Bogota Borough Council

 22-January-2021

    On Thursday-21-January the Bogota Borough Council held their second meeting for the month of January. This was started by opening the meeting to Public Comments. A few residents who live near the Teaneck border on Leonia Ave, expressed concerns about a new apartment complex proposed to be built behind Herrick Park in Teaneck. While main entrance is planned to  be off of Palisade Ave, secondary entry point could be used which would allow traffic onto Leonia Ave in Bogota. It was asked of Council if the Bogota Government has any plans to limit access into the Borough.
  In another comment a suggestion was made to honour long time Borough Clerk  Ms. Frances Garlicki, who passed away late last year, with naming a space in Borough Hall for her. There were no other residents who came forward to speak.

   When Council members could respond they addressed the Leonia Ave question first. They said that, this same issue was presented at an earlier meeting, and they have asked the Bogota Police Department to study if gate could be set up on the Bogota end of Leonia Ave that would only have access by Emergency  Service Vehicles. Council also suggested that any Bogota resident could attend the Teaneck Township planning board meeting to bring up these same concerns.

 The next Teaneck Planning Board meeting is scheduled for Thursday-11-February at 8:00p (there is no Bogota Council meeting on that day). 

Access information to this meeting is:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85111333198
Meeting ID: 851 1133 3198
Passcode: 012335 

    Then Council members also agreed that Ms. Garlicki , along with other former Borough employees, should be recognized. A type of  “Hall of Fame” was proposed to be concerned at a later meeting. 

  Next the Council considered the items on the agenda. Discussion topics were moved to after the agenda resolutions, due to the concerns of the amount of time needed for them. The items on the Consent Agenda were passed. Then a number of resolution were voted on separately. These were mainly the Mayor’s appointment for Borough professionals. None of these appointments were accepted by a 4-2 vote. A resolution of note was the acceptance of a new contract  with the Bogota Department of Public Works , and the United Public Service Employees Union. 

 The most talked about point was the proposed Community Centre. The Borough administrator said that a few permits were still needed to be approved by State agencies. If these are all submitted in a timely manner (by February). Approval of them could take place by July, and then bidding  process could start.  The Architect of the Community Centre mentioned that some changes have been made. Mostly cosmetic, with a few were of them dealing with the allowed space usage in accordance with the Open Public Space approval. One was the moving of an overhang from the front of the building to the back side of the structure near the concession stand.  Another was that the indoor Basketball court needing to be reduced in size.  An originally planned Varsity size court of 84’-0” x 50’-0” must be shorten to a Junior Varsity size of 74”-0” x  42’-0” size.  A projected start of construction was said to be in September of this year and an opening of the Centre, and adjoining outside courts could be in late Summer of 2022.
  In his reports Bogota Mayor Chris Kelemen talked about the start of the vaccination process.  Mayor Kelemen said that most of the Emergency Workers of the Borough have, or will have, been vaccinated by the end of this week. For the general public  it was said that they should start to register to be placed on the vaccination list as soon as possible. This can be done online at:  https://covidvaccine.nj.gov/   And now also by phone at 855-568-0545. The phone call is available in both English and Spanish. 

  The next regular meeting will be on Thursday-4-Febuary and 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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