WEBVTT

METADATA
Video-Count: 1
Video-1: youtube.com/watch?v=QUi85FIUCKw

NOTE
MEETING SECTIONS:

Part 1 (Video ID: QUi85FIUCKw):
- 00:00:43: Welcome, Memorial and Pledge of Allegiance Introduction
- 00:03:12: Meeting Notice, Roll Call, and Presentation Introduction
- 00:04:34: Capital Budget Presentation Introduction and Explanation
- 00:09:10: Council Discussion on Fire Department Vehicle Needs
- 00:24:14: Clarifying Vehicle Fleet and Budget Concerns
- 00:36:56: Thermal Imaging Camera and Underpass Lighting Debate
- 00:45:53: Directing Preparation of the Bond Ordinance
- 00:46:10: Burough Attorney Report and Engineering Update Introduction
- 00:46:29: Municipal Aid Program and Potential Road Projects
- 00:51:58: Midwest Resumption and Cranford Involvement Discussion
- 00:56:02: New Jersey Transit Murals Engineering Assessment
- 00:57:59: Local Government Week Success and New Director Welcome
- 00:59:43: Air Conditioning Project and Turf Field Grant Update
- 01:02:26: Council Comments on Local Government and Community Events
- 01:04:43: Fire Apparatus Grants, EFG Dinner Congratulation and Swearing
- 01:06:25: Meeting Minutes and Cap Bank Ordinance Presentation
- 01:07:28: Public Comment: Bruce Patterson on Cap Bank Ordinance
- 01:11:04: Adopting the Cap Bank Ordinance and Salary Introduction
- 01:12:26: Council Committee Reports: Finance, Fire, Community, Public Works
- 01:13:33: Community Engagement, Libraries, School and Senior Board Report
- 01:17:35: Small Business, Health and Planning Board Liaison Report
- 01:18:06: Officer's Reports and Public Comment Introduction
- 01:18:22: Public Comment: Johnny Pritchard on First Responders
- 01:22:30: Public Comment: Bruce Patterson on Budget Metrics
- 01:28:19: Public Comment: John Bartlick on Spending and Capital Plan
- 01:32:27: Council Responses and New Appointment Overview
- 01:36:47: Moving To Consent Agenda
- 01:36:50: Adoption of Consent Agenda, Appointment & Executive Session
- 01:38:15: Executive Session discussion
- 01:54:31: Resuming Regular Session and Meeting Adjournment


Part: 1

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Welcome everybody. Um before we stand for our moment of silence and the salute to the flag, um I wanted to make an announcement but in and honor a few people um so that you can keep them and their and their families in your thoughts during our moment of silence.

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Unfortunately, we've had um two very distinguished uh residents pass away here in Garwood uh last week. Um, Peggy Briggs, uh, was a council woman here in Garwood and, uh, she was elected in 1997.

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Um, but I got to know her actually through her work with the Garwood Lions Club. She was very dedicated that to that for many decades. Um, and was well known throughout the town for her work with the Garwood Lions Club as well as the work that she did over at the Knights of Columbus. Um, so she was just

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a very special lady, a special volunteer. Um, and as you know, we honor her for that as well as her work on council. So, my phone is going nuts. Um, so I just wanted to um give our my

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condolences to her family uh as well as the family of Kitty Madera who passed away uh recently at the age of 101. Uh Kitty was also a longtime volunteer. Uh and I was honored to be able to give her

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a proclamation for her hundth birthday last year. Um so it's she's led an amazing life, an amazing long life. Um but it's a you know a sad day when when these volunteers that are so big in our community pass. But um our thoughts are

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with them and their families. And if I could just ask everybody to now stand for the moment of silence. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation

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under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Adequate notice of this meeting was provided to the leader and advertised on November 13, 2025. Notification was sent to the local source union county and is

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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 provisions of the open public meeting law. Chapter 241 PL1 1975 PL 2025 C72 states that legal ads

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placed by the municipality will not need to be published in newspapers beginning on March 1st, 2026 and will be posted on our burough website under the section titled legal notices. Roll call, please. Miss Katiga. Madame Mayor here. Councilwoman Anarelli

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here. >> Councilwoman Biano here. >> Councilwoman Noli here. Councilman Padusniaak >> here. >> Councilman Sera >> here. >> Council President Bodto >> here. >> Roll call of staff and professionals, please. >> John Arthur, Burough Administrator,

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>> here. >> Adam Abronson, Burough Attorney, >> here. >> Jonathan Pry, chief of police. >> Michael Disco, burrow engineer >> here. >> Okay. Um, at this point, um, Mr. Disco,

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uh, we do have a capital budget presentation. Do you have a few minutes? I know sometimes I have to rush off. Okay, >> good. >> All right, then we will um hold off on the reports and begin with our capital budget presentation uh which I will turn over to um Council

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President Bodto who is finance committee chair. >> Thank you, Mayor. I again want to express my sincere thanks to the finance committee, Councilwoman Anderelli and Councilman Padusak along with Mr. Arthur Bur administrator, Miss Burns, chief financial officer, our department heads,

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and our professional staff. We reviewed each department's request both individually and in the context of the overall budget. Our objective is to provide departments with the essential resources they need to operate efficiently and safely while continuing to maintain a stable and minimal level

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of debt. I believe we achieved that balance and hope council will support the committee's recommendations. Um, I will now turn it over to Mr. Arthur. Okay, Mr. Arthur, the floor is yours. >> And for those in the audience here,

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there are some copies with the agenda that you can see. >> Yes, there are. Okay. Thank you very much. Um, so we are going to go through I just want to note a couple things as we start. This is a draft. Obviously, it is not set in stone until it is voted on

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and approved by the council at two subsequent meetings. Um, it is a proposed multi-purpose bond ordinance for the capital projects. Uh, this does not include the Department of Transportation projects that we work on with Mr. Disco. That's bonded for

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separately. and it does not include what will be a um turf field replacement project which well it's part of my next report where we did get another grant of about 66,000 toward that project. So um you know that's good and thank you to

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our former rec director Ky Lysac who led the charge on that application. So, um, all right. So, jumping into this one, um, as you can see, we've got a little over $500,000 proposed for the, um, ordinance, which includes personal

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protective equipment for the fire department. Um, the next two, the cabinet and the radio are for upfitting a vehicle for the deputy chief. Uh, intake valves and engine 5 hose tray for the fire department. For police, we've

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got a Chevy Tahoe and upfit, a Ford F-150 Responder, an upfit, and a license plate reader. Public works backhoe and a street liner. And recreation, we've got some new garbage cans. And then it just kind of did an other category. We've got

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underpass lights for the purpose of, you know, pedestrian safety and pump station for purpose of just infrastructure safety and infrastructure um for the town. Uh, the pump station needs some work and we want to make sure we're a

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ahead of the game there. Um, if you flip to the back or the next page, which the clicker worked before I was sharing. That's all right. Chief Patty, can you switch to the next one on the might be because it's sharing via Zoom,

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it's not changing properly. There we go. Okay. Um the process is basically each department submitted their five-year capital plans as a part of the budget process. Um it was reviewed in-depth um by myself, CFO, the mayor, and the

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finance committee. Um for 2026, there was a total of about $830,000 worth of requests. Um like I said, they were discussed very in-depth. Um, this plan again upon council approval would

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approve $57,000 worth of those requests. And I already mentioned the next two bullet points, but does not include DOT or athletic field. And I just want to note also that the numbers are subject to some small change because of section 20 soft costs, which is the cost of bonding, advertising, engineering. We do

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try to round these numbers up a little bit to account for that, but when we go to our actual bond council, he might say, you know, we need an extra couple hundred or thousand dollars here or there. It it should be close to this number, but it might have some some variability there. We'll also have to talk to Mr. Disco about some of the

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other costs for some of these as well. Does anyone have any questions or thoughts? >> So, I want to open it up to the council members first. Um, everybody did have a couple of days um those not on the finance committee to look at this. So,

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if you have any questions that you would like um either the finance committee or Mr. Arthur to answer um please let me know or comments. Doesn't have to be questions. >> Okay. Any Okay. I mean I I don't I know

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that this is not coming up for a vote right now anyway, but I mean as has been the case throughout the process, there are, you know, additional things. I know um from the perspective of one of the fire requests was a vehicle. I know that we had some um difficulties with one of the current fleet today. Um I guess I

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just wanted to flag that I'll be wanting to discuss that. I don't know that this is the time. So, >> well, no, this is the time because um we this will come up for um a multi-purpose bond in May. So, um any discussion

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should happen now. Um so, if you want to have a discussion, but I know that there was also plenty of discussion on I believe this topic in committee. So, >> yeah. Uh I mean, I think that the context has changed additionally um even

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beyond what we were doing in the committee. Um, you know, as things stand, for those who have the capital request in front of them, you'll see the two um the two upfit requests, right? Those are for the deputy chief vehicle, which would be transferred essentially

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from fire inspection. Um, my understanding is that the vehicle that currently occupies that position was recently had to be taken out of service um for, you know, just reasons having to do with the age and ability to continue functioning of the vehicle.

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they had put in a request for um essentially an an additional not not an additional vehicle but a thing that they thought would be better suited to that replacement. Uh given that I think the overall age of the fleet is um well over

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20 years at this point. Um I think that in withdrawing that one vehicle that we've had to recently, it reflects on the the general state of that fleet. I I will say and so I'm open to the reconsideration of that request in an

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attempt to prevent finding ourselves in another situation where that vehicle where one of the vehicles of the fleet finds itself having to be withdrawn from service. >> Well, I'm not aware that the fire inspection vehicle had to be taken out of service. I'm not sure. But if it did,

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it still needs to be ripped. But >> you were saying the deputy chief's vehicle was taken out of service, correct? Okay. >> Okay. So that doesn't really change the situation. So our just for the public's knowledge um the

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fire inspection vehicle um is paid for through the fees and if I if you if I'm not saying it correctly, please Mr. Arthur, jump in. Paid for through the fees that are collected through fire inspection. That department

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is getting a new car. the leases has been over and it was scheduled to get a new car last year. It did not happen. So this year it is happening. Um, and so that SUV that was in fire inspection

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was suggested to go to the deputy chief um, as it is, you know, only has 40,000 miles on it. Um, and to be upfitted for his needs, um, rather than purchase a new vehicle since that one was going to

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be unused but the burrow's property. So, um I understand that the deputy chief's vehicle had to be taken offline today.

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Um I know that that is not uh you know desirable, but getting a new vehicle still wouldn't happen right away anyway. So, I'm not sure how much it changes, but we can What would change out of

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that? I they do have some older vehicles that he can substitute right now. Not the best use, but um that can be because at this point we would still have to any new vehicle still has to come in. So

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there's nothing that could be purchased today and come in tomorrow. >> Yes. I allow me to clarify because I must have not been particularly clear. All everything you said is is true. I'm not denying that. I'm saying that the initial goal in the fire request was to

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replace the deputy chief's vehicle using a purchase and to take the fire inspection vehicle and replace the what is essentially the auxiliary vehicle, the share vehicle that's used for a variety of purposes. The reason that the deputy chief's vehicle was withdrawn

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from service, it's because of, let's just say, serious issues that are, I think, a result of the age and general use of the vehicle. The point that I'm making is that that is also true of the other vehicles in the fleet, including the auxiliaries that they would

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theoretically be asked to bring in here. Um, therefore, in order to remain proactive and also in order to guarantee that we don't find ourselves in a situation with with the withdrawal of a similar vehicle, I think it makes sense to consider the request. Secondarily,

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um because the deputy chief's car is out and the um the chief's car, which although being quite new, is subject to some kind of recall is my understanding at the moment. Both of those Go ahead. >> It did just come back, but yes, it was it it is it was back as of today, but yes,

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>> the fire department has found itself in a variety of situations giving the aging nature of both the apparatus and the vehicles. Obviously, we're not considering an apparatus as part of this capital request right now, but putting that to the side, the general age of the fleet, including both the auxiliary vehicles you're talking about using in

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lie of um the missing deput vehicle and also the current share vehicle and deputy chief's vehicle. I understand it's probably very confusing because I'm just saying the word vehicle over and over again, but uh I I was I mean agree everything you said is true, but what I'm talking about is the additional

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slotted vehicle, the additional vehicle as part of the fleet, the main fleet. >> I have a question. Um I even when we spoke about it in finance committee, I remain unclear what the um uses are for

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the auxiliary share vehicle. And I also um would like to know roughly like how often it's being used. >> So in my understanding, I'll give you a practical example is um you know

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essentially out of the officers in the fire department, the first person who's on the scene takes command of that scene going down the ranks right from chief to captain essentially is the the officer ranks. The chief has his own vehicle that is actually quite new and is by far the newest vehicle in the fleet. The

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deputy chief was currently working with a I couldn't even tell you how old, but old enough that it is now basically being forcibly retired. Do you know the >> I think it's 08. >> Okay. And that's actually one of the newer ones ironically. The share vehicle for example might be used in a situation

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where um let's say the captain uh ends up being on scene first. He's taking that getting to scene establishing command over the scene for that time. It could also be used for other things. Um, in terms of fighting fires, that would probably be the most immediate place it would find use. And in terms of other

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auxiliary uses, um, I mean, if it were a pickup, it could be used for a greater variety of things. But in its current state, which is an SUV form, you're talking about being used for trainings, you're talking about being used to gather supplies ahead of, say, the um, the overnight stays they had to do

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recently. Um, so a mixture of command duties for the lower ranking officers and the various other sorts of things you do when you're keeping a department running. >> So if it's going to be used as a command as a as a third command vehicle, would that not mean we'd also be needing to

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budget for an upfit on that vehicle? So in the initial version of the request um the idea was actually that you would be um you you would be upfitting it to a certain degree but not necessarily to the same degree because your goal isn't

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to have that be the command vehicle but your goal I think let's put it this way ideally yes but I think the fire department recognizes that a full upfit for all three of those vehicles is an unlikely request so to their mind the most important thing is ensuring that the two the chief and deputy chief's vehicles are upfitted

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For those out there listening and watching, that would mean it has access to a certain kind of grounded radio that makes communication easier with the firefighters inside a fire. It also means that it has the, you know, the ability to maintain the gear, right? Because if you're bringing your own gear to the scene, not in an engine. Ideally,

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you have a special case for that. I think they understand the appetite for that might not be that high, but therefore, you don't necessarily outfit it fully. In an ideal world, you would, but you might not. without the command vehicle, could you explain how it would be used in firefighting activities?

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>> Um, I mean, I thought I had said, but getting people to the scene, right? So, and when you're dealing with a volunteer department, um, obviously you want to respond as fast as possible, right? That's always the goal. And because our department is volunteer, it means you use an app called I am responding to say I am out of the crew of firefighters

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responding. Obviously, there are firefighters at the firehouse at various points. they would be the first responders in a situation where that were the case. But where it is not the case, you're going to have people getting out there as fast as they can, either on engine duty, meaning they're taking the engine down there with the firefighting apparatus, the hose, these

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things, or in the event that it's say the captain getting down there to establish immediate command before the chief or the deputy chief got down there, he would be using that vehicle or a similar officer. or if additional firefighters had to get there because you know, let's say the engine was already there, the chief's already there, deputy chief's already there,

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additional firefighters could show up in that vehicle as opposed to, of course, the alternative which would be their personal vehicles, which comes with all kinds of liability. >> So, in response, they would drive from where they were to the firehouse, all get in a share vehicle, and then drive to the fire to be additional responders.

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>> That's one potential use. Yes. And I mean, the implication might be that, you know, that may not be that far. I mean, it might be if it were a mutual aid situation, but assuming it's not, the reality is that the vehicles they're working with are quite old. I mean, I the average age of the non engine, non

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apparatus, meaning your SUVs, pickup trucks, these kinds of things, it's currently 20 years. If you remove the chief's car, which is 3 years old, the age is going to come much closer to about 25 years, right? So, that means that these vehicles come with a variety of problems. I know one deals with a consistent oil leak problem, one has

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brake issues, especially when it rains, one so on so forth. So the question is, okay, it may not be getting immense mileage, but you want it to be safe for that purpose of transport and not have to be withdrawn at a moment's notice as has happened with one of the frankly newer vehicles in the fleet.

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>> Well, my I'm not what I what I'm not debating is the age of the vehicles. Many of the vehicles are very old and in not good shape and that's why we prioritize making sure that the deputy chief had a safe and functioning vehicle. My question is I'm just

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thinking about the cost benefit of a second vehicle for the fire department given that I haven't seen data on its utilization. So, okay. >> I was just going to I'll try and be very brief in saying that

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I I don't know. I mean, I'm I I suppose it would be possible to determine um you know, I I my understanding it's used quite often, but I mean exactly how it's used. Yeah, I couldn't say that right now. I do know what its use is for. My point is very simply that the goal of

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the fire department here is very clearly to get themselves on solid footing to reduce maintenance costs and additionally to try and put themselves in a situation where they're not make making uh an enormous number of requests. I think in speaking to the chief and in speaking with the committee and he said this when we were in the

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finance committee meeting the goal is to get to the point where these main state vehicles are fully reliable so that you know they are you don't have to worry about things going wrong losing access to them letting them be withdrawn and once you know that your ability to

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respond is assured you're safe public safety is insured to the degree possible and you don't have to worry oh this vehicle isn't going to start which is an issue that some of them have faced oh this is going to be another payment in for a new engine which has happened or an oil leak or one of these things. Admittedly, I can't sit here and

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quantify it, but I can say that the goal is to be proactive and avoid the potential cost and problems that come with having an aging fleet. >> And I will say I understand I I it's you're always going with these sort of

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vehicles, you're always going to have to have maintenance issues. I mean, we we look at our DPW and the vehicles that they use and the truck is. There's always going to be an in-n-out, in-n-out, no matter how new it is. So, um, as we just saw with the chief's vehicle that's brand new, there was a

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recall. And so, you're always going to have an in-n-out and an in-n-out. I think it's it's just a matter of a balance of when you're what you're spending your capital on and looking at it not just within the fire department, but within

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as a whole. I just want to point out that not only as Mr. Arthur mentioned, this is not our only capital uh bond that we are going to be having to issue this year. So, it's just something to keep in mind. We will have the turf uh

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in addition to that. So, when you're going back and forth and and crunching the numbers, it's something to to keep in mind as um Council President Bodto was talking about like the balanced approach between making sure you provide equipment and keeping our our debt

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fairly stable um yeartoear. >> So, council president has something. >> Sorry, a lot of words. Uh um so is the vehicle that we were considering not working on? No, he's talking about um

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So, >> I'm sorry, I got lost in the vehicle. >> Um the fire inspection vehicle is being purchased and can still be set to the deputy if you decide. >> The deputy chief's current vehicle has

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had to be put out of commission currently. And so, um I believe Mr. Arthur, you asked if he could use one of the auxiliary vehicles in the meantime. >> Yes, that's what I that's what I asked. >> That that was a new development. That's all. >> Okay. But >> nothing has changed. >> Well,

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>> it's the same. I understand where you're coming from. And I know this conversation went on a lot in committee. That's why I don't necessarily know if we have to have >> Well, we presented it to the public, but if we have to let everybody else have a a sense. So, >> I did have a couple of clarifying

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questions. So what we're saying here is that there's new information about the vehicles that we thought were viable. >> No. >> That are actually no longer viable. >> No. >> To be used. >> Yeah. The this the original goal was to

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take the vehicle that is currently the deputy chiefs and to as far as I know make it the share vehicle because it was a newer vehicle. It's a 2008 versus a 2002. >> It also only has 40,000 miles on it. It's kept in good condition. So, that was one of the things even though it

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might be a little older. >> Well, no, no. Yeah. No, I'm not talking again, I'm putting the fire inspection. I'm simply talking about the fleet as it exists. What Councilman Nuli asked about is something has changed with what was going to happen with that fleet. And I do believe that is true. The current deputy chief's vehicle,

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>> which is being withdrawn. I I as far as I know, it is unlikely to simply be going in for repairs because it is an issue that has emerged before the money has been spent on to repair is my understanding. But he to get rid of it anyway, >> councilman. He was going to get rid of it anyway. Anyway, so I don't want the

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implication or the misinformation to be out there that it's one less >> car. This was going to be removed from the fleet as soon as >> he got >> the inspection inspector's vehicle was readyed for him. So, it's a little early

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because of the you know the the maintenance issue, but the timing, it's just a timing thing. It's not necessarily that anything has changed. >> I have another clarifying question. >> So my my other clarifying question is

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that if the deputy chief's vehicle is offline and the chief's vehicle is not in use at this time essentially right now we are we do not have a vehicle that can respond. Is that correct? >> The chief's vehicle came back today. So that's I think there was so much talk

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and so many vehicles back and forth that there was like confusion and that's what I don't want to to happen and >> I don't think we're confused. I'm asking clarifying questions. >> I'm saying I don't I there was a lot back and forth. So the chief's vehicle is back.

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The deputy chief's vehicle was taken offline. Um and he is temporarily using an auxiliary vehicle for temporary time until such that another vehicle is available for him.

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>> I do have another question as well. When was the first time that the fire department requested this vehicle? Because I my my memory serves me correctly. This is something that he's been asking for for I'm going to say at

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least of my my time on council. I I I can't recall. >> I believe it's 2021. >> 2021. So, he's been asking for this vehicle since 2021. I think I think it might be time that that we we we bond for this vehicle. >> So, >> I think that if a request is made

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doesn't mean that it necessarily is needed. >> I want to als I just want to be clear, they they requested a chief's vehicle and a deputy chief's vehicle over the past years. It was decided at different point two

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two years ago to get the chief's vehicle and get that up then to look at the deputy chief's vehicle. However, I'm assuming 2 to one in the finance committee, it was decided that there was

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a perfectly good SUV sitting there and at this point to allow that to be used for the deputy chief and you know, you can look at things in the future, I suppose, as well. But is I'm

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assuming it was a 2:1 recommendation. If anybody else wants to chime in, >> I have I have a question. What is the consensus of the fire committee? >> So, after seeing the deputy chief's

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current vehicle, obviously, it was very clear that that needed to be pulled out of service. The cabin smelled of gasoline. >> I just want to make aware that wasn't brought to anybody's attention though before yesterday. So, I don't want anybody to think that that was sitting there.

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I as far as it was not brought to the burough administrator's attention >> or what do finance that being said that is the vehicle that is being replaced. So I think the immediate concern is

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being remedied via the current budget and then the share vehicle certainly is something that should be looked at given the age but whether that needs to happen this year or in a future year given that we also have expenses from other

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departments including the backhoe for DPW which is a pretty significant cost this year. Um, I don't, you know, obviously we need to prioritize things as well. So, I that's where I stand. I'm sure Councilwoman Biano may also have

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comments. >> Well, um, I agree that the deputy chief's car needed to be put out of service and it was. And, um, hoping that the new car coming will get here sooner than later, you know, and that's all we

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can do. I would just like to clarify um I did mention the fumes issue in the finance committee. I would also add that the point I am trying to make very simply is that it has taken the point of needing

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to decommission this vehicle right for us to admit that it is it's bad. >> No, >> I am >> sorry. Go ahead. >> Okay. the other vehicles within the fleet including the share vehicle which has problems of its own that I we could

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sit here and list or not is okay then no uh then it it may not be experiencing that big of a problem but I could easily foresee given some of the problems it does have that we find ourselves in a month in two months in three months in a year who's

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to say in a similar situation. It is completely true that the deputy chief's vehicle, which is being replaced, and I think we can all say we're thankful for that, reached a critical point of non-usability. I however think that we are not terribly

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far with vehicles that are older and also see the same amount of use being used by other officers and other members of the department. And to your point, Councilman Sura, you're right that this is something that could be evaluated in the future. The reality is each of the departments is required to submit a

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5-year plan to us as part of the capital request which Mr. Arthur spoke about a moment ago. We're well aware that departments are going to have needs coming forward that are are going to be expensive either at the same level more or less. I mean it varies by department and what their needs are.

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Therefore, there's nothing that would lead me to suspect otherwise than that this might land in exactly the same place next year because those requests are are you know they don't just go away. I would also add that we had the opportunity for saying oh the bond is so

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large we there there were ways to fit it into operating say on a lease level where you're not shelling out $1 billion. I mean it's not it's not a billion I'm you know being hyperbolic but you're not shelling out a lump sum of money or bonding for a lump sum of money but are rather saying over five

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years I'm paying $13,000 a year that's x tax impact you know I think that would probably be like $7 or something and that is what I may you know don't hold me to that number >> roughly yes >> right you could do it that way and yes that would affect the tax impact but that is a way of saying okay it doesn't

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end up in the capital bond it doesn't end up affecting us in that pay and worrying about the debt. To me, that's a worthy investment in assuring that, okay, this is on sure footing. We're not going to find ourselves in the same situation in a couple of months or a year or whatever with this vehicle that

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again is older than the deputy chiefs and probably therefore has many more miles on it and again already has issues. To me, it's a way of getting of getting ahead of the problem. We shouldn't just be addressing when things become critical failures. We should be trying to be proactive and we can do that through operating or capital. I'm open

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to whatever, but I think it's a useful conversation. >> Okay. I just want to say that I I just I do take issue with it being said that it took to this point to admit that there was a problem with the vehicle. It did not obviously or this conversation would

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not have been going on in finance to replace that vehicle. So, this has been a long time coming. Yes. But the conversation for it has been going on. So, it did not take this to get us to move on it. That was the obvious plan

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because it was put into uh the capital to upfit the other vehicle. I also want to say um that yes, we are you can move this car, the inspector car over to the deputy

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chief and then yes again next year you can decide to purchase another car and move that car over to the auxiliary. You can as we do with other departments and we keep moving you know the fleet around to to better fit the need. So it's not a

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oneandone type of situation whether it's this or not being I don't think it's a proactive sort of situation he you're getting the deputy chief of vehicle you're not purchasing

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another one and on top of it where you could do that next year if you want but it it doesn't necessarily mean that they're not being proactive they I think the council is being proactive by moving in and rotating this fleet. So, I want

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to say I know we may not agree on all of this. We obviously don't. Everybody has their own opinion on this and that's good. That's a good thing. We don't necessarily all agree. So, it's just a matter of the majority on this. I know you're looking at me, but I can't

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if we don't all agree, we we we have to go with the majority. >> I'm not asking everyone to agree. Obviously, I can't make everyone agree. I mean, >> uh, but at the end of the day, I don't I don't think it's proactive to be replacing a vehicle as it is put out of service permanently. I don't think it's proactive to know that we have vehicles

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that could end up very easily in the same situation very soon. I just I don't think that's a good way to characterize it. And I don't think, frankly, it's in the it's in the service of the department or public safety to wait too long on these things. And I will add this vehicle as has been all but stated

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that they're receiving. We are only paying for the upfoot cost on it is coming to us because it is paid for through fire prevention which means yes a vehicle is being received and thank God for that because of the situation the current deputy chief's vehicle is in. But it is not in any way a request

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for the purchase of two vehicles. >> Correct. >> Yes. >> That was the original proposal though. No, the original proposal was the acceptance of the the fire inspection vehicle, >> right? No, that's true. >> The acquisition in order to >> the deputy chief for the >> Yes. Yeah. to make it that all of the

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main due cars, the the the chiefs, the deputy chiefs, and the sheriff vehicle used by the officers and the other firefighters to get to scenes. All of them would then be new enough so as to hopefully not be subject to the kinds of issues that many of them have, which include starting issues, oil leaking issues, a new engine in one of them. I

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mean these are to me band-aid. >> You always when you have a fleet of vehicles, you have a department fleet of vehicles, you are always going to be constantly maintaining them. We get new vehicles and they're constantly in maintenance. So per like the assumption that if we just purchase a new one, we

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won't have to touch it and for for 5 10 years. You're always we do this with you know our new garbage truck needed work, right? You know, not so long afterwards. That's it's it's going to happen. So, I don't necessarily I I think your other finance committee members were looking

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for efficiencies. That's all >> I I just would like I don't obviously all cars need, but the idea that a 20-year-old vehicle and a three-y old vehicle are just on the just on the odds likely to need the same level of maintenance is is Come on.

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>> But it's okay. Um, so we Yeah, I know. There's been a lot of talk about this in finance. So that's why I I think you you see the frustration um because this the I know the committee has been discussing this a long time. So um

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>> there's one other very brief thing which is that originally when we discussed this we discussed that the additional request for the thermal imaging camera which admittedly at first I did not understand why there was the need for an additional one because I think there are three within the department. my

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understanding >> one in each the two engines and one in the ladder truck. >> Yes. >> From what I so three total in those three vehicles from what I understand >> and I think that the goal of that request was essentially that ideally again the apparatus and the command vehicles should be having that and the point within finance was that maybe they

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could move one if needed but it turns out you you're not going to move one off of apparatus in order to put it into a vehicle. That just doesn't make sense. So if there's an appetite to finish that upfit fine but I'm mentioning it because it is something that is supposed to come with the upfit of a command vehicle. We didn't do it with the chiefs. I was not counsel at that time, but Okay, that's

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what I have to say. >> Okay. Um, moving forward, I think at this point, council, >> may I just ask what what would be the cost of the thermal imaging camera? >> Um, yeah, I think I have it here somewhere. I believe it was 6,500.

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It is $5,461. So, little a little bit less, but yeah. >> Yeah. And and I think that you spoke with the fire department and they said that it wasn't >> I >> am I wrong that the fire department pulled back on that request in lie of some of the other things?

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>> It was it was if you had to choose between the radio up versus then the radio upfit would take the priority over the thermal imaging. >> Okay. >> Yeah. But let's be clear, the purpose of the camera is that if that vehicle is first unseen, it's capable of scanning within

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the fire to, you know, check for if people are inside and these kinds of things. The idea being that if it is in the first responder vehicle as opposed to the engine, right? You have additional time to locate, make a plan, or even potentially do a rescue if someone is to be in that building. That

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is why um now they were asked to prioritize there and they chose the radio because a radio is I mean a command vehicle without a radio is is nothing but I mean I I would say it's a pretty important thing. >> Okay. Well, at this point we we have

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this in front of us. Um I'm assuming from the comments tonight that the majority is in uh favor of keeping as is. If I'm wrong, >> I do have one question. >> Yeah, one question. Um, the underpass

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lights, um, was a grant at all possible for that? Because that seems like something that would be just perfect for a grant. We we've typically gotten grants for those types of um, you know, >> anythingification projects.

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>> I haven't seen anything specific to lighting, I'm sure. I mean, there are always grant opportunities for a variety of things. There's different types of grants, but I would say >> because I would say of all the things on this list, we're not going to be getting grants for any of these things except

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for perhaps the underpass lights. So, if anybody would like to discuss that potentially putting that on hold and then seeing if we can get a grant. Um, >> that was a recommendation of the

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planning board. So it it it we did um the circulation element as as you well know um and the planning board and part of that in that circulation element did discuss the need for um better lighting in various areas but in particular one

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of them was the um underpass area. I've had several discussions with people about it myself as well. Um, I think it's just important to to um to upgrade what's there uh safety wise. Um,

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so if I may, actually safety wise, there's really no issue under the underpass. Um, you know, the the the materials that the planning board were looking at, there were, you know, powerpoints and such that show that um there have been no uh pedestrian

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accidents under the underpass. Um, no bicycle accidents under the underpass because um, obviously it's a raised um, it's a safe and raised sidewalk. >> No, it's more about safety in terms of walking underneath at night. The the the need for safety. We put improved uh,

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lighting at the intersections here. Um, just as you're walking, it's a it's a safer environment. >> Okay. I I really do beg to differ with you on that because I think to imply that this is a safety issue is to imply that we've we've allowed this situation

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to persist and that cannot be farther from the truth. This is a safe underpass. Nobody has been assaulted under there. There is no crime under there. Um people should feel completely safe walking there at night. The lighting is adequate. I wouldn't say

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it's beautiful. Okay, it's not beautiful, but it is adequate. And so I really do feel that this is is something that could potentially get a grant and we should really pursue that. Okay. I don't I don't feel there's anything

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wrong with improving on things. I don't think that means that we we've let something go. I think we're always looking to improve as as we go along. Um to be honest, that's what the whole circulation element was about was making recommendations about where we can make

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improvements. That doesn't mean that we were negligent in anything. Um it just means as things come along, we we we make improvements throughout the town. And so I I I'm still in favor of

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continuing to put that in. I think it's >> I I'm sorry. Go ahead. >> If I may. Um, when were the current lights installed roughly? >> It's I think it predates even some of our longest standing DPW members. From what I when I ask around, it was like

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one of those nobody seems to really know. So, >> it's decades. We'll just say decades. >> We are probably at a point where it is reasonable to replace something that has slowly >> well >> deteriorated. We could use LED lights under there now. It's a whole different

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>> Yeah. The language in the circulation element as I recall is that it is for the purposes of the quote perception of safety, right? And and you know, we can look I'm pretty sure I've looked through the circulation element. It's difficult for me to sit up here and spend money on the perception of safety when a moment

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ago certainly with regard to the camera we can disagree on the vehicles were not putting forward for that. I mean that's literally scanning a fire to see who's inside in a first responder vehicle. I just how can I be comfortable not doing that but doing this? I just >> I mean I guess you could say that about anything then. We could one thing you're

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you're pinning one thing against another. I could say then we don't need anything for you know >> I'm just quoting the circulation element in terms of perception and I'm weighing that against something we're not doing that I think is directly has to do with safety. >> I think in my opinion they're both

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safety related and I think it's an apples oranges type of situation. I mean, we can say anything for fire or police is more important than getting garbage cans, but we certainly need garbage cans, new ones in in the recreation complex. So, it's not a

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matter of um I I think you're you're looking at things uh against each other rather than a holistic piece of the town. like we have to provide for many different

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departments and many different issues in the town. So >> on the committee we over and over again said that public safety as an idea was our primary criteria and that and and need essentially right. So, you know, and so, >> uh, yeah, if you told me that the

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garbage cans were for the perception of safety, I would challenge that because that's not the purpose of a garbage can. But if public safety is the thing that we're using to make these difficult decisions, as we have heard over and over again appear, then yes, I am saying that I think saying that could directly impact safety is worth spending a third

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of the amount of money on as compared to triple the money for the quote perception. >> Okay, I that's fine. I it was it obviously came out two to one in finance and this is what I we keep going over these are the recommendations that came

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out 2 to one right maybe not all of them some of them at this point this council needs to make the decision if we're do going forward as is or making any changes so and I don't see other than those things that you have mention mentioned anybody

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else make wanting to make any changes then. Am I correct? Okay. Then that is that's what we have to go with. All right. Thank you, Mr. Arthur. Then we will direct you to speak with Miss Bruns to put together uh the bond for the next meeting.

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>> Okay. We'll send it to our bond c well Miss Bruns will send it to the bond council and hopefully he will have time to prepare for May 14th. So Okay. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Okay. We will move along to um our reports

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from our bar attorney. >> Nothing new to report. >> Okay. Uh Mr. Disco report from our bar engineer. >> Good evening everybody. I think I have actually good topics and you know good things to report. So every year DOT announces their I'll call it their

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municipal aid program and they did that on April I think 17th. letter came out to everybody and the cut off for the uh submission of the grants is June 30th July 1. So every year we go through this. It's a good thing we get the

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opportunity. I listed below the last those seven years of the grants. So we're pretty consistent that we're going to get a grant and then grant could be in that 250 to 400,000 range. So what do we want to pick? The good thing is I

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think mayor and council our roads are in much better shape than they were three, five, eight years ago and I drove the entire um burrow over the last two days again. I listed two street sections that I think would be good candidates. I know

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there's a street committee that will look at this. Uh so I had East Street, the one block that seems to be lagging behind the rest of East Street at this point. Locust Avenue w of the center street. So that's a twob block section.

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Um the curbs are very poor there. They're concrete and they're really a very small curb reveal and they're uneven and um really falling apart. Though that road section of Locust must have been paved by a utility company was

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done in a half portion which is not something we do anymore. We always do swaps and do full streets. So, the age of that one side of the street, I'm guessing, is 8 to 10 years old, and the other uh side of the street is probably even older. So, anyway, those are two

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street sections that I think would would merit some consideration. And I know, mayor, that the Oak Street sidewalks was something that would piggyback what we're doing with South Avenue sidewalks. And there in the past, we've also talked about East Street. There's two blocks of

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East Street that don't have sidewalks on uh one side, one one full block and one half block. So again, um if you're interested in doing sidewalks, we've got Oak Street, which we talked about a meeting or two ago, and East Street. I will remind everybody that DOT limits

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you to three street sections. So um Locust, if it's two blocks, that's only one street section. east if it's um paving of the block is a street section. So um if you want to do two sidewalk street sections, you could do that in

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just one paving, but that probably will be a lower cost grant request. So I put it there as a initial offering and to think about. We obviously have a two two months to to think about what we want to submit and whatever the the committee

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decides, I'm I'll put the application in. I'm confident we're going to get a a good good grant amount. So, if there's any comment on those or if there's other street sections that somebody's thinking about. >> I'm sorry. On East Street, which blocks did you say for the sidewalks?

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>> Uh, it's the block above uh beach. So, beach to to Hazel, I think, is the on the east side. One of the blocks doesn't have uh sidewalks. Now, there's a a very large tree, which is

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probably the reason why the other block has sidewalk about 1/2 to 2/3 of that side. Okay. >> And when I looked at it, there's no impediment that I could see. So, you could you could finish that one block section. >> Okay.

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>> Okay. We will have um public works take a look and go over some of >> Actually, I had one question as well. So, I had a chance to walk down Oak Street a bit. Um, obviously there are a lot of not a lot but several older trees and things and I think at a previous

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meeting I'd asked if it was feasible to pave around them or anything to avoid taking out some of the older trees. Have you had a chance to to evaluate that >> to some degree? Yes. So e even on the streets that we wind up doing um Mr.

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near from Shade Tree and I go and look at every tree on every street that we do and and very often we try to curve the sidewalks around an old tree that we're trying to save that has surface roots. Um you do have to worry about the rightway where the public rightway ends

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and the private property ends, but that can be done. There are some trees on Oak Street that are certainly problematic for installation of a sidewalk and then there's others that can be worked around. Okay. >> But on Oak Street, you had a very long corridor there without sidewalks. And I

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know there was a desire to get sidewalks with the athletic facility over there and the like. So, >> um, would it be possible to get an updated plan that highlights which trees can gone around? >> Sure. >> Versus not. Thank you.

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>> Any other questions about that particular uh issue? Okay. So, we will have uh public works take a look at those and report back um pretty soon because uh due June 30th. Okay. We have some time. Yep.

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>> Okay. Thank you. >> We just got the letter so everybody's, you know, not even thinking about it yet, but so it's a good time to mention it. >> Okay. Terrific. >> And then so the next two bullet points really is we had Midwest resumed or remobilized. They took the winner off

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which is not unreasonable for these contractor crews. Uh and they mayor as you recall uh we are under our grant amount on this project. So we were looking to do additional work along the street sections that were included in

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that DOT grant. Walnut Avenue being one of them. So we added sidewalks at the first aid uh squad building that we didn't do before. And then there was the coincident request to fix those two ramps on Second Avenue by the school. So

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th those were done early within the last two days >> yesterday. >> So uh at this point I really don't have more work that I'm seeking to give Midwest. So we're going to seek to close out that uh contract and we tried to maximize

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uh the grant amount for that. And then the next bullet point is we did do a final payment um submission for what we called uh contract 2024-1 which is another DOT project. That uh project we

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I think we were going to be about 32,000 under contract. And so that's been submitted to finance as of today. the PO and then we closed out the quote project for National Water Main which was the first of two point repairs uh that I

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think we were using the sore fees or whatever for so >> correct. >> So those two projects will go. It'll also make Sandy happy because she sent me an email about recouping our DOT grant money on these and I can't do that until we final pay it. Then I get a copy

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of those executed purchase orders. So 2025-1 and 2024-1 are both two of our recent DOT projects and I will then recoup the remaining 25% of the grant. We get 75% of the DOT grants up front without doing anything

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when we bid the project. So any questions on those? No. Okay. Um then we go into our current DOT, the one that uh has the Cranford involver involvement. Uh we listed the street

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sections there. Again, not much has changed since I was here last month, but we did interact with Cranford uh and had discussions and I looked at the text mayor um it was the mayor and the police chief had concerns about parking and curbing on Gall Hill. Again, the

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rightway is substantial. It's well over 66 ft. So, there's plenty of room to put curbs on the Cranford side if they want to. Um, and so at least I got a response. Sounds like they just want to not have curbs on their side. That's unfortunate. I always find it's a more

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finished look. You have curbs on both sides. So, maybe those discussions will will happen in the very near future. But regardless, we're at a position where we're about to submit to DOT. They do a cursory review. They always have changes. we make the changes, then we go

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out to bid. So, I think it's very soon that we're going to see that and we're talking about April. So, I still see it feasible that you're going to have a summer construction for that. >> Okay. Do you need um final um confirmation from them about the curbs

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uh before you submit to DA then? I see. Okay. So we'll we'll work on >> the curb is going to dictate the width of the street also. >> And um we the existing road goes from 20 feet to about 30 ft. Um 20 ft is a very

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substandard road. In fact, the residential site improvement standard recommends a minimum width of 24 ft. So we were trying to accomplish a 24 foot width at the throat at the beginning where Second Avenue is. So, if we're not putting curbs in the Cranford side,

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it um it it uh it just interesting. So, I don't know what to say. >> I can try and convince them, but I don't know. We'll have to see what happens. >> Well, I'm happy to meet with them if if you know we need a field meeting out there again, I'm happy to do that. So,

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>> Okay. All right. Thank you. >> And then the the more recent topic was the New Jersey Transit um murals. And so one of the requirements is uh for that is to get plans and then plans under the seal of an engineer for the structural

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attachment. I reached out to Titan which is the recommended attachment. I'm very familiar with that and I also reached out as it was with the structural engineer today. Uh so um weather permitting I think tomorrow is going to be good and and then Saturday is going

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to be a wash out. But I'm going to try to get out there tomorrow cuz I got to actually measure >> Yeah. >> the length, the width, where the joints are, where the weepholes, if there are wee poles. Um, can't do it where the coping. It looks like a bottom ledge on the on the underpass. So, they want it

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one foot above what they said was the sidewalk. It might have to be one foot above that above that coping area. So, regardless, I'll go out, measure it, at least we'll have a plan. We'll know what we can do with and length. I'll do that very quickly. And um obviously after we

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get the plan, it'll be shared and however the mural is going to look like, that's not my cup of tea. But uh all I need really is the weight of the you know what's going to be hung and then we'll get it structurally okay. >> Signed and sealed and get it to do the New Jersey Transit.

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>> Mr. Arthur's been working uh on this as well. So if you could >> Yep. >> combine forces on this maybe tomorrow and >> Yeah. If you make if you make it tomorrow, I'll go walk with you. Okay. Especially if it's nice out.

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>> It'll be the afternoon if it if I'm I'm out there. >> Does anybody have any questions for Mr. Disco? >> Okay. Terrific. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> And you are of course free to head out. >> Okay.

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Uh, I have just a quick something. Um, I want to thank everyone who helped make local government week a success. Uh, from our professionals to our committee volunteers. Our residents got to see what a special town Garwood really is. And I hope everyone had as much fun as I

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did. It really did spur some great conversations and some great ideas on how to make our burrow even better. Uh, which is always the best outcome for these events. So, looking forward to next year. Um, also a big thank you to the Shade Tree Commission, particularly Michael Mandel, who celebrated Earth Day

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in Arbor Day, um, with our Lincoln School fourth grade students yesterday. Um, yesterday, I'm losing track. Yeah, yesterday the students got a crash course in the proper way to plant a tree before planting two of their own by the teachers parking lot. as a topic close

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to my heart. It was great to participate with Michael and the students and hear how much they already knew about why trees are so important to our environment. So, thank you to Lincoln School and their staff as well for helping coordinate with Sha Tree. Uh, and lastly, I just wanted to officially welcome our new recreation director and

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public information officer, Tyler Christie. Uh, Tyler started at the beginning of this month and has hit the ground running. He comes to us through the YMCA organization where he ran pro recreation programs for youth and seniors running sports teams and summer

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camps. Uh so he brings all of this wonderful experience to Garwood. It's been great getting to know him and I know he's going to be a real asset to Garwood. You can email Tyler at recreation@garwood.org. >> Thank you. And I skipped Mr. Arthur. I

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wasn't going to say anything. Um, so on tonight's >> Disco just gently gave me a no and I trying not to make me look bad. >> I know. I know. I meant to do that. Mr. Arthur, please. >> So, on tonight's agenda, you will see

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resolution 26-92, which authorizes an agreement for an air conditioning project at the firehouse. Um, this was actually paid for with available funds from an existing ordinance. So, this was one of the 2026 capital requests, but it was not included in what we presented earlier because it's being paid for from an

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existing um bond. So, I'd mentioned earlier, but I'll give a little more detail. Garwood has been awarded $66,200 toward the turf field replacement project from a local recreation improvement grant from the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs. Uh last

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year, Garwood received $92,000 from that grant. Um, so we're two for two. Again, thank you to our former recreation director, uh, Katya Isac, who really took the lead in, um, doing these grants. So, together, those two add up

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to 158,200 towards this project. Um, the project will cost approximately 300 to 400,000. And I say approximately because it depends on the type of you know there's different thread counts and you know it's like it gets a little technical but um you know so we have to

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look at the different products that are available you know there's there's essentially the thread count the higher the thread count from what I'm reading and understanding is higher quality the lower the lower quality and it lasts it's about how long it lasts essentially um because as people play

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those threads get ripped up so that's what we're going to to look at with that price range. And then we're going to have to decide the other sources of funds, which will likely be the Athletic Field Trust, uh potentially another bond, and potentially other grants. So,

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um that being said, I think we're in really good shape. I we didn't necessarily think we were going to have any grants to put toward this. So, starting with 152,000 is a pretty good start. Um we're aiming to complete it late fall or early winter. We're kind of hoping as

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the the fall sports season ends, if we have a contract in place well enough in advance of that, we can talk to the vendor and say, "Please start right when fall sports end, but before we start getting hit with snow and things like that, that would slow the project down." We want to hit that like late November, early December and try to get it done if

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possible. Right. Any questions? >> Any questions for Mr. Arthur? >> Well, great job on those grants. It's really nice to hear we have over $150,000 already. allocated. So that's really good news for the taxpayer. So

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thank you for that. U moving on to comments from the council. Councilwoman Annarelli. Thanks mayor. I just wanted to quickly say that I was fortunate uh to be able to participate in some of the local government week events and I wanted to share what an amazing job the students

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did um in their council meeting. They were very professional and were wellprepared and they responded very thoughtfully to questions that we posed to them really on the spot. Um, so it was really fun to hear their perspective on the burrow and I hope that we can bring some of their ideas to life this

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year. >> Thank you. >> Councilwoman Biano, >> no comments. Thank you. >> Councilwoman Nuli, >> I just have the Garwood Partnership for Arts and Culture announcement. Um, the Garwood Partnership for Arts and Culture is presenting the 3rd annual Garwood

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Poetry Festival this weekend, April 25th and 26th at the Garwood Public Library on Saturday and the Crossroads on Sunday. Um, in celebration of National Poetry Month, local poets will be reading at the Garwood Public Library from 11 to 12. Uh those poets are

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Victoria Archer, Carol Noldi, an eighth grade student at Lincoln School, Cecilia Fino, Stuart Leonard, Sheila Morera, and two GPAC members, Tony Grunowald, and Amanda Barry. The full program for the reading at the crossroads on Sunday from 1 to 3 is posted on the burough website

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under the Garwood Partnership for Arts and Culture. The event at the crossroads is made part in is made possible in part by a 2026 HART grant history education arts reaching thousands from the Union County Board of County Commissioners. And for more information about GPAC,

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please visit our website uh which is garwood.org/gpack. >> Terrific. Looking forward to it. Councilman Padusniaak, >> I would just like to remind everyone to engage in the scavenger hunt for RIFF 250. The drawing has been moved to next

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Thursday, the 30th. To um you know, find a QR code. There might be one in this building. Who's to say? Uh and enter to uh win a chance of winning one of three $50 gift cards. >> Okay. Terrific. Councilman SA.

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Um, at the last meeting, I'd raised a slight concern about the aging apparatus of our fire department, and I'd just like to encourage us to continue considering that. Um, I believe there are grants coming up in the fall to help

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with the purchase of new apparatus. So, that may be a good opportunity for us to try to replace some of our aging fleet. Yes, I I um have been looking into some of those grants that you're speaking of. Um and I know um Chief Scaladona has

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also been gathering data and everything so that we can present to the burrow and to council um some of the you know uh just some of the data that you know might back up the purchase since it is a large purchase. Uh we want to make sure

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we have everything uh available to us to make that decision. Yeah. Thank you, Council President Bodha. >> Thank you, Mayor. Um, we were at the EFG dinner just a little while ago, so I'd like to congratulate Miss Mary Emmens

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for receiving an award of years of service recognition. U, Miss Christine Guerrero for receiving the person making a difference award. And I also like to congratulate and welcome officer Omar who has joined us recently. >> Yes, looking forward to doing our

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official swearing in soon. Okay, thank you. We will move on to uh the minutes. Uh Miss Kotiga, uh these are the minutes of the special and regular meetings of the mayor and council held on April 7th, 2026 and

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April 9th, 2026. Do I have a motion to accept the regular meeting minutes as presented? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Uh all in favor? I >> opposed. Okay. Communications, please. >> Uh, this is from the township of

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Cranford. Uh, it's a notice of adoption of ordinance 2026-09, tree replacement standards. Thank you. That is received and filed. We have one ordinance up for adoption tonight. Uh, can you please read ordinance 26-11 by

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title only? >> Yes. Uh this is the calendar year 2026 ordinance to establish a cap bank. Okay. Um at this do we have any correspondence concerning this ordinance? No. Okay. So

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at this point we will open public comment for this ordinance. Uh if there's anybody who wishes to address the mayor and council, please step forward, state your name, and keep please keep your comments to five minutes.

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Seeing anybody seeing none. >> Where are you? Oh, I see what you Okay. Uh, good evening, mayor, ladies and gentlemen of the council. Bruce Patterson, 325 Willow Avenue. Um, in reference to this cap bank, there's there's a note that says accompanying memo from Sandy Bruns. Uh, the public

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does not actually have that memo. >> It was I don't know, you know, >> that's a link. So, it's available through the agenda on the website. >> All right. But it would be nice to have a hard copy to reference

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anyway. uh to the cap bank the uh you know we're looking at I don't know if people are really realized what the cap bank monies are but it's it's a mythical uh amount of money that allows

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the township uh if they encounter additional requirements over and above the uh cola uh that you know they could raise taxes over the uh 2% cap which is not good because of course

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the taxpayers have to cover it. So I I was just studying thing I was just studying the budget in reference to this cap and I guess on page well nobody I'm sure nobody has the budget but I do. Okay. But anyway, but

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on page 3B and 3B2 and also page three it talks about it talks about the uh cap bank and the money's going into it. And it looks like uh we're only two years putting uh monies into the cap bank where normally it's a rolling three years. One year obviously we had no

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money to put into the cap bank. Um but anyway the issue I have a strange microphone. Anyway, the issue I have is this this mythical money. In the same time in our budget, we have the u surplus, the running surplus that

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comes out at the end of the year and rolls into regular surplus in the budget which we then use to the next year. Our surplus is increasing. It's actually increasing leaps and bounds which which I basically should be talking about that as a separate uh

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discussion later on. But anyway, we're looking at a surplus actually increased $285,000 our anticipated surplus from the year before. I mean, at this point, you do not need to put anything in the cap bank. There

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is there is no issue. Our our surplus is running approximately 25% of the budget, which is amazing. I mean, I don't know where all this money is coming from. That's a question in itself. But anyway, at this point, we have plenty of surplus, and therefore, we do not need

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to put any money into this cap bank for this mythical raising of the taxes over and above the 2% cap where the taxpayers would get hit for more money. I suggest all of you vote no only

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because we have enough money in the surplus. Thank you. >> Thank you. Is there anybody else who wishes to address the mayor and council? Okay, seeing none, uh, can I have a motion to close public hearing? >> Some move. Second.

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>> All in favor? >> I >> opposed. Okay. Any discussion? Okay, we will move to um a motion. Can I have a motion to adopt ordinance 26-11?

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So moved. >> Second. Okay. Roll call, please. >> Councilwoman Annarelli, >> I. Councilwoman Biano, >> I. >> Councilwoman Noli, >> I. >> Councilman Padusniaak,

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>> I. >> Councilman Sura, >> I. >> Council President Bodto, >> I. >> Okay, we have one ordinance up for introduction tonight. Can you please read ordinance 26-12 by title only?

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>> Yes. This is the salary ordinance. >> Very plain. >> There we go. >> Um, can I have a motion to introduce this ordinance? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Uh, roll call, please.

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>> Councilwoman Anarelli. >> I. Councilwoman Biano. >> I. >> Councilwoman Noli. >> Hi. >> Councilman Padusniaak. >> Hi. >> Councilman Sera. >> Hi. Council President Bodto I. >> Okay. Moving to council standing

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committee report. Uh finance council president Bodto. Okay. Um fire councilman Padusniaak. >> The fire committee met on Monday at the fire department and evaluated that one of the command vehicles was not in particularly great shape.

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>> Okay. Okay. Community development counciloman Biano. Um, no report, but the next meeting is scheduled for Monday the 27th. >> Okay. Uh, public works Councilman SA. >> The Department of Public Works continued

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its normal duties uh as well as uh providing public works assistance for the clean communities event on April 18th. Uh performing pothole repairs on uh Willow Avenue. Uh, and I believe they also had the pump station repaired um

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over the past couple of weeks. Bill, >> yes. Thank you. Okay. Police Councilwoman Nully, >> no report. >> Community engagement. Councilwoman Annarelli. >> Thanks, Mayor Garwood. Uh, Rex Summer Camp will run from June 29th to August

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7th. Registration is open. Um, early bird resident pricing is 135 per child until May 22nd. So, make sure to register as soon as you have those summer plans nailed down. Um, there's also still time to register for youth cheer and dance and youth soccer

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clinics. They start this weekend um starting on Saturday morning. So, if you'd like to participate and haven't, you can register for those still. Um, adult open uh soccer play is still taking place on Friday evenings. Registration is free for that. And adult

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open play basketball is taking place on Wednesday evenings. This is also free, but no registration is required. Uh, for the programs that you do register for, you can do that at garwoodrec.com. And that's it for me. >> Okay. Thank you. Library Councilwoman Nold.

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>> Yes, Mayor. Thank you. Um, I'm I'm just going to um highlight a few things that are going on in May. Um, and um, obviously I already mentioned the poetry event that's happening this Saturday. Um, so moving on to the May events, the bookmark contest. The Garwood Library

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will hold its annual summer reading program, and this year's theme is unear a story. This underscores the joy of discovery that reading brings and that every person in every community has stories. So, design your bookmark. You can pick up um I think you can pick up

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the materials at the library. Um, uh, the knitting club will meet May 4th, 11th, and 18th at 10:30. Story time with Miss Maryanne. May 5th, 19th, 26th at 10:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. You have to

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register for that. And May 5th, 9th, and 26th, there's Code Forward. That's offering Lincoln School students the opportunity to learn computer programming languages such as Java, Python, and more. May 6th is the library board meeting at 7:30. The Garwood Board

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of Trustees meet at 7:30 in the library. This meeting is open to the public. Uh May 12th at 3, the virtual adult craft. You can pick up your supplies and instructions and you do need to res register for that as well. On May 12th

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at 3:30, celebrate the spirit of America's 250th anniversary with Children's Sound Stage at 3:30 p.m. This will be a special musical program for kids celebrating the 250th anniversary of the United States. This program

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invites children to experience music, history, and fun through a lively performance of guitar, singing, and interactive activities. May 13th and 20th at 1 is adult game day. May 18th at 1 is the book club. That this month they're uh discussing My

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Friend by Sacred Nunes. On May 20th at 3 PM there's the Lego club and May 28th at 6 is the Thursday night book club and they will meet to discuss their next book. And that's all for my library report.

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>> Okay. Thank you. School board liaison council president Boda. >> Thank you mayor. The board of education met on Tuesday April 21st. They presented two teacher of the year awards and inducted the first class of the national junior honor society which is based on scholarship, service,

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leadership, character and citizenship. Their public budget meeting scheduled for April 27th and the next regular meeting is scheduled for May 19th. That's all from my report. >> Okay. Thank you very much. Uh for our seniors, we had our meeting on April 16th and Tyler Christie stopped by to

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introduce himself. One of the other hats he wears is senior director and so he will be putting together all of the senior activities and classes for Garwood. We also had a big celebration for Anita and Pat the Fabio for their 75th wedding anniversary. Their family came in to have lunch with us and their

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son graced us with his musical skills and played the keyboard for us including their wedding song. So Pat and Anita have always been a big part of our community. So I'm glad we could celebrate this important day with them. Uh, small business advisory councilwoman Biano,

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>> no report. >> Uh, board of health, Councilman Sraka, >> no report. >> Planning board leaison. Councilwoman Biano. >> Thank you, mayor. The planning board met yesterday, the 22nd. During the meeting, the board reviewed and discussed the proposed food truck ordinance. After

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consideration, the board voted to recommend the ordinance be forwarded to council for adoption. Next regular scheduled meeting, planning board meeting will be held on May 27th, 2026. Thank you. >> Thank you. Um, okay. Moving on to officer's reports. Um, do I have a

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motion to accept the officer's reports? >> So, moved. Second. >> All in favor? >> I I >> opposed. Okay. Public comment. If there's anyone in the audience who wishes to address the council, please step to the microphone, state your full name and

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address, and please limit your comments to five minutes. Johnny Johnny Pardon. I must say again that we must back our police officers and firefighters and rescue squad personnel. Even though the firefighters and rescue squad personnel

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are volunteers and officers are paid by the burrow, we must back them up in every way. They're out there 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and they all have that uh I'll be there and every kind of

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attitude that serves us well. They're out there for us day in and day out. Abolishing police departments, abolishing fire departments, abolishing rescue squads is not the answer. And mark well, ladies and gentlemen, should

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never be the answer. We must back them up in every way because they're for us. And so our military personnel, they're serving in our country, our country, in dangerous spots like the Middle East

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right now. We must back them up in every way. Our army, navy, core, coast guard and air force. We failed to do so during the war. During this time, three of Garwood's

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sons lost their lives fighting for us. They were the very essence of honor and country. They told us they love show.

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And they kept us. They took off the guns and we should know. And finally, ladies and gentlemen, we must the state legislature in Trenton to

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emergency such as Newberg in Planefield. Attack occurs, we need those missiles very very badly. We I don't want another 911 attack to occur at all. But we must be prepared

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for it just in case they do. We must reopen those closed hospitals and we must back them up. The sooner we reactivate New England and many other closed hospitals, the better we will be.

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Thank you. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Pritchard. Is there anybody else who wishes to address the mayor and council? Uh if uh if you may, mayor, I'd like to hand out some sheets. >> Uh if you give it to Mr. Gar,

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>> if you could start your comments. Well, you could have one also, by the way. >> I don't think there was enough. Is there? >> Yeah, I think there's eight. >> Thank you. Want my copy? Okay, Mr. Patterson, if you could get started.

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>> Good evening, Mayor, ladies and gentlemen of the council. Bruce Patterson, 325 Willow Avenue. Uh, I I just handed out a sheet. This is my proprietary sheet I put together in studying the budget. I I know this is not the budget meeting, but I just want to give you a heads up ahead of time as

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to uh my numbers. you know, not only do you sit down and you talk about the appropriations and the the revenues, you know, what are we going to spend it on and what are we going to collect, but uh you know, there's also metrics that really you should be looking at the same

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time to understand where we where we are at this point of time. And so, I just put together the sheet and I'm just going to rough it out. Um I'm just going to rough some items down, you know, if you want to take a look at it. You know, the first line item is the budget, and

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that went up $72,000. That's a 6% increase. What are those increases comprised of? It's not going to add up to 700, but if you go down to uh uh the revenues, 21 is the pilot

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monies, that's $139,000 increase. uh the uh surplus that I mentioned before, that's $285,000 increase in the surplus. And of course, the taxes that uh you're going to be hitting us little people with, that's

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$175,000 there. But anyway, these these numbers create this large increase and and basically the surplus is the one that's really pushing it up. I I'm amazed at it. I mentioned that before in the

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previous speaking portion, but anyway, uh another just another item to talk about is items 11 and 12. Uh if you look, the employee count uh is 77 and yet our salaries and wages are going up

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$244,000, which is 6% increase. And to tell you the truth, the employee count from the year before was 79. So the employee count stayed the same. yet we're going up 6% on the salaries and wages. That's

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something to really think about. Definitely. Uh, one other item is is line 10, which is the RVSA cost, and I'm sure you guys uh talked about it in depth. Uh, that's going up $43,000

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in 2026. Uh if you go down to line 34 and I went through the budget, uh we have the sewer fee revenues which are um collecting $200,000 we have in the budget and we're

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appropriating there was a line item that mentioned appropriating of $101,000. Uh if you go to the next column, you'll see it there's $98.5,000. I call it disappearing only because $43,000 is going to the RVSA and then

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there's another $45,000 that is untrackable. Last year this issue came up about these disappearing monies and I had made a suggestion to the council about uh subline subline items so you can actually track it because I know I'm

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going to hear oh well this is going into the RVSA cost but it could be going into the salary costs. I mean, it just goes into the operational budget and disappears. Anyway, you could you could keep the copies, take a look at it, see the numbers. Hopefully, it makes some sense.

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If you have any questions, of course, you could always ask me. Uh, if anybody anybody up there, would you be able to explain what the cap is? I didn't ask that question back with the cap bank uh ordinance, but anybody just explain what do you think the cap is?

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>> You have one minute. >> Okay. Thank you. Uh, also the uh, yeah, the bond ordinance 26-92 uh, that we're going back to 2018 for about $29,000. I is that a a from the bond or is that a

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ban that's being rolled over into the present bond or are we going to expend all of that? Uh, another question we have. Yeah. Is there a list and through you mayor maybe to the BA but do we have a list of all the vehicles that the town

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has its uh year of the vehicle the mileage of the vehicle uh actually who is using the vehicle and also maintenance records per vehicle I would I would assume in this digital age it must be all there and of course uh the

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public can operate it because I I doubt if there's any secrecy behind That's it. Just a just a budget. You know, we'll we'll be ready for the to discuss the budget come uh next week. So, and oh, Sandy Sandy Bruns normally

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says, "Do I if I have any questions, I can always uh ask her, which I will be also." Thank you. >> Thank you. Is there anybody else who wishes to address the mayor and council? >> John Bartlick, 231 hemlock. I wanted to uh bring up something about the budget

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in a bigger context. Every year for years and years now, we underspend our allocated operating budget. The only the one exception was a COVID year. Um and we're like 5% under. Now, when you get north of a $10 million budget, that's half a million dollars going into our

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reserve. Along that same period, we underestimate our revenue also from five to 7%. It's well over another half a million going into our reserve. And as a result, our

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reserve has uh since 2017 quadrupled. It was 500,000 back then. It's almost 2 million now if I'm reading the budget right. And by the way, if I'm wrong with any of these numbers, user friendly, it ain't. So that budget is uh is very complicated, but I'm I'm doing my best to try to be factual.

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So that gets reflected in this anticipated surplus we see growing and growing. It's nice to have that surplus. It's the best interest free loan the taxpayers can give the bureau you're ever going to get. We're basically prepaying our taxes. But my point is,

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while we're um underpending, underestimating revenue, we're also significantly increasing our budget over these last four years to the tune of five, six, eight% every year. Who among us thinks this is sustainable?

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I feel like we're using the anticipated surplus to kick the can down the road. So my question is, is there a plan for how we're going to avoid a fiscal catastrophe? Because as I look at the

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skyrocketing budget, the um financial accounting techniques we're using, I'll I'll be kind to offset the appearance of that in our regular tax bill. I just see unless we have a plan and I'm sure you have a plan for two three years out is

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there some revenue source that is going to compensate if we don't have a million4 in anticipated um surplus to be able to offset all the spending that's in uh operating budget. So please if there's a plan could you just summarize it for me

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and and if this is news or unclear let me know. The second thing I wanted to say, I'm trying to be polite. I was trying to con contain myself from slapping my head during the capital planning uh discussion. You can't do capital planning a year at a time. And

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I'm hearing we're not even looking at, you know, the full year yet. We we still may have perhaps the most significant project of the whole portfolio that we haven't even scoped out yet. I saw a reference to a five-year capital plan. I don't know if you've all seen the five-year capital plan. That's usually the the planning cycle in capital

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planning that we go through. I haven't seen one in a couple of years here. So, we're talking about uh you know making choices at a very point-by-point basis. And I'll say more about the operating budget and and how we're doing this bottomup

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forecasting later at at another time. But, uh we're not capital planning. We shouldn't even call it a capital plan. We're not capital planning. We're we're just doing what do we feel like doing now? And I appreciate really appreciate the dialogue and the you know difference in give and take on that >> one minute

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>> but we've got to do financial prudence dictates for capital planning you've got to take a longer term view and look at the impact on your cash flow and we I see no evidence I don't want to say we're not doing it but I see no evidence that that's going on and I would feel a

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lot better if I could see a three or fiveyear capital plan or you know but again it it just does not seem to be available. So, thank you. >> Thank you. Is there anybody else who wishes to address the mayor and council? >> Okay. Seeing none, do I have a motion to

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close public comment? >> Some moved. Second. >> Okay. All in favor? >> I >> opposed. Okay. um to answer some of these questions. Um

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mostly comments from the beginning. Um is there a list of vehicles? The departments have provided uh a list of vehicles to Mr. Arthur. Correct. >> Yeah, we have to provide it to our insurance company. >> Yeah. >> Um so yes, there is a list of vehicles >> and there they have been given um I know

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those lists have been given to finance and uh when they're making their decisions. Um, in terms of the bond for the resolution, let me check the resolution number.

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>> Believe it's 2692. >> 2692. So, this is an available balance in an existing ordinance that is being used. So, I hope that explains that. Um, and I think that was it. Uh, Mr.

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Bartlett. if I missed something because there was a lot of comments in between, but please feel free to email myself, Mr. Arthur, Mr. Bartlick. Um, I I I mean, you're asking for a plan of what we're going to do for the future. I

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mean, every every year our staff and the finance committee and eventually when it comes to the council discusses the the year's budget, but I don't think it's taken um I I don't think it's looked at in a

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vacuum. I do think everybody here looks at it in a holistic manner with the future. Um the capital planning, yes, each department provides a capital plan. Um we have a departments who are very good at providing the capital plan and then

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when we when the finance committee sits down they do take a look for those years those five years and decisions are not made necessarily just oh this is I I hate I yes we were talking about what we were comfortable with purchasing this

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year but that doesn't mean that the five years aren't looked at when first making those decisions and in fact sometimes when we're given those capital plans. I know um it it even happened here some of this year those some of those items are

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moved around. Discussion is had with the fi the department head to see can we move some of those items around with those five-year plans and they're they're adapted and changed as the discussion goes on. So I I I don't think

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it's um necessarily fair to say that the council doesn't look at those plans when they're making the decisions. It's a balance. It's a balance between um you have your debt which is it's some debt is healthy as we've spoken about before

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and it's a balance between the burden on the taxpayer and it's looking at the economy in that time in in this year versus next year versus the year before. So I don't think it's it's fair to say that none of that is looked at. I know we don't can't always go through each

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capital plan over the five years, you know, for each department, you know, up here. We went through the budget and we've tried to s sort of summarize what came out of the finance committee with the capital planning. But I know that this finance committee worked really

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hard uh on coming up with what they felt was comfortable for this year while looking at what's coming down the pike next year. I think that all goes into it. Um if anybody else has anything they want to jump in and say, you're welcome

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to. Otherwise, we can move on. There's going to and yes, as you said, there's disagreements and I think that's that doesn't mean that um that those plans were not considered and that the future for each department wasn't considered

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when making them. There's just some disagreements over what the comfort level is for this for this particular year. So, >> okay. >> The question was, do we get a five-year plan? Yes. Each department submits a five-year plan and we do take into

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consideration all the requests. >> Okay, we will move on to the consent agenda. Does anybody have anything they need to remove? All right. Do I have a motion to adopt the consent agenda?

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>> So moved. >> Second. Does uh any discussion? Okay. Roll call, please. >> Councilwoman Anarelli, >> I. >> Councilwoman Biano, >> I. >> Councilwoman Noli, >> I. >> Councilman Padusniaak,

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>> I. >> Councilman Sera, >> I. >> Council President Bodto, >> I. >> Okay, we have um some new appointments. Mr. Arthur has joined the planning board. Um and uh Luis Soraniano has

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joined the Small Business Association Exec Board. Um we do have an executive session tonight. So, Miss Katiga, if you would please read resolution 26-95 for us. Close session resolution

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authorizing an executive session for the purpose of discussing matters under attorney client privilege anticipated litigation in ordinance with NJSA 10 col4-12. Uh do uh oh we do I have a a motion to

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adopt this resolution? Sorry. It's okay. So moved. >> Second. Second. >> Okay. Roll call, please. Councilwoman Anarelli, >> I. >> Councilwoman Biano, >> I. >> Councilwoman Ni, >> I.

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>> Councilman Pedusak, >> I. >> Councilman Sera, >> I. >> Council President Bto. >> Hi. >> Just a note that no action will be taken. >> Yes. Thank you. Watch it.

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>> Okay. Can I have a motion to resume regular session? >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I >> opposed. Okay. Uh, the next regular meeting of the mayor and council will be held on Thursday, May 14th, 2026 at 7 p.m. in council chambers. Information

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for meetings is posted on the burrow website. Do I have a motion to adjurnn? >> So moved. >> Second. >> All in favor? I >> opposed. Okay. I didn't know we'd have to go