[0:05] Yes.
>> The notice requirements of the open
[0:10] public saf meetings act has been
satisfied with respect to this meeting.
[0:16] Specifically, the time, date, and
location were included in the annual
[0:20] notice of meetings adopted by the
municipal council of the Burough Wick
[0:24] posted in the administration building 63
Franklin Turnpike Waldick, New Jersey by
[0:28] the municipal clerk's office sent to the
Bergen record. Additionally, to the
[0:32] extent known in accordance with the open
public meetings act, the agenda for this
[0:36] meeting and whether formal actions will
be taken were posted in the
[0:39] administration building and per
2025C72
[0:45] was also posted on our official Bergen
Burrow of Waldick's website. Clerk,
[0:49] please take the role.
[0:53] » Mayor Giodano here.
>> Mr. Bick,
[0:55] » here.
>> Makola Drake here.
[0:57] » Mr. Marello,
>> here.
[0:58] » Mr. Richie,
>> here.
[1:00] Everyone kindly rise for
pledge of
[1:03] » allegiance.
Pledge
[1:06] » algiance flag of the United States of
America and to the republic for which it
[1:12] stands. One nation under God,
indivisible, with liberty and justice
[1:17] for all.
>> Let us have a moment of silence for our
[1:20] waring veterans, all veterans across our
country who have given the ultimate
[1:23] sacrifice to serve our country. Some
never returning home. uh we can live in
[1:27] a land that is free and assembled the
way we are tonight.
[1:34] Would the clerk kindly do the prayer?
>> Dear Lord, we start this meeting asking
[1:38] for your guidance and wisdom. May we
find unity and fairness the outcome to
[1:42] reflect our wishes to assist the burrow
in all their endeavors. Thank you in his
[1:46] name. Amen. Amen.
[2:12] Tonight, I am honored to recognize Emily
Tambbero, who placed third, receiving
[2:16] the bronze medal at the United States of
America Special Olympics National Games
[2:20] in Minneapolis. capitalist, Minnesota.
Emily is a lifelong resident of the
[2:25] burial of Waldwick. She graduated from
Waltwick High School. She then attended
[2:29] Bergen Community College, receiving a
bach bachelor's degree. Emily has been
[2:34] participating in the Special Olympics
National Games, playing a variety of
[2:38] sports since she was 8 years old. Emily
played tennis last year for our local
[2:43] team, the Burden County Aces,
participating at the state summer games.
[2:47] and they received a gold medal in
singles and doubles. Those gold medals
[2:52] earned them an invitation to try out uh
for
[2:57] canoe for team US for team New Jersey.
Team New Jersey selects a limited number
[3:02] of athletes who represent the state of
New Jersey and the United States Special
[3:06] Olympics National Games in Minnesota.
Emily was very proud and honored to
[3:10] represent New Jersey and most of her
hometown Republic. Emily began
[3:14] practicing with her team, traveled a
lot, and did a lot of fundraising.
[3:18] Through it all, Emily's main goal was to
be the best she can be to win and make
[3:23] everyone know how great New Jersey and
Wick is. Emily continued to play tennis
[3:29] with her local team Ace Project Love
Match Program, her local instructor, and
[3:34] team New Jersey, traveling to Lebanon,
New Jersey on weekends for team
[3:38] practices and to prepare for the
national games. Emily and team New
[3:43] Jersey were filled with excitement,
enthusiasm, and so eager to tackle the
[3:47] challenges that await them. This was
truly an experience of a lifetime for
[3:52] Emily and for everyone else that was
part of this the team.
[3:56] Team New Jersey arrived along with the
rest of America in Minneapolis,
[4:00] Minnesota, and the games began on June
20th. Dirt Week began with three to four
[4:06] matches plus daily and daily practices
while qualifying during the
[4:10] preliminaries then moving on to the
competitions with the rest of America.
[4:15] As Emily competed, she played extremely
well. Also, I was told that she had a
[4:21] knee injury and she has a brace on her
knee right now. But through all that,
[4:24] she did not give up. She was determined
with courage and ambition to be the best
[4:29] she could be. She pres she persevered
through it all with the knee injury and
[4:35] at the end Emily never became a quitter.
She was always representing her country
[4:41] and representing Waldick with pride and
honor. Emily went on to to become in the
[4:47] third of the women's tennis winning a
bronze medal. We are very proud of Emily
[4:51] for winning this bronze medal. Emily
made New Jersey proud, especially our
[4:56] hometown world. And Emily, you should be
very proud of yourself. You are truly a
[5:00] champion. We want to thank you for your
dedication and hard work to the Special
[5:05] Olympics of New Jersey and for
representing our great state of New
[5:09] Jersey so well as you did with grace and
with sportsmanship. Emily, you trained
[5:14] hard and every bit of this and you
deserve every bit of this moment. The
[5:19] bronze you received proves your amazing
power and focus. You showed all of us
[5:23] what it means to be a true champion.
Your big heart and strong spirit brought
[5:28] you to the podium as a hero and we want
to thank you very much and on behalf of
[5:33] the mayor and council of Bar Waldwick we
would like to present you with a
[5:36] certificate of recognition that
congratulation congratulating you on
[5:40] your win and making us so proud of you
and you are truly a Waldwick hero. Thank
[5:46] you.
[6:17] Thank you. Let us know how you think
about.
[6:43] And now what we'll do is we'll have our
uh finance uh chair of the finance
[6:48] committee, Mr. Martinalo, give us a
little update about our finances of the
[6:52] burough.
>> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. This will just be
[6:55] uh brief this evening, just a couple of
updates and then we'll take any
[6:58] questions from the council on on budget
process. So, um uh tonight we we did get
[7:04] a letter from our adviserss on the cell
phone towers. Uh looks like there are
[7:10] some expiring leases and some upside
that we might be able to take uh
[7:14] advantage of. We put it out for for bid
on those RFPs. Uh potentially bring in a
[7:20] couple more thousands a year in terms of
revenue um for the tower by the DPW and
[7:26] the one by the uh the mulch pit.
Tatiana, anything you want to add to
[7:30] that on that one?
>> Uh so for for residents who might not be
[7:33] aware, we do have two telecommunication
sites in town. one's at the mulch uh
[7:37] site and the other is at the DPW. And as
the councilman noted, uh some of those
[7:43] agreements are expiring. And when we uh
when the burough brought Peter Lupo on
[7:48] from Hop Lake Telecommunications
uh to do an assessment of the rent that
[7:54] we were collecting, um there was at the
time there were things going on in the
[7:59] market that um made him advise the
burrow to um pursue the avenue of uh of
[8:05] actually taking ownership of the polls.
Um, since then there have been some
[8:10] rapid changes in the uh telecom
telecommunication space, including the
[8:15] recent spectrum sale and chapter 11
bankruptcy filing by Dish Wireless. And
[8:20] so this model um is not uh in the best
interest of Waldick at this time. Um
[8:25] Peter believes that the bureau can
better achieve immediate objectives by
[8:28] rebidding the two expired prime leaseold
interests and um this should bring in
[8:32] some competition and some additional
revenue um than than we've been seeing.
[8:38] Uh in addition, his office has been
looking through all the agreements and
[8:41] uh there's opportunities to um you know,
make sure that all of the uh rents are
[8:46] are being paid uh in a timely fashion by
these uh companies and that uh any of
[8:52] them who are potentially um receiving
undisclosed rent amounts to Crown Castle
[8:57] that uh the burrow is able to capture um
those amounts back uh to the burrow. So
[9:03] um Peter and his office have been
working diligently on this. We've been
[9:07] um checking in with them and uh you know
we are maximizing to the best of the
[9:11] burough's ability the uh
telecommunication uh services that we
[9:14] have in town.
>> Thank you. Um next up was you'll start
[9:18] to see that there's uh quite an
inventory of of vehicles that are are
[9:21] building up in our our lot here. That's
from all of the replacements that we've
[9:25] done for DPW and and the police. So
those vehicles and trucks with plows and
[9:31] everything will be going up for for
auction. Um um our Lindsay will be
[9:37] working on getting that auction
together. We look forward hopefully
[9:40] early this fall uh being able to sell
off some of those units and recoup some
[9:45] cost and uh bring that into the burrow.
Um additionally, we're continuing to
[9:50] monitor the the budget lines. We're
continuing to stay on budget so far this
[9:55] year. The only line that we um had any
kind of over John so far was on the snow
[10:00] removal. Clearly, it was a very
difficult summer. Um, so we'll continue
[10:04] to watch that. Uh, we'll also continue
to watch other other lines with uh with
[10:08] department costs. Um, especially as we
head into the summer months with
[10:12] vacations and overtime and things like
that. So, we'll we'll continue to
[10:16] monitor those things. Um, Tatiana, I
think you want to add on that topic.
[10:20] » Uh, no. We can give a report at the next
meeting in August. Uh, we'll look at
[10:25] those lines again and uh, as you
mentioned, we are we are on course for
[10:29] about uh, midyear uh, for right now.
>> Right. So, at this point, we have no
[10:33] other contracts that are uh up for
negotiation other than that cell phone
[10:38] tower that we're out on. Um, our PBA
contract will be in our uh open meeting
[10:44] discussion today to finalize that. Um,
DPW contract was finalized uh late last
[10:50] year, so we're in good shape on our
labor contracts. Um, the next thing
[10:54] that's out on the horizon is obviously
our waste management bill, which is a
[10:57] large portion of our budget. Um, that's
something that we'll we'll start to look
[11:01] at. uh open it up to any members of the
council if you have any questions on
[11:04] » Just want to make one other note on the
contract the council has on their agenda
[11:08] this evening an extension of a contract
with uh ERRI down at the mulch pit. Uh
[11:13] we have concluded the first part of the
agreement with them and um on on
[11:18] tonight's meeting uh the council is
being asked to authorize an additional
[11:22] 2-year agreement with them um at an
increase of revenue for 2026 uh to 27 27
[11:29] to 28.
>> Thank you. Forgot about that. Um any
[11:33] members of council have any questions
related to budget that you want to bring
[11:35] up or any ideas?
[11:40] » Great. Thank you everyone. look forward
to uh next uh presentation in a few
[11:45] minutes. Mr. Mayor, that's it for now.
>> Okay. Thank you very much. On my report,
[11:49] just a couple of items. Uh first of all,
I attended the the junior police academy
[11:53] graduation. I want to thank uh Chief
Seafford and the police department that
[11:57] did a great job this year. I think they
broke the record of how many students
[12:00] were there. It was a great turnout and I
think they learned a lot about safety
[12:04] and learned about our community. Also, I
attended the uh bike ride in honor of
[12:09] police officer Christopher Cadell. Uh on
Friday, it's his 12th anniversary of his
[12:13] death. So, keep him and his family in
your prayers, please. I also went to the
[12:17] Walter pool on on Monday to uh say hello
to our new pool manager and to see if
[12:22] everything was all right. I met our pool
manager. Everybody there seems that
[12:26] they're very happy with is going on. Uh
he told me that there was a save last
[12:30] week, which I didn't know about. So,
what I did was I did tell him that I
[12:34] will uh reach out to the young woman
that did the save and I will uh see if
[12:39] she could come to a meeting and honor
her like we honor everybody else. Also,
[12:43] I'd just like to make a quick statement
and then I'll turn it over for for the
[12:46] next committee person. It seems that a
couple of days ago a resident posted
[12:51] something on social media about me
recusing myself from the Harrison Avenue
[12:56] project. Not only did they say that,
they said some things that uh they
[13:00] thought that other they thought that
things were being done shady or whatever
[13:04] and that uh he would like an answer from
me. Uh the person the moderator of the
[13:10] site said why don't you call the mayor
and speak to the mayor of direct instead
[13:13] of going on the site. Somebody else went
on the site too and agreed with him. So
[13:18] what happened is he re he called he sent
me an email telling me he wanted to
[13:21] speak to me and I sent back an email
saying there'd be no problem. How about
[13:25] we meet on Monday at 4:30 to talk about
this in my office face to face instead
[13:29] of on a on uh Facebook or anything like
that. Uh please let me know the time and
[13:35] time is good for you and I still didn't
hear back from him. So I will make a
[13:39] statement to him and to everyone else
and I hope this addresses everyone's
[13:43] concerns about my recusal. I want to
address questions that have been raised
[13:48] regarding my recusal from the Harrison
annual redevelopment application. From
[13:53] the very beginning of this process, when
the application first came before the
[13:56] planning board, I recused myself from
the decision and decisions relating to
[14:01] this matter. This decision was made
before the application was ultimately
[14:05] forwarded to the burough council. Prior
to doing so, I sought guidance from the
[14:09] planning board attorney, the applicant
legal council, and the burough attorney.
[14:13] each advised that under the
circumstances recusal was the
[14:16] appropriate course of action. Throughout
my years of public service, first as a
[14:20] councilman and now as a mayor, I have
always relied upon the advice of our
[14:25] legal professionals to ensure that every
matter is handled ethically, fairly, and
[14:30] in accordance with the law. At that at
the time the application was before the
[14:35] planning board and later before the
burough council, I in intentionally
[14:39] chose not to publicly discuss the
reasons for my recusal. My decision was
[14:43] made out of respect for the integrity of
the process and to avoid influencing or
[14:49] appearing to influence the independent
judgment of either board and the
[14:53] members. My goal has always been to
ensure that every applicant, every
[14:56] resident, and every public body receives
a fair and impartial process.
[15:01] Unfortunately, there have been rumors
and speculations suggesting that my my
[15:06] recusal was motivated by personal gain,
financial interest, or favors. Those
[15:11] allegations are completely false. My
decision was based solely on following
[15:16] the legal guidance I received and
maintaining the high ethical standards
[15:20] expected of public office. Anyone who
knows me understands that I have always
[15:24] acted in what I believe to be the best
interest of the burrow and its
[15:28] residents. While I respect everyone's
right to ask questions and seek
[15:32] transparency, I also ask that we engage
in these discussions responsibly and
[15:37] avoid spreading unfounded accusations
that unfairly question the integrity of
[15:42] those serving our community. I'd like to
thank you for understanding this and
[15:46] allowing me to voice my opinions to you.
Some of you might say, well, he's just
[15:51] saying what he wants to say or to hear
what he want what you want me to hear.
[15:55] This is not true. And if anybody wants
to speak to me about it, you know my
[16:00] email address. You know my my phone
number down in town hall. I'd be more
[16:03] than happy to talk to you face to face
[16:09] [clears throat]
[16:12] » financial administrative committee. Mr.
Monell.
[16:16] » Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Unfortunately, I
won't be as brief this time. Um, just
[16:20] one other note before I get into the u
meat of the topic here. On the agenda
[16:23] tonight, council, you'll see um a
consent agenda item for the body cam
[16:28] equipment. This is part of our budget
that we did earlier this year for the
[16:31] police equipment uh for body cam, the
upgrades that were needed for that. So,
[16:35] that's the large purchase that you'll
see on the agenda for tonight. Um that
[16:39] was part of our our capital expenditures
for the year.
[16:43] Okay. So, um, I wanted to give the
community kind of an update along the
[16:47] lines of what's been going on with, uh,
the Harrison Avenue redevelopment
[16:52] project. Um, so to be clear, there's
nothing on the agenda for this evening.
[16:58] Uh, there's no introduction, there's no
public hearing on that. Um, but of
[17:03] course I wanted to present some
information since there's a lot of uh
[17:08] incomplete and some misinformation
that's floating around and uh even the
[17:14] fact that some folks were posting that
it was going to be on the agenda tonight
[17:18] before an agenda was even released. So
surprised by how that spreads out on
[17:22] Facebook. Um so
the history of of where we are right so
[17:28] first the area uh that includes the
right aid block down to Harrison Avenue
[17:34] um the Rocket property and properties
down on Houston was declared an area in
[17:38] need of redevelopment by the council
about five or 6 years ago in a unanimous
[17:43] vote. Um that was done because at that
time the the council was looking at the
[17:48] future of the budget and surplus funds
and we're looking for ways to increase
[17:54] income to the burrow to offset some of
those things. So a redevelopment plan
[17:59] was created for that area. Over time, we
got multiple proposals submitted from
[18:05] different um developers or different
owners of the properties and many were
[18:10] rejected for too high of density, no
retail, uh too tall of a building and so
[18:16] forth. So, multiple councils rejected um
plans for different plans that were
[18:22] submitted. Eventually, a plan was
selected u only for the Harrison Avenue
[18:28] project uh which was purchased those
properties were purchased by Harrison
[18:32] Avenue redevelopment LLC which is an
affiliate of DMR which is a a a company
[18:38] here located in Waldwick.
This was done unanimously by vote of the
[18:44] council. Um everyone approved that plan.
There was a meeting uh an introduction
[18:49] of ordinance and a public hearing where
many folks came out like tonight um to
[18:54] voice opinions and the council at that
time voted 6 nothing to approve that um
[19:00] plan.
The redevelopment plan was then sent
[19:04] over to the planning board. It was
reviewed and accepted u by the planning
[19:08] board. the professionals in town,
police, fire, um, and building
[19:14] maintenance, had plenty of opportunities
to ask questions, made changes to the
[19:17] plans, increased fire suppression, etc.,
etc., and it was unanimously, uh, was
[19:23] eventually approved by the planning
board and sent back to the council for
[19:26] final approval, which was done
unanimously.
[19:29] Additionally, the planning board
approved the redeveloper site plan.
[19:33] Right? So, the site plan is what they're
actually going to build there. So
[19:36] redeveloper approved or the uh a
planning board approved that site plan.
[19:43] The council hired independent financial
adviserss and specific redevelopment
[19:48] attorney Anna who's sitting up on the
deis with us today um to represent the
[19:52] burrow in those negotiations. So no one
um is sitting up here on the back of a
[19:57] napkin at uh Nelly's or W's and figuring
it out. We actually hired professionals
[20:03] um to do this work for us. A
redevelopment agreement was then signed
[20:08] by both parties for the area which set
parameters for construction timeline etc
[20:14] with protections for both the developer
and the burrow. That was unanimously
[20:19] approved by the this council earlier
this year.
[20:23] So why redevelopment? There's a lot of
questions about why we need to
[20:27] redevelop.
One, it addresses budget concerns and
[20:32] identifies additional areas of revenue
sources.
[20:36] We don't have many different revenue
sources. We don't have a lot of um
[20:39] industry in our town like many others do
or retail that many others do. So, uh we
[20:45] looked at ways where redevelopment could
bring in additional revenues to the
[20:49] town.
Our surplus, as we discussed earlier in
[20:53] the budget meetings where some of you
were at, is depleting faster than we
[20:57] could tax you out of it. Um what that
means is every year we have to balance
[21:02] our budget. We have a bank account, if
you will, a surplus that we've built
[21:07] over years, and we use that surplus to
fund the additional part of the budget.
[21:13] We aren't the federal government, so I
can't print money, and we cannot deficit
[21:17] spend. So, we use that surplus to plug
the budget in hopes that you will recoup
[21:24] some of that budget. How do you recoup
it? if you don't spend some of your
[21:27] budget lines or you bring in other non-
tax revenue which is higher than
[21:32] anticipated just like any other uh
company or your own personal budget. So
[21:37] [clears throat] for the past few years
that pendulum has shifted to where we
[21:42] use more of our surplus than we were
able to generate to the tune of a
[21:47] million dollars last year.
This year we had to raise taxes to stem
[21:53] the tide there because there's nothing
further to cut any deeper in terms of
[21:58] our budget um without um putting into
risk services,
[22:04] police, fire, DPW. Those are things that
we want to make sure our town has every
[22:10] service possible. So we keep those in
the budget. So, we had to raise taxes,
[22:15] unfortunately, this year over 9% to plug
that budget gap. We have agreement from
[22:20] the council that we would seriously look
at uh additional forms of redevelopment
[22:25] to bring in more money.
So, why is our budget going up every
[22:30] year? There's increasing cost from the
state around benefits are killing small
[22:34] towns, boards of education everywhere.
The percent increase is astronomical.
[22:40] those things are not uh trending in the
other direction at this point from our
[22:45] our our state government unless those
things change. Um the cost will continue
[22:50] to go up. If we want to continue to
provide uh multiple days of trash
[22:55] pickup, that cost will continue to go
up. We have to look at ways could we um
[23:00] look at shared services to continue to
bring down other cost, but our budget
[23:04] continues to go up. And our biggest
lines on our budget are salaries, right?
[23:08] and pensions and things like that. Those
are non-negotiable for me. I want to
[23:12] keep everybody employed. I want to keep
everyone in the town protected and safe.
[23:20] What else does redevelopment do? It
encourages business growth growth and
[23:23] local econ economic activity. So, we
look around town, right? Probably our
[23:29] biggest retail spot in in the area is
vacant for multiple months now. It's
[23:34] owned by someone and they can't fill the
property right now.
[23:38] You know, when you go by Food Emporium,
it's a brand new uh store in town and
[23:44] they're not quite as busy as they were
when they first opened, so maybe they
[23:47] need some additional uh foot traffic to
those stores. We have the Odyssey Gym,
[23:52] which is probably a second one of our
biggest properties in town. It's vacant.
[23:58] Um, so some claim that we don't need a
pilot to revitalize or to invigorate
[24:05] investment into the area. I' I'd say the
opposite because we can't fill some uh
[24:10] pretty vacant spots in town. The right a
you get thousands of cars that drive
[24:15] that past there on a daily basis. It's a
huge parking lot. It's a great
[24:19] opportunity for someone to come into
that spot for some reason. Um it's
[24:24] sitting vacant still and I think they
changed a sign up there over the last
[24:27] couple days saying uh you know space for
rent.
[24:31] You want to put underutilized land to
more productive use. So, if you look at
[24:34] the area on Harrison Avenue on the
corner past that hair cottage there,
[24:39] there was a vacant lot for multiple
years when after the the old hair
[24:42] cottage was was taken down, that spot
has been empty. And then there's been
[24:47] those few houses that were next to it.
You know, there were fine houses, but on
[24:52] the older side maybe could bring in some
more revenue. You also have Rocket
[24:56] Property, which that um business has
closed or reduced operations. So that
[25:03] property is underdeveloped
and it's in prime location. It's in
[25:07] student transit location um which is
highly soughta for people who are are
[25:12] looking to commute into the city.
We also have from the state of New
[25:17] Jersey requirements on low-income
housing, fair share of housing. We had
[25:21] people come here at at a council meeting
and speak passionately about increasing
[25:25] the burrow's um um use of low-income
housing in the town. We have submitted a
[25:32] plan to the state of what 144 units that
we have to hit. Part of this plan uh
[25:38] includes six affordable um housing units
which we get credit for and some that
[25:44] one and a half times credit which help
us meet the 144 units that we have to
[25:50] provide. If we don't provide it there,
we have to provide it someplace else.
[25:54] We're mandated and audited by the state
to provide low-income housing.
[26:00] The re redevelopment plan gives the
burough control over what is to be
[26:04] developed and where. No one in town
wanted a five-story building. No one in
[26:08] town wanted a six-story building. No one
in town wants a full low income um unit
[26:15] down there of 100 um rental units. I'm
sure we don't want that. Um we want
[26:21] something that is lower density. We want
something that brings potential retail
[26:26] and brings um you know interest in other
areas around that spot.
[26:32] So then what happened with a pilot?
Pilot was proposed several months ago
[26:39] not when the original application was
submitted as the right of any
[26:44] redeveloper would be. The pro has
independent financial adviserss in
[26:49] Phoenix and our legal council Anna have
been working with the redeveloper to
[26:54] evaluate that proposal. The agreement
would establish a percentage of project
[26:59] revenue paid to the burough in lie of
conventional tax payments.
[27:05] Under New Jerseys long-term exemption
framework, pilot payments are structured
[27:10] as annual service charges rather than a
traditional tax bill.
[27:14] The county still gets their 5% share
which is stat statutoily obligated under
[27:20] the current exemption law.
Further profit for the redeveloper is
[27:26] capped at 12% by law. So if they make
any profit after expenses from that
[27:32] gross revenue, it goes back statutoily
to the municipality. So, if they're
[27:38] killing it over there and are able to
rent all of their properties and
[27:41] eventually raise rents or whatnot, that
additional income comes back to the
[27:46] burrow over the length of the of the
agreement.
[27:51] Also, over time, there are percentages
within that agreement where conventional
[27:56] tax is compared to the percentage of
revenue that the borrow would collect.
[28:01] So 60 to 80% later in the agreement.
Whichever is higher the borrow would
[28:07] receive. So if the conventional tax at
60 or 80% ends up being higher than the
[28:13] percentage of revenue we're taking in,
we get the higher number which comes
[28:17] into the burrow which brings in more
money. So the the developer, the
[28:22] redeveloper, the owner of the property
is capped at what they can profit by
[28:27] law. It's not because the burrow's
playing nice. It's because it's by law.
[28:32] Right.
Additionally, there's also what thing
[28:37] called land tax credit.
The developer or redeveloper has to pay
[28:42] the tax on the land, not the um um
improvements, but the land itself.
[28:50] That credit is then given back in some
accounting treatment, right? But the
[28:54] land tax would still be included in the
schools appropriation for collecting
[29:01] that part of the money. So if you we'll
go into an example in a few minutes, but
[29:05] you think about it, the four or five
properties that were there were paying a
[29:09] tax that was roughly around 65,000 of
that and a portion of that was going to
[29:14] um the school. So now the land tax would
be potentially um in that number. So it
[29:20] would be a little less than 60, not much
because there wasn't a lot of
[29:23] improvements there, but that portion
would still be attributable to the board
[29:27] of education budget.
Okay.
[29:33] The pilot is expected to increase
revenue to the burrow no matter if it
[29:38] was conventional. the portion that the
burl con uh talks about when we talked
[29:42] about budget several months ago. We
talked about how the burrow maybe keeps
[29:47] about 20% of your tax revenue comes to
the to the municipality. Uh 60s
[29:52] something% go to this to the board of
education and some percentage goes to
[29:57] the county. So, if you look at a
comparison of the revenue generated by
[30:02] the pilot, which I can't get into
specifics tonight because that agreement
[30:06] is not ready for um presentation to all
of you, we would still bring in more
[30:12] than what the conventional tax would
bring to the barrel.
[30:15] So, win for us,
right? The project is limited in density
[30:21] and number of units and includes retail
and low-income housing. So those things
[30:27] take down the financial benefit to the
owner of the property. If we're telling
[30:33] them you can only build x number of
units, that's how much rent he can take
[30:37] in. If we're telling him you have to
include affordable housing, that's less
[30:44] rent to him. So, if we know how the low
uh low-income housing works, the rest of
[30:49] the community in that development have
to compensate for the lower income of
[30:54] rent that's coming in from the folks
that are paying low-income housing
[30:57] pricing.
We also asked for retail on the first
[31:01] floor. The retail space, which might be
subdivided into three or four locations,
[31:06] will bring in less revenue than a rental
would bring in. So that li further
[31:11] limits the developer's ability to uh
have revenue stream on it.
[31:17] The smaller scale and lower income
potential uh reduces developers
[31:22] projected return,
right? And we compare that to what
[31:26] happened at the station, right? The
station property was 120 units or so so
[31:32] far about more than double the number of
units that we're putting in here. So the
[31:36] station didn't need a pilot program
because they had higher number of units
[31:41] to tell their bank here's the revenue
I'm bringing in. I don't know if any of
[31:45] you are developers or builders or what
whatnot but or investors but the way it
[31:51] works today as I understand it from
reading is people want to make money on
[31:55] the bank's money. I'm not going to put
out all the money that I have in my bank
[31:59] account and then try to make money from
it. I'm going to borrow that money and
[32:03] try to earn income at a higher rate than
I'm paying in interest. That's called
[32:08] cash flow. That's what any developer
will try to do. So, they'll present a
[32:11] plan um to the financial adviserss and
look at it and say, "We need a pilot to
[32:17] make these numbers work because if we're
paying at the conventional tax rate, um
[32:21] the rate of return won't work." And no
matter how good a redeveloper is or a
[32:26] business owner is, none of us own a
business um from the goodness of our
[32:30] heart to make money.
The project must be financable by a
[32:36] bank. So the bank needs to have
asurances by looking at the structure of
[32:40] a deal and sign off on that to give
funding to whoever a developer is. Just
[32:46] like you were in a small business, if
you would say, I'm going to open a
[32:49] business and I need a small business
loan. I need to provide projected
[32:53] financials. I need to provide P&Ls. I
need to say this is how much money I
[32:56] bring in. How can I get that loan?
The redevelopment agreement that we
[33:02] signed and that the developer signed
also includes safeguards for the burrow,
[33:06] including timelines on construction,
payment obligations, and other
[33:10] compliance requirements,
including audited financial statements,
[33:15] which are required by law um from a CPA.
uh can't be uh you know me fiddling it
[33:22] out here. I'm not a CPA. Has to be done
by a CPA firm and submitted annually.
[33:28] So we move on now to school impact which
is another uh you know big point of
[33:33] this. So um as our financial adviserss
have said here the school district is
[33:39] funded at 100% of its approved budget.
I'll repeat that line. It's 100% of its
[33:45] approved budget. So how does it work
Joe? Right. So, the school budget tax
[33:52] levy for the last 3 years, okay, 2024
school year was 33.5 million. For the
[33:59] 2025 school year was 34.6 million and
for the 2026 school year is anticipated
[34:06] to be $36.3 million. That's your tax
revenue.
[34:12] Add in the state and federal aid and
other income from capital or whatnot
[34:16] that they have. If you start looking at
their financial statement that's that's
[34:19] produced on online just like ours are is
in 2024 was 44.5 million in 2025 42.7
[34:27] million and in 2026 44.2 million. So in
our example we're going to take 36
[34:34] million is what you all pay. Okay for
simple math I'm going to make the
[34:40] assumption that there are 4,000
taxpaying residents in Waldwick. That's
[34:44] a little bit high, but I'm trying to
make the assumption and make the math
[34:47] work because it's late and I don't want
to make uh decimal points. So, if I take
[34:52] 36 million and divide that by 4,000
taxpaying homes, I get $9,000.
[34:58] $9,000 each of you is what is attributed
to uh the school to the world board of
[35:03] education.
Let's estimate
[35:07] that all of the houses are worth the
same in that scenario. My house is worth
[35:13] less. I pay a smaller portion. If uh the
mayor's house is worth more, he pays a
[35:18] higher portion. Right? So, it's all
proportional. It's filled out by um the
[35:24] the county and they fill out those those
calculations for us. Let's estimate that
[35:29] that 9,000 is roughly 65% of your total
tax bill. Let's estimate that your total
[35:36] tax bill is around 14,000. I know many
of you will say, "My tax bill is much
[35:40] higher than that." Sorry. Um the balance
of that difference between 14,000 and
[35:47] 9,000 is the portion that goes to your
county tax and the portion that goes to
[35:52] the municipal tax. Right? So large
portion goes to school. Small portion
[35:57] goes to the county. The rest of it comes
to municipality. Now let's build 10 new
[36:02] homes. Let's knock down Burough Park and
build 10 new homes. Nobody owns that
[36:06] property. I'm going to build 10 new
homes there um for development.
[36:12] The school doesn't get the additional 10
* 9,000 of 90,000.
[36:19] So they don't get 36 million and 90,000.
Their budget remains the same. The
[36:25] increase of 9,000
[36:28] is then spread out over all of the 4,0
homes now. So now your uh bill is $8,977
[36:40] that's due to the board of education. So
maybe it's 64% of your tax bill. Your
[36:47] municipal taxes are not impacted in that
calculation. Your county taxes are not
[36:53] impacted in that calculation. Those are
calculated separately. It's all put
[36:57] together. That's how they come up with
these fancy number of 65% of your your
[37:02] bill is school. That's not the way it
works. It doesn't say your house is
[37:05] worth 500,000. I'm multiplying it by
65,000. That 65% I'm taking that tax
[37:10] revenue and giving it to the school.
That's not the way it works. It's a
[37:14] budget-based number. It's divided up
across the the community.
[37:19] Okay.
[37:23] The dollars for the new home are just
added into the pool available for the
[37:28] board of education calculation.
It's like if we were to take um homes
[37:32] off of the role, that's taken out of
that pool. So then your portion of the
[37:39] school budget would go up because
there's less homes. If we knock down
[37:43] three homes, consolidate them, and the
the the council approves a tax abatement
[37:48] on three homes because they're combining
it to one, whatever, it could come out
[37:53] to a little bit different.
So adding a new home does not
[37:57] automatically increase the total amount
of funds going to the board of
[38:01] education. So dispelling that myth
instead a new taxable property can
[38:06] affect how this existing school tax
level is spread across the tax base.
[38:11] School budget is not directly
proportional to the number of students.
[38:18] Enrollment over the past 3 years from
the school budget has decreased. In
[38:23] 2024, we're at 1563.
In 2025, 1,529
[38:30] and 2026, 1,517.
Out of those, there's 252 students who
[38:37] are special ed, that number was the same
for all three years. Maybe in 2024 was
[38:42] 253.
So, you could see even though the number
[38:47] of students reduced, your tax bill
continued to rise. So it's not
[38:52] proportional.
Even if I added 20 students, I'm still
[38:57] below the number of students that was
there 3 years ago.
[39:02] So keep that in the back of your mind
for a few minutes.
[39:05] So the Rucker study, we had
professionals, the financial adviserss
[39:08] look at it and study uh bringing in 44
new units or 42 units, whatever the
[39:13] number is. What's the potential impact
to the school? So the Rucker's
[39:19] calculation comes up with about 20
potential students for the development.
[39:24] We look at anecdotal evidence and look
at the station apartments which is we
[39:29] already said earlier about 120 units. Uh
current students on the role from
[39:34] station apartments is nine.
Right? So that's a lot lower than 20 at
[39:39] a a complex that's more than double the
size. So we can still use 20 as our our
[39:45] estimate for what we're looking at.
Another thing I saw on Facebook was the
[39:51] cost of pupil, right? So, someone took
the math and said, "Uh, look at the
[39:55] board of education budget. The number is
about 23,000 for a total cost of pupil.
[40:00] You multiply that by 20, you get
$400,000 a year. How does the math work,
[40:04] councilman?" Well, that's not quite
right. That total cost is everything in
[40:10] the board of education. That's the
principles. That's the superintendent.
[40:14] That's the school nurses. That's the
building facility staff. That's the
[40:18] coaches. That's the basketballs. That's
the footballs. That's the gym uniforms.
[40:23] That's everything else that gets there.
And divide it by 1500 and it comes out
[40:27] to somewhere around 23,000. There are
certain lines that come out. Couldn't
[40:31] quite figure out the the number of where
that comes from, but it gets pretty
[40:34] close.
Then there's a line that says classroom
[40:38] instruction. the classroom instruction
per pupil is about $15,000 per pupil.
[40:44] And then the next line says the
classroom salaries and benefits, so
[40:47] teacher salary is $14,000.
So when I start looking at those
[40:52] numbers, uh the cost to me is the
marginal cost. What's the marginal cost
[40:57] of adding a student? It's probably
somewhere between 1 and 5,000. Not
[41:01] 23,000, not 15,000. It would only be
that if I needed to add teachers. So,
[41:08] how do we add teachers? So, if we said
we're going to take 20 kids at the high
[41:13] end of the estimate compared to the nine
at station, we're going to take 20. If
[41:17] all the kids were in the same grade, all
in fifth grade going to Crescent School,
[41:22] all 20 kids, maybe I need to hire a new
fifth grade teacher to come into that
[41:27] classroom. But in actuality those 20
students are spread over three schools.
[41:32] Crescent school, Waldo Middle School,
Waldo High School across 13 grades. So
[41:38] what's the likelihood of all 20 kids
being in the same grade? Probably pretty
[41:42] low. Some won't be school age. Some will
be over school age. Some will be in
[41:47] first grade. Some will be in 8th grade.
So it's probably an average if you took
[41:52] 20 divided by 13 somewhere a little over
one um per grade. I don't think we would
[41:58] have to be adding too many teachers at
one per grade. I don't think we're
[42:01] building new buildings. I don't think
we're adding a new principal. I don't
[42:05] think we're adding a new superintendent.
So really, in my opinion, from looking
[42:09] at the numbers, it's the marginal cost
that you have to look at, not just the
[42:13] total cost per pupil.
Okay?
[42:18] And I'll further add, right? So we're
talking about 20, we're talking about 42
[42:21] units. Seven of those units are
single-bedroom homes or apartments. So
[42:27] that the likelihood of those producing
additional children for the for the uh
[42:32] system is low. So we're really talking
somewhere around 35 units that could
[42:37] produce additional kids because they're
two and three bedrooms.
[42:42] We're also talking about a commuter
location which is close to transit. So
[42:47] you're looking at people who are maybe
single, maybe working in New York City
[42:53] and commuting into work and looking for
a place that's close to train station to
[42:56] improve their their commute. I commute
to New York City sometimes. I know it's
[43:00] not fun even from Walden.
All right. So in summary, a lot of due
[43:06] diligence, as you can tell, has gone
into this so far. A lot of learning, a
[43:09] lot of reading. I didn't know anything
about a pilot program about 6 months
[43:12] ago. I've listened to uh our development
experts and Anna and Brian. I've done a
[43:19] lot of reading. I've looked at the bad
pilots that people post about Hackinack
[43:25] and Jersey City and Mount Laurel um and
Patterson. Um those towns are are
[43:32] different than than Wald for sure.
They're talking about mega projects,
[43:38] hundreds of units, much different scale
than we're talking here about 40 units.
[43:43] Also, I look at the DCA website, which I
learned from actually one of the folks
[43:48] that sitting out here tonight, where
they list all the pilots, and I look at
[43:51] Allenale has five pilots. People are
saying that Waldwick doesn't need to
[43:56] incentivize development um because
we're, you know, in Bergen County, we're
[44:01] a good town. We should we shouldn't need
to do that. But Allenell's probably more
[44:06] affluent than us and they have five five
pilots and I don't hear anybody
[44:11] reporting that Allenell's pilots are
going poorly. You I'm hearing about
[44:14] Hackin Sachs for sure. Um it's a
different different community.
[44:19] So our professionals and council have
worked on negotiating a financial deal
[44:24] that would benefit the burrow and we are
doing this on the back of a napkin at
[44:28] the bar.
Without a pilot, the redeveloper will
[44:32] have to determine if the project is
achievable in the current plan.
[44:37] They would have to either leave it
vacant, try to do it without a pilot,
[44:42] or potentially come back to us and say,
"Council, I can't do this project the
[44:48] way you want it at 42 units and still
get it financable. Can I build 20 more
[44:53] units? Can I add a floor? Can I do these
things?" And I know we hear from all of
[44:58] you that we don't want to do that. We
don't want to make it taller. We don't
[45:01] want to make it higher density. We want
to have some green space there. So,
[45:05] those are things that I don't think we
really want to do,
[45:09] right? So, the redevelopment helps us
meet our fair share of housing, which we
[45:15] worked hard to be in compliance with. A
lot of communities are not as well as
[45:19] us. Thanks to Craig and councils before
us who have worked hard to stay in
[45:23] compliance with that number, and we are
compliant. We are 144, 147 units,
[45:28] whatever it is. we are in good shape
there for the next 10 years
[45:32] meeting our requirement without having
to build a um a housing low-income
[45:39] housing project which could be bigger
and we wouldn't be able to control it
[45:43] because the state could sue us and tell
us to do it.
[45:47] A pilot program could bring in more non-
tax revenue to the burough than what we
[45:51] were currently collecting on those
properties. Much more than what we were
[45:55] currently collecting on those
properties.
[45:57] When a full presentation is made for a
public hearing, all residents will be
[46:01] welcome to have questions, make their
opinions known. I do ask that everyone
[46:07] come with an open mind and listen to all
the facts, not just the one-sided
[46:12] opinions that are on social media right
now.
[46:15] In the end, the full council will need
to vote on the presented pilot
[46:19] application. We'll need to listen to the
concerns of all of you
[46:24] and those who support the pilot and make
a decision that we think is best for the
[46:28] bureau.
[46:31] That's all I have to report tonight.
Obviously, an open comment. Many of you
[46:35] are welcome to answer questions, but
there will be no public debate on this
[46:39] tonight as it's not on the agenda. Thank
you, Mr. Mayor. Sorry for length.
[46:43] » Thank you. Fire protection committee.
Mr. Bren,
[46:47] » Mr. Mayor and uh
in lie of the time I think I'm going to
[46:52] uh keep my comments till uh next month.
>> Oh, okay. Thank you.
[46:58] » Public safety committee and recreation
and health committee, Mrs. Miss Windgate
[47:02] is out of state with the family on
vacation. Before she left, she told me
[47:05] that she'll do a double uh review of
everything when she gets back. And also
[47:10] um Mrs. Smith, she's in another country
on vacation. She'll do the same thing.
[47:15] Public voice committee, Mr. Richie. Oh,
[clears throat] thank you. And it's so
[47:19] good to see everyone here. Packed room.
Every every seat is full. It's a It's
[47:23] not something that we're used to seeing.
So, it's uh I welcome the community
[47:26] involvement. I uh first want to say uh
you know, big up to the uh public works
[47:31] committee. We've had some big storms
over the last uh couple weeks to to
[47:35] month. Um and as a an avid runner uh
going through town and through other
[47:41] towns, you can see the uh it's not
pretty. Katie's laughing. It's not a
[47:45] pretty sight when I run, but as an avid
runner, you you come across all the
[47:49] debris that falls. And what I will say
is uh my traditional route to run goes
[47:54] through Waldwick down Sheridan Avenue.
And what I can say is Waldwick's uh
[47:59] sidewalks were very clean. And as I run
through other towns, there was debris up
[48:04] into and including this week from the
the past storms. So, I think our DPW
[48:08] does a really good job of kind of
cleaning up after uh these storms. It's
[48:12] it's a lot of work in in addition to
everything else that they've done. I
[48:15] have some other comments that I'd like
to make on on redevelopment because of
[48:19] uh I I I surmise you're all here for uh
comment or to hear on that. So uh I can
[48:25] say that now or wait till old business
mayor. It's
[48:29] » Yeah. So thank you. So I I'll do it now.
I won't be as as long as uh the council
[48:33] president. That was really eloquent. I
just want to say that I agree with,
[48:37] double down with and uh uh empathize
with everything that you've said. Uh I
[48:42] too have though um you know thought to
myself uh this is a process that's been
[48:47] going on for the last 5 years. Uh we uh
we really initiated the idea of
[48:52] redevelopment uh when when when really I
think Katie and I won back in in 2021
[48:57] 2022. I honestly can't even remember
anymore. But um but uh I think that
[49:03] obviously the community is now very
interested in what we're doing. Uh which
[49:07] is great and I welcome the feedback. I
welcome the support or uh the uh the the
[49:12] opposition. I think community
involvement is what makes these
[49:15] decisions fun and I think it's what
makes them uh ultimately the right
[49:19] decision. Um I will say that I
understand your frustration and I
[49:22] sympathize with it. We're taking uh uh
we're taking our time here as we uh
[49:27] evaluate the pilot. We are uh we're not
going to rush to a decision, right?
[49:31] We're going to try to make the right
decision. What's in the best interest of
[49:34] the borrower? What's in the best
interest of you? We also live here,
[49:37] right? It's sometimes I think people
forget that we also live here. We're
[49:41] also taxpayers. We're subject to
everything that gets passed up here. Uh
[49:46] but we're not going to rush. We're going
to take our time. We want to make sure
[49:48] that this is the right decision. This
isn't uh an undoable uh decision, right?
[49:52] Once we make this, it's not like we can
uh you know, call time out and do over
[49:57] 16 months from now. So, I do appreciate
the the patience. Um, and when the time
[50:02] is right, as as the council president
said, we will have a uh give everyone an
[50:06] opportunity to speak uh in support or or
against it. That notwithstanding, I I am
[50:12] intrigued by some of the things that
I've seen on social media of late. Uh
[50:16] particularly associated with the
comparison of Waldwick to uh the
[50:22] Hackinack redevelopment and and pilot
projects. Um, I have an office in
[50:26] Hackinack, so I spend a lot of time down
there. And I can tell you that, uh,
[50:31] subjectively, Hackinack is not is not
Waldwick. Um, it's a big city. You'd
[50:37] have to combine Waldwick with Allenale,
Hocus, Saddle River, Ramsay, and Midland
[50:44] Park to get a applesto apples comparison
on a per capita uh analysis of of
[50:50] Hackinack to to Waldwick. So, um I found
it intriguing that there were uh there
[50:56] was a group in town uh led by formal
council uh uh folks who uh voted
[51:02] unanimously uh in support of this
project uh comparing this to to
[51:07] Hackinac. Um I just don't think that
that's the case. Uh so I dug I dug deep
[51:12] and I will agree that I think Hackinac
may have they they may have overdone it,
[51:17] right? They may be overutilizing this
tool. Uh I believe that in the near term
[51:23] they have implemented 28 uh pilot
programs, right? Uh with no no less than
[51:28] 3,000 new uh residential units placed
within that city. Um I did the math and
[51:35] I had people check it. That's 28 times
more pilots than we're discussing now
[51:39] and 50 times more residential units that
we're even considering for this project.
[51:43] Right? So uh it's it's it's really not a
fair comparison and uh and I think it's
[51:48] misinformation. And I would urge uh
those of you who are interested in
[51:52] looking at success or lack of success of
pilots to look at our neighbors in
[51:57] Midland Park and uh and Allenale as the
council president said who have both
[52:01] implemented pilots. Uh and I'll and I'll
leave it to you to decide whether it's
[52:04] been successful or not. Um uh and and uh
and so I think that um you ought to look
[52:12] at uh the folks that are putting this
information out there, right? Uh we've
[52:16] also seen kind of claims on social media
that uh this will absolutely raise our
[52:21] taxes, right? Um and and what I would
say is I welcome the detailed financial
[52:26] analysis on how this will raise our
taxes, right? I'm just a lowly uh a
[52:32] lowly civil servant. So um you know, I
would like to incorporate that
[52:37] information into the information that we
have uh at hand as we uh as we decide on
[52:42] this pilot. So, if a detailed financial
analysis was performed by a business
[52:46] owner in town, um, uh, I'd welcome the
opportunity to see that. I'd like to
[52:50] look at the variables. I'd like to look
at the, uh, the, uh, the the basis. I'd
[52:55] like to look at all of the, uh, the
details that went into that to to
[52:59] basically say, hey, uh, this is really
bad for for the town. Uh, I think that's
[53:03] information we should all we should all
have, uh, as as we move forward. So,
[53:07] I'll work on that information. Um, and
you know, as the council president said,
[53:11] as as we went back to 2022, we we were
looking at a number of issues. Uh, the
[53:16] first issue is the financial uh
financial crisis. I will I'll call it a
[53:20] crisis of the town, a 2.5 million budget
deficit. Um, we don't we basically lack
[53:25] $2.5 million every year to fund our
budget, which means we have to take it
[53:29] from our savings account. That savings
account is dramatically reducing every
[53:34] year, and we are simply running out of
money as a town. uh some of the folks
[53:39] who are are putting information out
there about uh how pilots are destroying
[53:43] towns uh denied this financial uh uh uh
financial problem uh within the bow. So
[53:49] again, I I I urge you all to kind of
question the sources of the information
[53:53] uh who's putting it out there. Um but as
we looked at the financial problems
[53:57] within town, we also looked at the you
know, you know, simply unoccupied
[54:02] properties, unoccupied businesses in
town. Um when I when I joined council,
[54:07] uh I think the biggest in my in my view
eyesore of the downtown was the property
[54:12] that we're talking about right now on
Harrison and uh Prospect which I believe
[54:16] was vacant for for uh about 10 years. Um
we have the Rocket property as the
[54:21] council president said behind it that uh
has been inoperable or vacant whatever
[54:26] you want to call it. We have the right
aid which is now vacant. We have Odyssey
[54:29] which is now vacant. And what we don't
have is a line of developers wrapped
[54:33] around the uh corner who want to put
businesses and buildings within this
[54:38] town. So uh we sharpened our pencils. We
implemented this uh procedure to uh you
[54:46] know designate these areas need in need
of redevelopment. Uh as the council
[54:51] president said uh we don't want massive
uh buildings. We don't want 10-story
[54:56] buildings. We don't want hundreds. We
don't want thousands. We don't want to
[54:59] be hackin sack. We want nice small
lowdensity uh buildings. We want retail
[55:06] uh you know we want town homes, not just
apartments. We need to meet our our
[55:10] affordable housing mandate. Um and so we
were very picky with projects that you
[55:16] know that we uh agreed to. As the
council president said, it went through
[55:20] process after process after process
through the council and through the
[55:23] planning board, unanimously approved by
multiple councils over a period of 6
[55:28] years. Uh the planning board approved
it. Um and you know, quite frankly, as
[55:33] we look at the tools available to to
recruit these types of properties into
[55:37] town, uh a pilot was one of them. Uh we
haven't uh made our decision yet. I
[55:42] think we will uh you know, in the in the
coming months. Uh but but rest assured
[55:47] we are doing so with all of this
information as Joe said with all of the
[55:52] diligence with professionals uh on the
financial side with professionals on the
[55:56] legal side. Um you know we we want I
think the same thing everybody else does
[56:01] which is a a vibrant community. Uh we
don't want high taxes. None of us I
[56:07] don't think any of us want uh high
taxes. Um we none of us gain anything
[56:12] from that. uh and and and I think that
when you are asking yourself whether
[56:18] this is the right project or not uh ask
yourself about the alternatives right uh
[56:23] take a stroll down prospect and ask
yourself whether that's what you want uh
[56:28] or go to hackinac and look at the
massive developments that are being put
[56:32] up there and ask yourself whether that's
what you want right uh because those are
[56:36] the two alternatives to I think what is
before us right now um and so I welcome
[56:41] your feedback and your comments
uh tonight and uh to the to the meetings
[56:45] that come in the future. Um and I think
it'll be a good conversation. So uh
[56:50] mayor, that's my report this evening.
Thank you.
[56:52] » Thank you very much. Buildings and
Grounds Committee. Makola Drake.
[56:56] » Thank you, Mayor. I spoke with Tatiana.
No update on the buildings and grounds
[57:00] from the last meeting, but if I could
make a couple of quick remarks on the
[57:04] redevelopment. I know that everyone has
their own um opinions that they want to
[57:07] speak on, so I'll keep it brief. It's
that's okay, Mr. Mayor.
[57:10] » Sure.
>> Thank you. So, I proudly support the
[57:14] revitalization of Waldwick. I think
that's been pretty clear uh a number of
[57:18] reasons, but I think as some of you were
here in that meeting in December of 2024
[57:22] when the room was just as full as it was
tonight. And there was so much support
[57:27] for this project and a brighter um
downtown revitalized, more people, more
[57:32] businesses. Um, and as someone who grew
up here and I chose to stay here and
[57:37] plant my roots here, I think we need to
think about the future and um, with the
[57:41] dwindling surplus, that's a huge issue.
I voted no on this budget because I just
[57:45] don't think that a 10% tax increase is
responsible or acceptable for the
[57:49] residents of Waldwick. So, that's one of
the solutions that we can have moving
[57:53] forward is hopefully plugging this um,
issue we have in our budget with
[57:58] redevelopment funds and the revenue is
very important. Um, I know there's a lot
[58:02] of misinformation surrounding the
project, so it's encouraging to see
[58:06] everybody out here today. I'd also like
to thank Joe, Councilman Joe, for um,
[58:10] his wonderful, thorough remarks. I hope
that you learned something coming here
[58:14] tonight, and I hope to see more of you
at the future meetings. Thank you,
[58:17] Mayor.
>> Thank you,
[58:21] Administrator.
>> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, just wanted to
[58:25] echo the mayor's sentiments on um, the
pool. We've been having a fantastic
[58:30] season. Uh happy to have all of our
guards back. Uh our management team is
[58:36] really enjoying their time getting to
know the residents. Uh every day they
[58:40] they call and and say that, you know,
they're they're so happy that they're
[58:43] there together as a team with the guards
and uh it's been a great experience and
[58:47] a nice feeling down at the pool. Um our
swim team is underway. They're doing
[58:52] fantastic this season again and um it's
a really good opportunity for you know
[58:56] community to come together and enjoy the
facilities. Um registration is still
[59:01] open. It's on our website. So um if you
haven't uh signed up yet, it's still
[59:05] available. Um and you know any questions
you can always hop into Burrow Hall and
[59:10] and give us uh you know ask us any
questions that you have. Thank you Mr.
[59:14] Mayor.
>> Thank you.
[59:16] » How about clerk?
>> No report.
[59:18] » Okay
attorney.
[59:20] » Thank you Mr. Mayor. No report this
evening.
[59:22] » A redevelopment journ.
>> Um,
[59:27] thank you, Mr. Mayor. I have no report,
but I'm happy to answer any questions if
[59:32] anyone has questions.
>> Okay, we'll do that in the public.
[59:37] » Consent resolutions and resolutions of
the governing body.
[59:40] » It is all that the following resolutions
herewith listed by consent, having been
[59:44] considered by the governing body of the
Burough of Wick, are hereby passed and
[59:47] approved. 2026 204 approval of consent
2026 205 approval of minutes regular
[59:53] meeting and close session meeting June
23rd 2026 policy votes A Tracy Britain
[59:59] requests to use pavilion B on Sunday
August 2nd from 1 to 6 for a birthday
[1:00:03] party with alcoholic beverages being
served B. You and Associates request uh
[1:00:08] to use Pavilion A on Saturday August 8th
from 2 to 8:00 p.m. for a picnic with
[1:00:12] alcoholic beverages being served. C.
Lisa Puchini, request to use pavilion A
[1:00:17] on Sunday, August 30th from 9:00 am to 7
pm for a birthday party with alcoholic
[1:00:21] beverages being served. D. Alyssa
Frisco, request to use pavilion B,
[1:00:26] Saturday, September 5th from 12 to dusk
for a birthday party with alcoholic
[1:00:30] beverages being served. E. Midland Park
Community School request to use the
[1:00:34] Waldo Municipal Pool on Tuesday starting
July 7th for campers. 2026206
[1:00:39] change order number one final and
current estimate number four final to
[1:00:42] Sovereign Consulting Inc. for the
rehabilitation of the Malcolm Street
[1:00:46] pumping station in the amount of
$51,2771
[1:00:50] 2026 207 award and open contract to Axon
Enterprises for police integrated
[1:00:56] equipment suite in the amount of
$413,186.926208
[1:01:03] award a fair and open contract to DS
Meyer Enterprises LLC for the 2026 curb
[1:01:08] ramp improvements in the amount of
$88,17
[1:01:11] 2026 209 authorize Amended lease
agreement with Environmental Renewal LLC
[1:01:16] for the lease and operation at least and
operate the vegetative waste transfer
[1:01:21] station 2026210 authorized autoc cab
license for all county car and limo 2026
[1:01:27] 211 authorized premium of 65,000 to uh
eset from ATFC ljlc
[1:01:35] to the borrow for this tax sales
certificate 20-0625
[1:01:39] 2026 212 or tax overp payments various
and 2026 213 uh payment of vouchers.
[1:01:46] » Do I have a motion and a second to
accept? Motion by Joe, second by Andy.
[1:01:50] Anyone from the council?
>> Uh Mr. Mayor, regarding 20 2026 208, the
[1:01:56] award of the fair and open contract to
DS Meer for the current ramp
[1:01:59] improvements. We had that bid opening
last week. I oversaw the bid opening. Uh
[1:02:04] Boswell Engineering reviewed the bids
that we were that were received and uh
[1:02:08] it is being awarded as such to DS Meyer
Enterprises. Just to give you an idea of
[1:02:13] uh the area of of focus, we start to
look at the areas um that we anticipate
[1:02:18] in the future will be paved. Um and so
these curb ramps are all along Long View
[1:02:23] Drive at the intersections of Pine View,
Lindberg, Mary Lane, Chestnut, Long View
[1:02:28] Court. Um as well as the intersection of
Van Dyke Road and Birch Lane and Wilder
[1:02:31] Lane and Cecilia Drive. Thank you.
>> Thank you. Anyone else?
[1:02:35] » Clerk, please take the role.
>> Mr. Brown,
[1:02:37] » yes.
>> Miss Kola, yes.
[1:02:39] » Mr. Martinelloo, yes. Mr. Richie.
>> Yes.
[1:02:42] » Okay. We have two public hearings.
Number one, with the cl court clerk
[1:02:45] kindly read ordinance number 2026-
10.
[1:02:49] » Ordinance number 202610. An ordinance
amending ordinance number 20201 fixing
[1:02:55] the compensation, salaries, and wages of
officials and employees of the Burough
[1:02:58] of Waldick for the police.
>> Anyone from the council like to comment
[1:03:02] on this ordinance?
>> Yes.
[1:03:04] » Uh, thank you, Mr. Mayor. This is in
agreement with our PBA contract that we
[1:03:08] negotiated with the uh the local. Um
this is everything that we've discussed
[1:03:14] through there. Happy to report that
we'll have a labor agreement in place
[1:03:17] that will take us through the next
several years and uh uh keep our men
[1:03:21] compensated fairly.
>> Good. Anyone else? If not, I close the
[1:03:25] public comments and I'm sorry, I close
the council's comments and open up to
[1:03:28] the public. Anybody from the public
would like to comment on this audience
[1:03:31] that was just read?
If not, I close the public's uh comments
[1:03:35] and uh ask the clerk to authorize to
advertise on local legal newspapers
[1:03:40] required by law. Clerk, take the role.
>> I need a motion.
[1:03:44] » Do I have a motion?
>> Joe, second by Mike.
[1:03:47] » Thank you, Mr. Bernick.
>> Yes.
[1:03:50] » Mr. Sakre,
>> yes.
[1:03:51] » Mr. Martinell,
>> yes.
[1:03:52] » Mr. Rley,
>> yes.
[1:03:53] » And then we have the resolution. Right.
>> Okay. So this is resolution 2026 214
[1:03:59] approval of public safety, excuse me,
public safety salaries for the years
[1:04:03] 2026 through 2030.
[clears throat]
[1:04:08] » Anybody from the council want comment?
>> No.
[1:04:13] Close the council comments. Anybody from
the public?
[1:04:15] » No, this is just a resolution.
>> Just need a motion. I
[1:04:18] » do have a motion and a second to accept
it as a resolution.
[1:04:22] » Motion.
>> Motion by Mike, second by uh Joe. Clerk,
[1:04:25] please take the role.
>> Mr. Bernie,
[1:04:27] » yes.
>> Miss Sarah Cadre,
[1:04:29] » yes.
>> Mr. Martinello,
[1:04:30] » yes.
>> Mr. Richard,
[1:04:31] » yes.
>> We have two introduction of ordinances
[1:04:34] with the clerk with Ordinance number
2026-11.
[1:04:37] » Ordinance number 2026-11,
an ordinance amending chapter 63 park
[1:04:41] and ride lot section 63-2 parking fees.
Uh 63-3 restrictions B and C and 63-7
[1:04:49] violations and penalties. Clarify hours,
overnight parking regulations, and
[1:04:53] penalties. Motion and second is in order
to accept this first reading and that
[1:04:57] the clerk be authorized to advertise in
a local legal newspapers required by law
[1:05:00] setting a hearing two weeks from
tonight's meeting or soon thereafter as
[1:05:04] the matter may be breached. Do I have a
motion in a second? Motion by Mike,
[1:05:08] second by Joe on the question.
[1:05:13] I'll come this is an update uh based on
the new uh lease agreement that we have
[1:05:18] in New Jersey Transit for the lot. We
need to do some tweaks to the existing
[1:05:21] ordinance. So that's what the 202611 is
and 202612.
[1:05:26] » Okay. Anyone else? Take the role.
>> Mr. Brennick.
[1:05:31] » Yes.
>> Miss Sarako.
[1:05:33] » Yes.
>> Mr. Marelloo.
[1:05:34] » Yes.
>> Mr. Richie.
[1:05:35] » Yes.
>> Cler Connly read. Ordinance number
[1:05:37] 2026-12.
>> Ordinance number 2026-12. An ordinance
[1:05:42] amending chapter 48 fee section 91-12.2A
vehicles and traffic paid parking fees
[1:05:48] to clarify days and times for fees.
motion. The second is in order to uh to
[1:05:53] accept this on first reading and that
the clerk be authorized to advertise in
[1:05:56] the local legal news papers required by
law setting up public hearing tonight
[1:06:00] two weeks from tonight's meeting at 7:30
p.m. or soon due thereafter as the
[1:06:04] matter may be reached. Motion in a
second by Andy, second by Joe.
[1:06:09] It's what the attorney said.
>> Same idea.
[1:06:13] » Same idea as the attorney says. Anyone
else?
[1:06:15] » Okay. Clerk, please take the role.
>> Mr. Bernick.
[1:06:18] » Yes. Miss Sarah Cre. Yes. Mr. Marello.
Yes.
[1:06:20] » Mr. Richie.
>> Yes.
[1:06:21] » Okay. Anybody on the council have any
unfinished business?
[1:06:26] » Anybody from the council have any new
business?
[1:06:28] » No new business. Okay. Public comments.
Anybody Anybody in the audience would
[1:06:33] like to comment on anything, you could
kindly come up to the microphone. Just
[1:06:36] please give us your name. If you're
going to do anything about the pilot
[1:06:39] program, please address the council
president with that uh issue. I have to
[1:06:44] recuse myself from this, but I'll still
sit here and look at your faces and
[1:06:47] listen.
I thought you liked my face.
[1:06:54] » Hello everyone. Ray Cruz, 15 Cypress
Court.
[1:06:57] » No address required, sir.
>> All right. I'm old school, man.
[1:07:02] Sorry. I remember how you guys used to
run me through the ringer here.
[1:07:07] I had several one statement and several
questions. The statement and I've never
[1:07:11] done this, Michael.
>> Yeah.
[1:07:14] » That came across
as condescending and and
[1:07:20] dimminitive [clears throat]
>> when when you mentioned that I like to
[1:07:23] see the details of their financial
analysis. I'm sure there's plenty of
[1:07:27] people here.
>> Could you speak a little louder?
[1:07:29] » I'm sure that there's plenty of people
here that can do a financial analysis
[1:07:35] and then state factual concerns on
Facebook or wherever they're doing that.
[1:07:40] But as a public official, it just came
across that way.
[1:07:43] » I mean, listen, I I just want to
integrate information that's correct
[1:07:46] into our assessment. I get it. I get
there's a lot of people that throw a lot
[1:07:50] of a lot of crazy stuff out there
without facts and they're it's
[1:07:53] uninformed. But
>> here it's just asking for facts. I'm
[1:07:58] sorry that came across as uh
>> next time next time I'll ask for
[1:08:02] opinions.
>> Yeah, it's just it's just a matter of
[1:08:05] you have a lot of anxiety around this
project. You have we have a budget
[1:08:09] deficit that we're trying to plug right
as you mentioned. We have uh issues
[1:08:13] around um you know ensuring that our
schools are well funded. I assume I got
[1:08:19] several questions I actually wrote down
here. Would you would you would you
[1:08:22] prefer that we we don't use facts when
we make our decisions? Is that what
[1:08:26] you're suggesting?
>> I'm not the one.
[1:08:29] » I mean Michael I'm not the one of the
two
[1:08:34] accus you of anything. I said
condescending.
[1:08:38] » Yes, you came across condescending.
That's my opinion. I'm sorry.
[1:08:42] » That's my opinion. I did not say that. I
I I'm going one way or the other on
[1:08:46] anything.
>> Well, that is
[1:08:47] » I am not the person to go after.
>> You're calling me condescending for
[1:08:51] asking for facts.
>> I'm sure others will agree.
[1:08:53] » All right. The uh state
>> in regards to
[1:09:01] the pilot program, uh was the June 29th
meeting with the board of ed actually
[1:09:04] held?
>> Yes.
[1:09:06] » Okay. So, you found time to actually do
that uh with the
[1:09:09] » Yes. all the parties found time to to
meet at that time. there is uh any sort
[1:09:14] of uh agreement made to push for inter
you know I guess I don't know what they
[1:09:19] call it inter agreement in which the
board of ed and the council for the next
[1:09:23] four or five years 30 years whatever
there's a natural agreement to ensure
[1:09:28] that the council can pay them when they
do need a a relief from um you know any
[1:09:35] of the pilot money that may be going
towards
[1:09:37] » from from what though so I explained
earlier so that the the the board budget
[1:09:41] and a Stop me if I say something wrong.
Where veg budget would be funded 100% as
[1:09:47] always. Right? So we we talked about how
um any new revenue from the pilot is not
[1:09:53] included in the pool. Right? We also
talked about how if there's a land tax
[1:09:58] that's still attached to that property,
that land tax would still be part of the
[1:10:01] pool that would be given to the board of
education. Mhm.
[1:10:04] » So we talked about how that would be
almost still full of what they were
[1:10:10] getting today, right? So we talked about
how um the increase in students might
[1:10:16] not be directly proportional to uh the
number of the budget, right? Because
[1:10:20] increases to the cap every year of 2 and
12% or 2% whatever it is. It will
[1:10:25] continue to increase that will continue
to increase um the school tax as normal,
[1:10:30] right? And you know that's what we have
at the time when we had the meeting you
[1:10:35] know in full transparency right we we
still do not have an agreed upon
[1:10:39] agreement so we cannot share terms of
that financial agreement with anyone
[1:10:43] including the board of education.
>> No I'm really just focused on an
[1:10:47] agreement between the board and the
count and the council. Well, but to so
[1:10:51] there's a bill actually there's the bill
that's S that's S1807 I think
[1:10:55] » that's coming out
>> prior to that bill going or even maybe
[1:10:58] deciding to wait for that bill to pass
>> you [clears throat] know to try to get
[1:11:03] ahead of that can you make an agreement
with the board of ed to commit to them
[1:11:06] that you will fund them as you say you
are right you would to ensure that that
[1:11:11] actually happens that may allay some of
those questions and some of those
[1:11:14] assertions that people
>> right we always have funded the board of
[1:11:18] ed and we're always obligated to fun the
board of ed [clears throat] not fund
[1:11:21] them
>> and then no am no from pilot money I
[1:11:23] don't think that that's
>> that's different right so maybe you can
[1:11:26] explain this better than I am I'm
>> as I understand you can't you you don't
[1:11:30] necessarily have to pay use the pilot
money that you're receiving
[1:11:33] » the pilot money does not go into the
pool of funds that's allocated to board
[1:11:37] of education payment
>> correct correct so that's that's what
[1:11:41] I'm talking about figuring out a way to
carve out some money for them
[1:11:45] » well so we would still keep their budget
whole at 100%
[1:11:48] » okay Um that's so as long as you guys
have been discussing and there's an
[1:11:53] obligation either the bill will obligate
the councils to do that or you guys have
[1:11:57] an
>> it will not it will not sorry
[1:12:00] » yeah can I just address that for one
second right now it is a bill right it's
[1:12:04] not law so we're going by the long-term
tax exemption law
[1:12:08] » which does not provide for any portion
of the pilot payment to go to the school
[1:12:13] board it's just the municipality and the
county however Um I just want to clarify
[1:12:20] if they is a if they are still paying
land taxes then there is a land tax
[1:12:27] credit and that portion of the pilot
payment will be reduced that portion
[1:12:32] comes out of the burrows um pilot and
what happens is the portion that
[1:12:40] continues to go through conventional
taxes that percentage that goes which I
[1:12:45] think is 60% here to the board of ed
They still get that. They still recoup
[1:12:49] that,
>> right? Whether it's that 2% or whatever
[1:12:51] that is they're getting.
>> It's it's based on their conventional
[1:12:54] taxes. So I believe it's 60%.
>> 60%.
[1:12:57] » Well, that's based upon math, right?
That's depending on the
[1:13:02] » We don't do public math here. You do.
>> Yeah,
[1:13:04] » we tried, right?
>> Uh Phoenix advisors, have they completed
[1:13:09] the evaluation regarding the potential
sale of our water utility? I know that
[1:13:13] was on the agenda at some point.
We have not taken any further action on
[1:13:18] sale of water.
>> Okay. I'm just looking at ways we could
[1:13:21] raise that that that budget deficit
because even if we do Harrison, right?
[1:13:26] Even if we do some of the other uh
projects which I as I understand are
[1:13:31] » not using pilot uh and these include
[1:13:40] » Houston came and presented a couple
couple councils ago. They came out
[1:13:45] properties.
>> What's that?
[1:13:47] » Durant properties.
>> What? Durant properties. Who knows what
[1:13:49] that would do? Uh we rejected any other
plans at this point for density.
[1:13:53] » Right. So 30 high-end town homes. That's
what they were offering.
[1:13:56] » That's what the Houston project was,
right? In the Houston project, what they
[1:14:01] presented to the council that night was
that would not be pilot based. Okay.
[1:14:05] » Because those would be owner occupied,
sellable, pre-sale type things where
[1:14:10] then they wouldn't need to do pilot
financing on those. So, so the challenge
[1:14:14] is this.
>> And also, Ray, let me say we sell the
[1:14:17] water. We we can't just use that money
to plug our our budget. We have to
[1:14:20] actually pay down our debt,
>> you know, which we we spend about
[1:14:24] 500,000 a year on debt. So, we would we
would sell effectively sell our water to
[1:14:28] a third party. They'll double your
rates, everybody, and then we would make
[1:14:32] almost no adjustments to our operating.
>> Got it.
[1:14:35] » And it's a one-time thing, right? So, if
we if the if this council eventually
[1:14:40] goes through that um financial analysis
to say we're going to sell the water,
[1:14:45] it's a one-time fix that we could do
now. In 20 years, a council that's
[1:14:50] sitting up here might say those idiots
20 years ago should have held on to the
[1:14:54] water and made that investment. Now, you
brought it up, right? We have to
[1:14:58] continue to make capital investments in
our water no matter if we decide to sell
[1:15:02] or not to continue to improve the
quality and whatever H2M was the analyst
[1:15:08] that came back uh they're due back this
fall to give us some further data after
[1:15:13] the settling period that will determine
what future capital investments. So we
[1:15:18] can't make capital investments without
additional income too. Right.
[1:15:21] » Have uh and who does the actual
financials here? Is it uh you or
[1:15:27] » the financials?
>> Yeah, all the financial productions. Is
[1:15:29] it you? You, Joe?
>> No. So, we have our CFO. Our CFO who
[1:15:34] does the our financial work here. I I'm
not a paid financial adviser.
[1:15:38] » You sound like one
in my private life. I was an accountant
[1:15:41] at one.
>> I'm not a financial adviser by choice.
[1:15:45] » No. No. I just listen.
>> No. Thank you for all the work you did
[1:15:49] on on, you know, and and the statements
you've made to try to clarify some
[1:15:53] assumptions.
>> Sure. the what I what I do want uh to
[1:15:57] state is um that this is a a mode of
confusion. You guys are in the weeds
[1:16:03] every day on this. You're trying to plug
I believe uh what the auditor said a
[1:16:08] multi-year multi-deade hole in our
taxes.
[1:16:12] » Correct.
>> The auditor said we have a surplus
[1:16:14] problem coming. They rang the alarm this
year.
[1:16:16] » Well, it's what $6 million or surplus
right now? 5 million just about
[1:16:19] » roughly.
>> Right. And that will be depleted within
[1:16:21] two years.
>> Not two. They said probably within five.
[1:16:24] » Within five,
>> right?
[1:16:25] » This project goes forward with pilot.
We're not even going to see revenue
[1:16:29] until it's completed. Right.
>> That's correct.
[1:16:32] » So, what's that? 2 years construction, 3
years. So, we now have to pl I'm saying
[1:16:37] I'm doing this public math here. We we
have to figure out how to p that budget
[1:16:41] deficit and not eat away at that surplus
for the next 2 three years.
[1:16:45] » That's correct. And even if that pilot
program is approved, right, for
[1:16:51] disharison property, it's a small dent
in the new deficit. Correct.
[1:16:55] » That's correct.
>> Okay. That's I think having some sort of
[1:17:00] easy to understand.
>> Yeah. So, right
[1:17:03] » presentation to the to to the community
on that it would probably help allay
[1:17:07] some of these assumptions that are
coming up
[1:17:10] » from some of the social media experts.
>> Right. So the financial advisors will
[1:17:14] come back and do another presentation.
>> But the idea of a pilot and the idea of
[1:17:18] redevelopment is that this is a first
domino, right? So you do that project,
[1:17:23] maybe the Houston project happens, maybe
the Durant project is spurred on to do
[1:17:27] something else, maybe somebody comes in
to write aid and puts a new store in and
[1:17:31] starts to bring additional revenues into
into the town. That's the idea to
[1:17:36] generate new construction to generate
new um taxable renewables for for the uh
[1:17:42] for the community.
>> The uh I want to I'm sure there's plenty
[1:17:45] of people here who want to uh come up
here, but um the I'll I'll say one more
[1:17:50] thing. Um, I think if if there's a
committee that can put together
[1:17:54] something for the public to see of how
we aim to do this for the next 10, 20,
[1:17:59] and 30 years, depending on how, you
know, the I I I would hope that this uh
[1:18:04] pilot program is only for like 10 years
or 15 years, not a 30-year pilot
[1:18:08] program. But I'm sure we have the
leverage, right? This is the hottest
[1:18:11] town in in in Bergen County. For all the
realtors behind me, they'll attest to
[1:18:15] it.
>> But but Ray, I think we agree,
[1:18:18] » right? There's no there are no
developers lining up to do anything in
[1:18:22] this town. Maybe residential properties
go very very quickly which is fantastic
[1:18:26] but that that property is sat vacant for
for how long? Rocket has sat vacant for
[1:18:31] how long? There's not there aren't a lot
of people looking to come into Waldwick
[1:18:34] to do anything. And maybe that's what I
what I was trying to head to is really
[1:18:38] put together a committee that looks at
the next 20 30 years and what we can do
[1:18:42] to do this not just from a you know
pilot cutting budgets you know doing
[1:18:48] these sorts of things but looking at
things like how do we attract more
[1:18:52] business attract more people to to
Waldwick right that are going to invest
[1:18:57] reinvest into Waldwick but at the same
time figure out ways without raising our
[1:19:03] taxes so high because they are already
extreme extremely high to really give up
[1:19:08] give our residents some tax relief and
at the same time give us more amenities.
[1:19:13] That has happened. You've seen it all
around us. All the other towns have been
[1:19:16] able to figure that out whether they're
doing shared services.
[1:19:19] » Who's figured it out? We have Glen Rock
had a
[1:19:22] » 15 little town, right?
>> Had a tax increase and they have more
[1:19:27] industry than all the towns around here
combined.
[1:19:29] » I was throwing out
>> had a large tax increase.
[1:19:31] » I'm just throwing ideas out there.
You're throwing ideas out, but you're
[1:19:34] also saying that all the other towns
have figured it out except for us.
[1:19:37] Allenale has five miles and a larger
problem.
[1:19:40] » I said some people have figured it out,
>> right?
[1:19:42] » When and I was about to say before you
you you you started speaking uh shared
[1:19:47] services is a way to do this.
>> Absolutely.
[1:19:50] » As you mentioned,
>> we already have some and we're looking
[1:19:52] at others,
>> right? But I also like to uh propose and
[1:19:55] I'm about to get stabbed here, maybe
even discussing that with the board of
[1:19:58] ed. Thank you.
>> Thank you, Rick.
[1:20:07] This is a big pair of shoes to fill.
[laughter]
[1:20:11] Um, Tammy Moses, I'm not a Democrat and
I'm not a Republican. I just vote for
[1:20:17] the right person. Um, this I think
really is blowing my mind that like two
[1:20:23] months ago you started talking about
this pilot. Okay, the, you know, the
[1:20:27] redevelopment, it's a done deal. Okay,
we're getting this big condo. we're
[1:20:31] getting, you know, businesses on the
bottom, whatever. That's a done deal.
[1:20:35] But nothing was talked about in a pilot,
which means why should this developer
[1:20:42] pay part of the money? And you I know
you've explained it, but to me, I'm not
[1:20:46] a rocket scientist,
>> but it just doesn't seem right. Why do
[1:20:50] we all have to pay full taxes every
year, and this guy pays a portion of it?
[1:20:56] It It's just does it just doesn't seem
possible,
[1:20:58] » right? It doesn't It doesn't. Right. So,
people who who are wealthy building uh
[1:21:04] » me [laughter]
>> people who are wealthy who are building
[1:21:06] projects and trying to make income off
of it, right? And and me and you are
[1:21:11] paying our full taxes. I get it. But the
the problem is, right, a business,
[1:21:17] you're a business owner. You don't
you're not in business to lose money.
[1:21:20] » No.
>> Right. So, they have to build a
[1:21:23] property. I had to acquire properties
that were already owned by somebody
[1:21:26] else. They weren't free properties. the
burrow didn't own them, right? So, they
[1:21:30] had to go spend money in this economy,
in this market that Ray was talking
[1:21:36] about, probably overpay for that land.
So, they have to pay for that. Now, they
[1:21:41] have to develop what we tell them
they're allowed to develop. That would
[1:21:44] be like me telling you what you're
allowed to sell on your store.
[1:21:48] » But what I'll finish, right? So, that we
tell them what they're allowed to build.
[1:21:52] You have to build us a low density. You
have to include low-income housing. So
[1:21:57] now they put all those rents on a piece
of paper and they take them to their
[1:22:01] bank and their bank says, "I can't
approve this project because you don't
[1:22:06] have the cash flow to make the payments
that I I require."
[1:22:10] So they have two options. They can come
back to us and say, "Burl, I can't do
[1:22:15] this at this um density. I need more. I
need 60 units. I need 100 units." And
[1:22:22] we're going to say, "We're Waldwick. We
don't want a six-story building, right?
[1:22:27] We don't want that. So, no, I can't let
you do that.
[1:22:30] » Say, okay.
>> What's that?
[1:22:32] » Then what would the developer do?
>> The developer can either sit on the
[1:22:35] property and do nothing.
>> Mhm.
[1:22:37] » Or try to sell it to somebody else who
will probably come and ask for a pilot.
[1:22:42] » But why should the town be voting on the
pilot? Don't you think the residents
[1:22:47] voting on the pilot?
>> It's not legal.
[1:22:50] » It's not something that can go to a
>> See, like I don't know this kind of
[1:22:53] stuff. And yeah, I was the one on fist
with Thornton and and on the soap box.
[1:22:57] That was me. But I'm not into this kind
of stuff. And when I when I know when I
[1:23:01] read about this, I was really picked,
>> right?
[1:23:04] » Why should everybody, especially our
seniors, have to pay full taxes?
[1:23:10] » I know, but you know what I'm saying.
They have to pay every year. So do we.
[1:23:13] » So, but the idea,
>> it's just it just really bothers me,
[1:23:16] » right? So, it bothers me.
>> And they got more money than we do,
[1:23:19] » of course. But the idea is right at some
point, race correct, we're not going to
[1:23:23] see pilot money tomorrow. They have to
finish it. They have to start
[1:23:27] » and they'll probably back, you know,
they'll probably drag their feet. Oh,
[1:23:29] but they're not going on yet. We can't,
you know, open it.
[1:23:33] » Would you not want to open your business
as fast as possible?
[1:23:35] » Yeah, but they they're going to drag
their feet.
[1:23:37] » Of course, there's always construction
delays. We're not going to see that
[1:23:40] revenue until they start getting rentals
and they till they start seeing that.
[1:23:43] » But tenant, we can control the timing.
It's in the It's in the redevelopment in
[1:23:47] the redevelopment agreement. So there
>> there are safe there are safeguards that
[1:23:51] dictate that they need to start and
complete construction within a specific
[1:23:55] time frame and um and if not they break
the redevelopment agreement.
[1:23:59] » But here's my thing, you know, like
nobody knew this. Half this town
[1:24:03] probably didn't even know what a pilot
program was. Would anybody here know
[1:24:07] what a pilot was?
>> Correct. So Tammy
[1:24:09] » pilot
>> two months ago,
[1:24:11] » Tammy, that's not true. Right. So the
fact is about 6 months ago the developer
[1:24:17] and go back further in time we had
residents over a year ago come to the
[1:24:22] council and start talking about a pilot
before the developer even asked for one.
[1:24:28] So we could have spoken it into
existence number one. Number number two.
[1:24:33] So several months ago, six months ago or
so, they presented for a pilot.
[1:24:38] » We had at this council meeting, Phoenix
Adviserss came in and did a
[1:24:43] presentation.
>> Watching it. I never come to a council
[1:24:45] meeting. I always watch them on Zoom
because I open my mouth.
[1:24:48] » So they they gave me my mouth.
>> You're allowed to open your mouth. They
[1:24:52] gave a presentation on what a pilot
program is. I didn't know what a pilot
[1:24:56] program is either until about 6 months
ago until I started doing stuff. But I
[1:24:59] feel we're going to be stuck with the
extra taxes that you know the taxes are
[1:25:04] going to go up. We're going to be stuck
with it. And if we do a pilot down on
[1:25:07] Houston Avenue, that's more
>> Well, we said there would be no pilot on
[1:25:10] Houston Avenue.
>> Okay. I just
[1:25:12] » I think that's why I'm pushing back. We
don't know that taxes are going to go
[1:25:15] up. And in fact, we're doing it and in
fact, we're doing this to avoid further
[1:25:20] taxes going up. Well,
>> I think we're still going to be tax but
[1:25:23] I have a question.
>> So, we're doing the financial analysis
[1:25:26] and that's the decision. That's what
we're going to base our decision on.
[1:25:29] We've hired financial experts to do an
analysis to show us and and hopefully at
[1:25:35] the next meeting, and I know everyone's
frustrated you haven't seen it, but
[1:25:39] hopefully at the next meeting, we'll be
able to present the financials end to
[1:25:43] end to show you what we're looking at.
But I promise you, the the premise of
[1:25:47] all of this is so that we don't have to
continue raising your taxes 10% every
[1:25:52] year.
>> Okay. The thing is,
[1:25:54] » I'd like a show of hands. Who voted for
this p for this?
[1:26:00] » No, the three red develops.
[1:26:06] » Multiple multiple councils.
>> Okay. But um I just I just kind of
[1:26:12] thought it was wrong having a meeting
the night the week before this meeting
[1:26:16] to have a little conversation.
>> That was a club. That was completely
[1:26:19] wrong.
>> Yeah. But so it was just kind of ironic.
[1:26:21] » It was a political club. It was a
political club. The other side could
[1:26:24] have also had a meeting. Hey, the EMS
could have like the public safety could
[1:26:29] have had a meeting.
>> My last my last comment is there's
[1:26:32] plenty of businesses in town here.
>> Yep.
[1:26:35] » That are vacant.
>> Yes.
[1:26:39] » Okay. Do you think these are going to
get filled quicker than the ones that
[1:26:43] are vacant?
>> Well, the idea is to bring in more
[1:26:47] business, right? But we wanted more
people
[1:26:50] than more people.
>> So they're not they're not being filled
[1:26:53] right now, right? Aid is is been v
vacant for
[1:26:55] » talking about the little ones, you know,
>> little ones, right? So the the place the
[1:26:59] uh flavor on fire has gone out three
different times. People aren't
[1:27:03] supporting it.
>> There are there are places that are
[1:27:05] killing it in town like trying to go to
W's, Nelly's,
[1:27:09] LS Tekka to go get dinner at some point
and and they're crazy busy on a Friday
[1:27:14] night. Charlie's place, you know, bagel
on a line on a Saturday morning is
[1:27:18] around the corner. There's there's
there's uh plenty of business in Wick
[1:27:22] that kill it and do great. But what we
need to do,
[1:27:26] » we all talked about wanting to have a
food market in towns. We didn't have one
[1:27:29] for for a while when uh the farmers
market went out. Now we have the food
[1:27:34] emporium. Everybody was excited to have
that in there. And you know, they're
[1:27:38] going on Facebook saying, "Well, help
me. How do I do better for you?" Because
[1:27:43] I drive past there and the parking lot's
empty.
[1:27:45] » Yeah.
>> Uh you know, maybe if there's 40 new
[1:27:48] homes there, 40 new people, maybe they
need a place to go shop and they're
[1:27:52] going to walk to food important. Maybe
they're going to come and get ice cream
[1:27:54] at your place right across the street.
>> Maybe. So at that railroad across the
[1:27:59] street,
>> right? That's on THE OTHER SIDE AT ice
[1:28:03] cream, but they still want the farmers
market or the emporium. They're going to
[1:28:06] have to walk over that rickety old
trestle that's all rusted.
[1:28:09] » Yeah. Don't start me on that. So, well,
that's another subject. But anyway, I
[1:28:14] just want to know who's who's running
for council next this year.
[1:28:19] » You are. Terence is running for council.
>> Andy,
[1:28:22] » you'll never see me do it again.
>> Huh?
[1:28:25] » You'll never see me do it ever again.
>> Well, [laughter]
[1:28:29] this is my last year.
>> I just I just had to speak my peace
[1:28:33] because most of the people who talked to
them, they didn't know about this pilot.
[1:28:37] And then two week two months ago, you
know, all of a sudden
[1:28:40] » well that's when that's when the
developer
[1:28:42] » WHAT'S THIS? OH YEAH, I SAID all that.
>> That's when the redevelop that's when
[1:28:46] the redeveloper submitted for a pilot,
right? We can't assume that the
[1:28:50] redeveloper is going to submit for one.
When they submitted for it, that's when
[1:28:54] the process started.
>> Well, that should have been brought up a
[1:28:57] long time ago.
>> It was right. We we sat at this meeting
[1:29:01] about it. It was really quiet.
>> It was at every council meeting. There
[1:29:04] was a there was a gentleman that came
here every meeting [laughter] and I give
[1:29:06] him credit because I learned from him.
He gave me some things to go research. I
[1:29:11] give him credit because he was very
persistent about it and coming every
[1:29:13] meeting. He was here every almost every
council meeting asking about what we
[1:29:18] were going to do for a pilot program.
>> Wow.
[1:29:20] » So that was not
>> I think it stinks that he has he has to
[1:29:24] pay or she has to pay a portion we have
to pay for and that's what I'm saying.
[1:29:27] » But they're but they're they're paying a
portion of their revenue.
[1:29:31] » It's not of their taxes. And then what
if they don't fill them all?
[1:29:34] » There's safeguards in the redevelopment
agreement. And also at that point,
[1:29:38] right, there's a couple things.
>> You can't get less than we can get,
[1:29:41] right? Correct. Correct.
>> The bank has to the bank has to keep
[1:29:45] them going, right? They have to make
enough money to keep the bank or the
[1:29:48] bank will repossess the property.
>> We also have condemnation rights on the
[1:29:51] property. There's a lot of safeguards in
there that help. And if he's killing it
[1:29:57] and making a lot of money and going over
12%,
[1:30:00] » then he's got to pay profit. He's got to
pay more.
[1:30:02] » Okay, well then good. Let him pay more
because he should be paying more.
[1:30:05] » And it has to be audited financial
statements. It can't just be I made $5.
[1:30:09] It has to be an audited financial
statement. It has to be
[1:30:12] » just kind of seemed a little bit, you
know, like little shitty.
[1:30:15] » Right. Thank you, Tammy.
>> Thank you.
[1:30:17] » Next.
>> Hi there.
[1:30:19] » Hello.
>> I'm Sharon Corbett. Lotus Lane in town
[1:30:24] here. I'm a former project manager.
Okay. I'm just going to lay that out on
[1:30:30] the line. And I'm from the south, so I'm
just going to use my southern accent.
[1:30:35] But anyway,
I don't have a problem with the pilot
[1:30:39] itself. What I'm more concerned about is
I'm not hearing contingency plans if
[1:30:44] something breaks, if something fails.
>> Meaning
[1:30:49] » meaning, okay, you're using status quo
uh numbers and everything for the
[1:30:53] students. That's great.
uh we're we're not taking into account,
[1:30:57] oh, major floods could happen. Oh,
snowstorms, unbelievable snowstorms
[1:31:02] going to happen and everything like
that. Where is the money that we're
[1:31:06] getting on a monthly basis or yearly
basis, where is it going to be fed into
[1:31:11] in the uh budget?
>> Our operating budget.
[1:31:13] » Your operating budget. Okay. So, if for
some reason something happens and a
[1:31:19] couple of trees fell down by the school
and now the school's going to cost some,
[1:31:24] you know, additional things and
everything, you're going to pull that
[1:31:26] money out.
>> So, the school would have if trees fell
[1:31:30] down, the school would have insurance
which would pay for that.
[1:31:32] » Okay. Well, I mean, I'm hoping that now
we do,
[1:31:34] » right?
>> And everything, but you know, I we we
[1:31:37] need to know we need to know
>> where the money's going. Yep.
[1:31:41] » How it's going to be fed in if there's
problems.
[1:31:44] » Mhm.
>> And you know, we don't want taxes
[1:31:47] raised. And I know you said, "Oh, no.
We're not going to have that." Tax will
[1:31:50] always be
>> always go up. But what what bothered us
[1:31:55] was we're hearing, well, you know,
they're not going to pay taxes until 10
[1:32:00] years down the line. But yet, we're
going to be okay. And I'm just worried
[1:32:06] that we don't have a plan. And also the
second thing, well, first of all, I'm
[1:32:11] glad that Allenale has five pilots and
everything, but if they jump over the
[1:32:15] Washington Bridge, we don't need to go.
I'm just saying that.
[1:32:22] Um,
the the other thing too is for God's
[1:32:27] sake, uh, yeah, we have a CPA that's
going to check the books and and that's
[1:32:32] good. However, I looked up I learned
about the uh you know the pilot today
[1:32:39] and it says that really the best way to
go for any town is to work with the PFAF
[1:32:46] which is the local government services
that deal with pilots to make sure
[1:32:52] strict audits are in place. Now the big
concern and maybe that's what happened
[1:32:57] at Hackinack and what happened in these
other places was that I'm not saying
[1:33:03] this developer is going to do that but
they understated the revenue
[1:33:08] at one point and they also put in uh
inflated costs so that their pilot
[1:33:15] payment was less.
And if they jiggle the books and they
[1:33:20] hand it to the CPA and the CPA looks at
it and says, "Well, let's see. This adds
[1:33:24] up. That adds up. Oh, you're fine. We're
screwed."
[1:33:28] » So, you don't think a CPA who's a public
servant?
[1:33:31] » I think a CPA can do a lot of things,
but I also trust I I like to trust our
[1:33:35] government agencies.
>> So, let's ask Anna for a second. Anna,
[1:33:39] what what are the requirements for the
financial audits? Where do they have to
[1:33:43] go?
They they have to be um prepared by CPA
[1:33:46] and they are um authorized.
>> Okay. But what about the state getting
[1:33:51] involved too?
>> The state doesn't get involved.
[1:33:53] » Well, they should be because they have a
whole department for it.
[1:33:57] But have y'all knocked on the door at
least if they said, "Look, that's not
[1:34:01] our job. That's not what we do. Good
luck. You got it all in in par."
[1:34:08] their audited statement. So that the
state has prepared this legislation,
[1:34:13] right? The long-term
>> Yeah. In fact, they also made a new
[1:34:16] legislation that I don't know if you
heard about, but if it gets passed, your
[1:34:20] developer will have to send them the
report of their employees paychecks to
[1:34:26] make sure that what they're saying, oh,
I got, you know, 150,000 in cash here
[1:34:31] and everything. I got to pay my
employees.
[1:34:33] » Great.
>> That's actually what they get. and that
[1:34:35] gets passed. You should also make sure
that's in part of the contract, too,
[1:34:39] that they have to they will abide by
what the state says.
[1:34:43] » Just say,
>> "Well, they will. They will abide by all
[1:34:46] legal rules."
>> Well, I hope they do. And there's a
[1:34:49] process in place. I had a uncle promised
me he'd never drink. And then I found
[1:34:52] him on the side of the wall drinking at
his bottle here. But he promised me and
[1:34:58] he said he wasn't going to do it. But by
God, he drank it. means that wonder what
[1:35:03] happened to him.
>> Anyway, it's
[1:35:05] » hard to argue with a southern accent
like that.
[1:35:07] » Yeah,
>> I'm from San Antonio.
[1:35:11] » And uh you know, the thing is, you know,
I just want to make sure that when you
[1:35:16] go through the effort and you're going
to present it, you get all these people
[1:35:21] involved and we walk through and we
figure out that not only are we ready
[1:35:25] for this, but this is what we do if we
have problems. Because that's a biggie.
[1:35:30] I I I hope I hope that we can uh present
that at the next meeting and take the
[1:35:37] feedback and okay,
>> don't make me ruin my readers here and
[1:35:40] everything. I I
>> I don't want to have to be stepping in a
[1:35:44] lot of stuff I don't need to set into.
You know what I mean?
[1:35:47] » I think that interesting meeting. I
appreciate it.
[1:35:50] » Okay. So, that said, I'm going to go do
my twostep and sit down.
[1:35:54] » Thank you.
[1:36:02] That That's a hard one to follow, folks.
[1:36:10] » Hi, my name is Jackie. I just have a
genuine question. [clears throat] Just
[1:36:14] genuinely want to understand better. So,
please be compassionate. If there were
[1:36:18] kids who entered Crescent and somehow
were all in the same grade level, say
[1:36:22] they were in my daughter's grade level.
>> Yep. I I genuinely want to know where
[1:36:27] and the teachers went to the principal
to the superintendent said, "Hey,
[1:36:30] listen. We we need another teacher for
this grade level." Where would that what
[1:36:34] what would be the thought of where that
money would come from? The school board
[1:36:38] just combined my daughter's grade level,
cut a teacher, can't afford to hire
[1:36:43] another teacher.
>> They're down. They're combined. My
[1:36:46] daughter's class just went from 14 kids
to 22 23. There's only two second grade
[1:36:52] teachers now at her school.
they shifted things around to
[1:36:56] accommodate other grade levels, whatever
was going on that I'm not privy to. But
[1:37:00] I I if for some reason, you know, and
then people come, people go and they all
[1:37:05] end up being in a grade level, you know,
what are the odds? But and the board
[1:37:09] came to you and said, "Hey, we need some
money to hire a new teacher or I what
[1:37:13] would that process look like? What would
happen there?"
[1:37:16] » So, I I can't speak for what the board
of education would do, but I I imagine
[1:37:21] this is what the process would look like
a little bit, right? Right? So, they
[1:37:24] have a cap of what they're allowed to
raise taxes every year, 2%. If it came
[1:37:29] to their um knowledge that they needed
another teacher in a certain grade,
[1:37:33] either they're going to reallocate
resources or if they need to go over and
[1:37:38] above that 2% cap, they need to apply
for a waiver. I forget what the name is.
[1:37:42] Um President Maro and I think C um um
Trusty Frey talked about what that
[1:37:48] process was to go over that cap. If they
go over that cap, they could get
[1:37:52] approved. So if that were to go over
that, then the increase in tax would
[1:37:56] fall to the to the burrow to accommodate
an additional expense.
[1:38:00] » Okay. So then, right, that would have
>> right. So an additional teacher we
[1:38:03] talked about earlier, right? About
$15,000,
[1:38:06] » right? So they would so they the the
programs wouldn't work together. They
[1:38:11] would kind of be on their board of ed
would kind of be on their own to do what
[1:38:14] they would
>> board would have to make up their
[1:38:15] budget. They would they would create
their budget. if they passed their
[1:38:19] budget, it would get submitted to the to
the um to the town and we would have to
[1:38:23] pay it.
>> Is there a provision like the pilot
[1:38:25] program that says, "Hey, this Waldo
specifically would be out there, but we
[1:38:29] we can siphon off a small for
emergencies for the school system." Is
[1:38:34] there, you know, I know somebody had
said that it's not part of it or it's
[1:38:38] it's, you know, not something that they
do, but is there something in there
[1:38:41] where it's like, you know, this this
could happen? Well, listen, there
[1:38:44] there's always things that this Burrow
and the Board of Education have done
[1:38:48] together.
We share services with them. We pay for
[1:38:54] SLEOs in part for for the for the board
of education. So, there's always ways to
[1:38:59] help the board of education or to do
other things that are not part of the
[1:39:03] budget. So, why sit here and say that we
can put that in a piece of paper on the
[1:39:07] pilot? No, because it doesn't belong
there legally. But can we do something
[1:39:11] to help the board of education in a
couple years? Absolutely. We always
[1:39:14] have.
>> You know, when there's when when the
[1:39:18] construction happened to do all that, we
waved every single permit fee.
[1:39:21] » Sure.
>> Right. That takes money out of the
[1:39:23] taxpayers's pockets to pay for that.
Yep. [clears throat]
[1:39:25] » Right. That's not free. Um so that
happened, right? If if we cut the grass
[1:39:29] at Trap Hagen, if our DPW guys do that,
that's not free. That that costs that
[1:39:34] cost money to do that. They we utilize
the same gas service that's paid for by
[1:39:38] by the council. That's not free. That
happens. The sle aren't free. That
[1:39:42] happens. So, these are things that that
we do in conjunction with the board of
[1:39:46] ed. And we would always help the board
of ed. Now, our kids, too. My kid goes
[1:39:49] to Waldwick High School. Uh Mike has
kids here, but not here. Katie might
[1:39:55] have kids someday. Councilman uh
Councilwoman Smith had a kid that went
[1:39:59] through the the program. Councilman
Breck has grandkids that probably go
[1:40:02] through the program. Councilman Windgate
has people in the program. So, we all
[1:40:08] want the schools to be funded for sure,
>> right?
[1:40:11] » Um, and we'll always work with the
school,
[1:40:13] » right? There, you know, that was a draw
of us moving to Waldo. Has, is there a
[1:40:16] way for us to know if the board of ed
reached out for for the upcoming school
[1:40:20] year of, you know, they said that they
couldn't
[1:40:22] » listen the the upcoming school year has
nothing to do with a redevelopment or a
[1:40:26] pilot at this point, right? And uh um uh
coun um board of ed president Maro at
[1:40:34] the last meeting that we had said they
already had a 1.9 million budget problem
[1:40:37] for next year. He said that publicly.
Right. So that's already a shortfall and
[1:40:42] we haven't even talked about pilots or
anything else yet.
[1:40:45] » Right. Right.
>> So it's more work to be done.
[1:40:48] » Okay. All right. Thank you.
>> I'm going to come because I'm on the
[1:40:53] education portion of this too. So hi,
I'm Lisa Brown. I am a teacher. Um,
[1:40:59] » and I am in a district and a town where
a pilot program right now has caused a
[1:41:05] bit of a struggle. So, I have some
experience on what's happening. So, I'm
[1:41:08] going to give you some scenarios to to
think about. Um, so actually the best
[1:41:13] case scenario would be if we had 20
kids, they all went to one class and you
[1:41:16] had to hire one teacher. The worst case
scenario is you get 25 30 kids that you
[1:41:23] then have to place three kids in this
class, four kids in this class, two kids
[1:41:27] in this class, five kids in this class
into classes that have already been like
[1:41:32] that person before me was saying
combined. So now not you don't have to
[1:41:36] hire one teacher, you have to hire five
teachers because you've now filled these
[1:41:40] classes so full that they can't sustain
them and you have to split them. So,
[1:41:46] that's some food for thought. Um, when I
was doing some pilot research, not only
[1:41:50] for my district, but for um tonight, I
did read that there are some places um
[1:41:56] that have advanced ordinances to
permanently dedicate portions of pilot
[1:42:02] revenue to public school
infrastructures, capital funds. Now, I
[1:42:06] know capital funds, they have to use
them for certain things, but they can
[1:42:09] move it in ways that they can do that um
you know, that gets approved, etc., etc.
[1:42:15] So, um, and then I also learned that
there is a Senate bill, which I heard
[1:42:20] someone address over here, um, that I
did not have a chance to read, but I'm
[1:42:24] encouraging all of you to read it to
maybe we can get ideas from that to get
[1:42:28] ahead of this kind of problem, which is
a very real problem. And if we are
[1:42:34] already seeing
not just Waldick but every school
[1:42:38] district in all of New Jersey is
suffering um from budget problems
[1:42:43] because of the rising cost of health
benefits costs that we cannot control.
[1:42:48] Um we really need to get ahead of we
need to get ahead of this. So um by
[1:42:54] reading into what things have been
proposed um I really think we need an
[1:42:59] agreement in place to protect the
schools. I think it's great that we say
[1:43:02] we've done it in the past. We've helped
them. And I'm not saying that to be
[1:43:05] sarcastic, Joe. Right.
>> I it is it's wonderful. But
[1:43:09] » the problem that we're having um under
this pilot is not only is the school
[1:43:15] going to the town, the police department
is going to the town. Everyone is now
[1:43:19] going and saying, "Well, we need some of
this pilot money." So, if you don't look
[1:43:22] at it ahead of time and say exactly how
many kids are in each classroom, exactly
[1:43:28] how many officers do we have to patrol
these areas, exactly how much, if you're
[1:43:33] not really digging into those numbers
and looking at what extraund and
[1:43:37] something people, 20 kids in each class,
if you're not looking at those real
[1:43:41] numbers, it's it is going to come back
and it's going to be a problem, right?
[1:43:45] » Um, so from my understanding is that
there is no agreement reached with the
[1:43:50] board of ed right now. That's correct.
>> Correct. Okay. So, I highly encourage
[1:43:54] you, please, please, please, please look
into that.
[1:43:57] » Make, you know, really dig into real
actual numbers, not um hypotheticals.
[1:44:04] Find out how many kids are in each
classroom. Find out how many, you know,
[1:44:08] what what the limitations are. I don't
know how many kids can be in a class in
[1:44:13] this district. I haven't read their
contract. I don't know what their
[1:44:16] guidelines are. Um, but those are very
real scenarios that are going to come up
[1:44:20] really fast.
>> So, you did say that you fund 100% of
[1:44:26] the budget. Correct. So, that's the
approved budget. Correct.
[1:44:29] » Correct.
>> So, these people who like people who
[1:44:31] come in after and like she was saying,
catastrophes and things that happen,
[1:44:35] those are not budgeted things. So, that
would leave the school in a bigger
[1:44:40] shortfall than they all are already in.
So if we get 40 kids who come in that
[1:44:45] were not budgeted for, even if you are
saying to us you're going to pay 100% of
[1:44:51] what was budgeted for, that still leaves
those 25 kids or 40 kids, whoever showed
[1:44:56] up at the door that were not budgeted
for that you're not taking into account
[1:45:01] for.
>> Well, I I I'd say a couple things there.
[1:45:04] So one, those kids are not coming in
tomorrow, right? So for approved budget
[1:45:09] for 202627 school year if I would
imagine that they the board of ed would
[1:45:15] look at their budget when that pilot was
or that building was close to being
[1:45:19] developed and take into account the
potential for increased students and
[1:45:23] take that into their budget. I I'd also
point to the fact that our enrollment is
[1:45:29] is still below what it was 3 years ago
and even if we took 30 kids and added in
[1:45:33] we'd still be below the enrollment of
where we were 3 years ago. And during
[1:45:38] those 3 years, the budget still
continued to go up. So I'd argue that
[1:45:41] it's not proportional, right? So
enrollment came down a little bit. So
[1:45:45] maybe um you know, there's something
there that uh that doesn't add up to
[1:45:51] what the budget is coming back to. I
think that the board of ed has been
[1:45:55] responsible and always increasing to
their cap every year so they can keep
[1:45:59] bringing in as much dollars as possible,
which is what they should do. Um so I
[1:46:03] applaud them for that 100%.
But it's not directly proportional to
[1:46:08] the number of students. If I look at
that, the number of students that coming
[1:46:11] down, even if I go back 10 years, it's
probably even less as more kids. I think
[1:46:15] when our kids graduated, the the class
was was bigger than what they are now.
[1:46:19] Um, so if it's not proportional, how do
I do that? And you hit that nail on the
[1:46:24] head when you said it's coming from the
state and the state health insurance.
[1:46:29] And you I'm telling everybody here, all
of our voters, if the state doesn't do
[1:46:33] something to change that health program,
all small towns, all of the same trouble
[1:46:40] that we are, and they're going to all be
scrambling to do stuff, whether more
[1:46:45] shared services or whatnot that come of
it, but the state needs to do something
[1:46:49] to give all of us some relief. It's it's
a fact.
[1:46:53] » Yeah.
>> Governor Cheryl needs to do something
[1:46:55] today.
>> I I do have a question. Is our board
[1:46:58] actively uh or council, I'm sorry, I'm
I'm usually a little bit our council,
[1:47:02] are you actively petitioning the state
in any way about on that topic about um
[1:47:07] health benefits for town?
>> A resolution after the last meeting?
[1:47:11] » Yes. Okay, good. Thank you. Um uh okay
so on a different note um
[1:47:19] I also learned that
well so you mentioned several businesses
[1:47:24] that are not surviving or are are are
empty uh I don't have I'll I'll just say
[1:47:29] right aid odyssey etc etc over and over
again so when I was doing my research as
[1:47:34] to what the benefits for a developer was
like what why would they want to pilot
[1:47:39] it said that
they get protection ction from market
[1:47:43] downturns because pilot payments are
frequently calculated as a percentage of
[1:47:48] actual rental revenue. The developer's
tax liability drops if the building
[1:47:53] suffers from vacancy.
Is that is that true what I what I
[1:47:58] learned? And what are we doing to
protect ourselves if that is the case?
[1:48:03] Since we can't already fill the
businesses that we have, what if that
[1:48:07] they're open, they have six businesses
that they can't fill. What are we doing
[1:48:11] to safeguard
>> our town
[1:48:19] about the redevelopment? I mean the
retail is a small portion of that
[1:48:23] development. First of all, it's like how
many square feet? I can't 4,000 ft of
[1:48:28] retail space.
>> So the majority of the building is um
[1:48:32] lease rent apartments and condo and town
houses. So the taking the experience
[1:48:38] from what has happened at the station
across the way, it's fully occupied. We
[1:48:43] anticipate that those rentals will be
fully occupied as well. And and that's
[1:48:48] what's in in the agreement. As far as
the retail, great point. We don't know
[1:48:53] how quickly that retail will be filled.
And I don't know what's in the uh
[1:48:57] protections in the redevelopment plan
for around those percentages. I don't
[1:49:00] know if Anna, if you could look into
that or come back to us on that.
[1:49:03] » I can look into that. But one of the um
there's 5,000 total square ft of retail,
[1:49:09] but one is already an existing barber
shop. So, it is a very small portion,
[1:49:15] but I can look into that would be
helpful because I I do think that's a
[1:49:19] very um viable I mean, that's we we've
we've seen in town that we have a hard
[1:49:25] time and it's not just our town. You
drive through Richwood, there's space
[1:49:29] after space after space that's open any
town, every town around us. So for us to
[1:49:34] imagine and and pretend that they're
just going to fill up and give us all
[1:49:39] this money, I think that as an
assumption is a dangerous one to um to
[1:49:43] use towards the um
>> so we Yeah. So we you know I I think
[1:49:47] it's it's I'd love to hear your
feedback. We were really trying to
[1:49:51] envision a scenario where, you know,
from end to end on Prospect, we had
[1:49:56] retail that kind of matched across the
street. Um, you know, to to to do two
[1:50:02] things. One, diversify kind of what's
down there, but but two, uh, avoid kind
[1:50:07] of the overcrowding of of the
apartments. So, um I hear your concerns
[1:50:12] about the retail, but uh the alternative
is to just put apartments there and
[1:50:17] that's going to only increase the number
of people, students potential, and then
[1:50:22] it's just going to it's going to chop
up, you know, kind of what I think we're
[1:50:25] trying to achieve with this kind of
quaint downtown uh view. So, uh I'm for
[1:50:31] the record, I'm I'm all for it. In a
perfect world with my I am all with you.
[1:50:35] I would love to. And some of you
probably even saw my comments on
[1:50:38] Facebook when I was talking to whatever
the giant market that's whatever the
[1:50:42] market is now saying, you know, they
need to get what we want in that store.
[1:50:48] They need to listen to us as, you know,
town folk cuz I really um I had high
[1:50:53] hopes for them and I do. So I I'm I'm
with you. I hope it takes off. But
[1:50:57] having
experienced it firsthand in this
[1:51:01] district that I am in and seeing when
they did not do due diligence and ask
[1:51:06] the questions that I'm asking, nobody
asks in our town. And all of a sudden
[1:51:10] everybody's like, "Well, everyone has
their hand out asking for that pilot
[1:51:13] money." And the town council is now
saying, "Well, how do we figure out who
[1:51:16] we're giving it to?" So, you need to
figure out the plan of who you're going
[1:51:20] to give it to and how you're going to
give it to them before you just
[1:51:22] blanketly say yes to this builder.
One of the things that the develop the
[1:51:26] um financial advisor did was do a
performer, right? So take the potential
[1:51:31] income to the bureau and do an analysis
of what would be the percentage of
[1:51:36] additional operating cost that we might
have and take that away as our potential
[1:51:41] benefit. So if uh the chief came to us
and said I need to add another officer
[1:51:45] because of all this or DPW needed
additional um services for whatnot and
[1:51:51] we factored that into what the uh and
they came and presented that on
[1:51:56] » and I I I just didn't understand it so I
want to clarify at some point you were
[1:52:00] talking about later in the agreement the
town gets a higher amount of money
[1:52:07] » right
>> um when does that happen like is it
[1:52:10] » I can't share that now. that's still out
there. But at some point in the
[1:52:14] agreement, there's a comparison done to
what number is higher, the percentage of
[1:52:19] revenue that we would get according to
the pilot program versus the percentage
[1:52:24] of conventional tax. So you would get
the higher of those two.
[1:52:28] » But does that only kick in after 20
years, 25 years
[1:52:32] » in the in the in the uh agreement? I
can't share that yet.
[1:52:35] » Okay. because I think that's a very
important number because if we let it go
[1:52:37] on for 20 years or 25 years then we're
going to be losing.
[1:52:41] » Yeah.
>> Um I think that's it. Can I come back if
[1:52:44] I go through my papers?
>> Sure.
[1:52:59] » Hi Scott Wiselle Sheran Avenue. Um first
I want to thank all the public servants.
[1:53:04] I know that times like this it's it's
not always easy. Um just a lot of
[1:53:08] concern about what's happening in our
community right now. So I do have a
[1:53:12] statement um and I do want to maybe
correct some of the record that was
[1:53:17] spoke about here a little bit earlier.
Two things. First, I'm for this
[1:53:20] development, right? I believe we need
it. I think our town needs to be
[1:53:24] revitalized in a lot of different ways.
Um it's aging and we have some needs in
[1:53:29] infrastructure.
Second, I'm an engineer. I sit on the
[1:53:34] owner's side. I do redevelopment. I do I
sit in front of planning boards. I talk
[1:53:38] to to planning boards all the time.
[clears throat] And uh I know what
[1:53:44] developers are asking for, right?
Because I sit in front of engineers,
[1:53:48] contractors, and understand the asks.
[1:53:54] I'm here about the tax break though,
right? the tax break. That may sound
[1:54:00] simple in some regards and complex in
others.
[1:54:05] I just want to make sure it's necessary.
I think that's all the public really
[1:54:10] wants to understand. Why is it
necessary?
[1:54:14] And here's the ask in plain terms.
The developer wants to make the most
[1:54:20] amount of money that they can. I want to
do that when I'm sitting on developer
[1:54:25] side. My job is to maximize profits.
I put $100 million request into my CFO
[1:54:32] and I'm putting 10% on top of that
number. So numbers up front aren't
[1:54:36] always correct. Sometimes that balloons
to 120. Sometimes it's 20% less. Those
[1:54:43] numbers are fudgeable up front.
We won't know until those numbers
[1:54:48] actually become reality. And we're
become we're entering into a pilot
[1:54:52] without knowing all the true numbers.
There's some interesting things in the
[1:54:58] developers agreement that I I think the
the town for answering my
[1:55:02] [clears throat] my Oprah request.
They're paying
[1:55:09] in in in in
the benefit of the developer. They're
[1:55:14] putting about 35% upfront, right? That's
roughly about $10 million they're
[1:55:19] putting into development cash up front.
The remainder they're looking to
[1:55:23] finance.
One of the three finance firms that or
[1:55:28] banks that put said they would finance
it said that they would not do without
[1:55:32] the pilot. The others were absent in
speaking about that. Now those are
[1:55:37] non-binding letters. I understand all
that. But it doesn't mean that the pilot
[1:55:41] can't the pilot is necessary, right? So
there are options out there still and
[1:55:46] we're just asking for that to be proven.
There are some numbers inside that just
[1:55:52] don't make any sense. Right? So
numbers are expressed in three different
[1:55:58] ways and three different documents in
the application.
[1:56:04] One at 16.9 million for the bank source.
[cough]
[1:56:08] 18.1 for employment in the employment
exhibit and 18.5 million in the
[1:56:14] architect certification for costs.
can't have it all three different ways,
[1:56:20] right? So, there's just numbers there
that just don't make any sense.
[1:56:26] There's also the developer fee at 1.57%
which is really low. So, comparatively
[1:56:33] industry somewhere between 3 and 5% for
redevelopers fees.
[1:56:43] The burrow assumingly hired an expert to
look at this because the documents show
[1:56:49] that the bureau had made some comments
to it. I haven't seen that document yet
[1:56:55] what was sent. I'd love to see that and
what was asked for, but where's our
[1:57:00] certification or our financial
statements or our financial study?
[1:57:06] I'd like to see that released before
there's any vote or another meeting on
[1:57:11] this. I'd like to build a model and
demonstrate what is inside those numbers
[1:57:17] and to some degree I have but I can't do
it without seeing the numbers.
[1:57:23] I asked for several things. Um there is
January 17th, 2024 the law passed that
[1:57:31] we can share with the schools, right? So
I just want to put that on the record.
[1:57:34] there is an opportunity to share with
the schools.
[1:57:38] 69% of the school pro 69% of our tax
basis goes to the schools,
[1:57:45] right? Just pure logical math. The
remaining 31% 5% goes to the town or the
[1:57:51] county and the 95% goes to the school
after the pilot.
[1:57:55] How is our tax not going to go up
according to this? Just be based on back
[1:58:00] of number back of the napkin numbers.
It's somewhere between $500 and $1,000
[1:58:05] per house when you do the numbers with
the numbers that are out there right
[1:58:08] now. I'm not saying that that is the
case. Those are just hypothetical until
[1:58:14] everything's agreed to and we see the
real numbers. But there are other
[1:58:17] developments that are being reconsidered
here. Two months ago, the plant the
[1:58:21] board had approved redevelopment of two
other parcels over here.
[1:58:27] what we're doing here today. Significant
tax burden relief off of the community.
[1:58:33] And last piece, I ask that you guys show
us your numbers.
[1:58:37] I would love to to see that. I'd like to
produce the results, share it with the
[1:58:41] community.
And again, remember what we do here
[1:58:44] today is just setting precedent for the
rest of the redevelopment.
[1:58:48] Thank you. CAN I
[1:58:56] could I just ask could I just ask that
uh you share those numbers? I uh I think
[1:59:01] that that's exactly the financial
analysis I was talking about earlier.
[1:59:05] Not not being condescending, but if you
could email that to us, I think that
[1:59:09] would be really helpful. I think yours
>> first.
[1:59:14] That's not how it works. That's not how
it works.
[1:59:17] That's not how it works. So we we can't
share those numbers with you yet, right?
[1:59:22] Once we before a vote would happen,
those numbers would be made public to
[1:59:26] everyone. We can't share those yet with
with you according to legal counsel.
[1:59:32] » Yeah, I understand it can't be shared
yet, right? But um I share my numbers.
[1:59:37] If the developer looks at that,
>> they have an opportunity to rebuttle it
[1:59:42] before there's any conversation or any
proof. So we need financial statement to
[1:59:46] actually look at
>> the way it'll work is the financial
[1:59:49] advisor will come they'll give a
presentation that's introduction you'll
[1:59:54] have a month to then review those
numbers throw them into your model is it
[1:59:59] a month it's about a month right
this before you actually
[2:00:04] » we only need once we only meet once a
month now till the end of the year so
[2:00:07] practically speaking you'll have a month
to review those numbers provide feedback
[2:00:12] put them into your model Um, you know,
but this is not a gotcha moment. If you
[2:00:17] have information that can help us make a
decision, I'd advocate that you give
[2:00:21] that to us. Now, I wasn't being
condescending. I was asking if if if
[2:00:25] there are people out there that believe
with an analysis that this is going to
[2:00:29] change things, share it. We will
consider it. I I I promise you that.
[2:00:34] But, um, but yeah, the at at I don't
know if it's the next meeting or the
[2:00:37] meeting after, there'll be a
presentation from the adviserss full on.
[2:00:41] you'll have a month to throw it in and
then you'll have an opportunity to come
[2:00:45] back um uh with that information to uh
to then speak again.
[2:00:50] » Yeah. So, hasn't there's been like me or
Councilman Bren sitting there doing
[2:00:55] these numbers? We're paying financial
adviserss to do this work and they have
[2:00:59] done some of the things that you're
suggesting already, you know, uh and
[2:01:02] going through the model and figuring out
what is feasible, what's not and doing
[2:01:07] those calculations. Maybe you're better
at it than they are. I don't know. But
[2:01:11] these are the the the adviserss that we
have hired professionals that are doing
[2:01:14] the service for this.
>> Yeah. I'm not I'm not attacking your
[2:01:16] adviserss. Um there's just questions
around it, right? And we would just ask
[2:01:21] that I mean those those comments from
your adviserss I don't think are subject
[2:01:26] to the negotiations at this point. The
performance already been produced.
[2:01:30] There's already records out there that
says that they've taken some of your
[2:01:34] comments into consideration. I would
just ask what those comments were. There
[2:01:38] had been a sidebar study in order to
make those comments. Right? So there's
[2:01:42] some record out there of a study on the
performer and they had to they had to
[2:01:48] produce a parallel perform in order to
make those comments.
[2:01:52] » Yeah, I'm I'm sure. Yeah, they have.
Right. Then we're told we can't give
[2:01:58] that out yet.
>> Yeah, they have. But the financial
[2:02:01] agreement is not um
>> I'm not I'm not asking for the financial
[2:02:04] agreement,
>> but that goes into it. So it cannot be
[2:02:07] re released at this point yet.
>> But the performers are released.
[2:02:11] » That was the pilot application and that
was included in there, but it's not a
[2:02:15] final document. That's just their
application what they're showing.
[2:02:20] » So they're they're intending to amend
the port for
[2:02:24] » I don't know once the financial
agreement if there are going to be
[2:02:29] amendments to the pilot application,
they can amend it.
[2:02:32] » Okay.
Thank you. And I think to your point
[2:02:37] about the the legality of whether we can
or can't pay the school, I'm not a
[2:02:42] lawyer, so I I I rely on these I rely on
these.
[2:02:45] » That law did not pass.
>> Yeah.
[2:02:47] » Yeah.
>> 1807 is not passed yet.
[2:02:52] » Not even a corresponding assembly bill.
It's not even out of committee.
[2:02:56] » So, uh, the law I'm specifically
referring to passed on January 16th,
[2:03:01] 2024.
It is
[2:03:09] C18 A 7G 151A
[2:03:15] C18
A col 7G
[2:03:21] 151A
an amended PL 2023.
[2:03:27] I'm more than happy to share that with
the council.
[2:03:29] » I'd appreciate that.
>> Thank you.
[2:03:38] How you doing? Uh Dan Mel Vet President,
I just want a clear fact that because
[2:03:42] they were at our meeting yesterday, our
waiver cannot be for staff. Our waiver
[2:03:47] is for insurance.
>> Yeah, that's why I said I can't speak
[2:03:49] for you on that.
>> Yeah. Well, I I I just want to make it
[2:03:52] out there because I'm trying to stay off
the internet. You both I'm having a good
[2:03:56] 6 months.
>> Um that we can only apply for a waiver
[2:03:59] for insurance. No, hocus just did it,
but they went for maintenance, staff,
[2:04:04] electric. They they built everything in.
That's why they had to go out for a
[2:04:08] vote.
>> Got it.
[2:04:09] » Insurance is a waiver, not staff.
>> Thank you, sir.
[2:04:21] » Is that all?
>> Anyone else?
[2:04:28] something different than
>> fantastic. Come on up.
[2:04:37] You know
>> there's no order
[2:04:39] » just to keep the subject going. So uh my
name is Manuelina Maggie for short for
[2:04:44] you know to keep it short. I just wanted
to ask again about the parking situation
[2:04:50] by the train station. I know we're going
through this. I'm not, you know, telling
[2:04:55] you that the price is too high or not.
It is just something different that
[2:04:59] haven't been done in the town for a very
long time. Since July 1st, the effective
[2:05:06] rate went in for Dallas a day. Uh the
signs are, by the way, still off, just
[2:05:11] so you know. And the app is really
annoying to have it when you're parking
[2:05:16] there 5, you know, 9 to 7 to have a
notification at 10:00 a.m. 10 p.m. that
[2:05:21] the parking expires because you guys are
putting the parking on the lot from I
[2:05:28] think 9 to 10 or whatever that might be.
Uh the side parking is still enforced 5
[2:05:33] to 5 Monday through Friday, which again
the app is now reflecting that. Still
[2:05:39] not sure where you guys were at the
process. Not sure how many of you
[2:05:43] commute to the city or take the train on
a daily basis. The parking lot has not
[2:05:48] seen much of an increase. It is the
summer month. So I would just ask again
[2:05:54] for the residents for our benefit of
commuting to the city to have option of
[2:06:00] an annual pass. Increase it. I
understand 250 a year is too low. I
[2:06:06] understand there's maintenance. You guys
are leasing the lot from New Jersey.
[2:06:11] You're making the roof and as you know
commuters to the city, there's enough
[2:06:17] room as we saw before. It's 70% utilized
regardless if it's mess or annual
[2:06:24] parking uh permits. Let's combine them.
Think about it. Drop it down. The people
[2:06:30] that are on the list have them the first
come first- serve basis. You had said
[2:06:34] council that not everybody commit 5 days
a week. So there is room for moving and
[2:06:39] getting extra revenue for a daily
parking for those that don't commute
[2:06:44] every day and those that do not have a
parking permit. Towns around us have a
[2:06:49] combination of both. And if they want to
be getting revenue, I think we should be
[2:06:54] competitive with them in terms of having
the opportunity for the residents not to
[2:06:59] pay $1,000 to park for a parking lot
that we already pay about $370
[2:07:05] a month for commute to the city if
you're working every month. You know,
[2:07:09] every month you have to pay for the
parking. So just my request, think about
[2:07:13] it. Think about the community what it
will do. And also people take the train
[2:07:17] over at the weekend with their kids,
whatever. Not. I understand. But put it,
[2:07:22] you know, 5 to 5 or something. Put it on
a Saturday. Have a Sunday free. Let the
[2:07:27] people go and enjoy it. Have everybody
enjoy an opportunity to explore for the
[2:07:32] kids especially. Cuz now if you have to
walk with the kid or park, you know,
[2:07:36] $12. Yes. You say $4 a day is not a lot.
But if you add it up over 52 weeks, 5
[2:07:42] days a week, that's $1,000 going from
250. And I have not given notification
[2:07:48] from you. the council or from the city
that there are going to be changes. You
[2:07:53] guys have been postponing the permits
from last year. We had six months for
[2:07:59] free. Why? We had, you know, a very
short notice of a month that is going to
[2:08:04] be turned into a parking by a day. And I
also wanted to express I've emailed the
[2:08:09] council first time on June 2nd just the
mayor and Miss Kelly on June 12th. more
[2:08:16] of you people I have not even received a
response of thank you we'll look into it
[2:08:21] I do not need answers I just want to
express to have let's think about the
[2:08:25] community about the commuters that
already are paying the New Jersey
[2:08:29] transit
>> fee sorry did you say you emailed all
[2:08:31] all of us
>> yes I emailed you I didn't email Miss
[2:08:34] Tatiana I emailed the mayor and I
emailed Mr. Kelly and Mr. Joe, Miss
[2:08:39] Kathy, I believe, too.
>> I'm so sorry. I missed that. Yeah.
[2:08:42] » Well, Dana was so I would assume you
might have ignored it for reasons. One,
[2:08:48] it's been twice.
>> I respond to every email that comes. I I
[2:08:51] » No, please check June 12th.
>> I will. I will.
[2:08:54] » Thank you,
>> Becky. I just want to mention that
[2:08:56] today's um ordinances that were
introduced are tweaking the hours um
[2:09:01] that you're referring to. So, there will
be free parking and I'm I'm um uh is it
[2:09:06] the lot or street side on Sundays? I
don't have those notes in front of me.
[2:09:09] So, the street side parking will be free
on Mondays. Okay. Uh I'm sorry, Sunday.
[2:09:13] Sundays.
>> So, you know, and we took that into
[2:09:16] account for community events down at the
train station. Um just like you said,
[2:09:20] families going into the, you know, into
um into the city. And uh and we and we
[2:09:25] understand, we've been monitoring very
closely, I think, um to give it a fair
[2:09:29] shot. Um, we need to look at the summer
months, but we need to look at the fall
[2:09:32] months as well. We are getting a lot of
people um, showing up, but whatever
[2:09:36] problems you have with the app, let us
know. We're not aware of anything.
[2:09:38] » That's not the problem. It's just that
you have set up the time up to 10:00
[2:09:42] p.m. So, if I pay a daily fee cuz I
commute, I take the 8:37 train and I
[2:09:49] come back 7:02. The app still goes,
right? So, it's the app. So, because the
[2:09:53] parking is till 10:00 and again, why is
it till 10:00? people do not leave the
[2:09:58] town at 700 p.m. and even if they do
they're coming later. So, you've uh one
[2:10:04] of the emails and I'm not it's it was
the street parking. Sorry. But yes, uh
[2:10:08] the street parking has increments of 2
hours, I believe. Uh the main parking
[2:10:12] lot is not it's just $4 a daily parking
rate. But why are we making it till 10
[2:10:17] p.m.? Why? Why? Like who's going out and
you know on the train? People commute in
[2:10:25] the morning, not at night.
>> Right. The thought on that is that there
[2:10:28] are um people in the community um that
may be using the lot for uh parking or
[2:10:32] overflow parking. So, um that's
something that we had to consider and
[2:10:37] and keep in mind as well. So, um we did
we we really did try to take a holistic
[2:10:41] look at at everything that's going on
and and I understand that a change like
[2:10:44] that, you know, affects um families and
that's not the intent, but what we're
[2:10:48] really trying to man manage is that that
there's a need there. Um and we continue
[2:10:53] to hear that need every day up until um
July 1. So we know um and and the
[2:10:58] difficult part for us would be we have
so many uh yearly committed residents um
[2:11:02] and non-residents you know you you know
it was open to both um and to be able to
[2:11:06] decide who um has precedence over the
others was uh was going to be an near
[2:11:11] impossible task. So
>> I know I've been there last year so you
[2:11:16] know it's not utilized and I should
think I think we should find a medium
[2:11:21] for both.
>> We'll continue to look. Thank you.
[2:11:26] Uh Jeffrey Rodoff. So I actually um
thought I wasn't going to say anything
[2:11:31] tonight because I was trying to keep the
comment about come listen with an open
[2:11:36] mind take in and I was really trying to
do that and I still am. So I'm not going
[2:11:40] to comment anything on the pilot because
I'm still taking in all of this
[2:11:44] information. But thank you for having
this discussion. I would welcome more
[2:11:46] opportunities for this um you know
things where I could ask questions. I
[2:11:51] felt a little weird asking questions now
because there's so many people here, but
[2:11:53] I welcome that. But since we started
talking about parking, um I figured I
[2:11:57] would jump on that bandwagon as well. I
have been uh had a parking permit since
[2:12:04] 2005 at this point. Um and uh it's it's
definitely a change to not have a
[2:12:11] parking permit. And um so far I've
adjusted by um getting a ride to the
[2:12:17] train every day. And I don't know if
that's one of the um goals of this is to
[2:12:22] drive down some of the people who were
using permits um to change their
[2:12:26] behaviors. If so, success, you know, I
have now drive driven that down. Um I
[2:12:32] will say I am not opposed in theory to
it being higher than it was. like if to
[2:12:38] the extent the concern was that it was
charged too far below market rates and
[2:12:42] and you know we needed an opportunity to
address that, I'm open to to hearing and
[2:12:47] having that conversation. Um, as you
might imagine, this is a topic of
[2:12:51] conversation for a lot of the people who
commute into the city. Um, and I've
[2:12:54] heard a number of different concerns
about this and and what it would do. Um,
[2:12:59] certainly the hours that was just talked
about by the person before uh was a
[2:13:04] common concern. It ranged from I don't
need that many hours to I want to go to
[2:13:08] a Nick game and I'm not going to be home
by 10:00 and so what do I do in that
[2:13:12] situation? So they're definitely, you
know, like the fact of the set hours um
[2:13:18] that you're doing it is not flexible
enough for some some people. Um I would
[2:13:24] if there is an option for a blended
approach of permits and and the park
[2:13:30] mobile, I would highly encourage that.
Um I certainly um understand that there
[2:13:36] is you know the situation we were before
where people felt like they could never
[2:13:40] get a chance to park. You know it was
was less than optimal. At the same time
[2:13:44] you know having a permit is really
beneficial for a number of reasons. Not
[2:13:49] the least of which I am 100% convinced
at some point during this year if I do
[2:13:52] this I'm going to forget to pay park
mobile and then I'm going to get a
[2:13:56] ticket and then I'm going to feel like
an idiot and it will be my fault. But
[2:13:59] nevertheless, I'm trying to avoid
situations like this. I also suspect
[2:14:04] there are a certain number of people
because I've talked to them who are
[2:14:07] saying I'm just going to get a ride to
down to the train. And so you're losing
[2:14:11] revenue on those people. You're losing
revenue on me. I would pay more. I would
[2:14:15] be glad to pay more for the privilege of
having the permit that I've had since
[2:14:19] 2005 or at least putting my name into a
an opportunity to get that. So, I know
[2:14:24] that it's not completely uncommon to
have a parking lot where there are some
[2:14:28] permits and some park mobile. To the
extent that could be um thought I would
[2:14:34] considered, I would encourage it. And
again, just to be also very flex
[2:14:38] flexible thinking about the hours. I
know you said there were some tweaks. I
[2:14:41] didn't fully appreciate what the tweaks
are. Um but yes, there are people who
[2:14:45] use it after 10. There were people who
will use it before. And so, uh thinking
[2:14:49] of ways to in include that. Jeeoff, I
just want to give you one piece of
[2:14:53] information. I think one of the goals
was that we had oversold the number of
[2:14:58] permits for the lots that were there,
for units that were there. It was like
[2:15:01] 120 spots and we had sold 150 permits
and it still was underutilized and we
[2:15:07] still had a waiting list of anotherund
and something people or 80 something
[2:15:10] people that were not allowed to park in
the lot because we had already oversold
[2:15:16] the spots that were there. So correct,
>> the objective was how can we free up
[2:15:22] spots so that the people on the waiting
list can also use those spots. I don't
[2:15:27] know
>> because of our lease agreement,
[2:15:29] whatever. I'll I'll we can go back and
look at it if we're allowed to aortion
[2:15:34] that and say half the lot's going to be
permitted and half is not. I don't know
[2:15:38] if we're allowed to do that. I'd have to
ask and see if that's even a viable
[2:15:41] option. But at that point, how do you
come up with out of the 150 people who
[2:15:45] have already had those permits like
yourself, how do you come up with the 60
[2:15:50] who are going to get it going forward?
>> One one thing I would think of off to
[2:15:54] the top of my head, I mean, first of
all, I will say again, as someone who
[2:15:57] has commuted in that lot since 2005, um
I have literally never seen every spot
[2:16:04] taken up.
>> Correct. That was the point, right?
[2:16:08] That's the whole point and that's what
we were trying to address. So when phone
[2:16:11] calls were coming in every day from
people who didn't have yearly parking
[2:16:14] passes and they were showing up for
streetside parking and they were looking
[2:16:17] at a half empty lot, they were and the
calls were becoming I mean we we were
[2:16:22] inundated with phone calls day after day
after day in the clerk's office because
[2:16:25] they're frustrated. I showed up at 7:00
in the morning and there's a lot with 50
[2:16:30] spots in it and my streets and the
street side um you know options are all
[2:16:34] taken. Why can't I park in the lot? And
that's because if tomorrow every person
[2:16:39] that we sold the yearly pass to showed
up and the lot was full plus it we had
[2:16:44] 30 people who couldn't park because we
were parked over then we had a problem.
[2:16:48] And so what was what what we discovered
and what has really happened postco I
[2:16:52] guess is that people are buying a yearly
pass and that used to be used 5 days a
[2:16:57] week but people aren't using it 5 days a
week and so some are
[2:17:00] » some some are some are sure but not a
lot and so the frustration from
[2:17:05] residents and and anybody trying to
commute from our lot is I'm showing up
[2:17:08] and it's a half empty lot and so um we
we needed to address that. We can't have
[2:17:13] that happening. And if if we have 150
people on the wait list and we have
[2:17:17] people calling every day, there is a
need there. And I think that by the fall
[2:17:22] and once people kind of um you know, pay
attention to what's been happening down
[2:17:26] there, I think you're going to start to
find that the lot's going to be full
[2:17:29] every day because the need is there. And
that's we're trying to get as many
[2:17:32] people parked in those spots as
possible. That's really the intention.
[2:17:35] Anecdotally, someone I know would buy a
pass every year the same way you did and
[2:17:43] go to the city three times a month.
[2:17:48] » So, and so that's what the comment I was
going to say is like, look, obviously
[2:17:53] you have a purchase a pass, you want to
be able to park in the lot, right?
[2:17:56] » I I get that. That would be frustrating
if I showed it. But if what you're
[2:18:00] observing is that, hey, we've sold this
x number of permits and yet we're seeing
[2:18:07] 60% of the spots or 40% of the spots or
25% of the spots underutilized every
[2:18:12] day. I mean, I'm not saying
do 80 more permits, but but you know,
[2:18:18] it's a little bit like an airline in
this regard, right? Like you could
[2:18:22] probably sell five more, you know, and
under the understanding that not
[2:18:26] everyone is doing this every day.
Frankly, you know, if I purchased a
[2:18:30] permit, like that gives me the right to
park in that permit. It's, you know, I'm
[2:18:34] not I you know, if you told me
beforehand, you know, if you choose to
[2:18:38] purchase this permit, keep in mind we,
you know, I can't guarantee you 100% you
[2:18:43] will have that spot. I can make that
choice then, you know, and maybe I'll
[2:18:47] have to do park mobile that day. But
what we have now is a situation and yes
[2:18:51] it is summer but it is like not
full and it's just hard and I have been
[2:18:58] doing yes co change was a game changer
but even before co like if you looked at
[2:19:03] those single spots at the end you know
like not where if it's broken into
[2:19:07] thirds. There's a sign closest to the to
the train station that's stuck in the
[2:19:11] middle. And then there's the one where
you can't park on both sides. Like those
[2:19:14] are never full. like this is like there
has to be I have to think there's a plan
[2:19:20] that would allow some type of permitting
basis for people who that is the most
[2:19:25] whether you have permits for Tuesday
Thursday or permits for like you know
[2:19:30] where there's another opportunity
because you are you losing money for
[2:19:34] people who like I've talked to a number
of people who just like I can't if I
[2:19:38] can't have a permit I'm just going to
I'm going to maybe there will be filled
[2:19:41] up with so many of these other people
who are looking to do it. It's just an
[2:19:45] inconvenience and like I said, you know,
like I know I'm going to forget the
[2:19:48] super park mobile thing at some point.
I'm gonna get it. It'll be my fault and
[2:19:51] you know, but if there is [laughter]
another option like other towns have
[2:19:54] done with with a hybrid model, I think
that would be beneficial and I encourage
[2:19:58] looking at it. Thank you.
>> Thank you.
[2:20:05] » Good evening. My name is Patricia Hardik
and I live on Harrison AB and I've seen
[2:20:10] you all before. Um I just want to
clarify something. I've lived on
[2:20:14] Harrison A for 25 years and I think
could be a little bit less or a little
[2:20:20] bit more. I kind of lost track of time.
Didn't plan on living here that long.
[2:20:25] But um never once have I ever seen a
sign land for sale to redevelopment on
[2:20:32] any of those properties. In fact, all
four houses were lived in, rented out.
[2:20:38] And as far as cottage place, there was
never a sign for sale ever. So, how
[2:20:45] could people even know that anybody was
considering or builders know that
[2:20:50] anybody was considering
to sell out and let it be redeveloped?
[2:20:55] » Because when we declared the area in
need of redevelopment, that opened up
[2:20:58] the floodgates to people trying
>> to signs for sale.
[2:21:01] » You don't do that, right? So, I get mail
every day, somebody trying to buy my
[2:21:04] house,
>> right? That that that comes through.
[2:21:07] Well, aren't you lucky?
>> Yeah.
[2:21:09] » But as our taxes go up and maybe the
schools go down a little bit, my t my my
[2:21:14] property is not going to be worth as
much. Um I want to ask I want to ask
[2:21:19] about um the new state law that looks
like it's going to go into effect. 1807.
[2:21:25] Does everybody is everybody familiar
with this?
[2:21:27] » Yeah, we just talked about 1807 that
it's not even in legislative process at
[2:21:31] this point. hasn't got past um the the
next level of approval yet.
[2:21:35] » There's no assembly.
>> There's no even assembly bill for it
[2:21:37] yet.
>> Still in committee.
[2:21:39] » I I bet it's not going to even
>> come close to the current status of it.
[2:21:44] There's no corresponding assembly bill
that's still in the appropriations and
[2:21:47] budget committee with no hearing
scheduled.
[2:21:49] » No hearing scheduled.
>> And and even if it did pass, this
[2:21:52] development project wouldn't qualify
under that law for for having to abide
[2:21:56] by it. It's for residential only, not
mixed use. when are we going to give a
[2:22:00] financial thing so I would know as a
homeowner how I'm going to be affected
[2:22:06] because a lot of us are seniors. We live
on fixed incomes. We plan our money
[2:22:10] around taxes. We just had a around a 4%
increase. Is that right? 10% whatever it
[2:22:17] was. It was a lot. And now you're
talking about this piloting this. I I
[2:22:23] you know that's going to be another
increase on
[2:22:25] » Well, the pilot in in the the theory of
the pilot is to offset future increases
[2:22:31] to your taxes.
>> When when are we going to see the
[2:22:34] financial papers?
>> So, we talked about that, right? So,
[2:22:36] once the
>> How long? Cuz I hope we were hoping
[2:22:40] today, right? We're not there yet.
>> Holding them up.
[2:22:43] » We're not there yet, but there's there's
still details that have to go through.
[2:22:46] There's still negotiations that have to
go through as soon as we can. If it's
[2:22:50] the next council meeting, we'll have the
financial adviserss here to give a full
[2:22:54] presentation and release it like we told
the other gentlemen. Um, and then
[2:22:59] there's weeks of time in between that
and when the public hearing is so people
[2:23:04] can go back, study the numbers, ask
questions, and uh at that point when
[2:23:08] there's a public hearing is when the
council would have to vote yes or no.
[2:23:13] » So, uh, let me let me just clarify the
procedure so that everybody understands.
[2:23:18] There's an intro, it has to be approved,
the financial agreement gets approved by
[2:23:21] an ordinance. Okay? So, just like you
have the ordinances tonight, there will
[2:23:24] be an introduction at a meeting, right?
>> Where the financial uh advisor will
[2:23:29] present everything
>> at the introduction. Then you'll have
[2:23:33] the public will have a month or whatever
to absorb everything. It'll all be
[2:23:38] posted and a public hearing on the
ordinance at the next meeting,
[2:23:41] » right?
>> Where all your questions can be
[2:23:43] answered. I hope we all can because you
know there are quite a few of us who are
[2:23:48] very I felt like this was a you were
just shoving this down my throat
[2:23:52] tonight. Um that you all are in for this
and I'm personally not in for this.
[2:23:58] » I have I'm not going to live another 30
years to see this pilot paid off. Will I
[2:24:03] ever benefit from it? No. Will the town
really benefit in the end? I want to see
[2:24:09] the financial
school getting and
[2:24:12] » right that's the decision that we all
have to make nobody has made a decision
[2:24:16] yes or no
>> make it because it seems like some
[2:24:18] people have already made
>> so tonight all all we did all I did
[2:24:23] » was give you facts of what the pilot
agreement could do I haven't given you
[2:24:28] any number
>> any good like what's the good from it
[2:24:31] » the good that's what I talked about
>> we benefit as Waldwick residents
[2:24:35] » so we get a redevelopment project that
hopefully spurs on future economic
[2:24:39] growth and other development in the
area, bringing additional tax revenue to
[2:24:43] the town. Hopefully increasing your tax
base, your tax um value in your home,
[2:24:50] putting money in your pocket when you
finally do sell and and and move or or
[2:24:54] whatnot or when I sell and move.
Hopefully that brings that hopefully
[2:24:57] that spurs economic development where
other retail businesses can be filled
[2:25:01] and uh and bring a revitalized look to
down in that area. That's the goal.
[2:25:08] That's the good for the town.
A pilot program incentivizes developer
[2:25:13] to do something where uh in otherwise he
may not be able to do. The gentleman
[2:25:17] that came up here sounds very informed
>> very
[2:25:20] » very informed on the process
>> in this whole process here.
[2:25:23] » So but we're not the financial
adviserss, right? We're hearing from
[2:25:26] financial adviserss who do what he does,
right? And we're getting information
[2:25:31] from them that we can't give to you
right now. I'm not a financial adviser.
[2:25:36] He's not a financial adviser. I don't
think I think he works for
[2:25:40] » He does. He's a smart guy, right? Maybe
he should run for council one day and
[2:25:44] and be up here doing that. I
>> I'll I'll stand there just like he did
[2:25:48] for a year. Yeah, exactly. Yes. I look
forward to that one.
[2:25:52] » Um we're testing kindergarten this year.
>> I run on sharers.
[2:25:56] » I'm sorry. I couldn't hear you.
>> You know, they pre-est kids for
[2:25:59] kindergarten to see. Well, you should
know it because that's going to affect
[2:26:02] how many kids are coming into our school
by how many kindergarteners.
[2:26:06] » Well, I I've just given you a trend of
what's happening over the last 10 years
[2:26:09] of declining enrollment.
>> But we have a lot of new families move
[2:26:13] into town.
>> Sure. We have a lot of families. We had
[2:26:16] such a big turn,
>> right? I get it. And we have families
[2:26:18] that graduate out. My older son's grade
was one of the biggest that came through
[2:26:23] Waldwick. They graduated out um four
years ago. My son's grade now who's a
[2:26:28] who's a junior in Waldwick High School,
his grade is smaller than than that
[2:26:31] grade was. So, um you know, it could go
up. There could be more kids. I could
[2:26:37] sell my house tomorrow and six kids
could move in. You could sell your house
[2:26:40] and six more.
>> What we have in concrete um evidence how
[2:26:44] many kids are going into kindergarten
this year?
[2:26:46] » Let's take a look.
>> Let's prepare ourselves. We have to keep
[2:26:50] our school strong and I don't think this
is the way to go to keep it strong.
[2:26:55] » Thank you. I want to hear what
percentage is going to our schools to
[2:26:59] the burough. Are we going to lose
workers? Who
[2:27:02] » the idea is not to lose workers? That's
why we're doing this.
[2:27:05] » Uh I don't know. Did by the way I'd like
to ask did did they have um they started
[2:27:10] development on it and they
>> they did not
[2:27:13] excuse me. They remove they took down
all the houses and they removed all the
[2:27:19] soil and they're doing something
underground.
[2:27:22] » The capping punch. Yeah. that is not
they've they have received a permit for
[2:27:27] demoing which is what they've done but
construction
[2:27:30] » soil right
>> but construction permits have not been
[2:27:32] issued um you may be see a movement of
of uh soil uh that has to a lot of
[2:27:37] movement
>> that has to do with um a road opening
[2:27:40] permit that they took out with the
burough um but but construction permits
[2:27:43] and foundation digging that has not been
>> whatever they're doing
[2:27:47] » that has not been approved foundation um
permits have not been issued
[2:27:51] » they are digging in the ground I'm
putting something I don't know that kind
[2:27:54] of stuff, whatever it is, but I want to
make sure permits are in order and
[2:27:58] somebody's inspecting the work.
>> Of course, we have all hands on deck.
[2:28:02] » We have a pilot like committee to watch
over this whole process if it happens to
[2:28:08] go through. Are we going to hire more
people to look out that everything's
[2:28:13] being up?
>> Well, the pilot's only a financial
[2:28:16] agreement. So, the the project that
they've proposed is already approved.
[2:28:21] » Um, right. But I just want to
be watching that closely.
[2:28:26] » We've been watching everything in our
school at Ramsey High School. Um they
[2:28:30] did a parking lot, right? I was here at
a meeting and um it turns out they never
[2:28:36] got permit for all that soil remover and
removal and stuff right at our high
[2:28:40] school where the kids go to school. I
was at the meeting when this occurred
[2:28:45] and I just don't want this happening in
my neighborhood or in Waldwick
[2:28:50] » and I want to make sure all permits are
valid and dated.
[2:28:54] » Yes, of course. That that's our number
one priority in in all projects and all
[2:28:58] construction in town.
>> Happened in the school system when you
[2:29:00] were they were making a larger parking
lot at the high school
[2:29:04] » that Ramsey.
>> Yes.
[2:29:06] » They actually
>> the Ramsay council just is not on top.
[2:29:09] Oh, in
>> Wald. Yeah. Don't look so shocked. It
[2:29:12] happened.
>> It happened in the Wald school.
[2:29:13] » Yeah.
>> Yep. It did.
[2:29:16] » Right in the high school. Look in the
look back through the, you know, town
[2:29:20] meetings. I was here when it was
discussed. Mr. Maro,
[2:29:22] » it was like, oops.
>> I don't want any oops in this. You know
[2:29:26] what I mean?
>> I agree. And I think you need to
[2:29:29] research how many kindergarters have
come in. You guys are get more research
[2:29:33] than and make sure this is the right
thing for our town.
[2:29:37] » I don't believe it.
>> Thank you.
[2:29:39] » Thank you.
[2:29:46] Hi Bob going uh West Prospect. We can
see we've had some spirited debates. I
[2:29:52] just want to take this time because it's
been a long meeting. I I'd like to thank
[2:29:55] everyone on the council for putting this
together. You can see there's a
[2:30:00] » speaking to the mic.
>> I just want to thank the council also
[2:30:04] for putting this together. Uh you can
see there's a spirit of debate. Everyone
[2:30:07] has pros and cons. So, I'm sure you're
going to listen to it. I think the only
[2:30:12] thing we can should all agree on is that
we need to revitalize the downtown area,
[2:30:18] whether that's the pilot, which I think
as Joe, you you did a great job
[2:30:23] explaining it. It sounds like it's a
step in the right direction. Uh I'm sure
[2:30:28] you you're still going to pursue it. You
got more questions on it, which is
[2:30:32] great. the people have some questions
and it's going to be directed for them.
[2:30:36] But we don't want empty lots. Uh I think
you bring more people in. Whichever way
[2:30:42] you do, they share in the tax burden. So
again, I'm just thanking you for having
[2:30:47] this meeting. It's been a long meeting.
Like I said, we all stuck it out. But
[2:30:52] again, thank you. And just listen to the
people. Uh you are going to make the
[2:30:56] decision. I'm sure you make the right
decision and it's just going to be best
[2:31:00] for the town. So again, just thank you
for your time. That's all I wanted to
[2:31:03] say. Thanks, guys.
>> Good night.
[2:31:05] » I'll just I'll just add uh that a pilot
is not a slam dunk decision, right?
[2:31:10] There's a lot of people for and against
the pilot, and [clears throat] I bet you
[2:31:15] if I took a survey at at different
places and people talking to me or
[2:31:19] whatnot, I'll get different opinions.
Some people will be for it, some people
[2:31:22] will be against it. We have to make a
decision at some point.
[2:31:26] » Yes, sir.
>> Yes. My name is Pat Stevens and uh one
[2:31:32] of the things I came up here for was to
find out can you turn the volume up cuz
[2:31:37] we can't hear anything back there.
We have a problem in the past and Al has
[2:31:42] corrected us at almost every meeting
that we don't speak into the microphone
[2:31:45] enough. So he he hasn't come up to
correct us in in in a year. So thank
[2:31:51] you.
>> I hope we do better. Yeah, we will do
[2:31:53] better.
>> You we can hear.
[2:31:54] » Thank you.
[2:31:58] went out.
>> What's that? The feed went out.
[2:32:02] » Yep.
>> Aware teams is on.
[2:32:05] » Someone cut the cord.
[2:32:10] » Uh the reason I came up here for is uh
this uh pilot program is how many years?
[2:32:18] » Can't share those details. They're still
in negotiations the burough with the
[2:32:21] redeveloper
>> in terms of the pilot camp.
[2:32:24] » How long do they normally run? 20 years,
30 years, 40 years,
[2:32:29] » 50 years.
>> They can run up to 30 years.
[2:32:34] » Okay. My question is is in that 30-year
uh period. Okay. Their payments in lie
[2:32:44] of taxes are fixed
>> at at year one or they escalate.
[2:32:50] » They there's a percentage of revenue.
So, it's not fixed. All right. And it it
[2:32:54] depending on the negotiation that
percentage can change over the life of
[2:32:58] the agreement.
>> Okay. The uh other comment I have is
[2:33:04] that um the board of ed makes up 65% of
the burough budget.
[2:33:10] » Not borrow budget.
>> I'm sorry. The
[2:33:13] » your tax the taxes,
>> right?
[2:33:16] » Okay. And they have no control. The
board of ed in this town is absolutely
[2:33:21] ridiculous. And there's nothing anybody
can do about it because they ra they
[2:33:27] raise the uh taxes. You guys vote it
down and they go to Trenton and Trenton
[2:33:33] says, "Oh, no, that's okay. This is what
you're going to be paying."
[2:33:38] » How is that going to be?
>> I don't think uh that our board has ever
[2:33:43] gone over the cap percentage of what
they're allowed to to increase. And our
[2:33:47] board, our council has never told the
board of education no on that. Uh to in
[2:33:54] fact our school has always been 100%
funded to my knowledge on every budget
[2:33:58] that has come to us and the board of
education has never gone over the cap.
[2:34:03] And if they did, there's a process that
they have to go to go over their cap
[2:34:07] taxation,
>> right?
[2:34:10] » And the council the council doesn't vote
on the school budget anymore.
[2:34:16] that we did that the state got rid of
that years ago.
[2:34:21] » The state government or the federal
government used to be where you're from.
[2:34:25] It used to be the board of ed would
present their budget to the mayor and
[2:34:28] council and the mayor council have to
vote on. That's no longer the case. That
[2:34:31] hasn't been the case for many years.
>> They just go to the state.
[2:34:37] » That's a really good program.
>> Who wrote that one? Triton,
[2:34:43] » Titan.
>> Who would have thought?
[2:34:46] » Yeah. [laughter]
>> And as far as the projections of the
[2:34:51] town saying, you know, you're going to
put in we're going to put in 40 units
[2:34:56] and there's going to be five new
students.
[2:34:59] The board of ed has absolutely no idea
what the projection rates of the student
[2:35:04] population is in Waldwick. And I've been
living here for 50 years. And I've
[2:35:10] watched them where they closed down the
middle school,
[2:35:16] remember? Because we had too many. We
didn't have enough kids to support the
[2:35:21] middle school.
I don't And then they ended up then they
[2:35:27] ended up uh going down the trap wagon
and putting in four trailers for
[2:35:32] additional classrooms because Whoops.
Oh, that means it means over. [laughter]
[2:35:39] » That might have been before our time,
but we
[2:35:42] » it was a long time.
>> No, they just got they just got rid of
[2:35:45] the trailers. Uh the sparkly ball. They
knew you were going to come and talk
[2:35:49] about them. It's because I remember
>> That's right. That's right.
[2:35:53] Unfortunately,
but my own question is that just uh how
[2:36:00] the this pilot program protects the
taxpayers that are giving up
[2:36:08] a percentage of their taxes for this
program that how are you protecting us?
[2:36:15] I think that it um we could we could
continue to give you abstract uh
[2:36:22] information on that. My my uh I hate to
do this um but but I I'd urge you to
[2:36:28] come back uh at the meeting when we
provide the actual financial details.
[2:36:32] Um, and then I think we actually have
concrete numbers to discuss
[2:36:37] » only because I remember back in the 70s
when the uh
[2:36:40] » that was before my time
>> when the uh [laughter]
[2:36:45] » wasn't before mine.
>> I know
[2:36:48] when when the uh mortgage rates were
going through the roof, 8 n 10%
[2:36:53] mortgages.
And the trick the banks came up with to
[2:36:57] get people to come in to take mortgages
was yeah they would offer a 5%
[2:37:04] uh mortgage rate for 5 years and then
the payment would balloon.
[2:37:11] » Yeah.
>> And I was just wondering if you're if
[2:37:15] you're looking at who's ever doing the
negotiation from the town side if you're
[2:37:20] looking at protective policies like
that.
[2:37:24] I think we're looking at all angles.
>> Yeah, we're looking at everything,
[2:37:27] » you know. And as far as financial
advisors,
[2:37:30] Lehman Brothers was a big financial
advisor.
[2:37:36] » We're not using the bank. Yeah, we're
not using banks.
[2:37:38] » Although we had enough banks in Waldick,
we really could use the bank. Yeah.
[2:37:44] » And another pizza parlor.
>> Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
[2:37:51] » Hi, Stacy Karacio. Um, and I know it's
very late and I apologize, but I have a
[2:37:55] burning question that I'm really
concerned about. So, yes, the pilot was
[2:37:59] the motivating factor, but now I'm more
concerned about the financial stability
[2:38:02] of the developer. So, the fact that he
we didn't attract them by saying, "Hey,
[2:38:09] we'll offer a pilot, right, to redevelop
as part of this initiative." And now all
[2:38:12] of a sudden, we're sitting with empty
lots that potentially can't be
[2:38:17] developed. Are we actually in a
situation where this project might not
[2:38:21] go through cuz now he's coming and
asking that there's
[2:38:23] » financial it's not about the financial
stability of the company why they ask
[2:38:27] for a pilot. What you ask for a pilot
for is the financing of the project.
[2:38:32] » Right? So he's unable to get financing.
So when we took
[2:38:34] » because of the revenue that's coming in
of the project, right? So you have
[2:38:38] revenue that comes in. You have to
generate a cash flow. how many unit how
[2:38:42] many cash flow could we generate from 44
units versus how much the cost of their
[2:38:47] financing is. So if that forget how much
money he has if if that developer has
[2:38:52] more money that doesn't take into
account of what the cash flow for that
[2:38:56] propert he's not willing to put more up
front right I'm in I'm in finance very
[2:39:02] common practice right in
>> I understand he wants to he wants to
[2:39:04] arbitrage I get it he's trying to do but
but that's not how redevelopment works
[2:39:09] um with it being an area need of
redevelopment the pilot then becomes a
[2:39:13] tool to allow um properties to be
redeveloped when there isn't enough
[2:39:19] funding. So, because the project has
affordable housing units that are costly
[2:39:25] to build, but you wouldn't recoup that
money in revenue, that's why there are
[2:39:29] these incentives.
So, the pilot is an incentive for
[2:39:33] someone to come in and build a project
that he proposed and purchased it prior
[2:39:38] to us talking about the pilot, right? I
mean, the pilot was an afterthought,
[2:39:43] right? They proposed a um they proposed
a project that was uh originally uh uh
[2:39:49] higher density with uh no town homes, no
retail and uh prior councils pushed back
[2:39:56] um on that and really and requested
lower density uh requested uh uh retail
[2:40:03] and requested town homes in lie of all
of the apartments. Um, so really it was
[2:40:09] kind of us pushing back on the developer
and saying we don't want something big
[2:40:14] and dense and that doesn't kind of fit
within the idea that we're we're placing
[2:40:19] here. Um, you know, and you know, so
whether he expected to submit a a pilot,
[2:40:27] I I don't know. Uh whether anyone
anticipated one, I also don't know. But
[2:40:31] I but I think that
>> but he's having trouble getting funding
[2:40:34] now based off of the projected revenues
on an economy that's strong
[2:40:38] it's a very small project in an
expensive area. Uh it's tough to finance
[2:40:43] that. Right. So um I think that that is
not I as far as I know that's not a um
[2:40:52] that that is not a uh that's not
something about them. That's just banks
[2:40:56] are not unless banks are absolutely
secure that they're going to get their
[2:41:00] money back from their investment,
they're just not going to finance
[2:41:02] something,
>> right? So, doesn't that create concern
[2:41:05] for us that we're basing a revenue
stream off of a revenue modeled project
[2:41:11] that's our tax stream. So if that if the
if if we have a economy that goes weak
[2:41:16] and rentals go down or we end up
overdeveloping in that and we end up not
[2:41:20] having full occupancy we now are based
off of the revenue model as opposed to a
[2:41:25] tax model all of us are
>> that is the risk that is the risk and
[2:41:29] the risk we're looking to put safeguards
in place. Oh, but on the tax model, if
[2:41:34] it's apartments and the and the market
does go down and those apartments go
[2:41:38] vacant, the revenue comes down.
Properties that are commercial like that
[2:41:42] that are revenue income or income
producing, they get taxed as income
[2:41:47] producing property. They're not taxed as
like your normal house.
[2:41:50] » Understand? So if the if the market
would tank and the rental market would
[2:41:54] go down, you would also lose a lot more
in conventional taxes in that
[2:41:58] » because we're not taxing the property as
a correct
[2:42:01] » as a because it's
>> how is it taxed then?
[2:42:04] » Because it's it's an incomeroucing
property. So the way it's taxed, it's
[2:42:08] not on comparable sales like what it
would sell for. It's how much revenue is
[2:42:12] being generated and what are the
expenses. So we always on our on our
[2:42:18] rental properties, our multi- developed
properties tax on a revenue model. Um
[2:42:25] for that
>> it's an income expense. Yes.
[2:42:27] » So then what's the difference then with
the income of this to that? Like what?
[2:42:32] Don't give me the real stuff, but like
why why why is this then a difference if
[2:42:37] it's always revenue based?
>> Because the probably the percentages are
[2:42:40] different,
>> right?
[2:42:45] The percentage of revenue based um
>> and they'll go through that. I don't
[2:42:50] want to push because I know you can't
disclose. I'm not looking for, you know,
[2:42:52] but okay. So they'll go through that.
And then my other last um well two
[2:42:57] points is when they run the numbers
they're going to like run a Monte Carlo
[2:43:01] like to show like if the markets were to
go down the revenues were to go down
[2:43:04] what the impact would be to us right in
all of that as part of their
[2:43:08] projections. will see those
>> they're I think
[2:43:11] » the financial advisors
>> you'll see our financial advisors
[2:43:14] projections. Yeah. Which uh they they
put together well
[2:43:18] » they'll also run it against different
markets types right to show us what
[2:43:21] would happen if the market if we were to
have I right now we're in a strong
[2:43:25] market like they should be running it in
a hypothetical if it were 2008 2009
[2:43:31] right they run multiple scenarios to
show that are they going to prod produce
[2:43:36] that to us? No, they typically don't do
it that way. They just look at the
[2:43:40] project as it is proposed and they look
at um
[2:43:46] if there is a real need for a pilot, but
they don't project it. I mean, they
[2:43:51] project
[2:43:54] » for the term of the of the pilot and
they have different um line items for
[2:44:00] vacancies, but not for market
conditions, right?
[2:44:06] There's there's a general there's a
general vacancy control and everything
[2:44:10] that that's all based in the
calculations because look
[2:44:14] » you you can't you could run a hundred
different simulations based on market
[2:44:19] conditions. That's just impossible to
run, you know. So they they base it off
[2:44:23] general market conditions as to what the
the average rentals would be, what the
[2:44:28] costs are and give you a very good
projection as to what you can expect.
[2:44:32] Nobody can plan for what
>> I mean that's usually why they run like
[2:44:36] would shut down
>> like I mean if again like this is
[2:44:40] individual like but we would run a 500
scenario calculation to see if you're
[2:44:43] successful to retire right based on what
you have and like that's what you do
[2:44:46] with financial planning so I would
imagine that they would have the
[2:44:50] capability to run with the projection
especially if it's a long-term plan that
[2:44:54] we're going into but all right I'll wait
for the financials on that and then my
[2:44:58] last point um before I fall asleep over
here what everybody else leave with me
[2:45:02] is that um paying out 100% of the the
school budget, but they're maxed at
[2:45:09] giving us a 2% increase. Right? So, if
that pro if any of these properties in
[2:45:14] the redevelopment end up putting us
stress, that puts a 4% increase on that
[2:45:19] budget, trying to get that extra
difference. And that's probably where
[2:45:23] we're feeling the pressure right now and
why everybody's so concerned because 2%
[2:45:27] a year is not enough. it's not keeping
up with the cost of all the things that
[2:45:31] are happening, right? Everything that's
going on. So I do think that um to try
[2:45:37] to put some ease putting something in
place and I I don't know if that's state
[2:45:41] regulated or how that becomes the 2% is
there but there should be some way for
[2:45:46] us to make sure that if there is
something that is causing stress we have
[2:45:50] an ability to pull more money into the
school system based on the fact that
[2:45:55] this is not getting taxed regular if the
pilot program goes through.
[2:45:58] » So if there's any way to do that I don't
know how that's regulated. And and a lot
[2:46:02] of it has to do with the amount of money
that we're talking about. We're not
[2:46:06] talking about a 100 unit complex where
there's a lot of revenue coming in.
[2:46:10] We're talking about 40 units. So you can
do math. You could think about how much
[2:46:15] is coming in and how much would
potentially come to us.
[2:46:20] I wish I could share more with you right
now, but I I I can't. So, um, when the
[2:46:25] financial advisors are come, as Council
Mitchie said, I think you'll be able to
[2:46:29] see a fuller picture of what we're
talking about,
[2:46:31] » you know, and I appreciate all the work
that you guys are doing. I know it's not
[2:46:34] easy. So, thank you for taking the time
tonight.
[2:46:43] » Sure.
>> Schultz, I just have a couple comments
[2:46:47] and one question. Oh, sorry.
uh since they started knocking those
[2:46:52] houses down, they did a nice job of
fencing it. The only problem now is they
[2:46:55] put up black plastic. So if you're going
west on Frederick Street and you need to
[2:47:00] stop, I'm going to guess by the end of
next week somebody's going to get
[2:47:03] waffled cuz you can't see. You got to
stick your nose halfway out into
[2:47:07] Harrison. So if they can maybe move the
fence back, they'll do something because
[2:47:11] someone's going to get hit. Hopefully
not me when I'm walking and running, but
[2:47:14] maybe some people hope that.
>> I I'll make sure I don't walk over
[2:47:17] there. No one knows that. I would I
wouldn't have that J. That might be a
[2:47:21] good point. Uh, one question I have is
that ordinance that we passed for the
[2:47:25] police tonight, is that for body cam?
>> It is for tasers. It's body cam. It's a
[2:47:30] uh combination package of uh of the
system that the police department will
[2:47:34] be using.
>> And the is the body cam stored on site
[2:47:37] or does the vendor keep those videos?
>> Uh, those are on a server I believe on
[2:47:41] site. Chief,
>> it's cloud
[2:47:43] » cloud storage cloud storage. Do we pay
when someone open requests that do we
[2:47:47] have to pay from to get it from the
cloud back to the people or is it is it
[2:47:51] part of the contract we don't have to
pay?
[2:47:53] » Yes, we have to pay somebody submits an
oper request.
[2:47:57] » They have to pay for that body camera.
>> They have to pay. Okay.
[2:48:00] » And so a letter goes out to them to tell
them it's going to cost X. It's going to
[2:48:04] take um a person this much time to do
it. It's going to cost them X. Are they
[2:48:09] willing to go forward with that and make
the payment ahead of time? And if they
[2:48:13] are, then they run the then they run it.
And if they're not, they'll say, "Nope,
[2:48:18] I I don't I don't need that." Or they'll
narrow their scope down so it cost them
[2:48:21] less money.
>> Perfect answer. It is
[2:48:23] » perfect answer.
>> Okay.
[2:48:25] » Uh this financial analysis, that's the
costbenefit analysis that the state
[2:48:30] specifies in their booklet. So when
we're done with this financial analysis,
[2:48:34] it's going to be the cost benefit
analysis, right? Are we talking about
[2:48:38] the same thing? So part of part of the
analysis they do will show how much
[2:48:42] revenue how much cost we're expecting to
see at a you know a budget based number
[2:48:48] of what we think and what the net profit
would be to to the bureau
[2:48:52] » and it includes all the cost for like
sewage water and all that.
[2:48:56] » Yeah. He he took in a percentage all
those
[2:48:59] » even though we don't it's anecdotal
right it's best guess.
[2:49:02] » Okay. And the last comment is I know
I've been in a deal with this for the
[2:49:06] last 14 months. Um, last comment I'll
make is I think if we would have gotten
[2:49:12] people involved, so the three people
that spoke tonight, Stacy, the school
[2:49:16] teacher I never met, and the other
individual, if we would have got them
[2:49:20] involved 12 months ago with this, I feel
a lot better tonight than I did the last
[2:49:24] 12 months. So maybe something we learned
from this, and again, I don't want to be
[2:49:29] a pain in the ass. The last 12 months, I
said, get people in the community
[2:49:34] involved. And we did not. We did not
involve people. And again, we had three
[2:49:39] people get up tonight that seemed very
knowledgeable. If we would have had
[2:49:43] these people involved, and maybe we get
them involved now when the financial
[2:49:46] statements come back, we need to get
people like this involved because they
[2:49:50] know what they're talking about. Thank
you.
[2:49:52] » Thank you, J.
>> Thank you.
[2:50:01] » It's getting late. Laura Lel, I have a
question. Um, you stated that they
[2:50:06] didn't pull the permits to pour the
foundation yet
[2:50:09] » to dig out the foundation. Correct. No
construction permits have been issued
[2:50:12] yet.
>> So, is that a them problem or they
[2:50:15] haven't been issued or have they applied
for them?
[2:50:17] » They have not applied for permits.
>> So, if they haven't applied because they
[2:50:20] haven't gotten the funding if anything
falls through if the company goes
[2:50:24] bankrupt, what happens to that property?
They just pay their taxes on the land.
[2:50:28] » They will continue to pay their taxes
and they're the rightful owners of that
[2:50:31] property. So, are they waiting for the
pilot to be approved before they pull
[2:50:34] the permits? Does anybody know? Or is
that a Cresken moment?
[2:50:37] » Most most likely, but we can't, you
know, can't say for certain. They are
[2:50:40] the rifle owners of the property.
>> Okay.
[2:50:43] » With site plan approval, which means
they could go to the building department
[2:50:46] to take out.
>> And how long would it take for that uh
[2:50:49] permit to be approved? I I'm just
wondering if us or if the if the council
[2:50:54] not approving the pilot is delaying the
project, which is in essence going to
[2:50:58] delay the money or delay the development
and then delay the rentals and the 100%
[2:51:04] for the pilot to take effect and it's
just a domino effect. And if we're in
[2:51:09] negotiations right now and it's going to
take months, are they going to wait
[2:51:13] months to start developing?
>> They do not start construction
[2:51:18] in place. No, they they cannot ask for a
pilot after they start construction,
[2:51:22] right?
>> That would put the pilot in.
[2:51:26] » They could start construction tomorrow,
but then
[2:51:28] » but then the table. So, you can you can
assume that's why they're they're not
[2:51:33] starting. I think
>> so. We can anticipate as a town that
[2:51:36] they won't be developing for probably
another month or so
[2:51:40] » at least.
>> At least.
[2:51:43] » Okay. Thank you.
>> Thank you. Anyone
[2:51:48] else?
>> All right.
[2:51:51] » If not, do I have
>> I was waiting till
[2:51:55] one more.
>> Um, so the last the last point that I
[2:51:58] wanted to make before was I I had asked
about that um or I had mentioned that
[2:52:05] bill that was being proposed and I heard
several other people bring it up and I
[2:52:09] heard your responses saying you doubt
that it's going to go through. You don't
[2:52:12] think it's going to happen. Um, but I
want to put another worst case scenario.
[2:52:16] I know I'm like a doom and gloom kind of
person, but these are the kind of things
[2:52:19] that you think about when you're in
education. Um, you have all been very
[2:52:23] supportive of the school district since
I have lived here. I All of my kids went
[2:52:28] through the public schools here. I've
been very happy with public schools. Um,
[2:52:32] is Dan still here? I've had meetings
with Dan about all sorts of crazy
[2:52:36] things. I'm actually the I was the last
person to keep grad ball alive in Waldo
[2:52:41] High School for those of you who didn't
know. So I am a super involved person.
[2:52:45] Um but the
one of the worst case scenarios that I
[2:52:49] also think of is when we are not all
here. those people who are so pro-
[2:52:54] education, so pro public education, when
and if, god forbid, 20 years from now,
[2:53:00] we don't know what our town is going to
look like when we have a different
[2:53:05] council that is up there and it is not
in place that a certain portion of this
[2:53:09] money goes to public education. We could
be in a very different having a very
[2:53:15] different problem, a very different
discussion because if we don't set that
[2:53:19] precedent saying that it is important
for us to make sure that a certain
[2:53:25] amount of this money goes to the public
schools and
[2:53:30] we don't put it in writing, put it in an
agreement and we just go on the faith
[2:53:36] that we've done it all for so long and
we've just always supported them. if
[2:53:39] it's not in writing that could destroy
public education because if those funds
[2:53:45] let's say that this public this is the
first this is this is our first pilot
[2:53:49] program right
>> okay so this is our first one who's to
[2:53:53] say in 10 years 15 years when some of us
have moved away gone Florida done
[2:53:58] whatever it is we have set a precedent
we've set a precedent that it's not
[2:54:03] going to happen and we continue to add
these type of projects and those funds
[2:54:07] are not specifically dedicated
and put into into place what is going to
[2:54:13] protect public education.
>> Yeah, Lisa, I I think there there's some
[2:54:17] points there that could be addressed
when you see the financial numbers. The
[2:54:22] financial numbers have to make sense for
the bureau, too. So if the number is not
[2:54:27] big enough where we can set aside a
percentage that would make any
[2:54:30] substantial impact to the board of
education and benefit the bureau then
[2:54:35] the benefits of doing a pilot don't
really make sense. Right? So if the
[2:54:40] finances make sense where the percentage
of revenue that we can take in makes
[2:54:44] sense for the bureau and increase the
municipality ability to support services
[2:54:50] like police, fire, DPW, whatnot, we need
to handle that first while still funding
[2:54:57] the board of education at 100%.
I wish I could share more numbers with
[2:55:02] you. Hopefully at the next council
meeting we can share more numbers and it
[2:55:05] will become more apparent of what we can
and can't do. Okay, thank you.
[2:55:10] » Y thanks.
[2:55:21] » Uh Pat Morty, uh Pennington Avenue. Hi.
>> Hi Pat.
[2:55:25] » Um I wanted to just say that I think 30
years is too long and I'd just like to
[2:55:32] put that out there if we could probably
maybe do 10 or 20. I'm not totally in
[2:55:39] favor of this because I haven't seen the
financials and everything. Um, but I
[2:55:43] think 30 years is is too long a period.
Um, if the pilot doesn't go forward,
[2:55:50] does the council still have to approve
anything that's built going forward?
[2:55:54] » The builder has a site plan right now so
they can build what they have approved
[2:56:00] without us saying anything else. if they
want to change that footprint, right,
[2:56:06] then they would have to go back before
uh planning board or or council if it's
[2:56:10] over a certain whatever because if it
exceeds our uh approved site plan, then
[2:56:16] they'd have to go back for a change, but
they could build what they have approved
[2:56:20] right now.
>> Okay. So,
[2:56:24] what you're saying is that the pilot uh
gives you more control over what's being
[2:56:29] built in those places?
>> Not necessarily. Right. So, we could if
[2:56:33] they came back with a a larger
development, we could say, "No, you
[2:56:38] know, we're not going to allow you to
because we have a redevelopment area
[2:56:42] that gives us control over what we want
to see there." A pilot is a financial
[2:56:46] tool that incentivizes the development.
>> Okay. So, basically, the council will
[2:56:50] still have control over with and without
the pilot, the council will still have
[2:56:54] control over approving what is being
built there.
[2:56:58] » It's already approved.
>> The planning board approved. They have
[2:57:02] site plan approval. So they have plans
that they can start building tomorrow if
[2:57:06] they took out the proper permits with
the with the town.
[2:57:09] » Okay. So the pilot is separate from
what's being built?
[2:57:12] » Yes.
>> Okay. Thank you.
[2:57:21] » Hi, I'm Sean Henry. Just want to say
thank you uh Council J. That was awesome
[2:57:25] the presentation that you gave or the
talk you had.
[2:57:28] » Thank Um just my personal view on this.
I live in Hackinack. I live in a pilot
[2:57:32] building. Took a long time for it to be
fully occupied. Um rental units are
[2:57:38] that's already done, but it's transient
residents. They you know they come and
[2:57:41] go. Um my real concern with this is you
do this one time and then what it what
[2:57:47] like incentivizes the next developer to
not want this. Like we said has five.
[2:57:53] That's good, bad, I don't know. It's
Highlands. It's regional. Um, so just
[2:57:57] that's one thing I want you to consider
as you go through this is what does this
[2:58:00] do to developer in the future? Is it all
a pilot after this?
[2:58:03] » Yeah, I think and even when a developer
came a couple council meetings ago and
[2:58:07] we're talking about Houston, I think
council member was the one who said no
[2:58:11] pilot, you know, I think we we we
>> we don't want a lot of pilots
[2:58:18] » in in theory. In a perfect world,
conventional taxes is much easier. We're
[2:58:22] not having this last 6-month discussion.
We're already building. if it wasn't
[2:58:26] necessary and we wouldn't do it or we
wouldn't even consider it be done. Pilot
[2:58:31] uh provincial attack start building
would be closer to being done already.
[2:58:35] » Yeah. I just want to say I appreciate I
know you have residents and you guys are
[2:58:38] all in this with us as well. So thank
you for that. Thank you. Thank you.
[2:58:43] » Anyone else?
[2:58:50] » Good evening. Rich Andrew Heavich. I
live in Harrison A.
[2:58:55] Um I guess I'm just going to say you all
remember Sandy, the storm Sandy. Uh we
[2:59:02] couldn't go anywhere in this town
because there was no place to we
[2:59:08] couldn't connect on either side of
Prospect Street because of railroad
[2:59:12] tracks. I know it's a sore subject, but
you know what? You're creating another
[2:59:17] problem with all these people moving in.
You're going to have a minimum of a 100
[2:59:20] cars and at 5:00 in the evening, should
there be a fire, might as well let the
[2:59:26] house burn down because you know what?
That truck's not going to get there. It
[2:59:30] can't get there now. And these guys do
their best and he won't be able to get
[2:59:36] there at all.
So, I'm just wondering who did a traffic
[2:59:40] exam on this whole thing.
>> I think we did a traffic study. I think
[2:59:45] it's a part of the whole project. Police
was involved. The fire department had
[2:59:50] fire department fire department was
heavily involved. Yeah.
[2:59:52] » Well, I mean, I don't see how they can
do it. I tried to get through here at
[2:59:56] 5:00 one night and I couldn't even get
out.
[3:00:00] Yet, our fire trucks have to come all
the way over here.
[3:00:04] Every other town, every other town has
has access railroad tracks. This is
[3:00:09] ridiculous, you know, and you you just
and it's just making it harder for
[3:00:13] everybody. Even people that live down
there, it's making it even harder. You
[3:00:18] know, you have not enough room to park.
I don't know where they're going to park
[3:00:21] 44 units or another 100 cars down there
cuz they don't have enough parking for
[3:00:25] 100 cars there now.
>> So, the the project meets the statutory
[3:00:30] parking requirements, right?
>> Excuse me. I'm sorry.
[3:00:34] The this this was all done 18 months ago
at the planning board when the planning
[3:00:38] board held their numerous hearings on
the application. It meets the
[3:00:41] requirements for the under the RSIS,
which is the residential site
[3:00:45] improvement standards for parking. The
town houses have garages. There's It was
[3:00:51] all be
>> okay. I like to see that when it
[3:00:53] happens. I'll be honest with you. You
know, if it doesn't happen, I'm going to
[3:00:57] be happy. I'll be back
>> and you're not going to like me when I
[3:01:00] come back.
>> There's a Thank [clears throat] you.
[3:01:02] » Thank you.
>> Anyone else?
[3:01:14] Sorry.
>> Hi, Rick Rubenstein. Uh, I don't really
[3:01:17] have pilot questions. Uh, you guys have
said the same answers the whole time, so
[3:01:21] I guess I'll just wait till next month.
Uh, my question is about the pool. Uh,
[3:01:25] I'm there probably 5 days a week. I got
three little kids. So,
[3:01:29] » uh, better to do that there than at my
own home. Uh, my only question, uh,
[3:01:33] actually two questions. There's a big
giant pile of mulch in the parking lot
[3:01:37] there.
>> Yes.
[3:01:38] » Taking up a bunch of spots. Is that
being moved anytime soon?
[3:01:41] » So, uh we use that as a a location for
drop off for all of our burrow parks and
[3:01:46] facilities for our mulch. So, uh they're
working through that pile and getting it
[3:01:50] down.
>> Okay. Great.
[3:01:51] » That's the public works.
>> All right. Cuz that wasn't there in
[3:01:54] years past. So, it's been a new
development there.
[3:01:56] » We we've we've used that area before. Um
the last the last question is uh the the
[3:02:03] pool's great. Uh it's one of the most
affordable things in Bergen County. Uh
[3:02:08] but there is a snack stand that is empty
and has been empty for years and curious
[3:02:14] as to why it's still empty. Uh I have
emailed a couple years ago about putting
[3:02:20] a vending machine in just any kind of uh
snacks for the kids.
[3:02:25] » We hear you. Uh so that went out to bid
a few years ago and um the the person
[3:02:31] who won the bid came in turned out to be
um not always reliable, not always being
[3:02:37] able to be present there.
>> Um but the feedback that we've continued
[3:02:41] to receive from people who have tried to
do it is just that the numbers aren't
[3:02:44] high enough and there isn't um enough in
terms of revenue that they're bringing
[3:02:47] in to be able to, you know, provide
services to be there all day. You know,
[3:02:52] the pool's open 10 to 7. Not that we
would require them to be there during
[3:02:56] that time. We've had conversations with
people who have been um interested in
[3:02:59] it. Um but it is a lot on the person who
would be running the concession stands
[3:03:04] and we just haven't found the person
who, you know, feels that um and again
[3:03:07] we've got to go to bid. So we did that
process last time. They came in and and
[3:03:10] they weren't able to make it through the
full season. Um became quite annoying to
[3:03:14] the patrons who were showing up and you
know if he was deciding on a Tuesday the
[3:03:17] weather didn't look great, he wasn't
going to, you know, waste his time
[3:03:19] coming in that he wasn't going to be
there. So those are the challenges we've
[3:03:22] had. Um, but it it's it's it's it is uh
we hear you guys loud and clear. Um, the
[3:03:28] ice cream truck seems to make everybody
happy when it shows up.
[3:03:32] » Not everybody.
>> No, people don't like the ice cream. I'm
[3:03:36] not loving it. But that's okay.
>> Why is that?
[3:03:39] » Well, when you have two floors
concession stand be going.
[3:03:45] [laughter]
Um, any thought to like allowing it as a
[3:03:50] fundraising opportunity for the school
system and letting senior class run it
[3:03:55] and allow the kids to run it? And
>> I haven't talked about it before. I
[3:04:00] guess we could look into uh that as an
option.
[3:04:02] » All right. Great. Thank you.
>> Thanks.
[3:04:04] » Thank you.
>> Anyone else?
[3:04:08] » Yeah. Do I have
[3:04:15] one? I guess you all guys know who I am.
>> Nobody knows you.
[3:04:20] » As long as you know I'm a taxpayer as
well and I have a lot of concerns and I
[3:04:24] know you guys are trying to do the best
that you could do. Only thing I can say
[3:04:27] to you from all the people here, they're
asking a lot of you do the right thing.
[3:04:33] Do the right thing for the people. Don't
do it for the promises. The promises
[3:04:37] never work. They're broken every single
time. The people are here trying to
[3:04:41] explain to you how they feel. And I pay
a lot of taxes, too. I'm not going to
[3:04:45] whine about all that stuff. We all have
to pay them. But you guys got to make
[3:04:49] the right decision. Do the right thing
for the people. Not the promises. They
[3:04:53] won't work. The promises don't. And I
know where this is all going to go, but
[3:04:57] I had to say what I had to say. All
right. Thank you.
[3:05:04] » Anyone else?
>> If not, do I have a motion to adjourn?
[3:05:09] » Katie, second by Mike. All those in
favor? All those opposed?