the good ready 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 March 3rd 2025 was published
in the curer news and Star Ledger and placed on B on the bur's website in the bulleon board of burrow Hall a copy of this notti is available to the public and a copy of the statement shall be included in the minutes of this meeting mayor Brian Gallagher here council members Teresa boner Here Andrew Cony
here Glenn Den here Randy pittz here Gina straic here Roger FM here please stand for the salute to the flag and please remain standing afterwards I pledge aliance 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 just ask everybody please remain standing for a moment um Somerville lost uh two very big parts of our community over the last week and a half or so um Glenn Barry uh
who was a longstanding member of the uh the Somerville uh first aidm Rescue Squad and Leroy gunselman who was also a long longterm member of the rescue squad as well as the central Hook and Ladder uh company um their impacts on our
community are immeasurable um they these are two men who dedicated their entire lives uh to this burrow This Is What mattered to them their Somerville and I would like to ask for a moment of silence thank
you okay can we have a an approval of the uh a motion for approval of the minutes of February 18 second it discussion roll call Council memb Teresa bonor abstain Andrew Cony yes Glenn Den yes Randy pittz yes
Gina straic yes Roger ver yes yes okay uh as a part of business I just want to let folks know if you are here regarding the public hearing for uh item number ordinance number 2755 uh which is uh amending the uh
chapter uh uh 1024 of the burough land use and development code regarding uh definition of deck and identifying the Improvement coverage for pools and decks um I'm going to ask the uh the council for a motion to table that for a future
date to be determined we are going to have additional discussions uh between the planning board the council and the environmental commission uh to uh uh to to I guess further solidify that uh that ordinance so I'd like to ask uh I'll bring that forward and I'll ask for a
motion to to table so Mo so moved second discussion roll call Council memb Teresa boner yes Andrew KY yes Glen Den yes Randy pittz yes Gina straic yes Roger FM yes okay departmental reports and
notices um we do have the uh the Board of Education referendum uh vote uh next week it's March 11th 2025 the polling locations um are at Somerville high school and vanir Elementary School and the polls are open at 6:00 am and close
at 8:00 pm um and that is a great segue uh to bring up representatives from our Board of Education um uh to give us an overview presentation of the referendum project uh which I think is very good for the council to understand as well as
our our public out there in uh social media land uh so they can understand uh what it is so with us tonight we have uh board President Bill kimik um our superintendent J.R lisco uh our business administrator Brian Boyce and uh board
member Jamie crasa so uh Jr come on up and Brian appreciate thank you mayor so as they're getting prepped and ready um the burrow and the board have always had a uh a very good and very strategic
relationship um we share Services uh amongst ourselves um there's an open door policy uh between the uh the board uh the superintendent's office and uh Administration in my office as well um and it's been a great relationship that
uh that that has evolved over the last 20 plus years at least that I've been involved and uh I don't know that it was always as pleasant in in years past uh way back when uh but we've always had a wonderful working relationship um Brian
I've been working with for 20 23 years um I've known bill for about the same time and Jamie for probably about 15 years and uh the working relationship developed uh developing with Jr
is uh is along those same exact lines so with that turn it over to you guys red light means on we're good thank you mayor uh we really appreciate you allowing us to come and share this uh really important information about the upcoming vote on the 11th uh I want to
thank uh president Vroom for uh helping and participating in our Communications committee I want to thank mayor Gallagher for always uh being a sounding board for this process you know from my first day August 1st on um we've had uh discussions regarding this and I really
appreciate that uh insight and and understanding of the the the town and and where everybody was um with that said uh Brian and I are here to share some really important information and that's really what we've been trying to do uh the board made it a priority to put together a package of projects that
were really important uh and reflected our long-term project uh planning uh and the idea was to make sure that we first of all uh ensure the the highest quality educational spaces for our students while also understanding the infrastructural needs of our buildings
we have some older buildings and we need to stay on top of those uh for their well-being um so this is a package of those and it represents needs that the district has and also prioritizes some spaces that haven't been looked on since the buildings were built um and and
that's what we're going to go into today so we want to give a little overview to it but I do want the council to understand that this was a a rigorous process that um even started prior to to to me coming on as superintendent on August 1 um and it's always been a real
focus of of our Board of Education um our business administrator our director of buildings and grounds and uh The Architects that we work with to uh plan uh well in advance so that we aren't springing things on the public and we aren't uh having surprises uh that that
would uh really put us in a a tough spot and what we're trying to do here is um package together like I said um some really important projects but also take advantage of some opportunities that the state presents uh when packaging packaging them in a referendum so um
with all that uh said we're going to uh overview that for everybody here um again our top priority has and will be continued to be to get information out to the public so that they can make a decision that's in the best interest of of them and their
family um we have a One-Stop Shop website and if you haven't been there really easy to find you just go to our school site and there's plenty of links there it has everything you could possibly need to know uh about the referendum project uh and a really important component of that too is that
it's active and it's constantly evolving so as we Face new questions and receive new inquiries from the public we add that information to the website so that everybody has the same information to make those decisions and that's been a real priority uh that the board empowered Brian and I with and what
we've been doing as we've kind of been making a tour of anyone that will have us in Somerville um we we've done that for the last couple weeks we'll continue to do it right up until the vote and um we're here for anything that people might need and uh you can still send those questions directly into to Brian
and I through the website so that we can answer those in real time and uh one last thing before we get into the uh the presentation tomorrow is another opportunity for the public to ask any question they might have of US during a virtual Forum we had an in-person one at
the school very well attended almost 75 people from the public uh were there in which we did a presentation a Q&A followed by a tour of some of those spaces that are going to be worked on um we're going to be doing a virtual version of that tomorrow night so if anyone has any questions if they want to
pop on and and learn more about uh the projects they can do so uh tomorrow at 7 and that uh link for the zoom is found on our website great excellent all right right so with that said uh the urge has been
and will continue to be for people to have as much information they can so that they can make a decision that's best for their family on March 11th we want everyone in Somerville to get out and vote it's really important uh the benefits of packaging it in a referendum as I had said and putting it out to vote
to the public is that we can take advantage of state aid that's only available through a referendum vote so if we went about these projects uh through a traditional budget uh those um and and all of the costs would fall completely onto the district
and the taxpayers by taking uh advantage of a referendum we can uh gain $7.3 million in state aid and it can only be accessed through a referendum vote um there are spaces that are original to the building in the high school in particular 1970s and that is the science
labs and Auditorium so those are spaces that uh are larger uh in in an undertaking for an upgrade and a renovation and are a little bit on the costlier side I shouldn't say a little bit they are on the costlier side and would be very difficult and challenging to put into a normal operating budget
and that's why it's packaged in this referendum the project cost would be spread over time and uh you know the homeowner borrowing uh you know would allow us to do that uh and spread those costs out and there's some other parts to it which will break down uh in later
slides that talk about a new gymnasium and turfield that would expand opportunities for students and activities like Athletics band and color guard so when we look at the highlights of uh the project it falls into two
questions our Board of Education over the course of the fall uh had discussed and uh deliberated over what those questions would look like eventually they came to a conclusion to package many of the projects that were uh available and uh eligible for the state aid into question one to maximize the
amount of state aid that was available as you can see 7.2 million in state aid is available to the projects that fall into question one um so each of the buildings uh will have attention in question one and you can see from these highlights in the high school we're
talking about five science labs um if you were a graduate of the 1970s in Somerville they are the same exact science labs that are being used today um it's an unfortunate reality of what's going on in those spaces and we want to take the opportunity here in this referendum to update those um the second
would be the auditorium again a wonderful space one that is maximized and utilized by our outstanding drama uh and musical uh you know groups um but they are original uh and if you've been in those spaces not uh from the uh the
carpeting uh to the seating to the walls to the light the sound everything um needs that update now Brian and the Board of Education have updated components of it you know with lighting and and sound but not to the you know the quality that we want to provide our
students for those really top-notch programs that we have utilizing them uh the Middle School uh and the elementary school the first item on each of those you can see match and what we want to do is have a security vestibule or what they call a man trap put into both those
spaces like we have in the high school that is best practice when it comes to Safety and Security in our buildings and we want to make sure that they have those uh in those two schools as well what that would do is uh basically have an extra layer of uh of security where
the person would have to be buzzed into a second space before they would have access to the entire school um there's also the addition of an ADA lift in the middle school so if you've been in the middle school that's the oldest of our buildings and one that uh to get that security vestibule we also wanted to go
that extra step with the Ada lift um there are roof areas of the Middle School air conditioning and ventilation that need updating in that space if you've been in the auditorium for any type of production it's an absolutely beautiful space but it is warm to say the least the gymnasium has the same
issue a beautiful old space the old high school gymnasium it's large it's great but it gets very warm as well uh vanderville Elementary already talked about the uh security vestibule but you have the multi-purpose room which again
is very outdated and our students are in there every single all of our students are in there every single day that's where they have lunch that's where we do have uh some of our uh gym classes taking place um but that needs uh that update as well um and there if you've
ever been in the back there are those c boxes there that are used for storage so there would be a new steel storage building and a multi- uh sport turf field that we'd want to uh uh certainly take advantage of if you've ever been back there and if you know much about
that space uh it is a problem when it comes to drainage so uh this part of the project project um you know we're really excited about how much of it became uh eligible for the state aid and that was really with the engineering component of it getting proper drainage in there uh
making it so that that will be uh and can be utilized uh every day uh all the time uh from morning to night um and uh that's really the beauty of that space is that it would be a baseball softball infield uh and then the Outfield would
be a multi Sports space uh and this was something that our students obviously can take uh advantage of our students at Vander can take advantage of it during the school day for recess and then of course Partnerships um with the community uh utilizing that space we'd
want the baseball and softball to have a movable base paths uh so you can adjust to different age uh ages and a u of course we'd look at the mound as well so that would be both baseball and softball eligible right so here are some of those pictures if you haven't been in those
spaces lately we just wanted to to show some of them to you so you have an example of the high school science lab right uh a rendering of the auditorium if updated here is an original a current uh
picture of the multi-purpose room at vanir you can see quite outdated on the left you'll see the c boxes and on the right what would replace them for storage and here's the the space I was talking about with the proposed turf field as
you can see by it uh The Outfield would be that multiport space and then you have the baseball softball infield so this would be something that could be utilized all year round uh by all athletic programs and then the next step let's not forget not just athletic
programs but you have your marching van that could access that space uh your your flag groups and and many others um so that's an important space and one that would benefit not only athletes um but also the Arts as well question two is a little bit
different and again the the board deliberated what the questions would look like we packaged the uh the projects that would be state aid eligible in the question one question two does not have the same eligibility right uh 7.2 was for the first question
we're talking about um a much lower number for question two for a total 7.3 so with that said um this would transform our high school and Athletics a state-of-the-art 24,000 foot gymnasium that would uh have other support spaces
inside of it uh all uh athletic programs and community and wreck programs would be able to take advantage of this space uh it would improve scheduling for athletic events you have seating for uh 700 fans storage facilities for athletic equipment you have training facilities
team locker rooms concession stands a new Hall of Fame area and a weight room so this would really transform the educational and athletic opportunities for our students and it's not just for athletes but uh all students that would be able to benefit from that this is a rendering of what the gym
would look like and here is kind of a sketch of of what the uh blueprint could look like now when we talk about any of these projects they're all in their infancy in terms of what it would look like so this is a this could obviously be adjusted um but when you go into this process you
know we have uh the the the rendering of what it could look like and then of course once uh if the projects were to pass then we go back with the Architects and drill down a little bit closer and Tighter onto what it would look like so what I wanted to just uh give
everybody here was a general overview of what the projects would look like the benefits for our students and really the needs that our buildings have but uh what we've really learned through this entire process is that there are other important asp ects uh and and pieces of information that people need so we've
heard that loud and clear from the public and that's why these next few slides uh Brian is going to share with you really focus on the democra the demographics and the finance aspects so I'm going to turn things over to Brian and he'll share some of that information with you thank you Jr and thank you
mayor and councel for the opportunity to come speak to you in person about about this referendum uh when we were in the beginning stages of talking about a referendum one of the first things we did did was we commissioned a demographic study obviously that was going to be a major piece of information
for us to plan around uh we had a demographer come in and it's typically done in a five-year projection so we had a fiveyear projection from 2425 to 28 29 uh the way he did it is he he created
a set a baseline um projections which were uh projections without consideration to any housing projects that were going on both in Somerville and Branchburg and then he did a second projection which which did factor in the that piece of
information um so he in the end came up with a projection that as far as we could tell here that uh the projections are any increases that we're going to see in student growth is primarily due to Branchburg and their their housing
developments uh going up there um and I'll talk a little bit about what he saw in some in particular since that uh would be a particular interest to you all I would think um but um just so you all know what it concluded at vanir school the the enrollment at vanir
school is projected to De to decline over the next two to three years and then stabilized at the middle school it's actually projected decline over the course of the entire five years not by a whole lot but it's a it's a decline the whole way through at the high school we
are going to see a decline for the next two to three years and then it's going to reverse Trend and start to increase past to where we are at this point but not to where we were in 201819 so that was obviously the building that we wanted to look at the
most closely the one that um we were we knew we were going to see enrollment growth in and then uh this report also it's important to point out that it is the worst case scenario it assumes that all of these housing projects in both towns
actually materialized and in Branchburg I think in particular and I'm I'm not sure about some of the the ones in Somerville uh we didn't really know for sure whether they were actually going to happen so this this report that we received actually uh assumes everything
went forward um yeah so the the way he did Su was interesting because he he he developed a a specific tailored student yield based on projects that had already happened and just recently finished for instance s 6 North Davenport Somerville
Park Station House and the Avalon at Somerville station so we saw very few students from what amounted to 818 units there so 21 students uh to be exact so what he did was he took that student yield and he applied it to similar
configurations in um units that were to be constructed in town um for those that were of similar configuration and uh not not all were like I believe you have some market rate Town Homes two and three bedrooms in one
space and one of these developments right so for those for those housing projects He could not use that yield but it was tailored that's the point to Somerville and it did show that uh we're not going to see a lot of students coming from uh the housing developments in Somerville but we will see some from
branchford we'll see more from branchford so on to the financial information um so question one alone if we just look at question one which is the $23.2 million total project cost with $7 million in
state aid to offset that 23 million we're looking at a net tax decrease of $12 per month and I want to explain how a $23 million referendum could result in a12 million dollar decrease in taxes so if you look at your uh uh the the school
tax bill portion of everybody's property taxes it's made up of a operating fund Levy and a Debt Service fund Levy The Debt Service fund Levy is what we're talking about that is $425 for an average assessed home in
town which is $275,700 assessed value and you all know the difference um so of that tax bill $425 is for previous referendum uh two previous referendums one in 2004 one and
one in 1998 both of which are going to drop off in debt and that's one of the big reasons why we chose this particular time uh to do this referendum is because we had debt falling off so it would taxpayers would feel it less okay so um
um in addition to the state aid that we're we can now um enjoy which we can't be guaranteed to enjoy three four or five years down the road so that $425 is going to fall off uh the biggest chunk of that is falling
off in this fiscal year the smaller chunk is falling off in 2029 if question one passes that 425 will be replaced by $277 for the year for an average assessed home uh owner so that
difference is $148 divided by 12 gets you to $12 decrease for the Deb service portion of homeowners um bill for the for for school taxes now if question one and two pass because there's not a scenario where question
two alone passes question one has to pass for question two to pass so under the scenario of questions one and two passing that is a $14 increase um per month for an average assessed homeowner
in town um $14 a month is calculated by that 425 I mentioned to you before is replaced by $593 the difference there being 168 divided by 12 gives you the $14 per month increase um for for question one
and two passing this is just a slide to illustrate the difference between market value and assess value something you all know quite well um and those those those are act actual examples on on the slide there um believe from talking with your
tax assessor you at about 63.5% of market value your assessed value in town but those are some actual examples of the difference between assessed value and market value this slide is is just meant to point out uh the investment we have made
in school budgets with our facilities over just over the past five years we have done almost 25 million dollar in capital projects in our annual School budgets and of that 24.9 milon we were able to receive
68 million in Grants to offset that 25 million but the point in the slide is that we are investing in our facilities on an annual basis for two reasons really first of all staff and students don't have to to live with slowly declining buildings over a period of
time but also because it's a property tax thing if if we're able to to uh include capital projects in our annual budgets it's it's that much more we can push off a referendum if we weren't able to do this on an annual basis or if we
did not do it um on an annual basis then we would be looking at referendums more frequently and also in higher dollar amounts so and this pace of spending existed for um the last 20 years I can speak to so it's it's a high priority
the board of education has supported and encouraged us to do that we were able to receive grants along the way the three classroom addition at the at that you guys probably have seen over there for preschool that's a $5 million project we receive exactly 40% or $2 million for
that project to offset that cost so we've done very well with grants in the annual budget but regardless we wanted we wanted to keep up with capital projects in the annual budget because it just helps push off referendums and the and the the dollar amounts of
referendums so I I think what we have here here is is a real advantage in having someone uh as stable in the business administrator chair as a Brian here um we're blessed to have that because what you've seen is a real commitment to trying to do the most um
you know ahead of time so that there aren't these surprises that there aren't a lot of times we come here asking uh for the public to pass a referendum um and taking advantage of all these different opportunities that the state does present itself allows us um to not have to to go out the referendum in 20
years um and the the Board of Education really uh looked closely at the type of projects that were included here um especially in question one wanting to maximize the dollars that would come back from the state and what we have here for the public is one to consider uh that will really benefit all the
students in all of the buildings um so as we've said from the beginning the most important thing people do can do and the most important uh job we have is to get everybody informed and have the same information so when they make a decision on March 11th it's done you know with all of the information um
we're here obviously for anyone and any question they have leading up to the 11th they can contact us uh through the virtual Forum tomorrow or they can go right online and submit questions to us and we answer those as quickly as possible so um we really thank the council for their uh time and for
allowing us to come and share this with the public I think it's important that this information get out there in a variety of different Avenues and spaces and uh and ways um so um if there are any questions we'd love to answer them um if not um we encourage people to to
go on tomorrow the virtual Forum um or to get out and vote on the 11th so thank you very much thank you I think that was a very uh uh well informed well done presentation um I'll have a few comments at the tail end I just want to open up to council to see if they have any
comments or questions Teresa um I just have a question I'm not really into sports I know very little about it can you explain why you feel that having turf fields are better than not turf fields sure so and and let me preface
that be in saying that the only thing I know about turf fields is that I read somewhere that it causes more serious injuries when played on turf fields so that's why I'm wondering what's the benefit sure so the benefit of a turf field is the frequency of use um you
know when we look at the old Vander field if it rained um we might be off that field for a week at a at a minimum and then you have to uh use it sparingly because the grass uh you know was was fragile and I'm going to be honest um as someone who coached my entire life and
and has been involved with Athletics what you see uh is that those fields can only be used for a finite amount of time uh throughout the year so if we had our athletic director here Tim Davis he'd be actually able to uh walk you through uh how uh little those fields are able to
be used because um we don't get the uh the proper um I guess the Springs aren't what they used to be if you will there's a lot more rain um we're not getting uh you know the the type of um I guess what's the best way to put this Brian
we're having issues with um the frequency of yeah with drainage thank you in the spring they're they're hardly we're you know not able to use them very often which is a you know baseball softball season very much needed I I would add that if if our athletic director was here the other you know the
benefits of the turf field is you you you give the more opportunities for students to participate in athletics and there's you know he would talk to you about how much more successful students do academically when they have the opportunity to participate in athletics and that's a big thing in sumerville
high school whether it be clubs or or Sports there's you know we have a very high percentage of students involved and and the administration there think that's important for the Student Success academically too just just to add to that because I
was I did go to the public session at the high school and uh there was a resident who asked the question about drainage and because that area does have some water issues uh in that whole neighborhood it's my neighborhood um and and I found it very intriguing so if you
want to just maybe talk to that so the the question actually was uh was I think about previous projects in the past that were Turf they actually caused a detriment in terms of um if there was excess water where it would be where that Watershed would go and what has
happened and our architect went into great detail on this was uh the the real advances in the engineering component of that and that these guys factored in uh that uh that part into the engineering so part of the reason why the engineering is such a a heavy lift and a large cost is because it's going to be
able to accommodate a large amount of water and not spr you know cause any issues uh in the neighborhood um so uh that is uh you know the biggest part of that and that was the part that became more eligible for for state aid it'll actually reduce the amount of water
going into that little stream that comes down to Union Avenue it it retains the water and then releases it back slowly there are certain regulations that require it to to uh you know only be discharged at a certain quantity of time
yeah any others any other questions no I was just wondering if you could uh class a 93 um I was wondering if you could talk about the current gym limitations and why the High School would benefit from a new one I saw the
plans but absolutely thanks so what we're finding with our gymnasium usage is a log Jam based upon the number of participants as Brian said that are interested in athletics thereby limiting uh you know space and availability and what's happening is that our athletes
are having to go till very late at night to gain access to the the gymnasium um just for participation it also then doesn't as allow uh as many Community Partnerships as Brian I talked about uh that this new gymnasium would open up um
it would allow our student athletes to be done at an earlier time to get home to work on their schoolwork uh and anything else that they're involved with we also had uh our robotics um adviser who's also involved with the drama and and many other things speak to the advantages of having our students
scheduled for athletics at an earlier time that would have on those other programs that uh students participate in as well as Athletics a lot of times what he's finding is that certain stud students involved in robotics certain students involved in um you know some the drama let's say are having conflicts
um because of the athletic scheduling so by having the extra gymnasium space uh we would be able to get our athletes in sooner you know even consider other athletic programs if those opportunities um you know presented themselves but then also partner with the community
more and allow more of that um opport you know that that partnership to take place yeah when uh Jr first first um approach the subject as when we second time we met actually I believe we talked a little broadly about that and and how
you know the perception of if this or if this is to pass how do we engage so that it becomes Community Based and not just school-based and uh um you know preliminary discussions but uh very amendable to uh to to talking
further about that and how can our Recreation programs integrate with with education programs so any others so all right so just a couple of things um what I found very interesting
and uh the previous mayor Sullivan and I were both in the audience and uh when the demographic information came up um and and it showed that um the population the school age population in Somerville is actually declining uh that uh both uh vanir and
the Middle School are going down um it is something from the council table and from the planning board that we have been talking about in terms of how we've calculated our development and what types of development we are bringing into Somerville and it's an outside
party um and unbeknownst to us uh so it's actually very gratifying to see that your numbers uh further confirm what we've been talking about for 20 years having said that there will be people who still won't believe your numbers um because they just don't
believe them um but I think it's uh I I think it's of significant point to note that um you know we we've calculated our development in mind with the impact on the schools so um so having said that um I've I've
watched this now twice and I've gone on the website it's I think you've done a very very good job of condensing all of your information um you know both the construction elements and the financial elements into a very
cohesive concise uh information points which allows people to understand what it is you're talking about whether they agree with it or not is up to them um but but they can understand what you're talking about um and make an informed decision and I think I think you've done that extremely well the one sheeter that
you have um is it it encapsulates everything that you've you've talked about uh you know Somerville is a very desirable place to live um it's and that's not through accident it's by Design and this is this is a design that started 25
years ago and and we're seeing that success now uh you showed the market value versus the assessed value and and you know the market value of our homes in the last 10 years has just skyrocketed um and that's a good thing
um you know one of the first things people ask they want to see their Dam town they want to know about Recreation programs they want to know about crime in the community and they want to know how good the schools are so you know the there's been Investments made in every
aspect of this community um and it's up to individuals to decide uh now uh next week uh on this next investment so um I thank you for coming in I thank you for uh for putting together uh a very
cohesive package uh that's easily understandable by the public and I would encage everybody to uh to to educate themselves and vote um and get out there and vote um and I appreciate the the the Decades of service uh both at the board
level and and at the administrative level um and uh while you're here uh uh short time eight months or so um your experience beyond that is uh is decades so I appreciate that so thank you very
much for coming in and uh and helping to inform both the council and the public out there and uh we'll see you next Tuesday great all right thank you thank you we appreciate the time thank you thank you thanks you don't have to stay and I interest anyone in a one
sheer I think those would be very helpful for the council I think they're good yeah thanks CH thank you all right um we'll carry on uh we'll go into committee reports Andrew um met with the uh historic advisory committee this uh this since
our last meeting and we spent a lot of time talking about the the fire Museum and Portico repairs as well as a presentation by the uh police department on the artifacts and things that they have in the police headquarters now that they'd like to carry forward to a kind of a trophy case or Museum area in the
uh in the news space so uh a lot of discussion about the history they have there which is great and I do have to say that bleeds into my next comment on uh on policing I have to say we have had some public comments on enforcement and I have to I've seen the police out there doing more on Grove and Bridge and it's it's got to be commendable because
they're out there all day and night stopping people at this point so thank you good Gina uh just to follow up uh the rescue squad family uh did give uh Glen Barry a good um Rescue Squad going away so I'd like to acknowledge that again as we did a moment of silence uh
hence I do not have their statistical report uh they were busy for Friday and Saturday but um and I have no report for the health committee uh Board of Health thank you BL okay so uh it has been an exciting uh beginning of March here for the fire department because as of March
1st all the apparatus has been moved and the equipment to the new emergency services facility so uh they uh the trucks are there they've already responded from there so um they are waiting for a few more gear lockers and some hose racks to be delivered in installed um but they are functionally
operating out of that building uh the maintenance department has moved over there as well and so has the fire officials so uh busy and exciting times right there that's great um the February responses uh there were 46 responses for the fire department and seven of them
were fires five structure fires one cooking fire one vehicle fire and just to date uh they have been busy uh 106 calls for this uh so far this year which is a 10% % increase from last year so um we thank them for all their hard work
and uh all their organization in getting that building up and going and everyone else who supported that so great it's great all right uh environmental uh we'll be meeting next Tuesday at 7 o'clock right here um but the first quarterly newsletter has come out so it has a like a a highlights and uh
includes a lot of different dates and important things I'll just touch on a couple um Saturday March 29th uh there will partnering with the Wallace house to learn about invasive species and historical significance uh there um and then also on then Monday the 31st right
here at 700 p.m. at the Civic Center uh there'll be a seminar on New Jersey's changing climate and then uh also thinking ahead to Spring we had a couple days that teased us with it so think about uh April 26th and Earth Day and the green fair so save the date for that as well and as always you can follow the
summer environmental Commission on the socials Facebook and Instagram awesome great thank you mayor Teresa thank you uh I have quite a bit so I'll try to keep it brief um Somerville public library in addition to the weekly story times and Library uh
the library is hosting um some great community events this week um tomorrow March 4th at 10:30 a.m. in the program room is English conversation group uh they can you can practice speaking English and a friendly setting for intermediate level English speakers um
March 8th at 11:00 a.m. in the program prog room it's intro to Native Plant gardening presented by Jason Goldman of flower to the people and March 8th also 2m in the program room understanding and using your health insurance uh presented by
the center for H uh Family Services um you can register online um or at the library front desk to attend any of the uh upcoming events um the Somerset County Municipal Alliance commission is featuring several
free substance use prevention webinars in March and I will be posting those to the uh Community pages on Facebook so that people can register um and the Somerville middle school will be hosting their annual eighth grade challenge day this
Wednesday March 5th from 8:30 to 3M challenge day is a dayong experiental uh experiential workshop for the e8th graders participants experience powerful connections of belonging across lines of difference and move forward
creating the culture they want in their school this program is once again being sponsored by the Somerville Youth Services Commission um also the Memorial Day Parade planning committee met and we are well underway to creating another wonderful parade this year um we had a
really great turnout last year and we're hoping for even a better turnout this year and that's all I have great thank you ready thank you mayor I have a a police update on December 15th 2024 at 8:21 p.m. Somerville officers responded
to East Cliff Street and Culver Street where they found a 20-year-old borrow resident seriously injured after being struck in a marked crosswalk the driver of a white Chrysler 300 fled the scene without assisting the victim Days Later officers located the
suspect's vehicle with damage matching the crash the register owner initially provided false information but further investigation identified the actual driver both individuals have been arrested and charged with criminal and
traffic offenses their appearances in court are pending tremendous job by our Somerville Police Department in their investigations and swiftly identifying those responsible in ensuring Justice for the victim thank you great fantastic good
stuff uh Roger so uh for recreation soccer uh the registration is open for grades 1 through 8 uh deadline to register is March 10th uh we also are offering the NJ Santos Rush spring
soccer clinic and games for uh ages four through seven uh where students can work on skills and ball control and Technical drills and having games uh to to practice and work on those skill sets it will be from April 12th through May 24th
on Saturdays at the Carol pager Sports Complex it is $66 per uh per child and it includes a t-shirt um registration will be accepted from it's already started but from February 27th through April 4th and that is available on our
community pass website so you can go to the Somerville Recreation page and uh find the community pass website and sign up there any questions um You can call uh Kathy at uh the burough 90875
46985 or kerville nj.org okay great thank you awesome um item number nine is a proclamation uh regarding Irish American heritage month for 2025 um I will take that and I will get
that to the uh to the appropriate I believe the Ancient Order of iberians that or I could give it to Rich O'Neal [Laughter] that's um discussion uh item number 10 uh is remove parking spaces on West High Street on the northeast corner it's a
typo it says Northwest but it should be the northeast corner of Davenport and West High Street in front of the Middle School uh parking lot Teresa you want to uh take that one on sure thank you um so the Public Safety Committee uh met last
month and we the the main discussion point was um Traffic Safety pedestrian safety um we we had asked officer chudy to put together a report for us uh regarding
just how many accidents take place at that corner of West High Street and Davenport um by the middle school interestingly he let us know that that corner is has had the highest number of crashes in Somerville within one year so
within one year there were 14 accidents reported just at that one corner and that is the highest number in the the entire town so um it led to a discussion on how we can make that intersection
safer for everyone involved I mean it's there's children Crossing there during the school day or you know beginning and end of school day um lots of traffic going to Main Street going to the high school um and what we came up with with
the help of Officer Judy was uh saying you know the visibility at that intersection is really terrible um when you're coming up the hill on Davenport crossing over uh West High Street um a lot of the accidents are caused by
people not stopping at the stop signs um but it's and speeding as well uh on on West High Street but the the visibility at that corner is terrible I can attest to it I deal with it every single day so
um one of the solutions we came up with was uh getting rid of those three parking spaces on the corner and also speaking with the the crossing guard as you know to not Park in the lined spots
because that's causing a lot of visibility issues but yeah so that's that's where we're at that's what this what brought this on well I think this is I think it's a great recommendation the um this is the first uh I think of many recommendations coming out of the
Public Safety Committee and uh I I I concur I think um when you're traveling southbound um on Davenport and coming up to West High all the other three corners the parking is pushed back they're at least 50 feet off of uh off of the
corner uh except for the northeast corner we still have uh three parking spaces there so people are either inching their noses are inching inching out or they're doing the uh the Hollywood roll through the stop sign and uh um and not realizing that there's
a car coming so I think it's a great thing and if if Council has no objection we'll uh we'll put it on for uh for ordinance Amendment at our next meeting good right good sold good good work thank
you all right um item number 11 is cdbg Community Development block grant discussion um as part of Community Development block grant uh application s uh they they are requ we are required to hold a public hearing on uh each
application that comes through uh whether they're part of the burrow or not so that's what these are intended to do um the first one is the safe and sound Somerset a mobile case management for housing and economic stability seeking $35,000 uh the burrow of Somerville for
Carol Carol pager Park Ballfield improvements in the amount of $125,000 and the zufall health center common space floor replacement do we have a value on that Kevin uh we didn't have a value at the time of the printing um it's as the maximum they could apply for is 125 so
they were waiting on their engineering's estimate okay all right that's fine um so I will ask Council for a motion to open for public comment so moved second discussion roll call council members Teresa Bonner yes Andrew KY yes Len yes
Randy pittz yes Jina straic yes Roger FM yes all right public comment on any of those three is now open hearing none we'll I'll ask for a motion to close so moved second discussion roll call council members Teresa boner yes Andrew KY yes Glen Den
yes Randy pittz yes Jus traic yes Roger verm yes okay um nothing further we need to do uh We've complied with the uh cdbg guidelines that we hold a public hearing so Kevin will take it from there correct thank you okay thank
you all right uh item number 12 meeting open to the public I will ask for a motion so move second discussion roll call council members Teresa Bonner yes Andrew KY yes lendon yes Randy pittz yes Gina straic yes Roger verm yes okay
meeting is open to the public please state your name and address for the record and please address your comments to me hearing n I'll ask for a motion to close so moved second discussion roll call council members terresa boner yes Andrew Cony yes Glen a yes Randy pittz
yes Tina straic yes Roger ver yes okay uh item number 13 ordinance for introduction this is uh ordinance number 2757 amending ordinance uh number as noted establishing a salary range for employee titles to be paid to certain officers and employees of the burough of
Somerville uh this is housekeeping we uh continually over the course of the year uh adapt our salary guide uh to make sure that uh all of our employees are paid within the guidelines uh um while not required to I will open up for
public comment on uh item number 2757 hearing none close 2757 and motion for introduction please moved second discussion roll call council members Teresa Bonner yes Andrew KY yes lend yes Randy pittz yes Jus
traic yes Roger FM yes all right 2755 was tabled as per the beginning of of the meeting 2756 uh ordinance for public hearing and adoption is an ordinance to exceed the 2025 Municipal budget appropriation limits and to establish a cap bank once
again this is housekeeping that we do every year um as we go into budget time um I will ask for a motion to open for public hearing so move second discussion roll call council members Teresa boner yes Andrew KY yes lend yes Randy pittz
yes Gina straic yes Roger ver yes public hearing on 2756 is now open hearing none we'll close 27 I will ask for a motion to close 2756 so moved second discussion roll call council members terresa boner yes Andrew KY yes
L yes Randy pittz Jus travic yes Roger verm yes so that's the one thing that changed from my uh my first go as mayor we never had to have the council vote on the introduction we just that for the public hearing anyway
public all right um did I do the public hearing yes okay so motion for uh for adoption please so moved second discussion roll call council members Teresa bonor yes Andrew Cony yes Glen Den yes Randy pittz yes
Jina travic yes Roger ver yes okay consent resolutions any to be pulled off for further discussion 074 okay rep as okay so noted all right 72 is amending
resolution as noted approving alcoholic beverage license to reflect legal entity name change for Stevenson delesio American Legion Post 12 to be submitted for the division of alcoholic beverages for 2425 uh 73 supporting publishing legal notices on official government website
75 authorizing use of somerville's procurement card for emergencies as identified by the office of Emergency Management 76 is approving amendments to the continuity of operations plan for elections 77 is authorizing self-examination of the 2025 uh
Municipal budget 78 authorizing a shared service agreement for engineering and related services with the county of Somerset 79 is approving Girls on the Run Race 5K for June 8 starting at 9:30 a.m. on the corner of East High and Grove 80 memorializing the burrow
administrated to execute the fiscal year 22 Community Project funding Grant agreement as noted uh do we have a motion so moved second roll call council members Teresa bonor yes Andrew Cony yes Glenn Den yes Randy pittz yes Jus traic
yes Roger ver yes and 78 with the recusal is noted yes received um 74 is authorizing submission of a Community Development Block Grant application for Carol pager Park Ballfield improvements we have a motion so moved second discussion yes just was wondering on
behalf of the community if we could share what those improvements would be sure uh sorry is the the application that's being presented to the cdbg um working with Jason ker on Jason's actually going to be presenting that to the board uh that'll include the the
reorientation of the ball fields um for for soccer and and I'm sorry for softball and baseball the idea is the right now the the skin service which includes the home plate area the pitcher mound all the way into the Outfield uh
gets washed out fairly frequently because of wet weather um the idea is to to uh reorientate those fields so that the Outfield which is would be grass and drainage would be put into the grass area that would drain into the into the
brook so having an outfield grass is is wouldn't uh wouldn't result in in the Reconstruction of the infield every time there there's uh some significant wet weather it it's actually a a um it's a project that we did meet with SBI on to
talk to him about you know because normally this is done um during baseball season so so the idea would be if we're if we're successful in getting this grant in addition of another grant that Jason's working on um the idea would be
to come back to the burrow depending on the U success of those two GR grants uh for a capital uh amendment in order to make this project happen uh and the construction would likely be in July of
of um we're in 25 26 into uh July of 27 um that's the game plan right now it's pretty much a it's it's a large project um for for kind of just turning two fields around but the value of making that happen would be very
important to the league as well as everybody else that uses those fields thank you yeah so closer to the uh to the brook the speed of the water is greater and it's just scouring the infields of of all of the fields and uh the thought is if you can if we can
reverse it and put the infields uh further up uh the speed of the water isn't as great so you might have Water Rising and coming down and it's not scouring and it's not taking out the uh the fences every time there's a major uh or or taking equipment away so um
all right uh roll call council members terresa boner yes Andrew KY yes Glen yes Randy pittz yes Gus traic yes Roger FM yes all right bills and vouchers Roger I make a motion
to approve bills and vouchers in the amount of 1,131 n88 78 cents second discussion roll call council members Teresa Bonner yes Andrew KY yes lend yes Randy pittz yes Gina
straic yes Roger V yes all right Mr Pitts can I entertain a motion for uh for adjournment I Mo sorry I make a motion to adjourn second all in favor I opposed this meeting is a jerk