Welcome everybody. If I could ask you to please stand for a moment of silence and salute to the flag. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under
God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Adequate notice of this meeting was provided to the Union County Hawk and advertised on December 26, 2024. Notification was sent to the local source union county 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 241 PL1975. Uh, and just uh a note before we do roll
call, I wanted to um just uh note that we have had some concerns about a few of the microphones up here and um not being able to understand or hear some of us up here on the live stream or on YouTube.
Um Mr. Arthur and Miss Vasquez have tested every mic cons, you know, thoroughly. Unfortunately, during the test, they didn't find any issues. Um, so, but I do know there were some issues previously
on the live stream, so I did hear them myself on a few mics. I don't know why during the test we couldn't pinpoint anything, but um I do want to we did we did uh swap out some mics that seem to
have been the pro given some problems even though in the test they didn't, but we swapped them out anyway. Hopefully that will help the situation this point. That's that's uh our first first act to try and solve it. So let us know. I'm
sure uh everybody can let let us know if uh the problem continues. Okay. Roll call. Uh Mayor Blumenst here. Councilwoman Bodto here. Councilman Foley here. Councilman Carney. Councilman Lazero. Councilman Padusniaak. Council President
Naldi here. Uh, roll call of staff and professionals, please. John Arthur, here. Adam Abramson, here. Michael Disco, here. Chief Pryy. Okay. Um, before we begin our official meeting, I
um have the honor of presenting and proclaiming uh October sudden cardiac arrest awareness month. So raising awareness, if I could ask uh there's somebody in the audience, if I
could ask them to put the phone then turn the phones off. Thank you. So I have the honor of proclaiming October sudden cardiac arrest awareness month. Uh raising awareness about this cause is something that has been very important to me and I know it's
important to many in our community. I will always be proud of Garwood for championing the cause of outdoor AEDs and making it a priority to have them in our parks. Um, and I thank our first aid squad for always promoting the use of
those AEDs as well as promoting and providing CPR certification. Tonight we are joined by two members of our community who help spread the word about sudden cardiac arrest and outdoor AEDs uh through their work with the
Aliver Foundation, a local Garwood Foundation created by Jill Paul to help fund AEDs in parks across the country. Lucenne Rabin, who is also a member of the Garwood First Aid Squad and gives very generously of her time there and
also instructs CPR classes herself. and Dylan Mason, a a Garwood teenager who is a teen ambassador for the Aliviver Foundation volunteering for them in their mission. And before I ask them to join me and reading in reading the
proclamation, I wanted to let everyone know about another Garudian uh helping the cause that I just learned about today. Uh Steven Greet uh who grew up in Garwood and is the son of planning board chair Steve Greet has partnered with the
Aliva Foundation for a record-breaking run he is making this Saturday in Central Park. He will be attempting to run 124 miles in a single day during Central Park's opening hours raising money to provide outdoor AEDs.
I give him a lot of credit. Stephven has a very interesting story that brought him to this. Uh while running this past June in Central Park, he witnessed a woman collapse from sudden cardiac arrest and he began administering CPR. However, it took 5 to 10 minutes for an
AED to arrive and those were critical minutes that could have saved this woman's life. So, he decided to do something about it. He decided to take up the cause to fund more outdoor AEDs for public use. So many in our community
are rallying to help fund these AEDs and I'm just so proud of Garwood's representation. So good luck to Stephen on Saturday. You can find out all about his run on the Aliviver Foundation website. And with that, I'd like to call up our two amazing volunteers, Lucenne
and Dylan, to help me with the proclamation. Whereas sudden cardiac arrest is a leading cause of death in the United States, affecting more than 350,000 people outside of hospitals each year and often without warning. And whereas
SCA occurs when the heart suddenly and unexpectedly stops beating causing blood to stop flowing to the brain and other vital organs. And without intermediate event intervention, death can occur within minutes. And whereas survival from sudden cardiac arrest largely
depends on the quick action of bystanders, including recognition of the event, calling 911, administering CPR, and using an automat an automated external defibrillator AED. And whereas increasing public awareness, training
more individuals in CPR, and expanding access to AEDs can significantly improve survival rates. And whereas community organizations, health professionals, and national advocacy groups work tirelessly to educate the public, train first responders, and promote policies that
improve SCA outcomes. And whereas sudden cardiac arrest awareness month observed each October provides a critical opportunity to bring attention to this public health issue, encourage proactive members, and celebrate the lives saved by swift action. Now therefore, I,
Jennifer Blumentock, mayor of the Burrow of Garwood, do hereby proclaim the month of October as sudden cardiac arrest awareness month in the Burough of Garwood and urge all citizens to learn CPR, become familiar with AED use, and support initiatives that improve
emergency response and public education around sudden cardiac arrest. I'm gonna give this to you. We'll take a picture and then if you'd like to say anything. one here and then um thank you mayor and council. On the
behalf of the Aliva Foundation, I would say thank you very much for the proclamation and again reiterating that how important it is to learn CPR or even just learn how to do hands-on CPR so
that more bystanders can help people. And Garwood is leading edge of having actually we have two AEDs here, one at Hartman Park and one at our um sports complex. So, thank you very much and hopefully we can see more of you to
learning to learning to do CPR. Well, I want to thank you uh for all of your work uh at the Aliv Foundation, both of you. Thank you, Lucen, for your work at the Squad uh and for all of the CPR classes. I know you help out with the burrow and different groups in the burrow uh teaching CPR, so I appreciate
that. And Dylan, it's so wonderful to see young people getting involved in a cause like this. And I saw you on video. I saw your video up on social media. You did a great job. Uh and it's it's really nice to see you uh volunteering your time like this. Not many teenagers do
that. So kudos to you. Okay, we will now move to our report from our burrow engineer. Good evening everybody. Not as exciting as the last presentation.
Um, first topic I listed was our NJDm mandated storm water infrastructure mapping and watershed reporting. Every municipality in the state is doing this and it consists of two things that have to be done by the end of the year. We go
around with GPS devices and uh create a map with every single manhole, catch basin, storage facility, storm water, conveyance structure, everything that we have in the burrow. We put that on a map. We send it to D.
Then we also then do a report on that which quantifies drainage areas and the like. And it's cumbersome stuff. As I've said in the past, this is just a free infograph by DP. Anyway, they gave us a grant of 25,000
of which 15,000's already been given to the burough CFO. The remaining 10 is given to the burrow when you complete the missions. So, I'm alerting you that we're going to be doing these tasks. What is the cost of these tasks? Well,
in another jurisdiction, I got two cost proposals. CME Associates was $80,000. GPI was $29,000. So certainly I think we're going to keep it under the $25,000 grant. There'll be no out-ofpocket expenditure for it and we'll we'll be
fair in our time to do it, but we have to do it by the end of the year. I'll do that. Then we have the other topics are really updates on our um capital projects contract 2025-1 east new and walnut. We listed the
milling and paving dates there which were September 16th and September 17th. New trees were recently installed. Uh 39 of them plus or minus and uh the job is essentially finished. I know uh Mr. Arthur has indicated the handicap
ramp striping across Center Street is not done yet and that's true. Um, and we've talked to the contractor and contractor is calling their subcontractor so it'll get done. There's also some debris still left behind. I drove it all today again and uh these
things uh fall by the wayart. But anyway, the job turned out good. I know that the uh KEK uh did the buminous testing on it. I'm waiting the results of that and I suspect that will be received well because the contractor had hired their own testing agency that day
to ensure conformance to the DOT Rex. uh quote 2025-2 is point repairs and national water main has indicated they would commence work next Wednesday on that and we listed that uh we had 11
repairs to be done as part of that work. Mr. Arthur had asked us to do additional point repair quote and the third quote came in today after prompting them. And so we had three quotes as follows. 11,575
by Vortex, 11,675 by Oswald and 12,265 by National Waterm. Very competitive quotes. I gave John a copy. I'll formalize that in an email or a memo or a letter or something to that
effect. That includes three additional point repairs, two on oak and one on Cedar. Theoretically, they could do that in one day. I will point out that all three of the quotes we received exclude police traffic directors. Now, they all excluded that, so there's no
difference. So, if we have to add it to the contract and pay it ourselves, we'll find a mechanism to do that. And they all spec two of the three specifically excluded water. Now, we don't own the water system in town. and it's New Jersey American. I called one of the two
who had given me the quote in advance. There's no charge for the water exclusion. What they do is they put a they rent a meter from New Jersey American water. When they return a meter in working condition, they get their application fee and money back. So, there's no cost and I've confirmed that.
But, I wanted to point out they specifically ex exclude those things from the quotes. I don't know why they do it. I jumped over the South Avenue handicap ramps. I'm told they are functioning and working properly. I see that they have an advance uh the police
have put out a or police or county, I'm not sure who, have put out a a a uh flashing notice that you've got a new crosswalk, which is always good to alert people that repetitively drive that road. that now they can look for that and and uh expect that because one of
the most difficult things is when you have a midblock or an unexpected crossing point and the driver, the vehicle operator doesn't anticipate that they're going to see pedestrians. So, this is a great way. I'm glad they're doing that. As far as I know, um everything worked out well with that.
And um then the last thing is basically I was hoping to start this earlier than than the end of October, but we're going to start our next municipal 2025 fieldwork for those three street sections there. Gallows Hill Road, Maple
Street, and West Street. And that is my report and I'm happy to answer any questions or field any comments or anything. Thank you, Mr. Disco. Um, my question was going to be about the crosswalk painting on Hazel and Hemlock. So, thank
you for uh doing that and some of the debris that was left around. So, that will all be taken care of, I assume, within the next couple of weeks, very shortly. I I was physically with statewide striping when they actually put the white marks. Did you see that they did the marking to
remove it? They had to put the paint down, but they never I think the reason they didn't do it the day that they came for striping is because they have to do some removals. bike symbol. So, it's a different piece of equipment that they need. So, I'm sure they're waiting for the crew with that piece of
equipment to come to do it. That's why it was I'll call it segregated out of the other work that they did, all the other striping work. Okay. Did um MA25 does do we think just as we're getting um towards the end of October uh
it might be something that's completed in the spring? Is that Yes. Okay. The goal would be to design this over the winter, get it to do, let them bless it, and go out to bid in the spring. Okay. If I could ask you, I was actually just over on Maple um towards the dead
end. There's actually a hole in there at the side by it's it's to the curb. It's not in the middle, so it's not being like driven over. Um, but and it's and it's small, but I did notice it. If if you wouldn't mind just if it's okay over the winter to keep it or if there's
something we need to temporarily do just to maintain safety, I'll go out there tomorrow and uh as Yep. As necessary, reach out to public works and John and see what we have to do about it. Terrific. Thank you. Uh, anybody have any questions for Mr.
Disco? Okay. Thank you very much. Appreciate it. And you're of course free to go to your next meeting. Thank you very much. Thank you. Okay. Anything from our burough
attorney? Uh nothing new. Thank you. Report from our burrow administrator. Yes. Thank you. I think this might be the length report I've had since I started here. Um, on tonight's agenda, you will see resolution number 25181, approving the
competitive advantage companies as the burough's health insurance broker. Uh, we have some questions posed to us about the process of selecting the comp. This originally occurred under a previous administrator. And I'm confident they reached out to multiple workers before making a decision that
they felt was in the best interest of the bure resolution for the council the administrator's authority to just sign such an agreement is kind of a gray area. Um so I'm putting it on for a resolution. Um it was previously agreed
to by the administrator. Saying I was right or I was wrong. Personally putting it on as as a resolution. Um the voter does not pay fees to this broker. The fees are paid by the insurer probably that comes off state insurance
as the vote of garland did would this go through a broker to find savings and I will say uh kudos to the police administrator and CFO and everybody's because it has saved substantial amount of money.
nothing will change by a resolution and going forward you kind of lock it in but there's no disagreement because it's looking like the states going up 34% in health insurance costs next year um our fund is anticipating closer to 20 to 25%
it's hitting everybody was at a lot of trainings recently at the association they talked about this for I think three hours at one point um 34 24% increase to a 20% 20 to a 25% increase, we still gain something there. If those are the only two options we
have essentially, so this is saving, you know, fully endorse continuing down this path. Resolution 25183 is the purchase of a m dump truck with snow plant for public works. This is just part of our annual capital request. It was included in the
multi-purpose bond ordinance and thankfully it came about $5,000 less than what we originally anticipated. So, a little bit of savings there. Resolution 25184 approved some additional hardware and equipment for installation of the LED speed limit signs in the center street
safety corridor project. I did ask the vendor if they could reduce the cost of these um or eliminate the cost of these because they didn't include them in the first quote they provided. Since it's a state contract purchase, they have no legal to do that. They could actually jeopardize their contract by making any
adjustments to to such sales. Um, so this does fully expand the infrastructure grants only. It's only780 $780. Um, and it allows us to complete all the work as part of that project. 304 of
that 788 comes from the resolution 258 just the contract dates for the shared services regional sewage authority. U the original resolution approved back in 2024. This is where we were transitioning between clerks who have
time temporary clerk at the time. It reflected a three-year contract, but the contract's actually a 5-year contract. So, this resolution simply adjusts those dates. Um, under best practices inventory was submitted to the state. Um, thank you to
our CFO Sam Buns for to make sure we have all completed 32 points to receive full state aid and Garwood thankfully have a final score of 36.5. So as many past years we exceed what the state considers you know best
practices needed for lastly a fundra for your artists for the west side of the underpass submissions are due December 15th to my email j-arth.org work. Details can be found on the
website and social media, but we're just prefer to give you a call. It's it's the side closest to the Vermelo building basically. If you're if you're the artistic skills to uh to get a
package to send in, just let them know. That's it. Terrific. Thank you. Um just a couple of different comments. Um, for the mural I was actually going to talk about it. You talk you took one of my talking points,
but uh I just wanted to point out um because it does in the ad I asked for compensation. I want to point out that this is the compensation will be provided through the clean communities grant. Uh we do have some previous clean communities
money as well as this year's. And um I just wanted to point that out. The funds are not coming from the current budget. It's coming from a grant. Um, apply to other grants as well. Yes. Some you may remember we did apply for another grant. We're waiting to hear
which would add to our ability to uh, you know, make a bigger mural possibly. So, um, just wanted to do that, uh, point that out before. Um, and I know the advertisements should be coming out soon on social media or and in some of
the other online um, newspapers. Uh, so if you're an interested artist, yes, please keep an eye out for that. Um, I also wanted to point out with the um the health insurance, um,
we did and because we were talking about all of the savings and how bad this year is going to be for the state and not so great for for us either, for anybody in these in these uh, HIFs. But um we did last year ask uh competitive advantage
to do a complete review and see if there was any other funds uh that would take us and could provide a more competitive uh number if the state at the time we didn't know how bad it was going to be would be turn out to be better if we
should go back to the state. Um, so they did do a complete review for us and it still turned out that this BMED pro uh, HIF was the best deal for Garwood. So I just wanted to let residents know just um, we will continue to ask them for
annual reviews to see if there's anything else out there. I think that's important that we just keep an eye on it in this changing world of everything going so crazy with health insurance. Um, we will continue to see if there's anything ever better out there, but as
of now, uh, BMED does seem to be the most competitive for us. So, uh, and I did have one question for you, uh, Mr. Arthur. I know we did the, uh, the tree plantings with the DOT, and I
know we approved the contract for, um, stump grindings and tree removals. I might have been the last council meeting or the one before. Uh any idea on dates yet with when they might come in to do some of that? I don't have exact dates. I did reach
out to the vendor I think two days ago. Again, um they're trying to fit it into their schedule. I'm hoping next couple weeks to a month. I will continue to follow up with them and keep pushing them along. We've been saying there, you know, I'm getting a lot of questions about this. Can we
please get it going? basically. So, you know, I guess we're in their queue and get there soon. Okay. Terrific. We need it done. It's a glio project, so it needs to be done before the weather changes. Yeah.
Yeah. Okay. All right. Anybody have any questions for Mr. Arthur? Um I I just have a question about the I guess the obviously because it's in the beginning stages, but um what is the process that we imagine would happen as
far as the mural? So like are we essentially artists would apply for this uh this posting and then once a artist is chosen is is that artist giving their specific ideas is that then you know is there
going to be you know is the council then just voting on that person to be approved like how is that process going to go? It it does ask for a mockup of what you know would look like. obviously wouldn't expect a fully completed, you know, but at least some sort of idea of what they'd be putting there. Um, assuming
you the decision should not just be my decision. This is the art that I like and therefore, you know, that's going to be what we should have some sort of committee. Um, I'm assuming maybe you GPAC representation. Um, you know, a few people to their heads together and make the decision. I think
makes the most sense. We're asking for a couple of previous art samples as well. you know, I don't think it has to be a mural. It could be anything that they do that's relevant. Um, so, you know, hopefully have a little package to to give to anybody on
this committee that wants to look at uh who essentially be appointing to do this. Um, yeah, you're volunteering, Councilman. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yes. the and I think um I I saw the
advertisement um and it does lay out exactly what they have to do. There is a theme uh Garwood then Garwood then and now um and uh it does say it's it's pretty open. They can do panels. They can do part of the wall.
They can because it's a big space and I don't know if we necessarily would have the funding to do the whole thing. So maybe they they have to provide their compensation. Um, and perhaps even if somebody comes in a little high, we can ask them to slim it down a little and
you know, so I think there's going to be some wiggle room and looking at the various uh packets that people uh submit. Yeah. But yeah. Okay. Anybody else? No. Okay.
Oh, you're welcome. Just a a quick reminder that we uh the burrow is closed on Monday for Columbus Day. So, Miss V asked me just to make that announcement. Um okay, I have a fairly lengthy report
myself. Okay. Um, I want to touch on something before I move on to some updates, but I did want to hit on it tonight cuz I I just think it's a very dangerous road to go down. Um, and when we talk about campaigning in Garwood, we normally
don't talk about it up here because I think it's completely separate. It should be about candidates putting forth plans, their views on topics on Garwood, and even it can be comparisons between different candidates and their views on things. But when it involves uh making
allegations against council members, you know, just to sort of provoke a reaction, I do think it's gone too far. Um, and accusing this council of missing money and implying it's somehow stolen or going to places it and shouldn't
isn't something I take lightly. And I know the bar may be lower for these sort of things online for elected officials, but you have to remember when making these sort of accusations, you're essentially involving burrow employees and accusing them of colluding in
something like that. So putting that out there with no actual evidence is harmful to them, to the burrow. And I hope um in the future we don't see any more of these claims without true evidence as I think it really does only hurt the
integrity of the community. Now the actual topic at hand the sore collection we have discussed over and over again all of us up here our administrator our attorney we have all provided thorough explanations. And again, you may not agree with it, and that's fair, but to
continually say you haven't been provided answers is just blatantly false. And by all means, look to my explanation that I provided once again this week on social media. But I am not going to continue to give heir to the idea that we haven't been completely
transparent. Uh, it's always the easiest thing that gets thrown at us. It's a catchall. We're not transparent. But the burrow's finances are literally open books. I am happy to still debate the merits, but um I just don't think giving
any more to of our time to this is appropriate. So, we will move on to other Garwood business. Uh a big thank you to our scout troops, Bear Scout Pack 137, uh Weeelos Pack 145, and Girl Scout
Troop 41290, who volunteered this weekend to help decorate our burrow for fall. Uh JFK Plaza, the rec complex, and Burrow Hall are all done up with hay stacks and pumpkins. And we also appreciate we also want to thank those who donated the
decorations. Uh Luke's farm stand and Bartell's. The green team appreciates everyone who played a part. Some Halloween fun coming up. The Garwood PBA is ho hosting Operation Safe and Spooky on October 18th where there will be a bouncy house, face painting, a
balloon artist, music, pizza, and more. Uh, so please join the PBA from 12:00 to 5:00 at Washington School for a day of tricks and treats. Then the following Saturday on October the 25th, the Garwood PTA will be hosting trunk or treat at Lincoln School from 4:00 to
5:30. Stop by and get some treats and check out some spooky or silly trunks. Uh, the Garwood Recreation Committee and Garwood Green Team will be joining in on the fun. Uh, they are still looking for more trunks as well as candy donations, so check out their page on Facebook for
info. I have met and talked with various stakeholder groups in the area to get some ideas and various possible areas of focus for the circulation element. Uh I spoke with the board of ed superintendent and president along with
the fire department and first aid squad as well as the citizens advisory panel who provided me with some great feedback uh that I was then able to give to harbor consultants who have begun working on the element. Uh the next step will be to task a subcommittee to meet
with Harbor to round out the specific goals and objectives for the plan. Uh more on that as we move forward. Also today I met with Cranford's mayor and engineer to discuss how we can work together to accomplish our shared goals of flood mitigation. As you know, I've
asked the council to fund a study next year to look at uh our sores and hopefully provide various recommendations on things we can do to lessen the flooding in our prone in our floodprone areas. Uh Mr. Arthur has been looking into this further and of course
the area area by Lidle where we border Cranford will be something we take a look at. The good news is that Cranford will similarly be looking to do a study about that area that borders Garwood near South and Elise Street uh to see
what measures they can take. So, I'm hopeful we can work together to see if we'll be able to come up with a plan for that area to tackle. Uh their engineer echoed what Mr. Disco has told us before. The real issue at play in that area is the 90° turns that the SOAR
makes. Um, but we will continue to work together to see what improvements our two towns can do together. In other news, the Oh, no. I was going to talk about the mural. We've covered that one. See?
Okay. So, moving on to paperboard. I'd like to give everybody an update on the affordable housing challenge by the paperboard owners. We've had two presettlement meetings with Garden Homes and the adjudicators assigned to our case. Now, as you know,
Garden Homes, even though they presented and originally approved of the new fourth round plan for paperboard, they've challenged the burrow, citing that the project is now not financially feasible for them due to rising interest rate and increased construction costs.
They are asking for a density at 60 acres uh 60 units an acre rather than the currently assigned 40 units an acre. Uh if the case is not resolved with a settlement, then the Union County Mount Laurel judge will ultimately make a
decision. Now, at our last council meeting, we retained a financial firm to analyze the financials provided by Garden Homes, and we will work with them to continue to defend our position. Part of Garden Homes position is that they have land carrying costs from all
these years. However, given that we as a burrow signed both a redevelopment plan and a financial agreement back in 2018, I feel and I'm sure you would agree that the residents of Garwood should not be penalized for their lack of construction during the past seven years and we
should not shoulder the burden of these costs. We have another meeting scheduled in November and I will remain hopeful that the judge in this case will see the validity in the arguments that we put forward. So, that is it for me.
Uh, comments from the council. Councilwoman Bodto. No comments tonight. Thank you, Mayor. Councilman Foley. Uh, no comments tonight, Mayor. Thank you. Councilman Carney. Uh, no comments. Councilman Lazero.
Keep it up and say no comments. Councilman Padusniaak. Council President Nuli. No comments for me tonight. I think that's like maybe the first time everybody. All right. We had a lot of discussion beforehand. So,
uh, minutes, Miss Vasquez. Minutes of the regular meeting of the mayor and council held on Thursday, September 25th, 2025. Uh, do I have a motion to accept the regular meeting minutes as presented? Second. Uh, all in favor?
Opposed? Communications, please. Township of Cranford introduce ordinance number 2025-18 regarding tree replacement standards. Uh received and filed. We have one ordinance up for adoption tonight. Can you please read ordinance 25-25 by title
only? An ordinance amending the burough code of the bureau of Garwood by amending chapter 115 entitled miscellaneous offenses. Article one disorderly and offensive conduct. Article two, violations and penalty and creating new
articles 11 public property and 12 disorderly conduct. Do I have um was there any um I just lost the word correspondence? No correspondence concerning this ordinance?
No. Okay. Um, if anybody uh would like to uh be heard concerning this or uh ordinance, please step up to the microphone, state your name and address, and please keep your comments to five
minutes. I didn't notice it. Just a quick question. Uh, good evening, Mayor, ladies and gentlemen, the council. Bruce Patterson, 325 Will Avenue. Uh this this ordinance is this generated or the amendment to the ordinance is it generated from that bar
on North Avenue that creates a lot of uh noise and disorderly people and and I think some uh neighbors came and they complained about it. Is is this in response to that? That's it. Thank you. Thank you. Is there anybody else who
wishes to address the mayor and council? Okay. Seeing none, can I have a motion to close public hearing? Second. Uh, all in favor? I opposed. Okay. Um, no, this is not in response to that.
This was generated by um police chief pride. Uh, chief, if there's anything you'd like to say, but this came from our police department. No, it's not it's not in relation to that. just culmination of different things that we've run into since I've
been here and just gives the officers the ability to address issues when they're presented. Thank you. Okay. Any discussion among council? Mayor, I'll just uh add that uh the
majority of this text was was brought to us uh by the police chief uh and also through the burough administrator from the municipal court. there was uh you know there's parts of our code that uh haven't been updated in in some time and
I know we've several times over the time I've been on council and even before I was on had discussed um you know doing an entire like toptobottom code reevaluation. I mean at some point I'd like to see that funded but um this was just things
that were brought to our attention that needed to be addressed. There wasn't a a specific incident or string of incidents. It was over a long period of time things that were being observed by the police officers and also by our court. Thank you. Okay. Do I have a motion to adopt
ordinance 25-2? Moved. Second. Okay. Roll call, please. Council I. Council. Hi. I Okay, moving on to council standing
reports. Finance. Councilman Foley tonight. Uh fire. Councilman Lazero. Thank you, Mayor. There were 17 calls for service consisting of the following uh types of service. Four mutual aids, one structure fire, one car fire, one rubbish fire, five fire co O alarms, one
gas odor, and three chemical investigations. In addition to the above activity, monthly training was held at the Union County Fire Academy consisting of live burn training. Also, as previously reported in uh my last fire report, there were eight members that participated in a weekendl long water
rescue training, achieving water rescue operation certifications. These same eight firefighters will be doing weekendlong training for water rescue technician level certifications this weekend. This Friday, the fire department will be doing its fire prevention program at Lincoln School.
That's all for my report. Thank you. Yes. And I I stopped by. They had an open house on Sunday. It was very cute to see all the little kids. Very excited to get into the fire engines. Um community development. Councilman Padusniaak. Thanks.
Public works. Councilwoman Bodto. Thank you, Maya. In addition to the reoccurring activities, DPW employees completed residential pickup of household waste and whitewoods, I mean goods, sorry. weekly pickup of B brush and grass litter and debris at the
sports and recreation complex, both sides of the underpass sidewalks on Center Street and Kennedy Plaza and around the bus stop closures along North and South Avenues. Repair broken street and traffic signs in various locations of the burrow. Check the roof drains on the municipal complex and removed any
accumulated leaves or debris. met with the shade tree officer at various times in multiple locations within the burrow to discuss residential tree concerns. Assisted the recreation director with the bimonthly inspections of Hartman Park and the sports complex. Mowed,
trimmed, and maintained all municipal own properties and parks as needed. Continue the in-house shade tree removal and pruning program the seasonal flowers from the roadside pods and plant to the fall months. Assemble the new electronic pedestrian crossing signs. That's all
for my report. Thank you. Thank you. Busy time. Okay. Uh police Councilman Carney. Thank you, Mayor. The police committee met earlier today and continued discussions on the topics of traffic and pedestrian safety, ebikes, parking, and
uh code updates. Uh we're also continuing discussions uh regarding the Willow Avenue bumpout. Since the uh trial period with easy ride is now over, as the mayor reported in our last council meeting, uh we expect to have recommendations out of committee on all
of these topics by the end of the year. Uh I also have September's police activity report. Uh the Garwood Police Department recorded 2,595 calls for service in the month of September. Uh these calls include, but
are not limited to a uh incredible 410 motor vehicle stops, 65 parking complaints, 188 fixed traffic posts which include uh radar details, stop sign uh and dra
distracted driving enforcement, uh 358 building or property checks, 50 medical assists, 88 community policing posts, 17 walking posts, 29 9 suspicious persons or vehicles investigated, 45 criminal
investigations and 21 motor vehicle crashes. Uh also in the month of September, uh members of the police department attended the following training. Uh officer Kerr attended a senior radar instructor course uh which he has successfully completed and he is
now a certified radar instructor. Uh and since finishing that class as an instructor, he has trained five additional officers in radar instruction. Uh and will conduct the reertification classes. Uh this is allowing the our police to schedule these instructions inhouse uh rather
than have to go to the academy for them. Uh and we can also offer that training to other agencies. So that's uh job well done by officer Kerr. Uh, officers Moss and Shawnberger uh completed the initial Alcatest operator course which uh
several other officers have uh completed uh in the last few months. Uh, Officer Whistle attended the uh, adult mental health first aid class and Lieutenant Parata attended an OPRA and records management course uh, which breaks down
the uh, recent changes to New Jersey's OPRA statute uh, and how to supervise the police records function in an expeditious and efficient manner. Uh, I also have from the chief um, two announcements. Uh Garwood Police
Department will be hosting the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission at the Recreation Center parking lot on Thursday, October 16th. Uh the MVC is in charge of the appointment process. Uh they will go live on the MVC website uh
starting on Tuesday, October 14th at 2 p.m. Uh so be sure to log in and grab your appointment. Uh some services offered there will be rule IDs, uh license and registration renewals, uh and there'll be some other miscellaneous services which will all be listed on the
website. Uh you can book your appointment uh and confirm it right there and then show up right here in town instead of having to travel. So that's uh awesome that the uh chief arranged that for us. Uh and finally, on October 25th, the Garwood Police will be
taking part uh in the DEA National Takeback Initiative uh from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at Burrow Hall. Uh so this is a day where you can dispose of all your unused, unwanted, and expired medications. Uh keep an eye on the Garwood Police Department social media
pages for more info on what will and will not be accepted uh on that day. Uh and that's all for my report. Thank you. And kudos for getting the uh motor vehicle mobile truck here. I know that is really helpful for people. So, make
sure you get that, you know, that your spot really quickly cuz I know they'll go. Um and I know we'll put everything up on social media uh as soon as we can. Um but thank you for that. And how many traffic stops were there this month? 410.
Wow. The number just goes up every month. Impressive. Thank you. where you guys are doing a great job. So, thanks. All right. Um, community engagement, Council President Nuli. Thank you, Mayor. Uh, so I'll start with
recreation uh brief report. Uh, there's still time to register for science surprise and legends and lore classes, which will now begin October 20th. These classes are provided by Mad Science and Crayola Arts Academy, and they are open
to grades K through five. Register at garwoodrec.com. Uh there's three um adult programs I'd like to remind everyone about. Adult open play soccer on Fridays, adult open play basketball on Wednesdays, and adult
ceramics. The first one for fall is taking place on Wednesday, October 22nd. Additionally, there's canvas painting that will take place on Wednesday, December 3rd. Uh look for um registration coming up for youth
basketball. These are programs that will be running in the winter. Cheer and dance squirts as well will be taking place at the rec center in January and February. So, keep an eye out for those postings. Uh we have several upcoming events uh hosted by the Garwood
Recreation Committee, including the Halloween parade and costume contest taking place on Halloween night. The parade will start at 700 p.m. at Burrow Hall. The costume contest is open to all ages. The Halloween decorating contest is
back. Enter the contest by October 25th to win bragging rights and a gift card. Categories are spookiest, funniest, and most creative. Enter the contest by clicking on the link or scanning the QR code on the Garo's uh Garwood Burrow's
website. There's a Halloween decorating contest page. Um and then my next part is GPAC. GPC um is ex pleased to announce the October art exhibit entitled Fall into Art. At Alonzo's
Cafe, the nature photography of Katie Carolyn is displayed. Al's Deli features dramatic photos uh from Steve Barkin. The Garland Public Library is showing the altered book by poet and artist Amanda Barry. And Chrissia Tyani, the
fiber artist and member of GPAC, is showing her newest pieces right here at Burough Hall. Um, and so we would also like to invite everyone to join the artists for a tour of the exhibits beginning at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, October 11th at Alonso's Cafe. And we'll
take a walk around Garwood and see all of the art. So, look forward to that. That's all for my report. Fantastic. Looking forward to it. Okay. Library. Councilman Lazar. Thank you. The library has changed its hours to accommodate Lincoln school
students. So, the hours at the library are Monday through uh Monday and Tuesday 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Friday 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and Saturday 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Some of the upcoming events um through October 21st.
Pick up a wooden witch or ghost from the library while they last. Use your imagination to paint the figures for Halloween. And don't forget to put your name on the back. Return to the library for display through October 21st. This is for kids in kindergarten through 8ighth grade. On October 14th at 3 p.m.
there will be a virtual adult craft. Uh pick up the supplies and instructions for a Halloween inspired craft. Registration is required for the kits and is limited to 15 participants. You can sign up on the library's website calendar or by phone. And on October 22nd at 700 p.m. there's a program
called Ghoulish Delights Dessert Contest. Join the library on October 22nd at 7 p.m. uh for this dessert contest, a Halloween inspired bake off where adults put their creepiest, crawlers, and most creative desserts to the test. Prizes will be given based on
taste and presentation. That's all for my report. Thank you. Uh school board Councilman Carney. Uh the next board of education meeting is scheduled for October 14th. Terrific. Uh, no report for me for the
seniors. Small business, Councilman Carney, no report. Uh, board of health, Councilman Foley. No. Planning board. Councilman Carney. Uh, the next planning board meeting is scheduled for October 22nd.
Uh, officers reports, Miss Vasquez. Zoning enforcement officers report for 2025. Code enforcement officers report for September 2025. Do I have a motion to accept these reports? So moved. Second.
All in favor? I opposed. Okay. Moving on to public comment. Um if anyone in the audience wishes to address the council, please step to the microphone, state your full name and address, and limit your comments to five minutes.
Pitchard for Garwood. How our police officers, firefighters, squad personnel as they perform their duties and serving us and protecting the lives and property
and health of the city of New York. attitude that serves all citizens well. Abolishing police departments, abolishing fires, abolishing mercy spots is the answer. and Mark to say ladies
and gentlemen shouldn't really answer back because me also must as they serve our true and protect us from harm too.
Soon [Music] master is fighting for our country. lesson to you. show this and they had this. We're talking. [Music] Excuse me.
Finally, we must the state legislature in Trenton to reopen some closed hospitals because if attack occurs, we'll need those hospitals very very soon hospitals the
make. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you, Mr. Pritchard. Is there anybody else who wishes to address the mayor and council? Please step forward. Uh, good evening, mayor, ladies and gentlemen of the council. Bruce Patterson, 325 Willow Avenue. Uh, my
first normal question is how many parking tickets have been given out last month? And I know you're going to say talk to Chief Pride unless you know the number being that I ask that question all the time. Uh, as to the sewer fee, I mean, I know you want to put it to bed,
but unfortunately, it can't go to bed because there still is questions about this sewer fee, and I I I been looking at it for months now. I've asked a lot of questions. You said you always have an answer, but it it's just a a
dismissive answer. RBSA. RBSA. But it's wrong. Transparency is really lacking on this issue. this issue is not really going to go away. Um, so I was looking at it trying to figure out just how to
massage the uh the or the ordinance and uh the uh chart of account numbers maybe to make it a little more clearer to represent what you probably are trying to do. I mean, at this point, you look at it and you say, "Yes, monies have
disappeared." Then the name disappearing is a little um strange. I mean, it's really misappropriating. And you throw out the word collusion. I mean, that's a Oh, that's great. That collusion. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. We're saying everybody's colluding. That's that's a bunch of BS.
But anyway, um tell you what I I'll get to, you know, the problem with the ordinance, and I've mentioned this before. It says the annual cost of operation and maintenance of a sanitary sewer system. That's where the sewer fees are supposed to go according to the ordinance. The ordinance is a is a local
law. So, you're supposed to put it to the operation and maintenance of the sewer system. Well, it doesn't. You only put about $76,000 in that one line item for the uh other costs of the sewer system, which is what you're referring to.
Not to blavorver the points, but I mean the the chart of accounts numbers assigned to these budget line items I guess is throwing people off, you guys and also the public out here and me even
uh what we have we the issue I guess to resolve all this because right now it's still misappropriated monies whether it's collusion or not if you want to call it that I mean that's your term but anyway one is you should actually pull
out 257 ordinance and rewrite it to properly reflect disposal costs. That's what the RVSA is. It's a disposal cost. And therefore, that $74,000 is really going to disposal cost,
although it's not mentioned in this ordinance. So, you got to at least rewrite the ordinance to reflect that. Uh, then I guess the chart the chart of accounts that that has to be uh changed. Uh, we're talking I don't know if you guys really know the
budget. I mean, you sit there and you say you do, but you know, you get into the details, but the chart of accounts 31-455 really should be broken into 31455-1 and -2-1 maybe be the maintenance operation
maintenance. The other one is the disposal cost. Then your RVSA which is on the chart of charted account line item 31-456 should be the $932,000 which is shown in the budget less than
$150,000 of the shore fee. I mean all this could easily clear it up. I don't know about easily but anyway to me it would easily clear up. I mean if somebody wants to sit down with me and I can point out exactly what needs to be done because at this point the monies
have disappeared. They're misappropriated. Is there collusion? There's no collusion. That's the store fees. Uh the uh the next question. Uh the u the mural. You're talking about maybe somebody out there doing a mural. Viceneagra. Uh he
was going to reach out to get a muralist to do on the east side of the underpass for the historical committee. Uh but the committee that he was in uh he's not on the committee anymore, but maybe you could reach out to him and have him reach out to the person in Elizabeth
that does murals. Another good one would be the person I forgot his name unfortunately, but he did that that door of Lincoln school that you see the painted door with the kid opening the door. Yes. You got you guys know anything about the school over there?
Anyway, uh he's a Garwood resident and he actually did a presentation at the board of ed meeting one time. I don't about a year ago and it's also on the one of the corridor walls of the school. So anyway, so he would probably be a good one. He's getting old, but maybe he'll do it. Uh what else we got? Uh the
the insurance issues, the county, god forbid I bring up the county, but that's your five minutes, Mr. Patter. Some kind of That's your five minutes, Mr. Patterson. That's your five minutes. Thank you. Appreciate you cutting me right off before I even finish the sentence. Okay.
Of course. Think about the short. Good evening. Laura Thompson, 320 Pine A. Um, couple questions. Um, since we just ended with a mural, uh, we'll address the mural first off. Um, we have a GPAC.
We have students with gifted and talented art programs in both the graded school and the high school. Why aren't we doing a community service project and bringing the children in to do our mural? There are very talented kids in this town. There are very talented kids
over in Clark. Take the two programs, bring them over, have somebody come up, have one of the teachers help the kids come up with a plan. For instance, you said they could be different panels. grades could do different panels. It would lower your cost for doing it. It's a community project. It brings your
kids in to do something. Maybe they won't graffiti it if we actually let them paint it. Um shared services. Exactly what is this Planefield Area Regional Sewage Authority shared services agreement
and what was the benefit to Garwood for doing it? And in reference to the noise and uh what do you call it the disturbance uh
I'm sorry what do you call it? Your disorderly conduct and miscellaneous uh offenses. Um noise. Is that going to include people setting off fireworks in the neighborhood? Is
that going to include crossroads? Because I know there are a number of homes that border crossroads that complain regularly that they are being bothered by noise from the establishment. There also the issue of civilians snowblowing at 4 in the
morning because they need to be at work at 6. There's all these are all things that need to be accounted for as to what are we going to do? Are they going to be in trouble? Are they not going to be in trouble? Thank you. Thank you. Is there anybody else who
wishes to address the mayor and council? Okay, seeing none, can I have a motion to close? Oh, do we have cor We do have correspondence. Can you please read correspondence out? Sure. For the record, uh, we've received correspondence from
Michelle Capabiano, 404 Myrtle Avenue. I am writing to express my concern regarding the apparent lack of both a formal agreement and lack of resolutions in the burough's handling of its health insurance broker relationship over the past 2 and 1/2 years. On August 28,
2025, I submitted an oper request to the Garwood Municipal Clerk requesting the contract/aggreement between the bureau and its health insurance broker, the Competitive Advantage Companies. After some follow-up communications, I received a final response from the clerk
on September 9th stating that no such record existed. Following that, I reviewed burough resolutions dating back to 2023 when Garwood transitioned from the New Jersey State Health Benefits Program to the Gateway BMED Health Fund.
Unable to locate any resolutions appointing an insurance broker, I submitted another OPER request on September 10th, specifically seeking any resolutions appointing the competitive advantage companies as the broker's health insurance. I'm sorry, as the
burough's health insurance broker. On September 18th, I was informed once again by the clerk that no such record existed. However, on tonight's council agenda, I see resolution 25181, which officially awards professional
services for insurance consultant broker services to the competitive advantage companies. This demonstrates to me that no formal agreement or appointment existed prior to this resolution despite the fact that the competitive advantage companies has been acting in that role
and has been compensated via the gateway premed health fund since at least May 2023. This raises several questions. How was the competitive advantage companies allowed to conduct business on behalf of
slashwith the bureau of Garwood as their health insurance consultant/broker and receive monthly payments from Gateway BMED without a formal approved agreement/contract or resolution in place? How could this oversight continue for more than two
years without detection until triggered by my recent inquiries via OPER requests? What process was initially used by the bureau to select the competitive advantage companies as its insurance consultant broker? Will there be any
reviews or audits conducted to examine similar potential lapses in the burough's other service agreements to ensure this does not happen again? Lastly, the language in resolution 25181 states that under number two, the burough's insurance broker, the
competitive advantage companies shall not receive fees from the bureau of Garwood. While this assertion may be technically correct, it is very misleading. In reality, the burough's insurance broker is most definitely being compensated not through a direct payment from the burough's funds, but
rather through fees embedded within the Gateway BMED health insurance premiums. Broker fees/commissions are paid monthly directly from the Gateway BMED Health Fund to the competitive advantage companies. The fees are currently more
than $3,800 monthly. These costs are ultimately passed on to the bureau and its active and retired employees in the form of higher gateway BMED health premium costs. The public and burough employees deserve
transparency to understand that while no direct payment may be made from the bureau, the health insurance broker's compensation is still funded indirectly through Garwood's public funds via the gateway met health insurance premiums. Thank you.
Okay. Um, do I have a motion to close public comment? Second. Uh, all in favor? Opposed? Okay. Um, Mr. Patterson, once again, if you would like the parking ticket numbers, you
you're welcome to ask the chief after the meeting. Um, Miss Thompson, um, the mural by all means would love to have, um, participation if there are students in
the school who would like to, um, submit and and participate it uh, and GPAC volunteers as well. It is a large project, however, and it takes a it will take a a long amount of time to complete
something like that. So it is difficult to do something um like that just with kids or have a teacher looking after a child for no compensation or the children for no compensation um on a volunteer basis. We will put out this
advertisement to the schools however and see if there's any interest um and I know if there's any interest from GPAC members they they might decide to put a proposal together themselves as well. Uh Mr. Arthur, do you want to uh talk about
Parsa? Sure. So, Parsa cleans the sewer lines. It comes from that $74,000 budget line that was referenced previously. Um the reason that it's a benefit to the town is not only for the cleaning, but because it was actually at a pretty
great cost compared to other services that do that do sewer cleaning. So, it's a it's a maintenance it's a maintenance project essentially. Thank you. Um the noise uh chief, do you want to speak to that about the
different things it it's going to include basically what you get a call from? Yeah. So, this is going to allow us to address all those issues. Uh currently, you have to call the health department for a noise complaint and and they're not going to come out at 2 o'clock in the morning. they have decimal readers
and they have to do all that and be certified and everything else. So, this is going to give us more uh leeway and enforcement for for everything they mentioned. Thank you. Um and Miss Capabiano, I
think that was pretty much addressed by Mr. Arthur's report in the beginning of the meeting. So, you can refer back to that and I'm sure if there wasn't something covered, I'm sure you would be happy to discuss it. Uh, okay. Moving to the consent agenda. Does
anybody have anything they would like to uh remove? No. Okay. Uh do I have a motion to ex accept the acet uh sorry do I have a I'm trying to my paper. Okay. Do I have a
motion to adopt the consent agenda? Second. Uh, any discussion at all? Okay. Uh, roll call, please. Councilwoman Bodto. Hi. Councilman Foley. Hi. Councilman Carney. I. Councilman Lazero. Councilman Padusnia.
Council President Naldi. I. Okay. Uh, new business. Oh, the best practices inventory. Mr. Arthur also discussed at the beginning of the meeting. And uh kudos to our administration for uh exceeding uh the
the limit and going above and beyond. So it's good to it's always good to see that for Garwin. Thank you. Uh payment of claims, Miss Vasquez. Be it resolved that the following claims as approved be and the same are 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. Uh, roll call, please. Councilwoman Bodto. Hi. Councilman Foley. Hi.
Councilman Carney. Hi. Councilman Lazero. Hi. Councilman Puzzniaak. Hi. Council President Naldi. I. Okay. We do have an executive session. Um, no action will be taken afterwards.
Uh, but um, so you're welcome to to leave the room if you'd like. But uh Miss Vasquez, can you read resolution 25-186 into the record, please? Close session resolution authorizing an executive session for the purpose of discussing contract negotiations and
matters of attorney client privilege relating to court shared services and in accordance with NJSA 10 col4-12 close session meetings open to public exclusion of public subject of matter. Do I have a motion to adopt this
resolution? Was I like all in favor? Uh, you want to do a roll call for that or no? Um, I guess please. Counciloman Bodto. Hi.
Councilman Foley. Hi. Councilman Carney. Hi. Councilman Lazero. Hi. Councilman Puzznia. Council President Ni. Hi. Okay. Everybody would move back into the meeting room. Guys, can you let Patrician? All right, we're back. We're live.
Okay. Can I get a motion to resume regular sessions? Second. Okay. Hey, all in favor? I opposed. Okay. The regular meeting of the mayor and council will be held on Thursday, October 23rd, 2025 at 7 p.m.
in council chambers. Information for meetings is posted on the barrel website. Can I get a motion to adjurnn? Second. Uh, all in favor? I opposed. Thank you everybody. K.
Good. I'll get there. I will see. You know, of you