TOWNSHIP OF MAHWAH
COMBINED WORK SESSION
AND PUBLIC MEETING MINUTES
THURSDAY, AUGUST 24, 2006
The meeting was called to order at 8:00PM by Council President DiGiulio who read the Open Public Meetings Act Statement as prescribed by law. Notice was advertised in The Record on July 5, 2006 and July 21, 2006, stating this meeting would be held in the Municipal Offices, 475 Corporate Drive, Mahwah, New Jersey on Thursday, August 24, 2006 at 8:00PM.
Notice of this meeting is posted on the Municipal Bulletin Board. The minutes of this meeting shall be available in the Municipal Clerk’s Office.
Salute to the Flag.
Present: Councilmembers Alderisio, DaPuzzo, DiGiulio, Hermansen, Kidd, Larson, and Roth.
REPORTS OF TOWNSHIP COUNCIL AND MUNICIPAL CLERK
Hermansen stated he has had conversations with concerned Township residents with regard to the fire sirens. What they are concerned about is the 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. moratorium and if is in effect and that the Township has the technology to this. Hermansen said he hopes this is discussed this evening.
DaPuzzo said he had a meeting with a representative from the Northwest/Bergen Sewer Authority about GIS. They allocated funds in their budget to digitize our sewer systems. They are 75% to 80% done. There was extra funding left over so they discussed for the Northwest Bergen Sewer Authority to do our Water and Sewer System at no cost to the Township and should save the Township around $25,000.
Roth asked the Mayor for an update on the fire sirens.
Mayor Martel said there have been no restrictions placed on the sirens from his directive yet. The Programmer came in a few days ago to take a look at the equipment, at the Police Station, to determine if there could be a ban on the use of the fire sirens between 11:00 P.M. to 7 A.M. was possible. The report the Mayor received back was that currently the way the system is configured only twelve hour increments would be available to curtail the fire sirens. Mayor Martel feels this is beyond what he thought was adequate and directed the people at headquarters involved with the program to do nothing until the expert comes in to do the programming. The Mayor has not received a report back yet. The Mayor did receive two bids from two companies to do the investigation on the way the system is working to determine if there were any problems with the pagers or receivers.
DaPuzzo said Bergen County is in the process of redoing their shared services of the whole county and asked if this would encompass pagers. Mayor Martel stated just radios.
DiGiulio said all emergency services.
Roth asked if there were updates on a report given to Council about a house on Catherine Avenue being used as a boarding house. The Business Administrator stated this was referred to the Construction Department and the Property Maintenance Zoning Department and hopes to have a report from them next week.
Alderisio said he thought there was investigation and the fire chief did have a report and identified the spots where the Township was lacking reduction. The Mayor said we had received feedback from past fire chiefs questioning problems in another survey to determine if there were any problems with pagers. The Mayor is waiting for a response from the Police Department letting him know what the survey was and who has the final results of the survey.
Alderisio stated the report the chief handed in Motorola responded that there were only l to 1.6 failures to tone in per month. Alderisio stated that it indicated they are doing a good job on pagers.
DiGiulio said the Fire Chief called her and said there were two calls within the last week where the sirens did not go off and there was a note at Police Headquarters saying “do not sound sirens at night”. DiGiulio asked the Mayor to check on this and get back to the Fire Chief. Mayor Martel said he never made a decision and nothing had been issued to curtail these sirens. The Mayor said he will check on this and someone has to come up with some evidence there is a problem with the pagers. The Mayor said he understands the residents are suffering but he will not issue a directive to curtail the use of sirens until he is absolutely sure that the ultimate method of notification for emergencies in the Township is full proof.
DiGiulio attended a ceremony at the Women’s Right Group on August 16, 2006 honoring the women firefighters of our County. Six of our Township fire women were honored and received a certificate from the County.
DiGiulio attended the Senior picnic and said there were over 200 seniors in attendance. DiGiulio thanked Marion Crescitelli, Pool Manager and her staff for the terrific job she did. DiGiulio also stated they had a guest there today, County Sheriff Leo McGuire.
DiGiulio said there was a Special Meeting, August 22, 2006, on the Zone change for the Sheraton Hotel site. She said there will be several meeting on this subject and also a meeting on the Master Plan that will be coming up and the public will be notified of these meetings. DiGiulio explained the Crossroad Developers made a nice presentation on a combined shopping area, with residential stores and offices.
TOWNSHIP COUNCIL: COMMENTS, COMMUNICATIONS, AND REPORTS OF SUBCOMITTEES
DiGiulio said Friday morning, August 24, 2006 there will be the March to Victory border crossing ceremony will be from 9:00 AM to 10:00AM. The Revolutionary war reinactors will cross the New York/New Jersey state line on their march to the Battle of Yorktown. On Saturday 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM their will be an open house at the HaveMeyer House.
The Beautification Committee worked two years on planning this with Historic people the Museum people and urged everyone to bring their children.
DiGiulio said the Beautification Committee will be having a Clean Up again in October.
REPORTS OF MAYOR AND BUSINESS ADMINISTRATOR
Mayor Martel said he was handed a press release by the Manager of the Pool at the Senior Picnic. It informs the public that the Mahwah Marlins Diving Team, representing the Mahwah Pool had an impressive finish at the NJPMA Diving Championships on August 3rd and 4th. The two day championship run by the Pool Management Association serves as an opportunity for athelites from swim clubs throughout Bergen County to compete against each other. Our Township sent 14 divers had the most victories as they brought home 12 trophies. The Mayor asked Council to have these divers present at another Council Meeting to honor them. DiGiulio asked that the women firefighters come in for a formal thank you. The Mayor said it would be nice to do everything at one time as there are many recognitions to be given to the athletic teams in the Township that have won their championships.
MAYOR’S PROCLAMATIONS
The Mayor read a proclamation he will be presenting to the Gentlemen that will be partaking in the March on August 25, 2006.
The Business Administrator said they did proceed with the paving on Ridge Road and the bikeway near Ramapo Ridge School and it is completed.
PUBLIC PORTION
On a motion by Alderisio, seconded by Hermansen the meeting was opened to the Public at------
Mrs. Kathleen Rozenski-Brewster of ------said she has a problem with constantly hearing and reading about the fire sirens. She was shocked that the Township only has 201 volunteers with five fire stations and two ambulance corps. when we have thousands living here in Mahwah. There are so few dedicated people giving their times and lives for their community. She said her family has given over 150 years of their time as firefighters in this Township and gave examples of what the residents that are complaining about the fire sirens could do instead of complaining.
She feels the residents should make a bad situation into a good one. Mrs. Brewster said we need a back up system and fire sirens save lives. She said she cannot understand why these residents would buy a home near a fire station knowing that we use fire sirens.
Mrs. Dawn Dileone, of 11 Aspen Court said they do want the best for the firefighters and they do need backup. She said according to the Police Chief from the Fire Chief who gave the order the curfew is in affect from 7:00 PM to 7:00 AM and on the weekends. Mrs. Dileons said this curfew does not help their cause. They need them for confirmed construction fires. She said EMS gets to every call and they only use pagers. She said when the sirens by her house were not working the firefighter still got to the call. The money should be spend wisely and they also want the best for them but as technology gets better that is what the firefighters should have.
Mrs. Lynn Ballerini, 184 Airmount Road said she is the Chair of Historic Preservation Commission and introduced Barbara Shanley who has been a volunteer on the Historic Preservation Commission for eleven years. Mrs. Ballerini said she wanted to make all Township tax payers aware of the disposition of the property on 25 Ramapo Avenue. The options are to demolish it at a cost of $15,000 to $25,000, relocate it at an approximate cost $25,000, rehabilitate it for a cost estimated to be about $50,000 and then rent it, or leave it vacant as it is and make it tidy until they can fund further improvements. It is eligible as a Historic Site and the Historic Preservation Commission would be willing to spend their time volunteering to help receive monies for this property. Mrs. Ballerini said she and Barbara Shanley spent a few hours speaking to Township residents and their feeling about this property. Everyone wanted this property preserved. She presented Council with all the signatures she received from residents desiring to preserve this home. Mrs. Ballerini, on behalf of the Mahwah Historic Preservation Commission would like Council to vote on a resolution to prevent the demolition.
Mr. Jeff Moore of 149 Deer Haven Road said he is before Council representing the 42 families in his community in reference to the Cleveland Bridge, which is the entrance to their community. The bridge had a weight limit sign that read 21 tons but now has a new sign that reads 3 tons. On Route 202 there is also a new sign instructing trucks over 3 tons not to make the turn. Mr. Moore has several safety concerns, one being if there ever was a fire he hoped the firefighters would ignore the signs and hopefully get their trucks over the bridge safely. He also has concerns how children will get to and from school as buses have to go over the bridge, how oil trucks or any other services with large deliveries will get over this bridge. Mr. Moore is asking for Council’s help.
Mayor Martel said he became aware of this the day before and he put a call into the County as it is a County bridge. The Mayor stated he was told that Emergency Services could still use the bridge but most travel slowly. He said he also had heard that there were to be negotiations for the County to find an alternative means of entrance and exit into the area but would have to use a property of a homeowner. The Mayor said it may be six months before there will be bids to repair the bridge.
Roth asked what the reason for changing this sign. The Mayor said he was not sure but thought it was an inspection of the bridge made by the County.
Mrs. Gloria Ramondo of 252 Oakwood Lane said there was a consultant that came out to check the bridge which is checked every two years. He stated there were numerous things that were not safe on the bridge. Mrs. Ramondo said they need help and suggestions from Council on how there could be another entrance and exit.
DaPuzzo said there is an easement that was granted as a condition of approval for a house at the end of Deer Haven for emergency services but does not know anything about oil, heat or other concerns. Mrs. Ramondo said the County was not very thorough in notifying anyone.
DiGiulio asked why the county did not notify the Township of the inspection knowing there were residents on the other side of the bridge. Roth asked if the Board of Education has been advised.
The Mayor said he is definitely following up on this with the county
Mrs. Ana Maria Meizys of 127 Church Street said there should be an e-mail distribution chain as there seems to be such dis-connect and should not be that way in local government. Feels the issues of the fire sirens will not go away and the issue should be can the pagers be a reliable source and who can tell them that it will be.
She agrees with the Mayor that enough is enough and let’s get it straightened out.
Mr. Albert Kidd of 851 Darlington Avenue said he wanted to compliment the two ladies from Historic Preservation Commission on attempting to keep the house in existence.
Kidd asked if the Beautification has any thought on this house. DiGiulio said they do nothing on this only planting and clean up.
Mr. Kidd said he didn’t understand the 4.6 million dollar slush fund for Water and Sewer that the Auditor was speaking about. Hermansen stated this is for debt services to pay back for projects. Mr. Kidd said the township has a 44 million dollar debt and the Township floats bonds. DaPuzzo said we have been paying cash for our projects in the past and no need to bond.
Mr. Kidd feels instead of having money sitting in reserve the water and sewer bills should be reduced for Township residents.
Roth said the money is not sitting in reserve collecting interest. Roth explained if all the money taken in vs. all money spent for operations there was a profit that then goes to fund capital for the next year. The money is accrued for twelve months it than goes into capital projects the beginning of the following year. There should be an equal balance of what is borrowed and what is paid for by cash.