Community Center Advisory Board Meeting Minutes

Ridgewood, N.J.

January 26, 2023 (In-Person)

In attendance: Zarmeen Patil, Deanna Schablik, Paul Vagianos, Cathy Greve, Liz Kloak, Janet Fricke, Gwenn Hauck, Beth Abbott (via Zoom)

5:05 p.m. Call to Order

Approval of Minutes for December 1, 2022, Deanna motioned and Zarmeen seconded; Minutes Approved.

Treasurer's report, Deanna Schablik –

·      Cash Balances:

Foundation Checking $3353.90 - as of end of December

Taub - $5695.24 as of end of December.

Foundation activity was interest and Taub expenses to support the Thanksgiving Elder Dinner.

·      Deanna reports that we sent Old Paramus Church a donation of $500 as a thank you for hosting the Elder Dinner for many years

·      Deanna reports that we received $1000 from the Masters Run due to our running the water table at the Memorial Day Run

Discussion of Membership of Boards

·      Community Center Advisory Board

o   Question was asked about posting minutes and agendas on Village website. Deanna will find out if she can post or if Information Technology performs that function. This is Correct.

o   Should be comprised of

§  Still working on clarifying 2 Senior Ridgewood residents--Liz Kloak and possibly Helen Leonard

§  Two  Ridgewood High School students—Brandon Shintani and Ryan Shintani

§  Need 2 Middle School students, one GW and one BF.  

Zarmeen stated that her child would represent from GW/need her name.  Deanna will reach out to BF vice-principal about a student who might be interested.

§  Still working on 2 Adults with children in schools (Zarmeen Patil and we need one more)

§  2 Adult resident spots are Nancy Freidman and Carol Mattessich.

§  1 Police representative-- Chief Lutchke right now, until she retires

§  1 Parks and Recreation Representative (Deanna Schablik)

o   Beth Abbott, Don Leibreich, Bill Carbone and Phil Dolce should be off the CCAB

o   Deanna mentioned hearing that some people were interested in joining but were not accepted during the last Council interviews

o   We are uncertain if terms are 1 year or more.  Paul and/or Deanna will investigate and refer the question to Nancy Bigos. Deanna reports are appointed annually based on a memo she found in the files from December 2005.

·      Community Center of Ridgewood Foundation

o   Liz Kloak agrees to be Foundation Vice-President.

o   Beth Abbott agrees to be the Foundation Secretary

o   After all is resolved we will adopt a new Foundation resolution with the changes

Community Center Report-Deanna

·      The history of the Civic Youth Corps was discussed. They are meeting next week to discuss upcoming plans.  Deanna requests that the Mayor come to the meeting and speak to the members.

·      Deanna has two events upcoming, one on the Revolutionary War and the other about the history of the Super Bowl

·      Zarmeen is offering to do nutrition workshops for Seniors at no cost, plus she will try to recruit for our CCAB open positions.

·      Rich Tarleton, Signal Division,  has been working on the heating issues in the Youth lounge.  Hanging heaters were just placed as a temporary fix.  Too soon to know how well it is working.  Paul will discuss with Heather.

·      A drop ceiling is planned but it may not be until 2024.

·      Deanna suggests making the pit area the same level as the rest of the room, i.e. fill it in.

·      Deanna reports that doors are being operated by the Police Department and maintenance;  Loss of heat situation has improved slightly.

Village/Council Business, reported by Mayor Paul Vagianos, our CCAB Village Council liaison

·      There is now hybrid access to Village Council meetings and the sound quality has been much improved.

·      Beginning mid May and lasting into the Fall the pedestrian plaza and dining corrals will return

·      The Council is doing a deep dive on the Schedler property especially in regard to the small field;  Meetings are happening about fields all over town.

Age Friendly Report – Beth Abbott

·      Sheila held a Medicare 101 Zoom talk with the Ridgewood Library on December 6.

·      Age Friendly Ridgewood is involved in county and state advocacy efforts

·      Beth voiced a question about whether or not we are advocating enough for the needs for improvements to the Community Center that Deanna has highlighted.

·      Paul asked what he should advocate for on our behalf at the Village council budget hearings.

New Business

·      Liz Kloak suggests conducting one major fund raiser each year for the Foundation

·      We will attempt to adapt a resolution for changes to the Foundation Board at our March meeting.  Beth will draft.

·      The July 4 parade needs to be discussed

Next Meeting is February 23 at 5 pm.

6:05 p.m. The meeting was Adjourned

Respectfully submitted by Beth Abbott.

Community Center Advisory Board Meeting Minutes

Ridgewood, N.J.

September 22, 2022 (In-Person and via Zoom)

In attendance: Zarmeen Patil, Deanna Schablik, Janet Fricke, Helen Leonard, , Cathy Greve, Beth Abbott (Zoom), Sheila Brogan

5:08 p.m. Call to Order

Approval of Minutes for June 2, 2022—Helen motioned and Cathy seconded; Minutes approved.

Treasurer's report, Deanna Schablik –

·      Cash Balances:

Foundation Checking $3353.33 - as of end of August

Taub - $6157.24 as of end of August.

In the Foundation account there was activity related to Artbeat.

In the Taub account expenditures were to related to renewing the Zoom membership and website hosting.

·      Deanna still has funds left to spend from the $3760 funds received from Columbia Bank.

Community Center Report-Deanna

·      Deanna has been using the new computers purchased with the Columbia Bank funds for youth classes on coding and robotics

·      The second AARP Safety Course was held with 14 people attending.

·      Likely we will receive a donation from North Jersey Masters (sponsor of the Ridgewood Run) to thank us for the water table we host.

·      The Graydon opening breakfast event was successful.

·      Sheila commented that it was a positive result that some senior classes were able to take place this summer despite the Community Center being a cooling and rain shelter for the summer camp.

·      Most Fall classes are full and Deanna is seeing new people attending.

·      A youth leadership grant for $4600 was secured from the Department of Mental Health.  The first of 2 workshops was conducted with the Lindsay Meyer Teen Institute (LMTI) from Rutherford. 21 students attended. One more is scheduled. Deanna has been spearheading and Sheila expressed her gratitude.

·      Gwenn is stepping back somewhat from her role with the Civic Youth Corps. The Parks and Recreation department hired a part time person who will be involved with this program.

·      Parks and Recreation plans to host a social for special needs young people at the Community Center.

·      The 6^th grade social will be on September 30 Friday. There was a discussion of why it is limited to 70 attendees. In the past when there have been more people it was out of control. It will be a game night rather than dancing with a DJ to keep it calmer.

·      The 7^th/8^th grade social is October 14

·      There are two Falls Prevention workshops coming up in the Fall.

·      October 7 is the senior event for the Access weekend. It will be a Carnival. Age Friendly Ridgewood will pay for the hot dogs.

·      Brain games with Sheila is scheduled for HILT on October 13.

·      The Health Department Health Fair will take place November 3.

·      The Elder Dinner is scheduled for November 13 from 3-5 pm in person at Old Paramus Church. EMS will provide lights for the parking lot. There was a planning meeting this morning. Committee is planning for 85 people to attend. Stacey is concerned about kitchen space for preparation due to Healing Meals making a change.

·      Deanna was disappointed about some mentions of the Community Center in the draft Master Plan and she is speaking to Nancy about giving this feedback. The descriptions of the uses of the rooms were inaccurate. Deanna wishes they were consulted before the draft was completed. Sheila and Beth noted the goal in the Master Plan to add programming for seniors and youth but no mention of the needed physical and utility improvements that we have discussed in the past. Both Sheila and Beth have given this feedback to the Master Plan committee.

·      Deanna will obtain quotes for creating a drop ceiling in the large room.

·      Hopefully the Village will place an awning outside the door near Deanna’s desk, as planned.

·      The Senior lounge was recently painted.

Village/Council Business

·      Mike Sedon has resigned from the Village Council and we have not received notice of who our new liason will be.

Age Friendly Report – Beth Abbott

·      We were not awarded  the TD Bank grant to finance the newsletter and website activities. We have indication from the Henry and Marilyn Taub Foundation that they may support these activities if Age Friendly Ridgewood proposes a project for advocacy on an issue for older adults at the New Jersey state level. In the mean time we continue as volunteers creating our newsletter and collaborating on events with the Ridgewood Library, Parks and Recreation and the Health Department. We are using our funds for costs related to our website, Zoom software and tangible support of events such as food contributions.  We are also looking for additional funding via the Foundation Directory on the New Jersey State Library system.

·      Age Friendly Ridgewood is participating on the planning committee for the Thanksgiving Elder Dinner.

·      Sheila and Beth spent time analyzing the draft Master Plan and offering feedback to the committee. The older population was included and some projects we have advocated for are listed as goals. Age Friendly Ridgewood is listed as one of the potential responsible parties for four implementation goals. We hope that these potential projects will become real projects and especially noted the need for pedestrian safety improvements, improved pathway to Ridgecrest housing and asked for the addition of the goal of upgrading the Community Center spaces.

·      Sheila hosted a talk about Medicare 101 on June 28.

New Business--

·      Zarmeen reported on a bad experience with the parking kiosks and others shared similar experiences. Zarmeen is letting related parties know about the issues.

·      It was suggested that the following items be added to next month’s meeting agenda

o   Community Center improvements and a plan for our advocacy to get these items into the Capital budget

o   A Fourth of July parade

o   Members of the Community Center Advisory Board and the Community Center of Ridgewood Foundation and related resolutions needed.

6:02 p.m. The meeting was Adjourned

Next Meeting   October 20, 2022 at 5 pm in the Pat Mancuso Senior Lounge

Respectfully submitted by Beth Abbott.

Community Center Advisory Board Meeting Minutes

Ridgewood, N.J.

November 3, 2022 (In-Person)

In attendance: Zarmeen Patil, Deanna Schablik, Paul Vagianos, Nancy Freidman, Liz Kloak, Cathy Greve, Beth Abbott, Sheila Brogan

5:14 p.m. Call to Order

Approval of Minutes for September 22, 2022—Sheila motioned and Nancy seconded; Minutes approved.

Treasurer's report, Deanna Schablik –

·      Cash Balances:

Foundation Checking $3353.47 - as of end of September

Taub - $6157.49 as of end of September.

No activity in either account except addition of interest.

·      Deanna still has $1800 funds left to spend from the $3760 funds received from Columbia Bank.

Community Center Report-Deanna

·      Deanna is using a bigger type for the print brochures for Community Center classes and events.  Also she has added a difficulty level to class listings.

·      Deanna is trying to get a Zumba course for kids age 9-12 off the ground.

·      Teen chess is going very well.

·      Youth leadership training per the grant mentioned in the past has been well subscribed and is going well. There was a discussion about Girls State and Boys State programs and whether they exist in Ridgewood.

·      Another AARP driver safety course is coming up.

·      There is a program about Pilgrims and the Mayflower coming next Tuesday.

·      A collaboration with the Alzheimer’s Association with a speaker coming soon.

·      Health Barn cooking courses have been opened to anyone 18 and over so they will be intergenerational.

·      For the recent Middle School Mixer only 15 of the 55 who signed up attended. Disturbing because there were more than 55 who wished to register but 55 was the maximum.

·      Deanna noted the new floor trim in the senior lounge and the recent wall paint in that room.

·      Elder Dinner November 13 at 3 pm:  Deanna will be away so Liz Kloak will be in charge; Three CYC students and some seventh graders will be helping as well as the adult volunteers; Wilkes is providing coffee already brewed so we do not blow fuses at the Church as we have in the past; Age Friendly Ridgewood will pay for the coffee as well as the rental of the dishes; There was a motion for a back-up plan for the Foundation to pay for the coffee, which passed. Discussion of additional sponsors to cover costs in future years.

·      The Access weekend carnival was very successful.

Village/Council Business

·      Paul Vagianos is our new Village Council member, at least until the Council reorganization in January.

·      Paul is happy to be the liason and encourages us to call him with needs. He is happy to continue to support this Board even if not the liason come January.

Age Friendly Report – Beth Abbott and Sheila Brogan

·      Age Friendly Ridgewood is participating on the planning committee for the Thanksgiving Elder Dinner.

·      AFR participated in the Health Fair run by the Health Department this morning.

·      AFR continues to pursue additional funding.

·      Sheila will host another Medicare talk at the library in December. She noted that the Zoom talks she has been giving during Covid typically have more attendees than the live events in the past.

·      Sheila would like help getting the word out about the Anchor Property Tax Relief program. Not every resident who may be eligible received a form in the mail, especially renters. Sheila encouraged people to see the NJ Division of Taxation website and note the December 30 deadline. Paul will announce this at the next Village Council meeting.

New Business--

·      Deanna is focused on improvements to the Youth Lounge concerning climate and sound control and the door to the outside. It is requested that this is a priority item on next month’s agenda. Our goal is to have capital improvement suggestions ready to submit to the Village Council in January.

·      Cathy Greve suggested that we discuss an entry in the 4^th of July parade at our next meeting. One idea is for the Senior Bus to ride in the Parade.

·      Also at our next meeting we should discuss members of the Community Center Advisory Board and the Foundation Board and if resolutions are required to update the lists.

We will have a meeting in December—December 1 at 5 pm in the Pat Mancuso Senior Lounge and on Zoom if necessary.

6:16 p.m. The meeting was Adjourned

Respectfully submitted by Beth Abbott.

REAC-Green Team Joint Meeting Minutes 20181204

Attendance:

REAC: Bob Upton, George Wolfson, Lisa Summers, Christine Amundsen, Pam Perron,  Michael Sedon (Village Council Liaison), Mary Mogerley (Parks & Recreation Rep), Robert Kearney (Village Staff Rep).

Green Team: Justin Manger, Bob Upton, George Wolfson, Cathy Brienza, Michael Sedon (Village Council Liaison).

Other: Serena Iacoviello, Leslie Lello

1. Introductions/Membership update:

We welcomed Rob Kearney as the new REAC Village Staff Representative.

Serena has resubmitted her GT application. We understand that Anthea Zito and Jamie Miller have also submitted GT applications.

Mike advised that the Village is advertising for volunteers for Village committees.

2. The minutes from the October meeting were adopted by consensus.

3. Plastic Bags:

Both ANJEC and Sustainable Jersey suggest the State legislation banning single use plastic bags and other plastics may happen slowly or not at all. Lisa & Ellie have now made presentations to the Chamber of Commerce and Guild (both of whom surveyed their members) and to the CBD and Stable Hands group. Mike has requested an invitation to speak to the AM Rotary group but received no reply. It was agreed we will approach the Village Council to propose an ordinance and Mike will try to get us on a work session agenda. No decision on purchasing reusable bags. A number of NJ towns have already passed bans and ANJEC offers a model ordinance on their web site.

4. League of Women Voters Bottled Water Resolution.

The League of Women Voters, Water Committee, has drafted a resolution and fact sheet for Village Council to discontinue the purchase of single-use PET water bottles using municipal funds and, on their behalf, Pam Perron has asked REAC to join LWV in recommending that the Council adopt the measure. These documents were circulated to members ahead of the meeting and, the committees agreed, after discussion and a couple of edits, to support LWV in this action.

5. Sustainable Jersey:

a. Plans for Silver recertification.

Justin proposed using the same spreadsheet model as used for the last Silver certification application for our Spring 2020 recertification. We will list the actions needed to reach the required points score and ask GT members to champion individual actions. It was noted that some past actions will no longer be available or achievable in which case new ones will need to be added. We will plan to launch this effort at our January meeting.

b. Addressing Climate Change.

Ahead of our meeting Pam had provided excerpts from the executive summary of The Fourth National Climate Assessment published recently by the Government which were circulated to committee members. Her suggestion was to consider how our committees might address this issue through SJ Actions or otherwise. Members were asked to review SJ Actions particularly in the Energy and Sustainability & Climate Planning categories before our next meeting. It was noted that the latter category includes two Actions dealing with visioning/vision statements which perhaps could be addressed in the Village’s current visioning effort (see Master Plan below).

c. Gold Star Standard in Waste

i. Waste Reduction & Recycling Level Reporting: Johanna at the Recycling Dept has responded that the data required is all available except the “Number of people employed in municipality”. SJ thought they could provide that number but are now having difficulty. We will ask Johanna to provide the numbers that are available to establish what baseline data we can.

ii. Food Waste Pilot: Community Compost Co (CCC), the firm proposing a pilot collection program needs a number of communities to participate to launch a program in Bergen Co. They have received some interest from members of the SJ Bergen Hub and are talking directly to Ridgewood Recycling. Ridgewood Recycling is interested but needs funding for the pilot and, we believe, another community to sign on. CCC acknowledge that, from a sustainability perspective, backyard composting or in town centralized composting are better solutions but not always viable.

iii. Composting Info Session: We are proposing to conduct this session as part of the partnership program on Regenerative Environmentalism, see below.

d. Green Business Program

George & Pam are creating a new questionnaire based on the previous SJ model and incorporating SJ’s updates and food waste and polystyrene reduction, initially focusing on restaurants & food stores.

e. SJ Bergen Hub

i. “Styrofoam” Program: Justin & Bob are working with the SJ Hub Styrofoam Sub-Committee who will administer the program using the Hub Grant which was awarded. For Ridgewood we are looking at conducting an education event, hosting a collection drive and incorporating Styrofoam reduction into our Green Business program.

ii. Next Hub meeting tentatively set for Ramsey in 3^rd or 4^th week of January. Topic of Clean Energy to be confirmed. Justin & Bob have been attending and invite others to participate.

iii. It was noted Fair Lawn will hold a Green Fair April 10^th 6 – 8 PM and invited the Hub to participate. This could serve as an opportunity to promote the Styrofoam program.

6. Grants.

a. Opportunities:

i. A SJ grant program specifically for floodplain reforestation initiatives was referred to the Shade Tree Commission. Application deadline Dec 14^th.

ii. The current SJ PSEG Municipal Grant cycle is now open with application deadline for $2K and $10K or $20K grants Feb 15^th, 2019. (SJ webinar Dec 10^th to review application process). There is a similar program for schools with deadline Mar 15^th, 2019. (Recording of webinar available on SJ web site).

b. Projects: If we are to apply for grants we need to identify projects. Mary suggested Community Garden enhancements and she will gather more info. We previously applied unsuccessfully for funds to conduct a tree inventory. EV charging stations are another option. SJ would allow a multi-town application with one town administering the finances which could be used for the compost pilot. Ideas are needed for our next meeting or sooner.

c. Grant writing: Mike has requested a copy of our previous grant application so we may try to improve on. We are awaiting response.

7. Suggested Uses for REAC Funds.

a. Reusable shopping bags: On hold pending legislative action, see above.

b. Grant program for schools: See schools, below.

c. Support for Tree Nursery: Mike reported the new site for the tree nursery has been approved.  George will obtain detailed needs for supplies etc. in due course.

d. Composting Pilot program: It was suggested REAC offer financial support for the Composting Pilot (see above) if that will help launch it.

8. Regenerative Environmentalism (Permaculture) Meet-Up Group.

REAC has partnered with Leslie to support her efforts to launch this program. Parks & Rec have approved the use of the Stable. Initial event will be screening of movie “Inhabit” on Jan 30^th. REAC agreed to pay for the $50 screening fee. Events are also planned for Feb 20 & Mar 20 with program to be determined.

9. Educational events 

a. The list of movies researched by Yingying was distributed with little feedback except Schoolhouse Rock – Earth and The Story of Stuff received some support. Since our plan is for a children & parents event Mike agreed to look at these options with his son and report two, one or zero thumbs up!

b. Pam was enthusiastic about the suggestion of REAC and LWV jointly promoting water bottle filling stations at the RBSA season opening April 27^th. Bob &Pam will work on it.

10. Schools

a. Further to the plan to offer a $1,000 grant to middle schools for a sustainable activity (see October minutes) Jennie provided an example proposal document format which was distributed for study and discussion at our next meeting.

b. Christine is trying to identify champions in the schools to reactivate SJ for Schools in our schools.

11. By-Laws: Mike’s draft by-laws will be revised again for our next meeting.

12. Master Plan: All members are encouraged to access information on the Village web site and complete the questionnaire. Mike will talk to NV5 to set up a meeting with our committees as they have proposed.

13. North Bergen Liberty Power Plant: Pam, Serena & Cathy have submitted a draft resolution and cover letter for the Village Council opposing the planned construction of this plant. Bob will circulate them for discussion at our next meeting.

14. Ridgewood Earth Day Fair: Date is set for April 14^th. REAC/GT members are asked to save the date to participate in our involvement.

15. Plaque for Andy Antista Tree: Ellie advises this should be installed any day now.

16. Low Impact Checklist: Topic deferred to next meeting.

17. Meeting schedule: The meeting was not adjourned until about 9.45 PM. Apologies were extended to those who were inconvenienced and thanks to all who stayed. Recognizing that in order to accomplish what we want to do our meetings do run longer it was suggested we consider an earlier start, 7.30 PM or even 6 PM. To be discussed at the next meeting.

17. Next Joint Meeting Date: Next meeting Tuesday Jan 15^th, still at 7.45 PM.