uh while we're waiting if anybody would like um copies of the budget capital budget requests for 2024 and 2025 they are in the folders with the agendas so if anybody's here for that presentation later and you would like to follow along you're welcome to go and get them in the folders the agendas for those who don't know are also in the green folder by the door you got no I'm just saying no n or 10 I don't hope for p no for Passover I have to do young people because my parents and family like all like the appetizing from like specific 80 different stores in New York City inclusive of things that are like not pooser like lobster salad for their bagel for DT there's nothing good that the only thing good is when you make like the chocolate m well you do understand that every company has came up with a way of making everything you ever wanted k for [Music] p totally did you have James um line did you have James clean everything out with a feather and then line the kitchen counter Saran Wrap over the countertop or you bring in the the rabbi the rabbi to come in and steam everything would you like would you like but you use it like once a year I think I have like three I'll be happy to make a donation welcome everybody again agendas uh and capital budget uh documents are in by the door in the green folders um but if everybody could please uh stand for a moment of silence and salute to the flag iedge Al to the United States of America to the rep for it stands na indivisible liy and justice for all adequate notice of this meeting was provided to the Union County Hawk advertised on January 4th 2024 notification was sent to the Star Ledger and is posted on the municipal website the municipal public bulletin board and filed in the office of the municipal clerk informing the public of the time and place according to the provisions of the open public meeting Law chapter 231 pl1 1975 roll call please miss Cameron mayor blumen here councilwoman Bodo here councilman Foley here councilman Lazaro here councilwoman ndi here councilwoman salmon uh she is excused council president Carney here a roll call of staff and professionals please John Authur burrow administrator here Adam Abramson burrow attorney here Doug stoer chief of police Mike disco burrow engineer here okay we are going to actually go a little bit out of order on our agenda because our burrow engineer has a another meeting to go to he's a busy guy so we will start first with his report um Mr disco thank you for accommodating me I appreciate it um I prepared an agenda hopefully Katherine was able to distribute it to everybody are are they picking me up first of all okay um we took bids last week for contract 224-1 which is our NJ doot Municipal Aid 2023 project three surfacing of sections of Beach Avenue Hemlock Avenue and Myrtle Avenue and we listed the limits uh down below below um the grant amount we got from dot was 463,000 in change uh in the spring of 22 when we prepared the uh estimate it was 64,000 when we gave the plans and documents to do in a detailed form it was 617,000 in change um we added subsequent to their review but prior to the bid the handicap ramps at the corner of Beach and East to accommodate the request from the Y and the people there two of the three uh ramps were done as part of the Locust Avenue work and that increased the um construction estimate filed with DOT to $624,500 anyway the bids came in and the base bid alternate one and Alternate two only total $591,000 and the base bid was $570,000 we had 11 people pick up we had nine biders so we had very competitive bids and uh Riverview was a responsible bidder who's the low bid contractor alternate one was for TV inspection of the sanitary sores on those three streets which we would recommend we do I did speak speak to Clint probably about a month and a half ago and he did say that there was a plan in place to TV inspect the sores on the South Side through parsa I don't know if that's happening if that was happening then maybe we could not award alternate one but obviously if that's um lagging or if that's not happening we would want to award alternate one alternate two is to saw and seal joints on a block of Beach Avenue between East and rank and Ranken where a concrete road is under the roadway we did this on uh Pine Avenue and there's another block of beach that was also done it's a standard technique 1,800 bucks the contractor actually losing money on that they won't even cover their cost so the total is 591 I think it's a very favorable bid it's lower than our our three estimates and I believe I understand that the funding is going to be put in place to award that um and there's any questions on that I'll answer those before I move on so that 591 includes alternates one and two that tving in okay I mean my first inclination is to go ahead with the tving because it was such a good price and it came in so far underneath our esate as it was um we have talked about using Parson doing different parts of the town at different points but if we're going in there anyway we might as well get that and then as we're able to put that plan into place with parso we can hit on another part of the Town um if that makes sense to everyone we could always delete that portion of the work after it's awarded because it doesn't change who the low bidder is so if we okay so maybe we'll discuss it further with Mr Dixon just to make sure but okay yeah this this sounds like a great great plan and thank you for uh putting together that package and getting those bids together and then piggybacking that the second bullet point was just you know again we we were asked or the the burrow was asked to address the I'll say disre in disrepair curb ramp delineations those are those red rectangles that you see at handicap ramps along the frontage of the uh East Street by the Y property when we did the corner of locust recently we addressed that corner we had that contractor walk over and do the one in the front of the building so there's only one left which is going to be incorporated into this so that issue has been corrected twoth thirds and the other third will be sometime in 2024 after we have our precon meeting okay um then I'll update uh the three contracts that lingered from last fall contract 2023-24 Milling Paving has not been established yet by that contractor DLS but we're getting very close uh contract 2023 D2 which was your Congressional Grant project which was the long block of third going to Gallows Hill and the block of second between Oak and Cedar um all the curbs were installed on third all the driveway aprons restored storm sores were constructed and the sidewalks on Second Avenue I think they were wrapping up to day on that and they are scheduled to Mill next Monday and pave next Tuesday we will get a notice out to every resident we typically would shoot for Thursday to do that I spoke to the contractor again it's still on schedule right now weather permitting for Monday Tuesday um it's a fine line as to when you notice the residents because it's usually going right in the waste paper basket and then they forget so we' like to give them a good long weekend to do it but that is the plan and then there'll be tree planting on that any uh remedial uh restoration will also be done that's with Midwest Construction Midwest Construction moved over to West Street uh I was there um midday today uh installing uh new concrete sidewalks on the east side of the street going between uh Willow Myrtle and Spruce hope I got them in the right order there and they're partially done I did speak with um the Tammy's mom today on the corner there and I walked her out and I explained exactly what we're doing she put her on FaceTime I think everybody's on the same page with that and um um so I think that'll move very quickly I expect the contractor will be out of there by the end of this week um and uh again there'll be some grass restoration adjacent to the sidewalks um that that project also had some miscellaneous tree root trees and sidewalk repairs and a lot lot of those have been done and there may be a couple that remain and after they finish West they'll go and finish those and then there's one lingering um thing we've got out there which is the repair of the municipal storm soore I call it Center Street but it's off of North Avenue there adjacent to the gas station so we're hopeful that one of these two contractors will do that for us and will remove the obstruction that's been in that line which has been causing a runoff or the catch Basin to fill run off Overland onto the underpass of the railroad uh and then mayor I think you mentioned the infrastructure Grant which I think the county announced or gave us the big check yes from what I'm being told the first week of May we'll formally get the letter with the amount in it but they're certainly not going to back out at this point and if you had some various projects yes we're gonna have that discussion and you and I spoke a little bit just so I think we're it'll be we'll be good to go for the discussion later okay that's what I have if anybody else has anything okay thank you you can tell it's spring there's a lot there's a lot going on does anybody have any questions uh just a thank you for the last item Mr disco above and beyond really yes you really have I know with all of the construction I just want all the residents to know you know there's always little things that pop up and residents give us a call and and let us know when things pop up and Mr disco has been so responsive to everybody um you know nothing but but great things to hear from the residents and of course from me you've just been great at taking care of of any little thing that's popped up with all of this so thank you all we can do is try so appreciate it okay okay I'm that's it you're out thank you have a good night okay at this point we will suspend regular order of business and go to um what is actually a really fun part of the night and why most of you are here tonight our community Spirit award uh this is something that mayor tadisco started and I have continued um and I try to do it in the fall and in the spring um and I asked for I put out the word that the spring nomination season has opened and lo and behold I had a bunch of responses for one particular person uh and that person is Jill Paul so Jill if you would join me up at the microphone Jill had not one not two but three different families of various members nominate her for this and uh I know she has the backing of of all the first aid Squad here so uh this is really special to see everybody here to support you so I'm going to read from the proclamation that I will be presenting to Jill Jill Paul moved to Garwood a decade ago with her rescue pup Charlie during the pandemic she held Miss Jill's art classes on the sidewalk for the children who live across the street from her Miss Paul has also worked with the library on a series of events that brought our Community together to make lunches for Bridges Outreach Miss Paul also set up a food collection Drive where she resides at Stephanie Gardens to benefit Five Loaves food pantry and has volunteered at our Martin Luther King Jr Day of Service events which I love having those after her Cardiac Arrest Miss Paul began working with the Garwood first aid Squad to help them promote their monthly CPR classes and sharing and shares her story with some of the attendees she also serves as a pro bono development consultant for the Garwood first aid Squad helping them with strategy and fundraising Miss Paul began the movement in Garwood to get all weather climate controlled tamperproof AED enclosures in our town to help save lives resulting in one at the recck complex and one to be installed soon at Hartman Park she's also been working with Union County parks department for over a year to get outdoor enclosures installed in each Park and is proud to say that they will be in every Park this summer Miss Paul launched the olivver foundation in January to help get these enclosures and communities throughout our country State and County State and Country as well as to help survivors and their loved ones with their mental health and provide education to these communities Miss Paul also worked with a local resident K9 expert to bring a k9 CPR class to the Garwood first aid Squad to benefit the alra foundation she loves to get involved in her local community coming to council Mee to speak about issues that are important to her and always seeking to work together so congratulations Jill and I just want to say uh on a personal note what that why this is really special to me is especially that last line always work looking to work together um you have a lot of volunteer service in this town uh but what I find and what I appreciate most is your willingness to when there is a problem come and find the solution with everybody and work together uh to find that solution and to make it happen so I I really appreciate you as a community resident and uh I am proud to also give you along with this Proclamation a special drawing of the paperboard the old paperboard building uh as a symbol of uh Garwood and all that you do for us this thank you would you like to say something hi so thank you all for coming this room isn't usually this packed um so I appreciate it but for real I have no family in New Jersey and my mom and dad are in Florida for another couple of weeks so you guys have become my family so thank you so so so much for just being so amazing there have been a couple of times that I have I don't want to say threatened but really thought about leaving and the people over here are the reason that I did didn't the phell family Mary Kay who lives next to me who is my best friend because I just adore her she checks on me constantly Jackie I mean our street is the best street Betty lives on our street our street is the best street you know I've worked with Scotch Plains Carl's from the dog park um onean is from Citizens Bank and Cranford you know and then the wix's and everybody from the first aid Squad so thank you guys so much when I first moved here I will tell you there were people that made it really uncomfortable to try to get involved in things going on here um you know well why didn't you ask questions um why didn't you do this and when I started asking questions it was kind of like how dare you ask questions you know and I took it upon myself to really get involved with what was going on and really figuring out the answers to those questions were rather than listening to rumors and rather than kind of you know just jumping on what the the that person in particular wanted you to think was the answer so I think you know what you said about getting involved and coming in and being objective and really you know offering Solutions and trying to work together I think if this town could do more of that we'd been we'd be in a much better place so thank you guys all for coming thank you thank you to the council and really thank you guys for always being willing to listen and you know change things when they need to be changed so thank you guys want I was just getting to that don't you worry I know you're all welcome to stay but if you would like to leave and celebrate you you are more than welcome to do so now we'll take a quick minute congratulations again do you that one I just noticed her too I'll tell her that we'll get her another one okay um can have it tomorrow morning even tonight hi SE so sorry about I'll get it to her tomorrow I'm meeting with her tomorrow so yeah yeah it is all right thank you again everybody congratulations Jill really love doing this Community Spirit Awards you really learn a lot about our volunteers here in the town so um next we are moving to our report from our burrow attorney are you gonna say no nothing nothing to report thank you a report from our bur administrator hello everyone um so since the last meeting on April 12th I've continued to meet with Community groups meet with a lot of our um Council committees um and I invite anyone who'd like to call email stop in and say hello I really do want to get to know everyone in the community so please stop in and um say hello uh as the engineer said we had a build bid opening on April 18th um working on a number of improvements at our parks and recreational facilities which I believe we might be discussing in some upcoming meetings including this one a little bit little something yes so we work on a lot of projects um it was really great to see the civically engaged students here last Thursday doing their own council meeting in these Chambers so I just wanted to say that was a great event to kind of introduce myself to the schools here in in in town um tonight you're going to see a resolution for a grant application for coaching the emergency vehicle operator classes for the fire department so that's on the agenda for later um thankfully that Grant if awarded is not a matching Grant so it's completely covered by our insurance company if we if we're awarded that Grant and then we're hiring a new part-time seasonal laborer and a part-time administrative assistant so those are also on the agenda for tonight and we're looking forward to both of those people getting started so yes welcome to those employees um and just a quick question on that firefighting uh fighter training Grant how many um firefighters would that if we are awarded it would that cover it's for 25 okay um but then it's they should then be able to in turn coach other people as they join the department okay yeah terrific okay anybody have any other questions from Mr Arthur okay um I have a report for us tonight um I would like to invite all parents to join me tomorrow at 5:30 at Lincoln School for a workshop on cyber security which will be hosted by the Garwood Police Department along with our department investigators from the Union County prosecutor's office will be presenting some important information on how to keep our children safe online and as we know the online form is always changing so I encourage everyone even those who may have attended something like this in the past to come take part just so you can know the latest in what to look out for this is a presentation for the parents but the students will also be receiving one of their own during the school day so thank you to the Garwood PD for putting this together and again that's tomorrow April 24th at 5:30 at Lincoln School and as Mr Arthur mentioned this past Thursday with students in government night which is always one of my favorite nights of the year uh the kids were very outspoken um not a shy one in the bunch um except councilwoman blo andstock who was just embarrassed to have Mom answer asking all those questions so what are we gonna do with that um but I want to thank Miss bank for getting the students so prepared and thank Mrs Emmons and Mr Kenny for their support and thank you to Kathy Cameron for organizing the event along with Miss Bank the kids all had great ideas and I actually loved how many of of them were concerned about litter and the environment that was actually really great to hear uh also just a last reminder to everyone to get their tickets for the efg's annual dinner where the EFG will be celebrating 20 years of supporting teachers and students at Lincoln School the dinner will be this Thursday just two days away on April 25th uh sorry 26 no 25th I'm right 25th just two days away uh at 5:30 to 8:30 uh and we will be honoring teacher Matthew Burke and par professional Imperial morm tickets are $40 and include Buffet beer wine and soda there's also a 5050 raffle uh and you can buy your tickets for that now for $10 each and you don't need to be present during the drawing so make sure to buy your raffle tickets today uh you can contact me or any other EFG member to purchase both tickets and Raffles or you can go online to Facebook to purchase there uh just a quick update on Vera retail I was told today that they will be signing lease with sweat house a sa and plunge Pool Spa that we spoke of last time um looks like they're signing tomorrow and that they are close to a deal with another company of Personal Fitness location so they they have also been looking at a few restaurant proposals as well so hopefully as we move into spring we get some good news on those um one more item which I'd like to discuss and actually just send back to each committee as it involves pretty much each one um I'd like the Committees to take a look at the kids and recreation grants um first we have some money from previous years that I'd like to take a look at using we have some leftover funds from 2021 that would more than cover two items that I'd like to go ahead with uh first some picnic tables and benches that would replace the older ones on the ground at the rec complex uh not the ones on the um patio platform those are fairly new the ones on the ground um and second I'd like to move ahead with a project I've been looking into for some time now uh communication boards uh in the two parks that we have and these would be for children with special needs so many parks in our area including Westfield and some County Parks have installed them uh and they found them to be wonderful additions for children who may not be able to verbally communicate uh Kata has done some research with me and we found that if we can that we can purchase and install these boards Hartman and the rec complex for under about $6,000 um so if we can get the county to agree to the change of scope for this uh I'd like to see uh if there's interest in supporting these items in addition to that I'd like to ask that our committees consider allocating the 2022 kids wck Grant toward updated security cameras at the rec complex uh this is something Chief stoer and I have spoken about there just are not enough cameras at the complex but even more importantly the technology as we you know we know it changes in an instant um it's very old and so it makes distinguishing faces or features difficult uh so this upgrade would definitely help our PD and it would also complement the new door security that we just installed recently and sort of wrap up the security element over there uh one of the items originally slated for the 2022 kids rec Grant was an a security camera upgrade so we may not even have to change the with this but I know Mr Arthur's going to definitely look into that and then finally uh this year's kids and Rec Grant will be coming out soon this year um it's May or June it usually comes in uh last year we decided not to go out for it but I'd like the Committees to discuss whether they'd like to apply this year after speaking with Mr Arthur there are two items we thought might interest the residents first of course we have the basketball court which as we'll talk about in a little bit is um as we'll talk about in a little bit is our on one of the it's the capital request list for this year but you'll see it's being put off into next year um so it might fall at the top of the list next year is what I should say uh and we can start looking into the other item we can start looking into is what we can finally do with the botchy ball area so while the shade structure discussed last year might be out of range for our finances at this Point perhaps the committee can discuss uh doing something in that area that can be used for more kid-friendly activities like four square or Hopscotch some sort of area where we can paint those games and where shading could possibly be added perhaps sometime in the future um but for now it would just be more of a a playable area uh we do of course have to do a little research into what we could do with that and what kind of surface or platform we could create that would not only be useful but aesthetically pleasing um so really there's there's three different items involving the kids rec grants uh using older grant money for picnic tables and communication boards using another older grant for security cameras um and then the third whether we want to apply for this for one this year and if so what we want it to be for so that last item will definitely involve some committee discussion of course so if you could each put it on your list for your next committee meeting um if you want to have any discussion about some of the other items or if there's any questions and we want to do that now I I can go first okay um so I I supported the uh application for all of those grants that you mentioned in 21 22 and uh unfortunately last year it didn't work out um I think I was the only person up here who who wanted to do that particular uh Grant but you did touch on something that is you can change the scope of these projects with the county which is something I spoke about last year when we were discussing this uh I would absolutely support going out for a new one and uh all the projects you mentioned are at the camera one we've been kicking around since I got on the council and we've just never been able to fund it but the purpose of this grant program that the county initiated was to get money out to municipalities for projects that they might not otherwise be able to fund or be willing to fund without the match so it perfectly in line with what the program is for I would trust Mr Arthur will be able to write it up in a way that the county approves um and I would absolutely support going out for it this year as well to check off all those things uh on your list yeah I know I threw a lot at everybody we kind of went through all these and found went through the different grants Mr Arthur was kind enough to go through and find all of this with Miss Bruns and figure out what was left and what wasn't so um I could have Mr Arthur we can kind of put it together and send it out so that the committee see everything a little bit clearer but um I just did want to sort of get it out there to to everybody and especially bringing up you know picnic tables is one thing we do always you know purchase those every so often um but the communication boards is something a little different that I wanted to to bring up um and that way you can also go take a look at them online uh Westfield installed theirs uh last year I believe so there's some articles on the tap and the patch and everything like that where you can see what they look like um and the estimates that we got are from the same company I did talk with Westfield and see like where they got them who who to use how things went um so you can see what they would look like and what they would be in the end um and then the security I know we been talking about for a long time um and just I know with that Grant in 2022 we were maybe saving some of it maybe not and then nothing kind of happened with it so it's kind of the perfect timing with it to go ahead and it was something that Chief stoer brought up to me last week like that he really wants to get the the cameras going over there um so yeah I know our finance committee is planning on meeting next week for a variety of reasons we'll just add this to the agenda okay I actually have one more comment on the cameras um in my first year on Council we had discussed adding uh camera coverage to Hartman park because we had the one vandalism uh incident there where the mural was defaced um I know there was a couple of back and forths between that and there was because of where the cameras like the monitors could be and how far and I it's something we'll have to look back into because I do remember having the conversation and it got kind of held up because we weren't sure technology-wise how it was going to work out there yeah and it involved we don't have a building there's no building there and the school which is across the street and do we use the school that sort of thing it's I think Chief Wright had had conversations with uh Dr Quigley at the time and um I think we just ran out of time in the year and then 2022 was a different set of issues but if we're going to use uh the grant money for this I would like to get a little bit of coverage over there too if we can okay I'll bring that um police can bring that back as well we can talk with Chief stoer about that in committee okay all right and then um in terms of next year's Grant like I said it does come out meish if uh during committees you can talk about whether you want to go out for it if we want to do something like that either get the basketball court done which we were looking to do in a few years or um if we want to finally do something with that botch ball area and again I'm not sure exactly what we'd have to do a little bit more research into it but I know that that piece of the rec complex is something that we need to attend to so might it be helpful just you know for the wre committee to meet and then just provide a recommendation and then the finance committee could get that recommendation and then kind of like look at you know the other pieces and components of the capital plan to try to figure out where that fits in count Mani all good then yeah I'm just agenda I will we will absolutely do that I'm just thinking so our next recck meeting is the 13th of May is that appropriate for the time frame for you or are you going to need something um if you could call a community a community engagement okay uh meeting more than and then we can we can always uh communicate with the rec committee via email as well um and and get some of their feedback because I also would actually like to bring some of this to Citizens advisory too so it's going to kind of be a crunch but I'm gonna I'd like to try so if you could do a community engagement I don't know when they said they said May or June it's coming yeah they said they usually announce in May or June which means that obviously there would be some time after to actually apply if we could figure this out over May in in May like to just so we we're set and we can put the the grant together if we decide to go forward and obviously the moment I see a firm deadline I'll let you all know what that actually is so I think we can do this in a couple different steps like Community engagement then bring it to the rec committee bring it to Citizens advisory that sort of thing all within the next month good okay terrific um and I went out of order of course um because I I was all mixed up with the the report from the borrow engineer and everything so I did miss some of the other business that we had to do first so we're going to go back um on your agenda you might see the well you will see the historical committee Grant presentation that has been uh rescheduled and it's TBD um and so uh we are not doing that tonight but we are doing our capital budget presentation so I know councilman Foley uh has a has something to say and I know you have some docu each council person up here has some documents correct again for it's going to be the five column document and I believe the audience may have it so it's in the folder in the back like I said so feel free to grab it so you can follow along councilman F floor is yours thank you mayor thank you Council and tonight I am pleased to present the report on the capital budgets requests recommended by the finance committee for the year 2024 our f Focus this year has been predominantly on enhancing the safety and Welfare of our Town's residents and Community as many you may already know the finance committee has recommended and the council already approved the funds for upgrading the radio equipment for our First Responders replacing the police department and fire department's nearly 30-year old radios this investment is critical to improving the operational efficiency and safety of our First Responders enhanced radio equipment will ensure clearer communication worker response times and better coordination during emergencies the finance committee is also recommending the purchase of the new sanitation truck for the DPW the current sanitation truck which has been the service for 23 23 years needs to be replaced the finance committee feels that a new sanitation truck will continue to ensure reliability efficiency and environmental standards of our DPW Additionally the committee has also recommended new safety equipment for the fire department this will enable our firefighters to better manage and respond to emergencies ensuring higher safety standards and protection for both the firefighters and the community the finance committee believes that the recommended Capital items will bring substantial improvements to our community safety infrastructure and operational capab uh capabilities and also alongside our current capital requests form there is a capital plan request for 2025 um these requests uh equal to over a million dollars and I wanted to open the discussion with Council if anyone has any comments but before we do that I just want to add that our committee uh balanced our decisions for the 2024 Capital request budget in respects to the request for 2025 that is all questions or comments about the 2025 or the 2024 Capital plan requests well thank you for putting together uh a sort of summary of the 2025 I think it's useful not only for us up here but for the public to see what's coming down the pike um it may change and I will probably guarantee you right now it will change um I've never seen a a capital plan each go exactly how it was supposed to go the year before but it gives us a good sort of basis of what's coming um and so I just wanted to clarify for the public because we talked about the the radio equip police and fire radio equipment which we've already bonded for and purchased and then um your recommendation for the sanitation truck um in terms of fire there's five sets of turnout gear and then the other couple of small items that the finance committee unan unanimously approved is um uh a nox a knoxbox PPE and a 45 foot ladder um so obviously those are just some extra safety equipment that is good to have I do know I believe with the ladder that the last ladder is it's needed because the other one failed in inspection correct it's no longer usable I believe that's the case and you know when we had the chief come in and speak to the finance committee um we asked for him to prioritize because he had a lot of things on his list that he wanted us to approve and we tried to really prioritize the things that were just most urgent that were most in need to make sure that our fire department had you know the proper safety equipment so that was the number one priority on his list um so I believe that is corrected as far as the ladder is concerned okay um and then the other part that I know we'll talk about in a minute uh that you see on this list that was unanimously approved as the flooring for burrow Hall um this is something that councilwoman Bodo and I also brought to the citizens advisory panel and they agreed as well that this was something that definitely needed to happen it would be replacing FL in the police department um in burrow Hall offices as you know we kind of did a maneuver and and moved some offices around in there and the flooring definitely needs to be replaced in in certain parts um and then the carpeting in here as well as we know it's extremely old but as you can see especially I half the time my trip up here coming to the state it's starting to pull um and really come up from a lot of different areas so putting something that's a little bit more um user friendly on the floor would definitely be good um and that particular item though uh is part of the Union County infrastructure grant that Mr disco mentioned earlier and that we'll have a discussion about in a minute but half of that would be covered by the grant councilman council president Carney had something uh just a couple things mayor um so on the list I see it under the administration department the uh potential for upgrading uh Audio and Video in this room um I don't see it on the 2025 um I know this was actually Mr Harris's uh project that um we had a gap between administrators it didn't really get pushed forward uh to finance but uh I would just like to point out to the finance committee that literally every meeting were gathered over there around that laptop trying to make sure that the public can hear us if they're tuning in on Zoom or YouTube um $225,000 probably is even more than would be needed uh depending on what we're doing in here um it's just something to consider if if you know if we see where we're at at the end of the year and there's some operating and we could go that way um just because it's a consistent comment I get from people when uh they talk to me about Council they know that I'm like the guy that uh pushed for it and helped set it up years ago it's just um what we put together we did it on a super tight budget uh the TV that's up there I think uh the former Ba got it on sale on Amazon like everything was done as we always do here you know down to the pennies as well as we could but you know this is something in today's day and age that I think is very important that the public be able to follow along what's what's going on here uh and especially I think what's most Val is the recording uh the live streaming is nice and the reason that I always push for live streaming is that no one can argue that this body edited a record if it was live streamed and just left but being able to come back and watch it later um even speaking to what uh Miss Paul said earlier about wanting to be involved uh sometimes it's difficult for people to make these meetings I mean think about how much some of us struggle to to be here sometimes or the things that we miss because we committed to be up here so um I don't know how this discussion went in your committee but it's something that I would want to bump up the priority scale uh in the future so I'll let you talk in a minute Council councilman fly I just wanted to say one of the reasons I even mentioned that the capital plan request for 2025 will inevitably change is that anything that wasn't approved this year will inevitably be at the top of the list for next year so um I appreciate these chart because it's very easy to see whatever was discussed and does not and in the end we do not approve moving forward with you know you're going to see it again next year so it's not so and Will some of these get bumped back to 2026 possibly so that's why it's sort of like musical chairs with all of this but you are actually reading my mind because what I wanted to say about a couple of the items under Fire uh you know the the gear safe room is a is a is a big one that um would probably come up higher on priority next year um so a lot of these things like if they're not funded now it doesn't mean that they go away right so that's part of the that's part of why it's so tough is that you see everything that they want for next year and you know that the department heads are going to add whatever didn't come from this year and that's what they should do so um you know it's the prioritizing like councilman Foy said so if you wanted to speak to the discussion about that particular item with the audio video so um one of the things during our finance committee hearings was we we really focused on safety and what the needs were for the town and what to invest in um the the audiovisual equipment although we want to ensure better communication for the residents and transparency uh was not really discussed as a immediate need um and due to the lack of information and kind of kind of uh dialogue about the necessity of it um we felt that it wasn't it was something we reconsider in the future but safety was our was Paramount to US during those hearings so those meetings thank you and I was just to add I mean I do and thank you councilman Kerney I mean I do think it is important for us to consider this as a potential you know more on our our radar for next year I think also because we're in transition of ba um that you know the actual implementation of some something like this this year felt like not of as high priority so it's something that you know we felt we had other priorities that took precedence but I do think that this is something that we will certainly uh look at as a year progresses and as Mr Arthur gets more familiar with his job and um and looks at the bigger picture and and determining what areas we maybe we do have money available in some of our line items that could accommodate that we do have um our buildings and grounds uh budget um in which sometimes there is a little bit of money left in that fund usually not but sometimes there is and that's an opportunity that perhaps we could look to see if there is money there at the end of the year it it wouldn't just be valuable for us either uh and specifically planning board and the way that they do presentations there like even adding a second screen in the room so the audience does doesn't have to hurt their necks looking at the back wall back there putting up a screen somewhere behind us um and none of these things are hugely expensive the main challenge in this room would just be running the wiring and even wiring is an issue with we have two mics over there that none of us can figure out why they're not working so it's all something that's really got to get looked at I would hope we can get to at least part of it this year but I guess we'll see how the year goes I also want to add because of interest rates going up I wanted to kind of focus on safety and see where that goes so if there are other ways to pay without having to pay interest in the future I would I was hoping really pushing for that to operating is always preferable if you can swing it any other comments or questions um on the items on the capital request one I did want to mention um following up on um C Ker's about the audio we are working on the team of Hometown Grant and I think that's one the one of the options to you know to better the town so we're going we have a meeting tomorrow like I said and we'll discuss it because we're still in mid projects so that may be something that we can include okay so we'll look at that as well and I want to after we're done with this move to the infrastructure Grant discussion but that's also a possibility for next year as well so there's a couple of other possible ways we can go about it that maybe we'll we'll have to wait and see so okay that's good to know anything else um is everybody in agreement with the recommendations then placed by the finance committee I know all of these were unanimous by the committee so I'm looking at you over on this side we got this side's vote I guess the the largest um price tag is the sanitation truck for 325 can you um explain your for that I understand the truck is old and you are probably spending quite a bit of money to repair it but um can you just elaborate more on that decision uh from my understanding what was discussed um truck is old it's having issues um in terms of just being able to function um and we got to have that another truck in place cuz this one is on its way out um and and we decided it was NE Neary to have it before any further issues or before it just doesn't work at all so it yeah I do know it's it's been repaired it's been um it's in bad shape it's in B really bad shape it's been soldered it's been yeah um it goes to the do we start good money after bad sort of thing do we keep putting money into it or not we do put two trucks out at one time um and so this particular truck from 2002 is sort of the backup but there inevitably when you're using these trucks um every day you're going to have issues even with the new one um and so there are times when that one is in getting repairs and they've had to pull this one out so I I just know from me from doing this for some years with this and and knowing that it's really just about we push these trucks to the Limit and we do and we should um if I'm 2002 so if I may and I maybe may be incorrect on this but the other truck is also pretty old so there's there's a risk of having two trucks out at once because the other one is having issues um and in need of repair yeah so that's a that's a risk of having two trucks both in repair at once so the the other one is 2011 I believe and and then the one the newest one is actually 2017 at this point so you're still looking at that ones at this point 7 years old so we say the new one but it's not even so new anymore um also sorry to interrupt I I apologize um uh we were explained that the um capacity of these trucks generally is supposed to be 10 years so obviously you know we don't necessarily follow that guideline and we typically try to um make those last a lot longer um you know but obviously that there are are negatives as you get to the ending of the life of that truck which is you have you have to add more repair costs into the budget line for it so um you know that's definitely a factor as well yeah I mean the last time this came up we we did push it off um last year we did push it off to this year because uh we tried to get another year out of it the other issue is whenever ordering equipment like this it now takes two to three years to come in we're still waiting on a dump truck that was um purchased two years ago three years ago yeah at least it still hasn't come in so that's the problem is that could we put it off yes another year but then you're talking another two years after that till you get it so that to be considered when we're doing this um that we're not actually this was something Capital uh sorry citizens advisory panel talked about too they you know everybody kind of said well let's put it off on another year and then when it was explained that it actually would then be two years after that when we'll probably get it in if that um it was decided Well I then I think it's time because I don't know if we can wait three years on this um if we're going to be in the garbage business then we we need to have the the trucks to do it so that was the reasoning we brought forth the citizens advisory um anybody else we're good are we moving forward with the recommendations then yeah I'm good with the 2024 recommendations okay Council boto Council yes I um yeah definitely with the flooring I mean we took that tour we took we you know walked over to the police and there's just tiles missing everywhere so yeah absolutely all right well thank you councilman Foley for that presentation I appreciate it thank you for the charts to let us see this very clearly and easily I know the public will appreciate that um we can even get these online for everybody to see Mr Arthur um what goes along kind of with the capital budget presentation though where I want to steer the discussion right now is the infrastructure Grant because one of the items you know some of these These are capital items that we will be putting into this um the municipal flooring obviously everybody unan unanimously agreed to it we did get 38,000 from the infrastructure Grant so the same as last year uh so if we use it for the flooring and again that is a matching Grant so we would have 21 out 21,500 left in that Grant um we had a couple of items on the uh Grant itself uh which we just kind of put everything into it so that we could see what we got and now it's time to prioritize those other three items um there was a Public Works building heat pump system for 8,750 sidewalk installation and Ada improvements for 45200 um which is uh Spruce to Locust since as Mr disco said we're now doing Willow to Spruce we could do another block using this grant um and then we talked about also like the light pole banners which was 6600 which some of them just you know some of the old flag ones and things are getting worn down and um need to be replaced we we still have some that are that are good some of the older ones that were purchased many many years ago are getting there um so I wanted to open up that discussion I'm I know Finance I asked Finance to talk about it last night if you could maybe uh talk about your discussion in the finance committee um where you wanted to go with the rest of the Grant and then we can I'll take the other side of the day us here uh during our meeting last night we really didn't get into deep discussion about it uh we're having a meeting next week we'll we'll talk about it further okay did you mention did you you talk at all about because I um about the air conditioning and the sidewalk you nothing was discussed with that because the air conditioning was you did discuss and at the time uh the DPW stated that uh the super intendent stated that the AC unit in there is in good condition and isn't effective okay we did also it wasn't formally discuss but we we communicated via text amongst the three of us you know so obviously there isn't a a full consensus from the finance committee but um you know we did uh have a taex conversation um afterwards because I had I wanted to uh bring up for discussion the sidewalk project that you mentioned about extending the sidewalk project so um I am you know personally very much in favor of prioritizing the extension of that sidewalk pro project you know I've seen the work that's already been done on West Street and um I always been a big believer in establishing a more pedestrian safe environment for our town and to encourage people to walk into downtown so we have less traffic in town I I think it's all very very positive for us to expand our sidewalks as much as possible um so I just think the greater benefit to the town from Stu you know students walking to school to our residents tons of them who have dogs who walk their dogs um to encouraging people to be able to walk to downtown businesses hopefully vermella gets more businesses right all of those things I think are really really wonderful opportunities and to me make the sidewalk project to me the my number one priority I also uh went by there yesterday after we discussed it um outside and um it is necessary there was a lot of individuals walking their dogs walking their kids without the sidewalks people are more likely to be pushed towards the street um so it is something I'm in favor of but I want to discuss in our next committee meeting just to to to get a full vote there thank you yes uh Mr Arthur toh clarify a little bit with the the heat air air conditioning discussion that um I did have some discussions with our superintendent of Public Works that there may be some other solutions that we could look at uh such as another floor unit in there um and then also if there are leftover funds in some of our lines um at the end of the year we might be able to explore using those as opposed to to this infrastructure Grant so it's not I I'd say the consensus seems to be that it's not it's not the top priority um that's what I'm pick picking up on any discussion over on this side uh so just in reference to the sidewalk uh discussion I agree 100% with councilman Lazaro um um making the town more pedestrian friendly is uh near the top of my priority list uh every year um I actually with the work that's already been done I had two different residents from that area uh reach out to me and say how great that it looked and actually like can you do more because people who live on that side of town you know West is is kind of like a a cut through and you know sidewalk there definitely is a benefit to the to the community so that would be like out of the list you had there that would be my number one item okay Council women any uh thoughts on the matter um I do I do agree the best use of the money would be for the sidewalk just because you kind of get the most bang for your buck out of this grant um like I said the the sidewalk and Mr disco did tell me I I spoke to him this morning about it that 45 is a little high but of course he you know added some buffer in there so the sidewalk if you do half of it with the grant it's about this it's about the 21,500 that you have left with it so uh when you you know take out the flooring aspect so the matching with that is kind of works out almost perfectly so that you're using up you are definitely using up the whole Grant um whereas with the other items you have some left over and I I it's to me like almost like you're wasting money that's sitting there um when this is something that I have wanted to do the the sidewalks that we're doing now was I I think a great addition as we get more retail going I think not only are you you see it now with the kids and and people walking their dogs but people are going to be walking over to the retail on from West people who live in that area so and I actually have had a a little boy who came to me and asked me for a a crosswalk he lives over on that side and they cross West Street um and he's been waiting for a crosswalk I told him I promise at one point we'll get to them um so this would really cover most of that we would still have maybe another block to beach that we could do in the future but at least we can get a good chunk out of this um so it seems like everybody here is an agreement on the top two priorities being the flooring and the sidewalks if you want to just double check at Finance with councilwoman salmon um but it looks like you know uh majority is kind of going that way okay so we will tentatively Mr Arthur get you know let Mr disco know that this is likely where the rest of the grant is going to go um and then we can give a definitive one next week thank you mayor okay all right so to me that is it in terms of capital budget items it's a lot um but I think we really you narrowed it down to some good items you narrowed it down to some good needs here uh any other comments questions capital budget Capital items from the council okay then we sorry can I just add one thing um pleas some of those things we talked about from the kids wreck Trust Grant yes if we can't secure funding in other ways we may have to look at a little bit extra capital for example maybe like those security cameras for the matching portion of that so that's just putting that on your radar as well it's not a huge amount but I just wanted to there some of the if there is a little bit that we need to look for we we can also look at the trust the AFC trust if it's anything for the rec complex so we can try and maneuver that as you find out more about the the grants themselves and if we can change the scope of them and that sort of thing I think we'll know more soon right okay okay sounds good okay all right we will move to believe it or not comments for the council uh councilwoman boo thank you mayor very short for me um I want to congratulate Council woman ndi on a very successful poetry Festival um all the poets were very talented were um very talented um but what was really nice is that we had such a turnout the library and Crow R was full and just talking to everybody was positive it was so so amazing so thank you for sharing your love for the Arts and I look forward to keep you know the work that J is doing so thank you yes I Echo that I just want to say I could not believe how successful it was honestly like obviously I knew it was going to be successful it was packed and um the vibe was just awesome in there and everybody was so you know kind and and supportive and I had a lot of people come up to me both from Garwood and outside of Garwood said this is so cool that Garwood has something like this so good job councilman Foley I just want to just congratulate uh councilman M um the event was great uh great turnout it was a lot of fun uh inspired me to want to do it next time uh and uh just just wonderful job great great great thing for Garwood and I just couldn't be happier to see it councilman Lazaro good job on the Poetry you thank you for letting my nerdiness shine through and my my love for poetry and for literature so thanks for giving an opportunity for someone who hasn't uh dabbl in poetry for a long time so thank you great you wouldn't know it councilwoman noie so I was going to um say this in my in my my later comments but I might as well say them now um so we are very pleased about the Poetry Festival it was really a great success but the the people that really need to be thanked is not me the people that need to be thanked are the volunteers so all the people who were on gpac I called them my poetry team um for just helping the plan planning and preparation it was just very thorough and very well organized and it couldn't have happened without without the volunteers and I want to a shout out particularly to Mike marora who took some of the most beautiful photographs of all the poets as they were reading and the group photo at the end so which he shared with everyone so um you should know check out social media I'm sure you'll be seeing those photos pretty soon have a very very talented group of volunteers uh council president Carney uh no official comments tonight but I do want to Echo uh everyone up here with a big thank you to council mani and the gpac volunteers uh for the Poetry events over this weekend uh and also my compliments to councilman Lazaro for waxing poetic okay minutes miss Cameron yes minutes of the special budget meeting of the mayor and Council held on August uh April 9th 2024 minutes of the regular meeting of the mayor and Council held on April 11th 2024 can I have a motion to accept the special budget meeting minute I'll make that motion and the regular minutes for both second all in favor I I opposed Communications miss Cameron yes Township of Cranford regarding ordinance uh received and file letter to Mayor and Council regarding audit information received and filed uh we have one opt uh one ordinance no we have two tonight we have two ordinances up for adoption can you please read ordinance 24 11 by title only yes an ordinance amending the burrow code of the burrow of garard by amending chapter 27 entitled fire department article one General Provisions subsection 27-2 organization and election of officers and subsection 27-6 Chief to be fire marshal fire inspector fire prevention officer do we have any corespondence concerning this ordinance we do not mayor does anyone present wish to be heard concerning ordinance number 24-11 please come to the mic state your name and address and please limit your comment to 5 minutes sh biano 404 Myrtle um this ordinance uh is the required fire department code certification language it's being fixed in this new ordinance but something else is now incorrect when spelling out specifically what positions must be held for each fire department officer position and for how long an error was clearly noted and brought brought up at the last council meeting the buau changed the title of assistant chief to deputy chief last year the assistant chief title should absolutely be added and fixed in this ordinance before it's passed knowingly passing an ordinance that is wrong leaves the burrow open to potential future challenges for legal action and is just not acceptable the current Fire Department chief has never served as a deputy chief and neither have any of the other fire department members prior to last year's change of title from assistant chief thus making them all ineligible to be Fire Department chief according to the new ordinance so it's wrong to knowingly perceive with something you are aware as wrong so I would ask that you please have common sense and change the title correction before proceeding with this ordinance thank you thank you is there anybody else who wishes to address the council about this ordinance Mr Patterson good evening mayor ladies and gentlemen of council Bruce Patterson 325 Willow Avenue I I'll probably suck the burrow attorney into this but I mean this is now the end of a a long road I mean the months of accusations against the Facebook which actually turned out that it was right all this time um I really am beside myself that you guys you guys were lying actually not us on Facebook but you guys were the problem and let me just bring up this is this is the problem and and the attorney this is why I'm going to probably involve you somehow but anyway let's say the Garwood fire department responded to a fire an incident happened and suddenly there's a lawsuit against the town well the plaintiff's attorney in Discovery is going to ask for all the laws and ordinances covering the certification of the Fire Department officials once he gets it he's going to notice that of this ordinance that they were not certified according to Fire officer one and Fire officer 2 they did not have those certifications and the response I guess in our defense and I'm talking about our defense because it's it's it's the people that are actually sued and our defense would have been well it was an oversight because I heard this last meeting I also saw this in a newspaper from councilman Carney it was not Our intention I mean how I he has no idea what the intention really was so I he was just making that up but I mean at this point the judge listening to oversight and not Our intention what do you think he's going to do he's he's going to think we're crazy and rule for the plaintiffs I I'm sorry you know that's why I'm bringing it up so anyway so at at this point this long road is going to be over the three whistleblowers on Facebook are correct you guys are just nothing but noise and chatter and accusations which I mean there there's so many people out here just discussed that out how you guys attacked the Facebook three whistleblowers when they were right all along so I mean you know there's still the incident command certification that's outstanding but I understand as long as somebody's there with a lot of uh hours of practice you know it can pass on as an instinct Commander the Hazmat uh levels that are required I mean the Union County guy Mac whatever Mac one or something said yeah Union County can come down here and cover the whatever the level of Hazmat is which is strange because we should have our own certification on that it's just beyond comprehension that you guys fought this tooth and nail and this is the result this is the result of the Facebook whistleblowers being correct this all this goes back to former this actually goes back to former councilwoman Rachel Herz who actually back in September or October whenever it was when this first came up as a re revision she t talked about certifications that all the certifications should be compiled in one place and that the burrow should be uh the compilation of of whatever they are our whistleblowers put together a ma Matrix and at least you can actually see hopefully you looked at the Matrix are you watching the clock there mayor I can see you're watching the clock instead of me you have one minute yeah okay no problem you I hope you're even listening to any of this because you're the one that lied I mean this this Council not not all of you couple of you stayed out of it which is good I'm really happy to see that some stayed out of it but I mean and and you I don't know why you hitched your truck you had no idea what was going on councilman Foley but but three of you had problems and dumped it onto the Facebook but the Facebook was right all this time so I mean once we vote this yes they will be certified in my opinion anyway I mean there still has Matt n in command but to me I'll be satisfied that my Facebook whistleblowers were right all this time and you guys were wrong do you understand what I'm saying thank you you're welcome is there anybody else who wishes to address the mayor and councel okay can I have a motion to close public hearing so moved second uh discussion um Miss Kappa biano our attorney addressed this last week um I'm not sure if everybody could here because of the microphone so um do you mind grabbing that sorry there you go so the chief was promoted before all this correct yes so then he has been Chief already for so then since he already held the title this wouldn't have any effect at this point in time it's just for anybody knew who was going to get promoted into those titles thank you um and I'm not addressing Mr Patterson because it's been addressed many times nobody lied there are no whistleblowers great so can I have a motion to adopt ordinance number 24-11 so second uh roll call please councilwoman Bodo I councilman Foley I councilman Lazar councilwoman ndi hi council president Carney hi okay miss Cameron can you read ordinance 24-12 by title only yes calendar year 2024 ordinance to establish a c cap Bank njsa 40a 4- 45-14 can uh do we have any correspondence uh we do not does anyone present wish to be heard concerning this ordinance uh do I have a motion to close please state your name and address and limit your comments to five minutes please thank you uh this is Bruce Patterson 325 Willow Avenue good evening mayor ladies and gentlemen of the council uh this cap bank I mean this this has been talked about for probably 15 years you know and and one year actually the council did vote no on it which was which you know that was back in I think 2012 which was cool but to tell you the truth I'd really like to hear an explanation of what the cat c bank is to but to me it's mythical it's it's a mythical dollar amount that is allowing the budget to be increased and and this cap bank has in the private sector with with the borrowing and bonding there's no such thing as a c bank it's only on the public sector borrowing and bonding which is amazing the private sector has the the the general um the the general uh accounting principles I guess it's called so anyway so I mean at at this point somewhere I guess uh Mr Warren kki I guess his name is our auditor mentioned that there's a $24,000 amount uh being used out of a cap bank I know there's other uh well let's just say there's $24,000 that is being used it's like a a mythical $24,000 that is allowing the finance committee and the governing body to increase taxes another $24,000 I mean it's amazing it's $172 an average house which is a lot of money but that's to be talked about come May 8th or whatever it is but I mean if if somebody could I I guess somebody in the finance committee could explain what the cap bank is and why are we're using this mythical $24,000 thank you thank you do does anybody else wish to address the mayor and Council or do I have a motion to close public hearing on this ordinance some of second okay uh Mr Patterson we I purposely had Mr Ki go through all of this at the last at the budget meeting so that we didn't have to continue to go through it we do this every year and it's a tool that our auditor recommends that we have at our disposal it's it's not money that we're choosing to use right now so um bard of Ed does it most Board of EDS do it most Municipal townships Do It um so we'll end it with that do I have a motion to adopt ordinance 24-12 so moved second roll call please councilwoman Bodo hi councilman Foley hi councilman Lazaro hi I councilwoman ndi I council president Carney I okay committee standing reports uh Finance personel councilman Foley thank you mayor um just just a short brief report uh we met to discuss tonight's Capal request presentation and last night we met for personnel matters uh we are going to meet next week to discuss Personnel matters and further discussion about the West Street sidewalk extension and that is all okay byon o councilman Lazaro uh I have no official report but I just wanted to congratulate firefighter Jimmy Gregory his Incident Management level one and two certificates have been issued by the New Jersey Division of fire safety and are on file at fire headquarters as a result Jimmy Gregory has been reinstated to the rank of Captain effective immediately also I will have an update on the ladder truck repair work at our next council meeting that's all for my report okay um anybody have a Community Development report from Council samon okay Public Works councilwoman Bodo thank you mayor um in addition to the recurring activities the Department of Public Works cleaned up the common areas around the municipal complex and the fire department installed the 25 M per hour signs in various locations of the burrow continue to weed and clean the vegetative waste from the Barrow own pods in various locations drag the infield and strip the Little League field at the sports complex for school functions performed the monthly fire extinguisher inspections at all bur on buildings weeded The Mulch beds at the municipal complex cut the vegetation and weeds in various locations of the burrow um separately um as I mentioned before we have been discussing the T-Mobile Hometown Grant and we'll provide more details on the application process after our meeting tomorrow uh the Public Works committee has also discussed the protected bike Lanes on cob extensions project however due to the current short-term Staffing in the DPW we are going to hold this project for a few months thank you that is all thank you police and Public Safety Council president Carney thank you mayor the police committee met last Tuesday April 16th uh we were joined by Chief stoer and Mr Arthur uh topics discussed included the 911 system Staffing and various parking issues uh regarding the 911 system it appears that KML which is the vendor the burrow planned on purchasing NextGen 911 equipment from uh has announced that they are pulling out of our Market due to compatibility issues with Lumen uh which is the company that is replacing Verizon as the 911 network provider for the state state of New Jersey uh Chief stoer is working on quotes with alternative vendors um and fortunately when these were priced out last year uh KML was by far the least expensive option which uh met the state's requirements uh so while this is in progress our existing KL 911 system that's up and running in dispatch right now uh will continue to be supported at least through the end of 2024 the chief uh will provide an update to the committee when quotes are received and he's evaluated the best option to move forward uh we touched briefly on police Staffing uh including Staffing projections due to possible openings during the year and we will continue these discussions in our next committee meeting in May uh on the topic of parking the committee discussed possible revisions to the burrow code for snowstorm parking uh several options were discussed and the chief presented recommendations however we had no consensus in committee uh I'm going to hold the topic over for future committee discussion and also refer questions regarding plowing operations to the public works committee uh and other questions regarding options for snowstorm parking I'm going to request to go over to Citizens advisory uh some of the ideas that we've been kicking around uh the police department will be attending a final training session with Park Mobile uh and has personalized signs on order for the new metered parking areas uh the zones for metering have been laid out and we should expect to see the system go live sometime around the beginning of June uh and there is one final parking topic uh regarding the addition of metered parking spaces uh on South Avenue and West Street uh I'd like to hold over for the next council meeting uh when the full council is here uh since we would need to do an ordinance to enact what uh Chief stoer has recommended to the committee uh and the committee did agree with uh but we need uh feedback from the uh Council and again potentially citizens advisory could touch on this uh I'm going to write up uh a summary of the proposed changes and send it over to uh Mr Arthur for coun Council distribution uh it very similar to uh how South Avenue was laid out uh before all the construction projects began so it's not a it's not a huge change it's kind of going back to the way that it was if everyone agrees with it but I will get that out to everybody for our next meeting and that's all for this report okay thank you community engagement councilwoman ndi yes thank you mayor um so we have a number of things that are going on in with youth programs our soccer Squirts and parent assist soccer is in full swing right now um participants are learning the fundamental skills of soccer through fun games and activities um the Garwood summer camp is um open for registration the early bird price is $110 per child until May 24th uh the camp runs from June 24th to August 9th 9:00 am. to 12:00 p.m grades K through 8 um if you're interested in becoming a camp counselor or CIT please email Recreation garwood.nj we have several adult programs um coming up um we have the gpac Discover series discover the art of collage with Leona sufor Saturday May 4th at 5:00 pm this is for adults learn how to add three-dimensional items such as lace and fabrics to your collages and also um manipulating photographs and superimposing images for digital collage registration is open at Garwood rec.com um additionally there's also adult suround which registration is open for the Wednesday May 8th Class um adult open playay basketball is taking place on Wednesday evening starting at 6:30 at Lincoln School this is also a free program to register visit Garwood rec.com adult open play soccer is also starting up again and uh Friday evenings at 8:00 pm in the Garwood Sports and wreck complex this is also free program and you can register at Garwood rec.com um Garwood is also a a proud member of the trian collaboration new spring programs include Social Clubs reading tennis baseball Taekwondo and pilates these programs help teach Sports life skills and build individual skills teamwork and fun for uh the special needs population please click on the Summit Community programs link on the burrow homepage under quick links we have one um big event that's coming up in May our Memorial Day remembrance service the recreation committee will be hosting this year's annual service on Monday May 27th at 12m at the kns of Columbus lunch will follow thank you Library councilman lazro thank you mayor some of the upcoming events at the library include April 24th May 1st and May 22nd at 3M the Lego Club will be having their meeting be inspired by the month's theme or build whatever comes to mind some will be displayed in the library showcase registration is required limit of 12 in the month of May the Garwood Library will be starting a small seed Library a seed Library collects and stores seeds and shares them with members of the community for free the collection will start with packets of store-bought seeds residents may take up to two packets of seeds per week no checkout required if your plant grows successfully consider collecting the seeds and donating them back to the seed Library returning seed packets uh will be available at the library please label and packet the seeds before returning them on May 1st through the 31st is the libraryies annual bookmark contest Lincoln students are encouraged to create a bookmark design encompassing this year's summer reading theme adventure begins at your library all participants will receive a small gift for participating winners will be chosen from each grade and their bookmark will be laminated and distributed it to their grade the application for the contest was sent home in the Friday folder and is available at the library on May 7th at 3 p.m. there'll be the virtual kids craft you can pick up your Mother's Day craft supplies from the library and then watch the Facebook tutorial at 3 p.m. registration is required for craft kits and is limited to 15 part participants sign up on the library's website events calendar or by phone and also on May 21st at 3 pm is the virtual adult craft you can pick up your craft supplies and instructions from the library and registration is required for the craft kits and is limited to 10 participants sign up on the library's website events calendar or by phone that's all for my report thank you School Board liaison council president Carney the Garwood Board of Education held their regular monthly meeting on Tuesday April 16th the educator and power professional of the year were both honored by board presentations uh the teacher is Mr Burke and the power professional is Mrs Moral Moral more meley uh the board acknowledged the pilot transaction from the burrow pending the approval of our introduced budget uh the board also took action on a number of policy updates including the facilities usage policy uh the board's next meeting will be on Tuesday April 30th that meeting is for the purpose of adopting this year's School District budget uh and mayor blumenstock and I will be meeting again with our counterparts from the board and Mr Kenny in the first week of May uh and the board's May meeting is currently scheduled for Tuesday May 21st that's all for this report thank you um I have a senior citizen report um at our meeting last week on the 18th the senior Club was joined by the builders Club from Lincoln School the builders Club is a community service organization that is the Middle School branch of the Key Club and the Kanas Club so sixth seventh and eighth grade students from the club joined us for Bingo and they did a great job calling the numbers uh this was a return trip for the Builder club members they visited us last year and we had such a great time and wanted to do it again and I'm sure we'll be playing Bingo again together soon so thank you to miss Coyle the Builder Club director for helping to organize uh our next meeting is May 2nd and our new B administrator will be stopping by to introduce himself to the members so join us at 1200m at the Knights of Columbus uh small business advisory council president Kerney uh thank you mayor and you definitely had some fifth graders there because oh I'm sorry my my son reported back to me that my bad that he saw you and it was he had a I think he had a very good time plan bigo uh so for small business the uh Garwood sbaa board met via Zoom last week uh with most of our time spent on the upcoming Taste of Garwood promotion which uh Shameless plug here is running between May 17th and May 24th this year uh volunteer gsba board members are hitting the street this week uh with the goal of getting every restaurant and Garwood involved in this year's event uh work is is still in progress with our Pio On promotional materials but expect to begin seeing posters for this around town uh as well as banners uh if one hasn't gone up I think it's about to so uh thanks to the DPW for getting them placed uh and also to Crossroads for again getting a banner donated uh I'm hopeful we'll have a full list of participants and special offers by our next council meeting uh we also held follow-up discussion on updating the Burrow's sign ordinance uh which dates from the 1980s so I'm hopeful to have something on that for the full Council to consider over the summer and that's all for this report okay thank you uh Board of Health leaz on councilman Foley uh nothing to report uh at this time okay um anybody have a planning board report from Council okay U moving on to officer reports miss Cameron uh yes Garwood Police Department report for March 2024 C EO tax collector report for first quarter 2024 do I have a motion to accept officer reports so moved second second all in favor I I I opposed okay moving on to public comment if there's anyone in the audience who wishes to address the mayor and Council please step to the microphone and state your full name and address and please limit your comments to five minutes good evening a lot to say I'll try to be quick uh Bill near said 320 Hickory have first uh excuse me um first I apologize to uh councilwoman boto she had asked me for reports and I couldn't get them to her today so I figured I'd come and say things instead um I do owe council members a number of reports um you will be getting a full shade tree report um soon because I am going to be asking for um certain things okay first the Green Team okay uh May 4th we will be uh having our next uh uh adopt the park project in Yami Park on May 4th and we will be uh installing a wood path going from um the bridge going over into Westfield uh up to the baseball fields we'll also be putting a um leg so to speak off with the existing path that we completed uh last year over to the baseball fields um shade tree um kind of disappointing so far be to be very up uh upfront and blunt um the uh uh project that I've working on with the state of New Jersey for over a year uh getting uh trees planted on North Avenue um it's falling apart a little bit uh the state is not um going to in my opinion and I know I'm being recorded here but is not holding up their end of the deal and so uh I'm continuing to work with them but I wanted to have have those trees planted this spring that's not going to happen uh also the shade the contracts the road contracts that Mike disco spoke about earlier um you know these are 23 road construction projects um I don't think we will have the trees planted in Spring of 2024 I think all of them are going to end up going into the fall of 2024 for a number of reasons the biggest reason is because they didn't the the road contractors sub out to landscape cont contractors and they didn't contact the nurseries in January February or March so consequently the nurseries don't have the material dug that we need so I'm very disappointed we may get um 36 trees planted as one of the uh road construction projects this year or this spring but that's it so very disappointing so far also very disappointed in uh you see the work that psng does through their subcontractor uh right now it's st's tree company they come out and V every tree uh every tree that has a central leader they don't air if it's within 8 feet of their electric line they just cut so I I I Maria drives uh through Garwood because I I I can't take it because I look at these trees and they're just and they say it they know it they're butchered so um I've gone to various trees that I I could literally just take down because they either cut these destroying the tree shape or they they hedge trim them and if you see a tree out there like if you go on uh Myrtle there are six lyen trees in a row and they cut them eight years ago they cut them four years ago they're cutting them again this year their lyen trees as I said that reach about 40 feet in height and they just cut them cut them cut them 20 feet under the wires and that's it so I'd like to take them down I don't have money to replace them so we going be looking at uger trees for a while um got a long way to go before we can uh really get back to where we were years ago of trees this Saturday if anyone is interested uh uni County connects uh which had come before this Council a while back is having a part of National Trails day if you're able to get out to the Acme and Kenworth uh we'll be walking up the railway Valley Line over to the east coast Greenway through Lenny Park and back to um back to a brewery that happens to be my Acme one minute walk um heard you talk tonight about West Street sidewalk extensions I'm not opposed to that but I just ask everyone to recognize okay that the easy part's being done now the next part there's a higher grade might mik obviously Mike's the engineer might end up requiring some walls and also uh don't forget to plant trees um I will be coming back as I mentioned in the near future to talk about Community forestry management plan which I would need your assistance on um this Friday is Arbor Day and so the mayor doesn't know the time yet but I trust she'll be joining us to uh plant trees uh at Washington and Lincoln School um councilman uh Carney uh you mentioned the sign word is great no problem it's very old 35 years ago I wrote that um so and I'm only 38 and so um uh I haven't heard from anybody about the signs changes that they want okay and uh five minutes Mr Nur and that's it so that was good thank you very much you're welcome anybody else wish to address the mayor and Council good evening mayor ladies and gentlemen of the council Bruce Patterson 325 Willow Avenue yeah yeah you're continually uh dismissive and evasive on any of your answers when I ask your questions mayor uh the cap bank I mean if you don't know you don't know you've been non Council now seven years and it's been discussed you know you could have easily answered it if you knew uh the we dodged a bullet on the fire department ordinance which is okay I guess um you know I I did put forth a scenario where we could have been sued and you just kind of kind of like slued it off which was sad but anyway moving moving on uh 24- 084 it's a part-time Administrative Assistant for $25 an hour We're hiring an awful lot of people why do we need this person so could somebody please explain that uh I guess the councilman Foley uh he has that walk to town program I'm just wondering what streets has he covered on on that and what is his plan uh going moving forward on the streets uh the capital plan you know I think you have like a million dollars planned next year is about $2 million I'm just wondering this year in the budget what is there as a down payment uh to offset because you always have to have a down payment I looked on it it looked like it was only 10 grand uh the rug you talked about this rug was replaced maybe about four five years ago uh if the rug's bad back there then okay so you replace that rug you don't have to replace this whole rug this this rug's in good condition the uh yeah the bond yeah you guys you guys are borring like crazy you're hiring like crazy I mean in the budget actually our bond service went up $100,000 from last year that's a big jump for a small town and just just to wrap up a couple of statements from Council in Carney you know he he said the cost of the truck I talked about $1.3 million cost of the truck he goes no no it's 1.1 million well he's wrong it was 1.3 the bond was for 1.3 included the section 20 costs included the fit out cost so the truck is 1.3 with whatever Debt Service it's probably going to be pushing two million but it's 1.3 not 1.1 councilman Carney also uh yeah councilman Carney again talked about the Facebook with all the alarm statements and yet that was his Hallmark for his campaign last November was the library lease that that it was constantly pounding on the Li on the board of ed about with alarm statements about the libraries leaving the libraries leaving what are the Republicans saying about it well the library is leaving so I mean he knows Fair fairly well what alarm statements are because he doesn't and that's rather hypocritical saying that our Facebook was making alarm to statements oh and just one last thing luckily it's not on record but I was standing back there at the end of last meeting councilman Carney was getting up putting his coat on Kim was getting up and I heard him threaten so he knows what I'm I'm saying and it was an earshot with many of you because Kim was standing right there so I'm sure some of you heard what he said uh it's not on record so I don't know if Kim wants to follow through on that but that's it thank you thank you anybody else wish to address the mayor and counsel okay can I have a motion to close public comment I'll move second second okay um sorry to hear that Mr nstead about the trees I know we've talked about it um I do know I have was talking with Mr Arthur about the tree grants um and that we're used with the road work so if there's anything that um I know you want to discuss that with Mr Arthur and myself we can get together and discuss that um Mr Patterson we are not hiring like crazy we had a uh uh retirement Kathleen and the office retired we are actually saving money by replacing her with somebody who is part-time who is there to um work the window answer the phones um and will'll only be there certain you know busy the busiest time of the day um so to make the statement that we are just hiring like crazy is once again you know just being a little dramatic and not true we are actually cutting down that position and we have discussed that previously um in terms of bonding like or bonding and spending like crazy once again a little bit of hyperbole there we are fairly similar to last years but we we have more because of the garbage truck to be honest the the biggest purchase is the garbage truck um without that it it actually would be quite a um inexpensive Capital year for us but as you heard the reasoning for that um was given you don't mind one thing I also want to point out we actually have reduced our bonding on roads because we're doing a lot less road work um I know granted we used to get grants you know from the from the you know Department of Transportation but we are not doing as much road work um so you know we try to balance you know that we're on par but it's not going to always be exactly the same each year um but it is something we always really um are challenged by is we are a small town so we do try to make sure we we are careful about the decisions we make so but if this town is wants to make sure it continues to make have safe quality Equipment we have to fund our departments it's all there is to it yeah and I I just think it's easy when we're having the discussion about the various items for Capital to come out and say that we're purchasing like crazy and bonding like crazy but each year we come and have a capital budget discussion and go through the items and um we do reduce where we where we we can like in terms of now that we have all the most of the roads in town paved or about to be paved you'll see some of that that we can put towards other things if we decide to like this year with the garbage truck so um it's it's always fun to say we're spending we're hiring but the actual truth is not that it so um the rug condition I don't recall this rug being replaced then um but we're doing a project that if you put everything together it's obviously cheaper so rather than having to replace this in a few years um to do it now with the rest of the flooring is obviously a cheaper option and the discussion was to not have carpet in here because um you know there's stains and different things that can occur with carpet it's just harder to clean so that is that was the discussion was to put the the vinyl flooring in here so that it's just more durable for the future um and uh councilman Foley you're welcome to answer if you'd like to you don't have to no I don't feel comfortable with that unfortunately um I've seen uh Expressions on the Facebook page that equate to harassment and stalking uh during my walking gwood initiative and I go with my wife and we have to have a two-person team at all times so personally don't feel comfortable doing that so thank you councilman Carney I will allow you to respond if you'd like to you don't don't have to as well uh mayor really the only thing that I would like to speak to is uh you know allegations of of threats I am uh perfectly happy with placing on the record which I said uh after the meeting was adjourned last time uh I would also comment that I don't believe councilwoman salmon needs anyone to fight her battles for her um that kind of stand that stands on its own two feet um but that being said my observation to the councilwoman was that it was going to be a long year up here for her if she continued doing what she was doing in that meeting the speaking over other council members essentially picking a fight that that's that's what I meant and I followed that up with you know do you want to get anything done on the council this year the reason for saying that is that none of us up here not not the mayor not any individual council member can get anything done without four votes in the affirmative so whether you're in a political minority or in the majority you need to get the rest of the Council on board with you and the way to do that is not berating people in the public session or in committee meetings so I have no problem saying what I said there and if somebody feels that it was something that it wasn't the police department is right there all right we are going to move on to the consent agenda does anybody have any items they would like to remove all right uh roll call uh may I have a motion to adopt the consent agenda so moved second second uh roll call please councilwoman Bodo I Council councilman Foley I councilman Lazaro I councilwoman ndi I council president Carney I okay um any new business yes okay payment of claims miss Cameron yes be it resolved that the following claims as approved be in the same or hereby ordered paid when properly signed and verified and the payment of payrolls as listed is hereby confirmed and ratified do I have a motion to adopt payment of claims so moved second roll call please councilwoman Bodo I councilman Foley I councilman Lazaro I councilwoman ndi I council president Corney I okay the regular meeting of the mayor and Council will be held on Thursday May 9th 2024 at 7.m in council chambers information for meetings is posted on the Barrow website uh can I have a motion to adjourn so moved second second all in favor I opposed okay thank you everybody thanks