Township Council - Regular Meeting

I like to call the May 12th regular meeting to order. 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. Moment of silence to remember the service and sacrifices of the armed service members who protect our nation and the first responders who protect our neighborhoods.

[clears throat] Clerk, please take the roll. Council member Salberg. Here. Council member Voicechovich. Here. Council member Freilander. Here. Council member Courten. Here. Council Vice President Zacket. Here. Council President Morrison. Here. Adequate notice of this meeting provided to the Daily Record and the official newspapers for the Township of Rockaway. Notice was posted on the official bulletin boards of Rockaway Township, Township website, and notice was filed in the office of the town clerk. Approval of the minutes for the April 28th Township Council regular meeting. Can I have a motion?

So moved. Second. Council President, real quick. Yeah. Can you just make the correction? Again, those that we recognized that had passed away, uh they live in the Lake Telemark area, not Towpath. Did you send it in ahead of time? I did. Okay, then we're good. It didn't change It didn't change. I know, but you also sent it in at 4:30 on Monday, so I don't know if they've had a chance The changes to the other names and everything It's okay. Just to Mr. Kelly, when you generally notices and changes and things like that have traditionally gone in the Friday before the meeting. I'm sorry, the Thursday end of business Thursday before the meeting so the agenda can go out on Friday. The last couple meetings you have waited until 4:26 on Monday afternoon when everybody goes home at 4:30 to change whatever it is, which necessitates a new agenda being done. It has to, you know, our our clerk has to stay. Everything has to get printed, reposted, so it's understandable if it's not in your copy. But in the future, I would ask that you get it in by the end of the day on Thursday. That way we're absolutely sure to get any changes that you would like. And [clears throat] as for Morrison, just so we know that we're all correct on the same page. Under our administrative code under 257C, it's 25 hours before the commencement of the meeting to add anything onto the agenda. So, everything that I'm doing is compliant. 100%. Thank you. Uh we're going to move I'm sorry. Uh let me say the roll. Council member Salberg. Yes. Council member Wojciechowicz. Yes. Council member Freelander. Yeah. Council member Royack.

Yes. Council member Quinn. Yes. He [snorts] said no. Council member Kelly. No. Council Vice President Sackett. Yes. [snorts]

Council President Morrison. Yes, seven yeses, one no, motion carries. Okay, we are going to do the open to the public portion. Before opening the public portion of the meeting, I want to remind everyone of the rules that apply to anyone who wants to address the council. Any member of the public wishing to address the council will have 3 minutes to do so. While an extension of time may be requested, it should not be assumed that an extension of time will be granted. While addressing the council, members of the public may not address or question any individual council member. If anyone addressing the council violates these rules or conducts themselves inappropriately, their speaking opportunity will be terminated and they will be instructed to return to their seat. A refusal to comply will result in removal from the room. Members of the public in attendance may not make comments from the audience without recognition by the chair. Persons doing so will be subject to removal from the room. As council president, I have tremendous respect for my fellow council members and the public who take the time and effort to attend council meetings. These rules are necessary to protect and respect, but also to permit the council to do its business in an orderly and professional manner. Uh when I call your name, please approach the microphone, uh state your name and address for the record, and there will be a 3-minute time limit. Sorry. Uh Kathleen Corazza. Did I pronounce it right? Yes, you did. I'm Kathleen Corazza, 11 Debbie Place, and last night last week at this time I was in Andover because my daughter and son-in-law live about 2 miles from where the proposed data center was um to be in They live in Newton. And it occurred to me as I was sitting listening to all the rules. I don't know a lot about land use. I don't know what our laws and rules about land use are, but I'm here to ask you to consider proactively establishing an ordinance against data

centers in Rockaway Township. As you have probably been hearing, there are a lot of concerns. There was bipartisan agreement amongst the town members of Andover that it was not something they want. And I would probably guess it's not something most people in Rockaway want. So, I am just here to ask you to please consider um getting ahead of that game because I have these dreams of Simon Mall saying, "We're not making any money in the mall anymore, and we could be a data center and sell it for a lot of money." So, I would love to see us get ahead of that. Thanks for listening. Thank you. Yeah, I know you noticed. So, we are evaluating that right now. We're evaluating the properties in town and all those types of things, and we'll have a recommendation for the council at some point in the near future. Right. Um [clears throat] Mayor um and everyone, I was going to ask that during my 3 minute because a couple of residents asked me about and I didn't know anything about it. So, I would love to make that an ordinance. And And Mr. Mayor, real quick, if I may be recognized. Yeah, go ahead. Uh Mr. Mayor, have we looked into what other municipalities have as far as um data center ordinances to somewhat mirror and and um expedite that potential writing of that ordinance? The Township [clears throat] Council has, we're just starting the process. Christie Kirila. Hi everyone. with you Mount Hope Road. Um hopefully I can get an extension cuz I have two things to mention. yelling at anybody. Uh so, first I wanted to talk about being a Mount Hoper, which is great. I've been a Mount Hoper for about uh a little over 11 years. Uh we know it comes with its perks. It's kind of isolated. The neighbors are great. We also have a poor sour or negatives, right? Which are the trucks, which we understand are not going away anytime soon. Uh we know that we can't have small children and animals in our front yard. Um we know that if we're going to take a walk, we're going to get dust blown in our face as the trucks drive by.

We know that if we need to be somewhere, we need to leave early because sometimes there's a pileup with trucks, we got to wait for them to pass to get out of our driveways. We know all that. The one thing that I think we When I'm asking the council to perhaps speak with uh Tilcon about their their patrons, is there's a common courtesy. All right? When it comes to this, we've got garbage thrown out of our window out of out of their windows onto our streets. I'm not beyond picking up garbage off my lawn. Checker bombs, on the other hand, which are jars full of urine, is something I don't want to do. Um we also have their overloading. They overload all the time and it spills out onto the intersection of Mount Hope Road and Mount Hope Avenue. I don't need to be doing the Tokyo drift with my kids in the car when I'm turning the corner. Um also, they often will um leave that I'm going to be turning onto Mount Hope Avenue off off of Mount Hope Road and they blow the stop sign frequently. Again, I have two small children in my car. I value my life. You know, a truck is no match for my car no matter how big it is. So, I'm just wondering if the council can have some type of discussion with them about just a common courtesy. We have to have our our home is devalued just to be honest. It's going to be difficult to sell if we ever want to, not that I want to, because everyone who stops at my house says, "How do you live with these trucks?" It's an automatic negative for us. All they can they can do is just be courteous to to our residents. Um so, that's that. Um the second thing is I do understand the pond's going to be open soon. Love the ponds. Great place to be. Um and I know that the officers have been very diligent about making sure that people who don't need to be there who should not be there are not there especially after hours. The one thing that concerns me though is that that is the pond itself. It is not the parking lot. I have a 15-year-old daughter who really wants to lifeguard at the pond who would like to enjoy the pond. And I have to worry about her being in that parking lot because it's a circus. There's people there who are not residents. You know, I I don't care. They're blasting music. They're smoking weed. They're doing all kinds of of things. I don't want to be worried about my 15-year-old daughter in her town you know, within 5 minutes walking distance from our home

um getting, you know, accosted or just bothered or just being in that environment. This is not what I pay for. You know, um and so, with that being said, I also don't know the um you know, what we're going to be policing but also in terms of betterment of the pond and I'm sure this has probably been discussed I probably just missed it. I've been trying to come here for quite some time. Um just improving Mount Hope Pond. I know that I've spoken to residents who said if we can just get like maybe even one of those decent mobile bathrooms or something in there. Um I don't know what the likelihood is that for that. I'm certainly not a plumber or, you know, whatever it might be that that would do that. Um but we'd be willing to pay more for our badges just to have an upgrade in that. You're standing online for ice cream with your kids and it's the smell of urine wafting in your face. So, just food for thought. Thank you.

good. 3 minutes. I [laughter] got it right.

Uh apologies, I'm going to possibly butcher this one. Fico? Fico? Sorry. Gina Fico, 2U Place. Um I want to talk today about something that I really don't know a lot about, but it's been just walking I live in this community for almost 30 years. I love it. Went to all the schools. I work at the schools. And something I wanted to talk about is adding a dog park. And it's so crazy that I see that on the agenda. I had no idea. But I walk around here and I recently got uh a small little dog that's not even 10 lb. And you know, I don't have a fenced-in yard. I don't have a place where he can run free outside without a leash. And I walk around and I see, you know, all this beautiful open space around here and certain spots that are becoming vacant now. Um I know it's a very small space, but the little Willow Park right across the street from here. That's been an eyesore in the community for years. Uh it hasn't been used as a playground. And I was thinking, like, what are they going to do with this space? They finally ripped it out, but now it's just like a pile of mud and chairs. And it's just kind of like I feel like maybe something with that space, I know it's really small, could be used as like a a dog park for like the really small guys. Just kind of get a little socialization. I know it's a lot to do that. We want it to be, you know, humane and safe. And you know, there's a lot of moving pieces with that, but I just kind of wanted to, you know, come here tonight and discuss if there's any way we can, you know, think about that. Thank you. Um I do know that uh Councilman Kelly put it under for new business uh today. And I do know that uh Council Vice President has been a passion project of his for many years. I actually think you you ran

on that the last couple times. So, I know it's I I don't want to steal their thunder, you know, but again, you know, put it on the agenda and it's been a you know, it's been a concern for the Council VP for a long time. What's that? Willow Park. Yeah, go ahead. Go ahead. Yeah, just just real quick cuz obviously I'm I'm in Ward 4. I've seen some talk on on Facebook about Willow Park and talked to Mayor about it a while back and unfortunately we could not do that area as a dog park. Believe me, I wanted to. And but the administration we did a great job cleaning that up. It was an eyesore in there with the old over 30 years old on the jungle gym in there and Dave and his team we we went in there and they cleaned it all up nice. We put some nice tables in there. So, it's more just an area just kind of hang out. It's too small an area. We couldn't have a dog park in there. It's in a residential neighborhood. Can't have dogs barking as people live over there and there's a restaurant over there. So, it's not really the safest for dogs. I wanted to, but just talking to everyone over there we couldn't, but we did clean it up nice. So, hopefully you go over there and Yeah.

bring a book and read a book and have a sandwich and hang out a little bit cuz it's very small, but it's it's kind of more what we did for that. A lot of this will come out during discussion later, but now he's VP's done a lot of work on this already. Awesome. Thank you so much.

You're welcome. Dana Tabadella. Dana Tabadella, 31 Omaha Avenue. I've been trying to get an answer for the community since March 14th. It's a simple question and haven't been able to get an answer to it. I did ask at the last meeting. I wanted to know why at the budget meeting the tab couldn't be reopened even though it was going to be a benefit to the taxpayers. I did go back. I relistened to the um live feed on that. Uh Ms. Palmieri said verbatim, "Basically, we're paying ourselves, and we haven't raised the $9,000 since 2023, probably longer. As inflation goes up, rents go up. I feel like we should increase it to at least $10,000, but I'm open for suggestions. We're paying ourselves. The money would be an expense, but then the money would come in as a revenue within the water utility." It's an an expense offset by a revenue. Councilman Kelly made a motion to raise the line. It was seconded. And even though Ms. Palmieri said that raising one was a good thing, Council President Morrison voted no. However, it did pass 7 to 2. Then Councilman Kelly asked to reopen the earlier tab now that the council had understood the vote from an earlier vote that we could do a similar thing. That was at 3:22 in the afternoon. Mr. Morrison referenced that he got a legal opinion on at the lunch break. That didn't make any sense to me. Why would he have gotten a legal opinion for something that haven't happened yet? Further confusing was Mr. Iacofano said at the last meeting he wasn't prepared to answer my question. It was a simple question. Why couldn't the council reopen the tab on the budget? If he gave a legal opinion in a 3-minute phone call at a lunch break, he already had given a legal opinion, so

why wasn't he not able to answer that here? It just None of it makes sense. I I did get a copy of the OPRA. The phone call was uh 3 minutes. It was during the lunch. So, you So, supposedly, you got that advice like 3 hours before it happens. So, for full transparency, I'd like to ask Mr. Morrison and Mr. Iacofano to please answer my questions. Okay. So, a couple things. First, we normally don't do a back and forth, but I'm happy to answer the question. First and foremost, I know after the meeting last time or during the meeting, you asked me cuz you said it was an email, I said it wasn't an email, it was a phone call. The next day you open requested my phone records which I turned over immediately. Um now that you have the phone records that back up exactly what I said, are you willing to retract your statement at the last meeting that I lied? Cuz you said I lied that it wasn't an email. So you requested

remember if I said you lied. I just said that it wasn't a phone call it was an email. I just want to make sure you're you're ready to retract your statement because I I Okay, so it was a phone call. Okay. Yes.

exactly what I said. It was exactly what I said it was. The other thing I want to point out, what was the line exactly that I wouldn't reopen for Mr. Kelly? It was the line to raise the rent in the other section. I believe Construction. She can answer. She's the one that filed the open. She can answer the question. I know, but she filed the open Mr. Kelly. What does that have to do with it? Mr. Kelly, you're not recognized. It was the construction for facility rental. Facility rental is self-providing and self-funding. They pay rent. They pay rent period. Should we increase the rent? And that was And you guys voted no to that. So then that's why when the next line came up for the water department um after um actually Mr. Kelly said to Ms. Palmieri, is this a good thing or a bad thing? I don't think that my colleagues uh understood the question earlier. And then that's when she answered which I just read to you verbatim what she said. She said it was a good thing and then you guys took the vote and just everything I just said. No, no, I get it. And I'm just trying to recall cuz you said specifically that it was a benefit to the taxpayers. I'm asking you to explain to me exactly why it was a benefit to the taxpayers. Because Ms. Palmieri said it. I'll read it again. Ms. Palmieri stated it would be a benefit to the taxpayers. She said verbatim Well, she said when she was asked if it was a good thing. She said verbatim, basically we're paying ourselves and we haven't raised the $9,000 since at least 2023. Probably longer.

But that refers to what? I'm asking. Raising the line Right. for the rent Rent on what? So, the water department and the construction department Right. They they pay rent. Right. to us. Okay. So, raising the line is a good thing because the money is an expense but then it would come in as a revenue and it's an expense will offset by a revenue. If you would like, Ms. Palmieri No, no, no. I'm asking you because you're the one that No, no, no, stop. You're the one that spring it up, so I want to I'm asking you. I have explained it to you two times too. No, no, but I I understand. So, what you're saying is understand what Ms. Palmieri told you on March 14th?

Oh, I do. I just want to make sure you do. So, the point is is is if we're just moving if we're just moving money from one account to the other, I get it. And whether that's a benefit to the taxpayers is subjective. $9,000 on a what $25 million you you know, it's it's it's it's less than pennies. But, just to answer another part of that during the same meeting Councilman Witkowicz had asked to reopen a tab and I didn't let him open a tab either for the same reason, right? I know that you take it personally. Don't take it personally. It's just part of the procedure. If I didn't let Mr. Witkowicz open a tab, I certainly can't let Councilman Kelly open a tab.

What I take personally is the lack of transparency. You cannot tell us why you cannot open a a reopen a tab. Because it's not procedure. It's just not procedure. It's just not something that we do. the community. It doesn't And is there a law that says that we can't reopen a tab? It's part a law that you said that you got a legal opinion on it? Yeah. So, what why can't you open it up? Because once you it say just because you don't want to? No, I clearly said and I'm being very clear, all right? It There There is a procedure that needs to be followed, okay? And just because you claim it's a benefit to the taxpayers

I didn't claim that. Ms. Palmieri did. $9,000 on a multi-multi-million dollar budget, again, not really a benefit. I get it. But, just because it's procedure, right? And you think it would be a benefit doesn't change the rules, right? What are the rules? Where are the rules? What is the procedure? What is the law? The procedure is you cannot reopen a tab, and I think and instead of a legal that? You feel free to look it up. No, I'm asking you. You're telling us that You're telling For full transparency, can you please explain to the taxpayers what the procedure is?

Okay. Where is Where we can locate it? It shouldn't be that I have to go seek and find it. You should be able to tell me. And our attorney should be able to tell us. He gets paid a lot of money. Why would he not be able to answer that question? He apparently gave you a legal opinion on a lunch break three hours before opinion. That's the answer. And please stop hiding that everything is a lack of transparency. It's not a lack of transparency. three-minute conversation. He could answer answer it for you in three minutes. Does the attorney only work for you, or does he work for all of this council and the community? He represents the council, and the council passes the budget. The legal opinion was that we couldn't reopen a tab, and that was the decision.

And you cannot answer the question about why we could not do it. Even Mr. Kelly had asked if you want to go back and do it. He said that I feel that I've explained it enough at this point. No, you never answered the question. You said it's a procedure, and you can't tell us why. That's the answer. It's a procedure. No. I know that we got to end this. We have to end Mr. Kelly, you're not recognized. Mr. Transparency is very telling. It would be very easy to turn around to say where the procedure is. Please have your seats. Mr. Tom Adalla, there is no procedure. There's no section of the recognized. Mr. Morrison's telling you. Mr. Kelly, you're not recognizing. You certainly are not entitled You're wrong. You're wrong. You're wrong. You're wrong. You're wrong. You're wrong. You're wrong. You're wrong. You're wrong. You're wrong. You're wrong. Mr. Kelly, please try to grow up in these conversations. you try to berate a member of the public

Mr. Kelly, she Mr. Kelly, fallacy of some kind of opinion. Mr. Kelly, you're not recognized. documentation. Mr. Kelly, for the Let's make it a fourth time. Make it a fourth time. Let's move on. Seriously. Grow up, man. Just Grow up. You just tried to berate a woman that was coming here asking you a simple question. Mr. Kelly, you're not recognized. No, uh Nella Lerner? Okay. Welcome. There you go. [laughter] Uh Masood Siddiqui? Did I say it right? Are you done? Did you want to Okay. Welcome. Welcome to you. [laughter]

I know. You don't want to sign it? Okay. Moving on. for introduction. 02617 amending chapter 15, sewer and water of the revised general ordinances of the Township of Rockaway. Can I have a motion? So moved. Council President, on on on this just it's a simple thing cuz I have a concern with with 15-6 versus some of the other portions of 15 in here. Just so we can get it now and for the introduction. Does this Maybe Mr. Satchel can can help with Mr. Yatrakis or no? Some of the stuff that we have in this that we're repealing or removing in chapter 15, it's already addressed in some of the earlier sections under 15-6 when it comes to um property owners obligation of payment or paying for the installation of a sewer line. Does any of that have any effect on the earlier sections of chapter 15?

[clears throat]

So at this point, we're still going to be providing the installation of a main to a curb box. Just so we can address this in case we have to do before adoption, so. So you're asking curb box or you're to water? Yes. We we will still always do the water installation. To the curb box. Right. And and even though we have been doing some sewer connections, but our code under 15-6, we don't do sewer connections. No, what we do is it's up to us to either install it or to um have the homeowner do it because if we install it, we just back charge them back, so it's kind of two and a half one does and the other that. Um we're just trying to clean it up also to match with the uniform construction code what they inspect and everything. So if we were to do the installation, we would have to hire a licensed plumber, which would cost the town more money. In turn, we just take the take what that money is and we would have to assess it back to the house. If the homeowner hires someone, it could be at a cheaper price than having us back charge it. And does UCC still cover from the main to the curb box or to So for

It's only from the curb box or the connection to the house. different ones. For water, UCC covers from the house to the curb box. Right. We can we do all our own stuff in the curb box to the main. For sewer, UCC goes all the way from the house to the sewer main. And also under the internal licensing that we do inside, those who are homeowners are not required under the UCC to get any They're not required to have a plumbing license in order to do the install themselves. That I don't know. I refer that to building department for that side. Okay. That's all I had. Okay. Uh we had a motion and a second. Correct? Yep. All right. Clerk, please take the roll. Council member Salberg?

Yes. Council member Wojciechowicz? Yes. Council [clears throat] member Freeland? Yes. Council member Royek? Yes. Council member Quinn? Yes. Council member Kelly? Yes. Council Vice President Sackett? Yes. Council President Marson?

Yes, it's eight yeses, motion carried. O-26-18, ordinance providing for pedestrian safety and connectivity improvements in the area of Copeland Middle and Stony Brook Elementary Schools in and by the Township of Rockaway in the County of Morris, New Jersey and appropriating $401,812.81 therefore constituting proceeds of a federal aid funds grant [clears throat] from the New Jersey Department of Transportation. A motion? Second. Council President.

Yeah. Just interrupt. I'd like to recognize with this grant um our engineer, Ms. Fronte. They worked really hard on this and I know at the time I think you were president of the PTA Copeland and were instrumental in really helping the Board of Ed get this pushed through on our side cuz we needed their approval. So, I want to recognize the efforts of both of you um because this is a really big win for the community, this this improvement. So. Yeah. Thank you. It's nice to be on both ends of that, so. A couple years ago, you know, when it was put forward, you know, I I like I the mayor said I I was the president of the Copeland PTA for four years and I did a lot of work with the Board of Ed to make sure they had to pass an ordinance or they had to pass a resolution for it and then it's nice to be on this end of it now. Um we have a motion and a second? Yes.

Yes. Clerk, please take the roll. Council member Salberg. Yes. Council member Wojtowicz. Yes. Council member Freilander. Yes. Council member Royek. Yes. Council member Quinn. Yes. Council member Kelly. Yes. Council Vice President Sackett. Yes. Council President Marson. Yes, eight yeses, motion carried. O-26-19, an ordinance amending chapter 28, 28 entitled health and environment to add a new article 17 entitled body art establishments to create provisions for the licensing of and establishing standards for body art operations. Can I have a motion? So moved. Clerk, please take the roll. Council member Salberg. Yes. Council member Wojtowicz. Yes. Council member Freilander. Yes.

Council member Royack. Yes. Council member Quinn. Yes. Council member Kelly. Yes. Council Vice President Sackett. [clears throat] Yes. Council President Morrison. Yes. Eight yeses, motion carried. [clears throat] Ordinances for adoption. Uh O-26-14, an ordinance amending chapter 28 entitled health and environment to add a new article 28-6 entitled farmers markets to create provisions for the licensing of and establishing standards for farmers market operation. Motion. Second. Is there anybody from the public that wishes to speak on this ordinance discussion? Clerk, please take the roll. I. Council member Salberg.

Yes. Council member Voitovich. Yes. Council member Freelanders. Yes. Council member Royack. Yes. Council member Quinn. Yes. Council member Kelly. Yes. Council Vice President Sackett. Yes. Council President Morrison. Yes. Eight yeses, motion carried. O-26-15, an ordinance amending chapter 28 entitled health and environment to amend sections of article 11. Can I have a motion? So moved. Second. Is there anybody from the public that wishes to speak on this ordinance alone? Any council discussion? Clerk, please take the roll. Council member Salberg. Yes. Council member Voitovich. Yes. Council member Freelanders. Yes. Council member Royack.

Yes. Council member Quinn. Yes. Council member Kelly. Yes. Council Vice President Sackett. Yes. Council President Morrison. Yes. Eight yeses, motion carried. Consent agenda. Uh Council President, before we go into consent agenda, we would remove uh R-26-103 for for uh discussion and separate vote. Also, uh Council President, R-26-100. 26-16. Any others? O-26-16. What?

Ordinance. 26-16? Yeah. Oops. I'll pass on that occasion. I skipped one. All right. Apologies. 02616 an ordinance amending chapter 17 parks and recreational facilities of the revised general ordinances of the Township of Rockaway, Morris County, State of New Jersey. Can I have a motion? So moved. Second. Clerk, please take the roll. I'm sorry, who was the second? Uh Mr. Kelly. Councilmember Salberg Yes. Councilmember [clears throat] Wojtowicz Yes. Councilmember Freeland Yes. Councilmember Ryak Yes. Councilmember Quinn

Yes. Councilmember Kelly Yes. Council Vice President Sackett Yes. Council President Morrison Yes. Eight yeses, motion carries. Again, the consent agenda to remove R26103. So Mr. Sackett, was that 26100?

100, yes. Is there anything else? No, I think that's it. Okay. Um Uh all right, so there's a motion on the table to remove two resolutions. Um Council President, to release again, there's no there's no policy to make motion. I understand, but I'm running the meeting and that's what we're going to do. But I So there's a motion from Mr. Kelly. Is there a second? Second. Okay. Clerk, please take the roll. Councilmember Salberg Yes. Councilmember Wojtowicz Yes. Councilmember Freeland Yes. Councilmember Ryak Yes. Councilmember Quinn Yes. Councilmember Kelly Yes. Council Vice President Sackett

Yes. Council President Morrison Yes. Eight yeses, [clears throat] motion carries. Okay, consent agenda. R2691, R2692 through and including R2699 R26101 and R26102. Can I have a motion? So moved. Second. Clerk, please take the roll. Councilmember Salberg

Yes. Councilmember Wojtowicz Yes. Councilmember Freeland Yes. Councilmember Ryak Yes. Councilmember Quinn Yes. Council member Kelly. Yes. Council Vice President Sackett. Yes. Council President Morrison. Yes. Eight yeses, motion carries. Uh opening discussion on OR-26100, Mr. Sackett. Thank you, Council President. Yeah, it was part of the Yeah, cuz it was part of the 103. We're doing both. Thank you. Um a lot of um emails gone back and forth on this in particular um resolution and I was reading everything. It seemed to me all the paperwork was filed correctly. Um which is obviously the most important thing. Just wondering seems like there's some type of history going on there. I don't know if we can get a quick clarification on it. Maybe. Yeah, okay. Thank you. Yes, I'll I'll speak on that. Um Uh yes, uh this is uh block the block 60001, lot 7. Uh this is an application for a woodland soil disturbance permit application. Um this is about the third or fourth time to bring in to import additional soil at this property. This property has previously received soil disturbance permit applications from this board. Um it has previously sought and obtained um commercial farm status from the Morris County Agricultural Development Board. And with that, they applied for a site-specific agricultural management plan uh to erect a pole barn. I believe uh don't quote me, uh 230 250 square foot pole barn on the property in support of their woodland management plan. They also received from Morris County Soil Conservation District plan

certification to disturb the amount of disturbance that they're proposing in front of you. This is This is located in the Where in Ward 6? Where is this located exactly? Off of Jacob's Road. Off of Jacob's Road. Okay. The second

Second entrance. Got it. Second entrance. Yeah, Jacob's Road. Okay. Thank you. Thank you for that. I have a couple questions. No, no, you got it. You go ahead if you have something first. No, no, no. Go Uh Mrs. Fronte, when you when we talk about commercial farm status, is there a portion of um the commercial farm status that exempts property owners that are established as a commercial farm and approval through the Ag Board uh or the state, um are they exempt from zoning? My understanding from the Right to Farm Act is that once a property is received commercial farm status by the Morris County Agricultural Development Board, that they have the right to either apply locally to the land use board or apply to the Morris County Agricultural Development Board. But are they exempt from uh certain zoning, you know, that would have to take place in like an R-88 zone? That would be the jurisdiction of the Morris County Agricultural Board. So, um if there was a certain activity, um they would have to apply to them. Not us. They have the option to. Right.

If it is um a variance, you know, they they could choose to come to us or choose to go to the Morris County Agricultural Development Now, in the process of all of this, uh is there also a requirement to maintain um trails or can uh maintain or create accessibility uh to the farm area, which is what this whole application's for? That's really a a site-specific question and is dependent on individual forestry management plan, woodland management plan, um all of which is um the jurisdiction of I believe uh forest management services at the DEP. And and based on your review of all this and it's been a thorough review and this is my last question comes President. Um that the property owner that had gone through this entire application process has gone through each level of compliance to get through where we're at today for this soil movement of that amount of cubic yards of material. For the proposed disturbance in front of us tonight, yes. Thank you. Yeah, I have a question, too. So this this is a farm commercial farm, right? Under you said woodlands management, correct? I don't know specifically, but it is deemed a commercial farm by the Morris County Agricultural Development Board. But the paperwork for the farm is filed with with the township, right? With the tax assessor. So we should have some information as to what that resident is selling, whether he's selling firewood. I mean, I know in the email from the complainant uh from one of our residents the complaint stated that he's selling um honey and there's no beehives on his site, that he's selling uh vegetables, there's it's in the wooded area. There's no vegetables being grown there. So do we have that information? I believe

some time to establish that, though, from the start of the farm from the approval. I believe the to be qualified farm qualified assessment that is uh submission to the tax assessor's office. Okay, but we don't know what he's farming, right? Just a little woodlands management, he's managing a forest. When you manage a forest, I don't see you cutting down trees and bringing down more soil uh as being part of forest management. And now he wants to build a pole barn to do what on the forest management? I don't understand what the purpose of that would be. A structure of that size. So that is the jurisdiction of the Morris County Agricultural Development Board that because he was deemed a commercial farm they have jurisdiction and the application was to the Morris County Agricultural Development Board. What about the Highlands Commission? Would it Did they I mean, if any structure's built in in Highlands, doesn't he have to get approval from them? It's a part of their review. Includes that as well as the as well as DEP. Did you have to do all that on your farm? So if should he be denied here is that Is there the option for him to go to the county at that point? And then which would override us? So that um in regards to complaints or applications

Application. Yes. Okay. And actually in accordance with the Farmland Preservation Act, um complaints on commercial farms should be directed to the county as well. Okay. [clears throat]

Um anything else? We good? And I think we even have You know what? We we did have this problem with another farm where I think we learned through the court process that it is the jurisdiction of the Ag Board. Is that correct, Ms. Yacavino? I think you're Beautiful Farms, you were involved with that? But wasn't it determined through our courts that the Ag Board is the ones that would determine any violations or the finding of uh what they Okay. Yeah. All right. At this point, I think we've had some good discussion. Uh I'll make the motion for R-26-100. Is there a second? I'd second it. Clerk, please take the roll. Councilmember Southcott

for public discussion. No. Councilmember Votawitch No. Councilmember Freelander Yes. Council member Royack. [sighs and gasps]

Um, abstain. Council member Freeland, Council member Quinn. Based on the information I just received, I'll say yes. Council member Kelly. Yes. Council Vice President Sackett. Yeah, thank you for clarifying that as well. I'm voting yes. Council President Marston. No. It's four yeses, three nos, one abstention. The motion does pass. Uh, discussion on R-26-103. [clears throat] Uh, thank you, Council President. Just a couple of questions that we have here. Um, the the the resolution itself talks about uh, a deputy records custodian regarding OPRA. Mhm.

[clears throat]

And it also talks about the individual taking on these additional tasks into that person's um, requirement as the deputy clerk. But yet there's no compensation. Like I'm not comfortable with that. Um, this person has been an acting clerk before, taking on elections and everything else, has gone through a large amount of training. And it seems that some of this stuff is being filtered from the actual acting records custodian taking away some of those efforts for somebody else to do some of the work. Now, under 47-1A, when we deal with the GRC and the Government Records Council, identifying the record custodian is the municipal clerk, or in this case, the acting clerk. And usually the deputy records custodian is passed along to an other entity that is a a generator of OPRA requests, which is the police department. So, in this, we really don't know where is the additional areas of the requested records coming from. Are they coming from the police department? You know, with uh uh ambulance chasers, uh summons chasers, and then go after all those summonses and tickets and everything else. And that would come from the police department. The court has its own OPRA. There's a whole filing process cuz they're exempt from 47:1A1. Um and if that's the case, then we should have a record custodian or a deputy custodian in our police department. But the other thing is if we're making this dep- deputy records custodian, who is the responsible party if someone sues over an OPRA request if it's not compliant? Cuz you once you make an OPRA, you're you're exposing yourself to litigation. So, does the deputy custodian now become the fall guy for the named party in the litigation or is it still the

record custodian under the acting municipal clerk? Um and and it talks about our deputy records custodian having all this training. Is that now showing that our our acting clerk doesn't have the training under OPRA? And that's why it's being passed along down to the deputy clerk? And if those duties are being passed down and taken away from the acting clerk, is there going to be a salary change for the less work that that person's doing because we're passing it along to another person who who it's very uncomfortable is not getting compensated for this extra work. Like that doesn't make any sense to me. You I don't want to take your time. You done? Well, I'm I'm looking for a little bit of dialogue because I may have something of a follow-up.

All right. All right. So, as far as what I see, so we're we're all over the place. One, you want to take money away from our acting clerk and give it to the deputy records custodian. No, no, no. If if there's duties taking away from the acting We We don't see any of this in this resolution. This is so vague. We just talk about, "Hey, we're giving it to the lowest person on the totem pole in the clerk's office." Giving that person extra work to to cover all this open request that's coming in. And we're not going to pay her for that extra work. Like that doesn't make sense to me. So, all right, so a couple things. One

if if the person passing down all this extra work is relieving her desk of that work then yeah, I would feel a little uncomfortable that they're making the same amount of money with less amount of work. First things first happening, I don't know if it is. so first things first, I can't get into salary. That is solely the the purview of administration. All right, so they control the salaries. As far Well, no, we approve the salaries. Mr. Kelly, but you're wrong. Mr. Kelly. The salaries are approved by the council during the budget season, okay? The clerk works for us. Mr. Kelly, Mr. Kelly, I let you speak as much as you want. but I want to correct you before you go into that point.

it's not about you correcting people. I know you think you're the smartest guy in the room, but you got to give that up, man. Um the salaries and distribution is is solely the purview of the administration. They set the salaries. Yes, we approve them. Okay? I you you asked the question about where the OPRA's are coming from. Um I know that you asked the same question. Did Did you want to I thought I thought I missed this piece only. On this piece only. Yeah, so you know, I was also concerned and confused why even the the necessity of a deputy records custodian was required. So, I did just request all listing of all OPRA requests 2024, 25, and 26. I can make this available to any residents who want to reach out. comprise about 65% of the whole year's uh as has uh you know motor vehicle uh which comprised altogether at 85% of it. The remaining 15% um um OPRA requests from individuals. Um there has been a bit of a spike on that side. Um several individuals uh comprising really the largest amount of this. But I think it's important for people to understand that yes, we're So we're talking about splitting duties for them an existing employee who probably already has a full workload. We now have so many OPRA requests that we need to do something like this. An OPRA request is not just simply getting in the request, opening up a file cabinet, printing something, and sending it to that uh individual. This has to go through you know quite a bit of uh you know compliance um uh overview. Has to go through attorney review to make sure that the information is right. And that's every single OPRA request. And we have an individual who who has literally averaged uh one OPRA request uh every 7 days over the last 3 years. This is hundreds of thousands of dollars that is spent to again to um um uh you know grant these uh these OPRA uh requests. So my concern was more you know we're creating a situation where we

have so many of these OPRA requests that now we need to split someone's uh you know split their time without additional compensation. Mr. Kelly's uh point. So yeah, I I think that this whole situation is a concern. And and Mr. um Salberg, just on that and you're you're absolutely right. But again, when one is taking a position, that is part of their job description of what they do. And no, not every OPRA request should go through the town attorney for review. When there's very simple requests for invoicing or bills or summonses or police reports, and some of those things don't even need to have an OPRA request. Remember, under 47:181, it's not mandatory to make an OPRA request to get records. It's the refusal of the government or the governing body or the municipality to provide that record which invokes Oprah. And then to Mr. Mr. Morrison

request does require a level of due diligence.

But Mr. Morrison, even to what we were talking before, under 469A, J, clearly under our legislative minute, we set salaries. Just so you know that. Mr. Kelly, I I understand. Just so you know that moving forward. Okay. And you can look it up. Just Just to clarify, if if that's all right with you, Councilman Zeltser. So, from 2014 all of 2014, 2015, and 2016 so far, we've had 3,416 Oprah requests. 2,209 of those or uh 65% of those are what we're just considering general Oprahs, things like uh permits, liens, surveys, uh general violations, things like that. 20% roughly are uh Oprahs from uh they're considered uh motor vehicles. So, basically, like law firms who Oprah request police records so they can make their phone calls and send letters out looking for business. Out of the remaining of what whatever is left, so out of the remaining, I guess we'll call it like non-procedural, um 22% of all the Oprahs requested came from Councilman Kelly. Oh, you're so so untrue. My god. Uh when is that

Mr. Kelly, I'm speaking. It's my turn now. First. So, there's been I'm a council member that has to make an Oprah request. Isn't it sad? Because you won't give me the records. You weren't a a council member all this time. So, in 2014, 2015, uh I will say that you have filed less this year so far than than normal. Um there are other members of the Listen, everybody's I'm going to answer the question. I'm speaking now.

Mr. Kelly, you're out of order. The point is is the amount of Oprahs is so cumbersome and like Councilman Zeltser was said said, over the last 2 and 1/2 years, you have filed an Oprah on average once every 7 days. So, every week you're filing an Oprah. I would be curious to see in you know to see some examples out of all these Oprah's that you're requesting, you know, any any positive movement for the public that came out of it, money saved, things like that. Yes, sir. Mr. Chifano, you have the floor. I love this script that's going on here. Mr. Kelly. Thank you, Council. Because you're so predictable. Well, no, you can't answer a simple question about a tab, but you can answer this. [snorts]

May I proceed? Yes. Okay. Uh first of all, this change is made to comprise with to comply, excuse me, with what the GRC prefers as the designation. From a technical standpoint, the individual in the clerk's office who is responding to a particular Oprah request, depending upon volume, should be designated as a deputy record custodian. It's a proposal that this doesn't necessarily imply a recalibration or reassignment of work volume in the clerk's office. It doesn't mean that our clerk is going to automatically give more or less Oprah requests to our deputy clerk to handle. It's simply a requirement that we thought it was appropriate to comply with to resolve any issues with the GRC as we move forward. It's as simple as that.

a compliance thing. It's a compliance thing. Is it a mandatory compliance? I think we've had enough discussion. I'm making a motion for R26-103. Is there a second? I'll second. Clerk, please take the roll. Council member Zaberg. Yes. Council member Voitovich. Yes. Council member Freeland. Yes. Council member Royek. Yes. Council member Quinn. Yes. Council member Kelly. You're not going to pay for the extra work.

Mr. Kelly, just please vote. Yeah, that was a no on this one. Council Vice President Sackett. Yes. Council President Morrison. Yes. Seven yes is one no. Motion carries. Uh okay. Now, at the last meeting, uh Vice President Sackett uh put out a motion to reinstate um uh new business council reports um in person as opposed to doing it by writing. It did pass unanimously um after we took it away the first time, there was a lot of discussion and we agreed that it wasn't the right thing to do. So, we have brought them back. Um the motion at the last meeting by Council VP also stated that there would be a 3-minute time limit, which we will do. Now, the 3-minute time limit will be separate. So, if it's new business, it's 3 minutes, and then when we get to council reports, it'll be 3 minutes. Okay? Mr. Morrison, just for correction, there was nothing about new business or discussion as part of the motion from Sackett. It was only about the reports.

Okay. Yeah. Um then as the Council President, I'm stating that it'll be 3 minutes. Um all right. I know that you had two submissions, Councilman Kelly. Yeah, I was before we get into the timing of there, I I had spoken to uh Vice President Sackett on this. I think there's going to be a little bit of collaboration between the two of us going back and forth. That'd be great. I think we're on the same page. 3 minutes, you get 3 minutes, we get 6 minutes.

I think it's a good thing. Maybe we'll even get an extension from the council President. I think he's a dog lover. We'll see. I'll be good with three. Yeah. So, I'm going to start with the dog end of it. Uh first off, um there's been some uh interest for many, many years actually in regarding a dog park. Um back when I was running at one time, Mr. Sackett was running at one time, we had spoken about potentially because of uh people walking their dogs. Now, up in the sixth ward, we don't have sidewalks uh like Birchwood and Fleetwood area that are there. And I thought that when people walk in the community in the area, um it makes a little bit difficult in some of the roads and whatnot. Um and that a dog park would be something that would be feasible and wanted from from members of the community that that have that are dog owners. So, we had a property on Snake Hill Road and that is a very un-untraveled road. It's not a very high-speed speed road. It's not really maintained. Most of it is dirt and gravel. And we used to have a place called RT Castle and we purchased that in 1976. And then we had like a grand opening in 1980, I think in July of 1980. It was a Canadian ceremony actually dealing with um saving some Americans out of an Iran issue where they attacked American consulate and they were able to get people out. So, this was a grand opening. It was state funds. It was like 1.2 million back then. Were you there? I was only two at the time. We had to do some writing on that time. Nice. Nice. Figure that CCTV In any event, it was something we did in school. So, now that that's been a dilapidated on your site, it's still a requirement for the state in order to have something there for us to use to continue to maintain what we have. It was also Lake Ames, which was a beach, which is now overgrown outside of it and unmaintained. But, there is a a lake front where people can enjoy and barbecue and there's some biking trails that are there. So, I thought that would be the greatest place because one, there's no residents

around there. It's off the beaten path if a dog was to get loose, the chances of it getting maimed or harmed are very minimal because of the no traffic, no really speeding that's there. And it's a little bit of a distance from Green Pond Road to the main highway. And um it's established. There's a parking area there, though overgrown. The building the Kimbles and Son had to do the demolition for the township. And it would be simple, I think, to get funds generated through donations and volunteer not to use any taxpayers funds cuz not everybody is a dog owner. So if we created a group dog, which is uh you know, people that have like a a dog organization groups and we were creating some type of a fundraising event. I know I would volunteer myself and my equipment. I knew that uh Mr. Monte from Monte Landscaping would donate uh his equipment and labor to where we can do a lot of that ground work to create uh a dog park to work for both small and larger dogs. Can I extend a little bit?

Just try to get to it. Just wrap it up. And and in doing so, I think it would benefit the communities. Um we don't have a lot up in the northern end, but there's that perfect spot. We originally talked about it, Mr. Morrison, I think before you were council member, of Peterson Field, but you would have to travel through people past the concessions and food to get to the area they wanted to do it and not everybody that goes to a a park is dog lovers, right? But going to a dog park, you are a dog owner, a dog lover, and and um so that is something that not to decide tonight, but have the conversation started to get the ball rolling to potentially get groups together to get some fundraising to offset those costs without going through taxpayers money to provide uh a service and a place where people can collect, get together, share their dogs, have things going on. And then one last thing, Sparta did this where they have waste, of course, that's created from these dog parks. And you have stations that you put everywhere for doggie bags and whatnot. But they had a waste collection company that came and did it for free as long as they can put their sign of their service at the location. That was the the giveback. So again, there are opportunities to have things taken care of without using taxpayers money and generating something that would be a positive experience uh for those in Rockaway Township. And then Councilman Kelly? Thank you. And actually in 2018 I did look at that spot with the late Mayor Tackachsin. We went up there, checked it out and he at the time thought it'd be a nice area to do that. Like you had mentioned it was uh needed a lot of clean up and everything and uh I've been talking about dog park quite a bit with the Willow Park which didn't come about and brought Mayor Buzio there and then Mayor Jackson done a nice job getting that cleaned up and going over it and I've talked to Mayor Jackson actually

earlier this year and he definitely would want to do do a dog park. Some logistics here and there which you spoke about. Um but I know definitely I'd be on board to I'm not a uh heavy tool guy like you Tucker moving the stuff around but I definitely be uh wanting to move this forward and I don't know if we're able to do that but uh definitely you know with the mayor's office and and Allison and everyone in there something that we've been definitely I've been talking about since 2018. So thank you. Uh Joe do you have any Mr. Kelly I'm sorry I was just asking if maybe the mayor had a comment on that. But it's not your meeting to run and ask the mayor. So I appreciate I appreciate the assistance. Um again so I would say you know again I you know previous dog owner and you know I I've always supported the park. I'd be interested to see like what our insurance implications are. Uh I'd be interested to see what the tax implications are year after year like once it's up and running. Um I think it's something certainly not looking for an answer from from you now. You know certainly something we can look at. Um is there anybody else with new business? Nope. I was still discussing that. No unless you want to. Well I mean I had thoughts of but the idea is to spread it around the town. That's why we mentioned the fields and fields and everything could be incorporated in that area. Turn on your mic. The town is big enough that if we do things like this, which we should, got to spread it around. Bring it to other parts of town that don't have things. And you know, it's it's a growing community. So to do something like this, definitely have has to be out of the area. Of course, it's got to be workable. But You got to mention your property, don't you? Yeah, and I've had to look some dog watching next week. Yeah, my only concern would be uh would be the insurance implication.

And uh you know, if the attorney goes through that and gives us the green light plus our insurance company. Yep. I have no problem. the experts do what they do. Let them do their due diligence. I know it's come up for a while. I know had a lot of discussions Mr. Kelly You're looking at me. I'm talking back to you. I I because I'm I'm not asking you a question. I'm trying to say that I know this has been you know, something that you've been after for a couple

years. And you know, and I know again, I know it's a passion project for Councilman VP. And it's time to resurface it. So let's do our due diligence. We have an offer on the table. You know, uh from Mr. Kelly to gather some resources. I'd be certainly happy to help. So we'll see where it goes. Any other council people for new business? Okay. We are going to What's that? Yeah, but there's the other one that's on it. Yeah, but the other one came up as new business last week Yeah, we can finish it up cuz there was a memo that we have out there some clarification and you I understand it, but that's not new business. So the new business that we have Kelly the utility committee Mr. Kelly, I'm not recognizing you. You are not recognized.

You're not going to have the utility committee that we're going to Mr. Kelly, you got the uh administration response. All right? You Mr. Kelly Mr. Mr. Kelly Mr. Morrison, let's let's just stop this real quick. Mr. Kelly Mr. Morrison, let's stop this. you're out of order. Let's stop real quick.

If you interrupt me one more time You've interrupted me. Mr. Kelly, you do not have the floor. I said you were clearly Okay? Mr. Kelly, if you consider if you continue disrupt the meeting, guys. If you continue to disrupt the meeting, right? There is certain decorum that needs to be followed. You're not following that. If you continue to do this, again, I'm going to have to make a vote to censure. You Mr. It's not a threat. All right? asking you if you're threatening me that you're going to censure me because I'm on there for utility committee proposal. Mr. Kelly, according to you, any council member is allowed to put anything on the agenda.

Right. Okay? It doesn't mean that we're going to speak about it in the portion just because you said so. No, you can discriminate me and take it off if you want, and that's what you need to do. Mr. Kelly. I understand you're consistently running for office no matter what time Problem is that I'm living in your head rent free, and you just can't get over it. Mr. Kelly. Get me out of your head, and then you can govern in order. you talking about, man? That's all. It's just simple. The amount of time that we spend to say? could have actually addressed this real quick. Mr. Kelly, you've gotten a official legal opinion. no, we don't. This is not what I'm talking about, though.

this is not a R2R not. You got an opinion, and that's the answer. Mr. Yashar Romano, you have the floor. Council President, the topic is on the agenda. If any member of the council uh chooses to make a motion to remove it from the agenda, then if that motion is seconded, that's how the matter should be handled. Okay. If the motion to remove it from the agenda is voted on positively, it's off the agenda. If not, it's on the agenda. And Mr. Yashar Romano, I I got a quick question for him. It's you don't have the floor. Mr. Kelly, you do not have the floor. made a comment that I want to ask him. have the floor.

Okay. You're going to further discriminate me about the question. You do not have the floor. There are rules of the court. Why is it that it's so difficult to address a simple thing of utility committee? Because you're trying to change the the the whole direction of the says in the it says in the memo what it doesn't what it's in reference to. Okay, so here's the deal. As for what Mr. Yacovino said, all right? I understand that you put this under new business. For reference Would you rather have it old business? Mr. Kelly for reference at the last meeting I'm listening. [laughter]

Mr. Kelly, at the last meeting you brought this up under new business. There was there was a response given um from administration and from our lawyer as to the the standing of it, also giving other options. Um it is my opinion that this is not new business. It is certainly something that you're free to discuss during your 3 minutes of council reports. Uh I'm not saying that you can't discuss it, but I am saying that it is not new business because it was brought up at the last meeting. Now that being said and because it is the opinion of our legal counsel, I would like to make a motion to remove this from the new business portion and should Councilman Kelly want to discuss it, he is free to do it during his council reports. Can I have a second? I'll second that.

All right. Clerk, please take the roll. Council members Outlaw No. Council member Wojtowicz Yes. Council member Freeland er Yes. Council member Royack

Yes. Council member Quinn Yes. Council member Kelly No. Council Vice President Sackett No. Council President Morrison Yes, it's five yeses, three nos. It is off of new business. You are free to bring it up during your reports. Moving on to council reports. Uh again, I'll remind everybody that there is a 3-minute time limit. Um since the thoughts are fresh in your head, Mr. Kelly, you have the floor first. And you know, what President, there's I have a lot on here to to fulfill for the 3 minutes of things that are going on. Actually recognizing a a great employee as well. Could I at least have 5 minutes so I can address this, too? Unfortunately, even by your own admission before you were aware that it was 3 minutes.

I'm asking you to do it. There's nothing to bar you from doing it. Right. And I'm saying that it's Can you make a roll call to my objection? Mr. Kelly is objecting to the motion that was passed unanimously at the last meeting requiring 3 minutes. Um and asking for more time. Uh 2 minutes. I'm making a motion um to say that everybody will follow the same process of 3 minutes. Can I have a second? I'll second. Thank you. That's not the motion that I was made, Mr. Mr. President. I made the motion now. No, you don't. I do. Okay, make the motion, Mr. The motion is a second. I withdraw my motion and now I'll let Mr. Kelly make a motion. The motion was just to allow Mr. Kelly additional 2 minutes and objected to what your findings were.

Okay, so it's the same thing. Go ahead. So, there's a motion on the table. Is there a second? All right, motion does not carry. You have 3 minutes. I will reset the clock for you. Okay. Um so, for uh reports, uh one I want to thank Mr. Noth uh for the send-off of Mr. Kimball with all the trucks parked out in the front. That was a great uh memorial that you did there. I just want to thank you very much for the pothole repair for the DPW in the county. I also um want to talk about uh two wonderful people in the community that are Serducks. Uh John and Gail Serduck, they're working with Cara Sellino and the Clean Communities, Mr. Tabbitt. We went through in some great length about that. Provided some photos of what those people are doing cleaning up and down the north and south side of Greenpond Road in the Hibernia Telemark community. You can easily watch that on my uh Facebook for Kelly for Council. You can see the information and the pictures I'm doing it. I also attended the Board of Ed budget, uh which is another $3.5 million dollar increase to the residents in Rockaway in addition to our million dollar increase that we had of our budget. So, addressing the utility committee, uh there's a confusion here because this memo that we got from Mr. Yacovino, uh council, does as far as ordinances and resolutions and nothing in 231 and the mayor's power talk about the committees. However, under the uh statute that I had provided you guys under 16 or 469A uh J 36J H what I provided to you earlier we have a an ad hoc committee and that is that we are as a council can create committees to somewhat look into and review the problem areas that are having some concern. Power loss and vegetation control in the sixth ward is a concern. Now, November 6th we had a power outages that ended up having somebody not have power lying on an oxygen machine and they passed a few days after that

because of power outages and loss due to a fallen tree out of somebody's property. So, what is concerning to me is that your unwillingness to go through this utility committee to talk to um the utility companies whether it's Verizon, whether it's JCP&L, uh whether it's Cablevision to come on there some kind of a a plan and somewhat an outlook of areas that are problematic some to to address. What you did is you had an attorney give you uh a page and a quarter of garbage that doesn't address actually what we can do. We can do a committee to review these things of concern. There's nothing that bars us. As a matter of fact, I don't even need any of you people. I can go in there as a liaison or just contact my utility company of my concerns and raising them and sending the pictures and information to Mrs. Ferrante or Mr. Knoth. I don't really don't need a committee. You were so on to want to do it. You wanted to join in. And Mr. Sackett in the parking lot after the meeting says, "My god, I want to be a part of that, too." All right. We're at 3 minutes. Hang on a second. We're We're at 3 minutes. So Mr. Kelly, your time is up.

Yeah, we need to look at the memo, though. Mr. Kelly, your time is up. by the town attorney. Mr. Kelly, your time is up. Garbage legal advice, John. Garbage. I know you're not a lawyer, but you stayed at a Holiday Inn Express. about law than you'll ever know, Mr. Morson. Do you know that? I don't have to lie about tabs to a resident.

Mr. Kelly. Oh my god. I mean, talk about living rent-free, man. I don't even I don't pay you to live here anymore. I mean, we passed the budget. And listen, not for nothing, you said there was an unwillingness and you keep looking at me. This is an administration call. I I did not instruct Ms. Yacovino to send out anything. You did. You did, Mr. Mr. Kelly, you are not recognized. It's It's not Again, I I I know you think

has asked me to review. Mr. Kelly. That's you. Mr. Kelly, you are not recognized. And again, I could be wrong here, you know, as far as like I I don't think any council person can go engage a public utility and speak for the town. I don't speak for the town. I'm just telling I'm telling them what the law is. But be accurate with what you're saying. That's all. are not recognized. Be accurate. Mr. Kelly, have some respect for the public All right, dude. and conduct yourself with some decorum. I'm concerned about utility problems, too. you're not recognized. Ms. Yacovino, what What are my options here? I mean, we I can't run this meeting with the way this is going. What's that? Yeah, that's it. Yeah.

he gave his report. All right. Councilman Witkowicz. Uh the only thing I got to report on is April 10th. I uh coordinated meeting between Tilcon and um their engineers. It was uh uh between Mr. uh North and uh Mrs. Palmieri. And the reason behind that was there's a law that was changing in New Jersey uh in 2023 where the uh the companies can use higher percentage of recycled material. The big pile we have here in Tilcon that everybody sees, it's a big problem. And um we haven't been doing that. So, the goal behind this was hopefully we could start a pilot where our town could start using the higher material uh recycled material, hopefully put a dent in that huge pile on Tilcon, and also have some cost-saving mountain, right? And uh have some uh cost savings for uh the township residents. Uh you know, Tilcon hopes that if we start this pilot, maybe the other towns will will uh you know, copy us and like I said, put a dent in this mountain over a of uh asphalt millings. So, um How many tons? 700. It was a crazy number. I'm not going to put it out there because it's not a record. So, I'll get the fact if you want to put it out there later. But, that's the only thing I got to report on um and that's it. Councilwoman Wright. Yes.

[clears throat] Um I went to the help pond cleanup on May 2nd, which was I usually do Parks Lake Park's Lake Park's Lake, whatever you want to call it. Um I know what I've been saying Parks all my life. Um you know what I mean. Um so, I did go there. I also went to the Ford Fish Open House, which was a very nice lesson in history. And uh everyone should go see that. It's wonderful. Um and I also went to the budget uh the Board of Ed budget meeting, um which was, you know, interesting with the budget and

You weren't there. You left. Mr. Kelly, come on. Seriously, man. I was at the meeting. No, she should Kelly, let her give her report. What's wrong with you? Yeah, you talked to him in a hallway, then you left. Mr. Kelly, would you stop just like watching what everybody else doing, man? But it's Mr. Kelly, it's a little stalkerish, I got to be fair. I was there. All right. You weren't there though, you left. I read it online Okay, you left. Mr. Kelly Jeez, she didn't go to the budget meeting, she didn't go, she left. All right, listen, at this point, guys, at this point, it is unfortunate Mr. Kelly Listen, council, I I and to the public, I sincerely apologize. This is not how a governing body should be conducting themselves. Mr. Kelly, you are not recognized. Jeez. Unfortunately, to the public, this is not how a governing body should be conducting themselves. This hasn't been a problem before, it has started being a problem in January. The council, as I said it before, is a collaborative group of people, right? Nobody here declares that they are smarter than other people, nobody here knows everything, but between everybody in this room, we do. Okay? So, everything can't go through one person. If there is a legal opinion on something, it can't be said [clears throat] by another council member, "Well, I don't believe you." You know what I'm saying? Mr. Yacovino has been a lawyer for 150 years. You know what I'm saying? I'm going to trust his opinion, you know what I'm saying, over that of of of another council person, no matter who the council person is. Now, that being said, right, and unfortunately, because of, you know, impeding the progress of these meetings and making it almost impossible to conduct them, I am making a motion to censure Councilman Kelly. Now, just to be clear, censure is not censor. Okay? Censure is nothing more than a

formal reprimand all right, for a councilperson who is clearly working against the rest of the council and the town in trying to conduct their business. That being said, I am making a motion to censure Councilman Kelly. Is there a second? There's a There's a process. I object. There's a process. You're not following the process. there's a motion on the floor. Is there a second? Second. All right, clerk, please take the roll. Councilmember Saperstein Yes. Councilmember Wojtowicz Yes. Councilmember Freilander Yes. Councilmember Royek Yes. Councilmember Quinn [clears throat] Yes. Councilmember Kelly No. Council Vice President Zacket

you're out of order. Yes. It's uncalled for. Yeah. Council President Larson Yes. Seven yeses, one no. Motion carries. If there's any other I don't know if there's any other procedure after this to memorialize it, um, Ms. Yacavino, but we can discuss it afterwards. You didn't do it right the first time. Mr. Kelly It can be converted into written resolution. All right, we'll make sure that that's done. Again, to the public, I I do apologize. It is embarrassing. Uh, let's go to Ms. All right, She wasn't done. Ms. Royek, go ahead. We're going to reset your time. I apologize. Go ahead. [laughter]

Um, where was I? Um, there was an interfaith prayer ceremony, which was very nice, and so let's see what I was going to say. Anyway, it was very nice, um, thank uh, Shannon for arranging that, Shannon McCartney. Um, and uh, Rockaway Township uh, town square mall is getting a new mall manager. I found that out last week, and she said she would put me in contact with the new manager once that person is in, and I mentioned before that they were supposed to come before the council. So, I don't know when that that'll be delayed, but I will keep following up with her. Um and again about the data centers, uh if we can get an ordinance somehow established for that, I'd appreciate it. I would uh just for reference, I would again memorialize that. I would send an email to administration. Um Okay.

and you can ask them to just so that there's a paper trail. Okay. Just so they can look into it. Uh I would send it to Lisa and she'll send it to the correct people. Okay, thank you.

it's a good call. All right, thank you. Councilman Quinn. Thank you. So, the planning board, uh on April 20th, we had a gentleman come before us who wants to put up a building for his maintenance of his trucks. Um There was a lot of questions that has now been put on to our next meeting. All right, which will be May 18th for the continuation of that portion of it. Substance Alliance meeting, we had a bingo event that went very well. Um really good. Everybody had a great time. All right. I'm also looking forward to um Les Wexler being uh getting an award from the UNICO uh event on May 31st. All right. I attended the school board meeting via the Skype. All right. And um Well, Skype

That's right, you used your AOL address. I am AOL. [laughter] I'm still old school, but

That's okay. you know. The bottom line is um there was a lot of residents that came out in support of the principal at Copeland. Uh there was over 800 signatures that were done. I hope the board listens to the residents that came out. Uh, there is concern over this and I know the grandkids and other kids have concerns about they've changed the entire culture in that school with this principal. Let's not go backwards. That's my position on that. All right. And then lastly, Dial-A-Ride had a breakfast that uh, the seniors all went to the Hibernia Diner. It was full, the bus was full, their bellies were full, and they really enjoyed it because a lot of them don't get out. This is a social event that they can have. They get, you know, going to doctors, going back and forth. It gets tedious. At least this way they get a little social activity, and I thank administration for doing that, and I'm looking forward to the next event, which will happen uh, next month. All right. So, lastly, let's see what else. All right. This is Stroke Awareness Month. So, everybody knows this is 13 years old, my stroke. So, it's very important that you know the signs of a stroke and get them to the hospital quick. The quicker you get, the quicker you can get the TPA shot, and the quicker you get better. All right. Uh, and that is my time and I yield. Thank you.

Perfect timing. Uh, Councilman Freeland. Yes, thank you for the for the time. Uh, first the couple weeks of May were very busy in this town. Uh, the Historical Society of Rockaway had two things. We're part of the Pathways Tour. And that was Saturday, May 2nd. And we had people visit that building. I mean, they came from all over. And they only saw what what was done from it. And it still amazes everybody. Even I've been in that building a million times, and I still look at it and and shake my head how beautiful it is. And it's part of us. And that's why we're we're working on it. Uh, then during the week there was Historical Society meeting. We We run programs every month. Uh, Councilman Solberg was there. Uh, it was about the military from the Civil War and to the Cold War of this of this area. And it's very educational. You follow the website and you'll see different programs every month. Um, the fire company in five had a fundraiser for the food bank where all the kids are able to climb on the fire trucks and inside the on the boats and and see all the equipment. And that was well attended. After that, there was was at the Mount Hope for the spring clean clean up. And you know, the garbage wasn't as much as it's getting less, but they're still there and the people did a great job cleaning it up. After that, we also had library the spring festival in the parking lot right out right outside this building. And every year we keep on adding different programs, different booths.

People come and show their wares. And believe it or not, we had over 4,500 people at at this library fair. I mean, uh, the gentleman that runs the library, Scott D'Amico, uh with the click just, you know, it like wore out. I mean, that's how many people were were there. Uh after that, uh they were like, uh councilman uh to the left of me uh went to the bingo fundraiser. I wasn't in town, but I part of the uh substance abuse alliance, and that was a big success. And uh I was so tired from all that I had to go to national day of prayer. Cuz we all need it. Totally. And it it it's like it uh you really feel, you know, after that night with uh the rabbi and the priests from the town