##VIDEO ID:nFRFs69OBL0## recording and we're live on YouTube Hello everybody welcome if I could have everybody stand for a moment of silence and salute to the flag to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible liy and justice for all adequate notice of this meeting was provided to the Union County Hawk advertised on January 4th 2024 notification was sent to the star ler and is posted on the municipal website the municipal public bulletin board and filed in the office of the municipal clerk informing the public of the time and place according to the provisions of the open public meeting Law chapter 231 pl9 1975 roll call please Miss Perry mayor blumenstock here councilman Foley here councilman Lazaro here councilwoman oldi here councilwoman sammon here and council president car Carney here thank you councilwoman Bodo is excused for tonight may I have a roll call of staff and professionals Mr Arthur here Mr abenson here Chief stoer here okay well we have a couple of special things tonight before we actually get started on the work of the meeting um tonight I am very happy and honored to be able to present a community Spirit award to someone that I think of as a friend but uh the reason we are honoring him tonight is that he has uh served on the Garwood Public Library Board of Trustees for nine years and is now stepping back uh so he has done some amazing work for us so I thought it only appropriate to honor him with our community Spirit award uh and I wanted to read this uh a little bit aloud um let me go down there and read it and we will present it uh to Mr John Nolan it okay John Nolan has been a Garwood resident living at the point since 2008 he has served on the Garwood Public Library Board of Trustees for a total of 9 years serving as treasurer for two years and president for six years John is a veteran having served his country in the Army Corps of Engineers during the Cuban Missile Crisis and he is a longtime member of the American Legion John has a master's and doctorate from Teachers College Columbia University and he served in the field of education for 50 years John worked as an announcer for the Somerset Patriots baseball team for 20 years and he also called games for the norc Bears during that time John also helped with the candidate forums at the point each election season for many years keeping time for the moderator John Nolan embodies our burrow motto of smalltown with a big heart for his active citizenship in our community we thank him for his years of service as a library trustee and it is with great pleasure that I mayor Jen blumenstock acknowledge and thank John Nolan for his true Community Spirit congratulations thank you V thank you um just a comment um I want to thank the the three Mayors who were responsible for me putting me on that on the trustee Council first was uh Charles lado with my initial appointment and then Sarah to disco and of course Jen glum St for my subsequent appointments I'd be remissed if I didn't acknowledge where did my Library director get to there she is Maryann Duffy it's been a pleasure Maryann for the nine years that we've worked together and we've got a great little Library folks but you all know that because I see some some familiar faces here tonight and uh it's really to your credit and just keep it going okay um I'd like to say hello to all my fellow trustees my goodness they uh in the corner um Chris Kenny thank you Chris up on the Das Mar Lao Maria NAD um hibby brosi and I got another one around here there we go um ah Carol H and and um um Maria colls so thank you very very much for for coming my colleagues from the point who showed up tonight thanks guys I appreciate it and last but not least my my wife Maryann who said to me my year you know a number of years ago uh you better take that appointment because she's got about 33 years behind her as a library assistant in a in a Township in a Township within Union County so thank you so much and Jen I really do appreciate it I say merry Christmas happy Hanukkah happy New Year and most of all peace and John I'm going to present you with this drawing as well of the aolon by your dear friend Mr Bill Connelly he been every Community Spirit award recipient receives that so keep it up in your in your house at the point in good health there's a story behind it the drawing itself yes the drawing itself Bill struggled for a couple of months as to what did the windows look like way back then so we came to me and he said what do you think I let's go to the library so we did and we pulled out some stuff we sat in build I like Library build home and then we agreed that we had a little shot of an angle and we thought bill could then create from that so what you see here is what his really appreciate thank you get the up there I'll sure half on one side half trying to get okay it's on it's on it way well that wasn't the only fun thing we have tonight we have another special honores well honores not just an Honore um it is actually the 85th Anniversary of garwood's first aid Squad so I would like to honor uh the squad we have a lot of you guys up here tonight I don't know if you all want to come up at once or if you want to send a representative to get this and then we can take a picture a representative or two we'll make whereas the Garwood first aid Squad was incorporated on September 25th 1939 and whereas 2024 marks 85 years of dedicated service by the Garwood first aid Squad to the burrow of Garwood and surrounding communities and whereas the Garwood first aid squad's members respond to more than 300 calls per year and whereas the Garwood first aid Squad hosts CPR classes blood drives and other crucial life-saving efforts and whereas the Garwood first aid Squad hosts such events as pictures with Santa craft bears and participates in a wide variety of community events such as Garwood rocks and the annual Christmas tree and manure lightings and whereas the Garwood first aid Squad is regularly on standby at community events ready to ensure the safety of all who attend and whereas the Garwood first aid Squad is a critical vital part of the burrow of Garwood which both increases Public Safety and ensures a stronger Community now therefore I mayor Jennifer blumenstock do hereby honor and commend the Garwood first aid Squad and all of its members past and present for 85 5 years of exceptional service congratulations no we're gonna be shy okay I want to thank you for the opportunity um we support the burrow we try our best um it's not easy at times but we we we we work at it we have a good relationship with the uh with the burrow with the Police Department fire department and uh we're going to continue and uh I want to say thank you from the all our members uh thank you you what all right either way you everybody gonna release them yes they'll they'll they'll know to go you are welcome to leave if you do not want to stay don't feel like you have to a lot of a lot of f for all the fun that's coming we'll just give it a few minutes to let everybody make their way all their names they they've got a lot of new members recently so I can get it I'm sure oh yeah I'm just going to wait I know Mr yeah it's great because it's it's a lot of training that they have to do and putting in those hours is hard it has yeah I know most of them are young that's on the squad which is good is great they've changed the rules a lot in terms of how much training they have to do and it's yeah expensive where's the local hospital from here uh we have one in raway we have raway hospital um we use Overlook oh okay yeah I know we're Overlook yeah okay all right thank you everybody we will move on to meeting business with our report from our bar attorney the final report the final report for there is none yeah Mr Arthur report from our bar administrator yes hello everyone as you can see flooring is nearly completed uh there's a couple kind of back offices that are still being done um so that should be well done by next week um but the court offices will be closed tomorrow and possibly part of Monday as well the shade structure at the Athletic Field Complex is also underway uh should be completed within a few working days um we're finalizing a few Grant proposals in the next month that we've we've discussed with the Community Development block grants for senior services programming a TD Bank grant for variety of community events and classes uh Recreation Improvement Grant from from the state for Turf FL replacement and I just want to offer some special thanks to our Recreation director for her work because she's actually taking the lead on all three of those those grants um we also finished some tree plantings and they're doing some stump grindings as well and some some removals throughout the town um so the tree plantings for this year are done the grant funds from The Greening Union County Grant have been fully expended and we now have some more funds to start planning for next year to spend so thanks to our shade tree officer over there for his work on on that as well that's it okay thank you Mr Arthur can I ask you to maybe just close the door there's celebrations going on which is great so oh thank you um okay I have a quick report um I wanted to just take a minute to discuss uh the Drone situation occurring in New Jersey I have not put out any statement before because to be honest I have no more information than what you already see being put out um by our governor I have been involved in meetings with other Mayors held by the FAA the FBI and Homeland Security and they continue to believe there's no danger at the present to any of New Jersey residents they have confirmed that since the tip line started they have received over 5,000 calls of which only between 100 and 200 have led to leads for investigations uh obviously many of the sightings called in are actually Dron or actually planes or helicopters or law enforcement drones uh others are lawful drones or hobbyist drones um however there are still sightings where they are not able to identify the source uh and so the federal government is now providing advanced technology and trained observers to our state officials so that they can now work to identify those drones that our current technology is not capturing um so while I think we will all concede that many of those drone I drone sightings have legitimate sources there's obvious concerns about the ones we are not able to identify um and an unknown as to why there's just a a sudden up possible uptick in the number um I share your concern and frustration I do think and hope that the shared technology will now provide some answers in the in the within a few days in terms of the latest news where the FAA has banned drone flights over the 22 New Jersey towns I do not have any further information to provide on that yet I do not know exactly why those towns were chosen versus others uh the FAA is not elaborated on some on the special security reasons I do just want to caution everyone while again I understand the frustration here I want to urge everyone not to take any measures themselves such as sending out your own drones to go hunting or attempting to try and take out any drones yourselves there have been reports of lasers being aimed at what some may believe are drones but are actually commercial planes and this is obviously quite dangerous to the pilots and passengers so again I'm hoping with the better technology from the federal government that we have some more answers over the next few days uh and I will of course update any everyone when we receive anything further next I want to just thank all the Garwood residents who joined the virtual tour this past Monday with our new United States congresswoman L Monica mcgyver uh for such a small town we have certainly made our presence known I think we we made up the majority there on that I know we certainly uh were the majority asking questions which was great uh I thank the congresswoman and her team for listening to us and taking the time to hear our concerns and desires for our district and look forward to tackling some of those issues with them I want to remind residents that we're still taking applications to volunteer for our Burrows committees or boards there are many ways to get involved not all of them require a ton of time and obviously every little bit makes a difference to our community so if you head on to the website under the mayor's tab you'll find a description of the various committees as well as the application form to send in and of course I encourage anyone with any questions about any of the Committees to get in touch with me um and lastly I just want to take a moment to thank councilwoman salmon for her work up here on Council we all know Council can sometimes be thankless job so anyone who steps up to help the burrow and volunteers deserves our appreciation our reorg for 2025 will take place on January 2nd at 7 pm and I'd like to welcome everyone to attend and join us in celebrating the new year that is all for me um does anybody have anything from councilwoman uh I do mayor okay uh so for councilwoman botto's comments uh she sent me uh I am disappointed to not be there for the last meeting of 2024 I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season I look forward to seeing you next year and to councilwoman salmon thank you for your service and best wishes in your future endeavors okay thank you councilman Foley um I just want to start off by uh telling everyone I regret having to canceled a social media presentation on Monday um I'm looking to reschedule that as soon as possible as I was under the weather um I also want to take time to express my gratitude to council salmon for her service to our town over the past three years as a mother of two a successful realtor and a longtime volunteer she has brought dedication to this role public Ser service is often a tough and thankless job requiring countless hours and deep commitment to community I thank councilman salmon for balancing those responsibilities and our town is better for it thank you merry Christmas and happy holay gar thank you councilman Lazar um I just want to also express my um thanks to councilwoman sammon um you know obviously uh you know when we initially when you initially got on the council you know I think it certainly were times where we didn't agree but I think we found over the years times to to collaborate and I think we did collaborate really effectively at times and I will miss those collabor ations where I think he brought a lot of guidance and thought and um uh muscle so to speak to the conversations um that really helped us to to move some some issues forward that were sometimes very difficult so um you know you know of course I think there's always this notion of Democrat and Republican but you know I think that I always saw whoever was up here on Council as an opportunity to work together and try to find common ground and try to work to for the betterment of Garwood and um I appreciate you working with me thank you councilwoman ndi no comments for me just happy holidays everyone and I look forward to our January 2nd meeting thank you councilwoman salmon thank you mayor so thank you guys for your kind words and happy holidays to all of Garwood thank you council president Carney uh thank you mayor and a happy holiday season to everyone uh congratulations to the legendary John Nolan who uh just stepped out to celebrate uh on his well-deserved Community Spirit award uh and to the Garwood first aid Squad uh celebrating 85 years of service to our community um in our last few meetings we've had some commentary uh regarding a lawsuit by a few municipalities against the next round of affordable housing which was mandated by a state law passed by the legislature and signed by the governor earlier this year uh I've previously stated my opposition to Garwood getting involved in this lawsuit with a comment that it's quote lighting tax money on fire uh to elaborate on that just a bit more uh I've read the complaint uh and I believe it's incoherent while attempting to link the current law to constitutional issues the courts have ruled on this issue repeatedly and uh will rule on a pending motion by the state attorney general to dismiss this particular lawsuit tomorrow uh affordable housing requirements will not suddenly become unconstitutional now when there was no substantive change to the existing framework the state has been using on this for a generation uh while I believe our legislature could have done a lot more with this law uh such as added dedicated funding for the local infrastructure which is needed to back stop the additional services that accompany uh these requirements or changing the ratio of affordable units required by developers to lower overall all project densities while achieving the same goal uh I also think that this lawsuit deliberately uh clouds the readily apparent underlying issue of this entire State being in desperate need of more affordable housing Supply uh by unfairly pointing the finger at New Jersey cities for allegedly not doing their part while trying to pit New Jersey committ communities against each other um I work in the city of Elizabeth I commute there daily I've observed new development and more importantly refurbishment of existing housing on a large scale there over many years and this is something that all of our cities are doing well beyond what would be required by the latest affordable housing round were it to be applied to them uh instead of trying legal tricks to delay the process I believe every Community needs to do its part to meet the new housing needs responsibly which will help make all housing afford again for the many young families in New Jersey who are struggling immensely to afford housing in a market with prices driven up by a lack of Supply moving forward I prefer a more holistic approach to this underlying issue of needing more places for our increasing population to live where we collaborate with neighboring towns and regionally instead of competing with who can put what on Whose Town border as we often see right now that won't happen if we continue to to point fingers between rural suburban and urban communities so I'd like to stop the posturing and spend our time ensuring Garwood meets its constitutional obligations and seizes an opportunity for more thoughtful development in the short window that the new law has provided for us thank you thank you well said uh moving on to our minutes please Miss Perry minutes of the regular meeting and executive session of the mayor and Council held on December 5th 2024 can I have a motion to accept the regular meeting minutes and executive meeting second all in favor I opposed okay uh Communications please Miss Perry Union County public notice 2025 installation ceremony and reorganization meeting thank you received and filed uh we have one ordinance up for adoption tonight miss P can you please read ordinance 24-36 by title only an ordinance of the burrow code of the burrow of Garwood by amending chapter 138 entitled cha trees Article 2 regulations Section 1385 prohibited actions do we have any correspondence concerning this ordinance no does anyone here present wish to be heard concerning ordinance 24-36 please step to the mic state your name no okay do I have a motion to close public hearing on this ordinance so move second uh any discussion among council members all right uh can I have a motion to adopt this ordinance so move to Second uh roll call please councilman Foley I councilman Lazaro I councilwoman ndi I councilwoman salmon I council president Carney I okay Council standing committee reports Finance councilman Foley no report tonight uh five councilman Lazaro thank you mayor truck one is back in town and all equipment and hoses have been reloaded and members are going through in-house refresher training on December 17th Campbell the company who makes the truck came to the Firehouse to do this refresher training on the trucks operation all fire truck apparatuses have had pump testing done this last week and all have passed their tests however they did find some issues with engine five which we are waiting details on the necessary repairs November's training was held at the firehouse and the subject was water rescue awareness this is the first step in the Department's ongoing water rescue training which will be continuing next year also the fire department participated in the buroughs tree lining held the annual kids Christmas party at the firehouse and completed the annual Santa ride visits in town this past weekend on December 4th the fire department held its election for officers with the following officers elected Chief John scel adona deputy chief Brent Gregory captain Jimmy Gregory Captain Tom gesier Lieutenant Ed lazinski Lieutenant Ben Fishman and secretary Ed lazinski finally deputy chief Gregory and chief Scalera along with the help of County OEM director Mike scano have been able to find a company that will be coming to the Firehouse in January to give Hazmat on scene Incident Commander classes these classes are 32 hours in length and will be approximately $4,500 once this course is completed director sceno has made the Union County Fire Academy available to Garwood fire department members for the test as the test has to be administered at an approved facility in addition to the hosic training in January the department will be performing monthly training and preparing for the impending OSHA mandates that's all from my report um Public Works does anybody have a report from councilwoman Bodo uh thank you skip Community Development it's okay it's a partying gift no community devel councilwoman Sam no report see I knew that Public Works councilwoman BTO uh so yes I have councilwoman botto's report um for Public Works uh in addition to the recurring activities the DPW continued the leaf cleanup program began to prepare snow removal equipment removed old office equipment from bur Hall and assemble portable basketball hoops for the recreation department uh and that's all for this report thank you uh police council president Carney I'm afraid this one will not be quite so short uh the police committee met earlier this week uh our topics included police Staffing and new hires accreditation outstanding 2024 projects proposed 2025 Projects Park Mobile and the paid parking program and various proposed updates to the burrow code which are in progress um despite the ongoing challenges specific to police hiring uh as adjustments continue Statewide to the new licensing process uh under Chief stofer's leadership Garwood is seen continued success in recruiting well-qualified officers who have bought brought a wealth of experience and New Perspectives into our Police Department uh with this in mind I just want to note that we're at an inflection point in the department where we will see steady turnover over the next few years mainly due to retirements uh I'm quite confident that Chief stoer and Captain have taken the mantle of preparing the next generation of leadership for our department as seriously as they have taken the hiring processes uh ensuring that we're not just filling spots as they open up but that we're getting the best people and officers for Garwood when we do uh regarding accreditation I'm pleased to report that our on-site inspection will occur towards the end of January uh our chief and Captain have both put a lot of time and effort into leading our officers toward this goal uh which is not just done for Prestige accreditation ensures a police department that functions well complies with all state standards and is responsive to the public in both policy and practice the 2025 Council may need to consider additional updates to the borrow code specific to the promotional process for the ranks of sergeant lieutenant and Captain specific to a candidate's redress process as the accreditation advances to its final stage uh we've had extensive discussions in committee on this topic and I'm confident uh we would be ready to proceed with anything needed from the governing body should it arise um wrapping up uh 2024 projects we expect the arrival of the new radio equipment that we discussed at the beginning of the year uh any day now I want to thank you to everyone on the 2024 Council for the unanimous support of this project which is essential for the safety of all of our First Responders in Garwood uh new quotes for the next gen 911 are in progress as the state is finally ready to proceed uh GPD also has the power engage system up and running uh this program has several internal applications and also a public facing component that allows people who have interacted with officers on a call for service to provide immediate and direct feedback uh the chief provided the committee with examples of feedback submitted through Power engage of which most of the input provided to date has been positive uh on the topic of part Park Mobile and paid parking uh half a year in we have seen over 7,000 transactions on the system uh and this is with only 80% of all the planned marked spaces on the south side of town fully signed and an operation so far uh we have nearly doubled the revenue projection for this project uh which is a good sign as we anticipate completing the remainder of the Southside signage and markings uh along with State approval for the North Avenue part of the plan in the first quarter of 2025 uh we have several code updates in the committee which are in various stages of either committee work or review by the burrow attorney um a list in no particular order is uh dog licensing and enforcement uh which I've also looped the health department in on uh peace in good order disorderly conduct trespassing signage on utility polls dumpsters the Center Street Bike Lanes and of course several regarding paid parking that we'll need to bring back next year uh next year's committee will hopefully be able to complete this work and get things up for introduction in 2025 uh early just as we've put a lot of work in this year towards General cleanup of the borrow code uh and I'm closing my final report for 2024 with a thank you to councilman NY and councilman Foley um it was an absolute pleasure working on this committee with you both this year uh I'm actually amazed at the volume of work that we accomplished together and I'm grateful for your always thoughtful input uh and also a thank you to Chief stoer uh you've been a great partner and resource to us this year and uh I hope the men and women of our department appreciate you're going the extra mile for them and also for our town every day so thank you Chief thank you you have a lot of work ahead of you next year um Community engagement councilwoman ndi thank you mayor so we have several uh community events to look forward to um uh we are we've extended the deadline until December 20th that's tomorrow for the holiday house decorating contest uh the winners will be announced on social media Santa's Workshop Garwood children have until tomorrow to um put their letter to Santa in the Box in the library and they will receive a apply by by Christmas the manora lighting is scheduled for December 28th that's a Saturday from 6:30 to 7:30 following the lighting of the manora there will be hot cider and donuts music and a laser light show so please join us uh the Garwood partnership for arts and culture is excited to announce two knitting workshops for kids and families in January they will be held on Saturday the 18th and the 25th from 10: to 11: led by Chrissa Tiani the workshops will be for all ages uh I'm sorry ages six and up so grab your yarn and knitting needles and join us for a fun free activity for all levels of knitts and that's all for my report thank you uh Library councilman Lazaro thank you mayor uh the events coming up at the library include on December 28th at 11:00 a.m. countdown to noon from 11: to 12:30 p.m. bring in the new year at the with Library enjoy Sweet Treats crafts and a whole lot of fun with a noon ball drop celebration for children in second grade and younger and younger registration is required uh on January 6 13th and 27th at 3M there's a kids chess program it's informal chess games for children of all ages this is a non-instructional supervised play no registration required in limit of 12 on January 7th at 3:30 p.m there's a program called make a harmonica join us and learn how to make a harmonica while supplies last on January 9th at 1:00 p.m. there's a game day for adults come in and out of the cold and play your favorite game Ry Cub sari Uno and card games are available open to all levels no registration is needed on January 9th 16th 23rd and 30th at 3M there's a program called fantastic forces children get charged up about the science of current electricity they learn about insulators conductors and experiments to find out how electrons power everything registration is required limit of 10 for kids in 2 to sixth grade and on January 14th at 3 p.m. there's a grab and go adult and kids craft pick up supplies and instructions for a seasonal craft registration is required for craft kits and is limited to 15 participants for both divisions sign up on the library's website calendar or by phone and just a reminder for the library hours the library will be closed on December 24th 25th 26th and 27th for the December holidays and Wednesday January 1st for New Year's Day that's all for my report thank you School Board council president Carney the Garwood Board of Education held their final meeting of 2024 this past Tuesday the 17th uh the agenda did not include any items relevant to the burrow uh the board heard a presentation from the student council and also presented certificates to Lincoln School students who achieved the Honor Society for the first marking period uh including my own Vincent so uh congratulations to my guy who I'm positive is not watching this uh and the many students honored for their ongoing academic achievements uh we will definitely be in good hands one day when this generation takes the Reigns thank you uh our senior citizen report uh our Christmas party a few weeks ago was a great success and once again thank you to Jenny Brown and all of those members who helped out we had another meeting today which also went very well with lunch and of course Bingo uh thank you to the senior club members and especially the senior Club board uh for another wonderful year we saw a nice increase in membership uh some great speakers and delicious lunches even made by some of the club members themselves so uh oh and also some very competitive games of bingo so we look forward to next year um Small Business Council president Carney uh thank you mayor our Small Business board will meet in early January next year to reorganize and elect officers for 2025 uh a big thank you uh goes out to the volunteer board members who are mostly uh local busy uh business owners uh and along with our one very active retired member who's in the audience right now uh thank you all for your your time and effort throughout 2024 um working to improve the community and support our small businesses and uh that's all for my report thank you Board of Health councilman Foley the FDA has issued a nationwide recall on products containing tan nepe a substance found in items like Neptune's fix marketed marketed as energy enhancers claims about these products include that they improve brain function in treat anxiety depression pain opioid use disorder and other conditions however tantine poses significant health risks including serious adverse reactions resembling opioid over doses which do not respond to Naran treatment in response to this product the Board of Health conducted thorough inspections in Garwood and neighboring towns under its jurisdiction no recalled products were found during these checks additionally recall notices were hand delivered to all local businesses that sell similar products including gas stations grocery stores and convenience stores to ensure awareness and compliance the Board of Health also addressed a separate recall for a product called Diamond shrooms the same proactive measures were applied including inspections and delivery of recall notices to relevant business businesses ensuring the safety and well-being of the community um in the meantime I would like to work with the municipal Alliance to provide some information to parents just because this is something that's brand new and they may not be aware of it just to heighten their awareness uh of the products so that is it and thank you thank you uh planning board um I councilwoman salmon unfortunately was not able to be there I did have something you would be okay if I just summarize what happened um at the last meeting um we discussed some two possible changes to our code that our planner has recommended uh the first possible ordinance is to make our code compliant with our master plan recommendations uh by removing the industrial commercial Zone uh from the code as it does not exist anymore and it is not applicable to our master plan the second ordinance concerns building permits and impervious coverage where the recommendation is to require a review of grading and drainage to prevent improper drainage into neighboring properties so in the New Year these will be referred to the Community Development Committee before coming to the full Council for possible approval uh we also discussed the fourth round affordable housing number which will also be discussed by the council in the new year as we have to send the DCA a resolution by the end of January um and the reorg for planning board is on January 8th okay moving on to officer reports Miss Perry Code Enforcement Officers report for November 2024 do I have a motion to accept the officer's report second uh all in favor opposed okay public comment if there's anyone in the audience who wishes to address the mayor and Council please step to the microphone and state your full name and address please limit your comments to five minutes push okay do it again so congrats to the gr first aid squad on 85 years of volunteer life saving service um as you're making your end ofe charity Financial donations please remember them you can also remember the ELA Foundation to wink wink um if you get any clothes or books that you don't want for the holidays they have donation bins in the parking lot just bring them right over there get them out of your house right um thank you to the garard fire department for the Santa run this was especially a fantastic year for my dog Charlie because fire trucks had some issues getting down Gallow Hill because I think there was a branch down or a tree down so they actually had to go around uh they had to go around Cranford so my dog got to hang out with Joe and go on the truck and in the truck and all the things so it was pretty funny because the two of them really get along well um so that was cool um thank you everybody for you know pitching in for Toys for Tots that was incredible this year and I hope to see everyone um at the M lighting no matter whether or not you celebrate Hanukkah come out it's super fun um I'm actually really excited to share a few accomplishments you know I couldn't just come up here and not tell you about the um the Foundation but we started on January 23rd this year really we started fundraising we got the letter in the mail for the 501c3 status in the middle of February um we started our mental health program in April sha love this we provided over 2,000 hours of mental health support for cardiac R Us survivors and their loved ones through our Healing Hearts program that's facilitated by a trauma therapist our content was View viewed nearly 120,000 times through social media channels and website we educated more than 650 people on the stats of cardiac arest CPR and AED usage at 9 inperson events and we are directly responsible for over 100 all weather climate control tamperproof AED enclosures being um installed in outdoor public Recreation spaces so that lives can be saved 247365 um so this is super cool next we're going to be deepening the relationships we started with the various communities this year and primarly with educational programming and we plan on bringing some great initiatives to Garwood and also just save the date January 23rd is a liver day we're going to have an impact night that evening and that's it so thank you happy holidays do you want me to shut it off or leave it on okay perfect thank you is there any else evening mayor ladies and gentlemen the board Council Bruce Patterson 325 Willow Avenue it's amazing what olivver Foundation has done in just less than one year I'm just simply blown away with it 100 ads excellent um some questions on the resolutions 24201 which is an odd one um just some questions on what is the reason why this is here on the agenda and it appears it's a an employer shouldn't there be an employer number instead of uh initials and also is there any money involved with that or whatever it is also on uh 203 it's accepting a Citizens C oh it will be a Grant application citizen service uh senior citizens social service programs the $118,000 just what are some of the programs that the uh money is going to be put forward to provide to get the full amount uh also yeah the the lawsuit uh affordable housing lawsuit I guess if you want to call it about the fourth round affordable housing but um I I mean I I you mentioned about where you were uncomfortable with the language and I did ask what was going to be about but but uh Council Carney had actually had a uh uh notes about it and I would assume that you're reflecting the same sentiment as he is uh what what is interesting is he mentions that the complaint is incomprehensible or incoherent and I could see why only because he's not a lawyer and and of course he he's not aware of this whole program how it evolved I mean I I've been involved in this now for 10 years and and yes the lawsuit is in detail and yet I really I mean I I've heard comments from the mayor I've heard comments from councilman Carney I mean shouldn't really the attorney be talking about this whether it's right or wrong or incoherent or because you know I'm confused about that 31 towns it's now up to 31 towns um that are in this lawsuit and the I'm just going to mention the end game is if the ruling is against them they're going to the next level that that's why they're getting all these towns involved so I mean I'm not going to argue about the details whether it's incoherent or not I'm not a lawyer either but you know we have a lawyer here uh possibly you know if he's here next year maybe he could actually talk about the lawsuit so anyway so I'm I'm involved in trying to set it up with all the Mayors I'm on the citizens improving affordable houses uh last item yeah the the shared service you you have a shared Service uh committee with with the Board of Ed and and there's two of you and two of them and you're getting together and you discussing it and I'm very I'm very disappointed at how this is working that you're making the board of that actually beg for monies that right now they're talking they at the board of ed meeting they talked about Staffing you know that you discussing Staffing and cost to cover the Staffing I mean you're making them big and I'll tell you I'm tired of listening to these games I mean just set up either a a final amount in stone or else a percentage of whatever the pilot revenues are that are coming into municipality instead of having these meetings I mean you know councilman Carney actually mentioned that in the beginning of the year that you'd probably end up at the end of the year with with a a set number but I mean here it is it's the end of the year discussing Staffing costs and about the shared Revenue it's just I'm I'm just befuddled at at how this is coming about uh I guess thank you Kim salmon for for uh your service and uh Merry Christmas and happy Hanukkah to everybody here and listening and watching thank you thank you is there anybody else who wishes to address the mayor and Council okay can I have a motion to close public hearing second all in favor I I opposed okay uh yes the aliv foundation has done some incredible things this year so thank you for bringing us up to date on those stats um Mr Patterson um 24-21 is Personnel deals with Personnel um there is no money involved um and because it is Personnel that is all we can say at the moment we can all is all we can say about that um cdbg that resolution for cdbg is actually not a resolution accepting the money it's a resolution to go out for the grant so we don't know if we're going to get that $188,000 um that's how much we're asking for but that includes um our programs it pays for our ex the senior classes exercise classes dancing uh Ceramics all of those free um classes that our seniors can take pays the instructor the items um and it also I I believe helps offset some of the bus uh driver salary although as you know it doesn't the money we get from that doesn't go very far anymore but um we will certainly take it and use it as far as we can um and I'm that's it I I'm I understand you're befuddled by the Board of Ed meetings that we have but I think they're going quite well and appreciate them so um in terms of the lawsuit uh We've we've gone over this now several times and yes I agree that the way to change anything affordable housing is not through the courts they have made themselves clear I do agree with council president Carney um the way to do it is to pressure your legislature uh and I don't believe our attorney has anything that the decision would be done by the council to go to join any lawsuit so um moving on we have does anybody need to remove anything from this consent agenda uh I do mayor uh 24-21 okay um anybody else can I have a motion to adopt the consent agenda as amended so moved second uh councilman Carney which one did you remove 24-21 there you go okay I have a motion do I have a second uh did I get a second sorry yes sorry councilwoman um any discussion okay let's a roll call please miss okay councilwoman uh councilman Foley I councilman Lazaro I councilwoman NY i councilwoman shmon I council president Carney I okay um resolution 24-20 can I have a motion to adopt I'll make that motion second um discussion okay can we have a roll call please councilman Foley hi councilman Lazaro hi councilwoman ndi hi councilwoman salmon I'll be recusing [Music] myself council president Carney I okay we have a resolution under new business resolution 24-3 can I have a motion to adopt this resolution so moved second uh any discussion uh roll call please councilman Foley I councilman lbro I councilwoman ndi I councilwoman salmon I council president Carney I okay payment of claims Miss Perry be it resolved that the following claims as approved be in the same are hereby ordered paid with properly signed and verified and the payment of payrolls as listed is hereby confirmed and ratified do I have a motion to adopt payment of claims so second roll call please councilman Foley I councilman Lazaro hi councilwoman NY hi councilwoman salmon hi council president Carney I okay the reorganization meeting of the mayor and Council will be held on Thursday January 2nd 2024 at 700 p.m. in council chambers information for the meetings is posted on the Barrow website um I just okay so moved are we fighting over who gets to do this they're making her do yes sry I was gonna say merry Christmas happy Hanukkah happy New Year everybody have a safe and healthy holiday peace to everybody and now can I have a motion to adjourn so moved second second Merry Christmas everyone all in favor closed I was like what did I what did I miss I thought I missed something