This meeting is called in order 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 April 21, 2025 was published in the Courier News and Star Ledger and placed on the burrow's
website and bulletin board of Burough Hall. A copy of this notice 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 Terresa Bonner here. Andrew Ki here. Glenn Deny here. Randy Pittz here. Gina Stravik
here. And Roger Vroom is excused this evening. Okay. Please stand for the salute. Algiance 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. Okay. Motion for approval of the minutes of April 7, please. So move. Second. Discussion. Roll call. Council members Theresa Honor. Yes. Yes. Andrew Kiy, yes. Glen Deny, yes. Randy Pittz, yes. Gina Stravik, yes. Okay. Departmental
reports and notices are as listed, but just as uh reminders for a few folks, uh primary election date change. The new date is June 10th uh of 2025 of this year. Again, primary election uh day is June 10. And we have one polling
location change in Somerville. Uh Vanir Elementary School is no longer a polling location. For many years, folks have gone to Vanvere school. Uh that is changing and the new location is the Somerville Emergency Services Facility
on Gaston Avenue. That's the new emergency services facility. Uh I just want to make sure that uh people understand that and people know that. Kevin, when we do that, can we also make sure that on on election day, primary election day, that we have a notice at Vander, a small sign that that points
people. Sure, we'll take care of that. Additionally, we have the Memorial Day parade coming up on May 26. Uh that was resurrected last year uh and uh we're looking forward to it again. I know Teresa is working with the committee on that now and beginning preparations for
uh for our uh Memorial Day parade. Uh and same day we also have the tour of Somerville as well which uh I'm sure Glenn is the liazison to that committee and then we also have girls night out coming up on May 15th downtown. So uh
committee reports Andrew um met with the uh historic advisory committee. Uh they are excited and we are excited about the uh work at the Burough Hall that's starting. Uh it'll continue through the summer months. Uh it's been funded through grants from the New Jersey Historic Trust and the Somerset County
Historical Preservation Grant Program. Uh and the idea is to continue the restoration of the uh original windows and I believe the Portico front entrance as well. Great. Okay. Excellent. Gina, just following up on that a little bit, I did attend the um Paul Rivere walk,
250th uh celebration of the uh ride of Paul Rivere and uh Wallace House curator Paul had a a great program um which I attended and uh Rich was there uh and a few and 30 people. It was a really good turnout. Um very interesting. Um so um I
think our community needs to be supportive of the uh the Wallace House and and Dutch Parsonage and and what better way to c celebrate our local history. Um but following up on that, um in terms of the um board of health, I have no report. Um in in terms of the uh
rescue squad, uh Deputy Chief Alice Condo is here today. Um she did send me a report uh which I'm trying to pull over. Uh here we go. Uh 300 volunteer hours uh given this month um for riding um uh on calls. Uh 116 calls, I'm sorry,
this is a March report. 116 calls in March, including 16 fire alarms. um and they participated in a community event. Um they are now riding um on call rig is operating out of the Gaston Avenue uh building the the new emergency facility
and like I said um 300 volunteer riding hours. Um major call reason for calls uh sick falls and fire alarms. Um so that is the report that I have today. Great. Thank you. Glenn. All right. So a couple different things. As the mayor mentioned, we have the uh tour of
Somerville coming up. I hope that you're getting as excited as I am. It is the 80th running of the tour. It is North America's oldest bicycle race and it is right here in Somerville. Uh if you've never come out to it after the parade on Memorial Day, I highly recommend doing so. Um the the sound and speed of the
bikes flying by on Main Street and High Street is just incredible. Um you can also support the tour. If you're not going to girls night out, you can come to the Patriots game on the 15th and some of the proceeds there will uh go and help support and pay for that for us to be able to run the tour. Um, also you
can go to ww.tourrville.com and you can check out uh some of the different swag and merchandise that is there. We're doing an $80 for 80 for a commemorative gift bag that has all different things described there on the website. Uh follow Facebook and Instagram for
updates on the tour and uh be sure to mark your calendar. Come for the parade, stay for the tour. Um as far as environmental goes, uh I was fortunate enough to be able to attend uh Duke Farms uh forest restoration program on April 9th. they uh through grants and
other items they are they're restoring or they're planting 53,000 trees and shrubs uh in the flood plains uh on the other side of the Raritin from uh across from Raritin Burrow of Raritin all the way to 206. So those 53,000 plants will
be doing hopefully wonders to help slow down flood waters and absorb some of the water to uh reduce the impacts on anything downstream which includes us. So I was happy to go there. Uh the environmental commission would also like to thank the DPW for all of their help with our rain garden cleanup and they're
also continuing to promote the PSEG energy efficiency campaign. And then tomorrow is Earth Day, but we'll be celebrating Earth Day uh all weekend starting with the townwide swap. You can put out used or gently used items on the curb for free. Uh be sure to take in
anything that was not swapped out by the end of the weekend. And then on Saturday at 9:00 am, we'll be meeting at Division Street. You can come and we will distribute bags and things to go do a townwide cleanup. Uh and then come back at 11:00 for our green fair which will
have all sorts of different environmental education and eco vendor booths with all sorts of different activities. You can find out more details and see some of the vendors on the Instagram posts and on Facebook for the environmental. And that is all I have, Mayor. Excellent. There's a lot lot going on. Good stuff here. That is
that's great. Great stuff. Teresa, thank you. Uh my report's kind of late this month or this week. Um but we did have a public safety committee meeting this past Thursday, April 17th. Um we were happy to see that the uh parking spaces
were approved to be removed uh at the corner of by the middle school, which I saw today have already been painted, which are which was so fast and amazing. So, that was wonderful to be able to really see at that intersection when you're driving through. Um, but now
we're going to be looking at other intersections that have recently had some dangerous accidents happening. Um, I brought that to the attention of the committee and they're now working on some thoughts with that. And they're also going to be starting to work on
creating some educational material to not only post on social media and possibly the burough website, but also to hand out uh you know certain events and things if we have if the public uh safety committee has a table at those events like National Night Out and
things like that. Um the Somerville Library Board of Trustees meeting is happening this Thursday at 6:30 p.m. at the public library. So, I'll be able to report on that next meeting. Um, and just a little something that I did myself today. I participated. I
represented the council and the mayor at Lifesville's Day at Somerville Middle School. Um, so I had the opportunity to speak with sixth graders in Mr. Zubia's class for four classes. And uh, am I tired? Um, I I've always respected
teachers, but they are superheroes. They are totally superheroes. To be able to do that every day for a full day is amazing. But it was really great to uh talk about civic engagement and the importance of volunteering in your community. And I think that it was
received well and I got some thank you notes from the kids when I was leaving which was really sweet. But anyway, so that's my little great extra for this week. Excellent. Thank you, Randy. Thank you, mayor. The DSA has been awarded a
$150,000 grant from Main Street, New Jersey. This major investment will support enhancements along Division Street, Gerardino Walkway, and Key Storefront areas throughout our Main Street corridor. The project's timeline will begin June of of this year and run
through May of 2026. Congrats to the DSA and their efforts to keep our downtown welcoming and thriving. It's all I have. Awesome. All right. Great. Thank you. Um, we'll now have uh well, let me back up a second. So, uh,
at our last meeting, we had a uh uh a thorough budget presentation from uh our our CFO, Paige Ster, and uh our administrator, uh, Kevin Sluca, and uh, they went through uh, all of the, uh, revenues, expenditures, um, those items
of note under each uh, did a very thorough job, I thought. uh very uh very complete uh and more importantly I think well and easily understood by uh by anybody who took time to take a look at the uh uh the presentation that you put
together. Um Somerville has a history of um I'll say respectful and restrained um uh approach to our budgeting process. And uh that's been going on for decades.
Former Mayor Sullivan is in the audience. And for how many years were you the uh the the finance chair? A whole lot. But yeah, and uh [Laughter]
I'm I'm gonna remember that one. Um but uh but but I think it's a you know it's a testament to the folks that have sat up here uh not only currently but in the past that um you know they've taken a very uh watchful mindful eye for the taxpayer and uh when all is said and
done everybody wants to look you know if you're looking at a spreadsheet you always look to the bottom right. You want to see what that final number is. Um and that final number this year on the average assessed home is about $27 a year tax increase. And uh again I it
it's it's due to a lot. There is a number of offsets from a revenue side. There's a number of additional expenditures but reduction in expenditures. And it's the balance of all of that that the uh the budget committee along with our professionals
have put together um a budget. Uh a very positive impact on our budgets right now are the pilot programs. Um and you know there's a lot of folks out there that will say well you you know there there's the the developers are getting breaks they're not paying any taxes. Well
they're not called taxes they're called payments in lie of taxes and the amount of revenue that they are generating right now is extremely significant and having a very bene beneficial effect on uh our budgeting process ultimately on
the uh the taxpayer. And that's not something that just happened this year. This goes back uh probably about 17 18 years, almost 20 years in terms of planning for this eventuality. Um
there's a there's a few folks Well, no, I think while Dennis and I were on the council and you know, having this vision of how do we bring Somerville forward? um and how can we uh restart the economic engine of Somerville and
and those positive effects are being felt now and uh and there's more to come on that. So, um with that, I will ask for a motion to open the public hearing on the uh 2025 municipal budget. So moved. Second. Discussion. Roll call.
Council members Theresa Bonner. Yes. Andrew Ki, yes. Glendon A. Yes. Randy Pitts, yes. Gina Stravik, yes. Okay. Public hearing on the municipal budget is now open. Mr. Sullivan, mayor. Good evening, Mayor and Council. Dennis
Sullivan, 8 South Richards Avenue. Speaking once again as a private citizen, taxpayer, and homeowner. 7.9 cents a day. That's the increase this
year. Gas prices haven't come down. Stamps are going up. Your IRA is going down. The the fact that the council, not just this past year, but in in the past
decade, has been careful, planful, conservative. Uh it's a testament not just to the people at the table but the the the taxpayers in the town who expect good
leadership and we've been fortunate through many administrations probably you mentioned pilots going back to Dave Holland. Dave was elected in 1995 and that that was just a few years after the Bridgewater Mall opened. You
couldn't find a pedestrian in Summerville back then. So, it's not just this past year. It's a it's a combination of 30 years of hard work, good planning. I commend the council for a responsible budget. If you read the local
paper, neighboring communities are looking at 35% school tax increases, 10% municipal tax increases, uh budget cuts, layoffs. We we've done a very good job in
managing the money that people send to Burough Hall and I commend you this year and look forward to next year's budget as well. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. Any other public comment will ask for a motion to close.
So moved. Second. Discussion. Roll call. Council members Theresa Bonner. Yes. Andrew Kiy, yes. Glenn Deny, yes. Randy Pitts, yes. Yes, Gina Stra. Yes. So, so that is the um the municipal portion of the uh the tax bill. I think we're still
waiting on the school and the county to strike their rates uh for the full tax bill, but uh but uh know that from your municipal side that uh we are respectful and restrained with the taxpayers money. So,
um, at this point, I will, uh, ask for a motion on the 2025 municipal budget and user-friendly budget adoption. So, second discussion. Roll call. Council members Theresa Bonner, yes. Andrew Ki, yes. Glen Deny,
yes. Randy Pittz, yes. Gina Stravik, yes. Okay. Uh, we'll ask for a motion to open the meeting to the public. So, move. Second discussion. Roll call. Council members Theresa Bonner. Yes. Andrew Kiy. Yes. Glen, yes. Randy Pitts,
yes. Gina Stravik, yes. Public is now open. Hearing Oh, Mr. Sullivan. Dennis Sullivan, 8 South Richards Avenue. Kevin said, "You got to do five minutes. I should be I should be home watching the Mets, but they're they haven't started yet."
So, I had the opportunity to attend a zoning board meeting several weeks ago and uh group home will be opening up on U High Street. Oh, yeah. No, Cliff Street or High Street, I'm sorry, High Street. And I remember back in the late
90s, Mayor Holland at the time invited someone from DCA to come to Somerville to talk about the in our opinion at that time, the glut of group homes. I'm not against group homes. I spent my entire
professional career advocating for the disabled. But I think it's incumbent upon the governing body and I'll ask you, mayor, specifically to reach out to the state to find out what the criteria will be for, you know, new group
homes, what the rules and regulations are in terms of group homes for population or square feet in the town, whatever. Somerville is a great host community, but if a tree has too many mushrooms on it, the tree is going to
die. And again, you will never find a better advocate for the disabled than myself. But I think, you know, 30 years ago, we got a commitment from the state of New Jersey. We had a representative from I don't
remember if it was the governor's office or someone in in you know the decision making of the human services in human service and agreed with us that 13 was too many and we were able to maintain that number for a number of years to
this new outfit's credit they will be paying taxes they were very specific in their population in their numbers and how the management's going to be you know going to be done and I think the zoning board and the public that were there were satisfied with the operation
of of of this particular group home. But I think moving forward we we need to have the ground rules established so that it will allay the fears of the public. So if if you could reach out to to Trenton and have
someone prepare a you know position paper or even come to a council meeting and talk about how those licenses are given because once the license is granted you know they're exempt from zoning. So I think what's important is
to find out how the licenses come to the state, how they're vetted so we're not just, you know, sweeping up after the parade is done. So, I would, you know, ask that you, you know, undertake that to just let us know because I I think a
lot of people in town don't realize how many there are. And that's a good thing because they're invisible. They're quiet. They're wellrun. But how many more will come, how many will be willing to pay taxes? It's unknown. And we're all working very hard
to make the community welcome to all. But what about the people that have been here for years? Little information I think is needed. Thank you. Thank you. Any other public comment? Hearing not ask for a motion to close.
So moved. Second discussion. Roll call. Council members Theresa Bonner. Yes. Andrew Ki. Yes. Glenn Deny. Yes. Randy Pittz. Yes. Gina Stravik. Yes. Uh Dennis, I think that's probably a good idea. Um the it's part of the
reason I'm sitting where I'm at. Uh I I started to get active in 98 when the group homes we started to see a very large rise in group homes and Somerville's you know we we shoulder our responsibilities very well um our social
responsibilities and at some point you know it it begins to almost be of the opinion that you know the there are agencies that may take advantage of that and back then in 98 we did. We we got the state to make a verbal commitment. They wouldn't put it in writing, but they uh they made a verbal commitment
that because Somerville at that time was I think had the densest uh based on our size, the densest uh number of group homes in the entire state and uh we uh we had the aid of Walter Kavanaaugh, Senator Kavanaaugh uh in those discussions and um it it looks like it
may be time again uh that you know the these need to be to to be had. I don't know if it's division of children and families or if it's uh human services. Uh but um I'll ask Kevin to maybe do a little bit of research to find out what agency is in charge of those and uh
we'll begin some discussions with them. Um again I you know it it's every community needs to shoulder those social responsibilities and when one begins to shoulder more than the others that's a problem. So um uh point
well taken. So thank you mayor if I may. Yeah. Um I think another piece of this is um besides the taxes is the impact on the local neighbors and you you and I have been through that Brian the um the management of the corporations or the
owners of the properties. Um we have to make sure that they step up and protect the rest of the neighborhoods I think is is a a key piece. Um that's where a lot of the problems lie between parking, loud employees that are coming on shifts three times uh a day. Um lack of
maintenance on the properties um and lack of attention to to their clients who sometimes go missing. So all that impacts the local neighbors and and us. We we've both helped some some of their clients get back to their home. We have.
Yeah. So um so good point. Thank you. Um, all right. Ordinance for introduction. Uh, ordinance 2763 is an ordinance providing funding for various capital purposes for the Burrow of Somerville and appropriating
$2,175,800 for such purpose. Um, this is done each year. Uh, we look for those larger capital expenses and we uh we bond for those so that we can pay for those over time. Uh it's it's everything from uh DPW equipment uh to roads um and
a lot of items in between. Um there are a number of items. Um Kevin, can we be sure that we post that up on the uh the burough website? Sure. Thank you. Um I will open up for public comment on the ordinance. Uh it's not something
that needs to be done or or has to be done. It's so it's just a policy that you know I like to open it up for public comment. uh prior to the adoption where it's required. So public comment on 2763 is now open. Hearing none, I'll close 2763. And I'll ask for a motion for
introduction. So moved. Second discussion. Roll call. Council members Theresa Bonner. Yes. Andrew Ki, yes. Glen, yes. Randy Pitts, yes. Gina Stra, yes. All right. Uh consent resolutions. Do we have any to be pulled off for
further discussion? Okay. Uh 108, awarding a 24-month contract through RJM landscape and design for grass cutting and lawn maintenance. 109 authorizing a contract with Millennium Communications Group for door access control phone systems and items as detailed in the amount of
106,472.75. 110 is amending a lease agreement for 137 West High Street between the Burrow of Somerville and the First Aid Rescue Squad of Somerville to reflect a start a new start date of May 1, 2025. 111 is authorizing the burough administrator to
execute an authoriz authorization letter to give consent to Premier Community Signs to make application to the NJ DOT uh seeking a permit to erect a sign structure. 112 is authorizing the use of competitive contracting for the procurement of vending machine services
at the emergency services facility. 113 is approving the hiring of lifeguards for 25 pool season. 114 is authorizing the purchase of a 2009 Chevy Tahoe from the Township of Ocean Fire District number two. 115 is approving Liquid Church Somerset with hosting the special
needs carnival to be held at Somerville High School parking lot on June 21, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 pm. 116 is amending the 2025 policy and procedure manual. 117 is supporting the submission of an application for New Jersey DOT set aside
grant program for Main Streetscape project. 118 is approving change order number one and closing out the 2019 transit village grant for the 2019 streetscape improvements performed by ANA BMS. 119 is memorializing the
issuance of a non-binding letter of interest intent to procure a ladder truck from absolute fire protection. 120 is authorizing application for funding through the governor's council on alcoh alcoholism and drug abuse and authorizing acceptance of the award. Do we have a
motion? So moved. Second. Roll call. Council members Theresa Bonner. Yes. Andrew Ki. Yes. Glenda. Yes. Randy Pitts. Yes. Gina Stravik. Yes. All right. In the absence of council president Vroom. Uh Gina.
So I have a motion to approve uh payment of bills and vouchers in the amount of $2,12,79029. Second. Discussion. Roll call. Council members Theresa Bonner, yes. Andrew Ki, yes. Glenda, yes. Randy Pittz, yes. Gina
Stravik, yes. All right. And I'm forgetting who I did last time, but uh Mr. Ki, I will ask for a motion for adjournment. A motion for adjournment. Second. I was wondering if everybody wanted to stay. Discussion. All in
favor? I opposed. This meeting is adjourned.