I hereby open the burnard township committee meeting for February 25th 2025 please stand for the flags pledge allegiance flag United States of America and to the stands Nation indice
I'll be serving uh chairing this meeting tonight in the absence of Mayor Fields um but adequate notice of this meeting was posted on the bulletin board in the municipal building one Coler Lane Basking Ridge on the township website and email to the Bernardsville news whiy
The Courier News Bridgewater tap in.net patch.com and fob with the Township Clerk on December 18th 2024 any motion to to close session will include that the matters discussed at such closed session will be disclosed to the public when such matters are finally
determined and there is no further reason to prohibit the public from disclosure of information relating to such matter no new business will be introduced after 10:30 p.m. public comment will be accepted at all meetings speakers will be limited to 5 minutes each and all meetings will adjourn no
later than 11:30 p.m. Christie roll call please miss AC here miss DTE MC y here Mr MCN here Mr T creedy here and may Field's excuse this evening thank you
Christie uh any executive session tonight none this evening okay that uh brings us to item six on our agenda which are uh presentations um it's uh always uh Bittersweet when we have uh a member of
our Police Department who's moving on to the next chapter in their lives uh and leaving us in retirement and tonight we're marking the retirement of our extraordinary police chief uh John berer uh he has served our community for over
26 years um joining us in 1998 in 2004 John became a detective and was promoted to a detective sergeant in 2011 uh John was promoted to Lieutenant in 2018 was elevated to captain in 2022
and was promoted to Chief in in 2023 um John has had an extraordinary career and I've gotten to know him personally he's a man of impeccable Integrity dedication and character he's genuine a man who deeply cares about his department and the community he serves
and he's a role model for all officers both here in Bernards and elsewhere I've got to know John well and he's a man of a great humility uh and uh ordinarily I would take this occasion to mark his many accomplishments in detail but out of respect for our esteemed Chief who
never likes to be the center of attention I will conclude by thanking him for his leadership on our police force over the last few years and for his exceptional service throughout his entire career in ways large and small JN has improved the lives of countless residents of our town helping to ensure
that Bernard's Township is among the safest communities in the country uh everyone here owes a deep gratitude a deep Deb of gratitude to John for his service to burnard's Township we won't miss him uh but I know he won't be too far away and I look forward to continuing our friendship as he enters
this next chapter with that being said uh I would uh now ask if my uh colleagues would like to make any remarks Dave sure yeah I like to thank Chief burger for his 26 years of service and dedication of the burnard Township Police Department he served our community With Honor dignity and the
respect of his colleagues and we wish him well we wish him and his family well as they can well thank you Dave Jen yes please um Chief Burger has just been just a tremendous asset to our community um always going above and beyond um for all
of our residents I had the privilege of getting to work with him closely last year when we had the uptick in home um burglaries we seem to do many I lost track of the number of inhouse presentations where residents hosted us
um he always brought the game answered questions relay you know um addressed any any concerns um including the over 2 and a half hour video that he and his officers did for us as a part of understanding Bernard so um this man
modeled behavior um he ran extra shifts he was doing them at night himself um during a time where many residents were concerned he just always went above and beyond and um just truly grateful for his leadership for his contributions to
um all of us as residents and um he'll leave big shoes but um you know he has earned this opportunity and I wish him well in his next his next chapter thank you thank you Jen
Anna yes thank you Andrew I join my colleagues in thanking chief berer for 26 years of dedicated an exceptional service to our community he established a positive and thriving work environment and culture and ensured the Safety and
Security of our community and did so seeking Innovative strategies maintaining and developing a top team of officers and leading by example he impressed me including among other characteristics with his commitment to integrity and personally he was a good
partner and a friend to me I wish him great success in his next adventure and again my deep thanks for his many years of exceptional service to Bernard's Township thank you deputy mayor thank you Anna and and and one uh housekeeping item uh on the consent agenda tonight
there are resolutions appointing the current deputy chief Tim King as chief of police and current Lieutenant Michael swiy as deputy chief at our next Township committee meeting on March 11th we'll hold our traditional swearing in Ceremonies for our new Chief and deputy chief but tonight we're moving these resolutions to ensure continuity of
leadership in light of Chief Burger's retirement effective at the end of the month uh but before we get to that we have to vote on the resolution commending uh John for his tremendous service over the last 26 years and so with that in mind I'll take a motion so moved
second we have a motion in a second roll call Chris Miss Acy yes Miss dorte McCarthy yes Mr tany yes Deputy Mayor MCN yes motion carried thank you Christy
um any public work session tonight none this evening which brings us to item eight uh correspondent Community Development Block Grant application for Community hope um this evening we have representative from Community hope who will provide us with a summary of the Grant
application here take the mic and uh hi um my name is Kayla I'm the program director of The Hope for veterans program um at Community hope um that is where we are applying for this grant to help fund one of our positions which is
the Employment Specialist um at the hope for veterans program it is a transitional housing program for homeless veterans so we service up to 95 veterans at a time they get um individual Case Management Services or connected with a housing case manager to
help them with that support and then additionally they have the support of an Employment Specialist who can help them with job training resume building um mock interviews Job searches um so that's what this position would be funded
for thank you so much Kayla we certainly appreciate the work that uh Community hope does uh partnering with you with the field of honor and seeing Carmine every year and and the members that he brings out you do tremendous work uh for our veterans and we can't thank you
enough uh any comments from my colleague just a thank you for your work you're doing it's so important to take care of our veterans thank you thank you now I Echo that this is such an important program and we're really happy to continue our support and all the work that you do to ensure
employment and support for our veterans so thank you all right it says here I'm to open public comments uh on the application so I'll open public comment seeing none I close public comment well thank you so much K we
appreciate it thank you which brings us to the public comment portion of the agenda item nine uh comments are welcomed during public comment period during this meeting on any agenda item or other matter over which the township committee has jurisdiction however if an ordinance is
listed for its own public hearing on the agenda please hold your comments for that particular public hearing the public comment portion of the agenda is not structured as a question and answer session but offers an opportunity to share your thoughts with the township committee committee may or may not address these comments during the
meeting however all comments are consider to address this body the speaker must come forward to the microphone and state his or her name and address for the record each speaker is limited to 5 minutes the clerk will keep time please promptly yield the floor when time is called and return to the seat your
cooperation and adherence to these Rules of Order will ensure an orderly and respectful meeting I hereby open public comments com good evening Todd you're faked out there title Stein Riverside
Drive um I like to um congratulate uh Chief Burger on his time here and um in his future in Denver's uh I spoke to him today and um I think he's looking forward to moving
on to a new spot um there's a letter where is it um in your Cent agenda for um resolution 20
25049 resolution to support publishing legal notices on official government websites I know it's a letter that you've already you'll approve and send out I disagree with it I think um should
continue um having our Public Notices sent out and published by newspapers and if you want online and I understand news a lot of newspapers unfolding but I don't think we should um it's kind of like Pennywise pound
foolish you know the reason we have the papers do this because if they're the Watchdog and I don't believe that the town should be doing this they could do it but I don't think it they should be only people doing it
or you know cutting other people out of it I think we really don't spend that much money in comparison to a lot of things we spend money on and I think a lot of those Public Notices are actually through zoning and and um planning board notices which are paid
by the applicants themselves not through the town so but you know I don't really see us spending a significant money and um shouldn't be I I don't support the
letter um last week there was a article done by Jake uh Perry on farms and how some properties basally alluding to some properties are not really Farms but way of getting out of property
taxes this is a letter I would like to see in town right to the um State one day soon so different way of figuring how to tax these um Farms not don't want to hurt the Farms that we have but with
somebody who's or saying that we're going to sell firewood and gets a check for $1,000 from his brother in law just so he could claim that properly tax relief is not right and there's got to be a way of of changing this we're
changing it so that it doesn't hurt the Real Farms but it brings the people up who basically hobbyists were people just trying to get away from um paying property tax maybe a way where 50% of their um property tax has to come um be
matched by what they take in in revenue is Farms something not $1,000 so if you have a $14,000 your tax bill you better have you receipts worth $7,000 of um Selling
Stuff the qualify I think that's only fair um transparency um and one last thing I'd just like to thank um Governor Murphy proving to us once again that
we're number one in property tax and that he continues to do what he wants to do and hurts the state and thank God that sooner he'll be leaving and it won't be a moment too
soon thank you very much thank you Mr anyone else seeing none I hearby close by comment uh that brings us to staff comments Township committee comments and board liaison reports Pat would you like
to start off uh thank you Dey mayor um so I want to congratulate Steve ell on his promot the zoning officer Nancy Kus will be retiring soon uh I also want to congratulate the new Chief Tim King deputy chief Mike Sweeney um and uh also uh congratulate Chief Berger um on his
service of many years his leadership and uh from a selfish perspective making my job a little easier so uh John if you're listening congratulations and I wish you and your family the best so that's all I have thank you P Chris none this evening thank you Deputy Mayor thank you Miss
feny nothing from thank you thank you you uh Anna we'll start with you thank you and yes Todd we have landed on that unwanted top spot so more to come so uh first wishing a happy Ramadan to all those in our community who will begin
celebrating Ramadan this coming Friday and that goes from February 28th through March 29th um like Pat I want to congratulate Steve on his appointment to zoning officer and as Deputy Mayor said um excited to appoint Tim King as Chief
and Michael Sweeney on his appointment to deputy chief um as one of the two TC liaison I had the privilege along with Deputy Mayor MCN to interview both men for these opportunities I was impressed with their accomplishments both have had
distinguished careers here in burner's Township and while we are saddened with the retirement of Chief Berger we're confident these two leaders will continue to strengthen our department and services to the community and we look forward to swearing both in on Tuesday March 11th and then just a
couple of quick reminders uh we are going to have a upcoming Municipal Alliance facing fenel on Thursday uh this Thursday from 6:30 to 8:30 in the library we have kept out at 20
participants but we're going to keep it open for a few more so if you're interested please uh register for that and then next week the important screenagers a documentary focusing on Elementary School age children and the effects of technology and screen time
and then lastly for all of you who are considering membership at Kopi Russo Andor renewing the effective rates will change after February 28th so please don't be late sign up and or renew your membership before the deadline and
that's all thank you Deputy Mayor thank you committee woman uh David thank you Deputy Mayor um congratulations again to um coming police chief Tim King and deputy chief Mike Sweeney uh it's a testament to the strength of an organization when we can
promote two outstanding individuals from within our own Department I'm certain they're going to do a fine job in keeping Bernard safe uh parks and wreck uh Community the community art show deadline entry deadline is uh this Friday the
28th the Hometown Heroes Banner application deadline is March 15th for spring uh for installation in the spring of those banners uh it's a great way to honor a veteran who has lived who lives or has lived in burnard's Township and has served in a conflict so please
consider that um the ruers safety Clinic Spring class will be held on Wednesday March 19th from 6:00 to 9: pm here in town hall all coaches for sports organizations that use Township fields are required to complete the three-hour
course and finally pool commission uh extended hours for pool members ship ID photos uh the next date will be March 17th from 8:30 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. and then there are other dates available if you cannot make that one thank you thank you Dave
Jen have a few gentle reminders um dog and cat license renewals to avoid the late fee you have until February 28th so please uh license your pet before that date upcoming the Bernards Chinese American Association has their Lunar New
Year party on March the 1st 4: to 6: p.m. at Cedar Hill please go to Bernard chinese. org for information and to sign up hopefully we'll see you there I wanted to add my um excitement about the screenagers that Anna referenced the
elementary elementary school age Edition documentary screening in question and answer I'm really grateful to Caitlyn CIO for securing this opportunity it was something that I know that she had interest in the fall and um just really
grateful for her leaders ship and I hope that we will have a full packed uh pack Ridge pack um so you can get tickets if you go online um on the the various presentations uh you can get the tickets the doors open at 6 the documentary
starts at 630 the run time is 40 uh 54 minutes so there will be a panel discussion uh and question answer from local Partners um and it's intended for parents and community members so I hope that we will see a large group there and a big huge
congratulations and thank you to our health department and their leadership in helping to make that happen last but not least um also thanks to our health department uh check your home for Radon there are free radon test kits that are available now at the health department as you know radon is a naturally
occurring radioactive gas that's odorless tasteless and invisible yet it can be harmful and can cause cancer over time in certain areas of New Jersey rate on concentrations are higher than usual the burnard township department is offering the free radon test kits to
residents of contractual towns which includes ours while supplies last each household is eligible for one kit and is intended for homeowners who haven't tested in the past two years kits can be picked up at the health department located at 262 South Finley AV Monday
through Friday 8:30 to 4: thank you thank you Jen uh just a couple quick things for me as Anna mentioned um this coming Friday marks the beginning of the Muslim holy of Ramadan I wish um all of our Muslim friends a happy and healthy
Ramadan um and on this coming Saturday as Jen had mentioned uh from 4: to 6 PM the burnard Chinese American Association will be hosting its annual Lunar New Year celebration at the Cedar Hill Elementary School this is always a great event filled with music fun performances
and food uh it is open to the public and those interested in attending should visit Bernards chinese. org for more information that brings us to item 11 on the agenda fire and rescue appointments none this evening uh any UNF finished
business none this evening uh which brings us to new business and the consent agenda the items listed within the consent agenda portion of the meeting have been referred to the township committee for reading and study are posted on the agenda on the posted on the agenda on the website are considered routine and will be enacted
by one motion at the township committee with no separate discussion separate discussion is required the item may be removed from the agenda by Township Committee Action and placed on the regular agenda under new business uh would anyone like an item removed from the consent
agenda hearing none may have a motion on the consent agenda so move second Christy roll call Miss AC yes Miss DTE McCarthy yes Mr Tan crey yes Deputy May
MN yes motion carried thank you uh and we have some appointments to do yes per marfields email dated February 19th 2025 the following are her meral appointments zoning board Elizabeth silver alternate one filling the vacant
unexpired two-year term expiring December 31st 2026 zoning board Susan trap alternate 2 filling the unexpired 2-year term of Elizabeth silver expiring December 31st 2025 and planning board Megan Al
alternate 2 filling the vacant unexpired 2-year term expiring December 31st 2026 thank you Christie and we thank those people stepping forward to fill these important roles um that brings us to the approval of minutes the February
11th 2025 Open Session minutes and the February 11th 2025 Clos session minutes may I have a motion on the minutes I make a motion to approve the minutes second all in favor I I I uh
Christie any executive session none this evening uh which brings us to adjournment may I have a motion to adjourn motion to adjourn second all favor I good night everybody