the concept of, you know, opening up discussions with residents. um the last two, you know, large projects. Obviously, Shedler and the affordable housing project um met with very, um contested results. So obviously the Shedler neighborhood is not happy and has expressed through not only written petitions signed with an ink pen um letters you know hundreds and thousands of letters to an organization and you know you really didn't listen. um you you say you did, but you know, every time we had conversations with you, it was well, we have to do this. And it wasn't a negotiation. And by the way, I think you mentioned last week you when Frank was running or you asked him to run with you, you didn't know his position on Shedler. However, he did step up to the mic during public comments more than once to state his position. So, um I don't I don't know. I believe you if you say you didn't know what it was. But in any event, um you know, I think that there can be more productive discussions with village residents on hot topic projects such as affordable housing because decisions are

being made with people's largest investment. And um you know, I had to have a little chuckle for a mayor that doesn't have any power. You seem to be getting all your projects to sail through. So, um you know, maybe more public engagement is what is needed. Um and then last but not least, um I would ask a favor. Um and and I'm calling it leading with compassion because there was a bit of a discussion about um an assault that happened in this room and you know, Evan, you made a comment that um the police investigated and you left it at that. Um, and I would just say that if it were any one of your family members who was involved in something similar, you would would not frame it that way. It was hurtful. Uh, I was in the room when it happened and I don't think this community should ever stand for something like that. There was also a verbal assault at a fields committee meeting and nobody said anything. So, I don't think we can mark march forward like this. You know, when you took your oath to lead, you took an oath to be fair, just, and impartial. And maybe you need a daily reminder of those virtues because uh I haven't seen it happen in several instances of bullying. So, thank you very much.

Thank you, Cynthia. Anybody else? Seeing no one else and we have no one online, uh I will close public comment. Would anyone like to respond to any of the comments made? Mayor, I have a few. Um, first of all, Denise, thank you for the the kind words for the men who were out plowing the last few days and cleaning up the village. Um, I'm going to discuss Nancy in my report. I think Pam, you're going to speak to Twin Pond tonight. I know that you and um Nancy had had some dialogue about that. Um, with regard to the to the benches, um, I do want to reiterate with the addition of the new pavilion at Habernickle, there are picnic benches at that location. Uh there's also picnic benches at Graden um on the far side closer to the stable near the skate park and the um playground that's there. U but Nancy is working towards adding picnic benches um in some of the parks and I think that's going to be part of the citizens park um improvements that we're making with the county grant we received. With regard to the crescent lighting, we really threw that together within 48 hours. I know the council had approved it about a week and a half before. Um I was in touch with Mr. Hamza at the end of that following week when it was to be held on that uh that weekend. Um so we did actually talk to Makmood about next year coordinating with Carol making sure that we have a flyer a few weeks ahead of time so we can include it in the eblast. We can also put it up on our social media sites like we do with Hanukkah and with downtown for the holidays and the like. Uh the budget is scheduled to be introduced on March 11th um in accordance with the statute and I did send you an email uh relative to that schedule. Um once the council sees the presentation and the public sees the presentation on the 11th and they vote to introduce the budget, all

of the budget documents will go up online and the public will have um a month, a full month to review both the user-friendly budget for introduction, the regular budget for introduction, come back with any comments uh during that month-long period. There'll also be a public hearing before final adoption in April that the public will be able to ask any questions or make any inquiries that they may have. Um I know Carol uh made the adjustment with recycling coach with Sean Hamlin that you discussed. Uh with regard to Shedler, uh the Bergen joint insurance fund approved our request um for the claim package on Thursday of last week. We just received the paperwork today uh from Bill Bailey who's the attorney for the GIF. So Matt is currently reviewing that as is Bob Rooney and we should be moving to execute that in the next few weeks. Um I'm not really sure about the reference to the planning board. I can tell you that I did discuss the fact that we had a community parking forum um which was very productive. It was the same night as a planning board meeting um but there was no interface between those two meetings. Um we were conducting a comprehensive study uh with Walker Consultants on parking. Uh we solicited a lot of good information from two meetings that day. One with uh the business owners and the merchants downtown, second meeting with the public in the evening. Um I think it was productive. We've since had a follow-up meeting with them. Um and we'll be doing some additional public outreach through a community survey uh to assess the opinions of people who were not present at those meetings but would like to submit their comments when it comes to parking at Bridgewood. That's all I have. Mayor,

thank you, Keith. Anybody else?

Yeah, I have a couple things. So um not to be redundant but with uh Ramadan I too felt there could have been more engagement and I reached out to Makmoud and offered to help and he was very much into that. I think they felt very pleased as the rest of us that it came together very quickly and they heard the feedback as well. So we are definitely going to have more of that and we offered our services repeatedly and I just want to give him a big shout out for making it happen and having such a lovely event. I was unable to attend. So when um I heard about it, a lot of people were um feeling badly that they couldn't be there. So amplifying it next year because it's such a good thing is definitely part of our priorities. Um I believe the question was asked of how much of the conditions, how much has been allotted for the house in this year's budget. It'll be formalized, but at this point I think it's $100,000 that's listed to meet the criteria from Shipo. As everyone knows, um the whole park development had a lot of criteria and because the house has been such a spend and that's actually the reason why the property is historic, we're going to begin to take those steps so that house that is very valuable for very many reasons can be opened up to the community and we have $100,000 is the line item for that.

So the the initial the budget that's been introduced, the capital budget that's been introduced has a line item of $100,000. Um that's to start up furnishings, fixtures, all that type of thing. Um so that we can start to have activities and events at the house. Um we actually had a very productive meeting on Friday. Carol and I uh we should be finalizing the um operations plan, the financing plan, um and the staffing plan for the house um in the next 30 days, let's say, um in accordance with the approval that was granted by the DDP last August. Uh so just as we're moving forward on the soil remediation uh concurrently we're moving forward uh with the plans uh to get the house up and running uh for the 250th anniversary of the country.

Yeah. And we're also um inventorying other houses. I think Carol's got quite a few field trips coming up and we look at the online communication because 250 is going to be big. I'm just going to take a moment to say notice the new flag. It's a flag for 250th. The Boy Scouts noticed that the other day. They're very fired up on it. Um, with respect to several other things, I just want to say in terms of engagement, without sounding defensive, this council, since Evan and I took our seats, is very much interested in public engagement. Um, we've introduced hybrid access. Most several of my committees run hybrid access. We reintroduced council meetings. We have the council chats. Every September, we have a meeting um at the stable where we invite all the residents. And with respect to key special um projects, Shedler and residents, I did personally and I know several other council members did meet with neighbors there. Um so we are doing those things. We take citizen engagement very seriously. For me, four of my committees meet and are public facing. Um I'm public facing here. We would take appointments. So, um I know people want more, but we are balancing families and life and jobs, but I do I do just want the public to know we are very much interested. We do go to small splinter groups within neighborhoods. We go to denters. We go to, you know, people who are promoting it. And I just want to assure people that's happening. And lastly, um I want to assure the general public that this council and myself, we are listening and we are open-minded. So the more feedback we can get, the more we're willing to absorb and listen. But I assure you, I am listening to the community and my mind is open.

That's it. Anybody else?

Good. Let's move on. with your indulgence. Um, this council has been very busy and accomplishing many, many tasks over the past year and we are very proud of the work that's been done. It's been done with the support and assistance and help of the community, of the staff. Uh, and I just want to take a a few minutes, if you will indulge me, to go through what has gone on this past year. Um, and and quite frankly, 2025 was a really great year for what I always believe is the greatest town in America. And while that's my own personal opinion, let me begin by telling you what some others have said about our wonderful village. The Bergen Joint Insurance Fund bestowed upon us their gold safety award in 2025. Niche magazine said that Ridgewood is the second best New Jersey suburb. I really want to find out who that first town is or at least who they think it is. We're going to talk about that. Uh, we were ranked the 11th safest town in the country by go bankanking rates.com. We were rated the best downtown by 2011 magazine and we received the bronze award certification from sustainable New Jersey, just to name a few. At the end of the day, let's face it, this is a pretty nice place to live. And we are all incredibly fortunate to be here. And let me say how fortunate I am that I am as fortunate as anyone to be working with a council as smart and dedicated as the people sitting beside

me. They have not seen a copy of my remarks. By the way, as I've said many times, the accomplishment of this village rest upon upon the foundation created by this council. Let's start with Pam. Yeah, you. She is my first call on every issue and the person I turn to when I can't figure out something on my own, which is happening on a more regular basis. having heard every meeting I attend provides the guidance and steady hand that keeps this village going in the right direction. Thank you so much, Pam. And have you ever noticed how the guy to my right always cuts to the heart of every matter in seconds? Just as importantly, Evan is our financial guardian 365 days a year. He asks the hard questions. Sometimes people get a little uncomfortable, but I'm very comfortable with him asking all of those questions. And I am grateful that he is here keeping watch on our money at every meeting. Thanks, Ev. And quite honestly, I really don't know where we would be without Siobhan. She is without question the hardest working, most creative problemolving, most empathetic to every resident force of nature that has ever sat on this Rididgewood Village Council. and I work very hard to stay on her good side. And the new guy, who by the way hasn't been the new guy since two weeks after he took his seat on the council. Once we showed Frank which chair was his, he didn't need any direction from us. He hit the ground running and every advance we've made as a town for parks and citizen safety has started with him. Frank, thank you so much for taking those under your wing. As I've said many times, we are five

completely different people. And if you've ever seen us in the caucus room, you'd really know that. Uh, but we are all rowing in the same direction helping to make our village a great place to live. I am so proud to be working with these people, not because they are on our team, because I get to be on theirs. But this council only gives direction to our incredible staff. It is their tireless efforts that turn our dreams for the village into reality. Every leaf, snowflake, of which we've had a few the last couple of weeks,

lawn clipping, scrap of garbage, empty soda can, drop of water, building permit, marriage license is all taken care of by some of the best people I have ever had the opportunity to work with. These are the people who keep our village shiny and new and the envy of every person who comes to town to shop or dine. To all of you, I say thank you very much for your dedication and hard work. And now, let's see what this council and staff has achieved in 2025. It's a pretty good list. First, let's talk money. We've maintained our AAA bond rating and had a budget increase of 3.14% which was well below the rate of inflation. Next, we increased the villages ratables by over $200 million and the pa over the past four years, we have increased our budget surplus by over $900,000. And in 2025, we secured almost $2 million in grant funding for projects that included new lighting at Vetsfield, PAS remediation, the new bus station at Vaness Square, improvements to Citizens Park, renovation of our skate park, and equipment upgrades for our police and fire departments. Thank you to each and every one of our department heads for finding money to improve our village that didn't come from our resident taxpayers pockets. And it's at a time when federal, state, and local governments as well as individuals all across the country are struggling with impossible increases in health care costs. The village also incurred significant health care costs, but we were able to limit those

increases by almost $1.5 million in providing health insurance to our employees. Most importantly, we were able to do this while at the same time reducing the cost of health insurance to our employees and at the same time maintaining the same level and quality of health insurance they have always received. Seems impossible, doesn't it? It was, but Mr. Impossible got it done. Thanks, Keith. pulled a rabbit out of his hat on that one. So, let's move on. Problem is, this council was pretty busy in 2025, so let's get started. It's kind of a lightning round. This past year, the village entered into an agreement to acquire the Warner Theater, as many of you know, and along with the Rididgewood Arts Foundation raised almost a quarter of a million dollars from p private donations to hire a team of architects, engineers, and other theater professionals to apply for a $75 million grant from the New Jersey Economic Development Authority to turn our beloved Warner theater into a regional performing arts center. We anticipate filing for the grant very shortly. If we get the grant, we're off to the races. If we don't, the dream is likely over. Stay tuned and keep your fingers crossed. This is a big deal. Next, 17 years after acquiring the Shedler property, the village of Rididgewood has obtained final approval from the DP to build a park and a field on that site. Our first step will be to remove the contaminated soil from the property, which should take place this spring. We

will then begin construction of the park and field in phases beginning sometime this summer. Special thanks to Siobhan who shephered this project like it was her personal project. Wouldn't have gotten through without you. And something that is very important to me personally is that Ridgewood can't just be a great place to raise your kids. It must also be a great place to live once your kids have grown. Last year, the Rididgewood Community Center Foundation obtained a grant of again almost a quarter of a million dollars to turn the first floor of Village Hall into a premier senior center that will allow us to triple our programming to our senior community and provide a place for them to learn, grow, and live. Construction should begin in the spring, allowing us to be in full swing by the fall. I'm very, very excited about this. Next up, behind the leadership and vision of Deputy Mayor Pam Perne, Rididgewood established a special improvement district or a SID in our central business district. The SID creates a fund. Here's the key part. at no taxpayer expense from the residents to help our central business district grow and thrive in this everexpanding Amazon economy that has made it so difficult for main street shops to survive. Thanks, Pam. In November, the voters passed a referendum to increase the open space tax at an average cost of $37 per household per year. This will allow the village to acquire, create, and develop more parkland to make Ridgewood even prettier and more vibrant than it already is. Frank is all you. And there's so much

more. Let's see how quickly I can blow through some of the highlights. We replaced the bridge at Kingsbridge Lane that had been closed since 2021. We built the new pavilion and ADA compliant playground at Habbernickel Park. And with the support of the board of ed, the Ridgewood baseball, lacrosse, soccer, and football associations, all holding hands together, we installed new lighting at Vetsfield that is both brighter on the field and darker on the homes surrounding it. Very cool project. Thank you, Nancy Bigos. We expanded the pickle ball courts at Glenn School from 4 to 6 because they are so popular. We built a new roundabout at Rididgewood High School at the end of Beverly Road for the board of education, their students, and their parents. I wish this was done when my kids were there because now there's no more K turns when heading down that block. And by the way, we have a partnership now going with the board of education. We help them when they need it. They help us when we need it. It's all one town. We have two boards, but we are now working together better than ever. Also at RHS, we approved a long overdue bus stop at Rididgewood High School for the benefit of students and their parents townwide. And the village planted over 200 trees last year. And behind the efforts of our communications director, Carol Belcowski, oh, she's right there in front of me, we expanded our social media presence to almost 6,000 Facebook followers and over 3,000 Instagram followers. All in an effort to let our residents know what's going on here at Village Hall. Plus, over 3,000 people

have downloaded the My Ridge Rididgewood app, which just so you know, I can use it. So, if I can use it, you're notice they're all laughing. You're not going to have any problems. So, while we're at it, if you haven't done so, you should probably do it now. This council also brought the Rididgewood Police Department back to full strength for the first time in years. And thanks to the head of our recycling division, Sean Hamlin, we expanded our styrofoam dens styrofoam densifier shared service agreements to nine towns and recycled over six tons of styrofoam. Think about that. Six tons of styrofoam. It weighs almost nothing, but we got six tons, which is good for the environment and good for our taxpayers. This council has also brought our trash and recycling fleets back up to full strength for the first time since 2018. And because Sean Hamlin views his work as a mission, the village collected and recycled over a 100 tons of food scraps in 2025, saving our taxpayers money in disposal fees and giving the earth a little bit of a break. And with money clawed back from New Jersey Transit, Siobhan pushed to build a new bus station, a a new bus stop at Van Nest to replace the one that had been closed for years. Siobhan, busy year. And we passed an ebike ordinance for the safety of riders and pedestrians in C Central business district. Look for the roll out this spring. And then Rich Calb and Company have been as busy as anybody. They replaced almost two miles of aging underground water lines that were long overdue for

replacement. And going on the waterline, Ridgewood obtained the final approval of the 12th and final PAS treatment facility, which should be all done in about a year from now. Thank you, Rich. And did you know that in 2025, our incredible firefighters responded to over 25, excuse me, 2700 fire calls.

They conducted almost 2500 fire inspections and they responded to,300 ambulance calls. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you to our firefighters for always being there when we need you. And our magnificent library that we are all so proud of had over 200,000 visits and almost 500,000 web visits in 2025. It is a true local gem that makes our village sparkle. And here's one I am also especially proud of. During the recent lapse in food benefits to struggling families who received federal SNAP benefits. And when they were interrupted, the village organized a food drive encompassing our schools, houses of worship, the everpresent YMCA, and social services that bridged the gap until SNAP benefits could be reinstated. Nice going. everybody in Ridgewood who came to the table on this one. This list goes on and on and on. Believe me when I tell you these are just the highlights. Doing this work is incredibly rewarding. But if you've ever watched even a few minutes of one of our council meetings, you know that this work isn't always easy. Which is why I want to thank you all for placing your trust in us. I can't begin to tell you how much that means to us. It's more than you can possibly know. Just as importantly, I want to thank you all for improving the tone of the conversation in this room and around town. When we discuss difficult issues,

heartfelt, passionate discussion beats disrespectful confrontation every day of the week. And by the way, you get more done that way. Lastly, I want to thank my colleagues here, Pam, Evan, Siobhan, and Frank, for their hard work and relentless drive to make Ridgewood shine a little brighter every day. I can't tell you how honored I am to be sitting here with you. Stay well, my friends. And with that, let's move on. Keith, your manager's report.

Thank you, mayor. Um, just a few things. First, I do want to reiterate uh some of the comments that were made earlier in the meeting. I want to thank all of our bluecollar I want to sorry I was distracted. Um, I want to thank all of our bluecollar workers uh for the incredible work that they did. Uh this was the second major snowstorm of the year and this year this storm this past weekend we clocked in 20.7 in got the certification totals this afternoon. Uh they worked for 20 straight hours and they are back out there uh over the last few nights and in the nights coming to clear the piles from the central business district. We've also coordinated aggressively with code enforcement and with the police department um to make sure that intersections are clear so that our students and pedestrians throughout the community can get to their destination including school. Um and I just want to thank everyone involved from our public safety folks to our blueco collar folks uh to code enforcement um central dispatch everyone who was involved in the response to both of these storms. Um I'm very proud of Rididgewood's response. Uh, with regard to general announcements about the snow, we are asking folks, if you have not already done so, you probably have received a visit from code enforcement, but please make sure that you clean your sidewalks. Uh, we also expect property owners to clean the corners. We understand when piles build up 8 10 feet in the air, we may need to assist in that endeavor, but it does not take away the fact that the responsibility of the corners and access to the crosswalk at those corners is the responsibility of the individual property owner. Um, also on behalf of the fire department, I want to respectfully ask everyone to clean the fire hydrants in and around their property. Uh, we have over 700 fire hydrants in the village of Ridgewood. So, we're asking residents for their assistance because to have just the squads go out um and have to clear all

700 um is a burdensome task and god forbid there's an emergency as we're cleaning up from this snow. I want to extend my sincere congratulations um and gratitude for the work that she does every day to our parks and recreation director Nancy Boss. Um Nancy has been such a kind, generous, and helpful resource to me personally. Uh but the work that she has done here in Ridgewood as our recreation director is simply second to none. Um many other communities out there are very sports focused. Um the beauty of Ridgewood is that while we are sports focused and we have tremendous groups that do that work, um we have a very broad range of recreation programs here in town. um whether it's programs for students um at the community center, for our seniors at the community center, um for our our more nature oriented uh programs and our committees like the conservancy. Um Nancy really does paint our recreation experience here in Ridgewood with a broad brush. And that's why it was an honor to be at the dinner last night where she was honored as the New Jersey Recreation Professional of the Year uh by the New Jersey Parks and Recreation Association. I was there with the mayor and the deputy mayor. Um Nancy, congratulations on behalf of all of your co-workers here at Village Hall. We are proud of this accomplishment. We are proud of you and we are certainly proud of the work that the parks and recreation department does on behalf of the residents of the village of Bridgewood each and every day. Um, we did get word from Senator Booker and Senator Kim that Rididgewood Water is in receipt of an appropriation uh from the federal government for $1.5 million to supplement our lead service line uh replacement. Rich KBY will be at our work session next week. He will talk a

little bit more um about what that means for Rididgewood Water, but he um was ex he was over the moon when I called him to tell him that we were notified um of that we're going to receive those federal funds. Um and if my math serves me correctly, uh we're somewhere over $4 million in federal funds to supplement both PAS and now the lead service line effort. Um, I also want to thank u my friend Makmoud Hamza for his invitation uh to the ifar at the YMCA on Saturday to break the fast in celebration of Ramadan. It was an honor to be there uh with the entire community but especially those who are celebrating um and next year Denise we will certainly get the word out earlier and share with the community um so everyone can come together in celebration of Ramadan. Uh just a few announcements. rear yard garbage collection uh will continue to be suspended this week. Um we originally were going to set up a date of Monday uh to reinstitute rear yard collection. However, now they are calling for the potential of another significant storm on Monday and Tuesday. So, we're going to hold off on a definitive date. So, at this point, we're asking everyone to continue to put their trash curbside to make for a safer collection for our employees down at sanitation. The Department of Parks and Recreation will be holding their seasonal summer job fair on Monday, March 16th from 5:30 to 7:30 downstairs here at Village Hall in the community center. The summer job fair is for young adults ages 16 and older. They can explore a wide range of full-time and part-time employment opportunities available through our parks and recreation department. Learn more about the requirements and the job descriptions for each positions. You'll also have the opportunity to speak with supervisors for each of the divisions who can answer any questions. Any further information that is sought, please give a call over to the parks and recreation department at the stable.

We're also inviting everyone to Super Science Saturday on March 7th from 9:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at Ridgewood High School. Come and explore the many activities and experiments and demonstrations that will be available that day. Um, we will also be represented as a village by our police department, our fire department, and representatives from Green Ridgewood. Our recreation department also has a full lineup of programs to keep kids active and connected after school, including quite a few that kick off the first week of March. Please visit us and register through community pass as these spaces will fill quickly. And lastly, our village council upcoming meetings. March 4th is a work session. March 11th is a public meeting. March 25th is a work session. March 30th is a work session. All begin at 7:30 p.m. And that concludes my report. Mayor,

thanks, Keith. Let's go to council reports. Frank,

thanks, Mayor. Um, I first want to thank all the staff, too, for the snow removal. Um, just an amazing amount of work done. And when you drive around and see just how clear the roads and the sidewalks are, just fantastic job. And what really stood out to me is that when I was outside and I'd see him driving by um that they all had a really good attitude and I and I think that just shows that he be appreciative of not just the work they did but the quality of people that we have working here. I also wanted to thank Carol for all the announcements that she sent out keeping the uh residents informed about what was happening um and how to get the trash out and everything else. So thank you Carol. Also wanted to thank Nancy as well. Um, I've had the privilege of serving on the parks and recck board for many years and also working with Nancy before that on initiatives. Um, and I think the biggest compliment to her is um, there's some new members on the parks and recck board and after the meeting in January, one of them said to me, "Wow, I had no idea that so much work goes into planning these activities." and to make it that smooth speaks volumes of her kind of leadership. So Nancy, welld deserved. Congratulations. Um, SEESAC met last week. Um, and so site triangle obstructions. We are now up to 134 in compliance. We, uh, one new notice went out and, um, in this past month alone, two more of those 134 came into compliance. Um we have started um doing an incident accident report and so in January of comparing of this year to last year there was a decrease which is pretty significant because we had so much more snow this year and to still be below last year um just shows that things are hopefully trending in the right direction which is down. Um, we

also discussed the um that how the the council approved the a full stoplight that's going to go in at East Glenn and Maple. Um, we also have engineering spoke about that we had already put out a bid for traffic engineers and those bids have been received. So, we will be choosing one of them soon. And then so that um new full light, this is a you know red, yellow, green will be going in probably in the summer which I'm sure Evan is very happy about. Um last that my uh parks and wreck and open space met as a joint meeting, but that was at the same time as SEESAC. So the mayor covered for me and I'm sure you'll be hearing from him about how great that meeting went. And that's it. Mayor,

thanks Frank Siobhan.

Sure. So, I have a couple. Um, last week, Stigmafree met and we had two celebrity guests. Um, we had Mayor Paul make a a visit and it was nice to have him back. Um, we also welcomed Megan Murphy who is um a local Facebook moderator of a group called the Sandwich Generation. Our joint meeting between stigmafree and access yielded that the caregiver at all levels and all ages often experiences their own sense of stress that's shared whether it's within the access community or within stigmafree a the aging process. I want to thank everybody who attended. The police were there. The conversation was largely productive. Um, it talked about amplifying the good work of the board of of health. And we got into some curious discussions, how sometimes stuff can be actually overwhelming for caregivers. So much medical stuff. And our next step is going to be to meet with people like Sean Hamlin and talk about things like if your parents are moving and you have to get rid of stuff and all the sources. So, I want to thank Megan uh Murphy for being there. I want to thank our health department and again Paul for being there. We've really done a lot of work in amplifying the good works out of the health department and within stigmafree the loneliness epidemic and all that. So I want to thank the everyone who's done that. I also want to let the public know that our schedule is going to be adjusting a bit because there's um maternity leave coming from in the department. So check the calendar if you want to attend a stigmafree meeting. We're going to be rotating a bit because we want to have Dawn at the table. And thank you Dawn for stepping in. I also um we met with Access and several things happened um last week. Obviously, Puzzos was canceled due to the storm. We're going to be re um redoing Puzzos at some point in the future. I want to say thank you to everybody for who was planning on attend and let you know that we're going to re-register for PUO's sensory friendly dinner most likely in the month of March. We did have a long discussion

about um access representation at the 4th of July that I've discussed with Evan and also um Mayor Paul has stepped in to help with a couple ideas. Access feels um very strongly that the statement that no one brush paints them in, you know, describes them. They had many ideas about ideas how to be incorporated into the full day of Fourth of July events and every event and they were very um warm on several ideas. Um I they also want to be incorporated in the parade. Evan's going to follow up with some of this, but I want to thank Access for being so open-minded with um the discussion and Carol's going to be the committee chair on that. Additionally, um I want to just thank the Boy Scout troops from third and fourth and a couple fifth graders from Somerville who were here. I want to thank Heather who helped us. We had 16 Boy Scouts in the room. They all took over your seats um and they had a great time and they voted on lots of wonderful topics ranging from should video games be allowed in school. But my favorite question asked from the public was an affirmation where a fourth grader said the greatest town in the world who agrees with me and I thought it was so funny because it's Paul's phrase and they really enjoyed it and again loved our new flag. Um I too wanted to say thank you to everybody who worked in the storm. I also want to thank the merchants uptown who offered them coffee and kept our staff happy, wellfed and safe. And it's just such a big effort. So, I thank you with all the gratitude for making it look so seamless. And of course, the biggest congratulations to Miss Nancy. Um, I've known Nancy pretty much forever and um, this is well done, welld deserved. Um, she's done so much in her time, whether it be the butterfly garden or completing the final phases of the Habern development, hopefully this year, adding a new park to our inventory and um it's just so welld deserved. So,

congratulations to Nancy and everybody who made that happen. Well done. Thanks, Siobhan. Ev,

great. Thanks so much. So, first I do want to join the chorus of folks thanking Keith, all of our folks who are out there battling the storm. Uh, not all of us get to work from home. Uh and those folks that are driving the snow plows are really really truly appreciated. Um also want to add into the course of those congratulating Nancy Bos and her award. Um very very well done. Um in terms of Fourth of July, so we did have one of our um during this time of year we generally have several meetings with police, fire, other folks at Keith Chairs. We had one of those meetings last week start discussing um all the logistics that go into the Fourth of July parade. As Siobhan has mentioned, we've also brought up the topic about access um and um providing um folks who are neurode divergent some alternative ways of attending or otherwise being a part of the parade. We are working on that. Um it is a little complicated, but I'm pretty confident that with um Fourth of July and access working together, we'll come up with a way um to serve all of our citizens. Um and very pleased to be a part of that. Uh library met um exciting news. We're getting new bathrooms. Uh work on that actually started today. Um so look for that. It will take a little bit of time but um really a nice upgrade that the library is in the midst of of uh executing on. Um and finally to me probably the most important thing that I have to say tonight is really about the ifar and the crescent lighting. Um both were just wonderful events. Um I was privileged and pleased to be a part of it. Um you know up here on the deis we tend to avoid national issues or world issues because that's not really what we do. Um, but as I've communicated before and I've said before in prior Muslim holidays, you know, I'm a very proud member of the Jewish community here in Rididgewood. I don't hide from it. I own it uh with this face. It's kind of hard not to be uh known as a proud member of the Jewish community. Um but I have to say that um every year I'm invited to these events and I'm not just invited, I'm welcomed um warmly welcomed by all of them um in a way that is so giving and so wonderful uh and so fortunate um to me to be be able to and really

privileged to me uh to be a part of. And as I sat there watching the Iman speak, uh, sat there atar eating the wonderful food surrounded by all of my neighbors, I was really struck by first how fortunate I am to live in the United States where we get to do this sort of thing. How fortunate I am to live in Ridgewood, an amazing community where we live in harmony despite whatever differences we might have. And how fortunate I am to call the wonderful Muslim community not just my neighbors but my friends. Um, really privileged to have been a part of that. I want to thank the entire community for the invite and really thank them for the wonderful warm feelings and inclusion. Thanks and have nicely said, Pam.

Yes, the ifar dinner and the crescent lighting were just such warm, welcoming events. Um, I felt privileged to be there. I also felt privileged to be in Atlantic City with Nancy Beos and most of her family members. um watching her receive the award, her her comments were so sincere. Her she is so invested in nature and parks. And um it's also important to recognize that the whole event was orchestrated and and arranged by Katie Fry, who is our supervisor of recreation here in Ridgewood. She is also the president of the New Jersey Recreation and Parks Association and she did a wonderful job. Um, the other towns that presented and the other people who received awards were so inspiring. Chuck, not Chuck, I'm sorry. Paul and I were saying

work husband. Can we do that in our town? What about that kind of thing? What, you know, we got so many good ideas. Maybe maybe too many. Pardon? Maybe too many.

Um, as to Twiny Park, I did get to speak to Nancy about where we go from here. Um, I I stressed to her that I think the first thing is to find out whether the storm water pipes are bringing water from the streets into the pond. It is a kettle pond, meaning it has no natural source of water other than rain. No river feeds it, no stream feeds it. The only water it gets is from rain and those two pipes. And one of them looks crushed. I can't even tell if the pipes are working. So I asked Nancy if she could determine whether the pipes are working. The second question is, what are the pipes bringing into the pond? um that water should be tested and and the lab results and analyzed to see what's being brought into the pond. We did have two um quotes come in uh a while ago, a couple years ago. One, they are different philosophical viewpoints of how to deal with 20. One is dredge it. The other is don't dredge it. You'll just make more room for invasives. And also recognize that a kettle pond is always looking to become a meadow. To bring it back to a pond where people can fish and skate may be unrealistic. Um but in the short term we are I Nancy is going to have the third party contractor that the village is hiring to eradicate um uh invasives also look at 20 pond. We have two kinds of invasives

at least there. Uh in the water you have stilt grass which is very easy to remove. Um and it and and then on land you have um uh Japanese notweed. So uh let's see what we get in terms of a quote for remediating that situation. Um the Ridgewood Business Alliance, that is our special improvement district, received 13 applications for the position of executive director. and our 14 um board members uh 14 directors of the RBA have been um diligently interviewing these applicants and now we're in the call back stage and we hope to finish them up in the beginning of the month and and have a new director. Um the planning board met last last week on the 17th for a minor site plan approval at the corner of Union Street and South Maple Avenue uh for uh the uh the addition of an attached greenhouse on the building there. Not a separate standing greenhouse but a attached sort of like a little sun room. Um we also had training uh a refresher course on the basic outlines and requirements for uh uh um assessing and evaluating the applications that come before the planning board. The central business district advisory committee also met and uh that was after the Walker Associates meetings and so we have a lot to hash out there and uh also um there was discussion about the new

ebikes law and the uh police department and the board of ed working together to roll out their new educational program in the spring. And that's all I have. Thanks, Pam.

Paul, could I just say two things with Pam because she's Sure. So, two other things that we've been thinking about with 20s. One, I'll send the note again. When we were in um Atlantic City, a kettle pond just was created because a glacier kind of took a rest. That's what it is. That's the bottom of it. And we I did enter it in to Ruckers. So, I'm going to follow up with that. And the other idea that we have been seriously people are going to think we're joking is that with the invasives I've been watching um the park development how they're bringing in goats. Um so I'm determined to say this so people understand that we're serious is that you know particularly with storm water drainage pipes and hard to access places goats love things like Japanese knotweed. They also love um poison ivy and there are companies that are emerging because people on steep inclines and with water get hurt. So, we have been um preliminary looking at the idea of goats to deal with invasives. Um it would require less manpower. It's more eco-friendly. And this is being done within New York City. Oddly enough, if you Google it, you can vote on your favorite goat that is servicing the area of the Bronx and uh New York public. So, those are two things that we have been working on. I keep telling my council, I'm going to keep bringing it up. I can't wait to see Evan vote on line item budget goat. And um so um those are two things, but again I'll follow back up with Ruckers and I just want to make sure that the general community understands how rare it is because apparently when glaciers were moving through a neighborhood, they took a little bit of a rest bit there and that's what formed Twin, which is super cool.

Great. So I just want to have a village goat herder on staff. Um anybody want to apply for that now? No, we'll talk. It

has to be part time though. We'll talk we'll we'll we'll we'll talk in close session. It's personnel. Um so um I said 2025 was a great year. Um I had a great week last week. Um I was very fortunate that Frank had a conflict and could not make the open space um parks committee uh annual joint meeting. Um, I I I love the work that that these volunteers in our town do to make this a better town for everybody. And the focus of their meeting was was the trails in town. And they had a presentation um from a uh a trail expert um who comes in and says, "Yeah, you need a little bit of this, you need more of that." And and they're they were drinking it all in. and and there was a consensus that that they want to get our residents to help maintain the trails that we all use. So, um it was really great. Um the the only problem, by the way, with going last for council reports is they've already talked about all the things that I'm all excited about, but I'm gonna sorry, I'm going to mention I'm going to mention some things uh they talked about, but from a different perspective. Um first and foremost Ramadan um and lighting of the crescent moon. Um this I am so proud to be a part of this village to be a resident of this village that is that is happy to have um a Christmas tree celebrate Christmas, a monora to celebrate Hanukkah and now a crescent moon to celebrate Ramadan. Um uh this was a wonderful event. It was our first time doing it, but it is now part of the calendar. Um and I will tell you

something. I I I learned so much. I was so happy about this. Bergen County is now has 70 towns. Of the 70 towns, 45 light the crescent moon for Ramadan. It is not quite so active in the rest of the state. But Bergen County is doing a great job on this and Ridgewood is now a part of that and I'm really happy about it. Um the event for Nancy last night in Atlantic City so great. I know Nancy for 30 years. Um, our kids played ball together and this was a this was a uh an honor that her colleagues bestowed upon her as as parks and wreck professional of the year. Um, talk about somebody who is no more deserving of it than her. Um, it was really, really wonderful. And and while um most of the people at this um conference are what I would call parks and wreck nerds, they're proud of it. And as I'm watching, I'm going, I like these guys. They're they're amazing. So, it was really a lot of fun and very enjoyable. uh the guys who are out there doing blowing snow and clearing streets for us. Um I heard from several mayors who were telling me that they had lots of problems getting people in and getting the work done and they have streets that aren't clear and and they said, "How'd you do?" I said, "We did great." And they said, "Well, what did you do?" I said, I got out of the way and let them do their job because they're really good at this and they're really dedicated and they want to get it done right and we should all be grateful to them every single day. And by the way, they're going to be out every single night this week. When when we're asleep, they're going to be out working.

So, uh because there's more work to do. Um and lastly, um I missed a note in my in my remarks uh about the state of uh the village that I want to bring out now. Um all of those financial gains uh about our AAA bond rating, about our um uh uh our budget increase of 3.14% are uh putting almost a million dollars into surplus over the last four years. um they all have Evan's fingerprints on them and I am and and while everyone here contributed to that, he takes the lead in it and and and I am grateful to have him with us. So, thank you, Evan. Really appreciate it. And with that, let's get to our regular agenda. I believe we have a presentation coming up. So, Carol, would you please join us? So, mayor, as you know, um we were fortunate enough to work with the county of Bergen uh to obtain a grant to add hearing loops in three of the more prominent meeting rooms here at Village Hall. Uh this room, the courtroom, was the first to be retrofitted uh with the technology. Uh the second two rooms, which will be the senior lounge and the youth lounge, will be retrofitted during the community center renovations. um in partnership with Rididgerest and the work that we're going to do with the Community Center Foundation. So, Carol is here tonight uh to report out on the technology additions here in the courtroom. So, Carol,

welcome Carol. Oh, thank you. Good evening. I um I nerded out on this back in May when I present

I'm sorry. Did you speak up? I can't. No, just kidding. I nerded out on this back in May when I presented this to you and I'm just I'm really excited to let you all know that the hearing loop in the courtroom is was installed and commissioned which means that individuals with compatible hearing aids or coclear implants can simply go on their phone switch their device to the T-coil setting and just connect automatically to the system and be able to hear what's going on. um they'll be able to hear clear intelligible sound regardless of any background noise or distance from the speaker and I have props. In addition, we have five assisted listening devices and these can be used uh by people with older incompatible hearing aids that don't have T coil as well as individuals like me who have hearing loss but don't use a hearing aid. Um, and this is especially important because, fun fact, an estimated 1 in seven Americans have some degree of hearing loss. Yet, only about 20% of adults who could benefit from hearing aids actually seek treatment. So, this technology has the potential to help many people. Um, the IT team and myself, uh, we've been trained on how to use these devices. They're it's just super simple. You plug this into here, turn it on, you put on your hearing device, and all the background noise just fades away, and you can hear what's being said uh perfectly. So I can say a lot more but I will just end with saying that this technology really reflects a broader trend around the country as theaters, performing arts venues, libraries, houses of worship and other public gathering spaces are installing

hearing loops and Rididgewood has long prioritized accessibility and inclusivity and this initiative represents another big step in that direction. And I have I have a lot of other things to say, but in the interest interest of time, I won't. But if anybody has any questions about technology,

for the record, if um me um if if anyone wants to use this, what would be the procedure for them to get one of the headsets? Well, I don't know if you you noticed, we have um signage outside the the courtroom now and it says that this is it has the the symbol the hearing loop symbol as well saying that the the T coil is available and um say when the the court is in session um Erica Miller knows um you know to to ask people can come up to to her the planning board uh Jane Wonderje we're going to train her on how to use it. So basically anyone who comes into a public meeting in the courtroom can ask somebody who's in charge of the meeting and they know where the um these devices are located. There's a sign out sheet. Um they have there's a cool little charging deck where they're all charged. They'll be sanitized after they're used. Um so we eliminate that issue. And um

so for here then they should go to Heather or like who would they ask to get it? Uh they could ask Heather, they could um ask someone who is uh in the IT room. They're going to be they're kept in the IT room for you know security purposes because we don't want people you know walking out with one of these. And if you have a T coil you should know how to set it on your phone. You know, I don't think anybody here could really help someone with that. That's the app. Is it an app? Yes, you would have an app on your phone and you can just switch to the T-coil setting.

So, I have a couple things to say. First of all, this is awesome. Congratulations. I don't know if the rest of the council or the community knows, but this is like the fastest grant application ever in the history of grants. Um, I think I spoke with Carol on Thursday and it was zip zip zip zip and on Monday or Tuesday we were awarded the grant. So, congratulations and it's so fun working with you and seeing you get so much done. I I would like to discuss I I think this is such a great thing. Maybe we could add a footnote to our printed agenda just in case. I think it's a good amplification um to the point, you know, we could put it there. It's um you know, it's only accessible if people know that we have it and we do. I don't want it to dominate, but Heather, if we could put a static line on the bottom, that would help amplify it. And I think um it's extremely important. And I've said this before, um, hearing loss is the invisible disability because quite often people don't realize it's even happening to them. Um, the statistics of one in seven are real. And I just I'm very grateful. I'm very excited about this. I think it's going to be such an amenity for so many people um who just don't really even complain about it. I would also like to say for those watching at home, I still am very warm on closed caption. I know a lot of people love that as well, but this is the first step and again, super proud, super grateful. Thank you. Yeah, I think that's that's a great idea, Siobhan. If if we could just do that then this way, you know, if you missed the sign, it's right there.

And um Siobhan, as part of the grant, we do need to do certain things. One of them is holding a a public event and publicizing this, sending out a press release. So, the word will get out and um I want to talk with Deanna about doing a presentation at one of the Hilt meetings and bringing the the folks in here to to see how this works. I another good idea would be to include that in access week. Um we do have a sign language uh presentation. I think some of you have been I know Keith has been at the Richard Public Library. Um a man named Tyson. He was born hearing and he is an Apple influencer. So he uses technology in relaying his disability. He's amazing. We read the very hungry caterpillar and now we know how to say that. Um but we can incorporate that into access. We can help amplify it even more.

That's a great idea. Yeah, they'll be they're they're very fired up about this as well. Great. Carol, is this only for indoor spaces? I believe so. I believe so, but you know, I I I don't know. I can find out. Yeah, I'd like to know. I'm thinking about our downtown. Oh, that's interesting. It'd be a very big loop. Okay, that's a great idea.

We could certainly research that. Yeah. Talk to your contact. Carol, um you said the magic words um accessibility and inclusivity which are something we talk about tonight and and many nights and um thank you so much for taking this um and and running with it. And I know you had some help from people around here, but um this is really this is really a big deal. Um, so we're we're really happy with this and we're really proud of you and grateful to you for taking uh taking the time to get it done.

Thank you. And I wanted to to thank Dylan Hansen, too, because Dylan really worked with the uh the hearing loop people on the the installation, hooking it up to the system and and testing it and getting it to work properly. Yeah. All good. Anybody else? N great job, Carol. Thank you so much. Thank you.

And Keith, uh, thank you, Mayor. Uh we have nothing underwood water tonight. We have nothing under parking. Uh we have three items under budget. The first is from the recreation department and this is for the purchase installation and playground equipment at Kings Pond Park. Um as this council is well familiar with uh we just came through the approval from the state house commission back in December uh to finalize the diversion and disposal with the New Jersey Green Acres program. uh that issue has been resolved and as part of that agreement we are responsible for the purchase and installation of a new children's playground at King's Pond. capital funds uh are available from two accounts uh prior, one from 2022 and then we also appropriated additional money in the 20125 capital budget account uh for purposes of satisfying the diversion with Green Acres which includes the installation of this playground. Uh the purchase, installation, and work site necessary for this Little Tikes Recreation playground structure uh will be slated for King's Pond will be done by Great Lakes Recreation um of Zealand, Michigan. They have a Sourcewell contract, which is what this will be awarded under the vendor just recently successfully installed the playground at Habernickle Park, which the recreation department is quite pleased with. Uh total amount not to exceed for the playground $133,6712. Any questions?

Everybody good? Let's go.

Okay. The next is a proposal um from topology uh relative to the Rossi. This is another work effort to satisfy the diversion. Heather, I don't know if you want to speak to this specifically. So part of the um item that we have to do before we are fully cleared of the diversion is to update the Rossi and so we're in the process of doing that. Apologies worked with us through the diversion process and they are now working on um updating the Rossi. So we need a new contract with them because their previous contract basically covered the diversion and so this will cover the um the updating of the Rossi once that's updated that has to be done then every 10 years. So it'll be good for 10 years and then we'll update it again. Not to say we can't update it internally. Um but officially we have to update it at least every 10 years. Once that is completed and we have the playground and we have the gazebo and we pay the money to um the state uh we will be cleared and we will be able to get um green acres money um grants and you know other grants as well. So it's exciting.

Yeah. And just for the public, can you say what what does Rossi mean? Um recreation open space inventory. So, it basically is an inventory of everything um that is considered open space according to Green Acres. And I can tell you they are very thorough. They go on maps um Google maps and they go back decades to see what it looked like, to see if it evolved, to see if some of our um other things are creeping into um open space. So, I have to say that um they're very thorough. I do want to mention topology is from uh Newark, New Jersey and this for updating the Rossi is not to exceed $10,000.

And I I just want to first thank Heather. She's been on top of this since I arrived here and shephering this through each and every day, even when we trek to Trenton in December. But we just had two recent Zoom meetings on the Rossi where it's amazing as Heather alluded to the Green Acres program actually went through and identified through our tax maps online what is considered recreation space in Ridgewood that was not on the Rossi. So essentially post state house commission decision in December we've now been audited through a review of our tax maps to determine what should and shouldn't be on there. And the calls were very comprehensive. Um Rich Calby was on there, James McGrath was on there because some of these properties that they've identified actually have underground utilities which were a little reluctant to put on the Rossy because if we ever have to go in and make improvements to those utilities, we don't want to create another diversion. So this has been a a pretty comp complicated process. Um but we had a very good meeting with D last week. Um Chris Collie from from topology is um moving forward with the additions to the Rossy um and also talking to the tax assessor about some areas that should really be considered easements rather than dedicated open space. Um but we should bring this to fruition within the next 30 to 60 days. Um and this new appropriation will take us through to to wrap this up.

Yeah, I just have a couple questions. First, I just want to say um this is again, thank you Heather. This is amazing. The Rossy's been an issue um being unmaintained and unupdated and the diversion has seriously limited our funding and sources of grants and we are very very excited to remove this because it's not a good look for Rididgewood. So, thank you to everybody. I fully support the update. It's good housekeeping. I did just have a question going back to the playground and I also want the public to know how exciting it is that we're getting another playground which is more space that's wonderful for the kids and the community and hopefully it'll attract people to the nature preserve up at Kings Pond. Um do we have an install date for when after we order it?

We're we're awarding the uh contract March 11th. So, you know, it'll be after that as soon as they can plan it. NY's in contact with them and I just want to make sure Keith when when we do do it that it goes up on the parks inventory because that'll be a new amenity and that's it. I mean it looks great. I hope people check it out. It's going to be awesome. It's another area and this is to replace the park that make myself feel really old went missing when I was in third grade. So thanks Heather. Everybody good? Let's move on.

Okay. Uh we have two items for office of emergency management on tonight. So Jeremy Kleman, our coordinator, uh who I also want to thank for his uh his work through the snowfall. I speak to him more during snowstorms than I do for the balance of the balance of the month. But um that's true. That's true. And Jeremy, the big question was Liam said, "Well, that's not Mr. Kleinman." I said, "No, it's not. Who is that on the voicemail?" So I played it and I figured it out. And it was funny because they were trying to figure out all the boys were trying to figure out if it was you.

Um so we have two items on tonight. Um one is to um create a uh change the code uh to create an actual office of emergency management as a village department. Um that is not currently the way it is structured and that is what Jeremy is recommending that we move on and also the establishment of a fee schedule. Um so I'll turn it over to Jeremy to talk more in detail about that. Okay. So, these are Sure. Is that on? Is that on? Is the green light green light at the bottom? There we go. Okay. Much better.

Sorry about that. Okay. These are companion ordinances that that we're proposing. I'm going to take the the second one first. Um because that'll explain why why we need the the other one. Um so um the first ordinance would amend the departmental fees section of the code um to uh set a fee schedule to allow OEM to recover uh certain costs for um personnel, equipment, etc. um that are used for at the request uh for non-emergencies by essentially private organizations. Um, so this would sort of bring OEM in line with the practices of the police department and the fire department. For example, the Memorial Day run every year. That's a that's a huge burden on us. And as you know, we rely primarily on volunteers. Um, we we're deploying, you know, equipment, vehicles, hours of planning, developing an emergency, uh, excuse me, an incident action plan, uh, etc. um the other departments are able to charge back to the organizers of that event. That's just one example, their costs because there's an ordinance that allows them to to do that. Uh additional police officers, etc. Um so so this fee schedule will allow OEM to recover certain costs in situ situations where our services um are requested at pre-planned major events. That's one example. Fourth of July fireworks, uh, Memorial Day run, uh, as well as other situations, and we've had a number of them recently, where private organizations have, uh, requested certain resources from us at events on private property, either at a church or uh, at at a at a school for an organization that's rented out, you know, school for a private event, that kind of thing. So, it would allow us to recover those cost.

So, Jeremy, have we not been charging up until now? We have not historically we have not. All right. Is there well I guess two questions. The first is where then are we coming up with these rates because they do look a little low is my first sort of um sort of observation. And then the second which is contrary to that is do we think that this will potentially stop some of those events from occurring. So for instance 4th July obviously no one wants 4 July not to happen. So do we think that this is going to impede some of these events but then also are we charging the right rates? Yeah. So so let me say this. the the intent and I think I think it's in this draft is that these these uh charging these fees would be in the discretion of the village manager. Right. Okay.

Um and here's how I think about it. There are events that are co-sponsored uh and supported by the village um essentially you know village sponsored events. So if our way to think about it is if a a sister department, the parks department requests resources, a light tower, a generator, uh you know, uh personnel, etc., um communications equipment, etc. from from OEM. You know, that's probably not a situation where where we we charge. Um and uh you know, this would be the default. And if there were I would imagine if there were a situation where um the the manager thought that it was important for us to support some private organization and not charge them. That would be in his discretion to do so under circumstances on a case by case. That's that's the way I think about it.

And and where are we sourcing the rates from? So I surveyed um uh the rates and ordinances from other towns that have a similar setup where their their OEM you know provides you know operational uh support. Um and as well as uh fire departments uh that that charge for you know deployment for hazmat equipment and that kind of thing. Um, and I I did my best to be be reasonable and and take sort of an average of those rates. Um, to be honest, I I thought if you were gonna have a comment, Evan, about the rates, it would be it would be the other way that they that they were too high. Um, but I I I felt that these were a reasonable starting point. And, you know, as I discussed with with Heather, um, these can always be, you know, amended and changed. Right. The the only thing I'll say because Jeremy called me and asked me what I I thought of the rates and my initial reaction was that they were low. But I also think that we have to ease people into this. I mean what I can tell you is that the amount of events that have grown in this town even since I've been here for the last three years. Um we can't keep up with it. we simply can't keep up with it budgetarily to support all of these different events which are happening, you know, multiple events on one weekend in some cases when you get into the spring through the fall.

Um, we need to have emergency services at some of these. We need to have PD, FD, we need to have sanitation, we need to have parks um at these different events and to sustain it budgetarily is is is it's not sustainable. Um, so that's one of the reasons that we're looking at this. Um, and listen, we obviously are going to use discretion. However, at the same time, we want to be consistent about outside events versus village sponsored or village co-sponsored events. Um, and that's something that we will if this ordinance is is introduced and adopted, we will sit down and we will draft out what category those people fall in, similar to how we do it for fields.

Because you're you're heading to kind of what I was saying in terms of discrepancy. On the one hand, a lot of those events, even though they're private events, it's for the benefit of the village. It helps our downtown. Our citizens love going to them. It's one of the things that makes Ridgewood Ridgewood. And so, I don't want to discourage any of those events because we make it prohibly expensive for them. So, I do want to make sure that um when we do this that obviously we have some ability to work with them, but again, understanding that I also don't want to be accused of any favoritism if we charge one. We we need we need to be consistent and each of these events is going to need to fall into a category.

Um and that's how we're going to have to to to work it out. But again, that's something that we'll do administratively. Um because again, I don't want to be accused of being inconsistent. Um but that's something we'll work out once the ordinance is adopted.

I just want to say I think it's great. Um a couple things. I you're very reasonable person, but I don't love the discretion idea. That's you know on fields we have things tiered. So we have Evan on the policy. we'll have, you know, our partners, so to speak, and then if there's an event outside of that, there would be fees paid on top of that. You know, someone using the land for an event. I can't think of one right now that wasn't sanctioned by, you know, we're not going to charge RSA because they're in a separate class. And we actually create classes of them. So, I agree with Keith. It's good to go in a little lower and and and take the temperature of how this is received. Um, and I definitely feel that we need to do the classifications so we don't get into something arbitrary where it's waved for one and not for another. And I think it's great and I think you should have been

charging last year. So, good job.

Yeah. I I I think that look, this is a delicate balance. Um, and when you think that um and and I've hosted some of these events that every event where you need a cop, it's 500 bucks for that cop. And when you think about things like Fourth of July and and downtown for the holidays where you have a lot of police officers, um these are already very very expensive events. By the same token, as as Keith said, it's not sustainable for us to keep supporting everything. We are the victim of our own success. We have so many great events and they're all for the benefit of our of our residents. There there's also another factor on all these emergency services and that's if if you want our services exclusively.

Yeah, that's different than being called into service. Yes.

So, and we deal with that a lot on the EMS response with the fire department. Now that EMS is fully under fire, if you're having a soccer tournament and you wanted a rig stationed outside from the time the soccer tournament starts till the time the soccer tournament ends, we need to bring somebody in on overtime to staff that rig. That would require a fee. Whereas, if you don't want that rig there, the fire department is about a minute and a half away if they're called into service. and the then there would be an ordinary response to an emergency. But if you're looking for exclusivity with a police officer being assigned to something, with a firewatch being assigned to something, with a rig, or now with the with emergency services, if you want that assignment for you exclusively, that these people aren't going to get pulled off that job, then there needs to be a fee,

which is excuse me, which is which is why I like this fee schedule, which I think we all looked at it and said, "Gee, that That's not that much money, but it's this is after they're paying for the police and all the other things they need to do. So, I think that this is really striking as good a balance as we can given the circumstances. So, I did nice job. Sorry.

It I also want to say that that backwards would be the perfect event. It also makes the event planner have a checklist like lights and things. So, it's much more thoughtful. It keeps the events safer. You know, some of these events can get rather large, but that's all I went backwards. I was like drawing a blank on an event that would have been in a class by itself, and that's a perfect one. And what it also does is it prevents last minute asks, which we had recently with a a major event in town

where Jeremy got a call 48 hours before asking for service. You know, it was a multi-ight event. It was it was going to be hard to get someone to exclusively be there for that. This will be a um a motivator to to have a meeting which we do quite often up in my office with all these events. All the necessary departments are sitting around the table and we're going through the checklist that Siobhan talks about to make sure that we have all the resources we need and all the staff we need to support their event. Because listen, a lot of these things that happen in Venice Square, you know, if we don't have the proper staff there, the next day, you know, we're getting sent photographs of overflowing garbage cans or litter in the park or anything like that. And that's the type of thing that we're trying to prevent.

So Keith, I guess two asks then. Number one, um, we should make sure that a lot of the regular occurring events know that we're now going to start instituting this. And the second is I'm not sure if you get any thoughts perhaps to grace period because I can tell you from firsthand experience with say 4th of July, like that budgeting is already well underway. and to then ask them to pay that fee now, you know, if they were not previously aware of it is going to be a bit of a hardship. Keep in mind, Evan, we we budget for the majority of the emergency services for Fourth of July or already. And but I mean, so including the extra ones we're now proposing. Yeah. I mean, Jeremy and I'll talk about that again. I wanted to make sure that there was the support for this before we you we outlined who would fall into what category. But we we fund the police and and fire support for the fourth.

But even other events, you know, make sure that the guild's aware so that they start factoring this in. Um if they've got if we've got events that are maybe coming up in the near future that they haven't budgeted this in, see if we can give some grace. Again, I just want to strike that balance of ensuring that we're we're being fiscally responsible. We're not discouraging any of those events from occurring. It's we need to be fair to those folks. Um, but also understand that we're getting a huge benefit from the events they put on here in Ridgewood. Jeremy, are these private uh entities asking for exclusive coverage from OEM because their insurance coverage requires it or is it just a wish? I I don't know the answer to that question. I wasn't sure if you would.

Yeah. No, I don't know the answer to that question, but I'll give you I'll give you an example, and I think um deputy mayor, you may be aware of this one. One of the houses of worship in town um you know, requested um uh lighting for their parking lot for a senior event that was co-sponsored by the parks and recreation department. And and typically we we accommodate that request. And my view is that it's co-sponsored by Parks and Wreck. It's a village event. Of course, we're going to provide that assistance to the parks department. Um that that house of worship then and and and it requires I need to get, you know, one of my members to, you know, hitch a light tower, tow it there, go back the next day to turn it on at the appropriate time, set it, go back, turn it off, and then, you know, and then hold the thing away. Um, I got a call asking if we could leave it there because a week or two later there was some other event that parks had nothing to do with that they thought it would be nice that that they had some additional rent. And in a in a weak moment, I said fine. Um, then the next day after that second event, they called and asked if we can leave it there for another week or two for a third event that they were having there. Again, on private property, having nothing to do with the village. Um, and I finally said, "No mas, like done last time." You know, if you have a dark parking lot, you might want to think about putting some lighting in

your parking lot. like we're we're not tailor rental that you know some organization or private business can just hey can we borrow you know another one several weeks ago the the the the function that Keith was alluding to um in addition to the lighting they said hey can you can we just borrow 50 traffic cones not for a village street but for something in the parking lot of this facility so we get those kinds of requests and it's like well at what point does the village stop sort of providing resources to these private events when they should go to tailor rental, right? Um a and and you know, I think about things like a a generator or a light tower. Now, that's burning diesel fuel, right? We're the taxpayers are paying for the fuel for these things. Um and really, is there a benefit to to the bu the village? So, I'm trying to I was trying to find

and and that's a great point. A lot of these requests aren't even something to do with the village. It's not something at Vaness. It's not something FBF. It's not the Memorial Day run. It's it's private property, you know, community- based organization, but not a village sponsored endeavor. We we need the ability to offset our costs on these resources. And and listen, and you and I have had this discussion, we would love to be able to supply everybody with, as you say, to be the tailor for all the churches, all the schools, all the all the private events that are community- based. Kids still got to balance the budget. And so um you know this is I think this is a this I think this is the right answer to what it again has become an issue because we have so many great events. So

so thank you for doing that. So Jeremy, do you want to jump down to amending chapter 3 uh which is to amend the section on emergency management council and establish the office of emergency management as a village department and then while you're here you might as well talk about the uh the uh count the uh hazard mitigation plan for 26 as well. That's on the agenda. I'm sorry about the the Bergen County hazard mitigation plan for 2020. Oh, sure. That's that's on the agenda tonight. Oh, is it? It's a It's a Jeremy heavy night here.

Sure, sure, sure, sure. Okay. So, um in in in drafting this this this fee schedule um and sticking it under um the departmental fees um section of the code, I realized that there is no department. This is this is all just housekeeping, right? So, so the only reference in the village code to uh emergency management is in the um the section establishing boards, commissions, and councils and it's primarily in reference to the emergency management council which were required to have by law and sort of buried in there is uh and the mayor shall appoint emergency management coordinator but there's there's no other language in there. So this was a cleanup where u the amendment would leave the emergency management council in the section of code on boards, commissions and and councils, right? Um and then strip out all of the uh o the other OEM sort of operational and authority type things and create a new section under under uh departments um that would formally and this is just codifying what we already have, right? uh establishing the office of emergency management as a department of village government uh laying out the the authorities and duties um that you know that are that are set forth in in the statute in the state law um and really just sort of cleaning up um the code.

So no no substantive changes basically. Well, it's it's memorial it's it's it's really just memorializing what's in practice on Right. No substantive. Exactly. That's what I get. No substance. Right. I like it. This means you officially have a title now. Right now we have official. I really don't need title. I don't need I don't need anything. Jeremy, we thank you for all the work that you've done for the village for so many years for your stipen. Um you're you're a very good man and we're fortunate to have you on. Thank you. I appreciate that. Mayor, he's got one more. Yeah. Yeah. Go ahead. Um, yeah, I'm sorry. I didn't realize that was on. So, every every four or five years,

five,

five, the village is required to uh implement a um a hazard mitigation plan, which is a written document um dealing with really how the village will deal with certain natural hazards, um flooding and and things of this nature. Um it's not an emergency response plan, but more more of a mitigation plan. Um uh you know, how we deal with, you know, the zoning, what are the critical infrastructures we have in town, how are we going to protect them, things like this. Um several years ago, Bergen County realized doesn't make a whole lot of sense for um 70 municipalities to put together 70 uh plans. Um so the board of commissioners um authorized the adoption of a multi-jurisdictional house hazard mitigation plan. basically one plan for the entire county and um the county uh every five years um pays the full cost of a consultant to meet with each municipality um go through the requirements and they draft our section if you will of a countywide plan. Um that process occurred last year for the five-year revisions. Um, we had several rounds of of meetings with the consultants and representatives from the county. Um, and and finished off the the Richwood section. Um, the county has adopted this plan by by ordinance and I think by April 1st or something, they're requiring uh each municipality to adopt it by by resolution. Um and so by us adopting this countywide plan which has a Ridgewood chapter in it, we're covered and we don't have to go out and put together our own plan.

Any questions on that? Yes. Yes. Do you do you see areas of that plan that could be improved for ritual? when you went through it, did you see things that you thought, I wish it had such and such?

So, no. No. So, we updated things like our inventory of Ridgewood facilities. It identifies, you know, every, you know, water department pump station and these kinds of things, critical facilities. But in terms of improvements, I think we are we are limited by our topography and by financial resources, right? Um we've had these conversations in the past. You know, if there were grants, should we be, you know, buying up, you know, properties in flood zones and, you know, turning them into green space and things like that? Yeah. I mean, in theory, yes, those are the kinds of of improvements, you know, but are they pie in the sky? Yes. From a from a realistic standpoint, I think it's as good as it's going to get.

Okay. Thank you. I have a question. Can Can we see our chapter and is the chapter public facing or because it is It is It's posted on the county website and I believe in my memo to the manager with It is there's a link there. Yeah. My link wasn't live to our chap. Oh. Oh. Can you send I'll send you the link. Yeah. If you could send it to us because I think that would be beneficial for Green Ridgewood and for residential Florida. I sent your last manual to them and they loved it. You know, the one that we were discussing whether or not to print in the budget. So, the more information we can have, I I know Green Ridgewood would want it. I want it for residential flood and then maybe we could put our chapter in an e not notice as well. Well, let's let me review it first. Okay.

Um I want to go through it again and just see if it's it might be public facing, but sending it out to the public depending on might be a bad idea. Yeah, I need to look at it one more time. I I couldn't launch it, you know, just couldn't for some reason. So, if you could just send me I got an error also. Okay. You I'll send you one. The website's there. Yeah. If if you just look for it by words, you can find it. If you could just chop our our chapter out, that'd be great. I'll see what I can do. Chief of Thank you, Jeremy. Okay. Thank you. Good.

Okay. Mayor, the last the last item, just going back to policy, is a memorandum from Chief Judge. Uh the Rididgewood Fire Department is seeking approval to enroll in the joint insurance fund certified fire department program. Uh this is an initiative that standardizes policies risk management tools necessary to enhance firefighter safety. Um it's sort of fire version of the police accreditation program. Um brings all the policies and procedures regulations up to date. Um, upon the completion of the program, the municipality would be awarded an initial $5,000 for additional fire training and equipment uh through a grant program um as well as $2,500 additional every three years. Um the with the approval of the council program will take about 12 months uh to be allotted. Um and it does require a digital system for policy distribution. Um we already satisfy that requirement through our power DMS service. So, chief is looking to um get the fire department uh certified similar to what we're doing with accreditation at the police department.

What is the GIF? The joint insurance fund, right? But it's not like uh a regular insurance company. Is it is it a consortium of all the self-insured towns?

No, it's a consortium of municipalities that together are insured through the joint insurance fund. And there are multiple joint insurance funds in Bergen County. Um our neighbors around us, probably up to Oakland out that way. Um 13 municipalities that we often work with in this region um are all members of the uh of the Bergen Joint Insurance Fund. There's also a South Bergen joint insurance fund that deals with uh most of the municipalities south of Route 4. Um and together we we couple our insurance and and that is how we procure casualty, liability, everything but health insurance. So it's not self- insurance. No.

And so does the GIF go out to an insurance company and buy the policies that apply? We we work it depends on which policy. We work through the mail um on things like workman's comp. Um but we solicit the insurance together so that we get a a group rate rather than an individual rate. Gotcha. Everybody good? Yep. That concludes my portion of the agenda. Mayor, thank you. Let's go back to public comment.

Uh, good evening, Mayor and Council Boyd, a loving Rididgewood resident. Uh last week I spoke about or I s made a suggestion regarding the sensory friendly portion of the July 4th parade and quite frankly the message I got from the deis was that uh that plan was or my suggestion would be poo pooed because that had been looked at and was not possible at all for a variety of reasons. Uh, I'm pleased tonight that comments from Councilman Whites indicated that that is still under discussion and that there may be a sensory friendly portion of the parade. Uh, to me it seems like a simple thing to do. Just do it at the beginning of the parade, one block before anybody turns on their lights, sirens, or the band starts playing. One block at the beginning of the parade where there's no noise, no visual distractions. So, I'm pleased. At least I think I'm pleased that Mr. Whites indicated that that is still under discussion and still may happen. Uh with respect to the snow cleanup, the street department is doing an excellent job. One of the things that makes the street department's job more difficult though is when people with snow plows push snow out into the street. When Mr. Sudashaz was employed here. Whenever he was asked about that, he indicated that no summones could be issued unless somebody actually witnessed that happening. I quite frankly, I can't believe that. It is clear where the snow comes from when you see it piled on the street. You look at the driveway that is directly across from where the pile is, and you know that the pile was pushed out from that driveway. I fail to understand why code enforcement can't issue warnings or summones to the property owners where

that snow is removed from. Certainly in today's day and age where we've got GPS tracking that you can pinpoint a location, determine where it came from. I just don't understand why we are still relying upon unless we see it happen, we can't issue a summon. So, it asked the village attorney and the manager to see if anything can be done so that we can clearly when it's clear where this pile of snow came from, why can't we do anything about it? It makes the street department's job so difficult. Dayton Street between Maple and Hope is always a mess because there are two commercial properties that push their snow out onto that street. Why can't we go to those property owners and say, "Cut it out. and we're going to issue a summon. I just boggles my mind that we can't do anything about it unless we see it happen. Those are my comments for this evening. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Boyd. Anybody else?

Tar Ridgewood resident. Just a few followup items. Um, Keith, the picnic tables at Habern are going to be occupied by children and people playing sports and families and Braden requires a badge to get into those picnic tables. We're specifically looking for picnic tables at Looneying and Vaness. So, there's like 15 picnic tables at Braden. I don't know why we just can't take one picnic table, carry it over, and dump it in Looney. So followup item for that. Denise, you said luing park loing. Gotcha. One table.

Uh Evan, you talked about Fourth of July. Uh this is the second request. Two years in a row there was no handicap parking. And I don't mean handicap parking at the other end of Braden. Needs to be close by so people can get in or behind the municipal building and they can walk in the back. So nothing was open last year. It was open the year before for two minutes. Four cars got in. So we just need to do a better job of that. Thank you. Um Frank, you didn't mention anything about the safety and accident at East Glennon in Northern Parkway where the car went through the porch. Um it's a super bad u you know intersection. We have to do something. I know it's county related, not county related. We're gonna have to influence the county, but the accidents are getting worse there. Um Paul, your uh updates. I just have to say we've gotten a lot of good money on Rididgewood Water and all the grants and we're updating all the facilities, but the big elephant in every communication that doesn't get announced is that our PAS exceeds the New Jersey requirements for the last 10 years. I cannot be happy and jumping up and down that there's new facilities and getting money when our water is still tainted and still exceeds the requirements. So somewhere we need to be cognizant of that and make sure people understand both sides. Um, NJD approval. I think that's contingent on us doing a historical architectural landscape projected from ground disturbing activities prior to the park construction. So, we still need to present something before we start working on the park and the activities.

Is my understanding on the February 2nd uh notice from from the towns and the downtown parking meeting before we said it's specific to business owners, tenants who live in the area and commuters and employees, but it was never mentioned about regular residents. So, we park there, too. We need to park for restaurants. We have takeout. you know, we're trying to run in 15 minutes, you know, services, shoes. So, you know, if you're looking for people to participate in those events, I'd be happy to to work with everybody on parking. Thank you.

Thank you, Denise. Anybody else? Seeing no one, I'm going to close public comment. Would anybody like to respond?

I would. Denise, forgive me for not bringing up uh Maple or excuse me, Glenn and Northern Parkway. the um so we did discuss that actually and um Richwood PD looked at it over a five-year history and remember the one house that had the site obstruction because of the bushes. So I asked them to look at it 12 months before and 12 months after and we did see a reduction in the um accidents by rightaway like that they didn't stop essentially and that went down um I think it was 50% in that respect. So we also looked at what what I found most interesting is that in five years there was only one accident that it was someone on Glenn's fault. Every other one is from going north or south. Yeah. And so um but engineering went out there prior to our meeting. Um PD did the study. So we are going to put a flashing um stop signs on Northern Parkway in both directions. Um and so engineering is already talking to Signal about pricing those out.

Sure. And I I had a couple clarification items. So, um, I I want to take an attempt to explain what Evan and I are working on, um, with a little bit of a clarification. So, Denise, last year we had more handicap parking than any prior year. Um, yeah, we counted, we went through with the police and we had more handicap parking. And I want to thank Evans Committee for being mindful of that. I want to remind the general public that, you know, in terms of physical disabilities where access is hard, one in four Americans will be considered disabled at some point in their life. With their increasing population, 25% of Ridgewood is over 55 and if you had a knee replacement, you would have a badge. But last year, Evans Evans organization worked with us and you had more handicap parking than the prior years. And additionally with clarification for access, access and Fourth of July have met. Um maybe Evan got the word slightly wrong because of the dinners, but access is very sensitive to the phrase, and I'm going to keep repeating it that no one brush paints the whole access. So what that means is that we have different disabilities in our access committee. And that committee advocates for disabilities within all of our organizations. They do not wish to have a neurode divergent section of the parade. They want a parade accommodation for access which would cover you know neurody divergent would be covered in it but so would um handicap people. So would people who had different issues within the disability community. So we've been working on a myriad of things. access is also um that it's not going to be one one approach because a huge part of inclusion isn't that it's separate, you know, over there. So, we may be doing something on Main Street if it all works out and Paul and Evan and I are working on that and we may be incorporating disabilities in the parade, but the feature in the parade

will just be part of the parade because they don't wish to be separate. I just want to remind people that MJ Agular in turn represented the disability community as a whole and literally every one of the icons on the access logo is represented. So Evan, I'm just going to correct you. I know you meant it with love. It won't be a neurode divergent focus because that's just one element of access. It will be an access approach to integrating into the events like we do with early hours with separate touchup trucks and all of that. um they're extremely sensitive because we have a high rate of neurode divergence within the village for that being represented by them. We also have a significant part of that community that has disabilities where they you know they need wheelchairs or vision issues and so we're going to be doing many things. We'll be reporting back but it won't just be a neurode divergent aspect. Cool.

Yeah. No, I think that's absolutely right. I know we're working on a lot of different ideas. I want to wait until they're fully baked before we announce them. Um, but I think everything you've said, um, Siobhan is spot on. I also want to thank you for highlighting the handicap parking um, issue. That was something I was very proud of that the committee um, the committees plural tackled with police last year ensure more handicap parking across the entire vote. And I know you're shaking your head, Denise, but we counted them. Um, so I I have to respectfully disagree with you. I'm sorry, Denise. I was speaking right, Denise. Denise, I have the mic. Denise, you had your three minutes. No one interrupts you when you speak. Please don't interrupt him when he speaks.

As as as they as Servan said, we counted them. There was more parking. We will redouble efforts again this year because I too share the concern to ensure that everyone has the ability to share in in the parade, but um I do think it's unfair to say that you were or to imply that the um that the request was not actioned last year because it certainly was. Um similarly to your comments to Paul around PAS, I don't think there's any hiding the ball in terms of the peace pass. Rididgewood has a PASS problem along with thousands of water municip water municipalities across the nation. We've been well ahead of most of them. Um the fact is because of the proactive work by Rich Cowby and some really fantastic people in the village. We will cure our problem decades before many of the other water municipalities or water um water companies throughout the country do. Um so to suggest somehow that we're not advertising that or overlooking it um respectfully I think is disingenuous. Um, we've been nothing but transparent on this topic and I remain incredibly proud of the hard work of Rich Calby and Ridwood Water to correct the problem that is a nationwide issue.

I I also I would like to speak Can I finish my other comments and then How about this? Okay, go ahead.

You don't mind? Um uh every quarter the Rididgewood Water Utility sends out a notice to every single rateayer as to what the facts are about POS. You get it in your mail every single quarter and every single letter is reviewed by the D that we are meeting the requirements of public notice on the situation with POS. Um, as as Evan says, there's no cover up here, but the efforts of Richard Water do need to be celebrated. It's pretty damn remarkable. And um the other thing I wanted to say is you you might think that putting out picnic tables is a no-brainer and not very expensive, but we have a homeless problem and we don't want them using picnic tables as beds or shelter. And so that is a consideration. Um, and I'm not going to speak for the parks department as to what they're thinking. It's just something I've observed.

I I want to add to that. So, with respect to the picnic tables, um, we they are at Habernick. I'm not sure I totally understood your statement, but that that pavilion is open to the public and it can be used. It's you don't need a badge to go in there. Those picnic tables are there. And additionally with Looney Park, I'd be concerned about that because many neighbors do not want those amenities because they come with food and with food comes sanitation. So we have to be really mindful about where we put places where garbage can be generated. Um so just to reiterate, we do have picnic tables that are available to the public and it's lovely park at Habernickle. You do not need to reserve them. They're open to the public. That's our newest amenity. We we incorporated feedback and we put them up there. Great. You do need a badge to get to. But um many residents Looney is embedded in a residential neighborhood do not like additional amenities there because they will generate trash. And lastly, with respect to water, um next year we will be POS free. Uh it's 2026 now. There's been delays. So it's it's coming, which is super exciting. And I think in fairness to the PAS issue within New Jersey, anything that we do to improve it that makes that date closer should be celebrated. And I think that's really important that Rididgewood Water is braggable. We've hosted forums. We've had access and personally because they watch these meetings. That's that's to be bragged about. So I think Paul does a really good job of it. But it's not something far off without an unassigned date. And I know there's been different dates. 2027 will be our day and that will be a big celebration. Paul may make a even longer speech. It'll go on and on. But I did just want to thank our staff because it's it's amazing to think of how far ahead we are in the curve. Um

I was just sitting here minding my own business just so you know. But um I do think every facility that we open and every step we take should be celebrated and you know the talented staff at Rididgewood Water really needs to be applauded each and every time. And I think that's it. Anybody else want to take a swing at me? I mean, anybody else have anything to say? Mayor, just if I may, with your permission. Oh, yes, by all means, Matt.

Um, just with regard to Ridgewood Water, there are a number of treatment facilities that are already up and running. I don't have the exact numbers, but over half well over half of the customers of of Ridgewood Water have POS free water at this point in time. And as Siobhan said, 2027 is the completion date. We're under a administrative consent order with D. We're meeting all those deadlines that the D has approved and we will actually be probably a little bit ahead of schedule on that. So that's the one thing. And just with regard to the snow, I think when Chris Rutershouser was referring to issuing summones, um the proofs needed to issue a summon would need at least some type of visible um effort being made by somebody to to put snow out into the the street. circumstantial evidence can get get you so far, which is that the fact that there wasn't snow there, now this looks like it comes from a the mouth of a of a driveway or something like that. But, you know, the proofs that he needs to be able to do that on a uh on a regular basis would do best with having photographs, pictures, someone testifying that they saw this being done on this particular site um and the snow being removed and put into the street. Ridgewood uh staff personnel have to then remove that once it's in the street at a later time. So it does cause problems. Certainly issuing summons is different than issuing a warning. And I know that's what you're talking about and that's something that um you know personnel could probably look at with directions.

Mayor, just to follow up on that, the most frustrating part of a snowstorm for me is people throwing the snow back in the street. And if it frustrates me, who generally doesn't sit behind the wheel of a truck with a plow on it, I can't imagine how frustrating it is to somebody who's worked 20, 24 hours straight trying to remove the snow from the street to see the people that they're working in service to throwing it back. Um, I have personally during both snowstorms stopped people and put my window down and identified who I was and asked them to refrain from doing it. Um there's some anger built into those conversations. Um but I will tell you this, over the last two snowstorms, I've requested that Chief Lions direct his staff at the police department to go out and address this. And the reason that we're having the police address it now is because it's a very short window to be able to enforce this once the snow stops while people are clearing their sidewalks and their driveways. So to have the police department who obviously has much more manpower than our code enforcement person which is one individual. Uh the police department has been aggressively going out and addressing this with the residents and I think from an effectiveness standpoint that is our best option. We have enough police that can go out there. Now, interestingly enough, on Monday afternoon, I received a text message from Chief Lions saying it's happening on every street and they were doing the best they could to enforce it. I understand the frustration of of snow removal, trying to go out there, you have to go out multiple times, trying to pile it up on your front lawn. Um maybe there's a little vengeance built into throwing it back in the street, I don't know. But we really are working hard to try to stop people um from doing that, getting them to refrain from doing that because all it does is create a problem

where our folks have to go back out and readress a situation that's already been dealt with. Um just to go a little deeper on the habern pavilion. Um the habernickel pavilion will be treated as any other facility in the in the village which someone would want to request to use for a birthday party, a cub scout meeting, whatever it happens to be. But when it is not scheduled, it is open to the public in accordance with Green Acres rules and regulation. The only time a permit would be issued is if it was an organized event where the facility was um properly requested to be used and approved through master library. So I just want to be clear on that. Um with regard to picnic tables at those two parks, um I can talk to Nancy about loaning that's not a problem. I will tell you I would have a reluctance about putting picnic tables at Vaness Square. Um, you know, while we often refer to that park as Vaness Square, it's actually a memorial park at Vaness Square. Um, it is not customary to have picnic tables in a memorial park, and I realize that that park is very versatile. It's used for a lot of different things, but as somebody who comes from a gold star family, I would be a little reluctant of making that into a formal picnic area with the war monuments that exist there. Um, so that is something that I will talk to to Nan and her team about. Uh, but I think there might be reluctance only because of the memorial nature um of the park. Uh, with regard to the parking meeting, every resident of Ridgewood was invited to that parking meeting. It was put out in multiple e-notices, Carol, I'd say two or three probably. It was put out on social media. Um, when we talk about the residents, I think we talk about their needs being very consistent with the business owner needs, which is the ability to park, access, whatever they need to do downtown. Um, so in no way

were the residents excluded. As a matter of fact, those the people who are parking there, they're probably the most important part of the equation. Um, but everybody has different different needs that are competing with that and that's something that Walker is going to work through and and not to be redundant or repetitive, but you know, kudos to the administration that sat here before us because they were the ones that made a really hard decision. And I have to tell you, if I if I was the manager, when Heather was the manager, and had to make a decision to spend $150 million to mitigate PAS, that would have been that would have been a hard number for me to swallow um as as a village manager. But the prior administration appropriated that money and kicked off this endeavor, you know, working with Rich Calby to fund what needed to be done to bring us a year from now to have PAS free water. And while I understand that those correspondents that go out that are approved by the D, first of all, they're incredibly complicated. Most people don't know what they actually say um because they're written in D speak as we call it. But you know, our goal every single day here is to get us to a year from now when we can have that celebration that Siobhan talked about where we will be PAS free. Um, and as Evan said, you know, the only Pacific Valley Water Commission, they're decades away from being where we're going to be in 12 months. Um, the only water companies, water utilities that are ahead of the curve are the much smaller utilities like a Hocus or a Hawthorne where they had a their scope of work, their project scope was much smaller than what we have to do to service these four towns. Um, but you know, I don't think anything should be taken away from the professional staff at Rididgewood Water, the job they've done to get this to where we need to be. Um, and by the

way, we're doing this right. I drive home most days down Gothal Road in Hawthorne. If you look to the right there by the fire station, um, those and I'm not taking away from the folks in Hawthorne, but they they did it the way they did it. Those tanks are exposed to the elements. Our tanks are going to be housed. drive down Gothal Road closer to the turkey farm across the street. That facility is housed. Uh go down to the water treatment control uh facility, that PA center is housed. And that is going to get us a lot more longevity out of this technology and this infrastructure that we're building out so that we're not having to readress it. not us, we won't be here, but that the future councils and future managers and future leadership at Rididgewood Water won't have to address this sooner because we're doing it right. They'll address it much later than some of these other utilities.

One more thing, in the wintertime, we're probably POS free right now.

Yes. Yes. And and that's that is right now we're significantly less usage during the winter months. Once we turn the corner and we end up in lawn watering season, that's when you'll see the numbers rise because it has to do with the volume of water that we're using. Um but we are currently purchasing water from Hawthorne, uh which is again PAS free because their project is complete and built out that's being integrated into our system. Um, as Matt said, nearly half of our treatment centers are already up and running. So, they're treating the water uh for for PAS. And um a year from now, you won't be seeing any more of those quarterly notices. Anybody else?

Seeing no one, we will entertain a motion to adjourn. So, moved. Second. All in favor? Let's go.