i'm live on my point 15 seconds yeah I'm good you ready okay this meet this meeting is called to order in accordance with the open public meetings law in accordance with chapter 231 of the public laws of 1975 adequate
notice of this meeting has been provided this meeting of Monday April 7th 2025 was published in the Curry News Install ledger placed on the bulletin board of bur uh sorry placed at the burrow's website and bulletin board of bur hall a copy of this notice is available to the public and a copy of the statement shall
be included in the minutes of the meeting mayor Brian Gallagher here council members Theresa Bonner here Andrew Kiy here Glen Deny here Randy Pitts here Gina Stravik here Roger Verm here all right please stand for the salute to the flag and please remain
standing afterwards for a moment 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 and if I could ask for a moment of
silence for um one of our longtime firefighters who uh who recently passed his name was Charlie Lane um Charlie was a uh uh a veteran an Army veteran um he joined the
Somerville Fire Department in 1961 uh long time ago and uh you know dedicated a big part of his life uh to Somerville and the safety of our citizens um Rich O'Neal gave me a great interesting fact uh the what the old
West End Host Company which is now the fire museum uh Charlie Lane was the chief uh as Rich says one day they left they they were in that building uh operating out of the old uh uh West End Hose Company and then when the new West
End Hose was built on West High Street uh he then became the chief over there so he left one building and went over to the other um so I'd like to ask for a moment of silence for uh for Mr lane thank you okay uh motion for approval of the
minutes of March 17 so moved second discussion roll call council members Theresa Bonner yes andrew Kiy yes glen Deny yes randy Pitts abstain gina Stravik yes roger Verm yes all right departmental reports and notices are as
listed with a couple of notes uh primary election uh day is on June 10th 2025 um and then also a polling location change so Vanir School is no longer a polling location and uh the replacement
location is the Somerville Emergency Services Facility at 85 North Gaston A so we'll continue to make those announcements just so that uh people become aware and and get used to that uh that change as well um next up uh I do
have a proclamation uh uh the governor recently established uh April 9th as Paul Robson Day and uh and I have a proclamation that um I'm going to reach out to the Abuntu Cultural Pavilion to uh to give to them i think it's uh it's
good and appropriate uh uh as Paul Robson is a uh uh his formative years are are in Somerville and uh um there's a long history there and uh St thomas
Church uh over on Davenport Street uh is where his father was the uh the pastor uh so he obviously spent many years there also in our schools and uh you know became a force in in terms of
activism acting scholar sports athletics um uh and just a uh you know an allaround advocate for people so um we have a proclamation here which we will get to the Abuntu cultural pavilion um
and in addition you know on the tale uh of that as soon as we get through our uh affordable housing um I had made mention at the turn of the year that we'd be establishing um a committee to pick up the work that uh that was uh begun on a
uh a monument uh for uh the memory of Paul Robson here in Somerville and I've asked Randy to uh to help me spearhead that so Ry's agreed to do that as well so uh we'll be we'll be kicking that up in the next few weeks or so thank
you uh committee reports andrew um met with the historic advisory committee uh they are releasing a a map of all the historical plaques in town so it's going to be nice for people to go around and be able to virtually see where they are and then visit them physically i always like when people can
do that the other option uh what we talked about was um a lot of the historical character and the things that are coming up on zoning board how how do we deal with maintaining historical character luckily there was nothing really much to go on there uh and then
um the master plan the section of the master plan on the historic advisory committee is really uh intent on making sure their voices are heard during that process so when we get into it please uh you know let us let us give you an opportunity to give us our thoughts on those uh those sections of the master
plan yep already spoke with Marge about that a little while ago she gave me her um the edits that uh that they had begun I think about two years ago right and uh Absolutely yeah great good thank you Gina so the board of health met on March
19th um the minutes I believe will be posted soon on the website but the key points of conversation included um the homelessness population and code blue situation um best practices for the board of health as they um reexamine their purpose and functions and they
also reviewed all the uh Somerset County health reports and violations uh so um they um additionally have I think a spot on the uh board open and we do have a potential candidate to provide uh to council so um so that's board of health and then uh representing the Somerville
rescue squad um there this is a chance this is a chance to become an EMT to uh uh volunteer uh with good purpose in our community uh there are courses um for the summer both day and evening courses uh much to my surprise also if uh uh I don't know what the minimum age is but
you are eligible if you're under 18 with a parent uh and there's an orientation May 7th so do reach out to the squad president or chief and um they can uh provide that information um and all that can be found on also on the website there's a link to the uh um rescue squad
on the burrow uh site so um again volunteers are needed it's truly purposeful uh experiences and um although it's an intensive course um extremely practical so we encourage uh people of interest to uh to to sign up
awesome all right great thanks great thank you Mayor uh for the fire department they've been very busy in the month of March they responded to 50 calls including five fires and six hazmat calls um they've been cross-training drivers on all the different apparatus i know Roger you've
been enjoying some of that too that's been great so that all the drivers will be able to take uh be able to operate any of the apparatus there as we're all in the one building now also uh as regards to that they're working on adapting their procedures and making sure that everything's working smoothly at the ESF and they are eagerly awaiting
the new engine one it's getting outfitted and training on it should begin soon so that's the updates from the fire department and then uh environmental actually we will be uh meeting here tomorrow night at 7 but uh we did have a very successful volunteer
weekend this past weekend despite the rain there were uh 25 adults and eight children donated approximately 90 hours of work at the J Scott Community Garden and the rain garden down at Carol Pedro Park um also if you'd like to apply for a bed at the community garden those uh
applications we're still taking them till April 15th and I know that it was also in the latest econ uh also then coming up at the end of April on the 25th to the 27th we have our townwide swap uh cleanup will be Saturday April 26th at 9:00 am and the
green fair will be from 11 to two um those meeting places will be on Division Street on that Saturday the 26th there'll be over 25 different environmental groups and organizations which will have activities and booths for people to come and explore um as I said we'll be meeting here tomorrow
night at 7 and you can always follow us on Instagram and Facebook that's it awesome busy busy good good stuff teresa thank you um so this week the Somerville Public Library is hosting Week of the
Young Child uh so tomorrow Tuesday the 8th at noon Tactile Tuesday which is a hands-on sensory experience is going to take place Wednesday the 9th at noon working together Wednesday which is experiencing giant versions of classic
games like Jenga and Connect 4 uh plus traditional board games thursday the 10th at noon artsy Thursday we'll guide your child in a colorful painting session um so those are some really fun things happening at the public library this week for the
week of the young child and uh the Municipal Alliance and Youth Services Commission will be meeting this Thursday at 6 PM virtually and then the public safety committee will be meeting meeting next Thursday the 17th at 6 PM at the CI right here at the Civic Center and as
always the public is welcome to attend great thank you all right thank you Randy thank you Mayor uh please come out and support the Somerville PBA fundraiser on April 26th at Yester Cades on Division Street 10:00 a.m until closing all proceeds will go to Outfit
of Plan Museum at the Emergency Service Complex for our police department admission will be $875 an hour or $20 for an all day pass we hope to see you there secondary please tune in to the newly created Briefing Room podcast hosted by
Officer Nikki and Detective Brian Anthony get an inside look at law enforcement community happenings and police stories and updates around town the goal is to humanize the badge and build better connections with our community with the community they serve
which is here in Somerville uh you can listen at briefingroomsvillepd.org please tune in great thank you Roger i have nothing this evening okay um just a couple of quick things this past Saturday we had
uh Somerville baseball grand opening uh it was opening day uh it was a little damp uh a little cold a little windy um but uh but otherwise it was a great day uh tons and tons of kids um Andrew was out there with his son and uh it really
was a great event the kids are so excited to start the season and uh I don't know if they're more excited about uh baseball or the snacks at the Shack so um both are equally important so um and then just a a point of information uh we got notification from Somerset
County and the county has initiated a new program it's called the county commu the county community outreach program and beginning April 15th they're going to have people going doortodoor to inform them of various social services
that the county has available um so items like uh mental health awareness senior programs food programs and uh and addiction um awareness programs so uh if you see folks they will be very well
marked they will be in reflective gear reflective vests uh with the Somerset County brand uh and badges uh and they'll have armfuls of information and literature and uh and so if you see them out there they're they're there to help so uh they're there to just spread
information doortodoor so um at this point I will ask for a motion to open the meeting to the public so moved second discussion roll call council members theresa Bonner yes yes andrew Ki yes glenda yes randy Pitts yes gina
Stravik yes roger Verm yes all right meeting is open to the public please state your name and address for the record and please address your comments to me hearing none I'll ask for a motion to close the meeting to the public so moved second discussion roll call council members Theresa Bonner yes andrew Ki yes
glenda yes randy Pitts yes gina Stravik yes roger Verm yes okay ordinances for introduction um ordinance number 2760 is amending chapter 166-42 schedule 1 entitled no parking to
allow for parking on Central Avenue on the south side of the street uh fairly self-explanatory um any comment on the public on 24 uh sorry 2760 no uh motion for introduction so moved
second discussion it doesn't just to clarify it says no parking now and now we're going to allow parking that's the That's what we're doing here okay cool that That's correct apparently I guess there was a DMV that existed in that area back in the day they've left a long time ago
right apparently the signs Well maybe some of the signs are still remaining but the regulations still in place okay so they've allowed parking there we're just trying to clean up the code itself got it and and the reality is I think a lot of people are parking they already Yeah yeah yeah well there's really
nowhere else to park so yeah they they really don't have a choice um roll call council members Theresa Bonner yes andrew Ki yes glenda yes randy Pitts yes gina Straick yes roger Ferm yes 2761 is
amending art article 2 chapter 102 section 4 section P entitled definitions and word usage uh definitions P adding the term portable on demand storage or temporary storage units to the land use code kevin you want to give us an overview on this sure um pods as as you
know are those portable on demand structures that they get put up with storage um this particular ordinance so the the planning board many years ago had dealt with this and and created an ordinance that regulates the use of pods on properties this this particular
ordinance just defines what a pod is on that land use code the the next ordinance which I'll clearly explain now as well is is while we have regulations on people's property there's no regulations for the street so what this does is is we are we are we have
received requests and we've also seen them pop up where pods are in the street and people want to know whose pod is it and there's been variations there's been situations where people are moving into town but the people living there haven't moved out yet so they put a pod on the
street um and they usually call B Hall and say "Can I do this?" And and we really have no regulation on in the street so we are creating a regulation similar to what we do with dumpsters the same thing with the dumpsters yes we like the the first course of action is put on your driveway but if you can't
then we have regulations and there's a small fee attached to it to make sure they come in and and register it and then there's a limitation on how long it could be there and that that's what these two ordinances really do good all right how long can they be there so the
first permit would pay up to 10 days and then um when I say the first permit it's I believe it's $25 um that would allow 10 days if you need more than that then there needs to be a a conversation with the municipality um explaining why you may not be able to
get it off the street i'm sorry we're getting some kind of strange noise yeah I thought it was a uh a phone button yeah I keep on checking but it's not all right well you know what let's keep going if you could bear with it if not Yeah yeah so the it's a 10-day permit if
you need it more than 10 days you would have to come back to the burrow and explain why and if it's reasonable we could extend that we're we're we're preventing we listen we're trying to provide better customer service but we're also preventing someone from putting a pod in the street and have it sit there all semester you know or year
right so so there is a process but if if you know if there's a relocation a closing that's going to be taking place a student returning back from a university you know we'll work with them but it's it's a 10-day permit with with the ability to get that further so it's not that you can't do it it's that there's a time frame in which to do it
yes yeah okay all right uh do we have a motion for introduction oh you know what even I'm sorry before that any public comment on 2761 okay hearing none motion for introduction so moved second discussion
roll call council members theresa Bonner yes andrew Ki yes glenda yes randy Pitts yes tina Straick yes roger Verm yes and 2762 is exactly what Kevin just said correct yeah okay uh public comment on 2762
hearing none uh ask for a motion for introduction so moved second discussion yeah one question uh unlike say Davenport where they don't have driveways and whatnot are those people going to be subject to the same fees as anybody else for
putting it in a public area i mean there are parts of town where they don't have the option to keep it on their property right and in that case is there an exemption from that for There's actually if if in in the um in the draft ordinance there are qualifiers so PD may actually even have to come out and take
a look at it to make sure that it's it's safe yeah and once we determine it's safe if they have nowhere else to put it but there are we still going to charge them is my question the the fee yeah the fees for 10 days the the fee is so it's $25 for the 10 days it's again uh
registration purposes and so forth and then if that was to be extended it's $5 a day after that the the uh but yeah the fee would apply are you suggesting it shouldn't apply i'm suggesting for those that have no other option having a fee you know like I have an option of
putting it in my driveway and moving cars around and whatnot but if somebody doesn't have a driveway on which to put it say they're on Grove or you know they're somewhere else where they just don't have the driveway to physically place the thing uh and it's safe to put it out front charging them a fee seems like hey we know you don't have the
property but now we're going to penalize you for not having the property for it so I just $25 isn't a lot $5 a day isn't a lot i recognize all of that but just the the idea of they have nowhere else to go so but this does allow for it to be on the street right well that that ordinance is for the street you could
already put it on your property under land use but but this is strictly on the street and it does the fee does apply to everyone the the um I mean I will tell you many municipalities don't allow pods on the street right so so this is a more of a convenience in a short time
arrangement um Okay yeah because I mean technically it'd be very if we had to move it would be very difficult for us to move opposed to a dumpster which we could pull right right um but yeah I mean if if the council feels the there should be an adjustment on fees for I
mean I mean the reality is the reality is we want people put on their property yes right and and I guess you know the ordinance was drafted based on the fact that people are just putting them on the street right um and I understand uh you
know a fee is always you know a fee is fee regardless of of what it is but but it does it does get people to comply you know with it but if there's this if the board wants to change it that's you know we make that adjustment at the public hearing I guess or prior to that
okay right now we have a fee for dumpsters so it was kind of mirrored gotcha you know that that's how we came up the numbers yep makes sense thank you for clarifying roll call council members Theresa Bonner yes andrew Ki yes glenda
yes randy Pittz yes gina Stravik yes roger Ferm yes okay ordinances for public hearing and adoption uh ordinance number 2758 is amending chapter 166-44 schedule 3 no stopping or standing to remove parking spaces on the north side of West High Street easterly of
Davenport Street um we went we covered this at the last meeting uh these will take away I think there's three parking spaces between the uh middle school entrance driveway entrance on West High Street uh and Davenport Street uh to
increase visibility uh because that is I think the worst corner for accidents in Somerville so um Teresa brought this uh to the table from the uh safety committee and uh and I think everybody agrees on this one so I'll ask uh for a
motion to open the public hearing on 2758 so moved second discussion roll call council members Theresa Bonner yes andrew Ki yes glendy yes randy Pitts yes gina Stravik yes roger Verm yes all right public hearing on 2758 is now
open hearing none i'll ask for a motion to close so moved second discussion roll call council members theresa Bonner yes andrew Ki yes yes glendon yes randy Pitts yes gina Stravik yes roger Ferm yes okay can I make a comment now uh not
yet okay so so now I will ask for a motion for adoption so moved second discussion yes yes while we are doing this being a parent who picks up their kid from this exact
location weekly while this will help I think we're going to need some support from the school itself because the line when picking up anyone it backs out onto high and
down the block where you can't see anyway you get that and then you get parents guardians picking up their children parking in the prohib so are we giving them more prohibibs to park in yeah i and I think I think part of that
solution is once this hits the books uh we can ask uh PD to uh help monitor and and perhaps have an officer out there at uh school closing drop off and pickup time and uh just have an officer maybe uh you know in that area in that
vicinity and if somebody does pull up just ask them to to kind of move along and maybe go around the block just so they don't and you know it's encouragement it's it's educa education and encouragement for compliance uh to try to help that okay yeah I agree and and maybe even you know once this is
again on the books maybe the school can send something out as well um who's liaison to the board of ed all right there we go um yeah let's bring that up uh uh to to your counterpart and uh and just ask them to send something out in
middle school it's very dangerous getting out of there yeah after school yeah not so much yep in the beginning further further discussion roll call council members theresa Bonner yes andrew Ki yes glenda yes randy Pittz yes
gina Stravik yes roger Verm yes all right 2759 uh is amending chapter 102-43 section C of the Burough Land Use Code entitled filing of applications reducing the necessary time to review applications due to modern technology um
this is uh taking what um various applications for the planning board and zoning board uh taking it from 28 days uh which was established I think in the early 1900s um and bringing it down to 21 days there was discussion at the planning board uh
as to whether to uh you know maybe even shorten that to uh to to 14 days and all felt that you know 21 was a good comfortable amount of time it allowed people the opportunity to you know f if they wanted to to to go to Burough Hall and obtain the documents it just allowed
additional review time uh it could be done in 14 but everybody was more comfortable with 21 but all felt that 28 was just way way it was ownorous um I'll ask for a uh motion to open up the public hearing on 2759
so move second discussion roll call council members Theresa Bonner yes andrew Ki yes glendon yes randy Pitts yes unus traffic yes roger Ver yes all right public hearing is open on 2759 hearing none we'll close i'll ask for a
motion to close 2759 so moved second discussion roll call council members theresa Bonner yes andrew Ki yes glen Deny yes randy Pitts yes tenis Travik yes roger Verm yes all right uh ask for a motion for adoption on 2759
so moved second discussion roll call council members theresa Bonner yes andrew Ki yes glen Den yes randy Pitts yes gina Stravik yes roger Ver yes all right consent resolutions any to be pulled off for further discussion [Music]
um the county contract 102 yes recycling yes okay all right uh 095 awarding a contract to Sharp Electronics for copers and printers under the NASPO value point contract effective 10 days following the
publication uh 96 is approving the hiring of lifeguards for 25 pool season 97 approving Somerset County Library System of New Jersey to use the lawn at Burrow Hall on May 3rd for community resource fair 98 is approving Bridgeville ice cream truck as a renewal
vendor for six months 99 authorizing a refund of $45345 to Jose Defenco and Jerus Fenco application as noted uh address at 64 Mercer Street uh from the board of adjustment escrow account 100 rejecting
all bids for pool management operations 101 authorizing a refund of $14,33655 to PY Homes project at Somerville Station for escrow balance from the escrow account 103 is awarding a contract to AS Hunter Municipal Services in the amount of
$34,950 for repair work to Claude Walk Pool 104 is authorizing the uh CFO to open an engineering inspection trust fund account at Provident Bank and authorizing the CFO and administrator to execute all the required bank documents 105 is refunding
$8,64.99 from escrow accounts related to the project located at block 50 lots 313 and 14 for the project known as 40 Hanes redevelopment uh 106 is supporting uh support from the local governing body authorizing the sustainable Jersey grant
funded by PSEG do we have a motion so moved second uh roll call council members Theresa Bonner yes andrew Ki yes glenda yes randy Pitts yes yes genus Travik yes roger Verm yes all right 102 is authorizing an agreement between the Burough of Somerville and the County of
Somerset for certified recycling professional uh to sign annual recycling tonnage report uh do we have a motion so moved second discussion just a question um Kevin I I know that I thought Mark was
taking classes to get certified to do this is that correct did that ever uh uh No this wouldn't be to do this it this is the agreement for the county to pick up recycling so what he's doing is he's studying as to be the certified
recycling coordinator which would allow the m well the municipality does have to fill that role but that would allow us to apply for the tonnage grants and so forth and and as well be educated in the recycling process but that's what he's studying but this is actually for the
for the uh pickup gotcha thank you okay further discussion roll call council members Theresa Bonner yes andrew Kiy yes lendy yes randy Pitts yes gina Stravik yes roger Ferm yes all right bills and vouchers Mr vroom uh I make a
motion to uh pay bills and vouchers in the amount of 1,550,000 7 sorry 1,550,767.97 second discussion roll call council members Theresa Bonner yes andrew Ki yes
glenn Deny yes randy Pitts yes gina Stravik yes roger Verum yes all right and sticking with the same Mr vroom I will ask for a motion for adjournment motion to adjurnn second discussion all in favor i opposed this meeting is adjourned