Good evening, everybody.
Thank you. Good evening. Welcome to the August 15, 2023 council meeting.
Will the municipal clerk please read the statement of compliance with the Open Public Meetings Act?
In accordance with the Open Public Meetings Act, adequate notice of this meeting,
given the time, date and information for assessing this public meeting,
was advertised in the record and the Herald News Newspapers on July 30, 2023,
3, was posted on the bulletin board located on the first floor of the municipal building,
was filed in the office of the municipal clerk and was posted on the borough's website.
Roll call.
Council Member Reinez.
Here.
Council Member Rotenstijk.
Here.
Deputy Mayor Catrone.
Here.
Deputy Mayor Krause.
Here.
Mayor Paluso.
Here.
Also in attendance is borough manager Van Crudenegin, Attorney Verone, Deputy Clerk
We have a few proclamations this evening. The first two are for September, and we're going
to be mailing these out to the recipients. So I'll read those from here.
Whereas September is recognized as Suicide Prevention Awareness Month, a time when people
around the world join voices to raise awareness of suicide prevention, treatment, and recovery.
and whereas the 2023 theme for this month of awareness is creating hope through action.
It is time to remind and encourage people to support their family, friends and neighbors
through challenging times with messages of hope and healing.
And whereas more than 48,000 people died of suicide across the United States last year
with an average of 132 suicides completed daily.
Suicide is the second leading cause of death among people between the ages of 10 and 34
and the 10th leading cause of death overall in our country.
And whereas each and every suicide directly impacts
a minimum of 100 additional people,
including family, friends, co-workers, neighbors,
and community members.
And whereas education about the warning signs of suicide,
the value of preventative measures,
and the best methods to support those in need
is essential to our community.
Now, therefore, the Burden Council and I,
Kurt Paluso, Mayor of the Borough of Feralon,
County of Bergen, St. Andrews, excuse me,
Do hereby proclaim September 2023 Suicide Prevention Awareness Month and encourage all
residents to understanding that taking care of ourselves and others includes daycare of
mental health.
Whereas approximately 288,300 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in the United
States this year and roughly 34,700 will die from the disease.
Men with relatives, father, brother, son with history of prostate cancer are twice
is likely to develop the disease. And whereas prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed
cancer in American men and one in eight men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in
their lifetime. It is the third leading cancer death after lung and colon cancer. And whereas
veterans who are exposed to Agent Orange are at increased risk for developing prostate
cancer and are more likely to have an aggressive form of the disease. And whereas education
and early detection strategies are critical to saving lives, if caught early, prostate
prostate cancer has a five-year survival rate
in nearly 100%, but in late-stage cancer,
the five-year survival rate drops to 31%.
And whereas it's right to stress the importance
of prostate screenings as all men
are at risk for prostate cancer.
And now, therefore, the Borough Counsel and I,
Kurt Paluso, Mayor of the Borough of Fairlawn,
County of Bergen, St. New Jersey,
do hereby proclaim the month of September 2023
prostate cancer awareness month to educate residents
and bring better awareness to our community.
Then if everyone could join me below for our next three.
Got it.
If we just have Mr. and Mrs. O'Malley and the Valentino family, Valentino Hernandez family.
Whereas every September we remember the children who have lost their lives to cancer far too early,
honor the children who courageously fight cancer every day,
and recognize the families and caregivers who never stop advocating for them.
And whereas each day in the United States, 42 families learn that their child has cancer.
In 2023, 15,330 children under the age of 19 will be diagnosed with cancer,
and 400,000 children will be diagnosed worldwide.
And whereas children, like gold, are precious and strong,
in 1997 a group of parents picked gold as their official color for childhood cancer awareness,
because it symbolizes how precious children are and their resiliency.
And whereas while childhood cancer is underfunded at the government level,
there's still hope as research projects are bringing us closer to cures than ever before.
And whereas it's important that we strive to raise awareness and funds for more research,
better treatments, and more cures for all childhood cancers.
Now, therefore, the Borough Counselor and I, Kurt Paluso, Mayor of the Borough Fairlawn,
County of Bergen, State of New Jersey, do hereby proclaim September 2023
Childhood Cancer Awareness Month within Fairlawn,
and ask our residents to remember and support the families in our community
who are fighting the battle against childhood cancer.
And we're very fortunate this evening we have two families who had children who
dealt with this and thank God they are both cured from cancer. So we've got two
proclamations.
Valentino is almost six years old. His birthday is Saturday. He
got diagnosed with acute lymphoma, plastic leukemia. The date was March 26 of
2021, right in the height of the pandemic, we weren't sure how he had gotten it, but
thanks to Hackersack Hospital and Modern Medicine, our family, the support of our community,
and all of those around us who out poured messages, food that came in, and of course
Valentino strength we have a great diagnosis that he is going to successfully
beat this cancer even though it's a seven-and-a-half year program we did
complete our chemotherapy and we did ring the bell on June 2nd of 2023 so we
did actually get to ring that bell and I'm so proud of you Valentino for your
fight and we've continued to fight every single day this is not over it is the
rest of our life that we will always monitor him but this little boy is
proof that you can survive if you have love and you have strength in your
family, if you want to say thank you. He's very shy, but thank you.
Hi, we're
Ann and Brendan O'Malley. We were also extremely fortunate. Our son had
the same disease that Valentino did, acute lymphoblastic leukemia. He was a
freshman at Fairlawn High School and he was diagnosed in 2017 in April of
that year and we are so fortunate we realize every day how lucky we are
that he has made a recovery.
It took five years just last November
where they would finally say that he was cured
and the treatment is extremely intensive for 39 months.
I mean, chemotherapy literally every day
in the form of pills for more than three years.
So it's a very, very 25 bone marrow aspirate.
It's incredible, but we are extremely fortunate
that the science was there to be able to cure him
and he was also treated at Hackensack and, you know, we just feel just to raise awareness
so that people realize that this is happening and, you know, that you can do whatever little
you can do, whether it's bringing a meal to a family going through it, it truly is
a family disease. The whole family really is affected when a child has cancer. So hopefully
one day that won't happen anymore and, you know, just congratulations to Valentino.
We know it's such a big deal when you get to ring that bell.
We're very, very fortunate.
Thank you.
With that being said, Valentino did over 1,000 rounds
of chemo, over 1,000 hospital visits.
He had 18 lump bar punctures, two bone marrow punctures.
We've done six platelet transfusions
and five blood transfusions.
and he survived that and took it like a champion three and a half years old.
So, we're very proud of him.
Thanks a lot.
We've got Stu Herman and anyone else who's here for Rotary Club?
Where do you want to go?
Come on up.
Hello, come on.
I didn't know there.
Whereas the Rotary Club of Fairlawn was honored by the Mayor and Council
for 75 years of service within the community and across the globe.
And whereas the Rotary Club of Feralon was founded on August 2, 1948, E.B. Leone of Glenrock
Lumber was the club's first president.
Three former mayors, Dick Vander Plaat, Lou Rafiani, and Marty Eller, have been members
of the club and two members, Ira Mitchell of Kodak and Andy Purpis, have served as
Rotary District governors.
And whereas the club has generously contributed to the community throughout the years, local
Donations include The World Globe, Community Clock, Burgola, and Benches at the Library.
The Digital Sign and Student Scholarships at Fairland High School, the Scoreboard at
Sassow Field, and Contributions to the Burroughs Food Pantry.
And whereas the club sponsors an annual holiday party for the Opportunity Center
and a lunch honoring our local veterans, they are also a sponsor of the Summer Concerts
in the Park, which was initiated by the Rotarian Isidore Freeman.
And whereas the club is an international sponsor that helps with global grant fundraising for
Alliance for Smiles, an initiative started in 2004 by Rotarians in San Francisco, which
provides surgery for children, mostly in the continents of Asia and Africa, who are born
with cleft lip and cleft palates.
And where it is right to thank the Rotary Club of Feralon for its sensitive service
above self.
Now, therefore, the borough counsel and I, Kerr Paluso, Mayor of the Borough
of Feralon County Berkins, D.N.
New Jersey, do you have our proclaim Wednesday, August 16th, 2023, Rotary Club of Fairlawn
Day within Fairlawn, and to further extend congratulations on a smooth, noteworthy milestone.
Congratulations. Thank you for all you do.
Thank you, Mayor. Hi, Assemblywoman Lisa Swain for anyone who doesn't know me, and
I'm so delighted to be here to also present a proclamation from the state to the Rotary,
And I just wanted to say that, you know, we all talk about the importance of volunteerism,
and this couldn't be a better example of how important it is to have the volunteers that
we have in Farallon.
And obviously, you know, the work that you do, it touches people not only in Farallon
but across the globe.
And I personally am just so grateful to have you here in Farallon doing the work
that you do to support our community.
So congratulations to everyone. And Stu, I will give this to you.
Never give me a microphone.
I would just like to, on behalf of Fairloin Rotary,
I would like to thank the council and the state and Lisa Swain
for honoring us tonight, 75 years. It is a long time.
We have done a lot in town. If you want to know more, come on down.
Thursday lunches right now at the Raleigh Art Tavern.
Thank you. That's all of us. Thank you.
Okay, guys.
Thank you very much.
Okay, one, two, three.
Okay, ready, guys?
Ready?
One, two, three.
Great.
Thank you all.
Thank you.
We've had a very fortunate scene. We've had a number of volunteers that are adults within
this town, but we have a number of youth volunteers as well. We call them the Green Turn Interns.
The Green Team Interns have done a lot of projects around town. They've done some great presentations,
so we just wanted to recognize them today. So each one is going to be getting a certificate
of commendation from the Mayor and Council of the Borough of Fairlawn, given in recognition
of 100 hours of dedicated volunteer service from June through December 2022,
collecting and analyzing energy consumption data from 93 accounts over a four-year period.
The team's recommendations and effort helped help the Bureau of Fairland's advance its sustainability goals
are sincerely appreciated.
If you weren't here for their presentation, it was phenomenal.
It is on Fairland TV, so definitely encourage everyone to take a look.
So I'll call you two and up.
Nidan Patel.
Not here? Okay.
Ria Jean.
Arav Nayir.
Tarun Nada.
Vijay Kumar.
Kothari.
Last few days of summer, I gotta enjoy it.
Niyadi Morkia.
Pinnik Unwan.
Parth Unwan.
Nope, that makes sense.
Siddharth.
He's warm.
I should have done this with the mayor.
All right, so I'm sorry, but let me just
start from scratch because I didn't hear who was here.
Let me start with Arab is not is here.
All right, great.
So I wanted to acknowledge you as well from the state
for all the work that you're doing on the Green Team.
And then Reina is Aria.
Oh, yes.
It's that fancy lettering.
Congratulations.
And Novati is not here.
And Siddharth, congratulations.
And who didn't get one?
What's your name again?
All right, we will get you one.
Did you guys want to say anything?
So last summer, us four, along with a group of other interns
that unfortunately some of them couldn't come here today,
we worked with the green team as sustainability interns.
Our project was two-parted.
The first part had to do with collecting and using
energy utility bills from PC and G to compile data.
And the second part of our project
involved creating a sustainability action
plan, which we got to present to the Mayor and Council a few months ago, that involved
recommendations for the town of Feralon as to how to become more sustainable and things
that we can do to just become one.
All right, guys.
Okay.
One, two, three.
Thank you.
Quite a few.
Thank you.
Thank you for your effort.
It's too late.
What do you want?
It's probably too late.
Yeah.
Thanks.
Council comments. Good evening, Council Member Reignitz. Good evening, Mayor.
I just wanted to congratulate the Rotary Club and the Green Team interns for all the work that you've done.
The Rotary Club is essential for our town and really keeps things running
and does a great job of charitable work and sponsoring so much that goes on in town.
So thank you, Stu, and thank you everyone else that's involved.
I wanted to also thank the community policing unit, the police department, all emergency services who were involved,
the DPW and Parks and Rec for a great national night out.
We were blessed finally with good weather for one.
I think we may have to start looking for a bigger field because I think we're almost at capacity now.
One of the things that we did as a council a couple of years ago was set aside a separate line item for community policing,
and I think it's paying dividends.
So thank you to everyone who's involved with that.
But just briefly, prior to my time on the council, I worked with a charity that was formed after
a young woman passed away who I'd known when I was in college.
And she contracted cancer when she was a teenager also.
And there is so much publicity and so much fundraising for all kinds of adult cancers
and so much for pediatric cancer, so often adolescent cancer gets overlooked.
So I would urge you to really look around, see how you can impact our community.
I'm glad that the O'Malley family is with us. I'm glad your son is doing better.
But it's not uncommon for teenagers to contract cancer,
and it's a difficult fight for them
because they're sort of stuck in the middle
as every teenager is.
So I just wanted to commend them
and with Childhood Cancer Awareness Month coming up,
I think it's important on all of us
to count the blessings that we have
and really take the cue from people like the Rotary Club
that are out there being selfless for others.
So thank you, Mayor.
Thank you.
Good evening, Council Member Rodzry.
Good evening, Mayor.
Thank you.
Before I move my other comments, I just
wanted to say a few words about the passing of Lieutenant
Governor Sheila Oliver.
Like so many here, I had the pleasure
of meeting her and hearing her speak.
And I was always struck by her warmth and her kindness
and her eloquence. She was a remarkable woman. She was a role model and a trailblazer, and
she will truly be missed by all of us in New Jersey.
I want to thank the members of our community who came out tonight to bring awareness of
childhood cancer. As a cancer survivor, I know how important it is for families to
community support while their children are undergoing treatment and how important awareness is so that you can get that treatment early and so it's effective.
They say it takes a village to raise a child but it also takes a village to fight cancer and we're all in this together.
Again, thank you for bringing the awareness here.
I also want to join in congratulating everyone in the Fairloin Rotary Club on their 75th
anniversary.
We're so lucky to have so many organizations here in Fairloin that work together towards
the betterment of our community and leaders like Stu and Margie and Joel and Han.
If you stayed, you got a personal call out who just care so deeply for our town and
its residents, and the fact that we know all of your faces and all of your names, it's
because we see you everywhere and because you do so much for our town. And we are really
grateful for everything that you're doing for all the projects you're spearheading.
I know Pat has another big project coming up. It's very exciting. And I also wanted
to thank our Green Team interns for the work they did to collect the data necessary
to move forward with our climate initiatives. And I'm looking forward to working with
the next cohort of interns, along with the Green Team and the Environmental Commission
to develop a climate action plan for the borough.
We've seen a tremendous amount of enthusiasm in the community around taking action to protect
the environment, our ecosystems, and to combat climate change.
We had an amazing turnout for the Green Team's Pizza in the Pavilion in July, where
Our residents learned about what the Green Team has been doing and how they can get involved.
We have many, many applicants for the Green Team membership and it's gratifying to see
so many people committed to making Feralon a greener, healthier community.
It's also been a super busy summer for all of our Green Committees.
The Garden Committee has been out all over town pulling weeds, planting and in general
beautifying Feralon and they've also been working with the Green Team and the
to make improvements in our business districts.
Towards that end, the planning board has also been asking every applicant who comes before us
to protect the trees they have on their properties and when considering their development to plant native,
to plant bushes and shade trees in every appropriate space available.
Last month I attended the information session regarding the building of the water treatment plant
for the Westmore and Wellfield.
It was a good opportunity to ask a lot of questions about the plans going forward.
It's going to take years to remediate the well-field entirely, but the treatment plans is certainly a step in the right direction.
Finally, two things.
I want to remind everyone about the farmer's market that's continuing every Wednesday from 11 to 3.
Residents have been really happy with the quality of the produce, which I shared some with the council tonight from my CSA, which is the same farmer as the farmer's market.
And they also have beautiful flowers, sunflowers this week.
So I urge everybody to stop by if you're in town between 11 and 3.
As we all know, next month we'll be honoring those lost on September 11.
As has been our tradition, the ceremony will take place on the 11th at 7 p.m. at the 9-11
Remembrance Wall.
I'm really proud that we've continued this tradition of remembrance in Fairlawn and
I know it means a lot to the residents who lost family that we continue to keep the
memory of their loved ones alive.
It's been my tradition to honor the day by participating in a service activity.
So on September 9th, I'll be joining in the litter cleanup, the last one of the season,
and I strongly encourage other residents to participate.
The event runs Saturday the 9th from 8.45 to 12.30, and it qualifies kids for community service hours.
It's a great way to give back.
It's also a lot of fun.
And Ron Loderman, our recycling coordinator, always makes sure we learn something important.
Thank you, Mayor.
Thank you. Good evening, Deputy Mayor Catrone.
Good evening, Mayor. Thank you.
I want to echo the congratulations to our rotary team and our rotary club,
and thank you personally for all of the work that you do for Fairlawn and Beyond.
And a special thank you as well to our green team interns and all of their hard work
and providing us with really important information that will allow us to continue to move towards
sustainability here in Feralon.
I want to thank the families who came out to help us raise awareness for childhood cancer
awareness month.
Unfortunately, this year, my Radburn community lost a young girl to Ewing Sarcoma, Lucy
May Macaluso, who was a friend of my son's, she was only in fourth grade, and she was
It is just an incredible little girl who was full of life and vibrancy and humor. And so it's
just not only a reminder here this evening. Tonight, the importance of raising awareness
of making donations, if you can, to support research. Childhood cancer is, research is
severely underfunded. Most of the money goes to, I think it's for every dollar raised,
80 cents goes to adult cancer and 20 cents goes to childhood cancer. There's really not
a ton of research out there. But as Lucy's parents say and if you ask my son that what
he says that we all should live like Lucy and to live each day to the fullest and to
appreciate what you have and the family around you and the love around you. And that's
Just an important reminder here tonight.
I'm going to be brief and just talk about some upcoming events.
So we still have our summer concert series.
We still have just a few more days of summer left,
so we're holding on as long as we can.
We have one this Sunday, as well as a rescheduled one on Monday,
and then everybody's favorite on the 27th, the cameos.
So if you haven't been or if you have been, we hope you'll come out Sunday night.
We hope that we'll have nice weather to end the summer with some great music.
Upcoming in the fall, we'll have the community camp out again.
That's the weekend of September 9th through the 10th until the 10th.
If you're brave enough to stay overnight at Memorial Pool with your tent,
It really is a wonderful event that we started.
This is the third year, right, Maggie?
Fourth, the fourth year.
It's a favorite event now of our residents.
So it is only for Feralon residents
and you do have to pre-register
which this year you'll be able to do via community pass.
But also you can do in person or over the phone as well.
So we hope that you'll sign up for that.
We have Art in the Park, Sunday, September 10th, so after you sleep out at Memorial,
you're going to head over to Burdan Grove to see a lot of local artists and local musicians,
and hopefully maybe buy some early holiday gifts.
And then October 22nd from 12 to 3 at the Community Center,
the Community Relations Advisory Committee is doing its next event,
which is Latin heritage, a Latin heritage celebration.
There's gonna be dancing and food and vendors
and it's set up to be a really wonderful new event
that the Community Relations Committee is doing
that we're very much looking forward to
and we hope that you will all be there
and that's all I have tonight, Mayor.
Thank you.
Good evening, Deputy Mayor Kraus.
Good evening, Mayor.
I will echo everyone's thanks
Thanks and congratulations to the Rotary and all the work that they've done in Fairlawn.
Every time you go to an event you're going to see the Rotary out and they've been a part
of our community for 75 years now and that's a tremendous accomplishment.
I want to thank the families that came out to raise awareness about childhood cancer.
You know, it's something that most people wouldn't imagine having to go through and the strength
that these children show and their family show and the community shows in supporting them
is remarkable, but it's something that can't be forgotten and hopefully the money will
continue to, will start to flow in more into the childhood cancers.
And of course I want to congratulate our green team interns for all the work that
they've done. They did a fantastic job with their presentation that they presented to us
a few months back. You can tell they're very enthusiastic, very hardworking, and I hope that
the experience that they had on that is something they can build off of because they all have
very promising futures ahead of them. Sticking with the green team, I was able to attend
the Pizza the Pavilion event that comes from what Ron Shrike spoke about. It was a great
event, really good idea, and I'm sure there will be more of that in the years to come.
I also was able to attend the National Night Out, and I want to thank everyone who was involved
with that. Our community policing does a great job with that. I remember last year being
a record attendance, and I believe this year was even more people, so let's keep breaking
those records with that attendance. And then after that I was also able to attend
and present the proclamations for our graduates of the Junior Citizens Police Academy at their
graduation here on Friday. And that was a lot of fun to see. I think I counted about
45 kids in the audience, and there was about another five to ten kids who couldn't make
it, so it looked like a great showing. The kids were very into it. I spoke to a lot
of the parents and the kids afterwards, and they all had a tremendous experience
doing it. Some of the kids were in their second year doing it. And I want to thank our police
department and the community policing division, particularly for all the hard work they do
putting that program together. And the last thing, Deputy Mayor Katrone mentioned it,
but I want to remind everyone about our in the park. It is September 10th at Burdane
Grove Park. It will go from noon to five. That is another one of our events that
that every year gets bigger and bigger.
There's a number of musical acts I'll be playing,
so there'll be lots of live music,
lots of artists selling the art that they work,
whether it be photography or paintings or sculptures
or other types of handcrafted art.
It's a wonderful event to be at.
It's one that I've heard a number of people
of the years tell me that it's personally inspired them
to commit to their art, showcase their art,
grow their art, and I've been happy
I'm happy to see the impact that it's had over the last couple of years and I look forward to another one.
And other than that, I want to wish a happy end of summer for all of our students and our teachers, our educators, and all of our school staff.
I know that first day is coming, so enjoy these last couple of weeks you have.
So I'll have tonight. Thank you, Mayor.
Thank you, Deputy Mayor.
As Council Member Ranchi mentioned, we lost someone pretty important to our state, Lieutenant
Governor Sheila Oliver.
For those who don't know, she's been to Fairlawn a few times.
I actually sat over here when they launched the anchor program, and it was always such
a warm, welcoming face.
So if anyone would just join me for a brief moment of silence just to remember our former
Lieutenant Governor.
Thank you.
So far it's been a really exciting summer here in Fairlawn.
As was mentioned with the movies at Memorial, the summer concerts, a great national night
out.
I want to thank our Fairland Police Department, our Recreation Department, all emergency services
and volunteers who put together another great event.
I also want to thank Scooter and Debbie for putting together the Dung Tank, which was
able to raise money from Marion Kalora Scholarship.
I know the Chief, myself, and some members of the Fairland Amulance Corps are participating
in it and they're able to raise about $400 from there. So great cause and it was a lot
of fun with some great food vendors. So if you missed it this year, hopefully you'll
be able to attend next year. This past week I met with a representative from the New Jersey
Economic Development Association. We're really excited because there's been a huge
focus on Fairlawn. Fairlawn's businesses are really thriving and for those who've
lived here during the 80s and 90s, it was the opposite. We were seeing major
declined in our businesses here. Businesses were constantly moving out. Now we're seeing
this regrowth, this rebirth, a lot of mom-and-pop shops, and it's really thanks to all the residents
who continue to support our local businesses. So I want to encourage everyone to do so. When
the state was here, they mentioned that there's a lot of grants that are going to be open
to our businesses. So I'll be working with the council member, Gail Ronstreich
and Ryan Greff and the state to get some additional funding here to help our businesses
as much as we can, and we just want to encourage everyone to shop local.
As we come to the end of the summer, I hope everyone enjoys it.
Make sure you check our calendar, a lot of fun events to wrap up this summer.
And I'm scared to say, hopefully everyone has a great back-to-school day.
Now we have Brian for our Main Street Minute.
Excellent segue.
So, I'm back.
I'm sure you guys will miss Prima.
I will begin with the more fun stuff.
The small business scavenger hunt is live again so for those of you who are unaware
the small business scavenger hunt enables people to take selfies in front of different
businesses in town as well as a few different historic locations like the novel house and
submit it to us in order to be entered into a chance to win prizes that are usually
local gift cards or the grand prize is a large TV or with the option of a PlayStation 5 instead so
we've got a lot of young kids very interested in getting that PS5 so we are on track to beat our
record last year and I'm excited by that I also want to take this time to thank Pam for leading
the charge so thank you Pam. We are doing spectacularly Yahoo! News this season covered it
and the record and many other media outlets like to happen to.
So, onto the business services side of things.
So, we've recently announced the creation of a working group
with the Bergen County Workforce Development Board.
So throughout the states and each of the different counties,
there are these workforce development boards that work with the Department of Labor
and are given resources in order to enhance the workforce in their particular area.
They have resources to offset the cost of hiring to help retool and retrain people.
One of the ongoing themes that we have found, we're interacting with the businesses, is
that the cost to hire is growing and the cost to train is getting risky.
And this is our answer to try to form that solution.
So the first step of the working group is to see what needs businesses have in the
best way to get those services to them.
Okay.
And that is my minute.
Thank you.
Thank you, Ryan.
Ryan?
Yes.
Can I make one more comment?
I got a note from someone in the audience who just wanted to mention how important it is to make blood and platelet donations to help people undergo
chemotherapy. So I thought that was an important comment and didn't want to miss that. Thank you.
Thank you.
Ornance on first reading. Ornance number 2677-2023. In Ornance to provide for certain capital improvements in the Borough
and to provide for the receipt, acceptance, and deposit of grant funds, therefore from
the County of Bergen, Division of Community Development Roadway Improvements of Samson
and Waverly Roads to authorize appropriations of 123,747.
May I have a motion that ordinance number 2677-2023 be passed on introduction, advertised according
to law, and that a public hearing be held on September 19th, 2023.
So moved.
Second.
Discussion?
Roll call.
Council Member Reinerts.
Yes.
Council Member Rottenstryk.
Yes.
Deputy Mayor Patrone.
Yes.
Deputy Mayor Krause.
Yes.
Mayor Polizzo.
Yes.
Ordinance on second reading.
Ordinance number 2674-2023.
In Ordinance fixing the salaries of certain employees of the Borough of Farrell and
Burton County, New Jersey as amended stipends.
Can I have a motion to open the time for public comment on Ordinance number 2674-2023
only?
So moved.
Second.
All in favor?
Any opposed?
The time is now open for public comments on this ordinance.
Seeing no one can have a motion to close,
time for public comment on this ordinance.
So moved.
Second.
All in favor?
Aye.
Any opposed?
The public hearing on ordinance number 2674-2023 is now closed.
May I have a motion that ordinance number 2674-2023 be adopted on second and final reading
and that it be advertised according to law?
So moved.
Second.
Discussion? Roll call.
Council Member Reinez? Yes.
Council Member Rottenstike? Yes.
Deputy Mayor Trone? Yes.
Deputy Mayor Kraus? Yes.
Mayor Pusso? Yes.
Ordinance No. 2675-2023.
In Ordinance to Men, Chapter 94, Fees, Article 6,
Schedule of Fees of the Code of the Borough of Fairland 2000, Filming.
Kevin Moshe opened the time for public comment on Ordinance No. 2675-2023.
So moved.
Second.
All in favor?
Aye.
Any opposed?
The time is now open for any public comments on ordinance number 2675-2023.
Seeing no one can have a motion to close the time for public comment.
So moved.
Second.
All in favor?
Aye.
Any opposed?
The public hearing on ordinance number 2675-2023 is now closed.
You may have a motion that ordinance number 2675-2023 be adopted on second and final
reading, and that would be advertised according to law.
So moved.
Second.
Discussion?
Roll call.
Council Member Reinez.
Yes.
Council Member Rottenstijk.
Yes.
Deputy Mayor Cotrone.
Yes.
Deputy Mayor Krauss.
Yes.
Mayor Paluso.
Yes.
Ordinance number 2676-2023.
In Ordinance creating a new chapter 98, filming of the Code of the Borough of Fairland
2000.
May I have a motion to open the time for public comment on Ordinance number 2676-2023.
So moved.
Second.
All in favor?
Aye.
Any opposed?
The time is now open for public comments on this ordinance.
Seeing no one, can I please have a motion to close the time for public comment?
So moved.
Second.
All in favor?
Aye.
Any opposed?
The public hearing on ordinance number 2676-2020-3 is now closed.
May I have a motion that ordinance number 2676-2020-3 be adopted on second and final
reading and that it be advertised according to law?
So moved.
Second.
Discussion?
We have a motion to open the time for public comments on consent agenda 17-223 items only.
Public comment on consent agenda, 17-23 only.
Summits.
Second.
All in favor?
Aye.
Any opposed?
No.
The time for public comment is now open on consent agenda, 17-23 items only.
Good afternoon or good evening. Pamela Cole's 13-34 George Street. I have several items that I have highlighted which need a little enhancement inside of an explanation.
306-2023 resolution authorizing the contract extension for granular activated carbon exchange.
I just need to look at it. Good evening, Ms. Coles. Good evening. That's the treatment of the GAC treatment, which is the treatment to our water system, our water drinking system.
We just were extending the contract for another year, which gave us the ability when we went out to bid two years ago to extend it for another year.
We're actually getting a better price by extending it a year instead of going out to bid again.
Got it. Thank you. 307-2023 resolution authorizing the extension for the Water Main Sanitary Sewer and Stormwater Facility.
Is that more of the same?
That's exactly the same.
Yes.
Thank you.
You're welcome. Resolution 310-2023, resolution authorizing the construction of a foundation for the Fire Training Center from Joseph M. Sainzari.
Where will that be located? Fire Department, we have purchased a containerized fire training simulator, the Fire Training Center, which is currently at the DPW complex on the side of the road.
It is being placed next to that. However, it requires a concrete pad to put this simulator on.
So this contract there is installing the pad prior to installing the structure.
Awesome.
312-2023. Resolution authorizing document management, digital records, scanning and storage with Alpine Consulting.
Regarding Educational Services Commission of the New Jersey Cooperative.
Under a purchasing cooperative, the state has finally allowed us to start digitizing and scanning all of our records.
Instead of actually keeping the hard copy, we're finally getting there.
So this is the start and phase one of us moving forward to begin to scan and digitize all of our borough public records.
Amen. It's about time to come into the 21st century. Resolution 313, 2023, resolution approving
and authorizing the execution and release of satisfaction of developers agreement, discharging
the obligations contained in the recorded developments. This is between the planning
What I'm gathering is between the planning board and 208, LLC for the property known as 16-09 and 16-17-208.
What's this in regards to?
That was the development agreement that was approved by the planning board of the RRO and the developer at the time that they went from there.
As part of that, the development agreement was recorded as an important document in the burden on the first office.
And since they have now satisfied the engineer's satisfaction that what the work has been completed
to perform to the developers of Ramies being discharged
so that it's no longer on record.
Super.
Thank you.
Resolution 314-2023, resolution rescinding the resolution
and canceling contract with Joseph M. Sam-Zerry,
under Bergen contract, cooperative contract,
along with a bid number, a bid 19-71 due to a mistake.
Who's a contract entered into Witsunzari to do some work and prep work for a concession
stand at the center rec complex behind Fairland High School?
The original proposal came through.
It does require additional sanitary work and electrical work, so we're actually rescinding
the resolution of that contract.
We'll be awarding another resolution and a new contract to cover those additional
costs.
So this wouldn't come under the Board of Ed?
That is our property, borough property.
Okay, gotcha.
All right.
Thank you. Two more. I'm done. 321-2023 resolution, rescinding resolution, 298-2023 adopted July 23rd and approving and authorizing the execution of a
the 3rd Street Development Acquisition located
at 1400, 14-00 3rd Street.
Mr. Mayor, if I may.
This is with regard to the former clarion property and what this is is a resolution that rescins the prior resolution that was adopted at the last meeting regarding the developers agreement because of a Scrivener's error in that agreement.
And consequently, it's being rescinded and the corrective developers agreement is being adopted.
Super. Thank you.
Last one is 322-2023 resolution authorizing the release of performance guarantee posted by River Road Lofts site improvement.
Sounds like it's more the same with the release of...
Okay. And that property looks, this is the lofts on the corner of-
This is Riverlofts is the apartment complex located next to the post office on River Road.
Oh, next to the post office. That's Riverlofts.
Okay. Thank you so much.
Just two additional things. So with Senator Reck, I know there's some confusion because
of close proximity to the high school, but that is operated by the borough of that
facility.
We do have a good relation with the Board of Eds.
We do let them use it for a number of their sporting,
as I'm sorry, everyone sees, which kind of adds to the confusion.
And then regarding the Third Street property,
originally that was owned by Fairshire Housing in New Jersey for residential.
So we're working with the developer to redevelop that site,
and it's not going to be residential under the proposal that's in place right now.
So hopefully that will continue.
And lastly, just congratulations to you and your family on becoming a grandma.
Best of luck to your son and his wife.
Thank you.
Congratulations to my mom of being a great grandma.
That's very exciting.
Thank you.
Anyone else on resolution?
Will the miscellaneous clerk please read the resolutions by...
Oh, sorry.
Can I motion close time for public comment on consent agenda items?
So moved.
Excuse me.
All in favor?
Aye.
Any opposed?
The time for public comment on consent agenda 17-2023 is now closed.
Resolutions by Consent 17-2023.
Ms. O'Clarke, please read the resolutions by consent.
Whereas the following resolutions 301-2023 through 322-2023
have here too four been placed on the consent agenda,
requires no discussion and same.
Having been previously reviewed by each council member,
B and R hereby adopted ratified and confirmed
in their entirety by the mayor and council
of the borough of Fairlawn.
Can I have a motion to pass Consent Agenda 17-2023 Resolutions 301-2023 through 322-2023?
So moved.
Second.
Roll call.
Council Member Reines.
Yes.
Council Member Rottenstrike.
Yes.
Deputy Mayor Catrone.
Yes.
Deputy Mayor Kraus.
Yes.
Mayor Paluso.
Yes.
New business.
And whenever they do business that.
Mayor.
I actually have three items.
Item number one, in accordance with title 40, Colin 69A-95, as the borough manager on the appointing authority,
I'm obligated to inform the governing body that effective August 15, 2023, employee James Corcoran has been terminated from employment,
as recommended by the Bergen County prosecutor and affirmed by the disciplinary hearing officer.
We have been noticed that Mr. Corcoran has appealed his termination, and accordingly I will have no further comments at this time regarding this matter.
Thank you.
Two other items, Mayor.
I'm assuming you have, but if you have not, the sports court mural at the multi-sport court has been completed.
It came out great.
So if you haven't seen it, please take a ride by and take a look at it.
And additionally, the start of the military tribute mural at the Avenue Heroes is started.
That's about 50% complete.
It's coming out outstanding.
I've actually spoken to the Veteran Affairs Liaison, so what we are going to do is upon the completion of that,
which should be done in about two to three weeks, we're actually going to cover that mural,
and we're going to do an actual unveiling and a dedication of the burial on Veterans Day.
We're going to move the Veterans Day ceremony from the municipal building to the Avenue heroes have the ceremony at the Avenue heroes
And actually unveil and dedicate the new military tribute mural if everybody's okay with that
We're going to move it veteran affairs liaison is on board with it as well. And then finally I'll be part in the
Semi-construction there down on the council chambers to the left
Part in the appearance that is actually us prepping for the Fairloin emergency services wall of honor
which is on, as you know, Tuesday, October 3rd at 7 p.m.
So we started doing work there. That's all I have in there.
Mr. Mayer, if I may?
Yes.
There was apparently some confusion as to where the authority to appoint and remove borough employees lies.
And as Mr. Mancrugin just clarified, that authority lies with the borough manager,
and not with the mayor and council under this form of government.
Just wanted to make that clear.
Anyone else for a new business?
Yes.
I just wanted to make a pitch to anyone who's interested in being involved in the 100th
anniversary committee.
We're in the process of putting that together.
I expect we'll have an initial opening meeting sometime in September or early October, so
we hit the ground running in January.
So if you're interested, send an email at the clerk's office or go on the website
and fill out the appropriate form for citizen leadership.
Thank you.
What else?
Okay.
Public comments.
Can I please have a motion to open the time for public comment?
So moved.
Second.
All in favor?
Aye.
Any opposed?
The time is now open for public comments.
Anyone wish to speak?
Just need to state your name and your address.
Pamela Cole's 13-34 George Street. With Ryan here, I just want to reiterate the scavenger hunt. I have to say I'm having a time of my life putting out the signs and putting up the posters, having the businesses put up the posters, and really getting to know the businesses in town.
You know, River Road, I'm having just a dynamite time in the promenade.
I know there's a scavenger hunt going on in all areas of Fairloin in the Radburn building
over and Broadway, so I'm just, I'm having a blast.
So I highly recommend everybody go out and take selfies of things that you purchase
It's for the various businesses in town.
The military role, I think, is outstanding.
I was at Memorial Pool and just watching it in stages.
It looks beautiful.
So thank you.
And representing the various branches of the armed forces,
But the various wars that we've been in, you know, really, I love it.
It's great.
And 100th anniversary along, I would love if the Main Street could get involved with that.
And I know I'll be undoubted in that as well.
So, yeah.
I contribution back to the fair one.
Great. Thank you.
Thank you.
Good
evening.
My name is Linda Presti.
I live at Nine Heights Avenue, and I'm here to ask for, unfortunately, those of us who
live there, we live in a very unsafe situation, entering and exiting our driveways.
There was a business that's been permitted to be behind a business there, where their
agreement was that their people would not park on Heights Avenue and they are
doing that and they are parking basically right in front of those of us who
where their exit is, I'm sorry where the exit is for them to leave, the five of
that are most in danger going into our driveways. Number 5913, we're on the left-hand side.
Number 6, 8 and 14, they're on the right-hand side. Now, by them parking, they're very close
to our driveways, and for us to be able to see out has been very difficult. Now, we also
have where they have been given permission to exit, have a second exit that comes on
Heights Avenue, and there is a sign there that says no right term, and that has been
An ordinance has been also put in place that they're not allowed to, but it has been a suggestion from the beginning.
I'll talk about a personal time where I was almost hit. I was coming out of my driveway.
I'm sorry, I was trying. I do not come and go into my driveway forward because trying to come backwards between the cars that are all parked there
and trying to watch that one of them might sheet out and make that right turn is very dangerous.
So I have started to always back into my driveway.
Two times I almost got hit by doing that.
I look as I come up to try to come in.
It's a very tight squeeze because they're right there with their cars when they're not supposed to be.
And one of the cars, they don't make any signals, came around and almost hit me.
And I just froze and I shook.
I'm like, oh, sweet Jesus, thank you, I didn't get hit.
And then I proceeded back, and he zoomed right over.
A second time, it happened a second time several months later, again, I back in, and I'm watching
before I come to make that turn, and there's the cars, and another one came, screeching
almost hit me, and I just stood there in shock.
And as I proceeded to come back, he squeezed through,
I shouldn't say he, the driver squeezed through where that other car was and myself.
We have written up a petition to please, please have no parking on our street.
Now, no parking.
Unfortunately, it was the whole street.
I am here asking if it could be done just in that section of 5, 9, 13, 6, 8, 14.
Those of us that are in most danger every time we enter and exit our driveways.
And that's what I'm asking for. The sign, I think some of you are familiar with what it says.
it says no parking from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. and the reason why that was done is
because behind us on Albert that's what their sign says and it's just in a
section of their street it's not the entire street just like that's what
I'm asking please do that so that we could be safe and that business like
I said they're not supposed to make the right turn they do and they're not
supposed to park but they continue to do that and they have been there
for a number of years.
I know that different people have approached them,
asking them to please honor their commitment
and it has fallen on deaf ears.
So that's what I'm asking for that slide.
So just, thank you for coming in.
I know we've spoken numerous times.
And just so the rest.
I have seen you here some times.
Yes, no problem.
And just so the rest of the council knows,
so I did contact the road manager's office
who contact our traffic safety department.
They did go out, they did issue a number of tickets
it's for block driveways, it seemed to have gotten better.
And then we did a petition to do similar signs
as there were on Albert.
Unfortunately, the majority of residents
did not want those signs in place.
And when we looked at shortening how far we would go,
we ran into some issues because when we shortened it
to the seeing length as Albert,
there were more residents who didn't want it
than wanted it.
So that's where we're kind of hitting a little bit
of a roadblock is there are some residents who do want this but the majority of the residents
don't want it. So I know the Borough Manager's Office has been looking into it. We've been
tracking it and that's where there is some issues.
Well, I walked. It was only 80 steps where their sign ended, 108 steps and I'm only
asking for 80 steps.
Yeah, we could show you. I don't know if we could share which residents it is,
but there's some very early on residents that didn't want it and there are more
who didn't want it than did. So how we do the no parking restrictions in our town, this
is good for everyone, is we do do a petition. Our Charter of Safe Department reviews the
petition and goes over it as well. And if the majority of residents want it, then we
go forward with it. If the majority of those don't want it, they don't do it. Very democratic
process. So sometimes, you know, there's eight people who want it, two who don't,
we still go forward. Vice versa, we don't. So it really just depends. If you have
a majority of residents on your street who want it, then we can go forward with
it.
Okay, because before coming I spoke to, I know that 5913, the ones that I mentioned that are in most danger of being injured, 6, 8, and 14.
We all voted yes.
So we could...
Yes, it was okay for our manager.
If you want to come in one day this week, we can go over the petition and we can see where we could do the science if it's feasible.
Do you want me to make an appointment with someone?
Yeah, you don't just me call tomorrow and then we'll schedule something.
I appreciate your time. Thank you so much for coming in. Thank you.
I'm sorry, Josh. I just wanted to say I was on the zoning board at the time that that application happened.
And I know there was buying from the company that they agreed they weren't going to park there.
And I know they had agreed that they were not going to make right hand turns.
I believe it was written into the resolution.
So Jim, I don't know if it's possible to have the zoning officer take a look at it.
And, you know, there may be violations of their variance
and other things that maybe if they're not willing to comply.
I know they had issues with construction on their lot,
but, I mean, at a certain point it's been going on for a long time.
I'll follow up. Thank you.
And
luck, our driveways will be closed.
No, I understand.
And they've
been talking since we've been in inappropriate language.
So we were told just call and take care of it.
Yeah, and obviously, I can't speak for the whole zoning board in 2017-ish.
But one of the main, I think, things that convinced us to approve it was because the residents at the time were satisfied that if they followed the rules,
the company filed the rules, there wouldn't be an impact or be a much more minimal impact.
So I think it's important that we look into every avenue we can with that.
Thank you for coming in.
Great Miller, five-round for terrorists.
If somebody, I don't know who would be, call the state DOT because the on-ramp and
off-ramp of Plaza Road of 208 looks like crap.
I know we did the landscaping over by the north-south bound lane, but you go up 208
ramps, there's weeds and everything all over the place and it looks like it's just been
neglected.
Mayor?
Yep.
The state DOT now requires you to put those complaints in online, so we already have
done that.
Okay.
The good part about that is when you do the complaint online it tracks it, so we
know we when we submitted it so we will submit it again but I know my office has
already submitted that to them probably once or twice we'll do it again. Okay
thank you.
Well first of all I'd like to thank everybody for coming tonight for
me for those of you who don't know me my name is Jim Corcoran I'm the
lieutenant who's being terminated so
for those that don't know me I was a I
I graduated high school, I joined the military,
I went in the U.S. Army,
I was a member of the 8th Second Airborne.
I decided at some point to take the test
for the police department, 2000.
I was appointed to the police department.
I was assigned to patrol.
I held positions in the detective bureau.
I was promoted to a sergeant.
I was promoted to a lieutenant.
I took five exams for the police department.
The entrance exam,
exam, two sergeants' exams, a lieutenant's exam, and a captain's exam. And I came out
number one on every one.
In 2018, I was skipped for a promotion to captain for two candidates
that scored six in eight points less than I did,
January of 2018.
In September of 2018,
I filed a lawsuit for what I perceive is a violation of my First Amendment rights.
November of 21, there was a false allegations made against me,
and there was an internal affairs complaint that was lodged against me.
January of 2023, I was placed on administrative leave.
March of 2023, the summary judgment portion of my civil suit was found in my favor.
So the motion, the summary judgment motion to dismiss my lawsuit was dismissed.
That's March of 2023.
April 23,
the borough has a hearing related to that, a borough administrative hearing related to that false allegation here at Borough Hall.
In
July of 2023, there's a settlement conference down in Newark, the federal courthouse.
We weren't able to agree on the terms to settle the lawsuit.
Day and a half later, the Burroughs hearing officer rendered his decision,
found me guilty, and recommended termination.
That brings us to today.
There we are.
There's a technique that's being employed in the county and the state where when a member of the municipality brings a lawsuit that the borrower works on finding violations of the rules and regulations and holding that member to a greater standard.
To leverage that lawsuit, if anybody read the record today, there's an article in the
record today about a female out of Wayne who was passed over for promotion.
She filed a lawsuit.
She was out, on leave, and was unable to qualify with her pistol.
When she came back to work, they ordered her to stay in the dispatch center behind
the glass.
It was an incident that occurred in the vestibule of the Wayne Police Department, where she
exited dispatch center to assist the nine-year-old child.
He terminated her.
She filed a lawsuit for wrongful termination.
That's in today's record.
If you Google it, you'll see hundreds of these types, hack and sack has four currently.
They had five or six guys that were out of the situation.
Some of them aren't even back to work yet.
There's something wrong with the system.
I'd like to read a letter that my attorney wrote and sent to the mayor and council.
So it's from Marcia Metola, who's my attorney from Limsky and Metola.
says, Dear Mayor and Council, this office represents Lieutenant James Corkman, the above reference matter.
We are aware that the discussion related to Lieutenant Corkman's employment with the borough of Fairlawn Police Department is scheduled to take place during the August 15, 2023 Council meeting.
Lieutenant Corkman has requested that this matter be discussed during the open portion of the meeting. Unfortunately, due to a pre-planned vacation, I will not be able to attend.
Again, the meeting, however, I am requesting that the council accept this correspondence
in lieu of a public statement on behalf of the Lieutenant Corporate.
This matter arises out of a November 1, 2021 arrest of an individual who was caught by
two Farallon police officers burglarizing a vehicle in the middle of the night.
The individual in question had previously been arrested 19 times for a variety of charges including assault, theft, burglary, and drug possession.
The arresting officer transported the arrestee to headquarters for processing,
during which time he was uncooperative, loud, and belligerent.
In an attempt to calm him down and get him to cooperate, Lieutenant Corprin spoke to him
and began guiding him back to the cell, at which time the individual slapped Lieutenant Corprin's hand.
Lieutenant Corporan promptly put him in a compliance hold and placed him on the desk in the processing room.
In the process of placing the arrestee on the desk, he suffered, let's see here,
process of placing him in the compliance hold, the individual's shirt ripped and he incurred a small cut on his lip.
The following day, the arrestee filed an internal fares complaint against Lieutenant Corporan.
The Burden County Prosecutor's Office determined that there was insufficient evidence to charge
Lieutenant Corcoran in a criminal trial, criminal case, but retained jurisdiction over the
administrative investigation.
The reason for this is because Lieutenant Corcoran has an active lawsuit.
An administrative hearing was held during which time the Burden County Prosecutor's
office investigator testified and admitted there is no video that shows
Lieutenant Corcoran striking, pushing, or using excessive force.
The
investigator admitted that Lieutenant Corcoran stated the physical
altercation of putting the RSD in a compliance hold was no longer than five
seconds.
Importantly, the investigator admitted that both arresting officers who were present
during this event stated that at no time did they witness Lieutenant Corcoran striking
or pushing the arrestee. As the altercation was so quick that by the time they looked
looked up, Lieutenant Corcoran was guiding the RSD to the holding cell. It is frankly unfathomable
how this investigator believes the RSD who provided four inconsistent statements during
the investigation over the testimony of two other officers who she found to be credible.
level.
She believed the inconsistent testimony of a repeat offender who has been arrested
at least three times by the Fair Lone Police Department for burglary over the testimony
of the arresting officers, who by the way received accommodations for arresting the
arrest date. Terminating Lieutenant Corcoran is a miscarriage of justice,
which will
be vigorously defended.
We thank you for your courtesies and attention to this
matter. If you have any further questions please contact my office that
signed Marcia J. Metola. I didn't use the individual's initials, I just referred
to him as arrestee or by his pronouns we'll say.
The system is broken.
There's
the case until we get past this point, until we go to the Office of Administrative Law.
The technique is used to use the disciplinary process to force the individual who's suing
the town out of his employment and either embarrass him into a settlement, starve him
into a settlement,
we need to do something.
We've had a couple lawsuits here in Fairlawn,
if you look, Hackensack, Rochelle Park, Glen Rock, Wayne,
Fairfield's currently enduring an issue.
There's another letter here that I'd like to read.
It's a piece that's out of the June 2023 COPS magazine.
It's written by the state PBA President Patrick Colligan.
I'm not going to read the whole letter, I'm going to read a portion, but basically he talks about the problem here.
What's going on? Right? And it's not only Fairlawn, it's all the other towns.
Look in the newspaper.
In this article or this piece that he wrote, he says,
Well, I've been to a lot of hearings over the years, some much more memorable than others.
Many have perfectly fit the phrase of kangaroo court.
I've been pouring over the IA guidelines, the West Point Command and Leadership Syllabus,
the FBI, National Academy, training, and even the Hack and Jersey Internal Affairs
class outline.
Try as I might, I can't seem to find where discipline should be directly associated with
how tight your underwear got that day.
If somebody can point that out to me, please, our number is listed.
Figure out how we can stop,
figuring out how we can stop that, sure we'll save a
a ton of time, energy, embarrassment, and a whole boatload of money.
My apologies to the PBA attorneys.
Once again in May, I attended another expensive hearing that was completely unnecessary.
And high site will prove to us, as it has over and over again, that expensive unnecessary
Unnecessary hearings will usually lead to expensive unnecessary appeals, which usually
lead to some very expensive settlements.
So don't celebrate your victory at the department hearing just yet.
It will likely be short-lived.
The part that is so mind-boggling, especially in some of these smaller departments with
limited financial resources, is that whoever signs these checks doesn't see that when they
got to the important fork in the road, they picked the wrong one.
Smarter heads should have prevailed at some point.
But nope, let's go all the way down the road, let's hire an outside attorney, let's
Let's find a hack hearing officer and let's pour over the rules and regulations for additional
charges.
Let's burn some midnight oil, a load of copy paper and a whole pile of cash.
My personal favorite is when the hack hearing officer doesn't rule in your favor, then
you throw out their findings.
That's a gem.
The only problem is when somebody, without their tight underwear like an appellate judge, for example, sees right through the case for the sham that it is, the check writing gets bigger and bigger.
When your personal appetite for a chunk of flesh outweighs the semblance of professionalism or common sense, look in the mirror and not at the union.
I've
become a broken record to a lot of you.
If the officer is truly as bad, he or she will eventually hand themselves to you on a large ornate silver platter.
Be patient.
But if you just can't believe that someone would have the audacity to question your authority to discipline,
or they have been a thorn in your side,
or they are knowledgeable union leaders
or insert 20 other ridiculous reasons here,
you will likely find yourself on the losing end of a hearing,
appeal, and eventually a lawsuit.
You can yell and scream about it,
all you would like,
but that won't improve morale
or the working conditions in your agency one bit. Because you see ladies and
gentlemen, in those agencies somebody will be next when that sham is over. Good
morale and respect cannot be ordered in SOP. It must be earned.
When these things
happen, the only winners are the attorneys.
The department doesn't win,
The situation suffers morale issues, the officer is damaged,
and the residents hold the bag.
When the payouts begin, there has to be a change. There has to be an objective review of the facts before they get to this point.
It's too far for me, it's too far gone for me, but these guys that are standing here, they're young officers, you can help them.
You can change the process so there's a fair objective review of the facts and it's not
a he said she said before it gets to this point.
You guys hire a hearing officer, you pay him.
I don't know how many times there have been hearings that I've been aware of and he
rules in favor of the town or investigations into complaints that are conducted and the
ruling is in favor of the town.
I have all the faith in the world that once I have my
opportunity to present the facts to an objective magistrate from the Office of Administrative
Law they will see through this sham and
I will be vindicated. Then what happens? I come
come back here, the employee-employer bond is broken.
And I know the council and the
mayor don't have the decision-making ability, that's up to the borough manager, but you
guys can ask for a change in the system.
So I'm sorry, I don't want to interrupt you.
No, you're right.
Yeah, so just so everyone's clear, our form of government, our mayor and council
are not involved in any of the hiring or firing process.
I don't sit on any interviews for any of our officers,
any of our DPW, any of recreation,
neither is anyone else of the elected officials here.
It's very different from other towns.
So we also have nothing to do with the firing.
There was no vote by this council
or any decision made by this council.
We are not involved in any hiring and firing
in regarding and changing the system.
I think that's more of like a state issue we're looking at.
It's a civil service.
Yeah, it's right.
I mean, it's a civil service town.
You don't have any control over any of that.
You know, the process is totally out of the control of the mayor and council.
Yeah, so we can't change the process.
We haven't been taking the hearings.
It's in our form of government.
We're really hands off with the personnel.
I understand that.
And that's what I said.
Unless I made a mistake,
I said that I understand that the mayor council.
Yeah, I think just when you said when we could change the system,
that's when I kind of just want to clarify where we stand.
Mr. Garcia, you got something?
If the mayor would like me to speak, I was just going to clarify that
state statute, actually state code requires a departmental administrative hearing, right?
So he gets the PNDA, the Primate Nurse Disciplinary Action,
which was based off an investigation conducted not by the Fairlaw Police
Department, but by the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office, who made the
recommendation of termination. Borough Manager gets that in this particular
instance. Frankly, as we generally do, the recommendation of the Bergen
County Prosecutor's Office was accepted. TNDA was issued. He asked for a
hearing as is his right under New Jersey law. He was given the hearing by
by an independent hearing officer that we brought in.
The hearing officer affirmed the conclusions
and the findings of the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office.
Borough manager once again accepted those findings.
And as you said, and I think Ms. Crawford admitted,
you had no involvement or role in this whatsoever.
But that's not where the issue lies.
The issue does not lie in the determination
of the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office.
Where the problem lies is that
we're in a lawsuit. Why are we in a lawsuit? Why was there a lawsuit, right?
So the process begins that there's a lawsuit and then the municipalities are
basically trumping up charges to leverage that lawsuit. We could have
avoided the lawsuit. If we would have went and addressed the grievances, once
Once the lawsuit was filed, we could avoid this piling on by simply cooler
heads should
prevail like the PBA state president said.
A lawsuit, okay. What they end up doing is trumping up these charges, just like they did
on the female, the female that's in Wayne, to leverage the lawsuit. Starve them out, barris
them out, to basically force us out.
So I'm just asking for you guys to review it, take
a look at it, see what you can do, because there has to be a change. It's an epidemic
within the state of New Jersey. All the towns, like I said, you look at Hackensack, Glen Rock,
Wayne, Rochelle Park.
There's many towns that are involved.
Thank you. Thank you.
Hi everybody. My
name is Derek Bassnick.
Just to fill you in about me. The reason why I'm here is my dad always
told me to stand up for what's right, even if it means standing alone. I'm kind of happy
that there's fellas here, officers, ladies and gentlemen here that are not standing here alone.
Some of you don't know me. I grew up in town. I coached little leagues in town. I was a
high school coach for many years with football and wrestling. I became a police officer
here. I was a Daryl officer. I was a juvenile detective. I worked as the supervisor
community policing. I started the traffic division. It was a traffic division commander for a while.
I was a juvenile conference committee liaison. And at the end, I was a lieutenant. I was working
at night shift, so you probably never for a while, so you might not recognize who I am.
Anyway, that's me. All right. I know from personal experience that the disciplinary system
system here that's in places broken. I spent the first 28 years as a rock star police officer
and then one day I had to stand up for what was right. When the administration got a bug
up their ass, I became a repeat target of retaliation. I was yelled at and kicked out
of offices, administrative offices and I even begged to talk things out. I was told
to get out and that we're not talking about this because it's going to go to court.
Comically, when I complained or I shared my feelings that the treatment they were giving me upset me,
they sent me out for a psychological examination.
Where am I here? Excuse me.
The Avenue of Appeals is also broken, and it also leads to administrative hearing by the town which Brother Corkman just spoke about.
That administrative hearing amongst the men, and you might have heard it, is called the kangaroo court.
It's called the surface court. It's called the court of restamping amongst the state PBA and, you know, my fellow colleagues.
And during that court, you're either pressured to concede or told to give up in fear of more punishment and retaliation.
Before these hearings take place, you meet with the borough attorneys, which I believe
they look just to extend, because if there's no problems here, what's the borough attorney
going to do?
They're not going to be able to make billable hours, right?
So they kind of like to extend things and try to just gather information, but there's
really no incentive for them to solve the problems.
The retaliation continues because of this blanket coverage the administration has.
And, you know, just as a side point, listening to what the attorney has to say all the time
doesn't always work out, because last night, from what I saw, 6 or 7 got indicted for supporting
a man who definitely overstepped his authority.
The current incident with Lieutenant Corcoran, the hearing that went on, they're supporting
statements made by someone who's a felon, who's been arrested 19 times.
Three officers
gave a similar account and it took place in that situation downstairs that we're talking
about, and they all gave similar accounts to what happened. They're splitting straws
just to pick on this guy. You guys have been at Target for how many years. It's been
much worse for him than it was for me.
In fact, the discrepancies from what I see
and that testimony and the reports that were given and that hearing are criminal.
That's another topic.
So I guess what I'm asking the council to do is maybe review the reports here
and not just rubber stamp everything, even though you say you don't have, you know,
it's very easy to pass everything off to the borough attorney.
Everything gets sent to the borough attorney.
We file grievances, they go to the borough attorney.
Everything just goes to the borough attorney.
I'm sorry, on that, that's not true though, we really can't do anything on this.
It's our form of government, we're not involved in personnel.
You know, you guys don't know about this because nobody even asked.
This is like my exit interview.
Sir, sir, I think it's been made pretty darn clear that the council has nothing to do with this process.
I don't even think they know about the process.
They have nothing to do with this process.
What they are required to know, the borough manager has told them.
So you're preaching to the wrong place, that's all I can tell you.
You guys have a powerful union, talk to your union.
If they can change the legislature, let them go ahead and do it.
There is nothing this council can do to help you.
Okay. So am I allowed to finish?
Yeah, of course.
I will say though, there are some of us who are very familiar with the process.
So I'm glad to hear that.
But if you look at it and study it, you can understand the frustration and how it's broken.
Anyway, my final point is, my last official day of family law police officer took place
in Newark and federal court, and that was the first time in two years that I felt fairly
judged by someone who didn't have a stake in the incident and understood what was going
on.
Lieutenant Corcoran, he hasn't reached that next step, and I'm certain when he does
And when he's given an impartial review, the circumstances will change here.
Anyway, I'm asking the council to do the right thing.
I know you guys want to do the right thing, and that's why you take public office.
That's why I became a police officer.
That's why I try to help everybody that came into that door.
Bad guy, good guy, whatever.
We always do our best here, and these officers deserve a little bit more than what takes place when the situation happens.
I thank you for listening, Mike.
Thank you.
My
name is Anthony Sorrell, I'm a retired captain from the Federal Police Department.
I just wanted to read a little something out of that PBA President's message that he stated,
I've been pouring over the IA guidelines to West Point Command the leadership solvers,
the FBI National Academy training, and even at HAC New Jersey Internal Affairs class outlining.
Try as I might. I can't seem to find where discipline should be directly associated with
how tight your underwear got that day. Well, I'm a graduate of the West Point Leadership
and Command School and the FBI National Academy. There's no way that this officer
is getting a fair shake for hearing, for being objective and fair to him. I know
No, you don't have a say in a matter of, the Burmanger does and he could have evaluated
this and said, let me hold off on the termination and let this court case play out.
It saves the taxpayers a fair amount of money.
It saves the officer a load of money and it saves the police department and the members
that are all members here of having to do this someday.
Any one of them could end up like that.
I'm out now.
They can't get me for anything.
They can't come after me and charge me with a discipline.
But I've been to those schools.
How many leaders in this police department or admin,
police officers, have been to the West Point Leadership Command
School or to the FBI National Academy?
I don't think any of them have been to any of those schools.
Maybe some of this discipline wouldn't be getting sent out
the way it is if they had some more education
and leadership abilities to handle these matters.
And I think all we're asking here today is that Lieutenant Corcoran gets a fair shake,
that he gets to say his side.
When you have one person doing a hearing and coming up with a solution that's paid by
the borrower, how can anybody sitting here think that that's fair to anyone?
So all I want to say is he didn't get a fair shake.
He has a right to continue on with his appeal and the town doesn't need to be spending
all this money.
let him appeal it, let him get through the appeal and let's see what happens at
the end. Why should he be terminated putting pressure on him and his family now?
So I have to say it's unfair and he deserves a objective and fair hearing
further down the road and he should not be terminated tonight. Thank you.
Thank you. Yeah, sorry.
I have a couple points of clarification. One, he's not being terminated tonight.
This board is taking no action with respect to his employment.
employment, that decisions already been made and communicated to Mr. Corcoran's attorney.
To the suggestion that the borough manager just wait to make a decision until a separate
litigation plays out, it's completely inconsistent with the law.
The law ensures yes to the timeliness in which he has to make a decision on the hearing
officers' ruling.
And finally, I mean, we keep hearing about the hearing officer.
Again, under the New Jersey Code, we have to provide a departmental administrative hearing, right?
We're just complying with the law and giving them the hearing that they're entitled to.
I don't know what else, you know, we could possibly do any of these circumstances.
So I just wanted to make those three points of clarification.
Thank you for indulging.
Thank you.
Anyone else?
Seeing no one, can I please have a motion to close the time for public comment?
All in favor?
Aye.
And the opposed?
Aye.
The time for public comment is now closed.
I believe we no longer need the closed session.
We can cross that off.
Actually, I have an appointment to the 100 million dollar stream.
We can do that first in the work session.
That's fine.
Question?
No.
You're not going to start anything.
Thank you.
You're here for that?
Not before September 5th, no.
Okay.
Can I have a motion to adjourn?
So moved.
Second.
All in favor?
Aye.
Any opposed?
Good night, everyone.