A SPECIAL PUBLIC MEETING OF THE VILLAGE COUNCIL OF THE VILLAGE OF RIDGEWOOD HELD IN THE SYDNEY V. STOLDT, JR. COURT ROOM OF THE RIDGEWOOD VILLAGE HALL, 131 NORTH MAPLE AVENUE, RIDGEWOD, NEW JERSEY ON FEBRUARY 21, 2018 AT 7:00 P.M.

1.CALL TO ORDER – OPEN PUBLIC MEETINGS ACT – ROLL CALL – FLAG     SALUTE

Mayor Knudsen called the meeting to order at 7:02 P.M. and read the Statement of Compliance with the Open Public Meetings Act.  At roll call the following were present: Councilman Hache, Deputy Mayor Sedon, Councilman Voigt, Councilwoman Walsh, and Mayor Knudsen.  Also present were Heather Mailander, Village Manager/Village Clerk; Robert Rooney, Village Chief Financial Officer; and Christopher Rutishauser, Village Engineer.

Mayor Knudsen led those in attendance in the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag and held a Moment of Silence for all the men and women serving our Nation and all first responders.

2.COMMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC

Mayor Knudsen asked if there were any comments or questions from the public.

Gregory Brown, 444 Linwood Avenue, stated that he had three items to bring up tonight.  First, he wanted to thank the Village Council for their wonderful service to the community.  Mr. Brown stated that second, the current Spring-like weather had him thinking forward to the Spring and the Summer and the current water restrictions.  He was curious to know the status of other towns serviced by Ridgewood Water in enacting water conservation ordinances like the Village of Ridgewood, so that every municipality in Ridgewood Water is collectively working towards greater water conservation.  Third, he stated that given the events last week in Parkland, Florida, with another school shooting, he would like to continue to urge the Village Council to take the lead in discussions with both the school board and the Police Department on additional safety precautions that can be taken at all Ridgewood schools, in light of the 18 school shootings which have taken place nationally in the first 45 days of 2018.

Mr. Brown stated that he firmly believes it goes without saying that the Village Council, the School Board, and the Police Department have the safety of all Ridgewood school children as their utmost priority, but he wanted to challenge everyone to think outside the box and innovate, as our children should never wonder if school is a safe place.  Ridgewood is a safe community with a wonderful education system, which is why Mr. Brown’s family chose to live here, but that is unfortunately not sufficient in these days to protect from the unimaginable that is seen all too often.  Mr. Brown stated that Ridgewood needs to continue, as a community, to be proactive and more importantly, visionary leaders, to keep the Ridgewood community and students safe. 

Mr. Brown gave suggestions to the Village Council.  First, he suggested assigning an on-duty, uniformed Police Officer at each school, during school hours, which he stated would obviously have to be vetted and discussed between the school district, Village Council, and Police Department.  Although there are probably many scheduling and budgeting concerns, he believed the discussion should be started.  Second, he stated that it should be ensured that the newly-budgeted School Officer (a retired Police Officer which can carry a gun) works closely with both the schools and the Ridgewood Police Department to stay on top of the flow of information between the two and any areas of concern both from the physical school perspective and an at-risk individual mental health perspective.  Mr. Brown suggested that the Village Council work with the School Board, and most importantly the teachers, to implement unique strategies to identify lonely children; children who are struggling to connect with other children; the little ones falling through the cracks of the school social life, to discover whose gifts are going unnoticed by their peers as well as pinning down who is being bullied and who is doing the bullying.  Mr. Brown stated that there was a recent article in ‘Readers Digest’ entitled “One Teacher’s Brilliant Strategy to Stop Future School Shootings” by Glennon Doyle Melton, which outlines a wonderful approach that he would suggest everyone Google and read, and he was happy to share the article with anyone interested.

Denise Lima, 319 East Glen Avenue, stated that she was looking forward to tonight’s presentations.  She added that she thinks the residents would like to understand what experiences the developers have had in building successful garages in other municipalities.  Ms. Lima stated that since the taxes are such a big issue for residents, she would like to understand from the developers what their recommendations would be on how to fund the parking garage, which would be helpful to the residents.  Ms. Lima stated that the other thing residents are concerned about is the disruption, traffic, and safety as the garage is being built, and what the developers’ best practices are.  Ms. Lima asked that the developers explain what residents would have to look forward to, and how to manage those expectations while still keep the Central Business District vibrant and successful as they are going through the building of the parking garage.

3.INTERVIEWS WITH DEVELOPERS FOR HUDSON STREET PARKING GARAGE AND QUESTIONS FROM THE VILLAGE COUNCIL

Ms. Mailander stated that the Village Council was interviewing four developers that responded to the RFP, with Terminal Construction Corporation being the first presentation.  She requested that the individuals introduce themselves and stated that they had approximately 40 minutes to do their presentation.

a.Terminal Construction Corporation

Donald Dinallo, President, CEO & Owner of Terminal Construction Corporation, introduced himself and stated that with him was Megan Calibrise who was handling the PowerPoint, as well as Tim Tracy, Design Architect, from Desman Design Management.

Mr. Dinallo stated that he was very proud to be before the Village Council to present Terminal Construction’s proposal for the multi-level traditional self-parking structure to be built on the Hudson Street parking lot in Ridgewood.  Terminal Construction is located in Wood-Ridge, New Jersey, right on Route 17, and the company was founded in 1945 by Mr. Dinallo’s uncle and father.  They are a full-service construction company, rated as one of the top 400 construction companies in the United States in ‘Engineering News-Record’ yearly, and have an exceptional reputation in the public and private sectors.

Mr. Dinallo stated that Terminal Construction has in-house capabilities of general construction, construction management, a full legal team, a full engineering team within the office, and they do roughly between $300 million - $400 million dollars of construction per year within the State of New Jersey and New York.  They also self-perform construction activities, they do their own earthwork, pour and cast concrete with their own crews, and they do all interior finishes with their own crews which includes sheetrock, ceilings, doors, and hardware.  Terminal Construction finds that by doing that on all projects, they can control both the costs and the schedule to a greater degree.

Mr. Dinallo stated that Desman is one of the leading parking garage engineering architectural firms in the tristate area, and they have designed hundreds and hundreds of parking garages.  Mr. Dinallo stated that Terminal Construction and Desman have electively done over 4,000 spaces together, the two largest ones being MetroPark garage with 3,500 spaces and in Jersey City, the Beacon Towers, which was a 600-car parking structure, completed 2 years ago.  Mr. Dinallo stated that collectively, Terminal Construction and Desman have probably created over 20,000 parking spaces.

Mr. Dinallo displayed the project team that they were proposing, stating that on the Terminal Construction side, he would be the Lead Representative for Terminal, which includes Chief Engineer Joe Castiglioni, Chief Estimator Joe Zahuta, Senior Purchasing Agent Fred Bormann and all would be assigned from project inception to completion.  Project Manager Mike Allegretta has done over 7 parking garages and been with Terminal Construction for over 30 years, Project Engineer George Stankiewicz is a Professional Engineer who has been with their company for over 20 years and has done 3 parking garages.  Jack Grutta will be their Office Manager, and he has been with the company over 35 years and will also be Safety Coordinator on the project during construction.

Mr. Dinallo displayed a snapshot of parking garages that Terminal Construction has done over the history of their company.  He stated that they have constructed over 11,000 parking spaces, and they have done garages that are valued at over $143 million in the history of their company.  They have a very strong track record of construction projects in Bergen County, and as Mr. Dinallo stated previously, their office is only 15 to 20 minutes away from the job site.  Mr. Dinallo stated that he is an Allendale resident, and Tim Tracy, the Lead Architect on the project, is an Oradell resident.  In fact, everyone that Mr. Dinallo has assigned to the job is a Bergen County resident, so they are familiar with the area and the town of Ridgewood, as well as the high quality of work that Ridgewood demands.

Mr. Dinallo displayed some of the parking garages that Terminal Construction has done in their history; Claridge Estates in Verona; New Jersey Transit in Iselin; a parking facility at Stevens Institute of Technology which is a 485 spot parking garage, the Terminal Construction parking garage which has a capacity of 50 cars; and the County of Essex at Turtleback Zoo, which is a 502 parking spot facility.  Mr. Dinallo stated that all parking garages at Xanadu were done by Terminal Construction with 4,600 spaces.  At the present time, they are building Secaucus Technical High School’s 184 underground parking spaces, and the Beacon Project, with 600 spaces, which was completed a couple of years ago.

Mr. Dinallo stated that through the 72-year history of their company, they have completed every single project they have ever started, and have never defaulted on a project.  They have a strong commitment with partnering to owners, and are probably one of the largest design-build contractors in the State.  Right now, Terminal Construction is doing Trenton High School which is a design-build project of $120 million, and Secaucus High School which is $145 million.  They have also just been awarded the Passaic Academic campus which is a $165 million design-build, so they are very familiar partnering with towns, and getting jobs completed on time and on budget.

Mr. Dinallo stated that at this point, he was going to turn the presentation over to Tim Tracy, who would take the Village Council through the design aspect of the garage proposal.  Mr. Tracy stated that he was happy to be back, and added that for anyone who was not aware, Desman was retained by the Village of Ridgewood a couple of years ago to help navigate through various opportunities and designs on the Hudson Street parking lot.  He added that Desman has a tremendous amount of background and knowledge of this location, which they will not only bring to their partner, Terminal Construction, as they go through the design and construction of this project, but also hit the ground running with the Village.

Mr. Tracy stated that Desman participated in about ten presentations to various public interest groups in the Village, including the Planning Board, so they have a good sensitivity in terms of this property.  He added that the project a couple of years ago was different, and he thinks that they can take lessons learned and bring them to this project, in order to bring it to fruition.  Mr. Tracy stated that he thought some of the objectives and goals were consistent with where they were several years ago, in terms of maximizing the parking efficiency.  He added that Desman will take the site with its challenges and constraints and will come up with a design that gives the Village the best opportunity to maximize its parking gain, in conjunction with the architectural sensitivity.

Mr. Tracy stated that the approach taken by Desman when they were previously engaged, is the same as their current approach, which is to design a building that responds to the history in the context of the Village, its surrounding neighborhood, as well as the downtown in general.   He added that Desman thinks there is a way to celebrate the history of the site, but really to contextually develop a project that doesn’t feel like it was built in 2018, but was maybe built in 1940 or 1950 and grew as the Village grew.  Mr. Tracy stated that they really feel like they want to achieve a level of excellence for this project where it will create continued value for not only this generation, but for generations to come.

Mr. Tracy stated that the specifications in the Village’s current RFP required four levels of parking and a capacity of roughly 240 spaces.  Mr. Tracy stated that they respect and respond to the building code as well as the Village zoning code and they think they can develop a garage that meets that criteria and will provide approximately 115,000 square feet in total, with four levels of parking with the aesthetic and appearance of a three story building, which is very comparable to the surrounding neighborhood.   He stated that all of the other criteria they think they have identified and included in their proposal, while the specifics need to get worked out with the Village, from the Village Council, as well as the Engineering, Traffic, and Fire Departments. 

Mr. Tracy stated that Desman previously had the opportunity to work extensively with the Fire and Police Chiefs in town, so they appreciate their concerns and will respond and resolve those concerns as they move through the design process.  He added that the concerns were things like closed circuit television, digital parking displays, parking revenue control, as well as providing access from Hudson Street to the properties that front on East Ridgewood Avenue.  Mr. Tracy stated that there is an access easement that currently exists across the back of the site, so their design responds to and respects that easement both horizontally and vertically.  This easement is a challenge not only in horizontal alignment, but vertically to provide enough clearance on the first level, to allow service vehicles and emergency vehicles to travel through the deck.

Mr. Tracy stated that their current proposal, staying solely within the confines of the property with the footprint of the garage at roughly 99 feet with the property at 100 feet in depth, and approximately 293 feet in width.  Mr. Tracy stated that Desman was proposing a single access point along Hudson Street, towards the eastern edge of the property, which was picked specifically to provide enough separation from the intersection with South Broad Street, as well as to move the vehicular movements away from the pedestrian movements.  While displaying the Level 1 Floorplan proposed by Terminal and Desman, Mr. Tracy stated that at the corner of South Broad Street and Hudson Street they will place the primary pedestrian tower which would provide both stair and elevator access to all of the floors.  He added that all of the parking spaces are being planned at minimally 9 feet by 18 feet with 24-foot aisles.  In order to achieve the maximum car count, they are also proposing some parallel parking, extending the dimensions to 9 feet by 24 feet in order to facilitate the movement of cars in and out of the parallel parking spaces.  A typical parallel parking space is 9 feet by 20 feet or 9 by 22 feet.

Mr. Tracy added that other features on the ground level, in accordance with the RFP, are vehicle charging stations as well as bicycle and motorcycle parking.  The typical level, of which there are two, mirrors the ground level with the elimination of the Hudson Street driveway.  Mr. Tracy stated that there is certainly adequate circulation, and they are proposing to locate accessible handicapped parking spaces on each level in close proximity to the elevator tower.  Their construction methodology is precast concrete which provides an opportunity for the Village to maintain the surface parking in its current form as long as possible, since the majority of this building will be fabricated off-site and delivered and erected on-site.  The expectation is that as they go through design and eventually get to the construction phase of the project, and then hold off as long as they possibly can, by staging all of the construction off-site.  This will minimize the amount of downtime the Village may have during the construction of this parking garage.

Mr. Tracy stated that having been involved in the project previously, some may accuse Desman of knowing too much.  For, example Desman knows that there are sub-surface conditions, the utility requirements, and the fact that there are a couple of soft spots on the property that have to be addressed as part of the foundation.  Due to the fact that all of those items have already been identified, the costs that are being presented tonight take into consideration all of the conditions of the site.

Mr. Tracy stated that they were going to move to how Desman was treating the building at this stage aesthetically and architecturally.  Mr. Tracy displayed their Option 1 design, which he stated was fairly consistent with what they prepared previously for the Village.  He stated that it is a design that responds to the Village architecture, with strong corners, and the stair/elevator tower at the corner of South Broad Street and Hudson Street not only gives the building identification, but also provides additional reinforcement for pedestrians.  This design will provide a strong presence for residents and visitors, and will celebrate what this building is and how it will address some of the parking and infrastructure needs of the Village.

Mr. Tracy added that Desman also went back in history to the former building on the property, the old firehouse, which really celebrated the arch approach, so they have taken the whole ground level and really tried to bring some of that history forward into this design.  Mr. Tracy stated that the ground level will have a series of grills to humanize it and make it more consistent with the storefronts.  They are trying to stack the building by creating a base, a middle, and a top, which is consistent with what the Village has in most of its buildings downtown, where there is a commercial retail presence on the ground floor but more of a building representation on the upper floors where residential and office spaces are located.  Mr. Tracy said that their design breaks down the horizontal roof line of the building by creating vertical elements and also by introducing some change of elevation on the roof line.  This will make the overall appearance look as if it is a series of buildings, built at different times. 

Mr. Tracy stated that brick is a common material in the downtown and is a focus of their design.  Based upon feedback they received from the Historic Preservation Commission, they are suggesting that not every brick should be the same color or shape, and there may be a different pattern.  Mr. Tracy stated that the long elevation is what would be seen on Hudson Street, and the smaller elevation is what would be seen on Broad Street, again with the prominent corner which is a very important in the architecture of the Village.

Mr. Tracy then displayed option 2, where they tried to represent different architectural treatments.  He stated that there is a monetary and economic value of the aesthetic to each option, so as the Council goes through their consideration they then understand how much things are worth and what is the return on that investment.  Mr. Tracy stated that in the second option, they have maintained the strong corner and the ground level, so at the street level there is still a very consistent design with what is offered in option 1.  However, as the building goes vertically, they have minimized the design in order to understand what the value, the costs, and the savings might be to the Village.  Mr. Tracy stated that this option was about a million dollars less than the previous one, so the Village Council will have to evaluate aesthetics, materials, and designs from one to the other.

Mr. Tracy displayed option 3 which is a basic parking garage.  This is not something Desman is suggesting is appropriate, but is being presented in an effort to allow the Village to understand how design affects cost and budget.  He stated that it is not an unattractive garage but it certainly doesn’t have the same aesthetic value as option 1.  However, it still tries to maintain some of the Village characteristics with the brick, the mix of different materials, and the prominent vertical elements to break down the horizontal aesthetic of the project.  Although option 3 has less aesthetic value than option 1 or option 2, Mr. Tracy pointed out that it reduces the price by almost an additional million dollars.

Mr. Dinallo pointed out the arch from option 1 has been removed in option 3.  Mr. Tracy agreed that the arch is gone and the strong corner element has been minimized.  Mr. Tracy felt that in order to respond to the RFP and to provide the Village Council with an understanding of what the value of various treatments are, he provided the Village Council with three options with varying degrees of aesthetics.

Mr. Dinallo stated that before going into the construction plan for the garage, he just wanted to go back to the three options that were shown.  He stated that regarding the dollar figures presented for the various designs for the garage, they are very confident that they provided good hard numbers.  He added that the Village Council may want to combine elements from all three options and Mr. Dinallo said they are willing to work with the Village to come up with the ideal garage, from both a functionality standpoint and an aesthetic standpoint.  Mr. Dinallo added that they are confident on the ground conditions, on the geotechnical that they have reviewed, and building in the area.  Therefore the costs for each option have a lump sum price and cost per space.  All options are in the $10,000,000 to $11,500,000 range.  He stated that when looking at option 3, it is a great garage, and probably 50% of the type of garages they build, because it is pretty plain and that’s what most owners want.  The higher end garages, similar to those in Jersey City and in Metropark, are more like option 1. 

Mr. Dinallo moved on to the logistics plan because Ms. Lima brought up a good point with how this construction is going to affect the neighborhood and the surrounding area.  He stated that when Terminal laid out their project, they indicated they will take possession of the site when they are ready to start foundations, which would be some time in October 2018.  The fabrication off-site for this garage takes four months, so if they start fabrication in mid-September, they would start erecting this garage some time in the latter part of November 2018.  Mr. Dinallo stated that it takes six weeks to erect the garage, which would take until the first week in January.  They would start erecting on the east side, working their way west, and they would have to set the crane in the street for about two weeks to erect the last part of the garage.  This would be the only disruption in the street for about 2-3 weeks, and after that, everything is self-contained within the garage.  The access through the garage to the northern part of the site, for the people who need the access, would be kept open for the entire construction period and after the garage is completed.  

Mr. Dinallo reiterated that everything would be self-contained on the site other than the temporary lane closure for about 2-3 weeks to erect the last part of the garage, in the latter part of December or the early part of January.  At this time, school is out, and traffic is a little bit less and they think this is a really good plan.  He stated that they have all of the safety precautions, as the red line on their logistical plan diagram indicates a perimeter fence.  They would start the foundation work in October when they take over the site, which is a spread footing job.  All of the footings would be poured and all of the underground work, then the slab would be poured.  Mr. Dinallo pointed out where the crane would sit to erect the eastern portion of the garage, and then the crane would be moved and the rest of the slab poured concurrently with erecting the rest of the garage.  By January 2019, the garage is erected, the slab on grade is poured, and they are inside the garage doing all of the mechanical, the lighting, the plumbing (which are mostly roof drains), and finishing all of the glass towers in the elevators. 

Mr. Dinallo stated they would deliver the garage to the Village by June 2019 substantially complete, and would finally complete the job by July 2019.   He stated that they would break ground September 2018, and there would be a functioning garage by the summer of 2019.  Mr. Dinallo added that a parking garage is not difficult to build, because it is like an erector set and it goes up very quickly once it is fabricated.  The whole job is really the precasting, and they have Hyde Concrete, which is one of the premiere precasters in the area.  He stated that they have a great team, and displayed a slide showing an overall schedule for the job.  The slides showed that they are anticipating an award and are using March 19th as a kick-off date, with a conceptual design phase from mid-March to mid-June, to lock in on a design that everyone approves.  They then create all of their working drawings and going through the approval process to get all of the permits and go through the agencies.  The Village will be able to keep parking open on the Hudson Street lot until the last moment.  Mr. Dinallo stated that they anticipated a full notice to proceed in mid-October, substantial completion by June 2019 and the final completion by July 2019. 

Mr. Dinallo stated that he thinks that the schedule that he has put together takes into consideration public comment and getting permits, but he honestly believes that if everything fell into place they really would be done by some time towards the latter part of April or early part of May 2019.  The additional months may be needed because he knows there is a lot of comment that has to take place.  He stated that they have built garages of this size in six to seven months, so it can be completed earlier than the anticipated timeline they presented.

Mr. Dinallo stated that the last slide in the presentation shows a sampling of the work that Terminal Construction has recently completed in the area.  They have just finished the Don Bosco Academic Building and new Chapel, they are also a real estate developer and just finished Waldwick Station which is 110 market rate rental apartments along the rail line.  He spoke about the TCC World Headquarters in Wood-Ridge, they were a general contractor on the Ridgewood Train Station when it was modernized, they built the Meadowlands Arena and are doing Secaucus High School right now.  They also built the BMW World Headquarters in Woodcliff Lake.  He added that this was just a sampling of jobs that they have done in Bergen County, so they are familiar with the area and the quality of work.  Mr. Dinallo stated that they pride themselves on delivering a quality product and they pride themselves more on partnering with the people that they work with and they are used to working with all types of agencies.

Mayor Knudsen thanked Mr. Dinallo and Mr. Tracy and stated that the Council would begin with their questions.

Councilman Hache stated that he knows they have experience building garages, and they built 11,000 spaces.  He asked about the typical size of the garages that they are currently building.  Mr. Dinallo stated that they typically build garages with anywhere between 500 to 600 spaces, which is a typical size garage.  Councilman Hache stated that must be much more than 11,000 spaces, and Mr. Dinallo stated that they have built much more than 11,000 spaces and this is just a sampling of what they have done.  Councilman Hache asked if the largest part of the construction costs is the concrete.  Mr. Dinallo stated that it was the precasting that was the major component. 

Councilman Hache stated that when he looked at the design, it looked a lot like the last version that the Council saw from Desman, except just one level shorter.  Mr. Tracy stated that there were some minor modifications, but it is very consistent with that approach.  Councilman Hache stated that in early 2017, he and Mr. Tracy met and they talked about what kind of cost-savings the Village could achieve by going down a level and he remembers the figure back then was still well over $12,000,000 and at the time, the project concrete was 25% less than what it is today.  This design looks exactly like what was discussed a year ago, and he loves a bargain more than anyone else, but he wondered if the Village is getting what was discussed or are they getting a lesser version of what was discussed.  Mr. Tracy stated that it was a lesser version in that the footprint is smaller than what had been talked about previously.  The garage from a year ago, was bigger because it was extended to the north or extended to the south, so they had a larger footprint which was more than the 99 feet that they are suggesting as part of this project.  Councilman Hache stated that was extending into the lot, behind the garage.  Mr. Tracy added that the garage from last year was more spaces, so those two factors reduced the square footage construction and therefore the costs were reduced appropriately.

Councilman Hache questioned what was the expected life of a structure like this, given that it is an open structure and it will be exposed to the weather and salt.  Mr. Tracy stated that most of their projects are based on a 50-year life cycle and if they are maintained as diligently as they can be, there is no reason why it couldn’t last for 75 years, based on these materials.  Councilman Hache questioned if that maintenance would involve cleaning out salt and contaminants, or if it also had something to do with the joints.  Mr. Dinallo stated that Councilman Hache was right on target, and especially the expansion joints.  Councilman Hache questioned what something like that would cost the Village per year.  Mr. Tracy stated that they typically recommend to their clients that they budget $50 per space per year as a maintenance allowance.  Mr. Tracy added that the Village would not need that money in year 1, but they would basically create a structural or a maintenance reserve so in year 5/6 the Village would start to see caulking replacement, waterproofing, perhaps a little bit of concrete work, but the Village would have that reserve built up to allow the work which is a general rule of thumb in the industry.

Councilman Hache questioned in terms of financing options, if they offered any type of interest-only or any type of leasing financing.  Mr. Dinallo stated that they do not, but what he does offer is that during the first 3 to 4 months of the project when the Village is going through choosing a design and they are working with the town, Terminal Construction will do that at no cost and then when they kick in to picking a design and they move forward, then the billing would start.  Mr. Dinallo stated that they want to show their client that they are committed to helping them get to where they want to be.  Councilman Hache stated that he had no more questions and thanked Mr. Dinallo and Mr. Tracy.

 Councilwoman Walsh thanked Mr. Dinallo and Mr. Tracy for their presentation and all the work they have done.  She stated that aesthetically, she was not as concerned about option 1, as she knows the Council would love to have that in downtown Ridgewood, but she just does not think that it would be feasible for the Village for a lot of different reasons, and the same thing goes for option 2, in her opinion.  Councilwoman Walsh stated that she parks in a parking garage everyday similar to option 3 in the Somerset Corporate Park, and it is a great facility and she believes that’s what Ridgewood is looking for.  Mr. Tracy stated that the garage in the Somerset Corporate Park, was a Desman design.  Councilwoman Walsh added that the Council has no control over the aesthetics of the other buildings, as people can change those buildings, and they know that the Brogan and Dayton multi-family housing developments are going to be in the Tudor style.  She stated that what she is looking for in all of these designs, is something that is going to fit in but also not be so ornate that all you see is a parking garage when traveling down that street.

Councilwoman Walsh stated that, for her, the option 3 design is what would probably be the most feasible for the Village, but there are some elements of it that the Council would probably want to change.  Mr. Dinallo stated that he was present for the last Council meeting where Councilwoman Walsh commented on where she parked her car, and he said that she mentioned it had a cable barrier system.  He stated that similar type of design is what he is building right now at Stevens Institute of Technology and said that it was not the most aesthetically appealing garage, but it is really functional.  The design can be dressed up, as Stevens is doing, with a banner system that is wrapping around the garage, which looks like the Hudson River and shields the garage and is not very expensive.  Mr. Dinallo added that Councilwoman Walsh was right, there were a lot of things that could be done, but the guts of the garage and the functionality of it doesn’t change.

Councilwoman Walsh agrees that aesthetically, the garage is going to be what it’s going to be, but functionality was the most important thing for the Village.  She questioned what has worked best in all of the garages they have built, and what are the glitches that come up in their other designs that maybe they would foresee here or what works best, so that the Council doesn’t waste their time.  Mr. Tracy stated that he thought that what they presented, given the constraints of the site, is a very functional user-accepted facility.  Based on the users of this garage, it will be a diverse user group, heavily geared towards commuters during the day, and customers and visitors on the nights and weekends, so their design reflects this diverse group.  Half of the garage is flat, without the ramp, which allows a much better user experience and better orientation for the people that come into the garage.  Both corners have been beaconed with stairs and elevators to make it easy to get in and out of the garage.  Mr. Tracy stated that they went to great lengths not to diminish or reduce the geometry, including stall sizes and aisle widths, and with only 245 spaces, it is a fairly small facility by today’s standard.  They think that given the cross section of the people who will use this facility, the design is being presented in absolute response to it.

Councilwoman Walsh stated that there was a brief discussion about upkeep and management, and she was wondering what they would say are the biggest challenges with upkeep, other than cleaning the deck, what are the pitfalls of a garage that is maintained by a municipality.  Mr. Tracy stated that the Village would have to really commit to the maintenance and the economics to make sure that there is enough capital available to maintain this facility.  This should really be considered an extension of the Village’s infrastructure, so as the Council goes through its capital budgeting on an annual basis, the parking garage maintenance must be included.  If the Village stays on top of it, they will see that the maintenance requirements will actually be reduced, as opposed to if it is decided to do nothing over the first 5, 6, or 7 years.  Mr. Tracy stated that again, there was no reason why this improvement shouldn’t be a 75 to 100-year structure for the Village.

Councilwoman Walsh stated that in the designs that were presented, Turtle Back Zoo was shown which had 502 spots but was only $23,000 per space.  Mr. Tracy stated that it was due to the efficiency of the site.  Councilwoman Walsh questioned what that meant.  He stated that it was due to the limitations of the site and the footprint that the Village has available which is pushing the square foot per space needed.  If they were to have another 20 feet of space, they would go from an efficiency of probably 400 square feet per space now, which is high, to 350 square feet per space.  The Village would automatically capture a savings of 35%-40% per space, or less square feet would be built to get the same number of spaces.  Councilwoman Walsh questioned if the efficiency was in the way that the parking garage was constructed.  Mr. Tracy stated that the efficiency is in the footprint as the current 99 feet is very constraining and to get the 240 spaces in the number of levels there is some inefficiency built in with this particular site that they can’t avoid.  Councilwoman Walsh thanked the presenters.

Councilman Voigt stated that he wanted to touch on what Councilwoman Walsh has asked regarding precast garages that are put together and they range anywhere from $6,500 per space to $23,900 per space, and the proposed garage for the Village is almost double that and he was having a hard time understanding how this can be so much more expensive.  Mr. Tracy stated that from the design side of things, there are two specific elements that cause this. The 99 feet of the parking garage is requiring the efficiency of this solution to be much more than what they would otherwise expect from a typical design.  Desman strives to get to a parking efficiency of about 330 square feet for every parking space whereas the constraints of this site with the 99 feet is really driving that efficiency way up to 400 square feet per space or more.  Therefore, almost 35%-40% more square feet are being built to get the same parking space, which goes directly to the cost.  Mr. Tracy added that the second thing that drives the cost are the aesthetics, so looking at the $15,000 or the $20,000 per space solution doesn’t have the aesthetic value that option 3 has, so it is those two factors that are really the two biggest components for how the cost is being driven for this opportunity.

Councilman Voigt questioned if there was a warranty on the parking structure.  Mr. Tracy stated that typically the largest cost item, which is the precast, has a one-year warranty.  Councilman Voigt stated that his next question was related to the number of spaces, because on the bottom level there are 52 spaces, and then 66 spaces on the next two levels and then 61 spaces.  He asked why there couldn’t be the same amount of spaces on each floor.  Mr. Tracy stated that parking is lost with the ramp, so it either comes off the roof level or the ground level because it creates a hole.  Councilman Voigt questioned whether more spaces could be squeezed in under the ramp areas.  Mr. Tracy stated that the Village wouldn’t have a full level because the ramp is taking out a hole so he doesn’t think they can squeeze more.  However, instead of stopping the ramp at column line 7, if it were extended to column line 3, they would pick up another 15 spaces on the backside.  Visually, the Village wouldn’t get the same impact because it is 60 feet from the sidewalk. That’s very inexpensive parking, because it’s just material costs at that point and all of the other upfront costs would have been paid, so that may help to amortize the cost per space.  Councilman Voigt questioned whether Mr. Tracy could look into that a bit more to see if they could squeeze as many spaces in, as there are 245 now and if another 15-20 spaces could be squeezed in that would help.

Deputy Mayor Sedon stated that Mr. Tracy had mentioned that there would be a last possible moment where people could park on the site and questioned when that was.  Mr. Tracy stated that he would say the end of September or early October 2018.  Deputy Mayor Sedon questioned whether any thought had been given to after that having any off-site parking or getting people to different parking spaces since they wouldn’t be able to use this site anymore.  Mr. Tracy stated that there wasn’t any thought given to that.

Mayor Knudsen stated that she and Mr. Tracy had been traveling down this road together for a pretty long time and it has been interesting.  Her first question was what the difference was between a filigree concrete system, as opposed to a cast concrete system.  Mr. Tracy stated that a filigree system was exactly what he was building at Stevens right now, in which the filigree takes the place of a concrete form, so it comes as a panel and is set in a column in a T and is filled on top with concrete which takes the place of a poured in place concrete.  Mr. Tracy added that the garage before the Council is a precast garage that is fabricated offsite and all of the pieces come, it gets erected, and there is some poured in place concrete that has to be done, but not much.

Mayor Knudsen stated that there were some residents over the past months or year that expressed concern that a cast concrete design was somehow an inferior or a less desirable product and she wondered if Mr. Tracy would weigh in on that.  Mr. Tracy stated that most of the garages that they do at Desman are precast garages which is an excellent facility and is not an inferior product at all.  Mayor Knudsen stated that she agreed with Mr. Tracy, she just wanted to allay any concerns.  Mr. Dinallo stated that driving around Bergen County, most of the garages are precast garages.  Mr. Tracy added that the other challenge of cast in place is that it would probably be more costly and more disruptive, and Mr. Dinallo agreed.   Mayor Knudsen stated that she understood, a precast garage is done offsite and a whole kit is created and then shipped to the site where it is put together.  Mr. Dinallo stated that it was like an erector set, and that if it was done as pour in place there would be a tremendous amount of fore-work on that, a tremendous amount of labor, and the disruption to the site would be about 4 months with crews pouring concrete.

Mayor Knudsen questioned that given the presenters experience, and the fact that this will be presented to the Historic Preservation Commission and keeping in mind that there are certain controls in place that are the product of a Municipal Land Use Board, formed as the Historic Preservation Commission, in their experience, albeit there are bells and whistles that are costly in design when seeing the pretty option 1, in more historic spaces would they more likely see the design 3 option built or would they see the more desirable approach being the one with more bells and whistles. Mr. Tracy stated that he would use the analogy of having done two garages in Montclair previously and they are doing two currently for the township and they are more in line with option 1 than option 3.  Mayor Knudsen stated that the option 1 garages were prettier, to which Mr. Tracy replied that they were more contextually sensitive.  Mayor Knudsen questioned whether the numbers provided were a hard cost and if they were comfortable with those numbers, to which Mr. Tracy responded he is 100% comfortable with the numbers given.

Councilman Hache stated that a 1-year warranty on the structure was mentioned, however there is always concern when there are joints and very heavy vehicles going up and down and wondered if there was any sort of indemnification for the Village for any failures, and if that extends beyond the 1-year warranty.  If so, he wondered if the extended warranty comes from the precast concrete company or from the construction company. Mr. Dinallo stated that the caulking is more than a 1-year warranty.  Mr. Tracy stated that typically, it would be a 3 to 5-year warranty for the sealant between the joints which is most prone to some early deterioration.  Mr. Dinallo stated that most issues with a parking garage that were read about years ago, the failures came at the expansion joints, but they have never been called back for these types of failures because if they are maintained properly, that’s really the key.  Mr. Tracy added that they are much smarter and more diligent in their design, so all of the horizontal connections are stainless steel galvanized, nothing is exposed, resulting in the durability of a precast structure which is significantly better than it was even 5 years ago.  This is a result of the design criteria, which they would bring to this project, for the benefit of the Village.

Mayor Knudsen asked what happens if there is an obvious workmanship failure.  Mr. Dinallo stated that a standard in the industry is a 1-year warranty and guarantee and then after that, there are components of the building such as the windows, elevators, and the caulking, which will have longer warranties.  Therefore, when a job is completed, there is a book which gives all of the warranties and guarantees. 

Councilman Voigt questioned whether there was a garage structure that has been built that would be similar to what is being proposed that they would be able to look at.  Mr. Dinallo stated that he could take the Council to Turtleback Zoo or Stevens which is currently under construction.  Mr. Tracy added that the ones in Montclair were probably a good example as they are fairly articulated and might be a little bigger, but they have the same products, materials, and aesthetic value.  Mr. Dinallo added that travelling up and down the turnpike they would see Metropark which Terminal and Desman did together.

Mayor Knudsen stated that they would take one more question from Councilwoman Walsh.  Councilwoman Walsh stated that her question was for Chris Rutishauser, the Village Engineer, and asked whether he could weigh in on the size of the spaces.  Mr. Rutishauser stated that 9 by 18 feet is 2 feet shorter than the 9 by 20 feet that the Village specifies, however they did use the same aisle width that the Village has in its Code which is 24 feet.  Mr. Rutishauser stated that if someone drove a Suburban or a full-size Escalade, the parking spaces will be tight.  Mr. Tracy added that those sizes were consistent with the prior design, so those dimensions were presented when they went before the Planning Board and there was a favorable endorsement from the Planning Board the last time around.  Councilwoman Walsh questioned if Mr. Tracy knew off hand what the spaces at Somerset Corporate Park were, to which Mr. Tracy responded that it would have been 9 by 18 feet as that is the standard in the industry.

Mayor Knudsen added that one other thing that struck her is the timing, as their timing on the project happens to coincide with the 4th quarter in the Central Business District, which is when parking availability is crucial.  Mayor Knudsen stated that for the residents, if there were any questions, please email and the Council will get any resident questions answered as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Ms. Mailander stated that before wrapping up this presentation she wanted to ask Mr. Rutishauser or Mr. Rooney if they had any final questions.  Mr. Rutishauser and Mr. Rooney stated that they did not have any questions at this time.

Mayor Knudsen thanked the presenters.

b.Prismatic Development Corporation

Ms. Mailander stated that the next presentation was Prismatic Development Corporation. Patrick Mastropul, Prismatic Development Corporation, introduced himself as well as Andrew Berger, a principle architect with di Domenico and Partners.  Mr. Berger stated he was an architect and a landscape architect and a Principle with the firm.  Mr. Mastropul stated that Prismatic Development had put together a team for this project which includes diDomenico and Partners as their Lead Architect, Stantec who will be their Structural and MEP Engineers, and Langan Engineering as their Civil and Geotechnical Engineers.  Prismatic has worked with all three of these firms for well over 20 years and have had numerous successful projects with them, all in the design-build format.

Mr. Mastropul stated that Prismatic Development is a New Jersey firm that has been working out of Fairfield, New Jersey for well over 30 years and they are privately owned by their sole owner, Mr. Robert Gamba.  He stated that as everyone knows, the existing site for this project is on the corner lot of South Broad Street and Hudson Street and is currently two lots which make up a one-level parking lot.  There is an easement going through it for the rear entrance of some commercial spots, as well as the main entrance to a residential building.  Mr. Mastropul stated that in the neighboring areas, directly across the street on Hudson Street is a church which they are well aware of many of their concerns, and the site is also flanked by several restaurants and the train station is also in the near vicinity.

Mr. Berger stated that as they began the process of reviewing the proposal, they looked at the previous plan that was prepared by Desman and recognized that the 100 feet by 295-foot site the Desman plan exceeded or grew out in the southerly direction by roughly 5 feet as well as providing access to the easements to the adjacent properties along the eastern edge.  Mr. Berger stated that they saw there were some benefits to this plan, but at the same time, they thought that there were some opportunities to improve on this plan as well as providing the 240 spots required by the RFP.  He stated that they developed a scheme which incorporates the easements to the adjacent properties through a new garage providing not only a 14-foot-high access, but potentially wider than a 10-foot access, to this part of the new garage. 

Mr. Berger stated that the displayed layout was a scheme that they think is worthy of considering, indicating roughly 257 spots which they think they can actually improve on that as well.  At grade level or street level, it maintains the existing 100 by 295 feet, and they grow the garage slightly at the upper levels, but this gives them the opportunity to maintain the sidewalk and the suburban streetscape around the site.  Mr. Berger stated that their presentation has angled parking, and what this does, is allow for a traffic lane at the north side of the parking garage which is ramped and the remainder of the parking to be at a flat level, with exception of the grade level. Mr. Berger stated that this plan shows 20 bike parking spots, 10 ADA parking spaces, and 6 electric charging stations.  There are two cores, a circulation core at the corner of South Broad Street, as well as a circulation core at the east side of the parking garage as well.

Mr. Mastropul stated that for this project they put together an aggressive but practical schedule, and grouped it in a sense that they have the preconstruction and preliminary design that they have broken into about a 10 week duration.  This then carries into giving Mr. Berger and his team, with Stantec and Langan, 14 weeks to design the actual garage that di Domenico and Partners will be building.  He believes this is more than enough time to design it with everyone’s cooperation and input.  When Prismatic has turned over the plans to di Domenico and Partners, they are giving themselves a 32 week construction schedule.  Therefore, in February of 2019, they will be leaving the Village of Ridgewood with a brand new parking garage.  Mr. Mastropul stated that they are cognizant of all of the pedestrian traffic so they are setting up the protection of traffic and securing the site, so there is no danger or any way that foot traffic or any Villager could get into the site.  He added that they have a flag man full time allocated for this project so when they have truck deliveries, there will always be a flag man directing traffic to make sure that everybody is safe.

Mr. Mastropul stated that right after the site is secured, they will go into clearing the site with selective demolition of the surface lots and the overhead utility and a couple of sewers that would have to be taken care of early on.  They have determined that they would be able to use spread footings for this project, so they will not need any piles or elaborate deep foundation systems for this garage.  Mr. Mastropul stated that they have an aggressive but practical schedule with 12 weeks of precast erection from when the first column shows up on the site to the last grouting and caulking of a double tape.  The next step will be roughing in the interior lighting and drainage, and then they will be going into the finishes and site finishes.  There is a 15-week time allotment, where the easements through the site will not be accessible.  Mr. Mastropul stated that they will obviously work with the Village, the tenants, and the merchants to come up with the best solution possible during that time and if they can shorten that time or provide access temporarily for deliveries, they would be happy to do so.

Mr. Mastropul stated that as this schedule shows, approximately the week of March 1, 2019 they will be turning the garage over to the Village.  They are looking at providing a 257 stall parking garage that is four levels at a total of three stories with precast concrete structural elements which will be aesthetically pleasing to the surrounding neighborhood.  Mr. Mastropul stated that they will incorporate thin brick into the façade, and it is an open-air design, so a lot of the span drills will be as low as possible to provide open air, so there is no ventilation required.  One of the key things inside any parking garage is ample lighting for traffic flow and pedestrian safety.  Mr. Mastropul stated that they have included LED lighting so they have bright lighting, but not too bright.  In addition, the structural walls on the interior of the parking garage have cut outs in them, so you can see somebody or traffic on the other side. 

Mr. Berger displayed a diagram that shows the grade level of the proposed parking garage where a car could go through the easement or come down the middle aisle, which is angled parking with a drive lane.  A car would then arrive at the west end of the garage, where the electric charging stations are and cars can either go left and back around to the parking stalls on grade level or go right and up the ramp at the back or the north side of the building, and that wraps around all the way up to the next level.  Each level has roughly 65 spaces, with a circulation tower at the west side, along the edge of Hudson Street.

Mr. Berger then displayed an image of the typical layout for the upper floors, which essentially cantilevers out 2 feet 4 inches past the property line, yet at the street level, they are maintaining the 15-foot sidewalk which currently exists.  Next, he presented a diagram of the proposed facades. Mr. Berger added that one of the things that wasn’t mentioned at the beginning of the presentation was that he was the principal architect for NJ Transit as part of the Ridgewood train station high level platform project, including the renovation and elevators, and all of the ADA improvements.  He spent some time in the Village and understands the sensitivity towards the architecture and he hopes that the Village is happy with the project that NJ Transit built at the Ridgewood train station. 

Mr. Berger stated that he was trying to take similar ideas and approach in terms of architectural features and they have brought a series of precast panels in terms of architectural facades, some with thin brick at the upper levels looking to accentuate the columns, as well as different levels of the structure.  Mr. Berger said they flattened out the arch at the main entrance, not only to accentuate the entrance from the other bays, but also to maintain the height requirements for the easement.  They also have architectural features such as oversized lights, not only bringing a sense of artificial light, but also an architectural feature to the building.  Mr. Mastropul indicated that they are looking to open up some of the bays so that there is a sense of natural ventilation but also natural viewing into the structure, for a sense of security as you are coming in or leaving the parking garage. Mr. Berger next presented an image showing the section through multiple levels, showing the cantilever of 2 feet 3 inches and the 12-foot driving lane and the parking lanes.

Mr. Mastropul stated that they wanted to provide the Council with a run-down of what they included in their proposal to the Village which is a simple garage, but an elegant garage.  One of the main things they like to show are that Prismatic will always be on site, with a full time superintendent supported by a project manager and a project engineer, and a full-time flag man.  They are including a complete survey of the area, to supplement the survey provided by Daniel Dunn and also included is a team of award-winning design professionals.  In step 2, they will have site clearing, putting up a construction fence, and a total sidewalk replacement to accentuate the look.  Step 3 is the spread footing foundation and precast concrete structure. Steps 4, 5, and 6 are typical details of a standard garage that everyone is accustomed to, such as ADA handrails.  Step 8 is aluminum grills at street level and a curtain wall at the main entrance, which keeps an openness to the garage.  Mr. Mastropul stated that one thing they have learned in building garages is that ample signage is necessary.  The garage will be equipped with two elevators and they will have half glass security doors so when coming up on a floor, the individual can see who is outside the door before it even opens.  A fire stand pipe is included in all of the stairwells, as well as LED lighting throughout the entire garage and electric vehicle charging stations.

Councilman Hache thanked Mr. Mastropul and Mr. Berger for the presentation.  He stated that they gave the Village a 32-week construction to finished product and when talking about the 15-week period where there will be no access to the adjacent parking lot, where there are about 25 parking spaces, Councilman Hache questioned if they would consider providing parking for those individuals who are displaced.  Mr. Mastropul stated that it would be something they would be willing to look into and work with everyone together.  Councilman Hache stated that it was 25 parking spaces, but the back row was a lot of people who parked tandem so there were actually more spaces.

Councilman Hache questioned what the estimated life of the parking garage is, assuming that the Village maintains it properly.  Mr. Mastropul stated that typically, a precast parking garage can last 40-50 years, and the biggest concern is how to de-ice them in snow events.  The Village will be given a manual from the Precast Institute of America that has all of the best practices.  Councilman Hache questioned what the estimate of maintenance for a garage like this per space per year, to which Mr. Mastropul stated he would have to get back to him.

Councilman Hache asked what would be the last time that people could park in the Hudson Street parking lot.  Mr. Mastropul stated that realistically, during the design phase, they would need about a weeks’ time to do geotechnical borings and other than that, during the design the parking would be fairly uninterrupted.  In fact, when they are doing the borings, they could flag off the areas needed for the borings, so people could still park in the Hudson Street lot.

Councilman Hache asked for the dimensions of a parking space.  Mr. Berger stated that on the ground floor, except for the ADA spots, electric charging spots and compacts, everything else would be standard at 9 by 18 feet so it is an angled spot, as opposed to perpendicular. Councilman Hache stated that at 257 spaces it comes out to about $56,000 per space, which is quite high for a parking garage.  He asked how this compares to other garages that have been built. Mr. Mastropul stated that the cost per space is high, as they are cramming a lot of stuff into a small space.  Although there are ways that they may be able to increase the efficiency in the precast design, they are also looking at the precast design with smaller pieces so they aren’t driving absolutely massive trucks down the main streets in Ridgewood.  More pieces of the precast means more erection cost, but it has less of an impact to the Village and its residents.

Councilwoman Walsh thanked the presenters for being part of the process.  She stated that what jumps out to her in the design is the angle parking and asked if they would talk more about the angle parking.  She added that she knows that there have been conversations that angle parking causes motorists to collide with each other, and it would be a concern of hers.  Mr. Berger stated that it was not that uncommon for garages to have angled parking.  There are several limitations as they are trying not to expand at the street level beyond the 100 feet, but on the upper floors, they were focused on getting the number of parking spaces to at least 240, and possibly 260 spaces.  Angled parking spots would fall short of that amount. Mr. Berger also added that the other challenge that they saw with the ground level plan that was previously developed was that it dead ended, and they were trying to always have a potential loop so that there wasn’t a very complicated turn around process.

Councilwoman Walsh stated that she liked their design, because it is not too flashy or too plain, so it would fit well within the neighborhood.  She questioned how the design with the brick would be done.  Mr. Berger stated that it would be precast and built into the façade at the manufacturer’s plant, so all of the quality control is in a defined location as a panelized system, which has been done multiple times not only on parking garages, but on other types of buildings as well.  Councilwoman Walsh questioned if there was a chance for it to delaminate, to which Mr. Berger responded that they have not seen that as a problem and they have worked with multiple manufacturers. 

Councilwoman Walsh questioned the aluminum frames and if they would be flush with the sidewalk.  Mr. Mastropul stated that they could shake hands through it, as it would be set right within opening as an architectural element, which they thought added to the garage, rather than having large arched openings.  Deputy Mayor Sedon questioned if it would stop a vehicle going through it.  Mr. Berger stated that the frames would be above that height and showed in the section view image that where any of the cars were coming towards the viewer on the levels, there would be a guardrail at the perimeter, so the car wouldn’t in any way have contact with the aluminum architectural feature or the precast.

Mayor Knudsen stated that she didn’t hear the presenters indicate the price of the parking garage.  Mr. Mastropul stated that their total lump sum fee for this proposal is $14,399,000.

Councilman Voigt stated that he wanted to touch on what Councilman Hache had stated when he said that the cost per space was about $56,000 per space, which is significantly higher than the other proposals the Village Council has received, and so he was curious as to why that is. Mr. Mastropul stated that one of the major impacts was the precast design to make it structurally sound.  Along a column, they had to add an intermediate set of columns because they couldn’t make the span from one column to another, which created a high piece count.  Mr. Mastropul stated that if they had a deeper site, they would be able to get two bays of longer double T’s to make the span and they are already looking into ways to get the piece count lower.

Councilman Voigt stated that the other thing he wanted to touch on was what Councilwoman Walsh had mentioned with the angled parking. He questioned if the developers had built garages before where there is angled parking. Mr. Mastropul stated that they had, as one of three garages that they built at the new Yankee Stadium has angled parking, there is a parking garage in Minneola, New York that has angled parking in one section, and Prismatic has built over a dozen total parking garages, and they have angled parking.  Councilman Voigt asked if they would be able to find out statistics on the accidents per year in the angled parking garages.  Mr. Mastropul stated that they could request those figures from their previous clients.  Councilman Voigt stated that would be helpful.

Councilman Voigt questioned the 257 spaces and whether that included the charging and the disabled spaces. Mr. Mastropul stated that the number was for total spaces, and Mr. Berger added that it excludes the bike parking.

Deputy Mayor Sedon thanked them for their presentation.  He asked about the overall height of the building, at its highest point.  Mr. Berger stated that from grade level to second level was 16 feet and then from second floor to third and third to fourth was 10 feet 6, so roughly 37 feet before the parapet, and 41 to 42 feet for the total height.  Deputy Mayor Sedon questioned if the presenters were aware that the Village had done a geotechnical study of the site and questioned if it was incomplete of if they had to do a further study.  Mr. Berger stated that they work with Langan which is a larger local geotechnical civil engineering firm and they reviewed the existing documents that are available, and they don’t feel that there is any concern with regard to the substructure.  Deputy Mayor Sedon questioned whether it was sufficient, and Mr. Berger responded that they don’t think they need to do any pile foundations and it can be standard spread footings. 

Deputy Mayor Sedon questioned how comfortable they were with the price provided and if there was going to be a range.  Mr. Mastropul stated that if they were provided with an opportunity to provide best and final he was sure Prismatic could provide a better price.  Deputy Mayor Sedon also asked if it was necessary to cantilever over the sidewalk or if there was any way to shave off a couple of spaces and keep the number around 240.  Mr. Berger stated that they would have to look at that and it may be a challenge, as they don’t want to change the layout in terms of the amount of compacts versus standard size vehicles.  They think that pulling the site back to the 100 feet will require them to have more compact car parking spaces, which he doesn’t think the Village wants, but they can look into that.

Mayor Knudsen questioned the size of the cantilever, to which Mr. Berger responded that it was 2 feet 3 inches.  Mayor Knudsen asked about the height from the ground to the cantilever at 16 feet, to which Mr. Berger responded that she was correct.  Mayor Knudsen stated that this was the first time the cantilever hasn’t really bothered her, only because it is 16 feet high, so it doesn’t seem as jarring.  Mr. Berger stated that he thought they could incorporate it into the architectural features of the façade, so it wouldn’t even be perceived.  Mayor Knudsen asked what the benefit of the cantilever was and what it provided, to which Mr. Berger responded that it gave them the parking count with the full-size vehicles without having to cut down the full-size spots.

Mayor Knudsen moved back to the cost and questioned whether that was because of the way that the ramping system was laid out. Mr. Mastropul stated that they had to offset the center sheer wall, and typically if they had a wider site, they would have that centered in the garage, but they had to offset it to get three rows of angled parking and the ramp.  Mayor Knudsen questioned whether the eastern wall was a firewall, due to its proximity to the adjacent property.  Mr. Berger stated that it had an opening for the easement, so he didn’t know how it would be a firewall.  Mayor Knudsen questioned where the opening to the easement was, to which Mr. Mastropul stated that the opening to the easement was on the first floor.  Mayor Knudsen questioned how close the structure was to the nearby building to the east and questioned if that required a firewall.  Mr. Berger stated that he would have to check the code and get back to the Village Council.  Mayor Knudsen questioned if this plan didn’t account for a firewall, if it would be fire precast.  Mr. Berger stated that the precast would be fire rated, but he would verify if it was 2 hours or what the code would require, but the only issue would be the opening at the ground level as that would not be rated. 

Mayor Knudsen questioned whether Mr. Rutishauser had any thoughts on that issue.  Mr. Rutishauser stated that it led him to question whether fire protection of a standpipe in each stair tower, with no dry sprinkler system, is sufficient.  That is something that he would like the fire official to review and weigh in on, with his comments.  If there is only a standpipe and they have to respond to a car fire, the Fire Department will have to stretch hose before they can get water on to the fire, where a dry sprinkler could get water on it much faster.  Mr. Rutishauser stated that regarding Mayor Knudsen’s concern about the firewall, he would like to defer to Fire Lieutenant Young, the Fire Inspector, and get his thoughts. Mayor Knudsen questioned if a dry sprinkler was the same as dry valve. Mr. Berger stated that a dry sprinkler is a system in the deck and if the head is activated the water comes from there.  Mayor Knudsen stated that it would add to the overall cost.  Mr. Rutishauser stated that it would add to the cost, but it is often times considered a considerable safety improvement.  Mayor Knudsen agreed, and stated that she would be interested in the side fire rating due to proximity.  Mr. Berger stated that they could review the setback requirements to assure that a fire rating is not required, and they might be able to tweak the layout to ensure that there is no requirement for a standpipe or sprinkler.

Ms. Mailander asked if there were any questions from Mr. Rutishauser or Mr. Rooney.  Mr. Rutishauser stated that Mayor Knudsen gave him the opening to his question which was the fire protection issue and he had nothing further at this time.  Mr. Rooney questioned if the presenter could take a couple of minutes and explain their experience with a guaranteed maximum price concept, as it was in the RFP.  Mr. Mastropul stated that early on, with the terms and conditions of the contract, they have come up with an agreement where if there are any overall savings they could share or split them, but they establish that early on in the project.

Mayor Knudsen stated that if there were any questions from residents to feel free to email the Village Council and then they would forward them on.  She stated that she appreciated the presenters’ time and effort and for the presentation.

c.Epic Management

Ms. Mailander introduced Epic Management and asked that they introduce themselves before they speak and that they have approximately 40 minutes for their presentation.

Epic Management began with displaying the Organizational Chart showing that the design of the architecture and structural is Tim Haahs and Associates, the civil engineer is Bohler Engineering, AKF will provide the MEP engineering, and the rest of the organization chart is Epic Management.  The core team was present for the presentation. Ben Crowder, project manager and licensed professional engineer with Bohler Engineering, introduced himself and stated that they are headquartered in Warren, New Jersey and bring over 35 years of site civil constructing experience on a wide range of projects with parking deck facilities, many of which are displayed as part of the presentation.  Mr. Crowder stated that they had been in Ridgewood before and some of their direct project experience dates back to 2006 with the TD Bank on North Maple Avenue as well as recent work with the Bank of America on Maple Avenue and very recently at the Mavis Tire facility on Franklin Avenue.

Jim Zullo, Vice President with Timothy Haahs and Associates, stated that he runs their New Jersey office as their firm is headquartered outside of Philadelphia, and they have offices on the east coast.  Mr. Zullo stated that they are very excited to be here and they have been working in multiple downtowns throughout New Jersey, developing important parking facilities to support the economic development of these towns.  They completed over 800 parking facilities and he stated that they look at parking not only about cars but also about people and how this facility is going to interact with the entire community.  He added that they looked to design this facility as something that is going to be with the community for decades, and that he personally has been involved in multiple municipal parking operations as a former Director of a Parking Authority, and also a former Head of Real Estate at NJ Transit, where he ran commuter parking.  He brings to this team a real understanding of the operational components of this garage, so once it is designed and the Village has a beautiful garage they want to stay with the Village to help implement the operations management, so that it is a very user-friendly facility.

Joel Lizotte, Senior Vice President with Epic Management Inc., stated they are a 47-year-old New Jersey based, family-owned company headquartered in Piscataway and have been involved in New Jersey’s public sector for the entirety of their existence.  He stated that since 1995, Epic Management has been involved in over 5 billion dollars of projects here in New Jersey.  They employ 85 people in the office including architects, engineers, LEED accredited professionals, cost estimators, safety professionals, and project managers.  They have everything that the Village needs, in-house.  Mr. Lizotte stated that something specific to Epic, in contrast to the other firms, is that for these 47 years they both operated as a builder and as an owner’s representative as a Construction Manager advisor.  For the last four years they provided these services to Bergen County for their new Agency Building, parking garage, and courthouse renovations.  The distinction being that they are used to sitting on the Village’s side as their advocate and they like to think that bringing the two components together is relevant and they think very beneficial.  He added they have an unlimited rating from the State of New Jersey which is determined based on financials and experience how the State would rate construction management, cost analysis, scheduling, and value engineering.  Lastly, they have been involved in 26 parking structures here in New Jersey and their leader, Bill Costello, has been involved in every single one.  Six of these garages used Tim Haas as their architect, so they like to think that there is no one with more broad experience in the State of New Jersey than they offer.  Mr. Lizotte displayed some of the garages they have built as part of their presentation, including Fort Lee and Camden.

Mr. Crowder stated that the subject site can be described as Block 3809 Lots 12 and 13, which is approximately 0.7 acres for the proposed parking garage.  He stated that what was unique about this opportunity for him is that his wife grew up in Ridgewood and over the past 8 years he has gained familiarity with the town almost functioning as a second home.  He thinks that a great advantage that the design build team brings to this project, is a familiarity with the Village and the downtown areas.

Mr. Crowder stated that they understand that the garage is going to comprise a majority of the subject lots 12 and 13 from a site civil perspective and elements that they looked at include what is going on around the site, surrounding uses, how are they affected, drainage and access, and overall circulation for the project. Some of the things that they found include the presence of the existing easement, with the 13-foot height requirement, and how that can be implemented in the post development stage of this garage facility in the downtown area.  Mr. Crowder stated that from a site civil perspective, they are always looking at storm water management and drainage characteristics.  They know the lot today is entirely impervious coverage but they want to know about the drainage characteristics around the site.  Just to the north, behind the businesses on East Ridgewood Avenue, they saw that site actually drains to the parking garage lot, to storm infrastructure, that is then conveyed underground to tie into the Village system at Hudson Street.  They must incorporate into their design concepts not to exacerbate or create any type of post development condition that would impact the surrounding uses, once the garage deck goes into the site.

Mr. Crowder stated that they also looked at access.  The current lot with 76 spaces has 4 existing curb cuts on Hudson Street.  By consolidating these driveways down to one access point, it allows for the revitalization.  By working with the Village to potentially restore or provide wider sidewalks and bring in some of the character that is in some of the other areas along East Ridgewood Avenue, from a streetscape perspective and curb appeal to dress up the frontage, both on Hudson Street and Broad Street.  They also look and recognize the value of retail and restaurant businesses in the Village and how that can be incorporated as a potential flex space or worked into the design of the garage.  Lastly, they looked at the historic use of the property and one of the uses was the Hudson Street firehouse, and how they can bring back the historic nature that was once occupying the Hudson Street parking lot.

Mr. Lizotte stated that was a perfect segue into the next discussion point which is the vision and goals.  He stated that they can’t speak for the Council and he knows that there has been a lot of discussion to get to where the group is tonight.  Mr. Lizotte indicated that they feel there were some things that they felt needed to be addressed, as they collaborated with the Village and moved forward. He stated that they are providing access to downtown and mass transit; supporting local business and continued economic development; delivering approximately 240 total parking spaces; providing aesthetic that is complementary to the architecture of the Village; maintaining an open plan in recognition of the proximity of adjacent structures so it is welcoming; providing a high level of user comfort in a cost effective manner; expediting the process; and lastly, best practices because this is not just a one and done building, as it is a daily operating moving thing.

Michael App, Director of Architecture with Timothy Haas, stated that he was in Ridgewood a couple of years ago and he thought it was great.  He went walking after dinner and he thought that was an important thing about this project because it has a great pedestrian experience and a strong architectural fabric, so those are two things that they want to enhance and strive toward with this garage.  He stated that impacts the layout immediately, so looking at the design, their stair towers are located where they are because they think that there is a real importance about that connection to the train station and those other retail locations.  Mr. App stated that they are maximizing the site, they know that it is a pretty tight site and they need to take advantage of every square foot of it, in order to maximize the site, not go over the site limit, and maybe even give a little bit back to the sidewalk.

Mr. App stated that the garage would function with the entrance off Hudson Street and most traffic would go up the ramp in the rear and go to upper levels.  There would be short term parking on the ground level, and they are also continuing to respect the businesses in the rear lot and providing the easement access through the garage to those locations.  On the upper levels, they are providing 236 spaces as it is laid out, with a 9-foot-wide parking stall. Mr. App stated that they think there is a possibility to go tighter than that at 8 foot 9 inches or 8 foot 6 inches depending on the type of user that was going in that space.  In those areas that are short term they would want to maintain the 9 foot but in longer term type of parking situations, where doors aren’t opening as often, the spaces could be tightened and they may be able to get around 250 spaces.

Mr. App stated that the garage body is about 46 feet tall, which is comparative to 3 stories, and the stair towers will be about 55 feet tall.  They have also contemplated the idea, because they know that retail is such a strong component to Ridgewood, that if there is a desire in the future, a portion of the garage could be converted into a retail type of space.  Because of the height that they have created for the first level to accommodate the easement, that also provides the opportunity to have a retail space with 13 feet of clearance.  Mr. App added that to summarize, there will be efficient use of the site in that they are using everything they can, but the structure remains within the property lines, and the height is about 46 feet.  They think they can widen the sidewalk a bit, and they maintain access to the back and have the 13-foot clearance which would allow for retail on the ground level, if that was desired in the future.

Mr. App stated that from an aesthetic standpoint they started by looking at what they saw in the town and they developed three concepts for the parking garage.  The first concept is the bakery concept, as Ridgewood has a great pedestrian experience and a strong architectural fabric so they wanted to pull some of those historical attributes into this garage.  Ridgewood has a very strong street-level look to most of its buildings, which emphasizes the pedestrian experience with awnings and storefronts so they wanted to emulate that with the garage.  Buildings in the Village usually have a nice material choice with a brick or stone so in this case, they presented a beige and tan brick.  The second concept was to look at Mount Carmel Church to bring some of the stone texture into the façade with a stone like treatment, awnings and punched windows to emulate a storefront.  The third concept looked at historical context and brought in the arched windows to look like the bays of the former Hudson Street Fire House, and a precast red brick exterior.  Mr. App added that they focused on the corner, which is an important architectural design in Ridgewood, so even though the stair tower isn’t in the corner they know that is important for Ridgewood.  The corner generates the activity and the interest on the intersection, so they think that is going to be an important element, especially if in the future, it were to become a retail space.  Mr. Lizotte added that it would transition very readily and easily should that retail space ever be considered.

Mr. App added that they think the inside is important, as well as the fact that the garage is the Villages “front door,” so it needs to be a friendly and inviting type of place.  In addition, there needs to be signage, maybe digital signage within the lobby space, that tells about events or restaurant deals and then outside as well, with signage about where to go and wayfinding, in order to create a nice environment.  Mr. App stated that at this time, any building project is sensitive to the environment, and parking has a component called PARKSMART which looks at the wise use of natural resources and what the impact of that garage is going to have on its area, so those are things they are going to bring into this garage as well.  They know that there are certain components of the garage that have a high recycled content, but they are also going to look at energy usage and lighting, depending on how bright it is that day or if there are occupants in the space, where energy can be saved by the lights dimming.  Mr. App added that there is an amenity component to this as well, and with the continued and growing use of electric vehicles, they are providing electric vehicle charging stations.

Mr. Lizotte stated that at Epic, they have made a big commitment to LEED construction and have been involved in Platinum, Gold, Silver and Certified LEED projects in the public sector throughout New Jersey.  He added that they have a woman who is not with them tonight, Cathy Tartaglia, who is an architect as well as a LEED accredited professional, and she heads up all of their efforts in that regard and it is very similar to what PARKSMART provides.  Even if the Village doesn’t go for PARKSMART, Epic can bring things to the Village’s attention as they go through the process.  They can make decisions based on if something is affordable or could be done, but look at it knowing it is going to be here for the long haul, and the garage is going to evolve over time.  Mr. App stated that the important message is that it is a collaborative process and so not only the architecture, but some of these other aspects as well, are things they are going to want to work through with the Village as a partner.

Mr. Zullo stated that safety and security is something that is of utmost importance in a parking garage, and in their industry there is active security which is the CCTV cameras and emergency call boxes.  There is also a passive security in a garage, which includes a very open floorplan in order to see across the facility; high levels of visibility and glass in the stairwells; and increased lighting levels in the garage to create a very bright, inviting environment.  He stated that in the Millburn garage they concrete stained the first level and it creates a nice white, bright environment which was well received and those are critical items to user acceptance.  They want everyone who comes into this garage to know that it is comfortable and well-utilized, and people at any time of day or night can use the parking garage and feel comfortable. 

Mr. Zullo added that he also wanted to touch on operations, because he has seen garages that have not been managed, cleaned or maintained well, and given his background and his municipal parking garage experience, he looks at a garage as the first and last impression that people are going to have coming to the downtown.  Mr. Zullo said he read the reports that were done by Walker Parking Consultants about the payment system in the parking garage and Epic would like to collaborate with the Village and look to put in the parking access revenue control system that makes the most sense for the Village given convenience, user acceptance, method of payments, manpower, and enforcement.  The payment system must be contemplated for when the garage opens, as well as for several years to come.  Parking technology is changing daily, as to parking apps and pre-purchasing, so Epic wants to help the Village put in the best system for this facility. 

Mr. Zullo stated that the same goes for the operations and maintenance plan as they don’t envision building, designing, and turning it over because they are an hour away so they would help the Village implement the plan for a soft opening, providing all types of service not only on that day, but into the future.  One of their hallmarks is that they come back in the eleventh month after the garage is built, to do a thorough inspection of every construction detail to make sure that it is all adequate and if it isn’t, they alert the Village and the contractors and have them come back and address it before the warranty expires.  Subsequent to that, garages are facilities that are subject to weather and salt, and Epic can provide a maintenance plan and periodically work with the Village to address it. 

Mr. Zullo stated that the next thing he wanted to address is interim parking, having an understanding that the loss of this site and its parking is going to create an even more critical and challenging parking situation for the amount of months that the Hudson Street parking lot is out of service.  Due to his background, he knows that they have had to implement interim parking plans, so he reached out to SP Plus which is probably the nation’s largest third party operator and talked to them about how they could all work together to put together a valet assist program.  They would find some lots, working with the Village, and the valet assist would work with people arriving and parking in self-park spaces and then as more people come they park behind these cars and the attendants take the keys.  As people come and go, they shuffle the cars back into self-parking spaces and it is a very convenient and efficient way to run a valet operation.  Mr. Zullo added that valet operations are challenging, but given the parking demand that the Village has, and the loss of these spaces, Epic felt it was important for them to give the Village whatever they could to help mitigate the loss of parking, to the greatest extent possible.  Mr. Lizotte explained that included in their fee proposal is the cost to implement the valet parking, which will be subject to collaboration with the Village.

Bill Costello will be Epic’s Project Executive for the project, which means he will be the Village’s point of contact from the day of contract award, past the period when the 11th month inspections are performed.  During his 34 years at Epic, he has been involved with virtually every parking garage that they have built, as a trades contractor, a general contractor as a builder, and a construction manager as agent.  The role of construction manager as agent has given him the ability to work with the ownership side of the project, and he knows that he would be more sensitive to what the Village wants and would ensure that would be delivered.  His business relationship with Mr. Zullo goes back about 25 years to when he was fortunate enough to build a 1,100 car parking structure for him when he was Director of a parking authority.  He has also worked with Mr. Donald LeFante of Epic on parking garage projects, and he is currently working with Mr. App on a project so there is no learning curve, they know how each person works and each person’s expectations.

Mr. Costello stated that the first thing they would do is put together an overall project schedule that would run from design right past that 11th month inspection at the end, there will be a multitude of activities all sequenced so the project would take the shortest amount of time as possible. He explained an overview of the major activities which would allow the project to be delivered quickly. They have allowed a period of 7 months for design and permitting, followed by 2 months of approvals, and 7 months of construction with 1 month of closeout, at the end of the construction period, the Village would have use of the facility.

Mr. Costello stated that he spoke to Thomas Yotka, Director of the Building Department, when he was preparing their approach that came with their RFP response.  He determined with Mr. Yotka that two months is ample time for the approvals.

Mr. Costello stated that when a parking garage is built, the most important activity is getting the precast on site, as it is easy to build the foundations and get up out of the ground for the utilities.  Once the precast gets on site, that opens everything up and they have spoken to a couple of precast vendors about this project, and they have a commitment for five months.  Mr. Costello added that they look to award the precast purchase at the beginning of month 6, during the design phase, as the drawings will be far enough along to do that, and it will result in the precast arriving on the site two months after they break ground.  The last thing they want to do is have the Village abandon the site, close it in, demolish everything, build the footings, and then have to wait for precast, as it will aggravate everyone and throw the project into turmoil.  Mr. Costello stated that knowing that, they feel that the 2-month time period is ample time to put the project controls up, soil erosion control, utility relocation underground, foundations, so the precast arrives and they are all ready to go, it will be seamless.

Donald LeFante introduced himself as a civil engineer and the Project Manager and Superintendent on the project.  He has 40 years’ experience in the business, the last 20 years with Epic.  He has built garages in Morristown, Montclair State University, and Millburn Township, with Epic.  He stated that he wanted to point out a couple of things in the presentation.  When they know the precast is going to be delivered they will work backwards, the fence will be set up around the perimeter of the site just in time to start construction, as they don’t want to waste any time or cut the Hudson Street parking lot off any more than necessary.  Mr. LeFante stated that an 8-foot chain link fence is installed with a screen around it to make the fence slightly more appealing.  The pedestrians and vehicular traffic will be controlled by signs and barricades.  Their construction trailer will be placed so that Mr. LeFante can monitor the site and what is going on outside the site on both streets.  There will be a security camera set up to watch the site and they will have adequate lighting, so the site will never be dark.  They will be maintaining egress to the back of the businesses, both for their business and for emergency egress.

Mr. LeFante stated that early in his career, he worked for a precast concrete company, so he was involved with the manufacture, delivery, and erection of this type of a product.  He stated that the garage will be built from Broad Street moving with the crane.  It will also be his job for safety on the project, and he will be personally responsible to make sure all of the subcontractors and the workers are following OSHA guidelines, are courteous to the neighbors, keeping the site clean out of respect for the neighborhood, and offsite will be a collaboration with the local officials with particular attention to what is going on in Hudson Street, and with the parishioners at Mount Carmel. 

Mr. Costello added that at Epic, safety is first and foremost and they want everyone who comes to work to go home the way they arrived that’s why they perform some of the historically more dangerous activities in other parts of the company such as demolition, interiors, drywall and ceilings, and knowing that they provide that type of work, they are very proud that their experience modification rating is .65, which is a testament to the way they work.  Project controls are very important, as it is important to separate the public at large from the construction.  They don’t need anyone wandering onto the site, which means controlling the gates and when they have to work out near the street, and certainly for a utility tie-in, they will coordinate that with the Police Department and Emergency Services.  This is one meeting they like to have up front, so that everyone is on board with what is going on.

Mr. Costello moved on to the financials and stated that he congratulated the Village on choosing the Guaranteed Maximum Price (GMP) Process, as they found in the last 20-30 years doing several jobs with using a GMP that it is more collaborative, more of a team, and more of a sharing way of doing things when compared to the traditional design bid build where a lot of times it’s almost like adversaries from the start.  He stated that when the Village works with a GMP, they are totally transparent, the Village would verify all of the costs, and the GMP would be established once they know what type of design the Village wants, and they agree to the GMP and move forward.  The GMP extends to verifying the costs of all of the major purchases, as precast can be 40% of the entire cost, so it is a major purchase.  Mr. Costello added that once a month, it will be an open book to see where they are and if they are saving on one activity or going over.  The main thing in this partnership is that the Village keeps the savings, and they respect the fact the GMP isn’t a pot of money to spend and they will still try to mitigate all of the costs that they can, and be able to return the savings to the Village.

Finally, Mr. Costello stated that when they put their pricing together and gave the prices for the 3 facades, the precast vendor that helped them with the budgeting was actually leaving the country to go on vacation.  There were questions on the scope and when the precast vendor returned and gave his final price, he included some things that they thought he might not have, which results in about an 11% reduction in the price the Village received from Epic with the GMP.  He stated that if Epic goes forward with the Village, they will figure it all out.  He wanted to mention that every parking structure he has been involved with, the first question is about the cost per space, which often doesn’t tell the whole story.  With the price reduction, they would see the cost per space between $43,500 to just under $45,000.  Mr. Costello stated that he wanted to explain that what was causing the price per space to be so high is the amount of available space on the site.  The fact that they have the ramp and then the parking separately, instead of having enough room for one more bay, in which case there would be parking on both sides of the ramp and would pick up a lot more spaces, for a lot less cost.  In closing, Mr. Costello stated that they would do everything they could to work with the Village to mitigate the costs and keep them low, work together, and the savings would go back to the Village.

 Mr. Lizotte added that their presentation mentions ConnectOne Bank as potentially offering a funding mechanism, should the Village choose to look outside of their own resources and AAA rating.  They reached out to ConnectOne, as they have an on-going relationship with them for a project they have been doing over the last several years in Somerset County and they have been Epic’s financial partner, and ConnectOne has indicated they would be more than willing to see if there are available options that by chance make any more sense than the Village financing it themselves.

Mr. Costello stated that to summarize what controls there are for a successful project, the cost and budget control is one of the main things that they have to take care of, through a collaborative effort with all of the stakeholders and the Village.  There will a collaborative auditing of the cost on a regular basis, as there is a short construction period and a short design period so it is not going to be a big lift to work together to get the project as inexpensive as possible, yet with the quality level that the Village wants.

Mr. LeFante added that his experience in the business allows him to be very well versed with the product and he will be working hand in hand with Tim Haas during the design period as he knows what to look for and he will be doing reviews throughout the process.  They will have pre-installation meetings; there are architectural and technical aspects to the building that will be reviewed with the contractor and the applicators; and they will have mock-ups.  Mr. LeFante stated that the Council saw the end view of their garage and they can have a mock-up with all of the aspects of the garage, so the Council can kick the tires before the garage is built which is very important. When it comes to other quality control issues, the longevity of the garage is very important too. There are temperature sensitive items, and there are some quality control issues that the Village might be vulnerable to, such as the caulking on the garage which is a big money item that needs to be addressed every so often.  Mr. LeFante added that the other thing is that there is some concrete in the garage that comes after the garage has been built, which are the washes and if the rebar is not placed appropriately and you don’t get the cover, the water may come in and there may be concrete sprawling, which is another area that may need to be addressed during the maintenance period.

Seth Jacobson, Project Controls and Scheduling Manager for Epic introduced himself and stated that he has 20 years of construction project management experience through all of the different sectors and he will use that to develop, maintain, and update a comprehensive, detailed project schedule that runs from their engagement all the way past completion, as they have talked about tonight.  He added that he wanted to highlight one of the tools that they use which is lean construction methods and just in time delivery, and what that means is that they will identify key material installation dates such as precast concrete, which is very essential.  Once they identify those installation dates, they will work backwards in order to determine the time that they have to procure the material, so that it arrives just in time for delivery.  That helps them by not cluttering the site with material that is just sitting there waiting to be installed, which also helps them to be a better neighbor by reducing the impact on neighboring properties.  In other words, a properly managed schedule will help them to be a good neighbor.  He added that lastly, the way they work with their schedules is that the schedule is not just a piece of paper, they set realistic timelines, reducing those wherever they can, and then they hold themselves accountable to that internally, as well as the Village holding them accountable.  It allows everyone as stakeholders to have a sense of confidence and security with the schedule knowing that what they say and put on the paper is actually what they are trying to do.  The schedule should be the current plan to get the job done at any given time and that is their approach. When that happens, the Village succeeds, and they succeed, which is their goal.

Mr. Costello added that Mr. LeFante mentioned the important components of the garage from a maintenance standpoint, and Epic has investigated whether it is worth getting extended warrantees or extended maintenance plans for things like the elevator and caulking, which might be an expenditure up front, that will buy the Village a lot of relief down the road.

Mr. Lizotte concluded by stating that they hope they gave the Council a good sense of why this team, and to summarize it here are some team differentiators: experience and real time knowledge with 26 parking garages for Epic and 800 for Tim Haahs, and four of the garages they are both involved with at the present time, at various stages of construction.  Therefore it is not only experience from the past, but they have the right now, real time, what’s going on in New Jersey in garages.  Mr. Lizotte stated that they have spoken a lot about the Village’s history as they know the parking garage has been discussed a lot by the Council and the Village residents, and they respect that and have alluded to and talked about paying homage to it.  A partnership, forward thinking, they are not looking just at today, but at how this would impact the Village as it has to be run going forward.  A parking garage is living and breathing, and because of the elements that occur with a garage, it is truly an investment that brings revenue, but it needs to be taken care of.  So Epic will help the Village do that, they are not just going to leave when they’re done.

Mr. Lizotte added that Mr. Zullo spoke about his experience on the Village’s side as he has lived it and breathed it, which they think is relevant and a differentiator that they are offering to the Village. There is more to the process than just design and construction, which they hope the Council now recognizes.  He added that Epic represented the Ridgewood Board of Education from 2010-2012, for the $40 million school referendum that everyone supported, and Epic managed on behalf of the Ridgewood Board of Education.  They protected the Board of Education’s investment on five complicated school additions and renovations that went really well.  They like to think that the Village recognizes the advocacy that they can provide, in addition to the builder side and bring that to make it a truly collaborative partnership, which is what they think the Village’s goal is and why they think this is the best team to deliver that to the Village.

Mayor Knudsen stated that this was the most thorough, comprehensive presentation ever and she felt a comfort level following it.  She stated that the Council would be starting with some questions.

Councilman Hache thanked the presenters for a very thorough presentation, as it gave the Council a good appreciation of how all the different teams within the project integrate and work together and there is strength in numbers.  He stated that he didn’t see it in the slides and he knows that it is important for the public to know the price range as in the RFP Epic came in between $12.34 million to $12.573 million but due to the 11% cost reduction, they are now looking at a range of $11 million to $11.2 million. 

Councilman Hache questioned if they looked at logistically how the valet would work and if they sourced what parking would be used for this and where the cars would go.  Mr. App stated that they had not.  He spoke with the valet parking operator and felt that they could not identify the lots to use, but if Epic were selected, they would work with the Village as it knows the property owners and there may be a couple of lots that are better than others.  Mr. App explained that they need to know the hours the Village would want the valet parking and if it would be used by commuters or shoppers and diners.  They felt that it would be premature to try and make those assumptions without the Village Council’s input.  Mr. Lizotte stated that with the value assist methodologies, it is not as if they need to replicate the size of the Hudson Street parking lot, because they can stack and move and shift the cars in the valet lot so there is a lot of flexibility.  Epic was excited at the option of presenting the option of valet parking and putting their collective heads together to figure out the best way to do so at the least cost and inconvenience to everyone.

Councilman Hache stated that they also mentioned that once construction starts the fences will go up, but they will provide access to the property for the easement for deliveries but questioned if that would eliminate parking in the lot in the back or is it just for deliveries/drop offs.  Mr. App stated that they recognize that access is needed so to the greatest degree possible they are going to continue to allow that, it will be a bit of an orchestrated dance keeping the site safe and allowing them to do what they do, but added that comes back to the collaboration and conversations that need to take place as to how to best do it.  Mr. Costello stated that the easement was 10 feet wide coming from South Broad Street and he would try to limit the amount of vehicles back there.  He knows there is a dumpster back behind the stores that will have to be relocated.  In addition, if hired, Epic might like to speak to some of the business owners about renting some of the easement space as a short term staging area for the materials for the parking garage.  Mr. App designed the garage so in an emergency, if they can’t get out the front of the stores they are still able to come out without going on the construction site.  Councilman Hache stated that they may have to add those 25 spaces to the valet parking number.

Councilman Hache asked if there was any way to reduce the height of the 55 foot towers and asked if it was mostly decorative or do they need that height for structural reasons. Mr. App stated that the lobby spaces on the top tier and especially the overrun that’s necessary for an elevator, the towers are definitely going to be a little taller than the rest of the body of the garage.  However, Mr. App stated that they could always look at what they can do to reduce the height of the tower.

Mayor Knudsen inquired on Councilwoman Walsh, to which Ms. Mailander responded that Councilwoman Walsh had a possible conflict of interest with this presentation as her sister is affiliated with AKF.

Councilman Voigt stated that he wanted to add to Councilman Hache’s comments on the cost and said that the presenters mentioned it was $43,500 to $45,000 per space and he’s assuming at 240 spaces that the garage would be about $10.4 million to $10.8 million and he wanted to check if that was correct.  Mr. Costello replied that they were using the 252 spaces which would be the maximum that they feel they would be able to get as Mr. App spoke about shrinking the size of those spaces to get the Village as many spaces as possible.  He added that the Village would be generating more spaces with the same expenditure.  Deputy Mayor Sedon questioned if that was going to total the $11million dollars.  Mr. Costello stated that all he did was adjust the numbers and divide by 252 spaces.  Mr. Zullo confirmed with Mr. Costello that he was planning to shop every subcontractor and price to reduce the number as far as possible.  Mr. Costello agreed and stated that they have one precaster that they work with often, who looked at the job first and gave them a budget, but they are not going to hand the job to that precaster without going out and competitively bidding, and bidding hard, because that is what they do.

Mr. Zullo added that if he could speak from being on the other side and working with Epic, they tend to be conservative, so that the Village is not shocked by a higher price.  He knows that Mr. Costello and the team would do everything to give a number and then get it below that number.  Mr. Lizotte added that it would be easy to just put a low price on the project to catch the Village Council’s attention, but they don’t think that is the best thing to do, knowing the potential and because there are so many unknowns right now, that the price could increase.  He added that they would rather take a conservative approach, and begin to do all of the work that they described collaboratively and collectively.  Because of the process that the Village has selected, the Village has the chance to use all of this combined experience plus get what the Village expects and then more than likely reduce that cost.

Councilman Voigt directed a question towards Mr. Zullo stating that he had mentioned he had a lot of operational experience in garages and someone had spoken a bit about flexible space for the Village in this garage and Councilman Voigt asked for them to help him understand what that means, whether it is farmers’ markets on the top floor of the garage or if they could expand on that a little.  Mr. Zullo stated that they had identified a location for retail space on the lower level, if that was desired.  In addition, the 13 foot head height in that first lower bay would allow the Village to conduct an activity on a Saturday, when parking demand in the morning may not be as high.  If that is of interest, Epic may be able to design some components into the lower level, like hose bibs that that would make a multi-use of that space more convenient.

Councilman Voigt stated that Mr. Zullo had mentioned his experience operating garages and that he would help the Village at least initially with getting it up and running and questioned if he could go into a little more detail about what kind of things Mr. Zullo would be doing to help the Village get the garage off the ground and making sure that it’s a success.  Mr. Zullo stated that a big part of it is looking at the access and revenue control equipment.  Therefore, the first thing he would do is take the Village Council to multiple sites where those practices are in place so they can see it in operation, talk to the operators, and determine the pros and cons of their parking systems.  Mr. Zullo would also come up with an operational plan, because when the team talked early on, there was talk about the gated systems that require an access card and then a payment system, which doesn’t require labor.  If the Village were to go to an open system, with a multispace machine, like the client in Millburn wanted, then the Village would have to enforce and there must be consistent enforcement to capture the revenue. 

Mr. Zullo stated he would also discuss with the Village Council maintenance plans, as he looks at the garage as the first and last impression of people coming, so it has to be clean and they have a full component of that with access to staff training.  Capital reserve is something that a lot of municipalities don’t do, but a certain amount of money does need to be put away each year to replace the caulk joints 6 to 8 years from now and keep it in a state of good repair.  Mr. Zullo added that what he means is when the garage opens he likes operations, and if the Village Council were to call he would be happy to come on a regular basis to help inspect operations or assist the Village if there is a question, adding that Tim Haahs is known for going the extra mile and they want the Village to be a client not just for this project, but for 15 years from now.  Councilman Voigt questioned how long that commitment was good for, to which Mr. Zullo responded as long as the Village Council desires.

Councilman Voigt stated that Epic explained that the Millburn garage looks a bit like what is being suggested in the Village of Ridgewood.  Mr. App stated that the Millburn parking garage was somewhat of a starting point, because the facades on both garages have positive/negative on the exteriors.  Councilman Voigt questioned how many parking spaces are in the Millburn parking garage.  Mr. Costello responded that it was 350 spaces, and stated that the designs that Mr. App has come up with for the Village of Ridgewood, whether it is done in a precast with a form liner or whether it is done with masonry, there is much more of it than at Millburn as Millburn has designs at the corners on the stair towers and then low on one corner so basically everything else there is doubled concrete.  Millburn also has a couple of awnings and some wiring in the open spaces.  He added that the big thing with a garage is being open to the air, otherwise when things start being closed in, fire protection has to be added.  Mr. Costello stated that there will be a fire stand pipe in the garage, but fire protection and ventilation would have to be added if walls were closed in, so Tim Haahs accomplishes it by leaving it open with an ornamental metal.

Councilman Voigt questioned what the price was for the Millburn garage. Mr. Costello stated that it was just under $7 million and it was bid on in 2010, but that site has 3 ramps with parking on both sides of each ramp.  Mr. Lizotte added that was because of the grossing factor that Mr. Costello had mentioned which unfortunately the Village is constricted with, due to the size of the site. Mr. Costello stated that the Village is paying for area that it can’t get any benefit out of, as there are no spaces going in that area.

Deputy Mayor Sedon thanked Epic for the presentation and echoed the Mayor’s comments that it was very thorough.  He stated that they had mentioned adding retail, and depending on whether there are people with self-driving cars or electric cars, he wondered how difficult it would be to add more charging stations as the use of electric cars may increase.  He also wondered if there is a revenue stream that could be added, for turning the lower level into something like a futuristic gas station, where people would be getting electricity from the Village versus gas at the pump today.  Mr. App stated that adding additional charging stations wasn’t a problem at all as they could run conduit so that when the time comes it’s a very easy conversion to those spaces.  He added that the purchasing of the electric has been a discussion in his industry for a while.  Currently someone comes and pays for the use of the parking garage and charging station is an amenity, because it is fairly cheap to charge a car for a period of time, and charging stations are not perceived in their industry as a real money making venture. 

Mr. App added that there was a lot of discussion in their industry about the impact of Uber, Lyft, autonomous vehicles, and nobody really knows if that will be for the short term or the long term, but when they looked at this garage, it was one of the reasons they put in a more extended retail space, if it was needed.  This is not certain, given the Village’s parking demand and the likelihood that the downtown is continuing to add restaurants, which have a much higher parking demand than typical retail, so for the foreseeable future there will be a high parking demand.  He added that using the entire first bay as retail space, would be a potential reduction of about 50 spaces.  He still thinks there would be a demand for commuters, but the possibility exists for repurposing the space, if needed.

Deputy Mayor Sedon added that he would tend to agree, but in case there is less demand for parking, the Village would be ready. Mr. Zullo added that he was recently on a webinar with an investor who advises people to buy parking structures, and they don’t think self-driving autonomous vehicles will be around until well into 2050 or 2060.  Although there are certain parking ratios that are certainly being reduced, but it seems like the Village facility is hardly overbuilding, but is instead taking advantage of this opportunity and it will be a great asset.  Mr. Zullo added that he has seen where parking garages come in, and the Village probably sees all kinds of people traveling around and looking for parking, creating congestion.  An asset like this could organize the downtown a little bit.

Mr. App stated that he thinks autonomous cars will come and companies like Volvo are going to stop making the internal combustion engine and that means there will be more electric cars, so they have clients that are actually asking him now if he can rough in for more electric charging stations.  Just to give an example, PARKSMART will require that 1% of your total amount of parking spaces needs to be electric charging stations so in this case that’s not very many, that is  three.  However, he has a client with a 1,400 car garage, and he wants it roughed in for 250 charging stations because they know that’s how the vehicle environment is going to change.

Deputy Mayor Sedon questioned if any of their projects have ever gone over budget.  Mr. App stated that the value engineering process is pretty intense and obviously while they do their design, the client will scrutinize everything that they do to make sure that it is cost effective.  Mr. Zullo stated that he likes to think of that as a collaborative effort and the Village would just be a part of that process.  Mr. Lizotte questioned if Mr. Costello would like to speak about Gunzler as there were budget challenges that Epic being on board as the owner’s rep encountered, and working with these guys they had to be very collaborative with that authority and that really nasty difficult site and come up with a lot of options.  Mr. Costello added that it was very collaborative and they had utilities that ran right through the site and the largest was a 60 inch diameter storm water pipe.  They took the original bids and prepared a budget, saw that the budget was over what they had but took bids anyway because they were that far along.  They then went out as a re-bid and bid the utilities separately.  The low bid for the utility relocation was about $1.6 million.  The contractor who was low-bidder the first time, who is now building the garage, was one of the bidders on the utility relocation and his price was $3 million, so they have a utility contractor doing the work at $1.6 million and that was a savings.  Mr. Lizotte added that it is an example of sometimes no matter what the consultants thought, there were things that they hadn’t planned on, so it took a lot of heads a lot of hours, but it worked so it’s a good local example.

Mr. Crowder added that there were no soil reports for the Village property, so they do not know what is in the ground and they are expecting that there are no environmental situations.  He knows there are some monitoring wells there, but no environmental situations and they are thinking shallow foundations, no piles or anything major.  Mr. Lizotte added that Mr. Crowder swears they are going to be okay.

Mayor Knudsen asked for the public, regarding price, the bakery version was the least expensive, homage to the Church version, as the color is kind of similar to Mount Carmel Church, was the middle of the road, and then the firehouse version was most expensive.  Mr. App stated that the Church was the lowest price, the bakery was the middle range, and the firehouse was the highest price.  Mayor Knudsen added that the firehouse is beautiful and striking and they really nailed it on that design.  Mr. App added that he thinks the color selection and the arches were really nice.

Deputy Mayor Sedon questioned on average how often they come back after the project is completed and the entity takes over, that they have found that they come back and help with a maintenance idea or plans or questions and things of that nature.  Mr. Zullo stated that what they are prepared to do for Ridgewood is that they will create a whole maintenance manual, and then they will also come back to assist on the operational side.  The Village is going to have an opening of the garage, and Epic would love to be involved as a sounding board or in an advisory capacity to have a soft opening where people get used to it and then implementing fees.  Communication materials are very important as the Village would want to look at its website and put everything on it about the garage and how it works, so related to the question they obviously come back in month 11 for a thorough inspection, but they stand ready to come back, and he means this when he says it, as often as the Village needs them.  If the Village wanted to establish some regular schedule to do that, they would be happy to do so, and they will bring their expertise related to operations and maintenance so that the Village has a facility that serves it for a long time.  He added that he would say that the majority of the clients they have designed garages for are still their clients, so it is that on-going role that they look forward to playing with the Village as well.

Mr. Lizotte added that the maintenance part of it is huge, as there is no getting around it and it is a bit of an expense, but it is one of those pay now or pay a lot more later.  He added that it is a process and once the Village is used to it, he thinks that it is going to start to take care of itself because the Village is going to maintain it.  Mr. Zullo added don’t use salt in the garage, and don’t use hard blades, as soft snow removal blades are needed.  He stated that snow removal is an important thing as there is a certain product to put on it, to reduce the effect of salt brought in by cars, which can get into cracks.  Power washing the garage every spring, and sweeping the garage are also important.  Mr. Lizotte stated that little things add up, in terms of maintenance.

Ms. Mailander questioned whether Mr. Rooney and Mr. Rutishauser had any final questions.  Mr. Rutishauser brought up fire protection for the structure and asked if he was correct that they had mentioned stand pipes and questioned if they were also considering a dry sprinkler system.  Mr. Costello stated that generally in a garage there is a Siamese connection into the garage, across the first floor and then up in the stand pipe system but no dry sprinkler.  Mr. Rutishauser also questioned on the northern wall there had been some discussion over the years whether a fire wall would be required or not and he didn’t know if they had a chance to investigate that.  Mr. Costello stated that they had not done so.

Mr. Rooney stated that looking at their schedule they have an anticipated completion time of October 2019.  Mr. Costello stated that it would depend on when the award is made, because once the Village decides on a design, they would get into a GMP and then just open it up.  Mr. Costello displayed the schedule and stated that they could improve that, which was why they showed the summary schedule.  Mr. Rooney stated that the final completion date was tentative, and would be subject to change as things get fine-tuned.  Mr. Lizotte agreed and stated that their goal is reducing it to the constraints on the second summary schedule.  Mr. Costello stated that with the GMP, they decide on the general conditions which is the cost of the field office, the fence, the superintendent, any assistance, and temporary water, and a lump sum amount is usually set for that, so they want to get off the job as quickly as possible.  Mr. Rooney stated that on the Village’s behalf, they are concerned as to how long that parking location is off-line during the obvious construction.  Mr. Costello stated that was why they thought about purchasing the precast that way and starting just in time as Mr. Jacobson mentioned so the foundations are ready for the precast as they wouldn’t want to shut the lot down any earlier than necessary.

d.The Pike Company

Ms. Mailander stated that the next proposal was from the Pike Company.  She asked that they introduce themselves as they spoke.

The Pike Development Company began their presentation, with Peter Cornell introducing himself and stating that he is the President of the Pike Development Company and Executive Vice President of Pike’s construction company.  He would be assigned to this project if they were fortunate enough to prevail in this competition.  Mr. Grogg introduced himself and stated that he was with McLaren Engineering which will be providing the civil, structural, foundation, geotechnical, and the major coordination of all the engineering. He added that he was the Senior Vice President of McLaren and he will be coordinating all of their internal disciplines and working closely with the architect for the preparation of the plans and development of the plans. Mr. Grogg stated that McLaren is moving their corporate headquarters in four months to Woodcliff Lake, so they will be coming to New Jersey from New York.

Joe Volpe, Project Director with Pike Development, introduced himself and stated that he will be doing the pre-construction and the pre-approval, being the liaison between the design and construction people in their firm.  Mr. Volpe displayed the agenda of what they will be covering tonight: history of Pike, work in New Jersey, project experience, understanding the site, proposed plan, estimating process, key personnel, and project team.

Mr. Cornell stated that Pike has been around for a long time as they are a five-generation family-owned business that was founded in 1873.  Their current Chairman of the Board is generation four, and the President of their overall holding company is generation five, adding that the family name is now Judson.  He added that they are involved in a number of construction types all around the country, and their 2017 constructed value is close to $1 billion dollars.  They are at $800 million for 2018.  Mr. Cornell stated that they certainly have the size and capacity to do this job, a number of national accounts, and for the last eight years they are one of the 30 best companies to work for in the United States.  Pike Development is a subsidiary corporation of the Pike Company, and Mr. Cornell stated that they have 44 years of experience in real estate development.  He thinks it is important to say that while they are New York based, they are licensed in New Jersey and have three projects under construction now in New Jersey, and in the last five years they have built 13 projects.

Mr. Cornell stated that in the last 15 years, Pike has built over 35,000 parking spaces on multiple projects. He stated that the next few slides in the presentation were examples of those projects that range in size from 1,200 vehicles at $18.5 million to a 7-story parking facility with 1,617 at $12.8 million.  Mr. Cornell added that most of these garages being presented are examples of precast construction, a 6-story space at 518,000 square feet with 1,586 spaces and almost $18 million.  He displayed different exteriors, based on the requirements of the client, with some that are simply precast concrete and others are brick, it really depends on the site requirements and what the client asks them to do.  One of the larger garages was built for Turning Stone Casino with 2,400 spaces which cost $15 million.  He also displayed some repairs, such as the Capital District Psychiatric Center where the $3.5 million reflects them going in and repairing an older structure, and they do a lot of repairs to garages that were previously constructed.

Mr. Volpe stated that Pike owns a drone which they use quite frequently during project oversight to help them understand the massing, the architecture or vernacular of adjacent buildings, and also the traffic.  They then drop in a model to see how it fits into the existing heights of the buildings, they can use it to understand if they need to change the geometry and if it fits in well with what exists in the surrounding area.

Mr. Volpe displayed a still shot of the site and stated that they are starting to look at logistics, such as whether they take the parking lane for staging, how do they set up the crane, where do they locate it, and how do they coordinate with the adjacent properties.  They are starting to look at how they are going to get the deliveries in.  They will have things off-site and will bring them in at certain times, by coordinating with the Village to find out when the best time will be to bring in large pieces of concrete and materials.  They will do the same thing with the construction workers, as they will have parking offsite and be bused in and out so that they don’t create another parking problem by bringing their contractors and materials onto the site.

Mr. Grogg stated that to follow up on what Mr. Volpe was saying, construction logistics, how the building is sited on the property, is really important and key.  To maximize the number of parking spaces, they would be having really a zero lot-line building on three sides which would be the Hudson Street side, South Broad Street, and the north side of the building.  Mr. Grogg stated that they do have a setback on what would be considered the rear yard, along Hudson Street adjacent to those.  The one-story buildings are there to give separation, and key to logistics, they will be working with the Village and the adjacent property owners, to make sure that access to their property is maintained and to minimize any inconvenience.

Mr. Grogg stated that on the final site plan, there will be a relocated easement to the parking lot, to the rear of those stores and businesses.  He stated that Pike will stage the construction so that access to the easement is not blocked off, as that is parking for those businesses and they have garbage pickup in the rear.  Mr. Grogg added that there is also the one property on Prospect Street which has some parking spaces at the rear, and Pike will have to work with the Village on how that is currently from an easement standpoint, what rights they have to keep those parking spaces and how to maintain them in the future.

Mr. Grogg stated that the other thing to coordinate will be any relocation of utilities.  There is a telephone line that goes across the site to a manhole that is on the north property line and then a pole and the telephone line that serves some of the businesses to the north and the businesses in the lower right hand corner, off of Hudson Street, they will have to relocate and maintain that.  He stated there is also a water main on the property, adding that they are not significant but important to be able to look at upfront and to work with the Village and the local businesses to make sure that they are not interrupted.   Mr. Grogg stated that as they finish out the site, they will replace the sidewalk along both Hudson Street and South Broad Street and there is some budget for landscaping, to replace the street trees so that there is a uniform appearance along the perimeter of this proposed garage.

Mr. Volpe stated that coming off of Hudson Street, an individual would take a right into the parking garage and then a left into a gated entry and then basically corkscrew up through the floors, with the ramp.  Mr. Volpe stated that on the first two floors, they have kept to the left of the easement for the parking lot, and on the top two levels, they build over the top of it so there is an 18-foot clearance between the road going through to the parking lot and the underside of the structure.  He added that they thought this was the best for emergency vehicles and even some maintenance vehicles that may have to get through there. Mr. Volpe stated that the third and fourth floors were very similar.  Mr. Volpe also displayed an elevation looking south of the parking garage, which represents the access into the parking lot, behind the parking garage.

Mr. Cornell stated that he was sure everyone was concerned about numbers and how they get to a cost and what the process is.  From their perspective, Pike maintains a full-time estimating department of approximately 27 people and they are very familiar with the costs of garages by location.  They start with a program costs validation, they manage the budget through this process where there is continued estimating through all phases.  They get feedback from the community and from the Village Council and they hear about what is liked and what isn’t, so they are constantly going through the estimating process in order to meet the Village’s expectations and hopefully meet the budget.

Mr. Cornell stated that a tool that they like to use is value engineering, so they will look at what they can do from the engineering side of this to reduce costs or come up with suggestions to get the numbers down to be more palatable as everyone has a target number that they like to hit, whether it is the cost per space per month or it is the overall cost of the project, and value engineering is used to get to that level.  Mr. Cornell added that this is a balancing act, and it is usually between cost and aesthetics, and not the functionality.  If they were simply to build a precast structure without any brick or accoutrements, it is a very simple structure, but not always the most attractive thing to the neighbors.  They want to balance that cost against the aesthetics of the property and that’s where the value engineering comes in.

Mr. Cornell stated that they are very concerned that they have a quality set of documents and they generate those documents and then they put out very concise bid packages.  They will be bidding to the local community, the local subcontractors, and to the best of their ability try to use all local labor on the project which isn’t always possible, but that is the first choice.  Using local contractors depends on whether or not they meet the quality requirement and the cost requirement.  During the process, BIM is part of this so they will be mapping out the site, and as Mr. Grogg had mentioned, there were a few things on the site that are already conflicts which will be forecasted into their BIM program.  They will figure out what is there and how they will work around it and where they are going to move these things.  At the same time, they are going to use that to look at what the neighbor’s requirements are, to make sure that they are not interfering with the businesses.

Mr. Volpe went through the project organizational chart showing Pike Development with Pike Company as the constructor and EYP/McLaren will be the design team.  He displayed some quick snapshots of the key personnel, starting with Peter Cornell, next was Andrew Giordano who during the preconstruction phase would be the individual building the project with over 37 years’ experience. Michael Gestwick will be the project manager day to day, taking care of the administrative pieces of the project.  Joseph Volpe and Steven Grogg would oversee all of the design aspects of the project through McLaren who would be coordinating the picture, engineering, site, and their structural engineers and Geotech engineers will be coordinating with Pike’s superstructure provider, the precaster.  Mr. Volpe stated that Mr. Grogg has a big role, but he has worked with him in the past and it is a good match for him.  Mr. Volpe showed information on the McLaren team and their roles on the project, stating that their resumes are within the packet that they submitted earlier. 

Mayor Knudsen thanked the presenters and asked for questions from the Village Council.

Councilman Hache thanked Pike for their presentation and stated that he had a question regarding the height of the structure. Mr. Volpe stated that it was approximately 33 to 34 feet.  Councilman Hache stated that as a reference for the public, the bid that Pike submitted was for $9.465 million.  Mr. Volpe stated that was correct. 

Councilman Hache questioned the dimensions of the parking spaces, to which Mr. Volpe responded that they would be 9 feet by 18 feet or 19 feet.  Councilman Hache questioned regarding the stores that are behind the parking lot if that would be closed off completely or would they still have that easement flowing through for deliveries and would parking still be permitted in the back.  Mr. Volpe stated that what they were looking at right now, was keeping the easement open during construction and they think they have a way to do that, but there may be a day or so that they have to shut it down to put the crane there, but it won’t be closed for long periods of time. 

Mr. Cornell added that they would work it out with the businesses and whether it is best to shut it down on a weekday or on a weekend and they will work around those schedules.  He added that it would be their plan to sit with the business owners, and the people who have to work in those buildings to try and understand when their busy times are, when the deliveries are coming and then they coordinate with their construction schedule to make sure there will be the least amount of disruption.  He added that he is not going to say that there isn’t going to be disruption, but the goal would be to make it as painless as possible.

Councilman Hache questioned what kind of lead time Pike was looking at with their precaster.  Mr. Cornell stated that orders today are being delivered anywhere from 11 to 16 weeks out however that schedule changes every day as the plants get filled up.

Councilman Hache questioned how long the construction period will take.  Mr. Volpe stated that actual work on-site, assuming that they have reasonable access and taking the parking lane on Hudson Street but leaving the other lanes open with Jersey barriers, they could then coordinate their deliveries of materials through the Police Department, so that they could stage the trailers outside and get real time delivery.  If they have no disruption in that schedule, it will be about eight months.

Councilwoman Walsh thanked the presenters for coming out again and recalled when they previously presented to the Village Council.  She questioned, if the Council was to move forward with Pike, what are the pitfalls and challenges of that site with everything to be accomplished and with the possibility that they would also be constructing while a multi-family development is being constructed a couple of hundred yards down the road.   Mr. Cornell stated that as always with these kinds of projects, where there are multiple businesses that are surrounding the site, it is the disruption to those businesses, the disruption to traffic, and people in general don’t like change so they call and complain.  Pike’s goal is to try and head that off and work with folks in advance, with a number of informational meetings. 

Mr. Cornell added that the better a job is planned, the better it is executed, so they would need to understand what the concerns are for those businesses and the church.  He stated that this was a simple job in reality and if this were being built in an open field, where they didn’t have any disruptions, it would be done in 6 months and they would be out of the way and no one would have any problems.  However, because of where it is located with a very active Church across the street with a lot of activity going on there, and a lot of activity on the surrounding streets, they really need to sit with these folks and figure something out a schedule.  That schedule would include a starting time and a stopping time each day so that it is not too disruptive to the surrounding neighborhood.  The Village then needs to understand the ramifications of what everyone decides.

Councilwoman Walsh questioned their primary design which has the brick and asked if they could explain how the brick is within their design.  Mr. Cornell stated that they still are precast panels, so it is real brick that is sliced and incorporated in the spandrel panel at the factory level, so these panels come to the site with the brick embedded in the panel.  Councilwoman Walsh questioned if, in their experience, they had any issues with the brick coming off.  Mr. Cornell stated that he could show the Council hundreds of buildings that are built this way, and added that if a brick does fall off, which occasionally happens, it is easy to repair. 

Councilwoman Walsh stated that they mentioned using local labor and asked what they meant by that.  Mr. Cornell stated that the majority of this job is a precast construction job so these panels are going to be made in a factory off-site.  There is also a lot of work that needs to happen on site, whether it’s the excavation, or the footings and foundation work, and there are a lot of New Jersey contractors that do concrete work, deep pilings, and plenty of plumbers and electricians. He stated that they would bid to all local New Jersey contractors, adding they have estimated this already and they think they know where the numbers need to be.  They will go out into the marketplace and bid to the local contractors and share those bids with the Village, along with what they think the numbers should cost and then together the Village and Pike can make a decision as to what that final number is and who that final subcontractor is.

Councilman Voigt stated that it looked like they had 229 spaces and asked if that was correct. Mr. Cornell stated they think they can squeeze another one in there, so it is probably going to be 230 spaces.  Councilman Voigt consulted the Village Council and asked if they had asked for 240 spaces in the specifications, which was confirmed.  Councilman Voigt asked why there was the shortfall on the number of parking spaces.  Mr. Cornell stated that based on the site and height restrictions and the fact that they needed to provide the access for the buildings in the back, they just can’t fit in additional parking spaces.

Councilman Voigt questioned the size of the spaces themselves.  Mr. Cornell responded that they were 9 feet by 18.5 feet.  Councilman Voigt questioned if they were made 9 feet by 18 feet, would they be able to squeeze more spaces in.  Mr. Cornell responded no, that it was due to the width, not the length, and he wouldn’t suggest going down to 8.5 feet because it is a door dinger and people get very upset.

Councilman Voigt questioned if they had electric and handicapped spaces as he didn’t see them on the renderings.  Mr. Cornell stated that handicapped spaces would be to code and there will be electric charging spaces in the garage, adding that he didn’t know off the top of his head how many there would be. Mr. Volpe stated that they would be code compliant with the number, and they would all be on the bottom level of the parking garage.  He believes that the code says handicapped spaces must be 5% of the total spaces and increasing that number affected their overall parking space count, as they would lose a space for those spots.  Mr. Cornell stated that they would get the exact number and provide it to the Village Council as he didn’t want to guess.

Deputy Mayor Sedon thanked them for their presentation.  He asked whether they could help him understand what the east side of the garage will look like because they had said that the first two levels would stop at the easement and then the third level will come out and questioned if there was going to be a cantilever.  Mr. Volpe stated that it wouldn’t be a cantilever as they would have columns supporting that structure.  Mr. Cornell added that there would be 47 feet from the corner of the building, which would be the stair tower, so if the Council were to look at the stair tower, the space between that stair tower and the adjacent property line and the structure that holds those other two floors up is 47 feet and then the height is 18 feet 6 inches which they need, in order to clear a fire truck.

Deputy Mayor Sedon questioned if that location was where the entrance was located.  Mr. Cornell stated that was correct, and that would be the access for the folks who are still parking behind the buildings.  As soon as a driver would get underneath that section, they would take a quick left and that would get them through the garage controls, whatever those are determined to be, and they are now within the confines of the garage.  He added that there were a few spaces at grade level and it would have to be decided how those are controlled, whether they are metered or some other means of control.  Mr. Grogg stated that the driveway into the garage is generally in the same location where the existing driveway is, it shifts a little bit to the right, but a motorist is entering the parking lot and then the garage is at about the same location.

Deputy Mayor Sedon stated that they also offer financing options and asked if they could explain a little bit about the three-year lease term.  Mr. Cornell stated that the short term or interest only period is only an advantage if the Village is intending on casting its own debt and they have a timing issue, so they could be ready to start.  For example, the Village may not be ready to finance as there could be a gap, so they typically offer that so that they don’t lose the construction season and the good weather.  He added they were showing it as three years, but it could be a year or six months, whatever the Village needs it to be or they don’t have to do it at all if the Village’s financing is in place.

Mr. Cornell added that they show a seven year lease which is a short term piece that would give the Village a little bit more time as a number of municipalities like to package their bond offerings, instead of a small bond offering and want to wait until they have two or three projects to bond.  The seven years isn’t a definitive number, so if the Village were to tell them it was going to take four or five years to cluster enough projects to do a reasonably sized bond offering, if they knew what that time period was, they could structure that short term piece to meet the Village’s schedule and requirements.  Due to the Village’s AAA bond rating, they could get very reasonable interest rates and be able to gap that piece for the Village during that time period.

Mr. Cornell stated that the last option would be that the Village doesn’t want to use municipal debt and wants to do a long term lease and let Pike amortize the debt, they would provide that at a very low rate, because of the Village’s excellent credit rating.   Deputy Mayor Sedon questioned if that would be fixed rate or would it fluctuate.  Mr. Cornell stated that the short term and all of these would be fixed interest rates.

Deputy Mayor Sedon stated that there may be historic infill in the ground and questioned if Pike had anticipated that.  Mr. Cornell stated that when looking through the material, they calculated spread footings under this garage because they typically would hold a structure of this size and weight.  However, before making a final determination, Mr. Cornell thinks there needs to be a pretty extensive soil exploration to determine what’s under this property.  At the time they do that, if the Village is worried about historical data on the site, they would work with an archaeologist to determine exactly what is there and if they have any historical data that needs to be gathered before going forward.

Deputy Mayor Sedon questioned if everything works out, when Pike thinks the garage would be completed.  Mr. Cornell stated that it depends on when the Village hires them, but conceivably a year from now, there could be parking in the garage.

Mayor Knudsen stated that there was a statement that Pike does a lot of repairs, and she wanted to explore that statement a little in terms of what is the life expectancy of a structure like this and if the repairs that Pike engages in are on considerably older garages, and what is that experience.  Mr. Cornell responded that he was going to put it back on the Village because it is all about the maintenance of these facilities.  If the Village takes care of it, the garage will last basically forever, and 50 years on concrete structures is not unusual.  The real disaster with garages is salt in the winter and not keeping it clean or washing it down, and not paying attention to the caulk joints.  He added that it is being fastidious about the property, and taking care of the garage the way an individual takes care of their car, it needs to be washed on a regular basis, serviced, and it can’t be ignored. 

Mr. Cornell added that a number of municipalities build garages and never touch them again.  One such garage was a State garage in Albany which was in such bad shape that chunks of concrete were falling and they would only give Pike 25% of the garage to work on at a time.  While they were there working on the garage, a T beam fell on an empty car.  He reiterated that it really is very important that the garage be very well maintained and maintenance be provided for in the budget, to make sure that it is cleaned.  The Village also needs the proper equipment, as it needs to be pressure washed on a regular basis and in their design, they will allow for water connections on each floor for the Village to be able to hook up the equipment to wash it down, as well as drainage within the garage itself, to be able to take all of the debris out of the garage.  Mr. Cornell stated that they will work with the local sewer and water departments to determine whether or not they need additional filtering on the materials that are going to get washed into the storm system, which will be incorporated in the design.

Councilman Hache questioned what a sensible amount was to put aside as a percentage of the project cost, per year, for that type of maintenance.  Mr. Cornell stated that they typically recommend about $100 per car per year, and they assume that the Village has some maintenance staff so it will not mean hiring a full-time person, but taking people that are already on the maintenance staff, training them to clean this garage, and if they are in there cleaning it once a month, it is probably adequate.

Ms. Mailander asked if Mr. Rooney or Mr. Rutishauser had any questions.  Mr. Rutishauser stated that in their assumptions and clarifications, the sixth point down an assumption was made that the existing soils have a 4,000-psi bearing capacity and questioned if they were sure about that, should it be psf.  Mr. Volpe responded that yes, it should be psf.

Mr. Rooney questioned in their fee proposal there are three-line items that he would like some explanation as to what the differences are: design build as general conditions $700,000, design build as contingency 2.5% to $208,000; and then design build fee 5% to $443,000, and questioned what the differences were between those.  Mr. Volpe stated that the general conditions of the cost to operate the site so full-time project manager, full-time superintendent, laborers, those folks that will be operating the site during the course of construction and these are all factors of the percentage of gross cost right now.  As they zero in on what the actual cost to this project is and logistically how they are going to operate it, if they are working on Saturdays and/or Sundays, they are going to need to have staff present, so they have assumed the worst case scenario in these general conditions and hopefully, as they work with the Village, that number would be reduced.

Mr. Volpe stated that on the design build contingency of 2.5% or $208,000 they are suggesting that this project is going to be built within this number.  They have categorized the numbers into a description of what they think each line item is and then they have given themselves a 0.5% contingency, which is not Pike money, but Village money.  If this money isn’t spent, it gets subtracted from the cost of the job.  He stated that he didn’t know if there was an adequate amount in there for permanent controls in the garage, and he didn’t know where they were going with video surveillance and other security measures, Pike thinks that they have enough, but the Village may require more, so it is just a number for the Village to be able to work with and give some flexibility.  Mr. Volpe added the design build fee of 5% is their profit for doing the job.

Mayor Knudsen thanked Pike for coming back and stated that the Village Council appreciated their work.  She added that it was a beautiful project and they appreciate the comprehensive overview.

4.COMMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC

Greg Brown, 444 Linwood Avenue, stated that after listening to all of the different proposals on the garage he had a couple of quick thoughts.  First, is that the Village is replacing 76 parking spaces that are currently in the Hudson Street parking lot with anywhere between 230 or 250 parking spaces.  He wanted to think about the cost associated when looking at a per parking space cost with the fact that there are currently 76 parking spaces in the Hudson Street parking lot.  Second, Mr. Brown stated that he wanted to think about looking at the different lots that are in the Village and are there other lots where some reconfiguring could be done, where they could add 100 to 120 spots.  If the Village relined the streets, and took away the boxes between the parking spaces on the streets, which assist with parking, there might be 30 or 40 more parking spaces.  Mr. Brown can’t imagine the costs associated with making these small changes will cost between $10 million and $14 million dollars.  Mr. Brown added that at the same time, it would help to beautify Ridgewood if it were to remove all of the meters and install, like all other towns do, the parking kiosks.  Mr. Brown stated that maybe the garage is too far out of the gate, but he wanted to bring up some other ideas to the Council.

Rurik Halaby, 374 Evergreen Place, stated that he had a rhetorical question regarding what the Village has gained in the 18 months, talking about the garage, since the Mayor and Deputy Mayor were helping vote it in, with the previous Village Council.  He stated that the Village has wasted a year and has been talking about the Desmond Garage, approved by the previous Village Council, that was going to cost $34,000 per parking space and now they are talking about $38,000 to $58,000 per parking space.  Mr. Halaby stated that he was not an expert, but he assumes the economics of a garage are somehow directly related to the cost per space.  He added that Mr. Brown made some good points about the margin of gain in terms of spaces.  Mr. Halaby stated that the Village went from 350 to 250 spaces roughly by losing a floor of the parking garage.  He added that personally, he thinks architecturally speaking a taller garage makes more sense because it looks like a garage, period, where the old Desmond Building looked like another beautiful building in the downtown area.

Mr. Halaby stated that he was going to be charitable by referring to a comment that was once made by one of the attendees that the taller garage overshadowed Mount Carmel, adding that most of the designs that he saw tonight are a poke in the eye of Ridgewood, with a sharp stick.  He said some of the designs presented tonight were terrible.

Mr. Halaby added that he wanted to take issue with Councilwoman Walsh who made reference to something that a garage is something that you drive in and drive out of.  Mayor Knudsen interrupted and stated that she was going to call a Point of Order because in a public comment they are not permitted to address any Councilmember directly, so asked that he please keep his comments general about the topic.  Mr. Halaby stated that he would accept Mayor Knudsen’s Point of Order if it applies to everyone that comes to provide a public comment.  Mayor Knudsen stated that it was a Point of Order, period.  Mr. Halaby stated that the comment that was made about people driving in and out of a garage and what difference does it make, he wanted to remind the Council that this garage would last three generations and what would our grandchildren say about a parking garage in Ridgewood that could look great down at Newark Airport.

Mr. Halaby stated that he has no confidence in the paces that the Council is going through right now, and he thinks it is one big Trojan horse.  Despite his concern the Mayor and the Deputy Mayor over the years have shown a complete lack of interest in building the garage, now that they are running for re-election, they are showing interest in building a parking garage.  Mayor Knudsen interrupted and stated that she was going to call a Point of Order stating that the comments are not directed at individual Councilmembers and asked him to please keep his comments on topic. She added that it was the last time she was going to warn him, otherwise he should please sit down if he cannot follow the rules.  Mr. Halaby questioned if the Mayor would follow the rules.  Mayor Knudsen replied that Mr. Halaby should please continue his public comment. 

Mr. Halaby stated that what he was saying is that he thinks this is a charade and he thinks the Village should wait three months until the elections are over.  The Village has already wasted 40 years in deciding to build a parking garage, so three months will not make any difference.  He added that for certain people running for re-election, to look like they are trying to do what they need to do for a parking garage, is a slap in the face of Ridgewood because basically the Village Council can wait three months and there may be a new Village Council elected which may change the decision on the parking garage.  Mr. Halaby stated that right now, the Village is rushing the process which he does not like or appreciate.  He added that again, if the Mayor wants to apply Points of Order to anyone, apply them equally across the board and don’t answer some people and not answer other people.

Boyd Loving, 342 South Irving Street, stated that he would like to echo the comments of a previous speaker, as he is also concerned about the fact that there are a number of parking spaces currently at the Hudson Street parking lot, and that the lot can probably be reconfigured to add another 10 to 20 spaces.  Therefore, by restriping the Hudson Street lot, there are approximately 100 parking spaces.  The garage will have 250 parking spaces, so the garage is going to guarantee the Village 150 more spaces.  Therefore, the cost per space is quite different than the numbers that were quoted tonight.  Mr. Loving added that he thinks the Council needs to take that into account as they are thinking about whether they are moving forward with a parking garage.

Mr. Loving stated that he thought this was the first time that the public has been made aware of some of the costs associated with maintaining the garage and particularly in this environment, when salt is needed to be used, to keep the ice off, and questioned if he heard correctly that one of the developers said that besides salt, the other damaging factor to the garage would be the use of hard water.  If that is the case, the Council knows that the water in Ridgewood is extremely hard and if the Village is going to be using hard water to wash down the garage, he just doesn’t know if that is also going to create another problem, such as having to put a water softener in the garage in order to make sure that they don’t cause any damage.

Mr. Loving added that the Village Council should consider the costs associated with maintaining a parking garage and building it, adding that he is also of the opinion that maybe the Village can reconfigure some of the surface lots to gain additional parking, which would save the public a ton of money.

5.ADJOURNMENT

There being no further business to come before the Village Council, on a motion by Deputy Mayor Sedon, seconded by Councilwoman Walsh, and carried unanimously by voice vote, the Village Council’s Special Public Meeting was adjourned at 11:06 P.M.

 

 

______________________________
              Susan Knudsen                      
                  Mayor    

 

______________________________
           Heather A. Mailander
      Village Manager/Village Clerk

A REGULAR PUBLIC MEETING OF THE VILLAGE COUNCIL OF THE VILLAGE OF RIDGEWOOD HELD IN THE SYDNEY V. STOLDT, JR. COURT ROOM OF THE RIDGEWOOD VILLAGE HALL, 131 NORTH MAPLE AVENUE, RIDGEWOD, NEW JERSEY ON JUNE 13, 2018 AT 8:00 P.M.

1. CALL TO ORDER – OPEN PUBLIC MEETINGS ACT – ROLL CALL – FLAG     SALUTE

Mayor Knudsen called the meeting to order at 8:00 P.M. and read the Statement of Compliance with the Open Public Meetings Act.  At roll call the following were present: Councilmembers Hache, Sedon, Voigt, Walsh, and Mayor Knudsen.  Also present were Heather Mailander, Village Manager/Village Clerk; and Matthew Rogers, Village Attorney. 

Mayor Knudsen led those in attendance in the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag as well as in a Moment of Silence to honor the men and women serving our nation and our first responders.

2. ACCEPTANCE OF FINANCIAL REPORTS

Mayor Knudsen moved the Bills, Claims, and Vouchers, and Statement of Funds on Hand as of May 31, 2018, be accepted as submitted.  Councilman Hache seconded the motion.

Roll Call Vote

AYES:   Councilmembers Hache, Sedon, Voigt, Walsh, and Mayor Knudsen
NAYS:   None
ABSENT: None
ABSTAIN:  None

3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Mayor Knudsen moved that the Village Council minutes of February 7, March 16, March 26, March 29, April 25, and May 23, 2018 having been reviewed by the Village Council and now available in the Village Clerk’s Office be approved as submitted.  Councilwoman Walsh seconded the motion.

Roll Call Vote

AYES:   Councilmembers Hache, Sedon, Voigt, Walsh, and Mayor Knudsen
NAYS:   None
ABSENT: None
ABSTAIN:  None

4. PROCLAMATIONS

A. RECOGNIZE 60TH ANNIVERSARY OF KASSCHAU MEMORIAL SHELL

Councilman Voigt read the following proclamation:

B. BEE CITY USA AND NATIONAL POLLINATORS WEEK

Deputy Mayor Sedon read the following proclamation:

After the proclamations were read, Jo Delaney, a member of the Kasschau Memorial Shell Committee, stated that the Kasschau Memorial Shell will be having concerts on Tuesday and Thursday evenings through early August.  She added that music is so important in all of our lives, and thanked the local businesses for their support.  Ms. Delaney thanked the Village Council on behalf of the entire committee.  Mayor Knudsen thanked Ms. Delaney and the entire Kasschau Memorial Shell Committee for all of their hard work.

Frank Mortimer thanked the Village Council for the Bee City USA Proclamation, he added that there would be a number of events next week.  Mr. Mortimer stated that it was great that the Village has pulled together to do so many things for pollinators, he thanked Parks and Recreation, the Library, Shade Tree Commission, Health Barn, the Women Gardeners, the Conservancy for Ridgewood Public Lands, the Plant Society of New Jersey, Bookends, Rohslers Nursery, New Jersey Audubon Society, and the Northeast New Jersey Beekeepers for their participation.

5. COMMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC

Cynthia Halaby, 374 Evergreen Place and President of the Conservancy for Ridgewood Public Lands, stated that she was here to follow up on her appearance on May 23rd at the Village Council meeting in reference to the train station plaza.  At candidates’ night, she heard the Mayor and Deputy Mayor state that they would be increasing the parking at the train station.  For those who do not know, this project will entail the destruction of the 38 foot wide grassy area in the train station parking lot, and the cutting down of seven mature trees.  This would result in a nine foot strip, four feet of which would be a walkway.  She stated that since this topic has not been included on any Village Council agenda since last summer, she wanted to find out the true status of this project.  Ms. Halaby stated that she wanted to find out if the grassy area was listed on the Recreation Open Space Inventory (ROSI) and when the Village Council would be opening up the discussion of this project for Public Hearing.  She added that since she was speaking during the Public Comments portion of the Village Council meeting, Mayor Knudsen told her she was not allowed to ask questions, even though other residents did receive answers when they asked questions during the Public Comments section of the Village Council meeting. 

After the Village Council Work Session on May 23rd, she emailed her questions to the entire Village Council, Mr. Rogers, and Ms. Mailander.  Only Councilman Voigt responded to her inquiry about the ROSI designation.  On May 28th, still not having receive a reply, she emailed Mr. Rogers and Ms. Mailander with copied the Village Council, asking them how she should obtain answers to her questions.  Ms. Halaby stated that Mr. Rogers responded by telling her to go through the Village Manager’s Office.  She then wrote to set up a brief meeting with Ms. Mailander, but she never heard back.  Ms. Halaby stated that she found it very strange that no one, other than Councilman Voigt and Mr. Rogers, finds it important to address her questions.  Since the Mayor refuses to answer her, she wondered if other Village Councilmembers and the Village Manager are not allowed a voice. 

Ms. Halaby stated that she still would like to know whether this project remains under discussion.  She added that if it is, she would request that the Village Council put it on an upcoming agenda so that the public knows what they have in mind for the train station plaza.  Mayor Knudsen thanked Ms. Halaby for her comments.  Ms. Halaby asked when she would get an answer to her questions.

Gregory Brown, 444 Linwood Avenue, stated that with all of the deception that is going on with the parking garage he wanted to bring up his idea again as the Village Council looks at funding and increasing the hourly rates.  His idea is taking out the meters and putting in more kiosks.  He added that he knows there is a cost associated with that, but hopefully it would generate additional revenue, because it would cut down on people pulling into spaces where there is already time on the parking meters. 

Changing the subject, Mr. Brown asked about the status of similar restrictions on water in the other towns that are serviced by Ridgewood Water.  He also asked how the Village can work to make sure that they are on an even playing field with all of the municipalities that Ridgewood Water serves.

Rurik Halaby, 374 Evergreen Place, suggested that the Village Council get together under the leadership of Mr. Rogers to come up with a consistent set of rules, as the Mayor cannot answer some questions and not others.  He stated that somehow she answers questions for her friends and refuses to answer others, which is reckless.  Mr. Halaby stated that the Mayor has to be consistent, one way or the other.

6. MANAGER’S REPORT

Ms. Mailander reminded everyone that the next Village Council Work Session, scheduled for June 20th, has been cancelled.  The next Village Council Regular Work Session will be held on July 11th.  There will a Special Public Village Council meeting on June 25th at 7:00 P.M. to continue the Public Hearing on the water rate ordinance increases.

Ms. Mailander stated that on Sunday, July 1st at noon is the Village Council Reorganization meeting, and everyone is invited to attend.

She reminded everyone that under the water conservation regulations, watering is allowed for odd numbered houses on Tuesday and Saturday, and for even numbered houses on Wednesday and Sunday.  Ms. Mailander stated that a smart controller is a weather based system that controls watering, and using this system, you may water any day between the hours of midnight to 10:00 A.M.

Graydon Pool is open on weekdays noon to 7:30 P.M., and weekends 10:00 A.M. to 7:30 P.M.  Registration is through CommunityPass or at the badge office during pool hours.  Ms. Mailander stated that further information is available on the Village website.

Ms. Mailander stated that the Ridgewood Guild sponsors “Music in the Night” which is live, free outdoor entertainment every Friday night throughout the Central Business District, through the end of August.

The Kasschau Memorial Shell hosts musical performances every Tuesday and Thursday at 8:30 P.M. to the beginning of August.  Ms. Mailander encouraged everyone to bring a chair or blanket to enjoy a wide variety of free live music under the stars.  Ms. Mailander stated that as mentioned in the Proclamation, June 14th is the big anniversary celebration.  60 years of music at the Kasschau Memorial Shell and 90 years of music for the Ridgewood Choral who will be performing that evening.

Ms. Mailander stated that Movies in the Park, sponsored by the Ridgewood Guild, are free outdoor movies in Memorial Park at Van Neste Square every other Wednesday night at 9:00 P.M.  Tonight’s movie is ‘Creature from the Black Lagoon.’  June 27th is ‘Big’ and it is the 30th Anniversary of this movie.  Other films in this series are ‘LaLaLand,’ ‘Toy Story,’ ‘Mrs. Doubtfire,’ and ‘Planet of the Apes.’

Ridgewood Walks is sponsoring several walking tours during the month of June.  Each walk has a different theme, such as iconic buildings in Ridgewood, some on the National Registry of Historic Places.  Arts and Architecture of various unique buildings in Ridgewood; a Pizza, French Fry and Ice Cream tour in the Central Business District; a “Me Time” tour to help you unwind; a hike along the Dunham Trail; and a bike ride around Ridgewood.  Ms. Mailander stated that residents could register for these tours on RidgewoodWalks.com.

Ms. Mailander stated that July 4th festivities begin with a flag raising at the train station at 9:00 A.M.  The parade begins at 10:00 A.M. rain or shine, and fireworks begin at approximately 9:00 P.M.  The rain date for the fireworks is July 5th.

As a reminder, all Village offices will be closed on July 4th in observance of Independence Day.  There will be no recycling or garbage pickup on that day, and the Recycling Center will also be closed.  Graydon Pool will also close early on that day.

7. COUNCIL REPORTS

Eagle Scout Court of Honor – Deputy Mayor Sedon stated that on Saturday, he attended an Eagle Scout Court of Honor for James Schimmel.  It was the sixth one in the past several weeks, so it is good to see that there are young leaders stepping up, by earning the highest ranking they can in the Boy Scouts.

Muslim Community of Ridgewood – Deputy Mayor Sedon stated that on Sunday he had the honor of attending an iftar by the Muslim Community of Ridgewood, hosted at Saint Elizabeth’s Church.  It was a beautiful ceremony and it was a great event to attend.  He would also like to thank Anne Loving, because he really enjoys gardening and was happy she gave him flowers to plant, earlier this evening.

Shade Tree Commission – Deputy Mayor Sedon stated that the Shade Tree Commission met on June 12th and there are a lot of things they are working on at this time.  The Graydon Pool tree replacement has come down to a decision between either another sycamore tree or a blight- resistant American elm and the arborist is doing a little more research.  They should have a presentation in July with the recommendation as to what tree species to put on the island, at Graydon Pool, which should be planted this fall.  Also discussed was the tree nursery on the side of the Parks building at the recycling center.  There are about 125 trees in their second year and hopefully they will be moved to a more permanent location once it has been established, as they are thriving.

Citizens Safety Advisory Committee – Councilwoman Walsh stated that the Citizens Safety Advisory Committee is having their meeting on June 21st.

Central Business District – Councilwoman Walsh stated that she was in the Central Business District and watched some really bad driving and parking along Ridgewood Avenue.  She took several pictures and sent them to the Village Manager because it was as if no one cared.  There were trucks parked illegally, people leaving cars, and she knows that the Police Department was in town giving out tickets.  Residents were posting on social media that they also were observing the same thing.  This relates to safety, enforcement, and being neighborly.

Chamber of Commerce – Councilman Hache stated that the Chamber of Commerce held its 91st annual recognition and installation dinner last night at Park West Loft.  The co-honorees were the CBD Advisory Committee and the Tobacco Shop, receiving the Community Service Award.  It was a great event that was well attended.  Mayor Knudsen swore in the new slate of officers.  Scott Lief was sworn in as the new President of the Chamber.  He has served as Chamber President previously and has served on the Board in other capacities as well, and is also a mortgage professional in town.

Mayor Knudsen congratulated Mr. Lief and stated that the Chamber has great new leadership that is dedicated and very capable.  She congratulated the CBD Advisory Committee for their recognition.

ESL Library Luncheon – Mayor Knudsen stated that Friday was the Ridgewood Public Library ESL Library Luncheon, hosted by Friends of the Library.  She stated that it was an amazing program as 34 countries were represented, with 128 students and 48 volunteer tutors that work with those students to help them with their English. She added that it was a terrific program with people that dedicate their time to helping others. 

The Mayors Fair Lawn/ Ridgewood Mayors Weight Loss Challenge – Mayor Knudsen stated that the recognition and awards were held on Monday evening for the annual Fair Lawn/Ridgewood Weight Loss Challenge.  There was a cumulative weight loss of all the participants of 414 pounds.  Everyone really worked hard, they see their nutritionist regularly, and have started to exercise and pay attention to what they are eating.  This is really exciting for a lot of people, as this is a new lease on life for many, as some were actually unable to walk.  It is an incredible journey for so many.

Hudson Street Parking Garage – Mayor Knudsen stated that the Hudson Street Parking Garage Design Open House was held Monday evening, there were some residents in attendance.  She thanked Epic Management for their attendance.

Art Beat – Mayor Knudsen stated that on the evening of June 12th, at the Kasschau Memorial Shell, Ridgewood High School students participated in the Art Beat program.  She added that it was an amazing program, where the students performed a capella, rock bands performed, and there were also a lot of visual arts. This is a student-run program, where the students organize everything, put the acts together, reserve the Kasschau Memorial Shell, and do everything start to finish.

Ridgewood Fourth of July Committee – Mayor Knudsen stated that the July 4th Committee is selling 50/50 raffle tickets.  It is hoped that 600 raffle tickets will be sold for $100 each, for a grand prize of $25,000 if all of those tickets are sold.  There will be an additional ten prizes of $500 each.  This is a great opportunity to help keep this tradition alive.  Go to Ridgewood4thofJuly.com or google “Ridgewood 4th of July” and see the locations where tickets will be available.  She added that they were hoping that everyone would not only purchase tickets to the fireworks, but also participate in the 50/50 raffle.

8. RESOLUTIONS – RIDGEWOOD WATER

THE FOLLOWING RESOLUTION, NUMBERED 18-169, WILL BE ADOPTED BY A CONSENT AGENDA WITH ONE VOTE BY THE VILLAGE COUNCIL, AND WAS READ BY TITLE ONLY:

9. ORDINANCES

a. PUBLIC HEARING - #3639 – Amend Chapter 212-31 – Skate Park Rules and Regulations

Mayor Knudsen moved the reading of ordinance 3639 by title on second reading and that the Public Hearing thereon be opened.  Deputy Mayor Sedon seconded the motion.

Roll Call Vote

AYES:   Councilmembers Hache, Sedon, Voigt, Walsh, and Mayor Knudsen
NAYS:   None
ABSENT: None
ABSTAIN:  None

The Village Clerk read ordinance 3639 by title:

 AN ORDINANCE TO AMEND CHAPTER 212 OF THE CODE OF THE VILLAGE OF RIDGEWOOD, PARKS AND RECREATION AREAS, AT ARTICLE X SECTION 212-31, “SKATE PARK USE RULES AND REGULATIONS.”

Mayor Knudsen announced that the Public Hearing was open.  There were no comments from the public, and Mayor Knudsen moved that the Public Hearing be closed.  Deputy Mayor Sedon seconded the motion.

Roll Call Vote

AYES:   Councilmembers Hache, Sedon, Voigt, Walsh, and Mayor Knudsen
NAYS:   None
ABSENT: None
ABSTAIN:  None

Councilman Hache moved that ordinance 3639 be adopted on second reading and final publication as required by law.  Deputy Mayor Sedon seconded the motion.

Roll Call Vote

AYES:   Councilmembers Hache, Sedon, Voigt, Walsh, and Mayor Knudsen
NAYS:   None
ABSENT: None
ABSTAIN:  None

b. PUBLIC HEARING - #3646 – Establish Valet Parking Area on North Broad Street

Mayor Knudsen moved the reading of ordinance 3646 by title on second reading and that the Public Hearing thereon be opened.  Councilman Voigt seconded the motion.
Roll Call Vote

AYES:   Councilmembers Hache, Sedon, Voigt, Walsh, and Mayor Knudsen
NAYS:   None
ABSENT: None
ABSTAIN:  None

The Village Clerk read ordinance 3646 by title:

 AN ORDINANCE TO AMEND CHAPTER 265 OF THE CODE OF THE VILLAGE OF RIDGEWOOD, VEHICLES AND TRAFFIC, AT SECTION 265-29, “PARKING METER ZONES DESIGNATED” AND AT SECTION 265-72, “SCHEDULE XXII LOADING ZONES.”

Ms. Mailander stated that Glenn Carlough, the owner of The Steel Wheel Tavern, who is interested in having the valet parking was present at the meeting.

Mayor Knudsen announced that the Public Hearing was open. 

Boyd Loving, 342 South Irving Street, stated that he recalled that there was some discussion about this during the Work Session last week.  He stated that a member of the Village Council raised a concern that because valet parking had previously been allowed for other restaurants, there may be an obligation on the Village Council’s part to allow it in this case.  No opinions were given by the Village Attorney as to whether there is an obligation on the Village Council’s part to offer valet parking to a restaurant or any business that applies for it. 

Mr. Loving said that personally, he doesn’t think there is an obligation because in the case of the Zoning Board of Adjustment, residents come in for variances yet because one resident receives a variance, it doesn’t mean that all variances are approved.  Mr. Loving stated that he didn’t think that the Council had any obligation because valet parking was approved in the past, that it has to be done again.  He stated that valet parking should be treated on a case by case basis, and in this case, there is concern by two Councilmembers that the location that is proposed is relatively dangerous.  Mr. Loving recalled that Mr. Rutishauser indicated that he believes that once the valets pick up the car, they will make a right turn and park at some place that was not identified.

Mr. Loving stated that his concern is that the Village Council all know the intersection of Franklin Avenue and North Broad Street, and it was fine if the valet would make a right turn, but what if someone lived on the west side of town and tried to make a left turn out of the spot where they picked up their car, and then cut across two lanes of traffic to go under the trestle.  Mr. Loving indicated that there could be an ordinance that if someone picked up their car from the valet, they can make a right turn only.  Mr. Loving stated that he agreed with the Councilmembers who felt that it was a dangerous location to be offering valet and he objected to the notion that because it was done for someone in the past, there might be an obligation to do it for someone else.

Ms. Mailander invited Mr. Carlough to come to the microphone and tell the Village Council where it was that the valet would be parking the cars.  Mr. Carlough stated that the valet would be parking across Franklin Avenue, at the Ken Smith lot.  The valets would be going straight, rather than turning.  He added that didn’t address the previous question regarding pickup and if people would make a left hand turn after pickup.

Councilman Voigt questioned whether Mr. Carlough could find another parking lot to have the valet service park, as it makes the situation more precarious if they are going straight across a busy intersection.  Mr. Carlough stated that the valet service has an arrangement with the property owner at Ken Smith, and it is where they park the automobiles for the valet parking at Roots.  He did not know if there was another location to park the cars, but he would have to find out from them.  When he made the application and suggested that they use the three parallel spots that are closest to the corner of North Broad and Franklin, it was essentially an attempt to eliminate as few parking spots for the public as possible, while providing this valet service.

Mr. Carlough stated that as an alternative, perhaps they could use spots further south on Broad Street so that the cars upon leaving would have a more reasonable opportunity to go from the right lane to the left lane if need be, if they wanted to make a left under the trestle.  He reiterated that he was hoping to have the least impact possible on the parking, as they were trying to help the situation.  Councilman Voigt questioned whether Mr. Carlough could tell him about his patronage and the issues that they may be having with parking at the busy times at his restaurant.  Mr. Carlough stated that he has had numerous conversations with folks who come in on a Tuesday night and say they were planning to come on Saturday, but after numerous laps of the Village and not being able to find a spot, they went to somewhere else that was not in town.  Councilman Voigt questioned if Mr. Carlough received that complaint often.  Mr. Carlough replied that it happened more often than a Ridgewood restauranteur would like to hear.

Mr. Carlough stated that he understood while the valet service was something that The Steel Wheel applied for and are paying the permit for, inevitably, other businesses on Broad Street will also use the valet service.  Therefore, he felt that there was a greater good then just The Steel Wheel Tavern.  Councilman Voigt questioned who the other restaurants might be.  Mr. Carlough stated that it was not a free service, and so as a result, patrons couldn’t be forced to walk into The Steel Tavern after using the valet service, but he was envisioning Mediterraneo, and S. Edigio may have customers using the valet service.  He added that he wants people who are thinking about coming to The Steel Wheel Tavern to see that the Steel Wheel Tavern understands that there is a parking challenge and they are going to do their part in trying to alleviate that.

Deputy Mayor Sedon stated that he would need to hear from the Engineering Department because at the last meeting, it was said that the cars would be making a right, which he thought was a bit precarious at the time, but this was different now as the valet would be pulling out into the traffic and could be challenging depending on the time of day.  Mr. Carlough questioned if they were talking about people who had picked up their cars from the valet.  Deputy Mayor Sedon stated that he was talking about parking the cars at Ken Smith, as the Village Council had been told they were making a right onto Franklin Avenue, so in his mind, that seemed to work better than having the cars merge with traffic.  However, the Engineering Department didn’t seem to know that traffic would be going straight, instead of making a right.  Mr. Carlough stated that was an easy fix, as he could talk to the valet company about changing the route and they could make a right hand turn around the block, to get into the left lane, in order to go straight into the Ken Smith lot.  He stated that the challenge is what happens after the customer is back in their car and upon leaving, they decide to make the left and go under the railroad trestle.  Deputy Mayor Sedon stated that he would have to hear from the professionals again, because this makes a big difference in his decision.  If they were going right onto Franklin Avenue, he was undecided, but going straight he feels that he would need to hear from the Engineering Department, to see if they feel it is acceptable. 

Mayor Knudsen stated that when Mr. Carlough suggested that the spaces for the valet could be changed to spaces further away from the Franklin Avenue intersection, what the Village Council has in front of them is an ordinance very specific to individual parking spaces.  Therefore, if they were to contemplate an alternative scenario, that would mean defeating this ordinance and then introducing a new ordinance, with different parking spaces allocated for the valet parking.

Councilwoman Walsh stated that she was confused, as Steel Wheel Tavern made the application but she was unsure who was responsible for the valet service.  Mr. Carlough responded that it was Tri-State Valet Service.  Ms. Mailander stated that Mr. Carlough would be hiring the valet.  Councilwoman Walsh questioned whether Mr. Carlough was going to pay and manage them on behalf of this application.  Ms. Mailander stated that the valet company takes out the permit, but it is basically for The Steel Wheel, but as Mr. Carlough indicated, if others were to use this they certainly could.  Councilwoman Walsh questioned what would happen if everyone started using the valet service but no one went into The Steel Wheel.  Her concern is who would be the oversight.  Ms. Mailander stated that it would be the valet company themselves, as they have mangers on-site who would be responsible to make sure that the valet drivers are licensed and driving appropriately.

Councilwoman Walsh agreed that she would need to hear from the Engineering Department as she was under the impression that anyone using the valet would only be making a right turn onto Franklin Avenue.  Mr. Carlough questioned if the right lane was a right-turn only lane.  Councilwoman Walsh stated that it was a right-turn only lane.  Mr. Carlough stated that then clearly no one would go straight from the valet, and everyone would make that right turn.  Deputy Mayor Sedon stated that otherwise, they would have to cut across the right-turn only lane to go straight to drop off cars.  Mr. Carlough stated that he misunderstood initially.  Deputy Mayor Sedon stated that was his concern, as they would be cutting across the right hand turn lane to go straight from the left turn/straight lane.  Mr. Carlough stated that he would put up some cones between the right and left lane, such that once you are in the right lane you are making a right, so that coming out of the valet spots there is no option and they can’t make a left turn.  He added that if he had a concern, it would be people deciding to make a left across the double yellow line, from heading southbound on Broad Street, as he knows it happens on Chestnut Street.  Mr. Carlough stated that he would suggest cones where it is obvious that you can’t make the left from southbound on North Broad into the valet parking queue.

Mayor Knudsen stated that her concern was the circuitous route to get to the Ken Smith lot, which would add traffic, congestion, and confusion which would set up a difficult and dangerous situation.  Her position was to defeat the ordinance this evening.  Mr. Carlough stated that he had the opposite view, as they are alleviating that very same problem by providing the valet service.  If potential customers are going around the block, and they are doing that repeatedly in order to find a parking spot, and now all they have to do is pull into the valet parking queue, he felt they would significantly decrease the amount of traffic going around the block.  He felt the valet service will alleviate the problem of cars going around the block multiple times to find a parking space.  Mr. Carlough felt that traffic cones would get the job done, and that the valet service would remedy people circling the block.

Councilman Voigt questioned if Mr. Carlough would be amenable to looking at some of the angled parking in front of the restaurant, or a bit south of that, instead of the three parallel spots.  Mr. Carlough stated that he believed that if things went according to schedule, that this service could be in place by around July 3rd.  He stated that prime time for his restaurant is July and August, and stated that they should come up with a couple of easy fixes to the current plan, otherwise this would be postponed until September.  Ms. Mailander stated that as Mr. Carlough and Mr. Rutishauser mentioned, using angled spots for valet parking would require more than three parking spots.  They would need about five angled parking spots for the valet queue.  Councilman Voigt stated that using the angled spots seemed more manageable to get over into the center left lane to use the Ken Smith parking lot.  Mr. Carlough stated that at some point, people make a decision which lane they are going into and at that point, the drivers are making it clear which direction they are going.  He reiterated that he would suggest the use of traffic cones to help any confused driver.

Councilman Hache questioned whether the parking spots at the Ken Smith lot were procured by The Steel Wheel Tavern or the valet service.  Mr. Carlough stated that the valet service procured the spots.  Ms. Mailander stated that this was an unusual situation because this valet was also the same one used by Roots, so they are already using the Ken Smith lot.  Mayor Knudsen stated that she understood that Mr. Carlough wanted to get this done, but there were a couple of moving parts.  There was the suggestion about the angled spaces, but that does not comply with this ordinance, which means that this ordinance gets defeated.  She stated that the other piece is whether or not they put cones to direct traffic, and she didn’t know if any of the other Councilmembers would be comfortable making those types of decisions, without having professionals weighing in on it and telling them exactly how it would work.  Mayor Knudsen stated that she was more comfortable taking this up at a later date.  Mr. Carlough stated that he was not advocating for the cones to be placed permanently, as he thought they could be used during the hours of valet operation.

Councilman Voigt questioned Ms. Mailander as to if the Village Council were to defeat this ordinance tonight, how quickly it could be back on the agenda.  Ms. Mailander stated that if the Councilmembers needed more information and wanted to discuss it in public, it would have to be July 11th and it could be introduced that evening, but the earliest there could be a Public Hearing and adoption would be August 1st.  The ordinance would then become effective on August 21st, if it were adopted.  Mr. Carlough stated that he would trust the Village Engineer to decide how to handle this, and if the Village Engineer gave the Village Council reason to believe that this would work, he doesn’t know why anyone would question why it couldn’t be done safely.  Deputy Mayor Sedon stated that the issue is that the Village Engineer gave the Village Council reason to believe that it would work if the valet was going right.  However, now that they are going straight and have to cut into the traffic, that becomes the issue, as it is different from what was presented last week. 

Mr. Carlough stated that he thought it was established that from the right lane they could not go straight, so therefore the valet would be making the right-hand turn.  Councilman Voigt stated that it was really enticing to just cut across rather than go around the block.  He added that unless Mr. Carlough could find another place to park the cars, his concern was that it created a precarious situation for the North Broad Street and Franklin Avenue intersection.  Mr. Carlough clarified that the concern was that the valet service would fail to turn right.  Mayor Knudsen stated that the Village Council did not know what was in other people’s minds, but their concern was not specific drivers but rather whether or not they were setting up a dangerous situation without having the appropriate input from professionals.  There was input from the professionals that indicated the vehicles were making a right, and her understanding was that there was a parking lot that they were going to, located further down on Franklin Avenue. 

Mayor Knudsen stated that there were two issues, someone might cut across to go straight, someone else might adhere to rules, but no matter what, there would be cars that even if they did make the right turn, they would have to make other moves to get to the parking lot across the street.  Councilman Hache stated that the valet would have the same route going back, as they could not go straight out of Ken Smith and cross the double yellow line as an illegal U-turn.  Mayor Knudsen stated that she wasn’t comfortable with all of the extra movements at this time.  Councilwoman Walsh stated that at the beginning of the meeting, she made a comment that behaviors of drivers in the Village are not good, so in her mind this valet service is setting it up for bad behavior to continue.  Perhaps not for the valet, but for the people picking up their car.  There is a solid white line, which no one can pass, which creates an illegal movement.  She stated that there wouldn’t need to be any cones there, but the behaviors that have been seen throughout the town could be some of the reasons as to why the Village Council is hesitant on this.  Councilwoman Walsh added that she didn’t think the valet service, as proposed, would be efficient, safe, or make any sense.  She said that it would almost be easier to have patrons pull directly into the Ken Smith lot, without the use of a valet service at all.

Mayor Knudsen agreed with Councilwoman Walsh, stating that perhaps there was a sign denoting Steel Wheel parking being located at the Ken Smith lot, then someone could drive across the street and park their own car, and use the crosswalk to get to the restaurant.  She stated that there may be a different alternative to achieve the same thing.  She asked if Steel Wheel was tagging onto the Roots valet, or if they were independent.  Mr. Carlough stated that the valet service had an arrangement with the Ken Smith parking lot and would be setting themselves up at his location.  Ms. Mailander stated that unfortunately it didn’t look favorable, but that the Village Council, Mr. Carlough and the professionals could meet before the July 11th Work Session to discuss it again.  In the meantime, perhaps the valet company could find a parking lot further down Franklin Avenue, and perhaps there were some other solutions for this parking.  Ms. Mailander stated that perhaps it may be easier for there to be a sign directing patrons to Ken Smith, and then have the valet there to stack the cars, or whatever needs to be done.  The meeting would include Sergeant Chuck, as the Traffic Control Officer.

There were no additional comments from the public, and Mayor Knudsen moved that the Public Hearing be closed.  Councilman Voigt seconded the motion.

Roll Call Vote

AYES:   Councilmembers Hache, Sedon, Voigt, Walsh, and Mayor Knudsen
NAYS:   None
ABSENT: None
ABSTAIN:  None

Deputy Mayor Sedon moved that Ordinance 3646 be defeated on second reading and final publication as required by law.  Councilman Voigt seconded the motion.

Roll Call Vote

AYES:   Councilmembers Hache, Sedon, Voigt, Walsh, and Mayor Knudsen
NAYS:   None
ABSENT: None
ABSTAIN:  None

c. PUBLIC HEARING - #3647 – Amend Chapter 190 – Land Use and Development – Establish Regulations for Blade Signs in Central Business District

Mayor Knudsen moved the reading of ordinance 3647 by title on second reading and that the Public Hearing thereon be opened.  Councilwoman Walsh seconded the motion.

Roll Call Vote

AYES:   Councilmembers Hache, Sedon, Voigt, Walsh, and Mayor Knudsen
NAYS:   None
ABSENT: None
ABSTAIN:  None

The Village Clerk read ordinance 3647 by title:

 AN ORDINANCE TO AMEND CHAPTER 190 OF THE CODE OF THE VILLAGE OF RIDGEWOOD AT SECTION 190-3 ENTITLED “DEFINITIONS” TO ADD A NEW DEFINITION OF “BLADE SIGNS” AND AT SECTION 190-122 ENTITLED “SIGNS” TO CREATE A NEW SUBSECTION AT 190-122(H)(10) ESTABLISHING REGULATIONS FOR BLADE SIGNS.

Mayor Knudsen announced that the Public Hearing was open.  There were no comments from the public, and Mayor Knudsen moved that the Public Hearing be closed.  Councilwoman Walsh seconded the motion.

Roll Call Vote

AYES:   Councilmembers Hache, Sedon, Voigt, Walsh, and Mayor Knudsen
NAYS:   None
ABSENT: None
ABSTAIN:  None

Councilman Hache moved that ordinance 3647 be adopted on second reading and final publication as required by law.  Councilwoman Walsh seconded the motion.

Roll Call Vote

AYES:   Councilmembers Hache, Sedon, Voigt, Walsh, and Mayor Knudsen
NAYS:   None
ABSENT: None
ABSTAIN:  None

d. PUBLIC HEARING - #3648 – Amend Chapter 172-6 – Nuisances Enumerated – Bands and Music

Mayor Knudsen moved the reading of ordinance 3648 by title on second reading and that the Public Hearing thereon be opened.  Councilman Voigt seconded the motion.

Roll Call Vote

AYES:   Councilmembers Hache, Sedon, Voigt, Walsh, and Mayor Knudsen
NAYS:   None
ABSENT: None
ABSTAIN:  None

The Village Clerk read ordinance 3648 by title:

 AN ORDINANCE TO AMEND CHAPTER 172-6 OF THE CODE OF THE VILLAGE OF RIDGEWOOD ENTITLED “NUISANCES ENUMERATED.”

Mayor Knudsen announced that the Public Hearing was open. 

Boyd Loving, 342 South Irving Street, stated that he spoke about this during a work session regarding bands, and having just read the ordinance and how it rewrites the Village Code, he was confused as to whether the purpose of this was to permit bands to play unchecked until 11:00 P.M. or was it to include bands among the nuisances.  Mayor Knudsen stated that this was to allow someone to hire a band without fear of having it shut down, up to a reasonable hour on a particular night.  Mr. Rogers stated that it could be shut down for other reasons, but the purpose of this ordinance was just based upon noise.

Mr. Loving stated that as it stands now, prior to the passing of this ordinance, what was the situation with respect to bands.  Mayor Knudsen stated that the band could be hired, but they could play until 2:00 A.M. in theory without a problem.  Or someone else might hire a band and they might get shut down at 10:00 P.M.  This ordinance was to give everyone the chance to have a band play until 11:00 P.M.  Mr. Loving questioned if he found the band was too loud at 9:00 P.M. in the past, he could call the police and have them shut down, but now he would not be able to do that until 11:00 P.M.  Mr. Rogers stated that if the band got to be too loud, the police would stop by, based on a citizen complaint.  Now there is an absolute aspect to it, where 11:00 P.M. is the witching hour where it all has to be terminated and has to stop.

There were no additional comments from the public, and Mayor Knudsen moved that the Public Hearing be closed.  Councilman Voigt seconded the motion.

Roll Call Vote

AYES:   Councilmembers Hache, Sedon, Voigt, Walsh, and Mayor Knudsen
NAYS:   None
ABSENT: None
ABSTAIN:  None

Deputy Mayor Sedon moved that ordinance 3648 be adopted on second reading and final publication as required by law.  Councilman Voigt seconded the motion.

Roll Call Vote

AYES:   Councilmembers Hache, Sedon, Voigt, Walsh, and Mayor Knudsen
NAYS:   None
ABSENT: None
ABSTAIN:  None

e. PUBLIC HEARING - #3649 – Redevelopment Plan – Block 3809, Lots 12 & 13 – Hudson Street Parking Lot

Mayor Knudsen moved the reading of ordinance 3649 by title on second reading and that the Public Hearing thereon be opened.  Deputy Mayor Sedon seconded the motion.

Roll Call Vote

AYES:   Councilmembers Hache, Sedon, Voigt, Walsh, and Mayor Knudsen
NAYS:   None
ABSENT: None
ABSTAIN:  None

The Village Clerk read ordinance 3649 by title:

 AN ORDINANCE ADOPTING THE HUDSON STREET REDEVELOPMENT PLAN.
Mayor Knudsen stated that due to publishing deadlines, the legal ad for this ordinance was published with the incorrect version of the ordinance.  The reason the version of the ordinance was incorrect is due to the fact that some changes to the ordinance, which were recommended by the Planning Board, were not incorporated into the published version of the ordinance.  The version of the ordinance given to the public and the Village Council on May 9, 2018 was the correct version of the ordinance, with the changes recommended by the Planning Board.  The correction notice for this ordinance was published in The Record, but the person in the legal ad department neglected to include the corrected copy of the ordinance in the legal ad, even though it was sent for publication.  The Village Attorney will summarize the changes to the ordinance, as recommended by the Planning Board, which are not substantive.

Mr. Rogers stated that in the packet was the corrected version, but he wanted to make sure that he explained to the public what the corrections were.  There were three areas of the ordinance that needed to be corrected.  First, in the first paragraph in the preamble to the ordinance, the proper lot and block numbers were in the original ordinance, however when it came back from the Planning Board it read 13 parcels when really it is just two parcels.  Second, on the third page of the ordinance, in section two called ‘Access’ and the third bullet point, the change is that for some reason it said there was one pedestrian lobby, when there are actually two pedestrian lobbies.  Both lobbies will have stairways, but only one lobby will have an elevator.  Third, on page four in paragraph five, dealing with parking design standards, the dimensions of a parking stall which is 8.5 feet by 18 feet, was added for clarification.

Councilman Hache moved that the amendments to ordinance 3649, as summarized by the Village Attorney, be adopted.  Deputy Mayor Sedon seconded the motion.

Roll Call Vote

AYES:   Councilmembers Hache, Sedon, Voigt, Walsh, and Mayor Knudsen
NAYS:   None
ABSENT: None
ABSTAIN:  None

Mayor Knudsen announced that the Public Hearing, on the ordinance as amended, was open.  There were no comments from the public, and Mayor Knudsen moved that the Public Hearing be closed.  Deputy Mayor Sedon seconded the motion.

Roll Call Vote

AYES:   Councilmembers Hache, Sedon, Voigt, Walsh, and Mayor Knudsen
NAYS:   None
ABSENT: None
ABSTAIN:  None

Councilman Hache moved that ordinance 3649, as amended, be adopted on second reading and final publication as required by law.  Deputy Mayor Sedon seconded the motion.

Roll Call Vote

AYES:   Councilmembers Hache, Sedon, Voigt, Walsh, and Mayor Knudsen
NAYS:   None
ABSENT: None
ABSTAIN:  None

10. RESOLUTIONS

THE FOLLOWING RESOLUTIONS, NUMBERED 18-170 THROUGH 18-193, WERE ADOPTED BY A CONSENT AGENDA WITH ONE VOTE BY THE VILLAGE COUNCIL, AND WERE READ BY TITLE ONLY:

11. COMMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC

Boyd Loving, 342 South Irving Street, stated that during last week’s Work Session, a number of residents came during the public comment to speak about Graydon Pool and in particular expressed their concern about the inclement weather closing procedures, and also their concern that there was no place where the public could go to determine whether Graydon Pool was open or closed.  He stated that he believed that Ms. Mailander was going to provide a report to the Village Council at this meeting with respect to the inclement closing procedures and whether anything could be done about having a place where the public could be notified; however, he heard no report this evening and was wondering whether it could be provided.

Ms. Mailander stated that right now, closings will be posted to the website, and they will certainly work on looking to find a better way to notify the public about inclement weather closings of Graydon Pool.  An E-notice will most likely be sent out, with the information about notification to residents about the closing of Graydon Pool in inclement weather, as well as other topics.

There were no additional public comments.

12. RESOLUTION TO GO INTO CLOSED SESSION

Ms. Mailander read Resolution #18-139 to go into Closed Session as follows:

13. ADJOURNMENT

There being no further business to come before the Village Council, on a motion by Deputy Mayor Sedon, seconded by Councilman Hache, and carried unanimously by voice vote, the Village Council’s Regular Public Meeting was adjourned at 9:20 P.M.

______________________________
              Susan Knudsen                        
                     Mayor    

__________________________________
    Heather A. Mailander
         Village Manager/Village Clerk

A REGULAR PUBLIC MEETING OF THE VILLAGE COUNCIL OF THE VILLAGE OF RIDGEWOOD HELD IN THE SYDNEY V. STOLDT, JR. COURT ROOM OF THE RIDGEWOOD VILLAGE HALL, 131 NORTH MAPLE AVENUE, RIDGEWOD, NEW JERSEY ON MAY 9, 2018 AT 8:00 P.M.

1.CALL TO ORDER – OPEN PUBLIC MEETINGS ACT – ROLL CALL – FLAG     SALUTE

Mayor Knudsen called the meeting to order at 8:00 P.M. and read the Statement of Compliance with the Open Public Meetings Act.  At roll call the following were present: Councilman Hache, Deputy Mayor Sedon, Councilman Voigt, Councilwoman Walsh, and Mayor Knudsen.  Also present were Heather Mailander, Village Manager/Village Clerk; and Matthew Rogers, Village Attorney. 

Mayor Knudsen led those in attendance in the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag as well as in a Moment of Silence to honor the men and women serving our nation and our first responders and all those who suffer or are victims of senseless violence.

2.ACCEPTANCE OF FINANCIAL REPORTS

Mayor Knudsen moved the Bills, Claims, and Vouchers, and Statement of Funds on Hand as of April 30, 2018, be accepted as submitted.  Councilwoman Walsh seconded the motion.

Roll Call Vote

AYES:   Councilmembers Hache, Sedon, Voigt, Walsh, and Mayor Knudsen
NAYS:   None
ABSENT: None
ABSTAIN:  None

3.APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Mayor Knudsen moved that the Village Council minutes of January 31, and April 11, 2018 having been reviewed by the Village Council and now available in the Village Clerk’s Office be approved as submitted.  Deputy Mayor Sedon seconded the motion.

Roll Call Vote

AYES:   Councilmembers Hache, Sedon, Voigt, Walsh, and Mayor Knudsen
NAYS:   None
ABSENT: None
ABSTAIN:  None

4.PROCLAMATIONS

A.NATIONAL CANCER SURVIVORS DAY

Councilman Voigt read the following proclamation:

B.EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES WEEK

Councilwoman Walsh read the following proclamation, and Chief of Emergency Services, Tony Lillo, accepted the proclamation to a round of applause.

C.PROCLAIM MAY AS MENTAL HEALTH MONTH

Councilman Hache read the following proclamation:

D.PROCLAIM MAY AS OLDER AMERICANS MONTH

Deputy Mayor Sedon read the following proclamation:

E.PROCLAIM JUNE AS GAY PRIDE MONTH

Mayor Knudsen read the following proclamation:

F.PROCLAIM NATIONAL GUN VIOLENCE AWARENESS DAY

Deputy Mayor Sedon read the following proclamation:

5.POLICE DEPARTMENT AWARDS AND RECOGNITIONS

A.CPR SAVE

Police Chief Jacqueline Luthcke stated that on November 21, 2017 officers were dispatched to a motor vehicle accident.  The driver was unresponsive.  Police began CPR, EMS and the Fire Department continued CPR and they were able to reestablish a pulse.  These awards were originally given at the Emergency Services Annual Banquet, but these officers were unable to attend.  At this time, Chief Luthcke congratulated Sergeant Michael Lembo, Sergeant Peter Bolten, and Police Officer Brandon Donnelly.

B.ASSISTING IN BIRTH OF BABY WITH UMBILICAL CORD AROUND ITS NECK: LIFESAVING AWARD; HONORABLE SERVICE AWARD

Chief Jacqueline Luthcke stated that on Saturday, September 30, 2017 a call was received for a woman in labor on Williams Street, Officer Elwood and Officer Christopher were assigned to respond.  Upon their arrival, the mother had given birth a few moments before the arrival of the patrol officers to what appeared to be a very healthy baby.  Officer Elwood and Officer Christopher aided Mrs. Palmer in keeping the baby warm and assisting the mother.  The baby was placed on the mother’s chest and wrapped in blankets.  A short time later, Officer Elwood was alert enough to recognize that the baby had begun to change color and hadn’t cried in some time.  Officer Elwood moved quickly to see why the baby was turning blue and found that the babies umbilical cord had wrapped around her neck and it was choking the baby.  Officer Christopher and Officer Elwood moved the baby slightly down on the mother’s belly to relieve pressure on the cord and Officer Elwood was able to get the cord clear from around the baby’s neck.  The babies color rapidly began to change back to normal and the baby began to act normally.  Officer Elwood’s recognition of a severe life-threatening condition, coupled with Officer Christopher’s alert and rapid actions, saved the life of baby Lola who was at the meeting this evening.  Chief Luthcke stated that she would like to award the Lifesaving Medal to Police Officer Patrick Elwood for his swift and alert actions, and give Police Officer Douglas Christopher the Honorable Service Award, for his assistance.  In addition, both Officers have received the Distinguished Service Award from the Bergen County Police Chiefs Association.

Chief Luthcke stated that she would also like to thank EMT Ace Antonio on that call, as he also assisted.

C.LIFESAVING AWARDS FOR CHOKING VICTIM

Chief Luthcke stated that on June 26, 2016 Officer Anthony Mormino was sitting in the desk area with his squad eating lunch when he began to choke on the food he was eating.  Officer Mormino’s throat became almost completely blocked and he began to lose consciousness.  Sergeant Bolten reported that Officer Tuchol, Officer Vacarella, and Officer DiBenedetto immediately sprung into action to clear Officer Mormino’s airway.  As Officer Tuchol performed the Heimlich maneuver on Officer Mormino it wasn’t very effective because Officer Mormino was wearing his ballistic vest.  Officer Vacarella and Officer DiBenedetto then attempted to remove Officer Mormino’s ballistic vest, and after a few minutes they were able to clear the blockage and open Officer Mormino’s airway.  Therefore, Police Officer Joseph DiBenedetto, Police Officer Peter Tuchol, Jr., and Police Officer Rosario Vacarella were awarded the Lifesaving Medal for their actions on that date.

D.GRAND CORDON MEDAL

Chief Luthcke stated that in January 2018, New Jersey Municipalities Magazine published an article about their Innovation in Government Award, submitted by Village Manager Heather Mailander, which highlighted an action taken by a member of the Ridgewood Police Department.  The article explained the difficulties the Village of Ridgewood had with Crossing Guards in 2013 and 2014, and how the Police Department outsourced the task to All City Management.  The article goes on to say that although it may cost the Village a little more money, it has freed up Police Officers so that they can do targeted enforcements especially during school times as well as promoting safety in the Village.  The Village of Ridgewood was awarded an Innovation in Government Award for outsourcing crossing guard services.  Sergeant John Chuck led this initiative, dedicating many hours to make it happen, his actions directly led to the Police Department being cited in the notable action, and being known as a landmark Police Department in the area.  For his leadership and dedication to duty, Sergeant Chuck is awarded the Grand Cordon Medal.

E.ANDREW K. RUOTOLO, JR. MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENT

Chief Luthcke stated that this was a prestigious scholarship, in order to be eligible for an Andrew K. Ruotolo, Jr. Memorial Scholarship, an applicant must be a New Jersey resident accepted for admission into law school or graduate school.  The applicant must exhibit an interest in and be committed to enhancing the rights and well-being of children through child advocacy programs.  The scholarship is named after Andrew K. Ruotolo, Jr. who was the Union County Prosecutor who died in 1995.  Sergeant Michael Lembo is a member of the School of Management at Marist College studying for his Masters of Public Administration. 

Besides his hard work with the Village of Ridgewood, where he is currently assigned to the Detective Bureau, he also works with the Bergen County Prosecutors Office as a member of their Cyber Crimes Task Force.  In 2012, Sergeant Lembo had a case where he tracked an individual to Massachusetts who was distributing child pornography.  He was then able to identify a man in Florida that the accused was trading pictures with, and the man in Florida was molesting his own two-year-old daughter.  In November 2017, Sergeant Lembo was part of a team that was conducting a search warrant on a suspect in Paramus for possession of child pornography.  During the search it was determined that the suspect was molesting his ten-year-old stepdaughter and trading pictures of her online. 

Sergeant Lembo continues to work for cyber related cases for the Village of Ridgewood, and it is due to his investigative work; knowledge in the subject matter of current and trending crimes against children; education of children; law enforcement work, coupled with his strong commitment to leadership, the Ridgewood Police Department, and the Village of Ridgewood, that made him the best overall candidate in the State.  This scholarship is not only for law enforcement, but open to all law school and graduate students in the State of New Jersey, which makes it very prestigious.

Mayor Knudsen thanked Chief Luthcke and once again thanked the Police Department, Fire Department, and Emergency Responders who keep the Village residents safe every day.

6.COMMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC

Laurie Weber, 235 South Irving Street, congratulated Mayor Knudsen and Deputy Mayor Sedon and almost 3,000 Ridgewood voters who came out to support an honest campaign that showed integrity.  She thanked the Village Council for the proclamation about Pride Month as there has been a lot of talk about banner versus flags, Village Hall versus Memorial Park at Van Neste Square, and she has reserved speaking publicly because she felt intimidated that her opinion would be looked at as politically motivated or something other than genuine.  Ms. Weber stated that as the proud mother of a member of the LGBTQ community, she loved the Pride banner in Memorial Park at Van Neste Square, because it was large, at eye level, she could see it from one of her favorite restaurants, and she drove by it every time she went through town and that made her feel good.  Different people have different ideas about what they like and that’s part of inclusion and diversity, and to be able to say that without being judged for what she wants or why she wants it, she almost feels like she has to qualify her comments by saying that her daughter is gay, which is kind of sad. 

It is also very sad to have to justify an opinion and she believes that there are people in our community who are marginalized and discriminated against every day, but she thinks that the people who want to champion them are at the wrong meeting if they are at a Village Council meeting.  They should instead be at the Board of Education meeting.  As a parent, when her kids were in school, Ms. Weber railed against systemic bullying in the Village’s schools the entire time, with no results.  Parents that come forward are called trouble makers and are victimized, as their children were.  This is not just from child to child, there are teachers that do this as well.  When one principal was given the names of at least a half a dozen parents who came forward about a third grade teacher who was bullying children, that principal did not contact one single parent, and in fact, the principal worked on a committee to make that same third grade teacher “Teacher of the Year” that year.  Ms. Weber stated that she knows families who have moved out of this town to save their young children and sometimes she wishes that she had done so, because she also had that issue with one of her children.  Ms. Weber stated that she is still here and now that she knows there is a group of people in this town that are interested in saving those bullied in the LGBTQ community, she wants them to be mobilized.

Hailey Weber, 235 South Irving Street, stated she was speaking in regard to the controversy over the Pride flag.  Over the past year or so, she has seen discussions mainly by straight and non-transgender people about it being wrong to put it in one place or another, or doing a banner instead of a flag, all in the name of being good allies to the LGBTQ people of Ridgewood.  She is a lesbian who was born, raised and still lives here in Ridgewood, and thinks that all of that is condescending and pointless.  It doesn’t matter where it is flown, or if it is a banner or a flag.  The fact that Mayor Knudsen and the rest of the Ridgewood Village Council are showing public support to the Ridgewood LGBTQ community is a really amazing and wonderful thing.  Many towns do not do this.  Ms. Weber stated that seeing straight people bicker over where the flag should go completely misses the point of the flag.  It shows that they are either more committed to looking more progressive instead of truly doing things to help those of an oppressed minority group or that they are willing to use LGBTQ rights as a pawn to attack Councilmembers that they don’t like.  Either way, as an actual gay person, she finds it deeply patronizing.  She asked that in order to help, people should find what is important to LGBTQ residents of Ridgewood, instead of trying to talk for them, without knowing them.

Cathy Brienza, 364 Graydon Terrace, stated that she wished to congratulate Mayor Knudsen and Deputy Mayor Sedon on their re-election, and she wanted to thank the Village Council for the proclamation of Gay Pride Month and the proclamation of National Gun Violence Awareness Day.  She stated that she felt everyone needed to move forward and be happy and positive that our town is putting forward this public face.

Anne Loving, 342 South Irving Street, stated that she wished to congratulate Mayor Knudsen and Deputy Mayor Sedon, thanking them for running again and being willing to serve our town so well for another four years.  She knows it was a long campaign and there were obviously a few thousand residents that really appreciate it.  She spent the day at the New York Botanical Garden and she was thinking they might like to smell some flowers and gave Mayor Knudsen and Deputy Mayor Sedon each a small potted plant, as a token of appreciation from her and her husband.

Boyd Loving, 342 South Irving Street, stated that he would also like to congratulate Mayor Knudsen and Deputy Mayor Sedon for their election win.  He added that he wished to relay to the Village Council that he received an email today from an employee of the Village and a phone call from another employee of the Village who both told him about something that is going on at Graydon Pool that is very upsetting to him, which is that as a result of the retirement of Tim Cronin, the former Director of Parks and Recreation, there were some things missed with respect to getting the pool ready for this coming season, which may result in the pool not being able to be opened as scheduled.  Mr. Loving stated that he called Councilman Hache this afternoon as soon as he heard because Councilman Hache is the liaison to the Parks and Recreation Committee and Councilman Hache indicated that he had no knowledge that there were any problems that were taking place.  He also spoke to Mayor Knudsen by phone and she indicated that she had no knowledge of problems taking place at Graydon Pool. 

Mr. Loving stated that he wished to bring to the attention of the entire Village Council that two employees of the Village informed him that the pool manager is concerned as to whether the pool is going to be able to be opened on time.  He asked that the Village Council investigate this and determine whether or not anything could be done to ensure that the pool could be opened on time and to determine what went wrong, so that it doesn’t happen again.

Marcia Ringel, 250 Ferris Place, stated that she learned today about Graydon Pool from Mr. Loving and was very distressed as Graydon is the gem of Ridgewood, but has never been an easy child.  She added that Graydon requires excessive amounts of knowledge, love, and maintenance as well as making sure the NJDEP is happy.  If Graydon is left to deal with itself, it’s going to die in a short period of time.  If there is a bad season and things aren’t cleaned because the deepest part of the pool is left improperly dredged, the Village could lose the whole thing.  Ms. Ringel stated that a lot of people care a lot, but caring isn’t enough, it requires tremendous maintenance and if there is a new person in charge who wasn’t told what to do or isn’t doing it, then a different person needs to be in charge.  She added that it is about a week and a half before the pool should be opened, because the lifeguards start at the pool before it opens to the public.

Ms. Ringel added that since May has just been proclaimed Older Americans Month, she thinks it would be very caring of the senior population to make it clear what the Senior Freeze is, putting it on the website to explain that it’s a freeze on property tax and there is an application available on the State website which is very simple.  The applicants are limited to a maximum income for the last two years, must have lived in their home for a certain amount of time, and must apply by June 1, 2018.  She added that she didn’t know if the money that comes back to the applicant at the end of the year comes from the State or the Village, as she has never applied for it herself.  Residents assume that the income limit is much lower than the actual requirement, so quite a few residents may be eligible for it.  Ms. Ringel stated that as taxes go up, those eligible for the Senior Freeze do not have increased taxes.  This is one way to allow senior citizens to stay in the Village.

Russell Forenza, 228 Emmett Place, congratulated Mayor Knudsen and Deputy Mayor Sedon.  He stated that looking at the salary line of the 2018 Budget and the 2017 Budget, he compared the numbers and he divided it by the number of people and it was $98,884 on the 2018 Budget and $96,102 on the 2017 Budget per person under his analysis, which is a 2.89% increase.  He also did a comparison for Ridgewood Water, which was a 2% increase.  Mr. Forenza stated that when he looked at parking, the amount per person showed a 4.6% increase.  He stated that his question was why parking salaries were so high.

Mayor Knudsen stated that his question would be answered during the Public Hearing section of the Budget Hearing.  Mr. Forenza reiterated his findings, stating that there was a big discrepancy.

Mr. Forenza added that the amount for the Reserve for Uncollected Taxes is the exact same number for 2017 and 2018, which is a calculated number by formula and for that to come out exactly the same, for two years in a row, is difficult.  He stated that in 25 years of working in another municipality in their Finance Department, he never had it came out the same number.

Eugene Lorenzi, 202 South Van Dien Avenue, stated that the Police Department park near his house on Spring Avenue trying to catch the people who go through the stop light.  The Police Officers parked partially on his sidewalk, which broke it, and he had to pay $5,000 to replace it.  He added that he has two trees that are coming down, but the machines were on top of his sidewalk breaking it.  He stated that the Village Manager was there with the Police with a car on the sidewalk which broke two slabs, placing the stabilizers for the machines.  Mr. Lorenzi stated that he had to replace three slabs, however he was told not to worry as they would replace the sidewalk at the curb cuts for all four corners and they would talk about what they could do for him.  He stated that someone came to cut the tree and he asked them not to park on his sidewalk, as he had just replaced it. 

Mayor Knudsen stated that she and Mr. Lorenzi had spoken about the tree, but she was unaware of the sidewalk issues.  She added that this would be coordinated with the Village Manager, asking if she could keep the photos.  Mr. Lorenzi stated that he has more photos.  Mayor Knudsen stated that someone would be at his property within the week to take a look and figure this out.  She added that the Deputy Mayor went to his property as well, so Mayor Knudsen could show him what Mr. Lorenzi was talking about, since Deputy Mayor Sedon is the liaison to the Shade Tree Commission.

Ellie Gruber, 229 South Irving Street, congratulated Mayor Knudsen and Deputy Mayor Sedon.  She stated that this was the first time in two years that there have been comments about items, statements about proclamations, no nastiness and attacks, and thank goodness.  She stated that she was so relieved, because the Councilmembers have done a great job and the Village has been distracted by all of these personal attacks every single meeting.  The results show that people want to get back to discussing issues and this is a great meeting with people coming with their problems, which is what it is supposed to be.

7.PUBLIC HEARING – ORDINANCE #3643 – ESTABLISH A CAP BANK

Mayor Knudsen moved the Village Clerk read Ordinance 3643 by title on second reading and that the public hearing thereon be opened.  Councilman Voigt seconded the motion.

Roll Call Vote

AYES:   Councilmembers Hache, Sedon, Voigt, Walsh, and Mayor Knudsen
NAYS:   None
ABSENT: None
ABSTAIN:  None

The Village Clerk read Ordinance 3643 by title:

CALENDAR YEAR 2018 ORDINANCE TO EXCEED THE MUNICIPAL BUDGET APPROPRIATIONS LIMITS AND TO ESTABLISH A CAP BANK (N.J.S.A. 40A: 4-45.14).

Mayor Knudsen stated that the Public Hearing is now open.  There were no comments from the public, and Mayor Knudsen moved that that the Public Hearing on Ordinance 3643 be closed.  Councilman Voigt seconded the motion.

Roll Call Vote

AYES:   Councilmembers Hache, Sedon, Voigt, Walsh, and Mayor Knudsen
NAYS:   None
ABSENT: None
ABSTAIN:  None

Deputy Mayor Sedon moved that ordinance 3643 be adopted on second reading and final publication as required by law.  Councilman Voigt seconded the motion.

Roll Call Vote

AYES:   Councilmembers Hache, Sedon, Voigt, Walsh, and Mayor Knudsen
NAYS:   None
ABSENT: None
ABSTAIN:  None

8.2018 BUDGET HEARING

a.Overview of 2018 Budget

Robert Rooney, Chief Financial Officer, and Stephen Sanzari, Treasurer introduced themselves.  Ms. Mailander stated that the first slide showed a bar graph displaying municipal tax increases over the past twelve years, which have ranged from a low of 0% in 2013 and 2014 to a high of 7.73% increase in 2007.  Other than the 0% increases, this year with a 0.99% municipal tax increase, is the lowest municipal tax increase in the remaining ten years.  Ms. Mailander stated that the Operating and Capital Budgets were presented during the Budget Hearings for each Department.  The 2018 budget is a $50.1 million Operating Budget, a $7.2 million General Capital and a $4.9 million Water Utility budget.

Ms. Mailander stated that the 0.99% Municipal tax increase will result in a $62.00 annual increase in the municipal tax on an average assessed home value of $700,637.  The estimated outstanding bonds and notes as of December 31, 2018 were $35.7 million versus $39.8 million as of December 31, 2017.  She added that Revenues and Expenses are up approximately 1.9% from the prior year.

Ms. Mailander stated that in Operations, the Village has certain goals for 2018 including: establish shared services agreements with the Board of Education and Washington Township for vehicle maintenance and repair; establish credit card usage for Municipal Court and Health Department; document IT Policy and usage; participate in County program for the upgrade of traffic signals at intersections; upgrade HVAC and security system at Village Hall; resurface tennis courts; replace turf field at Maple Park; resurface approximately 7.5 miles of roads; enhance sound system in Court Room; update SCADA system at Water Pollution Control Facility; and introduce the Burbio App.

Ms. Mailander stated that in Public Safety, the Village goals for 2018 include: update the design and content of the OEM website; develop a School Resource Officer Program with the Board of Education; host E-Ticketing platform; replace Public Safety vehicles and equipment; and negotiate Police and Fire contracts.

Ms. Mailander stated that in the Parking Utility, the Village’s goal for 2018 is to solicit designs for a new parking garage.  She stated that the Village has arrived at the design that it wishes to pursue for the parking garage.

Ms. Mailander stated that in the Water Utility, the Village goals for 2018 include: enhance communications and public education on water conservation; encourage the other municipalities in the Ridgewood Water Utility to adopt a water conservation ordinance; continue compliance with all USEPA and NJDEP orders; restructure customer service and public relations; complete construction of Carr Treatment Facility; improve infrastructure; complete SUEZ water quality study, begin PVWC water quality study to assess feasibility for water purchases; create a coalition of municipal water utilities; hire full-time person to support Water IT system; and hire a Lobbyist to coordinate Village efforts to participate in legislative decisions affecting water quality.

Ms. Mailander stated that there were several challenges in the General Budget including: negotiations for new union contracts, adding that this year the PBA and the superior Officers of the Police Department are up for their contracts and in addition the Fire Department contract expires at the end of 2018, so these negotiations may begin this year as well; defense of tax appeals and appraisal costs; police overtime; stabilize infrastructure; and use of one time revenues.

Ms. Mailander stated that the challenges of the Water Utility include: compliance with USEPA and NJDEP water requirements; use of one-time revenues; and stabilizing infrastructure.

Ms. Mailander stated that the opportunities for the Village include: expansion of technology platform; new tax rateables due to development; availability of fund surpluses; shared services agreement for vehicle maintenance and repair; and enhanced website for resident usage.

Mr. Rooney stated that tonight he would ask the Council to consider a slight amendment to the Budget that was introduced as a result of a change in the minimum for the State Library Tax and also for a change related to Water for the PERS pension bill.  The change is minimal, in the General Fund it is about $161,000.  The revenues have been modified up to $161,000 and the amount to be raised for Public Library Tax has been reduced by $161,000, total amount to be raised is down $161,000 but the Municipal will stay the same.  The calculation for the average home at $700,637 times the rate will be roughly $4,225 which is the $62 increase Ms. Mailander was referring to initially.

Mr. Rooney stated that the predominant source of the Village revenues come from property taxes with over $32.8 million, next are local revenues of $4.9 million, and anticipated surplus of approximately $3.7 million.  He added that Village appropriations consist of the biggest expense, Public Safety, which is $12.7 million; Public Works at $12.9 million; and Insurance at $7.7 million.  Mr. Rooney displayed a dollar bill diagram which showed the allocation of the total tax dollar.  He stated the school tax increase was estimated at 2%, but the actual school tax increase is approximately 3.4%-3.5%.

b.Village Council’s Comments

Councilman Voigt thanked Ms. Mailander, Mr. Rooney and Mr. Sanzari for their work on the budget.  He questioned the resurfacing of the roads and when roads are prioritized if it was based on the age of the last time or was it based on pot holes.  Ms. Mailander stated that Mr. Rutishauser would comment on that.  She explained that the Engineering Division determines the resurfacing each year, and then sometimes they have to rearrange it, based on actual road conditions.  Mr. Rutishauser stated that his Division does an assessment on the roads throughout the year, but most critically after the winter, as they have found some roads don’t make it through the winter as well as they had hoped so they have to move up in the priority rating for paving.  In the past, roads have also been damaged due to heavy storms.  It is constantly in flux and they try to resurface the worst roads possible.  Mr. Rutishauser stated that roads that are submitted for NJDOT Municipal grants are fixed due to the application for the grant funding.  For example, the Village won some grant money for work on Hillcrest Road, and the grant money can only be used for improvements on Hillcrest Road.

Councilman Voigt questioned what the challenges were for Police overtime as he knows that the Budget had about $475,000, and he knows that has been worked down over time and asked whether Mr. Rooney was comfortable with that amount.  Mr. Rooney stated that he is comfortable with the lower number, as he thought the scheduling system which is new to the Police Department in the past year has shown drastic improvements for being able to identify the sources of time needed.  The fact that the Village is maintaining the head count with the Police minimizes the overtime as well, and the Police overtime is monitored every two weeks and if there are any changes it is addressed.

Deputy Mayor Sedon thanked everyone involved in putting the Budget together as it is a monumental task every single year.  He questioned if the County was coming to pave some of their roads in Ridgewood, as they have about 15 roads in the Village.  He wanted to know if Mr. Rutishauser was aware of what roads the County is resurfacing this year.  Mr. Rutishauser stated that the County has a massive paving program, with a lot of Capital Funding and they are already working in the Village, on East Saddle River Road and Paramus Road.  He added that there was a little section on Paramus Road just north of Linwood before it meets up with East Saddle River Road that was not done, and he thinks it is because that portion belongs to the NJDOT.  He spoke to a couple of County colleagues and they told him who to contact at NJDOT to get the small portion paved.  Resurfacing for East Ridgewood Avenue, which is a County road, where a lot of natural gas work was done last year, is to be restoration work in conjunction with the County and PSE&G.  The Village’s obligation will be to do the ADA ramps at the corner, which is a standard requirement.  This will also have to be done on Franklin Avenue, for the County to resurface as well.  Mr. Rutishauser added that Franklin Avenue also has to have further discussion with the County, as Franklin Avenue will have multi-family housing projects at the Ken Smith site and then also at 257 East Ridgewood Avenue.  Mr. Rutishauser stated that Lake Street, which is a small section off of Godwin that goes up to Goffle, was just resurfaced a year or two ago.

Councilwoman Walsh thanked those involved in preparing the Budget for the great job that they do.  She stated that as the liaison for the Citizens Safety Advisory Committee, whenever the Village paves and restripes it definitely makes the Village safer.  She stated that the average assessed value is lower than it was last year, adding that the Village was almost at its peak, and wondered what the backup was if values fall.  Mr. Rooney stated that the values actually went up as it went from $696,093 to $700,637.  Councilwoman Walsh stated that she might be using the MLS statistic rather than the Village statistic, as it had the value a bit higher.  She added that the Village is cascading up, and values are cyclical, so she was wondering what is the backup plan as there are a lot of houses on the market right now, with a couple in particular where the assessment is up, but they have dropped a million dollars in list price and she would imagine they would come for a tax appeal soon.  Mr. Rooney stated that the equalization ratio dropped half a percent or a percent down from where it was last year, but he also knows from his experience that it is still a sellers’ market, since the inventory is low.  Councilwoman Walsh stated that she disagreed.  Mr. Rooney stated that was what he was hearing from realtors, adding that the equalization ratio did drop slightly, and it does have its impact.  Councilwoman Walsh questioned what the ratio was right now, to which Mr. Rooney stated it was about 89.7%. 

Mr. Rooney stated that one of the indicators that they also keep an eye on are tax appeals and when there is a decline and more tax appeals come about, he works diligently with Mike Barker, Tax Assessor, just to make sure that there is nothing out there that may impact the Village down the road.  He added that his last conversation with Mr. Barker was that the Village is being pretty consistent with what it has had within the last couple of years, so there hasn’t been a real change.  Councilwoman Walsh questioned if that included stipulations as well.  Mr. Sanzari stated that the stipulations come as a result of the appeals.  Councilwoman Walsh questioned whether the Village was going to full appeal.  Mr. Sanzari stated that many are still going to the County board, but that the Village probably only has to litigate less than ten matters before the County board.

Councilman Hache stated that he had no questions but wanted to echo the comments of his Council colleagues, thanking all involved for running a professional operation.  He added that he knows it’s never easy, as there is the challenge of being capped in what can be raised in terms of taxation and then having that run up against the increase that is seen every year, as things don’t get cheaper.  He really appreciates the magic that goes into making this happen.  Councilman Hache questioned if Oak Street and Monroe could be prioritized for paving, due to their current status.

Ms. Mailander stated that she wanted to thank all of the Department Directors for their diligence in reducing their budgets so that the Village could get to this low tax increase.  Mayor Knudsen thanked those involved and stated that it was an incredible job to get this refined down to a place that everyone is comfortable with the levy and getting the initiatives done that the Village wants to undertake.

Mayor Knudsen asked whether the questions Mr. Forenza had asked during the Public Comment could be addressed.  Mr. Rooney stated regarding the Reserve for Uncollected Taxes, it is a calculation that is predicated upon the collection rate and also the anticipated tax levies for the year.  He added that the Village looks at the collection rate and it is very consistent, probably one of the highest in the State, and they get comfortable with what that reserve fund tax is.  Basically, what it says is that if taxes are not collected, the Village has that appropriation to balance the budget to make certain that it stays in its revenue stream.  Mr. Rooney added that the Village hasn’t had an issue with that since he has been here, and he knows that several years before that, there was no problem as well.  He added that they are confident with that number.  Although it is a calculation, he is comfortable with what has been put in the budget.

Mr. Rooney stated that regarding parking, allocations for various other departments get put into that salary.  There is a formula that is used and calculated every year to make certain that if there is any change or more time that is put into it, the time gets allocated back to his salary.

c.Public Hearing on 2018 Budget

Mayor Knudsen moved the Village Clerk read the title of the 2018 Budget.

Ms. Mailander stated that according to N.J.S.A. 40A:4-8 as amended by Public Law 2015 Chapter 95 Section 14 2015, it provides that the Budget may be read by title only at the time of the Public Hearing provided that at least one week prior to the hearing, a complete copy of the Budget has been made available for public inspection and has been made available to each person upon request.  These two conditions have been met.  Therefore, the Village Clerk read the 2018 Budget by title:

2018 MUNICIPAL BUDGET FOR THE VILLAGE OF RIDGEWOOD, COUNTY OF BERGEN, STATE OF NEW JERSEY.

Mayor Knudsen stated that the Public Hearing on the 2018 Budget was open.

Russell Forenza, 228 Emmett Place, stated that he heard the answer regarding reserve for uncollected taxes, adding that he found it odd that over two years it would be the exact same number to the exact same dollar even though that formula is done by the collection rate.  He questioned what the collection rate was currently in Ridgewood.  Mr. Rooney responded that he believed it was 94%.  Mr. Forenza questioned what the anticipated rate for this year was, to which Mr. Rooney responded that it was the same rate.  Mr. Forenza stated that usually when the dollars are done, that exact same number isn’t arrived at, but that number was being put in because they feel comfortable with that number, even though the formula may come out a little different.  Mr. Rooney agreed.

Mr. Forenza stated that regarding Parking, there are four employees in that Department and as he mentioned in the 2018 Parking Utility budget, the total came out to $164,266, and for 2017 it was $157,038.  He questioned taking those four employees alone, without the added extra that was mentioned, what that salary would come to.  Mr. Rooney stated that for 2017 there was only one full-time employee and then there were four part-time employees.  He added that in 2018 it was anticipated to hire one more full-time employee effective July 1.  The calculation does not reflect allocations that come back into the Parking Utility for other departments that provide services, so it is misleading from the way that Mr. Forenza is looking at it.  Salaries and wages include allocations from other Village Departments that are providing services to the Parking Utility.  Mr. Rooney explained that the salaries and wages are not salaries and wages for only the employees that are in the Parking Utility.  Mr. Forenza questioned whether that was also done for the Water Utility.  Mr. Rooney stated that the Water Utility receives services that Public Works provides to the Water Utility, which would be an allocation to Water for that service.  Mr. Rooney added that the State requires that it is put into the budget that way.  Mr. Forenza stated that he wasn’t familiar with a Parking Utility as part of a Budget.  Mr. Rooney added that the State reviews the Budget and completed a review of this one before the Village was able to adopt it.

Mr. Forenza questioned what the four Parking employees earn in total, as he wants to see how much money is going in and the difference between those numbers and the amount of money for other services.  Mr. Rooney stated that there were Police and IT Services, adding that the amount is adjusted every year, based upon actual, so they anticipate what that charge is going to be, and at the end of the year, they adjust it accordingly.  Mr. Forenza questioned what the actual number was last year.  Mr. Sanzari stated that last year’s allocation was about $540,000, and the balance would be the direct employees which would be Parking Enforcement Officers.  Mr. Forenza stated that the part time equivalents usually earn a lot less money than one full time equivalent.  Mr. Forenza ran through some approximate calculations on salaries.  Mr. Sanzari stated that there was direct expense for salaries and indirect.  Mr. Forenza questioned if they were counting insurance costs.  Mr. Sanzari agreed and stated that there was also general liability insurance, and utilities.  Mr. Forenza clarified the amounts and calculations and determined that if anything was remaining, it would get back into surplus.  He thanked Mr. Rooney and Mr. Sanzari for their explanations.

There were no additional comments from the public.  Mayor Knudsen moved the Public Hearing on the 2018 budget be closed.  Councilwoman Walsh seconded the motion.

Roll Call Vote

AYES:   Councilmembers Hache, Sedon, Voigt, Walsh, and Mayor Knudsen
NAYS:   None
ABSENT: None
ABSTAIN:  None

9.2018 BUDGET RESOLUTIONS

THE FOLLOWING RESOLUTIONS, NUMBERED 18-145 THROUGH 18-146, WERE ADOPTED BY A CONSENT AGENDA WITH ONE VOTE BY THE VILLAGE COUNCIL, AND WERE READ BY TITLE ONLY:

Councilman Voigt questioned Mr. Rooney as to whether there would be a Budget for the Water Department.  Mr. Rooney stated that there was a Budget in place for the Water Department and the Council was only required to vote on anything that raises taxes.

10.MANAGER’S REPORT

Ms. Mailander stated that as many people have mentioned, yesterday was the Municipal Election and she offered congratulations to Mayor Knudsen and Deputy Mayor Sedon on their success.  She also thanked all of the staff in the Village Clerk’s office who do a lot of work to set up for the election and then work on Election Day as well.

Ms. Mailander stated that she got a report that the test site has been checked out for the public Wi-Fi system.  It is anticipated that this system will be available in four locations: Village Hall, the Community Center, on the lower level of Village Hall, The Stable, and Graydon Pool by the beginning of June.  The system will operate similarly to a mall system, with residents signing in and having a password, and if using a different device at another time they would use the same sign in and password and the new device will be added to their account.

Ms. Mailander reminded residents that the Rabies Clinic and Micro Chipping Event which is free, will be held on Wednesday, May 16th at Graydon Pool parking lot on Northern Parkway from 5:30 P.M. to 6:30 P.M.

Ms. Mailander stated that The Women Gardeners’ Resource Room on the second floor of the Gate House at Habernickel Park is open to the public on a scheduled basis.  It provides a variety of garden books and magazines to plan your garden and members are available to answer garden related questions.  The Resource Room is open one Tuesday a month, with the next time being June 12th from 1:00 P.M. to 3:00 P.M.  Ms. Mailander stated that if a resident had questions about gardening to please go in and see the Women Gardners as they are more than willing to help and provide books and it is a wonderful resource for all residents.

Ms. Mailander stated that Graydon Pool memberships for the coming season could be purchased online through RidgewoodNJ.net/CommunityPass, or in person at the Pool Badge Office, Saturday May 12th or Saturday May 19th from 10:00 A.M. to noon.  When the pool opens on June 2nd, memberships can be purchased at the Badge Office throughout the summer season.

Mayor Knudsen stated that Ms. Ringel had brought up the Senior Freeze on the website and asked whether that link could be added.  She also questioned whether there was an issue right now where there was a concern that Graydon would be delayed in opening.  Ms. Mailander stated that she had not heard anything to that effect, but that she would check into it.  Mayor Knudsen stated that Ms. Bigos was shaking her head no, but asked whether that information could be available tomorrow.

11.COUNCIL REPORTS

Community Health Talk – Deputy Mayor Sedon stated that he wished to remind residents that on May 17th at 7:00 P.M. in the Village Hall Community Center, there will be a Community Health Talk with Dr. Thomas Perls, author of “Living to 100, Lessons in Maximizing Your Potential at Any Age.”  This event is sponsored by Age Friendly Ridgewood, Valley Health Systems, Van Dyk Healthcare, and Village Parks and Recreation.  Those who are interested can RSVP at www.AgeFriendlyRidgewood.org and for more information can call 201-632-1554, or email AgeFriendlyRidgewood@gmail.com.

Deputy Mayor Sedon stated that he would also like to thank Anne Loving because he really enjoys gardening and was happy he had flowers to plant.

Citizens Safety Advisory Committee – Councilwoman Walsh stated that there would be no Citizens Safety Advisory Committee meeting this month so that members could attend the Community Health Talk.

Ridgewood Arts Council – Councilwoman Walsh stated that on the evening of May 10th, as part of the Ridgewood Guild’s Film Festival, the Ridgewood Arts Council has Scott Rosenfelt, and that guests could arrive at 6:30 P.M. to walk the red carpet if they would like or show up at 7:30 P.M. to attend the event.  Tickets are $10, and the hope was that a lot of people would attend.  Mr. Rosenfelt is known for the films Home Alone and Mystic Pizza as well as other movies.  Tickets are available at The Stable, Daily Treat, and Mango Jam.

Ridgewood Guild – Councilman Hache stated that earlier this evening, he had the pleasure of being invited to do the greetings for the red carpet at the Ridgewood Guild’s Film Festival.  It was a wonderful event and he had a chance to address everyone in attendance.  He stated that it was reflective of the hard work that goes into the promotion of downtown, as The Guild does a lot to sponsor the arts and bring families into the downtown with wonderful activities.  These events also bring a lot of shoppers and diners, and these efforts go towards enhancing the Central Business District.

Councilman Hache stated that the theme for this year’s Film Festival was the impact of film, and we always think of film as entertainment, but it can be something that can stir our imagination and it can also raise our consciousness on important issues.

Mayor Knudsen added that at 8:00 P.M. this evening, the DVD from this year’s Jamboree was being shown.

Central Business District Advisory Committee – Councilman Hache stated that on May 10th, the CBD Advisory Committee would be meeting at 8:30 A.M.  Also, as a reminder, Monday, May 14th they would be hosting their second Central Business District Forum where they are inviting the business owners and workers to come in and share their experiences, challenges, and concerns regarding the Business District and figure out ways that they can work together to make things better.

Councilman Hache also congratulated the Mayor and Deputy Mayor on their re-election to the Village Council and he commended them for running a clean and honest campaign which is reflective of their values and integrity.  He added that he looks forward to continuing to work with them through the remainder of his term.

Bergen County Historic Preservation – Mayor Knudsen stated that on May 10th the Bergen County Historic Preservation would be presenting a Historic Preservation Leadership recognition posthumously to Isabella Altano, which is an incredible honor and she is a very much missed member of our community.

12.ORDINANCES – RIDGEWOOD WATER

a.PUBLIC HEARING - #3642 – Water Utility Capital Ordinance ($1,317,000)

Mayor Knudsen moved the Village Clerk read ordinance 3642 by title on second reading and that the Public Hearing thereon be opened.  Councilman Voigt seconded the motion.

Roll Call Vote

AYES:   Councilmembers Hache, Sedon, Voigt, Walsh, and Mayor Knudsen
NAYS:   None
ABSENT: None
ABSTAIN:  None

The Village Clerk read ordinance 3642 by title:

BOND ORDINANCE PROVIDING FOR VARIOUS WATER UTILITY IMPROVEMENTS IN AND BY THE VILLAGE OF RIDGEWOOD, IN THE COUTY OF BERGEN, NEW JERSEY, APPROPRIATING $1,317,000 THEREFOR AND AUTHORIZING THE ISSUANCE OF $1,317,000 BONDS OR NOTES OF THE VILLAGE TO FINANCE THE COST THEREOF.

Mayor Knudsen announced that the Public Hearing was open.  There were no comments from the public, and Mayor Knudsen moved that the Public Hearing be closed.  Councilman Voigt seconded the motion.

Roll Call Vote

AYES:   Councilmembers Hache, Sedon, Voigt, Walsh, and Mayor Knudsen
NAYS:   None
ABSENT: None
ABSTAIN:  None

Deputy Mayor Sedon moved that ordinance 3642 be adopted on second reading and final publication as required by law.  Councilman Voigt seconded the motion.

Roll Call Vote

AYES:   Councilmembers Hache, Sedon, Voigt, Walsh, and Mayor Knudsen
NAYS:   None
ABSENT: None
ABSTAIN:  None

13.RESOLUTIONS – RIDGEWOOD WATER

THE FOLLOWING RESOLUTIONS, NUMBERED 18-147 THROUGH 18-151, WERE ADOPTED BY A CONSENT AGENDA WITH ONE VOTE BY THE VILLAGE COUNCIL, AND WERE READ BY TITLE ONLY:

14.ORDINANCES

a.INTRODUCTION - #3639 – Amend Chapter 212-31 – Skate Park Rules and Regulations

Mayor Knudsen moved the first reading of ordinance 3639.  Councilman Voigt seconded the motion.

Roll Call Vote

AYES:   Councilmembers Hache, Sedon, Voigt, Walsh, and Mayor Knudsen
NAYS:   None
ABSENT: None
ABSTAIN:  None

The Village Clerk read ordinance 3639 by title:

AN ORDINANCE TO AMEND CHAPTER 212 OF THE CODE OF THE VILLAGE OF RIDGEWOOD, PARKS AND RECREATION AREAS AT ARTICLE X SECTION 212-31, “SKATE PARK USE RULES AND REGULATIONS.”

Councilwoman Walsh moved that ordinance 3639 be adopted on first reading and that June 13, 2018 be fixed as the date for the hearing thereon.  Councilman Voigt seconded the motion. 

Roll Call Vote

AYES:   Councilmembers Hache, Sedon, Voigt, Walsh, and Mayor Knudsen
NAYS:   None
ABSENT: None
ABSTAIN:  None

b.INTRODUCTION - #3646 – Establish a Valet Parking Area on North Broad Street

Mayor Knudsen moved the first reading of ordinance 3646.  Deputy Mayor Sedon seconded the motion.

Roll Call Vote

AYES:   Councilmembers Hache, Sedon, Voigt, Walsh, and Mayor Knudsen
NAYS:   None
ABSENT: None
ABSTAIN:  None

The Village Clerk read ordinance 3646 by title:

AN ORDINANCE TO AMEND CHAPTER 265 OF THE CODE OF THE VILLAGE OF RIDGEWOOD, VEHICLES AND TRAFFIC, AT SECTION 265-29, “PARKING METER ZONES DESIGNATED” AND AT SECTION 265-72, SCHEDULE XXII “LOADING ZONES.”

Councilman Voigt moved that ordinance 3646 be adopted on first reading and that June 13, 2018 be fixed as the date for the hearing thereon.  Deputy Mayor Sedon seconded the motion. 

Roll Call Vote

AYES:   Councilmembers Hache, Sedon, Voigt, Walsh, and Mayor Knudsen
NAYS:   None
ABSENT: None
ABSTAIN:  None

c.INTRODUCTION - #3647 – Amend Chapter 190 – Land Use and Development – Establish Regulations for Blade Signs in Central Business District

Mayor Knudsen moved the first reading of ordinance 3647.  Councilwoman Walsh seconded the motion.

Roll Call Vote

AYES:   Councilmembers Hache, Sedon, Voigt, Walsh, and Mayor Knudsen
NAYS:   None
ABSENT: None
ABSTAIN:  None

The Village Clerk read ordinance 3647 by title:

AN ORDINANCE TO AMEND CHAPTER 190 OF THE CODE OF THE VILLAGE OF RIDGEWOOD AT SECTION 190-3 ENTITLED “DEFINITIONS” TO ADD A NEW DEFINITION OF “BLADE SIGNS” AND AT SECTION 190-122 ENTITLED “SIGNS” TO CREATE A NEW SUBSECTION AT 190-122(H)(10) ESTABLISHING REGULATIONS FOR BLADE SIGNS.

Councilman Hache moved that ordinance 3647 be adopted on first reading and that June 13, 2018 be fixed as the date for the hearing thereon.  Councilwoman Walsh seconded the motion. 

Roll Call Vote

AYES:   Councilmembers Hache, Sedon, Voigt, Walsh, and Mayor Knudsen
NAYS:   None
ABSENT: None
ABSTAIN:  None

d.INTRODUCTION - #3648 – Amend Chapter 172-6 – Nuisances Enumerated – Bands and Music

Mayor Knudsen moved the first reading of ordinance 3648.  Councilman Hache seconded the motion.

Roll Call Vote

AYES:   Councilmembers Hache, Sedon, Voigt, Walsh, and Mayor Knudsen
NAYS:   None
ABSENT: None
ABSTAIN:  None

The Village Clerk read ordinance 3648 by title:

AN ORDINANCE TO AMEND CHAPTER 172-6 OF THE CODE OF THE VILLAGE OF RIDGEWOOD ENTITLED “NUISANCES ENUMERATED.”

Councilwoman Walsh moved that ordinance 3648 be adopted on first reading and that June 13, 2018 be fixed as the date for the hearing thereon.  Councilman Hache seconded the motion. 

Roll Call Vote

AYES:   Councilmembers Hache, Sedon, Voigt, Walsh, and Mayor Knudsen
NAYS:   None
ABSENT: None
ABSTAIN:  None

e.PUBLIC HEARING - #3644 – General Capital Ordinance ($4,948,000)

Mayor Knudsen moved the reading of ordinance 3644 by title on second reading and that the Public Hearing thereon be opened.  Councilman Voigt seconded the motion.

Roll Call Vote

AYES:   Councilmembers Hache, Sedon, Voigt, Walsh, and Mayor Knudsen
NAYS:   None
ABSENT: None
ABSTAIN:  None

The Village Clerk read ordinance 3644 by title:

 
BOND ORDINANCE PROVIDING FOR VARIOUS CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS IN AND BY THE VILLAGE OF RIDGEWOOD, IN THE COUNTY OF BERGEN, NEW JERSEY, APPROPRIATING $4,948,000 THEREFOR AND AUTHORIZING THE ISSUANCE OF $4,698,000 BONDS OR NOTES OF THE VILLAGE TO FINANCE PART OF THE COST THEREOF.

Mayor Knudsen announced that the Public Hearing was open.  There were no comments from the public, and Mayor Knudsen moved that the Public Hearing be closed.  Councilman Voigt seconded the motion.

Roll Call Vote

AYES:   Councilmembers Hache, Sedon, Voigt, Walsh, and Mayor Knudsen
NAYS:   None
ABSENT: None
ABSTAIN:  None

Deputy Mayor Sedon moved that ordinance 3644 be adopted on second reading and final publication as required by law.  Councilman Voigt seconded the motion.

Roll Call Vote

AYES:   Councilmembers Hache, Sedon, Voigt, Walsh, and Mayor Knudsen
NAYS:   None
ABSENT: None
ABSTAIN:  None

f.PUBLIC HEARING - #3645 – Increase Fees for Corrections to Vital Records

Mayor Knudsen moved the reading of ordinance 3645 by title on second reading and that the Public Hearing thereon be opened.  Councilwoman Walsh seconded the motion.

Roll Call Vote

AYES:   Councilmembers Hache, Sedon, Voigt, Walsh, and Mayor Knudsen
NAYS:   None
ABSENT: None
ABSTAIN:  None

The Village Clerk read ordinance 3645 by title:

AN ORDINANCE TO AMEND CHAPTER 145-4 OF THE CODE OF THE VILLAGE OF RIDGEWOOD ENTITLED “DEPARTMENTAL FEES” AND CHAPTER 145-5 OF THE CODE OF THE VILLAGE OF RIDGEWOOD ENTITLED “GENERAL FEES” TO AMEND THE FEES CHARGED BY THE HEALTH DEPARTMENT.

Mayor Knudsen announced that the Public Hearing was open.  There were no comments from the public, and Mayor Knudsen moved that the Public Hearing be closed.  Councilwoman Walsh seconded the motion.

Roll Call Vote

AYES:   Councilmembers Hache, Sedon, Voigt, Walsh, and Mayor Knudsen
NAYS:   None
ABSENT: None
ABSTAIN:  None

Councilman Voigt moved that Ordinance 3645 be adopted on second reading and final publication as required by law.  Councilwoman Walsh seconded the motion.

Roll Call Vote

AYES:   Councilmembers Hache, Sedon, Voigt, Walsh, and Mayor Knudsen
NAYS:   None
ABSENT: None
ABSTAIN:  None

15.RESOLUTIONS

THE FOLLOWING RESOLUTIONS, NUMBERED 18-152 THROUGH 18-164, WERE ADOPTED BY A CONSENT AGENDA WITH ONE VOTE BY THE VILLAGE COUNCIL, AND WERE READ BY TITLE ONLY:

16.COMMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC

Boyd Loving, 342 South Irving Street, stated that ordinance 3646 was introduced tonight despite the fact that he believed that three of the Councilmembers had concerns or questions about that and he was wondering if that discussion was targeted for May 23rd or the first meeting in June.  Ms. Mailander stated that it would be May 23rd. Mr. Loving clarified that on May 23rd the questions that the Council all had would be ironed out and he was assuming that if they were not ironed out satisfactorily he assumed that it would not continue.  Mayor Knudsen stated he was correct.

There were no additional public comments.

17.ADJOURNMENT

There being no further business to come before the Village Council, on a motion by Deputy Mayor Sedon, seconded by Councilwoman Walsh, and carried unanimously by voice vote, the Village Council’s Regular Public Meeting was adjourned at 9:45 P.M.

 

 

 

______________________________
              Susan Knudsen                        
Mayor    

 

 

______________________________
 Heather A. Mailander
      Village Manager/Village Clerk

 

A SPECIAL PUBLIC BUDGET MEETING OF THE VILLAGE COUNCIL OF THE VILLAGE OF RIDGEWOOD HELD IN THE SYDNEY V. STOLDT, JR. COURT ROOM OF THE RIDGEWOOD VILLAGE HALL, 131 NORTH MAPLE AVENUE, RIDGEWOOD, NEW JERSEY ON MARCH 2, 2018 AT 5:30 P.M.

1. CALL TO ORDER – OPEN PUBLIC MEETINGS ACT – ROLL CALL – FLAG SALUTE
Mayor Knudsen called the meeting to order at 5:30 P.M. and read the Statement of Compliance with the Open Public Meetings Act.  At roll call, the following were present:  Councilmembers Hache, Sedon, Voigt, Walsh and Mayor Knudsen.  Also present were Heather Mailander, Village Manager/Village Clerk; Stephen Sanzari, Treasurer; and Robert Rooney, Village Chief Financial Officer (CFO). 
Mayor Knudsen led those in attendance in the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag and asked for a moment of silence in honor of the American men and women serving in our Armed Forces, as well as those serving as first responders.

2. COMMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC
Mayor Knudsen asked if there were any comments or questions from the public.  Cynthia Halaby, 374 Evergreen Place, stressed the importance of close communication between the Village and volunteer groups.  Ms. Halaby said that over the past several years, she has volunteered much of her time to help improve the appearance of the green areas of the Central Business District (CBD) as a member of the Women Gardeners of Ridgewood.  They have planted and maintained the flower beds at Memorial Park at Van Neste Square along Ridgewood Avenue, spending over $500 for plantings and have put in innumerable hours of hard work. 
Ms. Halaby recalled that six years ago, she and Maribeth Lane founded the Conservancy for Ridgewood Public Lands.  They both spent a considerable amount of time and effort raising over $46,000 from the community, which has been used on all of their town projects.  Plantings were done at the train station on North Broad Street, which was the planting of 21,000 daffodils; the removal of invasive species at Twinney Pond Park; and work at the Children’s Sensory Garden at The Stable.  When the last project is complete, it will be handed over to the Village.  Ms. Halaby thanked the Parks and Recreation Department for their help and support on these projects, and she urged Councilmembers to be generous with the Parks and Recreation Department budget as there are many pocket gardens in the CBD area, that need planting and maintenance.  There is a barren spot around the Veteran’s Memorial at Memorial Park at Van Neste Square that is in critical need of planting and Ms. Halaby urged Village Councilmembers to add funds to address these areas. 
Andrew Lowry, 441 Hawthorne Place, stated he is with the Shade Tree Commission.  He thanked the Village Council for the funding this group received last year, which allowed for the planting of over two hundred trees in the Village.  Four new trees were planted in new tree wells in the CBD and these trees are being observed to determine how they thrive in these tree wells.  Mr. Lowry stated that the Commission has learned that they need to have the right tree in the right soil, and there has to be adequate water available for the tree roots.  In addition, the trees have to be pruned and protected from people, cars and animals. The Shade Tree Commission will not plant anymore trees in the CBD until they are more certain of what is likely to work.  Mr. Lowry said that they continue to make progress with the number of tree plantings, now equaling the number of tree removals, but support for the program is still needed.
Mayor Knudsen commended all of the volunteers from the Conservancy for Ridgewood Public Lands, the Shade Tree Commission and the Women Gardeners of Ridgewood for all their hard work and efforts, as they benefit everyone in the Village.
There were no further comments from the public. 

3. INTRODUCTION OF 2018 BUDGET PROCESS – VILLAGE MANAGER AND CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER
Heather Mailander, Village Manager/Village Clerk, announced that this is the first of four Budget Meetings, with the three remaining meetings scheduled for March 9, March 16 and March 21 beginning at 5:30 in the Sydney V. Stoldt, Jr. Court Room.  Each of the Department Directors is present this evening to present their operating and capital budgets. 
Ms. Mailander introduced Robert Rooney, Village CFO, who said that the 2018 budget process began in July 2017.  Department Directors were asked to begin making presentations of their budget requests, to be submitted by September 30th.  After these submissions, Mr. Rooney and Stephen Sanzari, Village Treasurer, evaluated and fine-tuned the budget requests and scheduled meetings in October with each Department Director. Following the review process with Department Directors, they met with Ms. Mailander, and subsequently met with the Department Directors again to raise questions on spending differences between 2017 and 2018.  All sides ultimately met again in January and February to review any questionable items.  Mr. Rooney said that tonight, the Department Directors will make their presentations relative to what they need to operate their various departments, with the goal of moving forward from there.

4.     DISCUSSION ITEMS
 a. Review of Departmental Budgets and Capital Budgets
1.) Building Department
Thomas Yotka, Director of the Building Department, reported that, in 2017, his department conducted over 4,000 plan reviews; performed 7,200 inspections; issued 2,300 permits; and conducted over 300 code enforcement inspections.  He anticipates even more activity in 2018 due to the proposed plan for the Chestnut Village multi-family development as well as other multi-family developments planned for later this year.  Mr. Yotka has just been informed of a significant change to operations from the Department of Community Affairs.  After several hearings, the Department of Community Affairs will be modifying what is known as “ordinary maintenance and minor work”.  This change means that homeowners will not be required to obtain a permit for siding and roofing work as well as for other things which used to require permits.  This action goes into effect on Monday, March 5th and could have a negative financial impact on the Building Department.
Mr. Yotka stated that two members of the department attended the Building Safety Conference in Atlantic City in 2017, in order to maintain their licenses through continuing education.  Other members of the department amassed over 75 hours of continuing education throughout the year.  Mr. Yotka reported that the Building Department partnered with the Water Department, to assist them with the enforcement of water usage. 
Mr. Yotka stated that employee levels remained constant in 2017.  His department issued 59 outdoor dining permits and ten “A-frame” sign permits, which require constant verified compliance with the ordinances.  During leaf season, over 310 summonses were issued for violations of the leaf ordinance; however, this is a significant decrease from the previous two years. 
Mr. Yotka stated that in order to anticipate the surge in operations in 2018, the Building Department has consolidated inspections for smaller projects by allowing inspectors to make an “in the field” call to accommodate both insulation and framing inspections at the same time.  He noted that the SDL software program was initiated in 2017, and over 376 inspections requests were logged through this service.  This service will continue to be promoted in 2018.  Mr. Yotka spoke about a partnership with “George to the Rescue” a TV program featuring a home renovation project for a local resident.  He said it was fulfilling to participate in this project and see it take shape.
Mr. Yotka referred to the Professional Services Budget, which has decreased significantly because the maintenance of the software program has been transferred to the I.T. Department.  There is an increase in materials and supplies and he noted that 2018 is a New Jersey Code Adoption Cycle, which means that three complete sets of all the new codes and standards will have to be purchased.  The attendance of three staff members at the Building Safety Conference could be achieved with the amount of funding that has been proposed. 
Mr. Yotka concluded by stating that costs have been stable in his department, which continues to function at peak efficiency.  There is a possible increase in salaries and wages as they are considering a part time inspector to assist with inspections in the anticipated multi-family projects.  There is also an allowance for a part time electrical inspector who will be not be added to the staff, but will assist in the absence of the electrical inspectors.  There is an amount budgeted to cover the cost of a potential intern, who would assist with the goal of a more efficient records management and documentation system. 
2.) Zoning Department
Mr. Yotka stated that the Board of Adjustment had a busy 2017, hearing 62 and granting 51 variances.  These variances develop into more work for the Building Department.  There was a decrease in the operating expenses for the Board of Adjustment for professional services, specifically the Board Attorney.  Other items listed are necessary to maintain the operation of the Board of Adjustment including $2,500 for conferences and meetings, coupled with a separate line item for association membership. 
Councilman Voigt questioned the reasons why the budgeted amount for salaries and wages for part time employees in the Building Department had increased 10 times.  Mr. Yotka explained that in addition to the four part time employees currently in the department, the three additional employees would include the part time building inspector, the substitute electrical inspector and the intern.  These three people would cost the department an additional $78,000 and he will get more information on this for the next meeting.  Councilman Voigt questioned a large salary increase for one individual of $30,000 from the prior year and Mr. Yotka said that this employee is split between two departments.  Regarding the Board of Adjustment, Councilman Voigt asked why the salary of one individual has increased significantly.  Mr. Yotka said this salary increase was due to step increases and longevity increases. 
Councilman Sedon asked about code enforcement overall and Mr. Yotka said it has been quite successful.  There were some misunderstandings surrounding code enforcement, but with constant monitoring over time, there is an improvement in overall compliance.  The Code Enforcement Officer works twenty-three to twenty-five hours per week, which seems to be sufficient. 
Councilwoman Walsh expressed concern over the new ruling exempting the requirement for roof permits.  Mr. Yotka said that permits would still be needed for commercial roofing and he estimates the loss of about 225 roofing permits in 2018, or approximately $45,000 in permit fees because of the elimination of roofing and siding permits.  Councilwoman Walsh stated that this could have consequences relative to insurance and Ms. Mailander said they should consult Matt Rogers, Village Attorney, on this topic.  Mr. Yotka stated that home improvement contractors are required to be registered with the State and carry their own insurance.  The homeowners’ insurance policy should cover these workers.  He will put out some information to the residents as soon as possible. 
Councilwoman Walsh asked if the Water Department was being charged for any assistance given by the Building Department.  Mr. Yotka said that the Water Department is not charged and any assistance is being handled under the auspices of Code Enforcement.  Councilwoman Walsh referred to the 310 leaf summonses that were issued, and asked what number are handled through the Municipal Court system.  Mr. Yotka said he is not aware of the number of man hours devoted to leaf summonses and they have eliminated court appearances for these fines.  Councilwoman Walsh asked for an explanation of the new Code Standards and Mr. Yotka said that three sets of the new Building and Residential Code Standards are purchased at a significant cost of approximately $10,000, whether purchased in hard cover or on-line. 
Councilman Sedon questioned the amount of revenue collected through permits for 2017, and Mr. Yotka replied that $1.2 million was received in revenue. 
Councilman Hache spoke about the modifications to the Code by the Department of Community Affairs and asked if there were any other changes anticipated.  Mr. Yotka said that he expects portions of the burglar alarm and security system permits to disappear, along with permits for irrigation and sprinkler systems.  These coupled with the elimination of the roofing and siding permits, amount to 365 permits that were issued in 2017, or approximately $50,000 in permitting fees. 
Mayor Knudsen stated that the Village Council was aware of the potential elimination of the roofing and siding permits.  Mr. Yotka said that the Department of Community Affairs held many hearings on this subject and the Building Department had no idea that this decision was coming so quickly, with no advance notice or lead time for budget planning purposes.  Mayor Knudsen asked for Mr. Yotka’s opinion on these changes and he commented that most of his colleagues would agree that the changes are probably not in the best interests of any of the municipalities in the State. 
Mayor Knudsen thanked Mr. Yotka for his involvement with the family involved with the “George to the Rescue” TV show.  She pointed out that a member of this family has autism related issues, and this will allow him to have therapy at home.
3.) M.I.S./I.T.
Dylan Hansen, Director of M.I.S./I.T., said that his department will work with the Police Department relative to an I.T. project in 2018.  These projects will deploy E-ticket software, which is expected to be a form of revenue stream for I.T.  The fiber loop network has been expanded, resulting in significant savings for infrastructure costs and telecom costs.  He stated that Verizon is eliminating analog phone lines and he has been working to switch all lines to digital lines; however, not all lines are accessible.  Verizon has given a deadline of August of 2018, and the Village is looking at alternative methods because copper lines will be disconnected. 
Mr. Hansen reported on continued work with the SDL software package now being used by more Departments in the Village.  In addition to use by the Building Department, the Health Department is also using the SDL system for Dog and Cat Licensing.  The goal is to expand the use to the Village Clerk’s Office and to the Engineering Office this year and there is money in the budget to cover the cost of staff training by the vendor.  He will be working on additional file structure for access by employees in order to simplify data and help with OPRA requests.  Mr. Hansen referred to the Laserfiche project, which was approved a month ago and will be installed shortly.  Additional funding has been budgeted in case the training time is exceeded. 
Mr. Hansen spoke about the maintenance of other equipment, which covers Cisco equipment, firewall and access points throughout the Village.  This is the maintenance contract for updates and modifications issues.  He said that $5,000 was allocated for the phone system last year because he thought the system would have to be replaced.  This is because Toshiba notified him that they would no longer be making phone systems; however, it turns out that Toshiba was purchased by another company who will continue to support this existing system.  This $5,000 will now be used to tie the phone systems together and improve communications between departments. 
The tracking support involves help desk tickets that are submitted and evaluated.  This system is also used to track inventory, which aids the Finance Department relative to all computer equipment within the Village, as well as its location on an inventory data base.  Municipality in a Box is the renewal of a software program by Special Data Logic which has increased in price from $29,000 in 2017, to $34,000 this year.  There are more modules available to enhance use within the Village, along with funding for some training on the system.  Laserfiche for data archiving was mentioned earlier and there is an additional $5,000 allocated for the training of staff members if necessary. 
Mr. Hansen referred to the anticipated upgrades to the Windows 10 Operating System for computers presently using the Windows 7 operating system.  This upgrade requires the purchase of licenses at a State contract price, which is reasonable.  There is funding provided for spare parts, tools, ties, and wiring through local vendors, which is a time saver and more convenient.  Also included in the budget is the cost to provide business cards and stationary for Mr. Hansen’s assistant, as well as office supplies such as toner, CDs, memory sticks and canned air among other miscellaneous items. 
Mr. Hansen spoke about training that is necessary for all I.T. staff throughout the Tri-State area, which includes meetings, blogs and questions and answers.  There is money included for staff training and Mr. Hansen hopes to send his assistant to several website and networking courses at Bergen Community College and Rutgers, in addition to on-line courses.  He has included $10,000 to cover SDL software training for the Health Department, Engineering Department and the Village Clerk’s Office. 
Mr. Hansen’s budget includes courses relative NJLM training in Atlantic City as well as training at the Police Convention.  He proposes buying monitoring mice for the Court Room dais, and a desk, chair and filing cabinet for his assistant.  He hopes to purchase some equipment for the TV room, including cabinets to improve the appearance and tidy up the area. 
Mr. Hansen had budgeted $70,000 for computer servers and printer upgrades along with network switches for fiber connections.  He is recommending an archive server because of the amount of data that has been accumulated, which will interface with the laser fiche system.  He proposes the purchase of a file server to help free up data space.  Public Wi-Fi was recently approved and access points need to be paid for, as well as the purchase of an appliance to monitor the public Wi-Fi program.  A hard drive backup server is recommended to replace the tape and hard drive currently in use to back up Police, Fire and Village Hall data daily.  Mr. Hansen said that the Finance Department’s scanning equipment, for tax receipts in the Tax Collector’s Office, has not been replaced in the past thirteen years.  Mr. Rooney agreed that this equipment needs updating and he is recommending that some spare equipment should be stored in the office as well.  There are two main core switches at Village Hall and Mr. Hansen suggested adding more cards, along with upgrading the existing platform to a 10 gig data rate with expanded band width rate.  Mr. Hansen stated that they will be replacing the anti-virus system and using a virtual server, which will allow department Directors to remotely access their desk top computer in locations other than Village Hall. 
Ms. Mailander explained the capital process, stating that the Department Directors present their capital requests to Mr. Rooney and these requests are subsequently reviewed and discussed with them by Mr. Rooney and Mr. Sanzari.  The budget requests are then reduced and another meeting takes place with all of the Department Directors who again present their requests, followed by another give and take or barter type session amongst the Department Directors.  Everything that is recommended is what is left after this barter session and there is an indication of what items the department Directors are willing to wait for until the following year. 
Mr. Hansen mentioned his request to upgrade the Court Room for the audio in the amount of $50,000.  The request to upgrade the Village website has been withdrawn. 
Councilman Hache asked if there is any interaction between departments relative to consulting with the I.T. Department to see how existing systems could be improved.  Mr. Hansen said that various vendors will promote their services to different departments and in some cases, Department Directors will present the proposal to him to get his feedback before meeting with the vendor. 
Councilman Hache asked how vulnerable the Village is to a hacking incident.  Mr. Hansen explained that the current auditing company will be conducting a penetration test in the near future, which will test the security of the computer system and its ability to combat certain types of hacking.  The Village Auditors will issue a report on areas of concern.  He noted that the system has responded correctly to any breech type situations that have occurred since he has been with the Village, and no data has been lost.  Mr. Hansen doesn’t feel that any breech is likely due to the layers of protection and infrastructure that are in place.
Councilwoman Walsh asked about the time requirements for storage of data.  Mr. Hansen explained that the Laserfiche program will be able to upload documents, so that most paper documents can be destroyed.  Documents in the system will be tagged and the retention schedule will be programed into the software.  He pointed out that they need to retain things like flood maps, because they are useful for comparison purposes.  Some emails have to be retained for five years and others for seven and there is an archival system in place for that purpose.  
Councilwoman Walsh spoke about the elimination of analog copper lines and Mr. Hansen said that several years ago, part of the Village was moved to Light Path.  There is one flat rate for this system, which includes long distance telephone charges and internet.  The Police Department will be moved onto this service next, eventually followed by the satellite offices.  Upon questioning about the Court Room, Mr. Hansen said he would like to put some funding in the budget to begin some upgrading that  might have to be done in three phases.
Councilman Sedon couldn’t understand why money for the upgrade to the Village website is not included in this budget.  The website is difficult to navigate for residents of the Village and almost impossible for newcomers to the Village.  He said that making the website user friendly is a definite priority.  Ms. Mailander stated that Mr. Hansen is working on the website and she hopes that during March he can submit his recommendations to the Mayor and Councilmembers for their input.  She said that it is ultimately up to the Council to decide whether or not they want to include additional funding to improve the website.  Mr. Hansen stated he has the pricing for the package that other municipalities have used, which is based on population.  His assistant is familiar with this type of work and he would reach out to see if there are any residents who would be interested in developing this system with him.  Mayor Knudsen stated that when this had been discussed previously several residents, who are web designers indicated they would be interested in forming an ad hoc committee.  
Councilman Voigt asked if the Laserfiche program is labor intensive.  Mr. Hansen said that initially, the program requires a certain amount of document input work, which he hopes can be done by interns.  The system will remove some of the workload moving forward, because it will track the retention schedule and make information readily available by inputting key words.  Initially, some time will have to be spent on the implementation of the system, and Ms. Mailander said that staff within the Village will be doing the input work as quickly as possible from January forward, followed by interns in the summer. 
Upon questioning by Mayor Knudsen, Mr. Hansen explained that the backup server and archive server are in two different formats and the two cannot be combined.  This is useful, because it prevents files and information from being lost or destroyed.  Ms. Mailander pointed out that there are documents such as minutes and information on buildings that have to be kept on paper forever or for the life of the building per State statute, even though this information will be scanned.
4.) PARKS AND RECREATION DEPARTMENT
5.) GRAYDON POOL
Nancy Bigos, Director of the Department of Parks and Recreation, thanked everyone for their support, guidance and financial support of the Parks and Recreation Department.  The Department is transitioning due to the retirement of Tim Cronin, who was the Director for over thirty years.  Several people have been hired in management positions, others have been promoted and the staff has been reorganized.  Ms. Bigos said that these changes are making a difference.  They are a unified team and she thanked everyone for their level of professionalism.  The Village is one of the leaders in the State for offering new and innovative programs and they recently won the award for Excellence in Programing this year in the Wellness Category for their partnership with HealthBarn U.S.A.  The Village had previously won the Award for Excellence in Design for the design and use of The Stable as a Community Center. 
Ms. Bigos shared some of the goals from 2017, stating that over 100 programs were offered to the community.  They strive to make the programs profitable, to ease the burden on the taxpayer while being enjoyable at the same time.  They have worked to enhance their social media exposure through the department’s Facebook page, highlighting special events and information that is shared with the schools on the individual school websites.
Ms. Bigos reported that there has been an increase in programs, facilities, park use and building use and they are focusing on revamping their standards and the permit system.  The rules, regulations and the permit system have been updated, as has the fee system for the Community Center, the Municipal Parks and the Graydon Pool facility.  Ms. Bigos is working on social technology in order to bring Wi-Fi into the municipal parks. 
Ms. Bigos stressed the importance of offering the opportunity for elder residents to “age in place” and they hope to meet the needs of senior citizens in a variety of ways, through transportation as well as health and wellness programs.  They are working to encourage seniors to remain in the Village via the Community Center.  Ms. Bigos stated that they continue to work on special needs inclusion in the Village and the Village is part of the Access for All Community.  The Village offers an Aquatics Learn to Swim Program geared towards those with special needs and they began both an Equestrian and an Artistically Abled Art Program last year, primarily for those that are autistic.  Employees acting as shadow counselors and are available during the Day Camp Program, for those who need them. 
Ms. Bigos reported on the work being done relative to development of park properties and facilities.  Regarding the capital budget, she said there are a number of items needing serious attention and she noted that safety is always the first priority.  
Ms. Bigos outlined departmental goals for 2018, and she reiterated the need for public Wi-Fi at Graydon Pool and Memorial Park at Van Neste Square.  At Graydon Pool, they are looking specifically at Wi-Fi for the kiddie area, the patio area and the adult area near the high dive to provide this service.  This would also make the sharing of information and communications with the Parks and Recreation Office easier for staff members.  Ms. Bigos said that they need to consider the antiquated chlorine system being used at Graydon Pool, which needs upgrading due to the system failure at the end of the season last year.  The Village was able to borrow an automated pump from another community that made a difference in water quality.  Ms. Bigos mentioned the importance of the ability to connect the southern spillway to the sanitary sewer, which seems to be a cash cow for the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP).  It would be beneficial for the Village to bypass the spillways and empty the water directly into the sanitary sewer in order to avoid fines from the State.  
Ms. Bigos said the resurfacing of the tennis courts has been in the capital budget request for the past five years.  At the Parks and Recreation Department office, she noted that the main office has been reorganized and the inner office has been restructured to improve contact with the residents.  She hopes that special accommodations can be further developed for individuals with special needs. 
Ms. Bigos stated that with the help of the Shade Tree Commission and the Engineering staff, they hope to continue the philosophy of tree replacement and the streetscape concept.  She began talking about the program eight years ago and she is happy to see that the program has progressed as far as it has and it is making a difference.  Ms. Bigos recognized that the Community Center Advisory Board, which continues to work with the “aging in place” population through the upgrade of programs and she recognized the donations and gifts ranging from furniture to monetary gifts that have recently been received and are greatly appreciated.  Ms. Bigos said that the operating budget remains flat for Parks, Recreation, Graydon Pool, the Community Center, Project Pride and the Kasschau Shell.  
Councilman Hache asked if there were any challenges relative to the upgrade of operations to Graydon Pool.  Ms. Bigos said that Graydon Pool is the gem of the community and the staff has been trained to be most professional.  She hopes to maintain the integrity of this facility and they have worked hard to make it barrier free and accessible to all ages.  The next challenge is the water quality and she is confident that the new Parks Manager will address this issue. 
Councilwoman Walsh commented that the programs offered by the Parks and Recreation Department offer something for all ages.  She said the facilities and variety of programs offered need to be better promoted to every resident in the Village.  Councilwoman Walsh said she is very pleased overall with the work done by the Parks and Recreation Department.
Councilman Sedon noted that salaries and wages in the Parks Department increased, but decreased in Recreation Department.  He guessed that this is why the budget is flat and Ms. Bigos confirmed that his understanding was correct.
Councilman Voigt questioned why the Board of Education maintenance isn’t in the Board of Education budget.  Ms. Bigos explained that this item covers three employees that would be hired to do maintenance of Board of Education fields and is a wash.  Councilman Voigt noted full time wages have gone up by 29%.  Ms. Bigos said that this is due to steps and longevity and will be explained in more detail later.  Councilman Voigt said that there is a considerable amount of money budgeted for tree related items and he asked for some background.  He questioned the Crest Road tree trimming and Ms. Mailander said this was a proposal for pruning and shaping trees at The View on Crest Road, and would involve the hiring of an outside contractor for one day’s work that would include the Police Department and Parks Department employees. 
Daniel Cramblitt, Manager of Parks and Grounds, spoke about the crane service and he noted that the Village’s tree canopy is aging quickly and is quite massive, which is the reason for the cost of dumping fees.  This type of tree removal can cost as much as $1,200 per day and approximately 30 trees are removed per month in addition to dumping fees.  He is looking into alternatives to reduce the cost such as doing more of the work in-house; recycling and mulching the logs; and offering free firewood to residents to reduce the amount of wood being transported out of the Village. 
Mayor Knudsen thanked the staff at the Parks and Recreation Department, in particular Nancy Bigos and Daniel Cramblitt.  She asked how they would determine when a park becomes stressed for the immediate neighborhood, since this is a consideration when scheduling various activities.  Ms. Bigos stated that there is a concern that all of the parks in the Village are over utilized and the community’s needs are outgrowing the availability of park properties and amenities.  Village residents want to take advantage of the outdoors.  Youth sports are important and Ms. Bigos said it is impossible to fit another person on Veteran’s Field and it is the same story at Graydon Pool, Leuning Park and Habernickel Park.  There is also a need to balance passive and active recreational activities.
Mayor Knudsen referred to the resurfacing of the tennis courts and she asked for the number of tennis badges sold last year.  Ms. Bigos said there has been a resurgence in the popularity of tennis and she stated that pickleball is becoming popular as the new racket sport.  She said there was approximately $4,000 in revenue for tennis badges last year, but she will get the actual number for the next meeting.  She said she sends staff members to the tennis courts periodically to check to make sure everyone on the courts has a valid badge.  If the player doesn’t have a badge, they are discretely handed a fee schedule and are encouraged to join.  Mayor Knudsen mentioned that the Village may be losing revenue if the courts are not frequently checked to ensure that everyone has purchased a badge.  Ms. Bigos said that the annual price for a badge is $35 for residents and $45 for non-residents and they could try adding more security, along with publicizing information about the tennis courts. 
Ms. Bigos went onto the capital budget and said that the infrastructure within the parks system is deteriorating.  Facilities are in serious need of upgrading, along with operations and maintenance efforts, to enhance the municipal parks and recreation system.  The items on the capital budget list are not new and have been on the list for some time; however, the problems are urgent in order for the Village to avoid liability.  Ms. Bigos reiterated that topping the list are improvements to the pool chlorination system and increased circulation of the water so that water will not overwhelm the spillways and empty into the Ho-Ho-Kus Brook.  There is a request for equipment at Graydon Pool, including a new freezer at the concession stand and replacement grills for those that have rotted through.  Replacement of the surface of Maple Park turf is another priority at $450,000; however, they have applied for a grant from Bergen County Open Space for $100,000, as well as a request for $1,000 from the Ridgewood Open Space Fund.  There is a request for the remaining $250,000 to come from the Village.  G Max testing on the viability of this field failed last April and even though some mediation work was done, there was concern voiced about this material at a recent Parks and Recreation Committee Meeting from the Board of Education; the President of the Ridgewood Lacrosse Association; as well as many residents.  The High School has removed their freshman Lacrosse team from the Maple Park turf field and the Ridgewood Lacrosse Association has also relocated their games.  Ms. Bigos said the situation is dire and asked for the Village Council’s consideration.
Mr. Cramblitt referred to the request for a replacement vehicle 113 or the big box chip box, which is a 1997 truck.  This twenty year old truck can barely get up East Glen Avenue and is in need of replacement. 
Ms. Bigos gave details on the tennis court repairs on North Monroe Street totaling $107,800.  There have been cracking problems, which were patched, but the adhesive has split resulting in wider cracks.  Two residents recently fell on the adhesive split and Ms. Bigos said that repairs in the amount of $157,300 are needed at the Bellair tennis courts. 
Mr. Cramblitt referred to the Grounds Master for the Parks Department, which is a medium size, ride-on lawn mower that can no longer function.  This machine, which is over twenty years old, works on traffic circles and other areas where a push mower is too small and a ride on mower is too large. 
Ms. Cramblitt spoke about tree replacements in the amount of $60,500 that would allow for the planting of 165 trees throughout the Village.  They were able to plant over 200 trees last year by means of the Adopt a Tree program and they want to continue to operate this program.  Mr. Cramblitt has been working with Deputy Mayor Sedon and the Shade Tree Commission to beautify the downtown area.  They are hoping to enlist the help of an expert in urban scape tree wells, who can advise them on how to avoid dead trees and increase the canopy downtown, while still being responsible for the taxpayers. 
Ms. Bigos said she has been working with the Engineering Department and the staff in her office to establish three phases of development regarding the Schedler property.  Phase 2 would encompass infrastructure and includes site preparation; installation of the underground utilities such as sewer, water, gas and electric; driveway installation; parking lot; sidewalks; curbing; field grading; placement of the guiderails along Route 17; installation of a six foot berm; and conifer plantings.  They are requesting $756,000 along with a contingency of $75,000 for a total of $831,600 for Phase 2.  Ms. Bigos stated that Phase 3 concentrates on the site and the needs of the community, to begin to give some character to the site.  This would include a playground for children aged 2 to 12, and an adjacent play area for children 5 to 12.  The playground surface would have strict requirements and would contain a restroom facility with an overhead shelter.  The streetscape calls for trees for the front and privacy screening in the amount of $197,400, plus the contingency for a total of $217,140.  Phase 4 is comprised of turf field installation that would allow everyone to utilize the field for practice, play, and everyday use at a cost of $650,000, and a contingency of $65,000 or a total of $715,000.  The projected year for this request is 2020.  The budget is a result of working with the Schedler ad hoc committee, the Engineering staff and the neighbors in the community.  The development of this park would greatly alleviate strains on the other Village parks. 
Ms. Mailander stated that funding for Phase II in the amount of $831,600 is up to the Village Council, who could add it into additional phases.  The Village Council must decide whether to do everything involved in Phase II or if they want Phase II to be phased in several stages.  Ms. Bigos stated that the infrastructure consists of the parking, sidewalks, walking paths, utilities for security lighting, a berm, and a new guiderail.  These items are essential before anything else can be done. 
Councilman Hache recalled that they looked at the cost of maintaining a natural grass playing surface rather than a turf field at the Schedler property.  Ms. Bigos said this could be accomplished in Phase II when they could decide whether to use sod or seed.  There would be considerable cost savings using natural materials.  There is grading that needs to be done and soil may have to be imported to the site.  Developers at the new sites being developed in the Village have agreed to move their excess soil to create the berm and the Engineering Office is looking into this possibility with the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT).  Ms. Bigos said that if the Village Council approves a turf field on the Schedler property they can move ahead quickly.  Councilwoman Walsh indicated agreement with the removal of the turf and Ms. Mailander added that the soil at the Schedler Park property would have to be tested to ensure it is contaminant-free, before a grass field is placed there.
Councilman Hache said that they may find some creative ways to raise money to cover the cost of Phase III.  He agreed with the need for the installation of public Wi-Fi at Village-owned parks and Ms. Mailander said the funding will come from the MIS/I.T. budget.  They will begin with Graydon Pool that will be tied together next with the Stable and the Municipal Building. 
Councilman Hache stated that the dimensions for a pickleball court and a tennis court are different and he wondered if the lines would be distracting for players.  Ms. Bigos has spoken to the pickleball instructor and she pointed out that two pickleball courts can fit onto one tennis court.  She requested designated pickleball courts because the tennis courts are being used daily and she has some locations in mind.
Councilman Hache recalled that the money to cover the cost of the original Maple Avenue turf field was largely raised through donations.  The Village was asked to chip into the sinking fund, which was never done and now the roles are reversed.  He suggested having the sports groups annually contribute to a sinking fund to build up a reserve for replacement at some point in the future.  Councilwoman Walsh agreed, adding that it would be good to share some costs with the community, and residents could donate specifically towards certain projects.  She said perhaps they could elicit some funding to help with Phase II.
Councilman Voigt agreed that the tennis courts on Monroe are a mess and need to be repaved.  He asked for an explanation of contingencies and Ms. Bigos stated that they are looking at the projected budget or the potential cost of the project and add an additional 10% to that to cover any other unexpected costs that weren’t considered.  Councilman Voigt questioned the status of the Zabriskie-Schedler House.  Ms. Mailander stated that the roof for the house is included in Phase I, which has been funded half through a grant and half by the Village.  Phase II will include the windows, doors and electrical and they are confident that the funding will again be half and half.  When Phase II is completed, the work will be evaluated, to consider what still needs to be done for the structure to be safe for public use.  Councilman Voigt questioned why the house was being considered separate from the park.  Mr. Rooney explained that Schedler Park was initially included in Engineering but removed so that Ms. Bigos could make a presentation; however, it will be included again with Engineering in the capital budget.
Mayor Knudsen thanked Ms. Bigos and Mr. Cramblitt for their presentation this evening.
At this time, Mayor Knudsen called for a five minute break.  The Village Council returned at 8:16 P.M. and the following were present at roll call:  Councilmembers Hache, Sedon, Voigt, Walsh and Mayor Knudsen.  Also present were Heather Mailander, Village Manager/Village Clerk; Stephen Sanzari, Treasurer; and Robert Rooney, Village CFO. 
6.) STREETS DEPARTMENT
Ms. Mailander introduced Richard Calbi, Director of Operations, and Dan Kiely, Superintendent of Public Works.  Mr. Kiely stated that in 2017, the Streets Department deviated slightly from the way things have been done in the past.  Leaf pick-up is done by means of a sweeper and other employees who rake and clean debris from the curbs and remove more leaves from the planting strips near the curb line.  The addition of pushers on pick-up trucks meant that larger piles of leaves could be maneuvered and removed from the road.  A sweeper follows behind to ensure that everything is completed in a more efficient and tidy manner.  Mr. Kiely said that small changes made in snow removal procedures have kept plow operators from working all night and they have been able to complete the work in a number of hours, rather than what used to take two or three days.  This has resulted in parking lots in the CBD being more accessible in a shorter amount of time, and less overtime, resulting in considerable savings for the Village.  Mr. Kiely said that the new Assistant Superintendent in the Street Department is working out well.  
Mr. Kiely stated that some of the goals for 2018 are the completion of the cleaning of more storm drains and the repair of more manholes.  He was hoping to take Section B back in leaf collection from the contractor; however, realistically this probably won’t happen until 2019.  There are two garbage trucks that will be outfitted with chutes in the rear, along with two loader operators, two garbage truck operators and an employee running the roll off.  This system will require a crew of five to six personnel to pick up and compact the leaves, which means that there will be less running back and forth to dump the leaves.  Two new loaders equipped with buckets were purchased last year, requiring smaller crews which makes this possible.  Mr. Kiely said that another goal mentioned above was to decrease the cost of the snow contract.  Rather than contracting out snow removal on sidewalks, there is an in-house crew taking care of a portion of sidewalk snow removal, which has worked well.  Ms. Mailander added that these are the permanent part time workers and she thanked the Village Council for funding these individuals who work twenty-eight hours per week.  This has made a difference for efficiency in the Village in the areas of snow, leaf and garbage removal.  This has also assisted with morale in the department. 
Councilman Hache commented that the Village hasn’t looked this good in a long time and he thanked Mr. Kiely and his staff for working so efficiently.  He noted that the department has come in under budget in overtime and part time pay but appropriations for 2018 are over $100,000.  Mr. Kiely stated that snow storms are the one thing that can seriously impact the budget, because a lot of snow means that they have to continue to plow at intersections for safety and visibility reasons. 
Mayor Knudsen said that she noticed that the cost for the private leaf collection has gone up considerably since the first year at $60,000 to $88,000.  Mr. Kiely said that this is because the company did not understand the scope of the work involved in the first year, and submitted a low bid.  There is only one bidder who has the capacity to do this work.  Mr. Kiely reiterated that there will be two crews working on leaf pick-up next year and they won’t need to use any of the garbage trucks. 
Councilman Sedon said that he has heard endless complaints about leaf pick-up during his time as a reporter at the Ridgewood News and since he became a Councilmember.  He does not recall receiving any complaints this year and he thanked Mr. Kiely for figuring out a solution to the problem. 
7.) FLEET SERVICES
Mr. Kiely stated that in the Fleet Services division, they began using diagnostic software, which has saved a considerable amount of time and money because they had to send vehicles out whenever a code came up.  Due to the size of the fleet, Mr. Kiely noted that they are bulk buying, which saves money.  They began to use a fuel additive in the fuel system of every vehicle and during the first year, they noticed that the filters were much cleaner and the vehicles sustain a longer life.  This keeps the diesel fuel from gelling in the winter and is quite helpful for the vehicles.  Mr. Kiely said that some of the machinery has been updated including a new tire balancer and wireless lifts, which can be transported from garage to garage.  Many of the lock out/tag out programs have been improved, along with other safety programs.  Mr. Kiely spoke about problems they have had with fuel tracking systems so he was happy to report that new fuel tracking systems have successfully been installed.  The system tracks the exact location of the fuel and the amount of fuel going into each vehicle with readings being displayed on computers.  Diesel emissions fluid must be added to all new diesel engines and the system to be installed this year can be tracked, together with the fuel tracking system. 
Mr. Kiely anticipates that the Shared Services Agreement relative to vehicle and equipment maintenance and repair with the Township of Washington will be completed shortly and the department will begin servicing the Ridgewood Board of Education vehicles again.  On Wednesdays, the Police Department brings their vehicles in for inspection by a mechanic between 7:00 A.M. and 3:00 P.M., time permitting.  He stressed the importance of maintenance and detecting problems early, before they become major defects and problems. 
Councilman Hache asked about the possibility of doing maintenance for vehicles in other towns.  Mr. Kiely said that the fleet from Washington Township isn’t very large and along with the Board of Education vehicles, will be a good test for the department.  He would like to do work for other municipalities to bring in extra money, but they will make sure that they are not overwhelmed with work initially. 
Mayor Knudsen said it is wonderful for this department to have turned the thinking on maintenance around and she is happy to see the Village working again on Board of Education vehicles and the fleet from Washington Township. 
Councilman Voigt asked if there would be a charge back regarding Board of Education vehicles.  Ms. Mailander replied that she expects a resolution to come to the Village Council at the end of March or beginning of April on this issue. 
8.) RECYCLING AND YARD WASTE
Mr. Kiely said that they tried to clean things up at the Lakeview recycling/compost facility through the addition of three boxes and concrete and more permanent markers are being added.  He thanked the Village Council for purchasing some garbage trucks, which has had a tremendous impact and is a big help for the department.  The clear barrels have been added in the CBD and pellets are being used in receptacle dumpsters to help with odors.  Mr. Kiely intends to work on sanitation overtime this year and the trucks will make the trip to the dump as needed, and not every day.  Mr. Kiely stated that the purchase of two plows for the garbage trucks will have a huge impact on snow removal, including the time it takes for snow removal, and the cost of snow removal. 
Mr. Kiely reported that they recently completed a textile drive at two schools.  Super Science Saturday will be held tomorrow, and he will be distributing information on recycling.  They will try to get into the schools more to make an impact and get the message on recycling to the students.  There are several speaking events planned for Earth Day on the importance of recycling food waste, which is being emphasized this year.  Mayor Knudsen said that the Ridgewood Recycling Center must be the best in the country because it is very clean, orderly and nicely organized. 
Councilman Voigt asked why the disposal fees for recycling have increased by $10,000.  Mr. Kiely said he will get an answer for Councilman Voigt.  Councilman Voigt pointed out the line item for uncompensated time under Solid Waste and Mr. Kiely explained that the $90,456 involves the retirement payouts for two individuals.  Councilman Voigt was curious as to why materials and supplies have increased from $2,950 to $14,000.  Mr. Kiely explained that this is because they have to purchase clear plastic bags for the CBD, due to safety considerations. 
Mr. Kiely said that they had been taking electronic recyclables to E Waste; however, they have secured Universal, which is a new company.  They come to the Village and take and recycle or dump these items, which is a time saver. 
Councilman Voigt asked why disposal fees fluctuate so greatly and Mr. Kiely indicated that this number varies because of who the Village contracts with to dispose of yard waste and how it is separated.  There is no guarantee this year what type of rate the Village will have to pay these vendors because they have their own permits to secure and they have to find places to dump the leaves.  Mr. Kiely added that this situation also depends a lot on the weather.
Councilman Sedon asked how the recently announced tariffs on steel will impact whether there will be an issue with China accepting metal recyclables.  Mr. Calbi said that they recently locked into a price contract relative to metal recycling.  The tariff may hurt the Village somewhat, but not as drastically as it could impact other municipalities.  The emphasis is on education with the goal of getting as much recycling as possible out of the garbage.  Mr. Kiely stated that there are representatives from companies in China who buy the recyclables on site and inspect the material before it is shipped.  
Councilwoman Walsh asked for more direction as to what are legitimate recyclables.  Mr. Kiely said they can only collect items the user wants that are marketable.  He said plastic bags are not acceptable, but people continue to place them in the recyclable bins and they are encouraging everyone to use reusable bags.  Councilman Sedon stated that REAC has been working on this issue for some time and several members are researching a surcharge for plastic bags or banning plastic bags altogether.  Ms. Mailander is considering having Mr. Kiely make a presentation to the Village Council on the problems caused by plastic bags and other materials when they go through recycling facilities.  This presentation could include a review of what items can and can’t be recycled.
Mr. Calbi reviewed capital items in the budget, which includes a replacement roll-off and salter in the Streets Division.  The new roll-off will have a larger capacity and can be used for leaf collection and snow removal.  The asphalt hot box, which keeps asphalt hot during the winter is needed.  Repairs continue to be needed at the Chestnut Street facility, especially the bathrooms.  He wants to provide additional amenities in the lunch room.  He is asking for funding for at least one chute or two for the garbage trucks, to assist in leaf collection. 
Regarding recycling, Mr. Calbi said that the entry gate at the Recycling Center needs to be replaced for security purposes.  They hope to replace the co-mingled box which has rusted.  The electric service at the center is currently being replaced, in order to install a compactor that was purchased two years ago.  Mr. Calbi said that in the Sanitation Department, they continue to replace garbage trucks until the entire fleet will be turned over in another four or five years.  He pointed out that it can take months to get replacement parts for the older trucks that are no longer manufactured in this area.  The new trucks are a more standard diesel truck. 
Mr. Calbi referred to the Fleet Division and recalled that Mr. Kiely had spoken about the program for the DEF tracking system.  They are requesting a large truck scanner to diagnose repairs on the trucks.  Regarding yard waste, Mr. Calbi said that last year, there was a sinking fund to replace the tub grinder at the Lakeview facility.  This year, they are asking for $110,000 from that fund for the purchase of a replacement Scarab windrow turner for the Lakeview compost facility, which is over twenty years old. 
Ms. Mailander reviewed the cost for leaf pick-up over the past few years and she noted that the cost had increased to $88,500 in 2017.  Mr. Calbi commented that he expects the price to be higher this year, due to the requirement for police traffic patrol while the leaves are being picked up. 
8.) WATER DEPARTMENT
Ms. Mailander stated that Ridgewood Water serves four different municipalities which includes Ridgewood, Glen Rock, Midland Park and Wyckoff.  Richard Calbi, Director of Operations, for Ridgewood Water; Daniel Timmeny, Business Manager for Ridgewood Water; and Jill Fasano, Senior Engineer for Ridgewood Water, introduced themselves.  Mr. Calbi put together a slide show to help explain the $17 million budget that this department carries.  He spoke about accomplishments with the lead and copper corrosion control system, which has led to an 82% reduction in parts per billion.  There was an emphasis on water conservation in 2017, and a new conservation ordinance was passed in the Village.  This has resulted in a per capita water consumption decrease from 121 gallons in 2013, to 93 gallons in 2017.  Mr. Calbi reported that the Village completed the EPA directive on Groundwater Under the Direct Influence of Surface Water and there is a meeting next week with the EPA to review the data and reports that were issued.  At this meeting, they will find out the next steps, which Mr. Calbi expects to be further study of some wells in the Village.  
Mr. Calbi reported that the Water Department initiated and completed several projects, with more currently underway.  A study of inactive wells was conducted, along with recommendations of what to do with those wells, and recently a bid was put out for three new wells and renovations on inactive wells.  The Layfette tank was recently renovated and work is underway on the Cedar Hill tank in Wyckoff.  There is a design for improvements to the Ames tank and they are close to completion of a design for the Carr treatment for PFCs.  The auxiliary power project is fully underway and they are close to the point where generators will be arriving to tie into the buildings.  The stream crossing project is about 85% complete and the SCADA upgrade is complete.  The majority of locations have been hooked up to fiber, which allows for instant connection and control, while providing improved security through the use of cameras providing live footage at most locations, to ensure safety for employees.  There is treatment available for any wells susceptible to E.coli in order to avoid potential viruses.  Mr. Calbi stated that the Wireless Study has been completed and the antennas at the Glen Avenue tank in Midland Park have been leased.  It was found that there was more room for additional antennas and a lease was secured at $240,000 annually.  Mr. Calbi said that when corrosion control was installed, NJDEP required standby chemical storage.  Many of the facilities are small and in lieu of having to install individual storage at each facility, the Water Department negotiated with the NJDEP and were able to meet the requirement by purchasing a tanker truck.  This allowed for the purchase of chemical in bulk, resulting in a decrease in the cost of disinfectant from $3.62 to $1.55 per gallon.  
Mr. Calbi stated that the main goal for 2018 is to continue to foster communication and he hope to get the Water Conservation Ordinance approved by the other three municipalities.  He wants to restructure customer service and public relations to improve the front line of the utility.  They must reach out to engage the customer for the inception of the contact and he hopes improved technology will provide a better insight to provide leverage towards the customer.  He hopes to complete the Suez Water Quality Study and partner with the Passaic Valley Water Commission in order to secure a larger volume of cheaper water for the Village.  Mr. Calbi spoke about management, construction and architectural documents for the Elks Club if that project moves forward in 2018. 
Mr. Calbi stated that the Water Quality Accountability Act is the new mandate passed by the State that he would like to utilize to invest further in the Water Department.  One of the major qualities of this act is asset management.  Ridgewood Water is far ahead of many others and has had a Geographic Information System (GIS) for over a decade.  All of the pipes, valves and hydrants have been mapped, but the facilities were not included.  There is now a GIS team and an intern on staff who will inventory every piece of equipment housed in each facility including the condition of the roof, windows, doors and pumps for better asset management.  This is now a State requirement.  Mr. Calbi stated that they will complete the PFOA treatment at the Carr facility, which has been off-line since January 2017.
Mr. Calbi stated that some of the numbers he is using will change but he doesn’t foresee these figures will change significantly.  He noted that salaries and wages have increased, because they are hoping for a new hire that will complement the I.T. staff.  This would free Mr. Hansen, the Director of I.T./M.I.S., to spend more time on Village related issues.  This is an important request, due to security requirements and the facilities that have to be maintained by the utility.  The SCADA system is a separate network, along with the security system.  Mr. Calbi wants to develop a new website, Facebook page, and Twitter and Instagram accounts.  He anticipates further salary increases in the utility.
Mr. Calbi stated that pumping expenses have increased by 2%.  There will be an increase in electricity costs when the Carr tank is back on-line, along with the three new wells.  Additionally, there will be other costs associated with the operations of this equipment.  Treatment costs associated with chlorine are reduced, in addition to the bulk purchases.  Last year, the Village allowed the utility to hire a chemist, who is now on staff and there are savings connected with the ability to conduct testing in-house.  Looking ahead, Mr. Calbi hopes to offer the use of the chemist to smaller utilities in the area, which will generate some income.  There has been a lot of work done on the transmission distribution system, resulting in a significant jump in costs.  There are a number of mains that die at the end of the street and a new blow off assembly or hydrants have to be installed to flush the water out.   Valves have to be tested per the Water Accountability Act and the necessary repairs need to be made.  Hydrants in these dead end areas have to be replaced.  Traffic control costs for police used for various projects, have increased.  Mr. Calbi hopes to take the soil for these projects and build a berm at the Schedler property, which is an opportunity to save money for the utility in the budget. 
Mr. Calbi stated that administrative costs have decreased.  Money has been put aside for notifications, which will be done through the Water Smart platform.  Mr. Calbi pointed out that taxes paid to the State remain consistent.  He is assuming they will have to buy more water in 2018.  He is anticipating that there will be a large number of unregulated contaminants from the State, which could result in the closure of some facilities.  Mr. Calbi said that the utility will need to make up for this decrease in the water supply, which is why this amount has increased.  Statutory expenditures are slightly higher, due to salary increases and pension contributions. 
Mr. Calbi spoke about the “pay as you go” capital.  He said that over three years, the operating costs have been infused with money for capital improvements.  This had been funded through the capital improvement line; however, he has learned from the State that this needs to go under the Capital Outlay line.  The reason for the shift in funding is that this money goes to smaller capital projects, such as the annual contract for insertion valves.  
Mr. Calbi indicated that there is not much of an increase in debt service.  Mr. Calbi stated that based on current projections and current spending by 2021, debt service will increase to $4 million per year.  There are no deferred charges in 2018.  In summary, there are Other Expenses of $12 million, statutory expenses of $643,000, “pay as you go” capital of $1.4 million and debt service for a total budget of $16.2 million, plus 5% operating expenditure or a $17 million budget, which is a 1% increase from the 2017 budget. 
Councilman Voigt asked if the PFCs were included in the water treatment expense relative to the cost of Carr facility.  Mr. Calbi said this was not included in the operational expenses.  The on-going operation and maintenance of the Carr tank would be under capital expenditures.  There are replacement costs, but these are included in the capital portion of the budget.  Councilman Hache questioned the divesture study.  Ms. Mailander recalled that this had previously been discussed in Closed Session.  Mr. Calbi said he will have a final draft from the consultant and he indicated he would be available for comments and questions from Councilmembers.
Mr. Calbi moved to capital expenditures and said that they have a costly capital plan, and 2018 will be the third year of the six year plan.  He stated that in 2017, capital expenditures were $9.2 million and consisted of what was spent in operating capital; what was funded by bonding; and a second bond ordinance for a stream crossing project.  In 2018, they are looking at $962,000, or a $7.1 million capital investment.  This represents what is being proposed for bonding.  Mr. Calbi recalled that $3.57 million has already been bonded for the Carr well project and when added in the “pay as you go” capital, the amount is $7.1 million in total.  The projects include upgrades to the Eder and Lakeview pump stations; well replacement; upgrades to out of services wells; the rehabilitation or redevelopment of an additional eleven wells because the majority of the wells do not pump at their permitted capacity, due to age; new chlorine, PH and phosphate analyzers; continued installation of hydrants, valves and meter replacements; tank cleaning and tank improvements; new equipment including trucks and vehicles; continuing work on the GIS and security upgrades. 
Mr. Calbi pointed out that he included a five year projection, which considers the entire six year plan developed in 2016, plus sections of a study done by a consultant three years ago, that included various other projects. The Water Department will have to start infusing a great deal of money to pipe replacement beginning in 2019, in addition to tank rehabilitation.  He expects that the Asset Management study will recommend refurbishing of all the buildings.  The focus stays on distribution and wells and Mr. Calbi mentioned the booster tank project in Wyckoff that should be considered in order to provide more storage for the facility, along with improvements to the Elks Club facility.  This does change from year to year, depending on priorities and regulatory agencies.  Councilman Voigt questioned plans connected with the PFOA and Mr. Calbi said they are studying this list by location and the policy consultant in Trenton has provided them with a list of twenty other contaminants the State is considering.  The staff is looking at what would be needed to remove these contaminates.  They are putting the costs together and hope to present it to the people in Trenton and they will emphasize that with every new regulation there is a significant cost.  Mr. Calbi stated that representatives from Park Ridge are joining the coalition and he will continue to share information on this with the Village Council.   Fair Lawn, Ho-Ho-Kus, Mahwah and Garfield have also expressed an interest in joining the group.
Mr. Calbi shared information on the unaudited amount of money taken in by the utility in 2107, and said that rents were within 1.5% of the number budgeted.  He is anticipating status quo in 2018, and much less in surplus due to new revenue from cell tower rent.  The Water Department expects to maintain the volume rate in 2018, due to the fact that a hearing with Howard Woods, who prepared a water rate study, is pending.  The Department is instead pushing forward with a proposal to increase the fixed charges. 
Mr. Calbi indicated that in his study, Mr. Woods recommended that facility charges based on the size of the meter be recalculated to be in line with American Water Works Association (AWWA) meter capacity ratios.  These ratios represent a multiplier based on the meter size or how much flow comes out of the meter.  In the past, every annual rate increase of approximately 3% was used for every meter charge.  This increase should have only been taken on the 5/8th inch meters because every meter has a multiplier.  In other words, consumers have been underpaying on their fixed charges for quite some time.  Mr. Calbi stated that the AWWA is recommending a fixed charge of 20% to cover the utility expense or $3.2 million for 2018.  In 2018, the utility proposes to make an adjustment to fixed charges and apply the proper multipliers for each size of meter.  He referred to the seven sizes of meters in the Village, which range from a 5/8th inch meter, which is the most common size, to 4 inch meter size.  Mr. Calbi noted that the 4 inch meter should be charged at twenty-five times the size of the 5/8th inch meter because of the larger amount of water flowing through the meter.  Mr. Calbi explained how they calculated the number they need to arrive at for the 20%, and he noted that the $456,000 anticipated for collection in 2018 is only from July through December.  They would estimate almost $1 million to be recouped during 2019, and in each subsequent year.  For comparison Mr. Calbi provided information for water rate charges from the Passaic Valley Water Commission, who have implemented the proper distribution charges.  Mr. Calbi estimated that there will be an increase of $7.41 per quarter, for the average ratepayer with the most dramatic jump to the larger meter users. 
Councilman Voigt asked if Mr. Calbi expects an onslaught of disgruntled customers.  Mr. Calbi said he thinks it will be a mixture, depending on the information they have.  The message about increased water rates could be put out well in advance, through Water Smart (a software package) so residents understand what the change will be and why.  He hopes to avoid a repeat of past scenarios when there was a lack of communication relative to the meter change out program.  The proposal on the fixed charge increase will be a separate ordinance for consideration by the Village Council and it is backed up by solid information.  Mr. Calbi emphasized that this should have been implemented years ago.
Councilman Hache questioned leakage problems and Mr. Calbi said that they have been able to do a better calculation this year.  Mr. Timmeny has been able to use the monthly metering data to get a close comparison with the production data, which came in at 15.5% in 2017.  The national average is in the 20% range with 15% as the benchmark.  He hopes that percentage will be reduced, since they have become quite proactive relative to leaks. 
Councilwoman Walsh asked for more information about the streets that are dead ending.  Mr. Calbi said that the GIS department has mapped the entire water system.  They took the maps and met with the Fire Chiefs from the four towns and asked them where they wanted hydrants located.  In the areas where the Fire Chiefs did not want a hydrant, a blow off assembly will be installed.  Mr. Calbi explained that the water is flushed from these remaining areas, by releasing a valve from a box in the street.  Councilwoman Walsh asked for some detail regarding the cleaning of a tank.  Mr. Calbi said that mixers are installed to mix stagnant water in the tanks.  They are required to clean and video inspect the tanks on an annual basis.  Mr. Calbi indicated that this helps to avoid corrosion on a steel tank and scouring is done to the concrete tanks.
Councilman Sedon stated that as he interprets it, the fixed rates will be adjusted to generate additional revenue in time to offset the additional debt service, from the capital expenditures needed to upgrade the system, and bring it into good repair.  Mr. Calbi said that they have completed a five year projection of debt service and found that beginning in 2019, there has to be a volume rate increase in addition to the fixed rate increase he has just described.  Without the proposed increases for 2018, the rate of increase would be enormous, which is why this is essential.  Councilman Sedon observed that some of the upgrades should have been done years ago, but Mr. Calbi pointed out that there is a new era of regulations regarding contaminants and he spoke about the problems in Flint, Michigan which necessitated the implementation of new standards.
9.) WRAP UP AND NEXT STEPS
Ms. Mailander thanked everyone for attending.  Next week the Village Council will have budget presentations from Finance, Parking, Engineering, Traffic, Building Maintenance; Water Pollution Control Facility; Police; Fire; Deferred Charges; Statutory Expenses; Utilities; and Shared Services. 

5. COMMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC
Mayor Knudsen stated they would again have comments from the public and asked anyone wishing to address the Village Council to come forward.   There were no comments from the public at this time.

6. ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business to come before the Village Council, on a motion by Councilman Sedon, seconded by Councilman Hache, and carried unanimously by voice vote, the meeting was adjourned at 10:04 P.M.

                   _________________________________                        
                                      Susan Knudsen  
                                             Mayor

 

____________________________________            
               Heather A. Mailander 
          Village Manager/Village Clerk