you want to send anything Everybody ready Good Uh Sergeant Lewis is Captain Roco right there Okay just checking Don't disappear Uhoh Okay welcome everybody If I could ask
everybody to please 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 which it stands One nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all
Adequate notice of this meeting was provided to the Union County Hawk and advertised on December 26 2024 Notification was sent to the local source Union County and is posted on the municipal website the municipal public bulletin board and filed in the office of the municipal clerk informing the
public of the time and place according to provisions of the open public meeting law chapter 241 PL1975 Roll call please Miss Vesquez Mayor Blumenst here Councilwoman Bodto here Councilman Foley here Councilman Carney here Councilman Lazro here
Councilman Petusak here Council President Naldi here Roll call of staff and professionals please John Arthur here Adam Abramson here Doug Stoer Uh Captain Roco is filling in Okay Um at
this point I'm going to suspend regular business uh for a a special occasion Um as some of you may know Captain Sam Roco of our police department is retiring uh on May 1st And so tonight I wanted to
honor him uh and give him a little something and and talk about his many accomplishments So Captain if you'll join me look very handsome Okay So I've known Captain Rock a while and and most of you have actually because he
has very strong ties to our burrow Uh his father was a mailman here for over 30 years and his grandfather worked as a bartender his entire career in Garwood Um so many years of family ties here to Garwood Uh and Captain Roco also served
proudly in the US Marine Corps reserves from 1993 to 1999 and we thank you for your service He also attended Ruckers University and earned his bachelor of science degree with in criminal justice with
honors Captain Roco then was accepted into the John Stamler Police Academy as the 79th recruit class in 1999 And then we had the fortune of having you come here to Garwood uh as a patrolman on
January 5th 2000 15th 2000 You were assigned to the patrol division juvenile bureau uh bureau and you were also involved in joint investigations with the UC Union County prosecutor's office narcotic strike strike boys and
gang task force That's a mouthful Uh in April 2008 involving multiple arrests of gang members You also responded uh on September 11th to New York City to be part of the New Jersey State PBA relief
site representing the Garwood PBA uh maintaining support to first responders and the volunteers as well as assisting in efforts locating survivors and their personal effects You have risen through the ranks here in Garwood You were promoted to
sergeant in 2011 lieutenant in 2013 acting captain in 2023 and then of course captain in 2024 You've served as a division commander and patrol supervised the juvenile bureau and assisted the
detective bureau with multiple investigations You're also a certified DARE and great instructor And so our kids know you very well over at Lincoln School uh and you are currently assigned as the lead arrive liaison and coordinator for the Garwood PD which has
proven to be a very successful program and we appreciate you heading that up here You oversee the day-to-day operations of the department as well as being the accreditation manager and as we announced at a meeting or two ago uh
Garwood has received accreditation and we will be celebrating that next month but it is a huge achievement for this department and you are crucial to that achievement So thank you so much from the bottom of our hearts for making Garwood accredited So we appreciate that
Now your wife Jennifer will be very happy to have you home again Uh Captain Roco married Jennifer in 2010 and he has seven children Emma Jack Anna Carmela Franklin Tabitha and Lola And I know
they will be very excited to have dad back home with them We are sad obviously to see you go after long 25 years over 25 years of service to our burrow but we wish you luck in your retirement We we
we are sad that you will be moving on I know you mean a lot to many of our residents but your work uh especially in terms of the accreditation uh and as you lead other officers through the DARE program your work will certainly live on
as well So I wanted to thank you tonight Captain Roco for all you've done and just provide you a certificate just as a token Um and if I you may read it out Samuel Roco has served the Burrow of Garwood for over 25 years He was hired
as a patrolman on January 15 2000 and rose through the ranks to become captain in 2024 Samuel Roco's eagerness to assume responsibility along with his desire to serve the residents of our community has been displayed through his loyal and
dedicated service and his outstanding leadership is genuinely noted and appreciated On May 1st 2025 after over 25 years of devoted service to the burrow Captain Roco will begin his muchdeserved retirement
The mayor of the Burough of Garwood County of Union State of New Jersey does hereby commend Captain Sam Roco for the capable and efficient performance of all of his duties congratulates him on his retirement and extends best wishes for the
future Thank you Oh yeah So all right Thank you I'll see you Thank you for your many Enjoy your retirement
Or Jen has a honey to I'm pretty sure she does I don't blame her And I miss you We will very much miss Captain Roco We will continue with regular business uh with our report from our
burough attorney Uh I'll give a report just for Councilman Carney which is we are almost finished with creating the updates to the dog and cat licenses
ordinance All right it's long awaited I know We threw we threw him a curveball like a day ago or two days ago So we're looking at some other things with it just just to make sure but we're almost there They went a little beyond a lens True but we'll
see Well thank you for that report Now our report from our bird administrator All right Well I um well first want to also wish Captain Roco all the best in his retirement It's been a pleasure working with him Um and I'm
also happy to report that Garwood has been awarded a $92,000 grant toward upgrading the turf field at the athletic field complex Um and I really want to thank our recreation director Katya Lysac for taking the lead on that you know writing
the grant Um and honestly for a lot of things that are that are happening Um you know our shade structure is almost ready to be opened Uh and we're also as you'll see on tonight's agenda um working toward entering into an agreement with the concessions vendor to open up the concession stand there So
you know we're the Athletic Field Complex is really coming together and again I want to thank her for that Um you know I'd also like to thank you'll see tonight obviously our resolution to introduce the budget I just want to thank both the finance committee and and especially our CFO Sandy Bruns for tireless the many many
hours and late nights of work that she she and everybody put forth to make that happen Um we've also been awarded a $39,000 infrastructure grant from the county So that will allow us once matching funds are put into place to work on the Center Street Safety
Corridor project a little bit more in depth So that's it for my report Thank you All right Um I just want to say how pleased I am about receiving that local recreation grant award $92,000 is a big
deal for us here in Garwood Um such a large grant will really go a long way towards financing the replacement of the turf fields uh and between the the shade structure which looks beautiful I know that we're waiting for the grass to grow
underneath Um which is why just so everybody knows why the uh tape is still there because we just want to keep it from the kids from trampling while the grass grows a little bit longer until we get to the warmer weather Um but that's going to be a great addition uh for
everybody to come and you know sit with underneath with the picnic tables Now that we have a vendor uh for the concession stand people can come and grab a a hot dog and a and a soda and sit underneath Um I I'm just so excited
about those sort of things The these sort of things have been discussed long discussed over the past year So finally seeing it to fruition come it just speaks volumes So thank you to Miss Lysac for that Um I know that this summer with the concession vendor it'll be sort of a let's see in terms of
scheduling um as the vendor gets to see what days and times make the most sense uh and work out all those kinks But uh hopefully as we move through this season and determine that um by the time we ne get to next season uh everybody will be able to have the full experience of just
sitting under underneath having having a snack for a nice summer evening So very excited about that Thank you Uh as you all know this week is local government week To celebrate the burrow put on a photo contest themed Garwood in the eye
of the beholder And we asked for submissions from residents that showed the world what Garwood looked like to them how they see this small town with a big heart And the photos did not disappoint I am proud to announce as you see over there we have showcased the
pictures right here in council chambers for everyone to see Uh and I will announce the winners tonight Uh given honorable mention because the judges just couldn't resist two little cuties Kathy Velagio's picture of her two grandsons um is our honorable mention
category Miss Ms Velagio said "This is what Garwood means to me families and grandkids." In third place the Garwood Public Library sent over this picture of the library in the fall And while I know they don't want prizes or acclaim this
picture of such an important piece of Garwood and had such beautiful fall lighting we just had to consider it So uh that is our third place winner And in second place Stephanie Willix who submitted a picture of her daughter playing softball at the Wreck League
complex uh at the rec complex little league field And she said "This is the future of Garwood our children." And in first place we have a submission by Katie Carolyn of the Georgiana Memorial Park on fourth and moment In Katie's
words Garwood small town with a big heart feeling for me is when I think of a place where everyone has their green lawns flowers blooming and public spaces for our kids to grow and thrive It is truly a place where everyone knows each other and I think that's really hard to
find in other places So I obviously could not agree more and I think all of these photos are welld deserving uh they will each receive a a small Dunkin Donuts gift card as a as a small token but really the gift is for all of us to have these photos on display So I thank
everyone who submitted them and told us what Garwood means to them Also as a part of local government week the student council at Lincoln School participated in students government night uh where they engaged in a mock council meeting on Tuesday
The students took over as mayor and council members as well as some of our burough employees and took us through a whole meeting even answering some very tough public comment questions uh including what they think about curfews for teenagers uh what makes a leader and
whether e scooters should be allowed on sidewalks So the students gave us some very insightful answers uh and they conducted the meeting very professionally so they get an A+ from us I hope to see them up here one day and I think I think a few of them might be So thank you to Miss Bank the student
council adviser and principal Mrs Emmens for helping bring this night together once again I also want to announce that we will be holding anformational town hall on the Center Street Quarter on April 28th at 7 p.m with a focus on the curb
bumpouts that we're pursuing at Center and Willow This informational session will explain a bit more about what bumpouts are and how they work Uh and how we're partnering with Easy Ride to create a temporary demo of the bumpouts this summer and also get some feedback
from participants about the kind of artistic design they might want to see with these bumpouts The session will be held here at Burrow Hall and you should see announcements coming soon on social media So I hope to see everyone there And I one more thing I want to
turn back to grants for just a minute Um as Mr Arthur announced the local recreation improvement grant for 92,000 uh which is going to go towards the turf field replacement Um I wanted to ask the council to direct Mr Arthur to apply for
another grant that can help off further offset the cost of that project So the Union County Board of Commissioners has announced a capital project grant It's open to all municipalities in the county It's a grant that can be used for community h enhancements or
infrastructure improvements on projects with an estimated cost of at least 100,000 So the turf field replacement fits the requirements So with everyone's okay um I'd like to ask that we apply for this grant to use towards the project So together with this other
grant we can offset a rather large portion of the replacement reducing the finance the the financial burden So um put it out there to everyone It's a brand new grant but came up and it's sort of perfect timing Good All right Mr
Arthur if you will apply and we can put the resolution on the next meeting We'll do I've already read as much as I can about it so yeah Great Okay that is all for me So we will move to comments from the council Councilwoman Boda Thank you Mayor I also want to
congratulate Captain Rock on his retirement I first met him in 2018 when he knocked on my door to move my car because we had a lot of snow I was moving to town and I did not know we had to move our cars So um sad to see you go
but definitely wish you the best That's all for me Thank you Thank you Councilman Foley Thank you Mayor Tonight I would like to bring to the council's attention uh the resolution regarding our 2025 municipal budget and highlight the changes that we made during last
week's budget special budget meeting for um the bureau I am proud to report that through our collective efforts we were able to significantly decrease the tax impact on our residents Specifically we reduced our operational budget by $17,000 and utilize $35,000 from our
surplus These actions allowed us to lower the projected tax impact from $67.18 to $557 The work on this year's budget was no easy task but I'm proud of what we're able to accomplish and I hope the rest of the council will support this budget
which reflects a commitment to fiscal responsibility while continuing to invest in the safety and welfare of our town I want to thank Councilman Lazero Councilman Berno CFO Sandy and our John Lever for helping me and working on this
And I I think we did a you work really hard and I'm really proud of how it came out So thank you and uh I hope you guys will uh approve of this tonight So and uh I want to say congratulations to Captain Roco on this team It's there are
a lot of uh there's some big shoes to fill and uh we're really grateful for all your service So thank you Thank you Councilman Carney Uh good evening everyone and uh I'll lead off tonight uh also with a congratulations
to Captain Sam Roco on his well- earned retirement Uh I'm personally going to miss seeing you instructing next to me at the recruit range Uh and I'm sure all of Garwood is going to miss your many inventive patrol car loudspeaker messages that we've uh all experienced
over the years Uh also along with your steady and friendly presence in the community So uh you will be missed and thank you for your service sir Uh also I want to call everyone's attention to ordinance 25-16 uh which I apologize for overlooking in
uh previous standing committee reports Um the police committee has been looking to update chapter 115 since early this year uh when a large increase in false alarm responses was brought to the attention of our committee Uh after
committee discussion we're introducing an update tonight uh which more clearly defines a false alarm directs specific personnel to take enforcement action and increases the fines for the third and fourth or more uh false alarms in a
calendar year Uh the level of proposed increase in fines represents the seriousness of the issue False alarm responses tie up our limited police and fire responders and pose a risk to the general public not only with the misdirected resources potentially being
out of position for a real emergency uh but also the unnecessary emergency vehicle responses and displacement of people who have to evacuate Uh so I'm requesting full council support for this introduction And that's all for me tonight Mayor thank you
I just want to add that as someone who lives in one of the uh buildings uh larger buildings uh this is uh this this ordinance uh is really to to ensure the welfare and safety of residents who live in these bigger complexes as false fire
alarms Obviously people are less likely to leave the building leave their their apartments or uh their residences uh after having repeated and repeated false alarms So this is really important in ensuring the welfare and safety of uh
Garland's residents So thank you Thank you Yes Um obviously this is something that's we've all been discussing over the past months and um you know it's two-pronged There's the resources that are wasted as as we go through false alarms But even more
important to me is the the possible cost or loss of life as residents get you know complacent because of course they would if if you have all these multiple false alarms you you know it's uh it's
completely natural And then you know should the worst happen my my fear is that residents would not evacuate And um obviously the cost of of life can't be calculated and and I just the tragedy thinking about that sort of
tragedy just it's it obviously gets to me So um I am very happy that we uh have agreed to move forward with this ordinance and put pressure on anybody that does not comply and keep their
system properly functioning Um and I am really hopeful and I I think I think everybody does agree but I am hopeful that the council moves forward and passes this Uh Councilman Lazero um just want to congratulate Captain
Marco Um I always felt that um your presence in the community just made Garwin so much more positive and I was always just felt a sense of security and and friendliness whenever I was around you So thank you so much for your service to Garwin Um and also I wanted
to just express my incredible um congratulations and and thanks to Mrs Leek our recreation director and Mr Arthur I mean that grant for the $92,000 is a humongously big deal for Garwood As someone who has been on council for the
last eight and a half years um I don't believe we've ever had a grant as big as that to my knowledge As far as you know outside of like you know D grants I I mean it is a huge deal Um it's a non-matching grant It is something that
we have been discussing of how we were going to pay for this turf field It's something we tried to increase our our uh our uh monies and you know to in the green acres account for that recreation fund to try to pay for that So I just
can't express how big of a deal this is financially long term So thank you for your efforts Uh it is incredibly meaningfully meaningful financially and also incredibly meaningful for the long-term um use of that field So thank you
Thank you uh Councilman Padusniaak Thank you Mayor And congratulations Captain Rocker I think I first met you when I was a teenager in town I don't think I was getting any trouble or anything Uh or so you say Yeah that's that is where I'm swearing I'm with you on the on the
deis but I thank you so much Uh Garwood is what could be more Garwood than having someone stay dedicated to our little community for that length of time with just so much joy and security in this place So I I cannot thank you enough and congratulations on a well
earned uh retirement after so long So thank you and uh certainly this is the biggest grant I've seen in my three months on council I'll say thank you to uh our BA and to our recreation director Um just a brief comment Uh we are
continuing our designation or our journey towards our designation being film ready Mayor and I met with a representative from the film and TV commission this week continuing the process We were supposed to take location photos tomorrow Uh I found out about 30 minutes before getting here
that that's being moved on account of the weather So I'll have hopefully more information at the next meeting as to you know hopefully it'll be done by then So there we go Rain happens All right Council President Nuly Well I think that um everything
that could be said was said but I'll just echo again um on particularly what Mr uh what um Councilman Lazero said about uh the grant and how important it is for us Um and that we just um I I wanted to thank the council for their support um because when we brought this
up and I believe it was August late August Yeah Um you know it was it was kind of a big ask for us to to you know to really put it out there that we were going to ask for this large grant and I just really appreciate the courage that we all had to support um that idea and
um and and the hard work that went into the grant So thank you Um and then I also wanted to say to Captain Roco just uh have a wonderful retirement happy healthy and thank you so much for for all you've done in Garwood over the
years My kids will never forget you Yes Go to the grant Um just reminding everybody that on Tuesday when we had council meeting the kids uh brought up their concerns regarding the turf very very that was one of the things that they really brought home
They need the turf fixed So this is just timely and really thank you for all the work they did They brought up the the various patches that need work and and the deterioration in some spots and I was very happy to be able to announce to them that we're getting on it So it was
it was a fun moment Um minutes Miss Vasquez Minutes of the regular meeting of the main council held on March 27th 2025 Do I have a motion to accept the regular meeting minutes as presented Second Second
Uh all in favor Opposed Okay Communications Correspondence from County of Union regarding adultic side used to control adult mosquitoes Uh received in file Yes
we have a couple of uh or sorry we have I'm losing my page Sorry Couple of ordinances up for adoption tonight Uh Miss Vasquez can you read ordinance 25-12 by title only An ordinance amending the Burough Code of the Bureau
of Garwood by amending chapter 134 entitled Sewers Article 5 Industrial Waste and Fees Subsection 134-15C Do we have any correspondence concerning this ordinance No we do not Does anyone present wish to be heard concerning this
ordinance Seeing none can I have a motion to close public hearing Some moved Second All in favor I opposed Any discussion among council Can I have a motion to adopt this
ordinance Stay moved Second Uh roll call please Councilwoman Bodto I Councilman Foley hi Councilman Kernney hi Councilman Lazro I Councilman Padusniaak hi Council President NDI I
Miss Az can you read ordinance number 25-13 by title only An ordinance amending the burough code of the Burough of Garwood by amending chapter 34 entitled police department section 4 entitled appointments Do we have any correspondence concerning this ordinance
No we do not Does anyone present wish to be heard concerning ordinance 25-13 Please step to the microphone state your name and address and limit your comments to 5 minutes Uh good evening Mayor ladies and gentlemen the council Bruce Patterson
325 Willow Avenue Uh just for the uh public can you give an overview of of what the changes are in in this appointment cuz I I know uh uh Rocco and the chief are uh retiring So I guess there's going to be
some kind of shakeup So just an overview for the public Thank you Thank you Does anyone else wish to be heard concerning this ordinance Do I have a motion to close public comment Second All in favor
Opposed Um Councilman Carney do you want to go through it a bit I thought we'd covered that in the last couple of meetings You did You can just give a quick overview if you want Sure Um we're making sure that all the language lines up between
the different uh ranks and positions uh for the promotional process and uh believe that was the the main push and the rest was grammar cleanup right Yeah pretty much And then um actually to be able to to run a search where we do the same testing and search process for both
captain and chief at the same time create one list and then hire from the one list That's right So we didn't have to repeat the process for each and cost more money for the testing Yes Okay And it make people go through the same thing over and over again Yep Yeah Thank you
Um do I have a motion to adopt this ordinance I'll make that motion Second Who was that Sure Oh okay Roll call please It was I know that's why I did it because I didn't know if you got it Roll call
please Uh Councilwoman Bodto hi Councilman Foley hi Councilman Carney hi Councilman Lazera hi Councilman Padusniaak hi Council President Ni I Okay Miss Vasquez can you read ordinance
25-14 by title only calendar year 2025 ordinance to establish a cap bank Do I have a motion to introduce this ordinance Moved Second Uh roll call please Councilwoman Bodto I Councilman Foley Councilman Carney Hi Councilman
Lazro Hi Councilman Padusniaak Council President Naldi Hi Hi Miss Vasquez can you read ordinance 25-15 by title only An ordinance of the burough code of the burough Garwood by amending chapter 21 entitled vehicles
and traffic article 1 traffic and parking section 21-8.8 limited business parking Do I have a motion to introduce this ordinance So second Roll call please Councilwoman Bodto Hi
Councilman Foley Hi Councilman Carney Hi Councilman Lazro Hi Councilman Padusniaak Hi Council President Naldi Hi Who wouldn't think this is that funny Well I think it was uh Councilman Carney Um ordinance
25-15 Can you read that by title only Miss Vatco 16 The 16 See look what you did Sorry 16 Ordinance amending chapter 115 miscellaneous offenses article 3 emergency alarms Do I have a motion to introduce this ordinance
Second Okay All three of you can't Okay Person Who's Sure Okay And who second Councilman Carney Roll call please Councilwoman Bodto I Councilman Foley I Councilman Carney I
Councilman Lazwell hi Councilman Puzzia hi Council President Naldi I Okay Council standing committee report finance Councilman Foley no report tonight Um but I do want to remind
everybody on May uh 8th is our um uh public hearing on the minister 2025 municipal budget It'll be here in council chambers on at 7 p.m And that is all Thank you Fire and OEM Councilman Lzero I'll report Community development
councilman Padusniaak Thank you Mayor Just uh the community development committee met last week to discuss a potential project but uh nothing new to report We should be meeting again next week and hopefully I'll have more news at the next meeting Okay Public works Councilwoman Bodto Thank you Mayor I'm
going to read um the what the employees did and then I'll just like to discuss our DPW committee meeting Um in addition to the reoccurring activities DPW employees set up and took down tables and chairs at the sports complex for New Orleans recreation activities and events
Continue to perform preventative meetings and miscellaneous public works trucks and equipment performed preventative maintenance to the department's landscape of equipment Cleaned up the common areas around the municipal complex Continued to install park mobile signs and strip new spots as
needed Perform spring cleanups and meetings at the sports complex municipal complex center street underpass including Kennedy Plaza Harmon Park the firehouse municipal latin and miscellaneous barrel maintain rightway areas
Please note that on June 20th the north side will not have garbage collection I know it's a you know I know it's early but just wanted everybody to know that because of the holiday of Jun that was recently added there will be no garbage collection on the north side on June
20th Uh the DP committee met yesterday to discuss the resident's concern regarding garbage production Although we cannot accurately compare what surrounding towns are reducing because their garbage services are private it seems like we are not producing higher than normal amounts Um we will have
further discussions to better determine how we can reduce that number We did however agree that our current priority is the enforcement of garbage bags being placed on the curb We will need to get feedback from the superintendent the for member administrator to determine the
best way of handling that enforcement Once we have more information we will bring it back to the council for discussion Okay Thank you Terrific Thank you Uh police council Carney Thank you Mayor I have the latest activity report from the Garwood Police
Department Uh 2,110 calls for service were recorded in the month of March 2025 These calls include but are not limited to 296 motor vehicle stops which I'll say again with an exclamation point right after it uh
53 parking complaints 116 fixed traffic posts which include radar stop sign and distracted driving details uh 290 building and property checks 48 medical assists 72 community policing posts 20
walking posts 15 suspicious persons or vehicles investigated and 19 criminal investigations Uh also the Garwood Police Department has been participating in the you drive you text you pay campaign Uh this is a nationwide
initiative aimed at addressing distracted driving and raising awareness about the dangers of texting while driving The enforcement period for the campaign is running from April 1st through April 30th Additional patrols will be deployed throughout the month
and Garland officers will be actively looking for motor vehicle violations related to distracted driving particularly texting while driving And that's all for this report Thank you Community engagement Council President Nuli Thank you Mayor The second annual
Garwood Poetry Festival will take place the weekend of April 26th and 27th at both the Garwood Public Library and the Crossroads The event at Crossroads is made in part by a heart grant from the Union County Board of County Commissioners A complete list of the
poets reading their work is available on the Garwood Burough social media Uh GPAC is also asking local poets to submit their poems for consideration in order to be invited to read at the Garwood Public Library on April 26th Poems should be submitted to my burough email
ciarwood.org The due date for all poetry submissions is April 14th I'm just going to highlight a couple of programs here for adults We have open play soccer on Fridays from 8 to 9:50 and that is free Uh ceramics
there's a couple more classes on Wednesdays at 7:00 on the 30th of April and the 28th of May Canvas painting there is one session on Wednesday the 7th Uh May 7th I should say um at 7:00 p.m And some youth
programs that I want to highlight We have a youth walking challenge is going to start on Saturday That's for ages 8 to 17 And participants that are already signed up will begin tracking their steps for a month for a chance to win prizes So you can still have time to
sign up Soccer classes Um we have uh two groups one for ages 1 and a half to 7 and the other one uh for ages 2 to 3 and 1/2 These are both um offered by US Sports Institute Um they're Saturday
mornings They begin on the 26th of of April and run all the way till uh June 7th The summer recck camp registration is open for grades 1 through 8 Um if you want to lock in the early bird rate which is
$130 um you can do that before May 23rd After that the price will go up a little bit Uh we have some upcoming events that I would like to highlight Um keep um po keep checking the so social media for the um Easter egg hunt This is it's
scheduled for the 12th at 11:00 a.m but it may be cancelled due to rain So just check that If it is canceled due to rain it will be moved to April 19th Okay So it'll be the same the same um event but just on a different day and that is being held at the Garwood Sports and Rec
complex comp complex which is completely free and no pre-registration is required Um if the weather is well is nice the Easter Bunny drive around will be taking place on the 19th but if um if if we have to hold the um the Easter egg hunt
on the 19th then the Easter Bunny will just um arrive at the at the event Um um also there will be um the Memorial Day remembrance ceremony on Monday May 26th at 12 p.m at the Knights of Columbus and
we stay tuned for more information on that Okay And that's all for my report Thank you Library Councilman Lazro Thank you Mayor Uh some upcoming uh events include on April 12th from Italy with love will be at 11:00 a.m This is a
musical performance featuring an array of Italian classical songs performed by renowned vocal tenor Salvatore Carelli On April 16th at 1 p.m there's an adult game day Come in out of the cold play Rumub sorry Uno or Cards and enjoy socializing with others No registration
required On April 23rd there's a program at 11:30 called How to be an Effective Caregiver Join Sandy Greenberg acclaimed author of Who Will Butter My Toast for an insightful and enlightening conversation Don't miss the chance to hear from an expert who truly understands the journey of caring for
others And finally on April 30th from 10:00 a.m to noon there's the aging services kiosk This is the Union County Division of Aging staff will be on hand to assist seniors aged 60 and over or their caregivers with information on services such as meal delivery respbit
care adult daycare and support services for caregivers And just a reminder the library will be closed on Friday April 18th Um and that's all for my record Thank you Um school board leazison Councilman Carney Uh no report Uh for
the senior citizens we had a great time at our meeting lunch and bingo last Thursday April 3rd Uh we even had pizza from the newly opened Mamas which is under new management and it was delicious So highly recommend it Uh our next meeting is on April 17th at 12 p.m
at Knights of Columbus Uh small business Councilman Carney uh no report Board of Health Councilman Foley no report Planning board leaison Councilman Carney Uh no reports tonight and the next regular planning board meeting is currently scheduled for Wednesday April
23rd Okay Uh officers reports Miss Vasquez zoning enforcement officers report from March 2025 and property maintenance code enforcement officers report for March 2025 Do I have a motion to accept these
officers reports Some moved Second Uh all in favor I opposed Okay moving along to public comment If there's anyone in the audience who wishes to address the mayor and council please step to the microphone and state your full name and address Please limit your comments to 5
minutes Hello Good evening Thank you Mayor and Council My name is Marie Forestall and I live at 450 um South Avenue Garwood I've been living there for 2 and 1/2 years And I applaud you taking um change with
the amendment for or the ordinance rather for false alarms probably in my two and a half years we've had 20 false alarms in the building and people don't leave Um there's a young mom across the hall from me with a one-year-old baby She peaks her head out in her robe at
midnight to see if I'm going to go down and I text her whether it's a false alarm or not Um there was an alarm 2 months ago I was in the gym and you know I'm like lots of egress I'll stay in the gym You know I can leave if it's truly a
fire It took 15 to 20 minutes before the fire department came because they're so used to it being a false alarm So several of us actually in the gym actually called 911 you know and the 911 operator was like "Oh you're calling
about Vermela." Yes they they're aware So it's um it's really concerning because people in the building are being conditioned that it's a false alarm and just to stay and you know you were all very correct in that one time It's not going to be a false alarm and it's going
to be devastating So thank you very much for taking action I was shocked to see that the fine was only $15 um previously I mean if I were Romela I I would care less about that That's just like chunk change So thank you very much for protecting the citizens Um the last
alarm was at midnight or like a little bit after midnight about a week ago and maybe only 10% of the building comes downstairs and um there was a gentleman who was a fire officer from Planefield who actually knew how to check the alarm
to see that it was a water sprinkler um alert and not a fire alarm So that was also very concerning to me that it wasn't even one of our fire guys that knew and I I understand the volunteer here Is that correct So this was a paid fireman from Planefield that had more
information So that doesn't give me a lot of confidence So So thank you Um thank you for your time and thank you for caring about the citizens that live in Vermela Appreciate it Thank you There anybody else who wishes to address the mayor and
council Good evening mayor and ladies and gentlemen of the council Bruce Patterson 325 Willow Avenue Uh a bunch of bunch of questions I guess Uh oh first congratulations Miss Vasquez for being promoted up to the clerk God bless
you You're going to be having a lot of headaches there And I did meet the new part-time uh lady Molly So guess we're still moving forward Uh also Captain Roco I just want to say congratulations on your retirement You can relax I knew
your father So uh after you retire you can grow a beard like him How about that All right Um ordinance 25-14's about the uh bank cap and I'm just wondering uh I guess is the budget
within cap I guess yes or no The um Oh I thank you very much uh Sandy wherever you are right now the CFO of uh the bureau She put out the uh friendly budget which was attached to the agenda Uh normally we see the uh full-blown
budget before we see the friendly budget but she she do did well on that And I just want to point out uh Finance Cheriff Poli had mentioned the taxes are down to $57 but according to UFB page one it's actually up to
$87 and the full tax impact is $161,000 where the previous handout sheets actually said 222,000 So it's good that at least the taxes went down but the unit rate went up for average house the
uh yeah the third yeah I do have a question on the budget hopefully somebody can clear it up but on the infrastructure grant it was listed at $40,000 in those handout sheets I mean it's now $39,000 as you mentioned I'm just wondering there was there was no
money set aside for it uh Bill Nstead actually mentioned that also and I forgot who it was maybe it was the mayor that mentioned that it's coming out of the surplus oh no out of the uh capital fund But if it's coming out of the capital fund it actually should be filled in
that blank spot So my question is are we actually borrowing the matching $39,000 for that infrastructure grant And I guess uh talking about the along the lines of the grants there was that new one that the mayor mentioned uh the Union County uh capital improvement
grant I'm just wondering is that a matching grant Uh the sewer fee I'll tell you I'm trying to get my head around that sewer fee I'm hearing is to offset taxes I'm hearing a lot of the money goes into the operational uh cost of the borrow And I'll tell you reading
the uh ordinance I think it's 257 nothing's really mentioned about where this money is otherwise going I know 75 goes to the uh maintenance and operation of the sewer system but that other 75 just disappears into the budget
That's not said in the uh ordinance It really the ordinance needs to be revisited just to make sure the wording is cleared up Uh what else we got here Yeah the new shade structure Uh the mayor may have misspoke It's the grass
goes around the shade structure You mentioned that it was under the sha shade structure but that's all concrete under the shade structure Um and of course my normal question but the chief isn't here is how many parking tickets uh did we uh generate from the downtown
um illegal parking You know you usually was saying it was around 80 or so maybe something One minute Mr Patterson What's that One minute Oh I can talk another minute I'm excited No that's it Thank you very much Is there anybody else who wishes to
address the mayor and council Okay seeing none if I could have a motion to close public comments So moved Second Okay Thank you Miss Forsa for your comments Um and we as you see uh the
ordinance passed introduction and hopefully we'll pass adoption and hopefully we will make some headway um with these emergency alarms Um and I'm I'm sure we will discuss it further at at future meetings as well Uh
Mr Patterson to go through your questions Yes we are within uh we are within the cap Um the rate impact per house did not go up It went down So I'm not sure what particularly you're reading but you can
always email Miss Bruns Uh this is per $400,000 the house uh average So and I know we double checked that today So um I did not the uh 39,000 It was always
39,000 Um I don't know if 40,000 was just set as an estimate but we never received 40,000 Uh we received the 39,000 Um and I did not say that the matching is coming from the capital fund I said that when we go to match it it
will be a part of our capital funding projects that we do So when we go and do all of our uh the various um capital equipment and projects uh and we look to bond for that that match will come into
play there The other grant is not matching and um parking tickets Once again please see Chief Stoofer for that Okay Um does anybody moving on to the consent agenda Does anybody have anything they need to uh
remove Okay Um can I have a motion to adopt consent agenda Moved Second Any discussion Okay Roll call please Councilwoman Bodto Hi Councilman Foley
Hi Councilman Carney Hi Councilman Lazro Hi Councilman Padusniaak Hi Council President Naldi Hi Okay Under new business Um we are just uh unfortunately as we know Captain Roco is our deputy coordinator for OEM and so
as he's moving on to retirement we are appointing uh Detective Chris Sakarowski So that is the reason for that listing right there And I'm out of post My staple came out
So now I'm all over the place Payment of claims and refunds Miss Vasquez Be it resolved that the following claims as approved be and same are hereby ordered paid when properly signed and verified and the payment of payrolls as listed is hereby confirmed
and ratified Do we have a motion to adopt payment of claim So moved Second Uh roll call please Councilwoman Bodto hi Councilman Foley Councilman Carney hi Councilman Lazero hi Councilman Padusniaak Council President Nuli I Okay
Uh the regular meeting of the mayor and council will be held on Tuesday April 22nd 2025 at 7 p.m in council chambers Information for meetings is posted on the barrel website Do I have a motion to adjurnn So move Second Who we picking for that one
Okay All in favor I oppose Thank you everybody Yes Uh just a reminder April 22nd is a Tuesday It's different than our normal normally scheduled meeting Thank you
It's all final