Thank you. Uh before we do get started, because I know he wouldn't let me do this otherwise, I would like to acknowledge former Chief John Russo for joining us tonight. Um [applause] [applause] thank you everybody. Uh, thank you and
welcome to the regular monthly meeting of the mayor and council Monday, August 3rd, 2026, starting at 6:31 p.m. Missy, could you please call the role? >> Mayor Nuniato, >> here. >> Council President McGawan, >> present. >> Councilman Kley, >> here. >> Councilman Ero,
>> here. >> Councilman Guzman >> here. >> Councilwoman Del Con. Council Mone >> here. >> Thank you. If you're willing and able, please stand for the salute to the flag. To the flag of the United States of
America and to the for it stands one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you. Missing, could you please read the provisions? In compliance with the open public
meetings law, chapter 231, public laws of 1975, notice of this meeting was transmitted to the record and Herald News and filed with the burough clerk on November 21, 2025, and is posted on the bulletin board outside of Barrow Hall. >> Thank you.
[clears throat] Right now, I' I'd like to start with the appointment of Police Chief Sean Ferrell, and I'd ask for a U council motion on that >> motion. >> I have a motion by the council president. May I have a second? >> Second. >> Second by Councilman Guzman. Any
questions or comments by the council? Seeing none, I'd ask for a roll call. >> Council President McGowan, >> proudly. Yes. >> Councilman Kley, >> yes. >> Councilman Erico, >> yes. >> Councilman Guzman, >> yes. >> Councilman Mazone,
>> yes. >> Thank you. At [clears throat] this time, I'm going to uh ask the uh chief to step forward to be sworn in. >> We got this from Russo. We are going to hold off on the the uh
thanking of everybody. I'm going to let the chief do that and reach out to everybody that he feels that he should speak um and acknowledge being here except for Jimmy O'Connor. Please raise your right hand. I >> I Sean Farrell
>> do solemnly swear >> do solemnly swear >> that I will faithfully >> that I will faithfully >> impartially >> impartially >> and justly >> and justly >> perform all the duties of >> perform all of the duties of Chief of Police >> according to the best of my ability >> according to the best of my ability. I
do furtherly solemnly swear >> I do further solemnly swear >> that I will support the Constitution of the United States >> that I will support the Constitution of the United States >> and the Constitution of the State of New Jersey >> and the Constitution of the State of New Jersey. >> And I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same.
>> And that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same >> and all the governments established in the United States. >> And to the governments established in the United States >> and in this state >> and in this state >> under the authority of the people. >> Under the authority of the people. >> So help me God. So help me God.
>> Welcome to being the chief of police. [applause] Congratulations. [applause] [applause] >> [applause] >> So, I need a little more comfort. First and foremost, I'd like to thank the mayor and council for putting your
faith in me to be the police chief of Rutherford, New Jersey. To everybody in the room, the officers and chiefs from other agencies, retired members of uh the Rutherford Police Department, thank you for coming out and sharing this moment with me. the the
outpouring of support that I've had throughout this small time of process has been really great. To be called Chief of Police is truly an honor, but more importantly, it's a responsibility. A responsibility that I do not take lightly. I've been handed a great
department of men and women by Chief John Russo. I will strive to continue to push us forward and lead this department to the best we possibly can be. Chief Russo, I don't think you you had the thought that on the Monday after you retired, you'd be back at a council
meeting, but here we are. Just thank you once again. Uh my entire career, you've been a mentor to me from when you were a sergeant and I was a patrolman up to these just last Friday uh as the chief and I was a deputy chief.
I was hired in this very room back in January of 2005 with Lieutenant Dave Dvalo and retired officer Billy Summers. To be back in this room nearly 22 years later and getting sworn in as a chief of police is truly a surreal moment and one
that's probably not going to really hit me for a little while. I was sworn in by Chief Steven, Captain George Eggert, and my uncle, Captain Thomas Farrell. From that moment, I have always pushed myself to be the best officer I could be. And with this pos position, I'll
continue to push myself to strive for excellence. I love this town. I grew up here. I went to school here. My career's here. And most importantly now, I'm raising my family here. To strive for anything other than excellence would be
a failure on my part. I look forward to working with my neighboring agencies and build upon the great partnerships that we already have in place. It only takes a couple weeks back to see what great things we can accomplish just at that World Cup with
our continued collaboration. the residents, business owners, guests that visit our great burrow. You entrust us every day to serve and protect you. You bring us into your homes on some of your best moments and unfortunately some of the worst moments of your lives. We
have fought hard to build your trust, be open and transparent, and provide the best service that we can. As your police chief, I will continue to build on that trust. You can be confident that when you call upon us for service, you are going to get answered by some of the
best officers in this nation. And to my police officers, the proud men and women of the Rutherford Police Department, I have a thought I want to impart upon to you. I was looking for the actual quote today and I couldn't find it. Uh I I ga
gathered this at at one of our leadership trainings. It could have even been on a monument in our uh trip to Normandy on the beaches there. I apologize. I can't credit who put this thought into my head, but I tweaked it and it's I put it towards law enforcement.
Being a police officer does not make you great. Being a police officer puts you in a position to do great things. So with that, when you go on your calls for service, even the mundane calls, the
person who called you and is asking for that service, they're giving you an opportunity to be great in that moment. So each and every call, take seriously because they do. With that said, I'm in awe of some of
the great work that you guys do each and every day. keep up that great work so when I come into work I can continue to say and I am I'm proud to be a Rutherford police officer.
So for anyone who knows me, you know I have a second job. That second job is a volunteer coach for the Rutherford Little League baseball and softball. And I have my alumni chiropractic team here right there.
[applause] >> [applause] >> So for you guys, I'm very proud of all the work that you guys do on the field, but know that in this position, too, I want to be proud of you for what you do off the field as well. And I try and impart that upon you as I coach you guys. But know that I will be watching.
And I'm I'm looking for great things both on and off the field from every one of you. And since I have the mic and you have to listen. >> I'm sorry. [laughter] I I want to congratulate our 12U all-star team. Jack was on that. They came top eight in the state this
year. Our 11U all-star team [applause] won their second straight district title. Congrats guys. [applause] And McKenna's T-ball team. We were either undefeated as well or tied every game. I'm not sure. And speaking to my kids and to my
family, to both my aunts and uncles in the room, my and to the to the relatives that left us too soon who are watching over us, my law enforcement relatives that are in the room, Lieutenant Garner, I have um Officer
O'Neal back there, Detective Farrell. Uh I have uh Postal Inspector Garner here somewhere as well. If I missed anybody, I'm sorry. but especially up here, my father, my kids, Jack, Kevin, and McKenna, and my
wife Erica. I wouldn't be here and in this spot without your guys' support. My whole family helped raise me to become the man I am today. And throughout my entire career, back to my very first promotional exam, Eric would
get very frustrated with me because no matter where we would go, I would bring a stack of index cards and I would make her quiz me over and over and over again. She got very sick of attorney general guidelines, case law, 2C, very fast.
>> All right. Very good. But you supported me through the good times and the bad times. And in in law enforcement, especially to my my new recruits over there, you're going to have good times and bad times. Also, in this room, besides for being hired here, there was a vote to lay me off at one time. And I
got great support from the casting crew here for some people who helped vote to save my job. Uh I I I will never forget it. And uh it means means the world to me. I have no doubt that in my new role, you will all continue to support me and I
greatly greatly appreciate it. Jack, Kevin, and McKenna, you guys are my inspiration for everything I do in life. Everything. And that comes now with policing. One of my greater tasks as a police chief over the next few years is going
to be hiring and hiring excellent people. And I have you three in mind because you represent to me all the residents of Rutherford, New Jersey. I love you guys. Thank Thank you for being here, being part of the ceremony. McKenna and I told you do you would do great with the Bible.
Finally, and once again, I'm truly honored and humbled for this tremendous opportunity. I am very proud to be the 11th Police Chief of the Rutherford Police Department. Thank you. [applause] >> [applause] >> Thank you everybody. If you could all
just bear with us for a minute. Can we get one picture with the council and then [applause] the show is yours? You guys could all step down. Kim. [applause] Kim, could you come forward? Take a picture. All
right, folks. We're going to get ready to start our meeting. ready. >> Okay. >> All right. We're going to resume the meeting now. Seeing that we have no presentations or proclamations, we're going to move on to Brian engineering report, please. Uh
thank you, mayor. Um we're making progress on Diamond 3 multi-purpose field. Um the grading is done, the top stone is done, the fencing is going in, the um uh surface is in production. Um got
great input uh great input from uh the wreck. It's ex exactly how they want to lay it out and that's being um put on the carpet loom now. And then uh we are pushing for that later part of August which we're in right now to get it all
installed um coordinated with the lighting system. Um and all the uh light standards or poles will have AV or coax capability for whatever reason in the
future um for cameras, speakers, what have you. That's also put into the project. and we're doing a value engineering um review of recycling manona dead end
for uh ADA parking which the burough administrator is evaluating with with me to see if it makes sense and then that should be a value point back to the burrow because the parking lot that we intended to build may not need to be
built and that can also be reallocated for um either uh a pavilion or there's always space or needed for um different sports and clubs um sheds and uh so we
we're looking to do that as well. um paving program is uh in uh full uh bloom and uh milling was going to start today but unfortunately got rained out in the morning and that's going to the milling
is going to proceed uh and then we understand that there is an additional 1 million 1.2 2 million in support for diamond 3 and uh that can be allocated for um the leisure lane improvements that we've been talking
about to enhance Leisure Lane which is uh one of the goals of the project. So that's the overview and we're also in design for our Tamblin uh Jake Law uh park improvements figuring out the grades and we hope to get out that out
to bid um in about a month or so. Uh, of course we'll have input from stakeholders uh to make sure it's what we want and that what our vision aligns with uh the stakeholders vision. And we also are doing the um transit village
phase two. Um we submitted concepts to the burough administrator and early estimate as well as our proposal to design the final design and veterans place or veterans boulevard. uh received additional uh NJ DOT money
um to improve the drainage and to finish the paving out uh along the architectural milware company and the Lucid um dealership and that's moving forward to into design. So that's our overview report. Mayor,
thank you. Brian, anybody have any questions for the engineer? Seeing none, uh, Brian, the only thing I ask is that, um, you give Bob all the updates as we're doing different projects on different streets so we can get it out. >> Yes. And we we've been making that
effort um to um let Bob and the administrator know exactly where we are on any given day. We are working hard on that, too. Thank you. >> Thank you very much, Brian. Since there's no other questions, Brian, you have a great night. And thank you.
>> Missy review. >> Yes. We'll be adding an item 11 under resolutions. We'll be adding item C resolution number 167 employment contract to the Chief Farrell. And that's all I have.
I ask for a motion. Motion motion by councilman Guzman. May I have a second? >> Second. >> Second by council president. Questions or comments? Seeing none, may have a roll call, please. >> Council President McGowan, >> yes. >> Councilman Kley, >> yes. >> Councilman Erico, >> yes.
>> Councilman Guzman, >> yes. >> Councilman, >> yes. >> Thank you. Uh, ordinances on first read, we have none. Ordinance on second read. Councilman Guzman. >> Thank you very much, Mayor. First ordinance I have to repeal handicap
space Chestnut Street. Missy, would you please read the ordinance by title only? >> An ordinance to amend and revise chapter 126 vehicles and traffic of the burough code of the burrow of Rutherford to repeal a handicap parking space on Chestnut Street. >> Motion that the ordinance be passed on second reading and advertised according
to law. >> I have a motion by Councilman Guzman. Second >> second. >> Second by council president. Questions or comments? Anyone ever roll call, please? >> Open public. >> Oh, I'm sorry. As this is a second read,
I'll now open it up to the public for any com uh comment on this subject and this subject matter only. >> Seeing none, I'm going to close it to the public and open up for any council comment. Seeing none, may I have a roll call, please? >> Council President McGowan, >> yes. >> Councilman Kley, >> yes.
>> Councilman Ero, >> yes. >> Councilman Guzman, >> yes. >> Councilman Lizone, >> yes. >> Thank you, Councilman. >> Thank you, Mayor. Second ordinance I have is repeal 15 minutes space Donaldson Avenue. Missy, would you please read the ordinance by title only? >> An ordinance to amend and revise chapter
126 vehicles and traffic of the burough code of the burough of Rutherford to repeal a 15minute parking space on Donaldson Avenue. >> Motion that the ordinance be passed on second reading and advertised according to law. >> I have a motion by Councilman Guzman. May I have a second? >> Second.
>> Second by Councilman Mone. I'm now going to open up to the public for any comment on this subject in this subject matter only. Seeing none, I'm going to close it to the public. Any council comment? Seeing none, may have a roll call. >> Council President McGowan, >> yes. >> Councilman Kley,
>> yes. >> Couno, >> yes. >> Cuz >> yes. >> Councilman Mone, >> yes. >> Thank you. >> Councilman. >> Third uh ordinance on second reading. Establish handicap space Grand Avenue
and Wood Street. Missy, would you please read the ordinance by Talon? >> An ordinance to amend and revise chapter 126 vehicles and traffic of the burough code of the bur of other to estic parking space on Grand Avenue and Wood Street. >> Motion that the ordinance be passed on
second reading and advertised according to law. >> Councilman Guzman, may I have a second, please? >> Second. >> Second by council president. I'm now going to open the public for any comment. Seeing none, may we close to the public. Anyone from the council?
Seeing none, may have a roll call, please. >> Council President McGowan, >> yes. >> Councilman Kley, >> yes. >> Councilman Ero, >> yes. >> Councilman Guzman, >> yes. >> Council Mazone, >> yes. >> Thank you. Next. Council President, >> thank you, mayor. Uh, this is on second
reading this evening regarding the amending the Ames Avenueffordable Housing Overlay Zone. Missy, can you please read the ordinance by title only? an order to amend and supplement chapter 131 of the code of the Burough of Rutherford to create a B1 affordable overlay zone and amend chapter 50-11.
Thank you. I'd like to make a motion to move that the ordinance be passed on second reading and advertised according to law. >> I have a motion by the council president. May I have a second? >> Second. >> Second by Councilman Kley. I'm now going to open up to the public for any uh
comment on this subject matter. Seeing none, I'm going to close to the public. Anybody from the council? We have a roll call, please. >> Council President McGowan, >> yes. >> Councilman Kley, >> yes. >> Councilman Ero, >> yes. >> Councman, >> yes. >> Council Mazone, >> yes. >> Thank you. Now, we're going to have the
general hearing of citizens. Anyone from the public wishing to speak, please step up to the mic, >> state your name and address, and keep your comments to five minutes or less, please. Dan Meredith, 87 [clears throat] Donaldson Avenue, Rutherford.
Uh, I'm here tonight uh, as a small business owner located at 50 Union Avenue. Uh, my insurance agency sits directly on the corner of Union A and Chestnut Street. We are located on the westbound side of Union and
southbound side of Chestnut. Our front entrance directly on the corner. It's well known that this intersection of Union and Chestnut is notorious for accidents. However, I'm here tonight as a resident and a business owner and a witness to many, many accidents on this corner to
officially tell you that this intersection is extremely dangerous and to ask the burrow to take into consideration adding new signage and safety measures for this intersection before we witness more accidents or even worse, loss of life.
My first memory of this intersection was when I was a kid when a car drove directly through the front entrance of what is now my office. Uh I have since been told by the old building owner that that's happened more than one time. Fast forward to the past 10 years that I've been on this corner
doing business. We've witnessed more accidents than we can count. Many of which have been caught on our camera system that captures Union Avenue as well as Chestnut Street. Many or more accidents happen at night or on Sundays when we're not in the building. We have
seen cars crash into the building on the opposite side of the corner of Chestnut. We've seen cars hit and spin out [music] of control towards our window on Union Avenue. We've seen cars get hit on Union A and end up being cast out of control
down Chestnut Street where they hit other parked cars. We've seen pedestrians almost hit by accidents and we've seen just recently a pedestrian actually be hit by a car on our camera. One of these accidents began on Union A and ended up dangerously close too close
to comfort to my wife walking on the sidewalk of Chestnut on her way to work. Accidents happen often enough and we have witnesses witnessed more than we can count. The odds of an accident happening in just the next 24 hours alone are pretty good.
That makes the chance of these accidents being more serious and leading to loss of life a reason to consider correcting this problem or at least making this intersection safer. As a witness to many of the accidents that happened on this
corner for the past 10 years now, I can say also with certainty that the new building being built across the street from me is not the reason why this intersection is so dangerous. This intersection has had the same type of accidents repeatedly for many years
before they even considered building a building across the street. We found by firsthand views of these accidents that most are caused by cars running one of either of the two Chestnut Street stop signs and speeding and passing on the
right on Union Avenue, which we have these on camera to be looked at. That shows that that's the majority of these accidents. I'm here to ask the burrow to consider at minimum installing light up blinking stop signs on both the southbound and northbound corners of
Chestnut Street. Also, if possible, light up blinking yield signs on the eastbound and westbound corners of Union A with rumble strips or speed bumps. Best case scenario, if it's possible, and I know we're dealing with a county
road on Union A, would be the installation ultimately in the future of a traffic light. Our own eyes and the many accidents that we still have on our camera system don't lie. And we want it to be known that this intersection is dangerous. And we
hope you will consider making changes that will better the safety of drivers who pass through this intersection, pedestrians, the business owners, their employees, and their customers that live and do business in this part of Union A. And that's what I got. It's um pretty
important and I hope you guys can consider doing something down there. Okay. >> Thank you, Dan. >> Thank you. >> Anybody else from the public wishing to speak? Uh Dan Olivo 202 Belelfford a half. So just going to keep the Dans on a streak here. All right. Uh good evening mayor
and council. Thanks for hearing me out on this occasion uh and in the past. So I've lived in Rutherford for 17 years and I'm here to talk to you about something that my family, friends, and neighbors have been dealing with since last year and that's access to the multi-purpose sports fields at Memorial
Park. These fields which are defined as multi-purpose in the burough's own state grant application uh have been used by my children my like friends of mine and me even for pickup games uh and practice for over a decade and before their turf conversion we could use them freely
whenever there wasn't an organized sport underway uh you know we kept it under 10 people and uh but that is no longer the case. The burrow received a $5 million grant from the NJDCA's local recreation improvement grant which included $3 million specifically for turf
conversion. Uh and since then a large fence has gone up around that space uh which is about like 8t tall and it's consistently locked. I have video footage from uh July 13th right before sundown. Like there's no way that I could identify to get in. The bureau's
own grant application defines fields five and six as multi-purpose. Fencing is not actually mentioned for them, not once. But diamond 4, if you can use that as a source of comparison, which is the dedicated softball field, which I'm not talking about at all, that's where the application does call for fencing. So,
where did this fence come from? Either it wasn't part of the funded plan, which means our own tax dollars paid to lock us out of a public space, um, or it was never approved at all. And both answers kind of concern me. Separately, the state's own program guidelines, not
Rutherford's application, but the rules that the NJDCA set forth um in this grant statewide, say that access to this kind of space, and I'm going to quote them on this, is imperative since access to outdoor recreation and community resources is critical for mental and physical health, particularly for those
residents with limited or no access to quality outdoor space or private recreational opportunities. And right now, it seems that this field is only accommodating organized schedule activity. Uh so that's creating a financial barrier and along with the fence a physical barrier to the kind of
open access to that this grant was meant to support. So to be clear, if these fields are in use for an organized sport, I'll gladly go somewhere else. And that's never been the issue. The issue is that on August 18th, 2025, Councilwoman Del Ray Conn told my wife and I in writing that diamonds five and
six are open every morning with at least one gate unlocked on each side. And I'm telling you tonight that over the past year, that has not been our experience. I don't want to nag people via email to get gates unlocked. And I'm afraid that as turf expansion's going to continue.
Our community um may inadvertently or on purpose keep restricting access to spaces that used to be open to everyone. Uh and I don't think that's how you build community that's putting property over people. And I don't I don't particularly accept that. So tonight I'm not asking for, you know, another
promise. I'm just asking four things like what is the burrow's actual written policy on turf field access and gating and where is this going to be clearly posted in the new construction that we that is happening and has already happened. Why does this policy require locked gates when neither the funding
source nor the grant application called for at these two locations? And can I get a public answer in writing by the next council meeting rather than emailing about this? >> We'll answer after everybody else speaks. >> Okay, cool. All right. Thank you for your time.
>> Anybody else for the public? >> Hey everyone, good evening. Uh Lisa Olivo, 202 Belelfford Avenue. Um I'm just coming to echo some of my husband's comments that he just shared. Um I first reached out about this over a year ago. Um we have lots of family that live
really close to the fields. Um, I have two nephews, two nieces, and a bunch of, you know, fake nieces and nephews in the neighborhood. Uh, we regularly would meet up. Our kids would ride bikes, go play frisbee, go play whiffle ball on these fields. And as the the fences have
gone up, we've had less and less opportunity to do that. Um, we know that the yard spaces in Rutherford are smaller than some other towns. And something I love about our community is like when we go to our public spaces, there's actually people there. Not everyone's just in their own little backyards. Kids meet up. They have
impromptu, you know, playdates and, you know, games. And that's a beautiful thing about our community. Um, like Dan said, as these really tall 8t fences are going up all around Memorial Field, we have less opportunity to do that. Um,
also, you know, my brother lives on the corner right by Katie's corner by the girls softball field. The gates are there. They're not open, but we've seen kids try to get in regardless. They're climbing the fences. People are going to get hurt. Um, that's very concerning. In my my hometown, a kid did that and it
was a really really dangerous situation. Um, I just don't know. B, if we had Green Acres grants or whatever the grants were, aren't these supposed to be open to the public regular park hours? Um, I do know that on Sunday the gates were
open and I had to, you know, I tried for a year to talk to people on the town council about this. We reached out to the recck department directly to ask when they're open and they told us that it's not open to the public. They said that um they didn't want to unlock the gates because they don't want the field
to get messed up. So, I don't really understand why we put in turf if it's too fragile for the public to use. You know, build a parking lot then. What are we doing? This is supposed to be a space for people to use and enjoy. Um, and if it's too fragile or precious for, you
know, five kids to go throw a Frisbee around, it doesn't seem like a good solution for our town. Regardless, the fences are there. The turf is going all over the place. So, I I want to know going forward where how can we get in? What are the times they should be accessible to the public? Are there
specific rules about who can and cannot use those fields? Is it really only for this purpose? I don't know. There aren't signs showing that. We just are told either we're not allowed to use it or they're unlocked, which they're not. Um,
you know, I I I'm hoping to just get some clarity so that we can have fun and, you know, not be on our phones and in our little bubbles at home and go outside and get some fresh air. That's it. Thank you everyone. >> Thank you. Anybody else from the public?
Frank Wilson, 171 Montrose of Rutherford. First, on the record, let me give my congratulations to the new chief. Great choice. I've known him since he got promoted. He's always been a stand-up guy. Couldn't have had a
better choice. Okay. Uh that being said, uh some individuals accuse me of being uh negative and I never have anything positive to say when I come to these meetings. Um I disagree with that. I call it the way I see it. And what I
have to talk about right now, I wish the chief was here because it has to address with the crossing through the uh crosswalks. And um I I had to do two Irish jigs within the last week just to get by the
post office. And I open requested what we've done in the last two years. To my dismay, last year we only issued 29 violations for crosswalk and this year we've got nine.
So that should not cut it where we're we're not even doing like one a week or one a month. we're it's it's pathetic what we're doing right now. We need to address that. So, I dug a little bit deeper and I found I hope we have a grant writer or don't hope we don't
because there were three separate grants that addressed this and unfortunately the filing date on these closed. So, there was one grant here that addressed it. It had to be filed by July 1 that addressed pedestrian safety.
There's another one here for local aid. municipal aid that addressed that and it also addressed the train station, the uh uh quality of life issues, the bicycle paths and everything else. It's another grant. Okay. And it's a third grant
here, the same thing that address all these same issues that we keep talking about in here over and over again. So, we could address these problems and it won't cost us a dime. I'm going to give these to the record. If if we have a grant writer, don't know
if we do, but if we have a grant writer, you may want to ask this individual that I'm not the sharpest pencil in the box. H how did I find them? And unfortunately, they've expired, so we can't take them this year. We can only address them for next year. But, um, something's really got to be done with
these crosswalks. Uh, the next thing I'm just going to grab real quick because my wife's afraid to actually come up here and talk to you folks. Don't know why, but she is. Um, whoever's got the TPW has missed, and she's in charge of this. I'm not. She's They've missed the lawn
and the shrubbery and all that stuff. Every other week that she puts it out to where she has to call. And when she calls, they basically put it back on her. Did you put it out the night before? Did you put it out where a car didn't see it? Is it too heavy? Is it too I mean, they read this whole rescue
tour where we've been here over 30 years. We do know what to what to do, but if you call up and you say you they missed you, they're going to give you a whole restart as to not that. Oh, we're sorry we missed it, but here did you do all these things? Okay. Well, if you're
new to the town, maybe you didn't, but if you've been here 30 years, you know what to do. So, if you could ask them, don't put it back on whoever's calling you to the reasons why the thing didn't get picked up. Just say, "Hey, we're sorry. No problem. Mistakes are made.
we'll swing a truck by. But she was afraid to trust you folks. I don't know why. You're not that you're not that scary. So, she didn't want to come up here and say that. But again, I appreciate it. Uh again, good choices. Um I was looking for the captain, Nuni. I didn't see him, so I could shake his
hand. I saw his name on the list, but I'll give him my best. And I saw Mark and I told him I'll kiss his ring. Um but uh folks, that's it. I appreciate it. You all have a good day. >> Thanks, Frank. Anybody else?
Seeing none, I'm going to close it to the public and we open it up for any council comment. Um, any Councilman Guzman. >> Thank you very much, Mayor. Um, first
I'd like to address uh Dan Meredith. Thank you for very much for coming in today and uh bringing your concerns regarding Chestnut and Union uh that cross street. Um uh yes, it's been a problem for a long time. Um I will uh me being the liaison
to the police and public safety. I will definitely be reviewing this and asking the police department to conduct a study of the area along with our burough administrator. Um there's a lot of things that need to go on there for
number one decide how big of an imp issue it is. Number two, what can be done to correct the issue. Um and then there's reviews that have to go take place with the county uh burough engineer.
Um obviously a police survey study um and there's approvals through the state that need to be done as well. Um but uh thank you for bringing it to our attention. Um I will make sure that this gets addressed and that it is uh looked
at by the proper departments. Um the Mr. Wilson uh thank you for coming in today with uh your your concerns. Um, I just wanted to talk about um,
uh, the you had mentioned what grants uh, we're applying for one night. I'm going to actually turn this over to our burough administrator regarding the pedestrian safety grants. And I believe you're referring to the the, uh, transit village grant. That's also right. So,
uh, Bob, can you just, uh, let the public know where we are with these? >> Thank you, Councilman. So, yes, we're currently working on a transit village grant uh that we received last year uh regarding pedestrian and vehicular safety. Um our
grant writers actively looking at grants and uh in many cases the these are very competitive statewide grants and normally if we get one in 2025, we're not going to get one in 2026. So, um,
you know, sometimes there's a conscious decision not to apply backto-back years because we know we're not going to get it, but we do apply actively for as many grants that we believe that we could potentially successful for. Uh, but getting back to the transit village grant that we are working on. Um, you
know, our burr engineer just uh tonight presented a concept plan to me that I'm going to be reviewing and we're hoping to get that thing moving uh you know, by the time uh by the fall, get it out to bid and uh awarded later this year and I would expect that project to be worked
on uh depending on the uh the weather over the winter, you know, no later than spring of 2027. Uh but we do actively, you know, get or apply for grants. we just don't always get them because there's limited pools of money that the state offers and when you have 565
municipalities potentially applying, you know, we do our best, but we're not always successful. Thank you very much, Bob. Um Mr. Wilson, also in regards to the crosswalk at the uh post office, um that
is on my radar. I have already raised this the concern about the crossing there. Um we are working to see if we can find a solution there. Um I'll be happy to give you an update. Uh as soon as I receive one, but feel free to reach out to me anytime you want to follow up. I'll be happy to talk talk to you about
it. Thank you, sir. >> Thank you. Anybody else? Council, Council President. >> Thank you, Mayor. Um so, a few things. Um Dan, thank you for coming tonight and sharing that. Uh I agree this has been a
long-standing issue in this burrow. Um it we've had a resurgence of conversation because of the construction that's happening. Um, but this this particular area has always been a problem and and so I just want to put out there as as this conversation goes
forward and you you investigate opportunities. I am also mindful that at some point New Jersey Transit's uh bus route was changed and I I think they turn there, right? Or they they come through there. They used to go through the circle and when they rerouted New Jersey Transit
that also became a more uh congested space and so perhaps I don't know if that falls under you councilman or perhaps Bob something um to look into in that discussion about traffic safety if we can it revisit that conversation. You
know, I appreciate that they're always looking for better through fairs because of the circle, because of the traffic with the train station, but um you know, our job up here is to sit here and advocate for the safety of our residents. And so to me, that always
seemed to be uh an additional issue. It's it's almost insult to injury in that place. So, I just want to put that on the record. And Councilman, I'm sure you're going to follow up. Uh and I actually like the idea about the flashing stop signs. That was a good
suggestion, Dan. Thank you. Um, with regard to to the ALOS, thank you for being here and uh, yes, I am aware this has been a very long ongoing conversation. I will yield to the, uh, BOR administrator to talk about access because admittedly I do not go down to
test whether or not um, the gates are open. um and much of which you are referring to are in fact um the tenants of what yields us the money and funding to redo these fields. Um you know I think uh just from a
pragmatic place uh I'll certainly uh defer to the expertise of the person who oversees the departments and that decision-m but the pragmatic part of my brain as we're having this conversation is that delicate balance right which is we are building fields that our community is asking us to build because
they want the competitive edge to what everybody else around has and in the same breath how do you maintain that and make sure that people are using it because it should be used. It's still appealed, right? So, I appreciate your words and and Bob, um, do you want to
speak to that now? Is that okay? I I mean, I know that they did ask for a followup and perhaps you could do that as well, but since they're here, maybe uh respond to the concerns that were raised. >> Thank you, Council President. Um, so a couple things. Um,
yeah, you're correct in the funding source. Uh, it it wasn't Green Acres funding. It was a direct state appropriation and various state budgets over the last couple years. With that being said, we are still required to follow Greenacres guidelines because
parts of Memorial Field have been funded by other Green Acres grants, which then means the entire park is now subject to that to that rule. [snorts] Uh and what that means is yes, you are correct that that there should be access to all those fields. Uh admittedly, when we first
built five and six, five and six a couple years ago, yeah, we did lock them up a little longer than than we should have. And you know, learning lesson for me, I'll take ownership of that. Um uh and we corrected that. Those fields should be open every day
uh by no later 8:00 in the morning and and then there they are locked up again when it gets dark. Um you know I I think part of the problem was you know you know specifically the five and six there are seven gates
there. So the park ranger or the rec staff were not opening all seven gates. they were opening maybe one or two. Um they've been instructed to open more gates. You know, this came to an issue or to my attention about a month ago. I
think you guys uh you know, were dealing with the wreck office. So, uh I I even think maybe some of the council people, you know, had reached out to me too to kind of ask me the same questions. Uh so, they've been told open up more gates. uh you know whether it's 8:00 on the on the on on the button maybe it's
like 8:20 or so but yeah first thing in the morning it should be open but you get there at 10 o'clock you should be able to get access to the field assuming there's no organized activity on it uh I am publicly stating that is the burough policy that we are you know when sun up
until sun down uh is when those fields should be made available to you. uh you you had a specific question about you know whether or not the fencing was included in the grant application you know we made an additional request to the state and they approved it so you know they've approved all that funding
so everything was done in accordance with their guidelines um you know and as we build you know the next multi-purpose field you know there will be fencing there uh as well but the same rules will apply you know it has to be open you
know in the morning and closed it at night uh for a variety of reasons. Ones we do, you know, want to keep it protected overnight. Um and there's also a safety like that multi-purpose field is going to have lacrosse, you know, those balls, you know, come flying. So, we're not going to want, you know, an
unfenced field, people just hanging out and getting, you know, hit with those very hard balls. So, there'll be safety feature as well as, you know, protection of an asset. We are investing uh a lot of money down there. you know, over $10 million. You know, most of it thank you to the state of New Jersey and, uh, you
know, our 36 congressional delegation. Um, but you're right. You know, this is, you know, we have limited field space in this town and we do not want to limit your access to it. What we do have, it's, you know, it's going to be a
beautiful complex when it's all said and done. Um, have a problem. If you encounter this again, please call me directly. you know, we can nip all this in the bud. Uh, but I I've spoken to both the the recreation director and the DPW
superintendent. Uh, those fields uh need to be accessible uh every day for the youth and and any resident to use, you know, just throw a frisbee, have a catch with their child. Um, that's what makes
memories. So, yes, we want to make those for you and have a beautiful feel to do it. now want to protect them as much as possible because you know repairing uh you know a torn turf is a lot more expensive than you know you know ripped up grass. So uh
it's it's a it's a careful balance but it it needs to be uh we're not we don't want to restrict access uh after hours yes but not during the day. So >> all right thank you. >> Thank you. Anybody else? Councilman.
>> Thank you mayor. Um there Meredith. Um I'll just be brief on um the safety issue you raised. Um I'm grateful that you raised it and I'm grateful you come in with suggested uh options for us to consider to help improve it. Um I'm happy to align with my council colleague
and anything we can do to help that. Um Dan and Lisa, thank you for coming. Um Alivo for coming in and and raising the concerns around fields and field access. Um having children in the neighborhood. Um, we know it's important and I think the administrator very graciously explained it, but thank you for taking
time out of your schedule to come here and and raise the concern with us. Um, finally, uh, Mr. Wilson, um, you have my apologies, uh, regarding, uh, the vegetative waste pickup being missed and certainly your, um, your wife getting that response. Um I think uh we all know
that DPW is very busy in the work that they do but certainly when you call you do as you said maybe is there an alternative day or some other arrangement can be made. Um I certainly don't want your wife afraid to come to talk to us or um she's uh obviously as you know everyone is always welcome here
but um I'll make a point to speak with administrators heard this but also with our head of DPW on the issue. So thank you for raising it. Thank you, mayor. Um, I did speak to you, Dan, regarding the
signs. Um, I referred them to Bob to refer to Ray, so I'm sure they'll be following up right um with you on that one. Frank, if your wife's afraid to come here and she's not afraid of you, what's wrong with her? Come on.
I will relay your message to the captain. Um, uh, if you guys are okay with the answers you received and and Bob will continue to work on it. We did have a conversation about this earlier today before the meeting. So,
um, we're going to move on now to resolution separate from the, uh, consent agenda. Council President, >> thank you, mayor. First is resolution number 162 authorizing the employment contract of police captain Mark Emituchi. Motion. >> I have a motion by the council
president. May I have a second? >> Second. >> Second by Councilman Guzman. Any questions or comments? Seeing none, may I have a roll call, please? >> Council President McGowan, >> yes. >> Council Kley, yes. >> Councilman Ero, >> yes. >> Councilman Guzman, >> yes. >> Councilman Mone, >> yes. Thank you.
>> Next is resolution number 163 authorizing employment contract for police captain Anthony Nunado. Motion. >> I have a motion by the council president. May I have a second? >> Second. >> Second by Councilman Guzman. Any questions or comments? >> Seeing none, member roll call, please. >> Council President McGowan,
>> yes. >> Councilman Kley, yes. >> Councilman Eric, >> yes. >> Cuz yes. >> Cone, >> yes. >> Next. >> Thank you. Next is resolution number 167, employment contract for Chief Shawn Ferrell. Motion. >> I have a motion by the council president. May I have a second, please? >> Second.
>> Second by Councilman Guzman. Any questions or comments? Seeing none, member roll call, please. >> Council President McGowan, yes. Council >> Kley, yes. Councilman Eco, yes. Councman, >> yes. Cuz >> yes. >> Thank you. Consent. >> Thank you, mayor. All items are
authorized to be consent by the council will be enacted by one motion. These items are routine in nature. Motion. >> I have a motion by the council president. May I have a second? Second by Councilman Mone. Any questions or comments? Seeing none, may have roll
call, please. >> Council President McGowan, >> yes. >> Councilman Kley, yes. >> Councilman Ero, yes. >> Councman, >> yes. Council >> Mone, >> yes. >> Thank you. Seeing we have nothing under new business, uh, we'll do the count um, committee reports. Council President, >> uh, thank you, mayor. First,
congratulations to our new police chief, Sean Ferrell. Uh, to him, his family, to our department. Uh we wish you uh great leadership, safety, and and continued um wonderful work on behalf of this burrow.
The residents are most grateful for all of you and your amazing work. Uh and we look forward to I certainly do. I know we all do look forward to working with uh Chief Frell um moving forward. Uh and um some other comments I think I'm going
to save for the end of the month, but I do just want to address um there's been a lot of discussion. I've been contacted quite frequently over the last week regarding uh Katie's Corner, Kids Spot, and um and Tamblin Field. And so I just
want to take uh 10 seconds to address that uh hopefully to ease concerns. Um so Kids Spot, yes, uh it is it definitely has some wear. We need to have some of the flooring repaired um
and to have some of the um um the swings and things that are in there probably updated. Uh this is a you know this is the outcome of what happens when you build an outstanding park that people use. Uh and so um I I just want
to affirm and and confirm to our residents that we are aware of this. the burough administrator has already been working on this. There's a plan in place and things are ordered and so thank you. Thank you for bringing it to our attention, but please rest assured it's being addressed. Katie's Corner um that
too was brought to our attention and and thank you Bob for taking the call and and for DPW and the recck department that jumped in. there was some concerns about um it needing to be cleaned up a little bit and to again some stuff that uh had taken some wear that is being
addressed and rectified. So thank you Bob for leading that. So I just want that on the record for people who are listening and watching that yes we heard you and it is addressed. And finally, um, for the residents, uh, who have been reaching out concerned that they're hearing about Kids Spot being corrected
and Katie's Corner being addressed and what happened at Tamblin Field, I I want to remind you that when you hear us talk about Jake's Law Park, that is the Tamblin Field fully accessible playground that is coming. Uh, it has been two years in the making. Thank you
to the Access for All Committee who uh helped spearhead us securing a sizable grant that will enable us to to finally address um a very deteriorated situation up there and to provide a beautiful play
space that is accessible to all individuals with all abilities um on that part of town that that they have been asking for and waiting for. and and just sadly it takes time because it's a great project and it's all coming together. So it's two years in the making. We've done town halls, we've
presented on it, we've accepted the money, we've done all the good stuff. Um and as you heard the engineer talk about tonight, again, I think because we reference it as the Jake's Law Park. It gets lost in translation for our residents. Please know that that is in fact the Tamblin Field Park. And I would
just like to formally put on the record that I hope we come up with a far better um uh communityfriendly language to name the park uh so that our residents uh are not concerned that we're setting policy but understand we're talking about
selecting swings. So having said that, thank you um and wishing everybody a wonderful summer. Thank you, Mayor. >> Thank you, Council. >> Thank you, Mayor. [clears throat] I'll keep this brief. Just another round of congratulations on the record for our
new police chief, Shawn Ferrell, and his family. It's been an honor and a privilege to get to know Shawn over the years, both personally and professionally. And uh Sean, I look forward to working alongside you over the coming months as I wind down my tenure up here. And um I can't wait to watch you grow into this role as you
have every other role that's been put before you. Thank you, Sean. >> Thank you, Mayor. I want to join my colleagues in congratulating Chief Frell on this uh fantastic accomplishment. We're very fortunate to be the recipient of his uh two decades plus of service to
the bureau in uh in a direct capacity and I I excited to see what uh the next years will bring with his uh tenure. So congratulations to him. Um I know the summer around town is relatively quiet. At least it's quiet around uh where I
am. But uh I want to acknowledge that it's not necessarily quiet for our burough employees. In fact, I think summer brings uh unique challenges in terms of uh extreme weather conditions uh and uh many other things. And we've already seen that around town already this summer. So I want to specifically
thank uh our DPW uh recreation department for all the fantastic programming they have over the summer. Uh our first responders because I know they don't get the summer off. So thank you to you guys for and and girls for all your uh your work and effort over the summer. Thank you, Councilman. Councilman
Guzman. >> Thank you very much, Mayor. Uh, first of all, of course, I would love to uh want to congratulate our new police chief, Frell. I'm extremely excited that uh we get to call you chief and we get to see
uh the wonderful things that you're going to bring to this uh police department and to the burrow. Um, as your police liaison, I am extremely honored and look forward to be working with you, Chief Pharaoh. Um, in other
police news, I just want to remind the public at tomorrow's National Night Out at Lincoln Park from the hours of 6:00 to 8. Please come on down and enjoy a wonderful evening. Um, and I also want to do a quick call out to our uh, AU
girls softball team that took second place in the States. Um, a big call out to them. It's a great achievement. Um, I look forward to uh, hopefully getting you all here and uh, congratulating you in person with uh, my council colleagues
and our mayor. So, um, once again, congratulations, Mayor. That's all I have. Thank you. >> Thank you, Council Me. >> Thank you, Mayor. Um, I too want to extend my congratulations to Chief Carl on a well-deserved promotion. Um, I look forward to working with the chief as
well as the rest of the police department as we continue to prioritize our public safety, strengthen our community partnerships, and serve our residents. Um, I wish Sean all the success. Um, two other things, uh, briefly. Uh back on the 25th of July, I just wanted to call out Rescue 5,
Rutherford Fire because we had the opportunity uh Councilman Guzman and I attended the wetdown. It was my very first wetdown. Um great event. Uh well attended. Um proud to see that truck in the west end of our community and uh a great group of
uh firemen there that day having some good fun. So it was nice to be there. And last but not least, uh Rutherford Health uh department is offering uh free glaucoma and vision screenings on Thursday the 13th. So that's next week, Thursday from 2:00 to 5:00 at the health
department at 184 Park Avenue. Um you do need to call for an appointment and this is being done in partnership with the Lions Club. So just want to call out free glaucoma and vision screening. Check in with the health department to uh get more details on that and make an appointment. Thank you, Mayor. That's all I have.
>> Thank you. [clears throat] Uh, I have uh two appointments this evening. First is Jeffrey Fernano, provisional appointment of Labor One effective August 17, 2026. In accordance with the rules and regulations of the New Jersey Civil Service Commission, I
now ask for council consent. May I have a motion? >> Motion. >> Motion by council president. May I have a second? >> Second. >> Second by council me. Any questions or comments? >> Seeing none, may have roll call, please. >> Council president McGowan. >> Yes. >> Councilman Kley, yes. Counc, >> yes. Councilman Guzman. >> Yes.
>> Council Mizone. >> Yes. >> Thank you. Uh my next up is Sean Benson, fire prevention specialist permanent status effective August 4th, 2026 in accordance with the rules and regulations of New Jersey Civil Service Commission. I'd ask for council consent. May I have a motion?
>> Motion. >> Motion by Councilman Kley. May I have a second? >> Second. >> Second by Councilman Guzman. Any questions or comments? Seeing none, may I have a roll call, please? >> Council President McGowan. >> Yes. Yes. Councilman Kley. Yes. >> Councilman Erico. >> Yes. >> Councilman Guzman. >> Yes.
>> Councilman Mazone. >> Yes. >> Thank you. I'll now I now ask for a motion for German. >> Motion. >> I have a motion by the council president. Uh, all in favor