Bogota Borough Council

 2-April-2021
     

   On Thursday-1-April the Bogota Borough Council held their first meeting for the month of April. At the beginning of the meeting Bogota Mayor Chris Kelemen as for a moment of remembrance for Mr. Ted Ehrenburg  who was the current City Manger in Hackensack, NJ. Mr. Ehrenberg passed away on Wednesday-31-March.

   Then the Borough Engineer addressed the Council to give an update on current , and planned project within Bogota.  The first was to inform the Council on a planned boat launch to be use by the Bogota Rescue squad when needed. This would be located near the “Dog Park” that will be built as part of the Atwater development.  Other items he discussed concerned the  Planned construction at 520 Palisade Ave, in Teaneck, NJ.  The first was the developer seeking permission to connect  the project to the Bogota sewer system. The Engineer said that the documents he has looked at recently do not have enough information about how the connection will effect the Borough system.  He did add that the developer does has a system designed that will not use the connection to Bogota.  Another item about 520 Palisade was the egress to Leonia Ave in Bogota. At this point the Borough Attorney  joined the conversation to say that the Teaneck ordinance about the development states that Leonia Ave can only be used for Emergency access, with a movable barrier.  Also the Attorney and Bogota Police Chief will have a meting next week to discuss these matter further. The Attorney was instructed by Council to also include the provision that no construction traffic should be allow to pass through Bogota to work on this site.

   Next there was a discussion of dedicating  Second Pl. in Bogota to honour former Bogota Mayor Pat Schuber.  This would be in recognition of this time as Mayor of Bogota, and his years of public service as an elected official in many form of State and County government. 2021 would make the 40th year since Mr. Schuber served as Mayor in Bogota. The item was passed by unanimous vote. 

   Then the Council moved to the Consent Agenda. All these item were passed by unanimous  vote. Other item of note that were passed are the authorization to hire additional  employees   for the Bogota Department of Public Works. Another item was to extend the Swim Club lease for the 2021 Season. This extension is similar to the one from 2020 to allow for closures due to the current health situation.  There was also the adoption of the Borough code covering the remove of snow from Fire Hydrants on private property. The property owner  has 24 hours to clear the hydrant in a usable manner. Failure to do so will result in  the property owner being billed for the clearing of the hydrant. Money collected will go into the Fire Protection fees and penalties account. 

   One of the final item was the introduction of the 2021 Borough Budget to Council.  The highlights of the new budget is the Borough will have a 0% tax increase. This preliminary budget was passed by unanimous vote. It now goes to the State of New Jersey for approval.  The final budget for 2021 will then be presented to the public at a May Council meeting in May for discussion before final approval. 

  In his remarks Mayor Kelemen informed the Council that the Borough received a matching grant 

approximately

 of  $430.000 for improvements to Olsen Park. 

  The next Bogota Borough Council meeting will be on Thursday -15-April. This is scheduled to start at 7:30p. Log-in information will be posted at a later date.

    For additional information please visit their website at: https://www.bogotaonline.org/

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Former Mayor Pat Schuber (C) at the 125th Anniversary
Council Meeting