and welcome to May 13th township committee meeting. Okay. Notice this meeting is being held in accordance with the public laws of 1975 chapter 231 and adequate notice of this
meeting has been provided by a notice sent to the star ledger to local source and posted in the main lobby of the municipal building and on the township website. All right, let's have the pledge of allegiance by Carl Oster
Guard, Junior, Vice Commander, American Legion, Post 228. 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. Please remain standing for our servicemen here and abroad. Thank you. Springfield 55 plus roll call. Oh, roll call. I'm sorry. Mayor Yuber, he's here. Deputy Mayor Laer present. Committeeman
Capid here. Committeeman Kaiser here. And Committeeman Weber is on his way. All right. Uh, Springfield 55 plus residence calendar is here for May. All right.
Pizza with the police Wednesday, May 21st from 5:00 to 7:00 at TDP Pizza. And go and meet your meet the police officers. They're there and it's nice. It's nice. One municipal office will be
closed on Monday, May 26, in observance of Memorial Day. Memorial Day, Monday, May 26th. Ceremony begins at 10:00 a.m. at Veterans Park with the parade immediately following down Mountain Avenue to Jonathan Dayton High School
where Springfield Hillside Elks lodge 2004 as a free hot dog and drink waiting. Grand Marshall for the 2025 is Rick No. Springfield Community Pool opens for the
season Saturday, May 24th, noon to 7. Membership registration and daily hours at [Music] www. the say.org/s SCP.
Pride Month flag raising is uh Friday, May 30th at 4:30, Chisum Community Center. Rain or shine. Okay. And we have a couple pro proclamations. Here's one. It's EMS
week May 18th to the 24th. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, for giving me the honor to uh read this on your behalf. Uh this proclamation is to designate the week of May 18th to 20 18 to 24th of 2025 as emergency medical services week.
We care for everyone. Whereas emergency medical services is a vital public service. And whereas the members of the emergency medical services teams are ready to provide life-saving care for those in need 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. And whereas access to quality
emergency care dramatically improves the survival and recovery rate of those who experience sudden illness or injury. And whereas emergency medical services system consists of first responders, emergency medical technicians, paramedics, emergency medical
dispatchers, firefighters, police officers, educators, administrators, prehosp nurses, emergency physicians, trained members of the public, and other out of medical care providers. And whereas the members of emergency medical services teams, whether career or
volunteer, engage of thousands of hours of specialized training and continuing education to enhance their life-saving skills. And whereas our township relies not only upon the members of our Springfield first aid squad, but also upon the generosity of those residents and businesses that provide the
financial support to fund EMS equipment, operations, and training. And whereas it is appropriate to recognize the value and accomplishments of the emergency medical services system by designated emergency medical services week. Now therefore, I, Richard Huber, mayor of
the township of Springfield, on behalf of the Township Committee, do hereby proclaim the week of May 18th to 20 18 through the 24th as emergency medical services week in the township of Springfield where the theme we care for everyone and encourage the community to
observe this week with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities and to support the efforts of the first aid squad and consider membership to this vital all volunteer organization. And the mayor has affixed his seal and seal.
And I believe first aid squad are late coming. They had a meeting, but they they're here. Oh, they're here. I didn't see them. Liz, I was looking for you. I I looked. Sorry, Liz. Motherh.
So, Thank you. Mhm. Thank you. Now your proclamation centennial anniversary of the township of Springfield Police. Okay. Whereas Whoa. Uh That's it.
Whereas uh since the founding of the township of Springfield in 1794, law enforcement for the township has progressed from appointed constables with the assistance of county authorities for larger issues whose duty it was to arrest and transport criminals
to county jail to the appointment of special officers in the early 1900s. And whereas the township committee realized the need for the establishment and maintenance of a police department in the township of Springfield. And whereas
the Springfield Police Department was established by a final reading ordinance at a special meeting of the township committee on May 25th, 1925. And whereas by resolution, Edward Ruban was appointed the first chief of police
and Milton Renan as the sole first sole officer of the Springfield Police Department, both with annual salaries as well as special officers being appointed at a per DM rate for actual service performed. And whereas the Springfield Police
Department today is comprised of 46 full-time police officers, four class 2 special law enforcement officers, and four civilian employees, and consists of a patrol unit, a detective bureau, and several specialized units. And whereas
the Springfield Police Department has become a New Jersey state accredited law enforcement agency, achieving four accreditation cycles in 2014, 2017, 2020, and 2024, and achieving and an
achievement displaying commitment to excellence in policing that only 7.89% of all New Jersey law enforcement agencies has achieved. And whereas the Springfield Police Department has completed 100 years of exemplary service to the residents and businesses of the
township of Springfield. And whereas those who traverse its boundaries between May 25, 1925 and May 2025, May 25th, 2025. Now therefore, Mayor Richard Huber in the township of Springfield on
behalf of the township committee do hereby commend police chief John Cook and the entire township of Springfield Police Department for its 100 years of exemplary service to our community and
proclaim May 25th, 2025 as centennial anniversary of the Township of Springfield Police Department. [Applause]
[Applause] How many people? [Music] They can hear me. I'm sure nobody doesn't hear a big man. All right. your name.
People [Applause] [Applause] Okay. Yeah.
They get two minutes. Next time I'm calling up. [Applause] Oh man. your best.
I am authority of people. He I'm [Applause] the mic. Nobody can hear me. They can't hear us.
[Music] Christian. Christian. [Music] support the constitution of the United States. The Constitution of the State of New Jersey in the Constitution of the State
of New Jersey. I will bear true faith. And I will bear true faith alliance to the same to the government established in the United States. To the government established in the United States and the state and the state under the
authority of the people under the authority of the people. I will faithfully and I will faithfully partially and partially and justly and justly perform all the duties performance of all the duties of office of police officer according to the best
of my ability according to the best of my ability. Help me God. So help me God. You don't need the class. Just first aid here. [Music] No, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Mr. Mayor,
I know. I know. Yeah, you guys can sit. Can I Can I say something? Yeah, I think we'll all take 30 seconds. I want to thank the township committee. Um this is the first time that our staffing has exceeded um 44. We're now at 46. Uh
that's the first time in history of this department that it's been that high. Um the town the town is growing quite a bit which is the reason why uh we need more officers. So I I appreciate the committee allowing me. Um it took several months to go through interviews
um and select the three young men that we have. Um so this is not a roast so I'm not going to roast anybody but I'm just going to just a little bit um about each gentleman here. So officer Rasheed. Rasheed comes to our team
having several years of prior police experience from working for the NGIT Police Department and more recently the East Orange Police Department from which he earned numerous honors including life-saving award, excellence of duty award, high merit award, as well as
multiple command citations. He's also certified as a SWAT officer. While attending the Essex County Police Academy, Officer Justin was entrusted with guiding and supporting his fellow officers as a platoon leader. Rasheed strongly believes in building bridges
between law enforcement and the communities they serve by engaging with the youth of the community and participating in community events to build trust and mutual respect through positive interactions. Rasheed is supported here tonight by his
friends, a lot of colleagues I see who might say otherwise from what he said about himself. Uh, and most importantly his mother Nelly and grandmother Patricia. Um, thank you for letting us have him. He's going to be a great asset
for us and we take good care of him. So, thank you and thanks everyone for showing up for Rasheed. [Applause] Officer Anthony
Corrianiano. Anthony joins our team coming from the Union County Sheriff's Office after having graduated from the John H. Stamler Police Academy of Union County. He also recently graduated from Kain University. Well, actually today was his graduation. He didn't bother to
show up. He didn't go because he thought he had to come to work, but if he had told me, I would have given him time off to to go and graduate. But it is what it is. Uh Anthony is a Springfield native having attended the Springfield school system
and graduated from Jonathan Dayton High School as a three-port varsity player football, basketball, and lacrosse and has used his talents to coach basketball and lacrosse for the youth teams here in Springfield from which he had to take a short break to was done to police academy. Once he settles in with our
department, he intends to give back to giving to our youth by assisting with coaching football in the summer and the fall. Anthony is also a product of our department, Springfield Junior Police Academy in 2016. In his interview, at least he said
that that experience is what got his interest started in law enforcement. Um, don't know if he said that to kind of, you know, kiss butt or not. I don't know. But, um, Anthony is supported here tonight by his friends and family, especially mom, Tara, and grandmother
Sharon. Thank you, Anthony. Thank you, family. And again, we'll take good care of him. And actually, I realize I know some of you because I've been in this town so long. So, it's Yeah. Uh, Officer Christian Muleisen.
Christian grew up in Montgomery Township and joins our team coming from the Point Pleasant Police Department where he served as a class 2 officer before attending the Ocean County Police Academy. He also interned at the Somerset County Prosecutor's Office for their CSI unit. Prior to his interest in police work,
Christian was an assistant teacher for several years, which shows his concern for the positive growth of the youth that he has encountered, which is, you know, a great ability to have um in a in a town like ours. Um we certainly promote interaction with the youth in
town here. Um the youth is our future. So, he he'll do great with that. Um he graduated from Monontlair University and he has swam for them as he's been a competitive swimmer most of his life. I think he started at 8 years old where there you are. Uh so we got a lot of fit
guys. Um which I used to be fit when I first started but that was quite some time ago. Uh he's supported here tonight by his family and friends especially his parents Elizabeth and Eric stepmom Karen. I think I said that correctly.
grandmother Joan, his girlfriend, and other family members, so I don't have everybody's name. Uh, again, thank you family for letting us have him. We will take good care of him. Um, came to our department, had a great time. Again, it's our anniversary. It's a 100redy year anniversary, which I'm
big into history, and I found out what the date was. So, I'm very big on that. Uh, we have a lot of other exciting things to come this year because of that, but I'm not going to say what they are right now. But, uh, you guys have, you know, come to the Memorial Day parade and you'll see what I'm talking about. Um, again, thank you for your
support of our our new officers. Uh, they're going to be a great asset for us. Again, we've seen numerous numerous um, guys and girls to that, you know, applied and we narrowed it down to these three and top of the top we got. So,
again, appreciate it. Thank you for your support tonight and, uh, congratulations, guys. Appreciate it. And it's my fault. Township committee would like to say a few words to each of you. Mr. Chris. Uh, thank you, Mr. Mayor. First of all, thank you all of you so much for coming tonight. It's
nice to see this room so full of people and uh you see representatives all over of all of our first responders and that's a great sight to see. Um, as you all know, if you know me by now, since I started in this position, I've always said that public safety is job number
one in this town. And, um, we certainly have a lot to celebrate and a lot to recognize tonight. First, for our, uh, EMS week, um, thank you. Uh, we can't thank you enough. The job that you do, I've had the privilege and the fortune of seeing what you do firsthand. I've actually had the privilege and the
fortune to see what all of our first responders do firsthand and what you really do every day and the customer service you provide our residents is second to none and I really do appreciate it. We appreciate it. Um I'd also like to point out that um for our volunteers not only thank you to the
volunteers but thank you to our volunteers family who has allowed us to borrow them for quite some time to do this service to do this work to do that so important. And finally to our three new officers,
congratulations. Welcome to the family. Welcome to the family. And uh you'll do us proud. I know. Thank you very much. So, uh as chair of the public safety committee in town, I was able to sit in on on uh the interviews for these three
wonderful uh additions to Springfield. And I'm going to kind of run down. I like to try and make sure these interviews last at least 2530 minutes. Um, you know, just get a a flavor for the person and I kind of want to go down the list. So, I want to start with you,
Officer Houston. Um, remarkable. Um, smart as a whip, knew the job, knew exactly why he wanted to be a police officer, and I had to come up with 26 minutes and 41 seconds of filler.
So, uh, we really look forward to, uh, you, uh, in coming into the Springfield Police Department. Officer Crigliano, uh, I asked one question and and you'll you'll say yes or no if it's true or false. I true or false. I said, "Will
Coach Martin have good things to say about you?" And his answer was, "God, I hope so." Um, he did have good things to say about you. Uh, welcome and we look forward to having you, Officer Muleheisen.
Um, one thing that stuck out to me about you was, uh, if you could if you could police all of the drunk people every summer in Point Pleasant, uh, I believe you will fit in tremendously here in
Springfield. Um, so welcome and, uh, we look forward to the patience that you exhibited in Point Pleasant. here in Springfield. Um they are three tremendous additions uh to our public safety family and it was uh sitting in
on this interview process was by far one of the most rewarding parts of my time on on this day and uh you know you guys all three of you guys are absolute uh credits uh to to our community. So thank you. That's that's not to say that uh we're
full of drunk people in Springfield. just that he has a lot of patience dealing with drunk people. So, just wanted to add that congratulations to all and especially to your families. It's it's always remarkable to see uh uh
uh them because it's at their moment in time the proudest uh you get sworn in. So, thank you for lending uh uh your family members to us to keep us safe uh every single day. I know you'll do a remarkable job and uh uh very proud to
uh uh get the staffing of our police department to uh uh the highest level it's ever been uh as we celebrate 100 years. So, thank you to everybody and congratulations. Thank you for the honor of letting me
swear you in. Was an honor for me. I've been here 50 some odd years in town and the town's really happy because I'm around all the time now. I'm I'm retired and they love to see me walking in town
hall. You'll see me around. But congratulations. And now go have a party somewhere. Enjoy. Five minutes together. Bang together. Where is it? I don't think that was laughing.
Oh, they heard it. Just kidding. Okay. Mike, do you put at the end of the meeting now? Look at Look at the tan he has all that. He doesn't even work. I do karaoke.
I do carry. Okay. Thank you all for coming. All right. Me is called back to order. Um Springfield Community Partnership budget.
Uh discussion of the budget. Public hearing motion. Uh the discussion motion. Uh first I have to I need public comment on agenda items only. If you have anybody from the public wants to
speak. No we're doing this. We're doing the Yeah. But this you want this first. Okay. They'll do their pres. You ready?
Bring that over. Once their presentation is then we'll do a motion for good poweroint you no expense. [Music] Yes. You got to be kidding.
He broke that. It's coming out of your budget. He has a budget. You guys got to approve an additional budget then. Yeah. Too much. Turn it off. Hey, wait. You're not turning that down. Right with your budget. Okay. All right.
This all started when I was 12 years old. No, I'm only joking. Mike, we'll be quick. Can you just wait a minute? Okay. Let the record show. I just wanted to know Weber just got here. Whoever is
here. Thank you, Chris. I thought you said you can't win them all. Okay. Thank you for Thank you for coming over after. Okay, ready. Um, again, good evening everybody. I want to thank you again for
letting us do our fabulous budget. Um, a lot of things have changed over the past two years. Um, we've definitely did a lot of concentrating, resetting the button on what the budgets look like for the bid. Uh we've we've made a lot of changes, but we think the changes that
were made internally are the businesses are definitely going to benefit, but more excitingly is that the residents are going to see what the bid is all about. I mean, right now we have our branding of the bid. We're rechanging the branding. We're redoing the website. And you know, people don't really go on
websites that much, but we're changing the way the website's being done. We're designing it as the gateway to Springfield. You're going to see an tremendous progress and excitement of the website where everybody can go to and see what I'll give you an example.
We have VR Real which is a new marketing company that we have uh worked with. They're fantastic. They're boots on the ground. They've already visited about 30 businesses, introduced themselves, but what's really exciting is that they have what's called the marketplace. So the marketplace is a place for residents to
go to and see what's happening in Springfield on a daily basis from a business perspective. So right now when you go to a business, you're you may get a coupon that's in the paper or you may see a special for that day when you go into the business. The marketplace is
going to change that. You're going to be able to see on the marketplace what's happening on a daily basis in town with special offers, what's happening from a business. So, it's going to be driving people to go on a daily basis to see what's happening so they can get
discounts and specials going on. Uh, what also we've imply we've put done with it, it's called the rewards program. Just like you'd have your American Express card, the more you utilize the marketplace and the more you use the discounts, which is done through the marketplace, you get rewards points.
So, every month we were going to give away gift uh gift certificates to local businesses for the the top three people and we had we're figuring this out right now who have utilize the marketplace the most. So, it's an incentive. It's a game that's being utilized. So, again, we've
hired this new marketing company. They're fantastic to work with. They're getting to know the businesses. They're actually going to see them. Um and we've done it for half the cost what normally we were paying. So, this goes to the budget and everything. Um, we've also hired the Gresman Guskin Group. Um,
we've also interviewed with other uh companies in regard to changing our website. So, it's just not going to be your normal website. It's going to have the marketplace on the website. We're going to work with the the schools. We're going to work um with uh all the businesses in town in regards to getting
places for the residents to go to events. What's happening in Springfield? We've had a lot of uh residents come to us and go, "What's going on in Springfield? you guys should start a calendar. We're working on that on how to develop a calendar in regards to that. We want this the place to go to
for all the residents to come to and see what's happening specifically in Springfield. So, uh also with that, what's happening and a lot of people don't know is that we no longer have the Springfield Patriot Chamber of Commerce. Um we've made a decision to move forward
with it. It just wasn't u working for the local businesses to join. So uh we became members individually of the gateway chamber chamber of commerce. It's a regional chamber. So how is that different from a local chamber? So right
now you have the Westfield Chamber, you have the Union Chamber, you have Maplewood Chamber. They're individually chambers. What's going on in town? This is a regional chamber. It's almost like a Union County Chamber of Commerce. So, as we became, me and uh Jay are now on
the board of the Gateway Chamber of Commerce, we're going to show value why people, why businesses want to become members of the Gateway Chamber of Commerce. So, it's a tremendous time for us and again, it's all about networking. I mean, we talk about on a daily basis,
look what we just did today. We're unifying everybody, all the police officers. What's happening in Springfield? We have a great town. I talk to other towns, they're larger than us, but they really when I talk to them about what we do, what Jay, Scott, and I
do for the businesses in town and building the relationships is the key. You can't drive business or people want to come to you unless you build relationships and that's what our strength is and we do it honestly. So
people see our value and that's what brings them to uh to the Gateway Chamber, but more importantly the business improvement district. So I can't say we're so excited because it's a new way. Like I said, we're doing a reset on what it should be and we all
should do a reset on what's happening within our towns, within our schools because things change so quickly and if you don't keep up with the times, you're going to fall behind. So, we're taking we're being very proactive on what's going on um with this and there's more
to come. We haven't finalized everything. We have a lot of things being worked on behind the scenes. I would say it's going to take us about another 2, three months to finally get all these things together where now it's a one-stop place for everything for Springfield. So, with that being said,
I'm going to pass it over to Jay Spanelli, my executive director. And I have to thank Jay again. He's been outstanding. He's got me very motivated. Not that I'm not motivated, but it's exciting to get out there and revisit um everybody. And again, it's not only the businesses, it's the residents that we
want to be involved with. So, thank you. Um also just the flower pots. Uh we also um did the ones in front of TD and a couple other locations. Uh we even cut the cost on that in half. So, again, it's relooking at the budget, which is what we're going to go into on ways that we can save money, but me being more
proactive um on regard in regards to what we do. So, okay. Thank you, Mike. Thank you, chairman, and thank you for the committee for having us today. I'm the boring guy. I'm the one that talks about the numbers. So, if you look up at the top, you'll see on the right hand side, it's 2024, and on the lefth hand
side will be 2025. Our bid assessment was 2,292,652.58. Okay. Uh about the same as we had the year before. The interest we had was $9,81955. Considerably more than we had the year before. Okay. Uh obviously because we saw interest rates were
rising so that's where they stood. The unexpended funds was $332,1143. Our total was 600 excuse me 634,58 excuse me 583,56. There any questions on that slide so far? Thank you. Yeah. Yes.
What's I mean did you guys switch banking or what sparked the large interest rates? No, that was just because interest rates went up. Sounds good. Keep going. Okay. Expenditures, administrative service, that would be me. We went from executive director 70,000 a year before
to 80,000 was voted on for the year of 2025. Any questions on that? Okay. Professional services. We have accountant CPAs. Again, that didn't change for $4,500. consultants went dramatic dramatically
lower to $5,000. Okay, we decided that we didn't need to have the heavy consultant that we needed to have. We had dropped that. So, that was something that helped the budget out heavily, but we did use it in other places where we thought it would be more useful for the small businesses
in this town. Any questions on that? Again, as we go along, if we need to, we can always have Okay. Office operations, the insurance didn't change. State of 5,000. Telephone stayed at 300. Uh, office miscellaneous was 4,500. Also stayed the same. And dues and
subscriptions was 500. Nothing changed on this one, equaling a total of $10,800. Visual improvements. Okay. We had maintenance on it was 15,000 the year before, 18,000 this year. They went up just a little bit more. The streetscape, we've kept that amount the same as it was the years before,
preparing for projects that are coming up. We do know that the park is something that has been spoken about. So, we are anticipating some form of the money being utilized at some point if need be. We're always willing to go out and talk about bondage. Uh debt services stayed $8,000 uh $80,000. That's just us
paying off the old debt that we've had so far for the past few years. And contract services went up to $72,900. That's where that extra money was utilized this year. That's where we used the money to pay for the marketing company and bring VR Real into the program. It's a one-time payment that
needed to be utilized. So, we're using it this year. We did use it and it's done. You won't see that again next year. So now that we have that set up, the marketplace will be utilized to allow residents to be able to go online and be able to see exactly what Mike was talking about. When does this go live?
It's actually live as we speak. We have not pushed it out yet because we're still fixing the website, which is the channel to bring you into once. We want to make everything nice and smooth. So your website is not where you want it. Correct. The service vreal is live. Yeah. And I and I'd like
it. The company is called VR Real, but I would really like to stay with the Springfield marketplace because that's what it is. It is the Springfield Marketplace. It's where people from Springfield can go and see the businesses that are giving out deals and be able to get rewards. And there's a
there's literally a um a competition you can see every single month who's the top performer on purchases and who's a top business that's performing as well. We will be giving award uh we'll be giving prizes out for that as time goes on. Excuse me. So just to add on to that, what's really strong about this company
is their analytics. They can see exactly what the com what the businesses are bringing in every time somebody comes. Previously, the company that we had had no idea. There was no analytics or anything. They
actually did a market research on the company that they h that we had over the past five years and showed us what they were doing in regards to return on investment and lack of return of investment. They were they're actually
very analytical but very market driven. So it's interesting to see dealing with a company like that. It's it's that we now we can see exactly how it's being performed and how the businesses are benefiting from a monetarial standpoint
for the return on investment. And and I'll also I'm sorry. No, no. I'll also add the fact that when we do this, you will actually see the dollars that are brought back into the township. So again, they're going to show us exactly how much money the residents are continuing to keep within the township,
which will be a great thing for us to bring to the committee. So you guys can put that announcement out to the public on a constant basis. Uh promotional and marketing, uh this is where you're going to see the big changes. Meeting expenses, we didn't have to have that any longer, so we took that out. E-commerce also didn't have to have
that, so we took that out. Advertising, didn't have to have it at that expense, so we took that out as well. Marketing program, as you can see, that was where we had we were paying60,000 a year for it. We've now dropped that dramatically to $41,500. Public events we kept uh at
1500 because we still do things with the township. We want to make sure we're doing that again. Uh it was a dramatic drop though from the year before. Uh music festival 500 again dramatic drop. Why? Say again. Why? Why was it done? Because we actually are looking to do different things. Did you Did you not do
a music like are you not planning on doing a music festival? We're doing it in a different way. We're going to be doing it with the car show possibly. That's why we'll be adding it to that. So, we'll have instead of having the money going toward just a music festival, we'll be having it with the car show, which we're trying to do on a quarterly basis. Okay. Which the public
information officer is working on. So, I'll have to speak to them about that and let them know. Um, printing uh stayed at 500 instead of 7,500. Again, dramatic drop. As you can see, we went from 120,000 to 44,000. Let me interject on that, please. Really quick with the
printing end of it. If you see the difference in the number, we were printing up coupon booklets. Mhm. And Vreel is like, you guys don't need to do that. What you do once we get it on the website and the marketplace, we'll be able the the town people, the residents
can see all the coupons right on the marketplace. So, there won't be printing costs, coupon books. again they're very proactive and um in tune to what the market is dictating. So that was the
savings on that. I have a question back one. Absolutely. Again I'm just looking from the outside in. Yes. I would think that our promotional marketing is just as I've read about how
we want to reach our I understand the cut and maybe nobody reads anything you want to put on. Sure. But like all those other promotions going not even being less just being zero. What is replacing all? So that's why we have the marketing company is
actually taking that on. Instead of us doing the marketing ourselves, we have the marketing company taking care of that. How are they doing what what things are they doing to replace the e-commerce, the advertising and the marketing program that that So they are actually doing it on a social media
standpoint where it's social media. They're going to be promoting more and more on social media. They're going to be pro promoting with the uh Patriot as well. So, they're doing the advertising. We've put it into that section instead of having it on this section. They they have proven that that's be more effective than what we're doing now.
Yes. And again, if it's not, we can always alter that. No, that's a good question. Thank you. I'm just I'm just trying to understand like because that when I see that it looks like, oh, we're going from all this money to zero. Aren't we supposed to be Absolutely. I got you. And it's just shifted. But again, and and you're absolutely right. If something needs to be shifted back, we can do that as well. Absolutely. No,
good question. They're being very efficient, very efficient in regards to way to do business today. Um, what's amazing about them is that again, they're very proactive in technology in ways to market. Now, what has happened
is that the other marketing company that we had, it was 61,000 that we're paying. We were overpaying and they weren't even producing. Yeah. But I mean, you cut your marketing program at 61,000, right? But your budget went up 50,000. Yes. Um,
so you you've Meanwhile, you've cut printing, you've cut this, you've cut that, you've cut all these things, and and I'm not questioning any of it. Explain to me where the $50,000 comes from. So everything that we've had the the more that we've had is more toward
again we have it sorry about that streetscape etc was something that we stayed the same at and that's was something that was keeping us heavy as well as if you look at the contract services right there. So the contract service Yeah. But you so that's so that's a onetime fee. So next year when
you come to me that's going to go from $72,900 back down to 20,000. Yeah. I have a question. Go ahead, please. How many more years do we have on the debt service? So, that's something I would have to look into. I don't have
the exact number on me, but I'll find that out for you. I will, but that's I know that's coming up as well. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, it's coming up pretty quick. Okay. Thank you. And that's a good that's a really good point for the reason being if we're
going to do more streetscape. Um we're looking at the debt services that we have taken on right now and we will be talking with you in regards to creating a bond if we want to need an additional debt service. So it's open open for discussion. Right now we're
just discussing it and everything. So yeah. So what is what is the so I mean last year and there was a very distinct reason for that executive director transition um where we didn't touch the streetscape right are we planning on
touching the streetscape this coming year well that was the conversation again with the park if that's coming around because again that has to do with you know also as you can tell we're bring we're talking about small businesses that are coming in I literally just got a picture from the ice cream parlor she's June 1st looking
at And again, that area right there is primed for something to be changed up and made into a new streetscape, I would feel. But again, it's up to the committee to make I'm just But I mean, I I guess one like I I realized that last year we had a very we had a very measured and
calculated reason why we did not touch the streetscape. Correct. Yeah. What I'm saying is and the question that I'm asking is if all things are all things go well, we
plan on making a further dent into the streetscaping this year. Yes or no? Yes. Well, again, we have to re get the engineers out there, reconstruct a plan because the pricing has changed from when we did it about 3, four years ago. And that's
really the issue. The bottom line, if we were to redo the plan, the same plan that we did four years ago, it may cost $500,000 and we have two 35. Understood. So, but to answer the question, that's going to benefit the small businesses. So,
yes, understood. But but if all again all things being equal and I'm not trying to like be whatever, but all things being equal, we plan on on going back to our streetscape project this year. Okay. Thank you. Yes. And again, we've been very thankful for the
township committee and everybody involved. That's been very helpful with us getting to know some of the small businesses on Morris as well. We know Morris A for some time has been a sore an eyes sore for a lot of people and now that we're working with the township administration and everyone involved. We plan on pushing Morris Avenue to become
an area where people will want to go and visit. So having Mountain and Morris be the center of town is is the the direct goal for all of us right now. We've been trying it for 60 years. I mean, hey, we got to eventually we're going to get there, right? No, honestly though, we have made some good strides and I I
actually like to thank the business administrator because he's been pulling in a lot of the the landlords in to talk to them. And that collaboration, I think, is what was missing a few years ago because again, the numbers could be here and we could be spending money on things, but if it's not the people behind it and the actions that we're
taking, nothing matters. Flowers are great. buildings that look nice, buildings that people can go into, businesses that people will go into, like an ice cream parlor or a boba place or a nice breakfast place. These are the coffee shop that we've been These are the the things that this town and its
residents deserve and that's what we're going to plan on doing and that's what we aim to do. Okay. Um Okay. I just have a few things I want to Are you guys done yet with the presentation? Yes, please go ahead. Okay. Um, making a note. Hold on. Sorry. All
right. Um, coupon books. Mike, those coupon books out in the back of my car for I can't tell you how many years. I intended to use them every time. Getting rid of those coupon books. The best thing you could have done. Okay. I would even try to take two
or three to put them in every car. And at the end of the year when I just do a purge on my car, that book went in the garbage. right in recycling. Best thing you could have done. That's number one. Number two, um the park. Listen, it it's been no
surprise that we've held off on this. No matter how many how much people complain or or a few people have complained about it, there is no sense in doing the work twice. We you and I had a long talk about it a while ago. Hold off. We have saved the money for I think we started talking about this three or four years
ago. Maybe longer. All right. But we saved the money. We finally got it. John's got a a survey going in for the park um shortly, which we will streetscape this entire thing. This will tie in fabulously.
Um Mike, Jay, Scott, I wish Scott was here. Um I am from We I talk to you guys almost all the time, right? Especially Jay. There's times like that. Silence the phone. But that's what
we were looking for. All right. We were looking for full-blown communication and an idea of what's going on. I as somebody who sits up here for the township of Springfield, I cannot be happier with what you guys are doing and and what you're accomplishing right now
with the township. You're crushing it. And and I appreciate it. And I I got to tell you, I know the residents do because they see it. because they they they see what's going on. I've talked to business owners. The business owners have never
had so much interaction before with both you and Jay and it's just a a win on all events. So, I'm excited to see what's going on with it and and thank you guys for for Thank you. You know what? I really
appreciate the compliment, but what's what's different now is the energy level has completely changed. Oh. Sorry. His energy levels at a different level. Appreciate that. The energy level is um and it's very proactive, which is
But isn't that what you need sometimes? You like it's absolutely it's it's what you need. And and the fact of the matter is from my perspective. The change the small change that we had cuz there really wasn't a big change in the bid. We had a just a very small
change made a full 180. And I see it in you. Your energy is at a different level right now and you've been the bid for how long? 12 years. 12 years. Like you've been reinvented and
yeah, you know, so thank you. Great, great, great work. Thank you. We appreciate and we appreciate the cooperation again from the township committee and the administration. So, thank you all. Just stay around in case there's any public comment. Okay. Okay. Uh, Mr. Mayor, I move to open the public
hearing on the Springfield Community Partnership budget. Second. I I have a comment on the budget only.
Please state your name and your address. My name is uh Drew Stern by Berkeley Road. Chris beat me to it. hiring this this gentleman, Jayce Panelli, has been nothing but a blessing to this town. I have been in this town and and and Mike
does a wonderful job. I have been in this town for over 30 years, and I'm not going to tell my age like you don't. And and and when I used to walk up Mountain Avenue, it was it was a Bagel Supreme
and a shop that uh sold obscene magazines. I couldn't even let my little kids in. Now it's so much different. His energy level is unbelievable. All the new new new new new stores and it's
unbelievable. As Chris said, he's turned this completely around. Morris Avenue is wonderful. Mountain Avenue is is wonderful. I mean it I mean and the pe the citizens of this community really really appreciate it. and a town is
looking starting to look magnificent. Thank Thank you. Thank you. You know, mayor, I just I just want to add one more thing, mayor. Um, and this doesn't affect any this isn't for anybody in here, but this is for the the public in general on, you
know, the forms and so on. There's going to be multiple bagel spots. There's going to be multiple pizza spots. There's going to be multiple Chinese spots. just businesses in general. There's g there's going to be some on Mars, there going to be some on
Mountain. I really ask that you refrain from um targeting any of them because one spot is a favorite one to another or whatever. If you want this town to succeed, all these businesses have to succeed. And and you know, Bagel Supreme
was the only game in business for a long time. All right. Another one came on Morris Avenue. We had a little bit of a a runin with some of them for a while. Everybody's existing. Everybody's making money. And everybody's happy that we have two spots now in town. So, my request to to the residents is if you
want all this to work, give it a chance. Give it a chance. Yeah. Thank you. I agree with you, Chris. All right. Hi, Diane Sherry, finance officer. Um, before you pass the budget, I just I just noticed there's an error. So, I don't know what your the process is to
amend it before you adopt it. There is a $1610 error between the revenues and your um expenses. So, I I I don't know what the process for the bid is to adopt to change that
before you do it because don't want to adopt a document that's incorrect. That's all. Thanks. Bye. All right. Thank you. give your address. One second. We're plus or minus $16.
Either way, the difference is $16. So, we're going to pay Jay $1610 less as Yeah. There's Scott. Oh, there's Scott. Scott, thank you. Fantastic job. I didn't see
you sneak in there. To be honest, $16 on a telephone. Yeah. Okay. So, your new telephone bill is 284 bucks. What would the new 28390?
Oh, adding. You're adding. No, they're subtracting. We're tracking or 360. Yeah, you're taking away. It's 28390 is the new phone bill.
28390. See 3003. It means you can't call Vermont that much. All right. I'm that though. So, we have no problem. Make a note of that. We should pull that
resolution. Yeah, we'll pull it. Okay. Anybody else from the public? Yep. Everyone Jeff 47 Shelly, a while back there was talk about Starbucks coming to
town. We're just talking about the public. No, this Well, it was about this good thing. Okay. Right. Correct. So a while back there was mention of Starbucks coming to town that let him ask let him ask a question. Oh I'm sorry. Yeah my question was uh a while back
there was question know that there was interest in Starbucks coming to town and a while back. Any update on the Starbucks? Starbucks I met with Starbucks. We took them all around town. They could not find a site that met what they required. Couldn't find a spot that was big enough. They needed a minimum of one
acre and they needed to be a level lot. They were very particular, you know, and I said to them, I said, "Well, how about not having a drive-thru?" Because that was their big thing. I said, "You know, there are other locations. I go to the one in Sterling. They got couches. You can go in and sit down. Wi-Fi." They
said the new CEO nixed them. No more. Got to have a drive-thru. So, we were not able to come. Any other big uh name brands looking to come to town or outreach? I have not had anything from anyone, you know, other than small. Jay
and I have been working trying to fill some of the downtown. We're just waiting for Gomes actually to get to a point where we can look at those stores on the first floor. I know we've we've contacted some smaller coffee companies kind of thing, but nothing concrete yet.
Thank you. Um other than what's going on redevelopment and John, we've been working with John. Um we are now meeting with the property owners um which is what we didn't do before. Um the property owners who buildings have not
been very wellkept. We've been meeting with them and now talking to them and saying here's what's happening with your building and here's what needs to be done to your building to get it up to grade. If you can't, we would like to
know maybe you'd be interested in possibly selling the building. who are being very proactive on the redevelopment end. Jay and I have been talking to redevelopers that are interested in getting into Springfield. There are certain locations that we've
been talking I won't mention them now, but maybe a possibility of selling their building and getting the redevelopers in there. So, on the other end of it, we're being very proactive in downtown Morris Avenue, and thanks to John and his team,
um, we're working behind the scenes to make sure it's a reality. I mean, we said it hasn't been done in 40 years, 50 years because nothing's been done. So, now we're taking a very proactive approach of doing nothing is not an
issue. So, we're we're being very proactive right now. And again, thank you, John, for let me just add to that. This is the committee that we put together where we have our zoning officer, engineering, myself, the bid. We sit down with the business owners and and then we go through this. They have
any violations or anything that needs to be fixed, painted, that type of thing. If not, we go on and say, "If you're at a point where you no longer are interested in the business, are you interested in selling?" We try to hook them up with a developer to see if there's something we can work out.
Correct. And I think the goal is to go down the line on Morris Avenue and approach every property owner because they probably been haven't been approached in 10 to 15 20 years. So we're being very aggressive or proactive in regards to making redevelopment a
reality. Thank you. Anyone else? Do I have to move to close public comment? Yes. Move to close public comment. Second. All in favor? I. Okay.
Resolution six. No. All right. Next. Public comment on agenda items only. Anybody from the public? Seeing none, close it. Close it for the public. Reports. Administration report. All right. Touch on a few things if I may.
Uh PSEG is currently working on Lynen Air between Wabino and Mars. Afterwards are scheduled to begin on the lower half of Lynen between Wabino and and AASA. Residents can expect detours during this construction period. We've got another bigger project
that's going to start with PSEG on May 19th. They're going to start working on Mars Avenue from Milbourne A to Alvin Terrace. At that time, all work will be done from 8 o'clock at night to five o'clock in the morning. This work is going to take place actually on the side
of the road by the gutters. So, it won't be in the middle of the street. You'll still have two-way traffic throughout the road. You're talking about 3 months in order to get this done. Traffic control will be handled by their subcontractor along with our PD department and they will provide us with
weekly updates on the project. Our new sweeper has just arrived. Uh we're training our operators on the new equipment and the old street sweeper will go up for auction along with other items that we no longer either use or have be just become past our useful
life. The Rotary food truck festival is going to be in the pool parking lot on Sunday uh the 18th. Traffic control boxes, I think everybody has seen them. Our traffic control boxes are covered with stickers. They're pretty beat up. Uh DPW went out today actually and
scraped down I think three or four of them. And the reason we did that is that we looked at wrapping them. We spoke to the guy that wraps them. We still have to scrape them. We have to paint them and then he comes out and wraps them. So on top of our labor, we're $2,500 a box
for him to wrap them. If somebody starts putting stickers on them, now they're on the wrap. So we said, you know what? Let's try the paint. So, we're going to paint them and see how they turn out. We ought to paint them anyhow. So, if we decide after the fact that they need to be wrapped, we've not wasted anything. I
I think it's a better way. If it works and we get two, three years out of we got to paint them again, so be it. It's better than spending 20 grand on rap and we end up with a problem with it. No guarantee that the rap will stay or it sticks or so, we're not thrilled with
kind of what the feedback is we got from the wrapping company. I I would ask that the public uh refrains from putting stickers and stuff on the boxes once they're done. The uh has anybody thought of a different altern I mean what's the color of paint right now? I think we're
just Yeah, we're just we're trying the green just to see how it's how it covers. Yeah. I mean, I I I just think that gives way to uh that that that green just seems like industrialized and not homey enough that
maybe people like just it's like a it's like seeing a telephone pole. They just don't see it as their own or don't see it as something nicer. I I I I don't know. I I I go through Milbour and I think there's a wrapped and I don't see the stickers. I was just about to say the same. I don't I don't see the
stickers. The green just gives it lends it to that it's this industrialized stateowned property that no one cares about. When you maybe change up the color scheme uh andor wrap it,
I I would hope that people would uh take take a little more better care if that's my my point that I'm trying to get across. Let's I got to tell you, let's let's talk about it because if if um we want to if we're in agreement to,
you know, pay for rapping, I I'll change my mind on painting it. You know, paint. We still got to do the labor, but but I mean I I don't disagree with anything you just No, I I I don't know. I I I think to me I I think we all do green because it
tries to blend in and and and off of highways that might make sense and some of our more industrial. I I'm just wondering if we could change the coloring and just see if that works. We haven't done it yet, so yes. Yeah. I I I mean, I'm echoing what Alex said. I mean, I actually had a resident talk to
me about like painting like more much more homeier designs on those boxes. So, if that's something that we could look into that doesn't cost an arm and a leg school project, I mean, I I it could be I mean, senior senior uh senior
community service hours. I think they all have to do 40 40 hours a year or something. Something more than just your generic big green box with a silver handle. Maybe we can maybe somebody murals. Yeah. Art classes do something. The
There's definitely honors level art students. Uh we don't want every you don't want me going out there and painting, but the honors the finger painting. You know, you you you bring up a good point because I I would tell you that I would hope that
the public in general would look at a a hand painted box or or something like that with care and say, "Let me not put a, you know, an election sticker on there or or anything on there because, you know, they know the the the children that painted it or who whatever project
it was." I would hope that and and I think it would work. I I do think in some like if you're talking about one off of Route 22, no, that that that you're getting whoever just wants to get their advertisement up there, but ones that are like generally in the community
that I'm thinking of by our our our temples uh uh that are just around town in walking neighborhoods, I think if it's it seems that there's some care and the thought that it wasn't just industrialized spray paint sprayed on there, I do think people it gives them
pause just enough that they might not throw a sticker. But what do I know? That's just my thoughts. I don't disagree. I think we should we should Well, I will tell DPW don't paint them because we were starting tomorrow. So, I'll stop them. What are they going to
be? Be in just uh raw metal. We've scrap We had to scrape all the stickers off. Okay. But they're in raw metal right now. Yes. Now you've got all spots where they're bare metal on some spots. Not the entire box. Just where we had to clean them up. All right. So, what do you guys want to do? You guys want to
look at at at having them wrapped? I I mean, we could I I mean, I I don't want to have them wrapped right now. I wouldn't because you put something on on there and to wrap. You got to do, you know, you got to rewrap it again. I think think about a color. What I I
mayor I with all with all uh uh uh respectfulness that's exactly what we're talking about is that we're the hope would be to paint and or wrap to discourage individuals from potentially giving second thought and and and
sticking a sticker. We're trying to you paint that green, I'm telling you next week somebody's slapping a sticker on there and then you're going to be back out there scraping it again. So, if we want to continue doing the same thing and not trying something different, by all means, let's go paint it green. What
we're trying to get to is trying to beautify the community, trying to get away from that industrialized view. A number of other communities around us do this. So, if you're telling me, and if somebody in this town is telling me that the other towns are just magical and the Springfield residents are different, I
disagree. Yes. You got to come to the mic. We can't hear you. or audience can't hear you. Okay, sorry about that. So, if you do decide to wrap them, I can tell you right now that we did speak to some of the companies about it and there is some way the the actual product that's utilized will deter because you can't
spray paint on it and you can't put a stick on it. It won't stay. So, that is something that you can look at when you're utilizing the wrap itself. Now, again, I'm not saying to wrap or paint, whichever one, not one is better than the other. Maybe you do some wrap and maybe do some paint. Maybe get some of
the kids to do some of the wrapping. I mean, some of the painting and I but I will tell you this. If you do decide to do a wrap that's a design other than the generic, the price does increase. You have an idea of what it was? Um, I'll tell you it's you're looking at about 24 for a regular 24,400 per box for a
single color. No, for a design for a design wrap, you're looking at 2,400 per box. And we still have to paint them before that. Yeah, you do have to put something on it beforehand. So, again, I'm just giving you the information. So, John, can I make a suggestion? Can I can I suggest that we just hold off on the
painting and talk about this offline? I I was just going to say, why don't we just take a beat? There's There's That's fine. I mean, yes, this I I believe in this initiative, but I don't think we have to particularly solve this initiative tonight. Can we Can we talk about this? They can sit like they are.
Pause. Yeah, we'll leave them like they are. It's no problem. We'll scraping them and get them clean. They're there. We got I think we got six or eight of them already scraped. Yeah. Hold on a second, guys. I'm not kicking this down the road either. These box these these these these boxes look like absolute hell. I I'm sitting at a light on
Miltown and Meiselle and I'm looking at a box that looks like it's just been destroyed. This is this is not a hard thing where it's just like, "Hey, listen. Do we want to look at doing it or not look at doing it?" I I I I've joined you for years in in in
in beating this chorus that that we've looked to to look at this. I don't know why it's this hard. I I will be quite frank. I am unsure why it's this hard. I think we need to make a decision. I don't think it's that hard. Uh uh I'm for trying to explore wrapping them.
Enough is enough. Who wrap one? Get one done and this even start banging. I don't know if we can wrap one. We'll have to ask. Wrap one. And been asking for this for years. Yeah. This has been something that's been three years I think we've been talking about this.
Yeah. All right. Enough is enough. All right, let's go on. Um, no, hold on. I'm not done. Yeah, he's not done with his report. Uh, Myel Field, the no parking signs
were installed on either side of the driveway. Um, helping the sight triangle where the the exiting Meisel Field driveway is. That sign was added to an existing ordinance in order to enforce. So that's
done. You were talking about Oakland Park. Uh we've got the surveyor is going to be out either this week or next week to pin that so we know exactly where our boundary lines are on that before we can go any further. We did apply for a grant
the end of the month. We should know what amount of money if any we are receiving on that. Where's the grant from? Is it county? Okay. So, we'll get something. We It's not like a zero or We should Okay. Yeah. Um, we have another
meeting with Gomes on the 21st. Uh, they're making progress, but again, you know, it's interesting if you look at Patriot Way, they're they're got they're flying and yet we still don't have the pavers done on Mars Avenue there. So, we're we're there all the time, but it's
just very difficult. We are revisiting all the businesses that we already spoke to about fixing their buildings up and we're going on we're contacting some others to do the next phase, but we're going to bring the ones in that we've already spoken to just to get an update,
see where we are, why things haven't been completed that should have been. So, we will fill you in on that as we go. Uh, bulk pickup is Wednesday, June 11th. Have your items at the curb June 8th or 9th. Town townwide garage sale is
Saturday, June 7th and Sunday, June 8th. Register on the township website and I think that's all I have for the moment. Can you call the county and find out why the air raator is not working on my Zel Pond? It's already being it's they're going to be there next. They're going to be there this
week guaranteed. That's what I heard from the county deep. I I'm not guaranteeing it because I don't work for the county, but I I alerted them that the air raator is not working. They will have a crew uh there this week to repair
it. Thank you, sir. Thank you. So, just to be clear, do we want to try wrapping one of those boxes in something that we can get? Why don't we How many A I don't have any info. Why How about this? How about for the next meeting we get a count of how
many boxes, the locations of where they are, how much it is for a solid color versus a design, and then we can make a informed decision. How about that? Yeah. My my take on the boxes is that the the ones
that I've seen going around town is the Miltown boxes are hammered, the hillside boxes are hammered. the other boxes where there's just slight foot traffic or so on. No one's stopping to pick on those boxes. Mountain Avenue as well. Mountain Avenue as well. Mountain
Avenue. The main corridors are the ones that I think that we need to focus on cuz uh you know the one by Chisum I think which was replaced is still looks good. Have it run over. So what So since since these boxes need to be painted
anyway, why don't we get the information that Alex requested? Meanwhile, let's start this process if we have to go back and paint because there's a sticker. It's one box instead of nine. But like meanwhile, let's let's
let's walk and chew gum at the same time. I can tell you that there are 12 interior boxes not on the highway. It's not on Mars Avenue. Okay. Thank you. Okay. I'll get you the location. So, like let's get let's let's walk and chew gum at the same time is my vote. Let's let's do it. Have already been cleaned.
It's $1,600 for each box for the solid color, 24 for a design. Okay. I think for for I think that if it's something that is going to I'm going to assume we're getting a five or 10 year guarantee on this thing. I don't know.
Jay, do you know what the guarantee is on those? Off the top of my head, it was a 5 to 10, but again, we would definitely have to get that from the person who's putting them up. They would. So, so when you look at, you know, $800 in the scheme of things, but before they get wrapped, they have to be
painted. They have to be cleaned. So then, so then let's get the information and start painting. Most of them say to just keep it a plain black or something of that nature. But like, let's start painting and let's get the information so we have a decision for next meeting.
Yeah. This is this is not that hard. Okay. Okay. But if I don't have information by next meeting to make an informed decision on that, I'm going to be very upset. Start painting. But if I don't have the information to vote on next meeting,
I'll be livid. All right. We know how many there are. I'll get you the locations and you got the pricing. We know it's 16 and 25. I say proceed. Is there Jay? Is there a way to get us some samples of of what's around, please? So we have something to look at.
Absolutely. So I we can we can get some samples of what the wraps would be like and so you could feel them and see what I've seen I've seen that Cranford has like some floral wraps and stuff like that. That's the number one thing that people usually go with are the florals. Milbour has student design. Okay. I don't know why. Yeah. I'm not going to
beat the dead one. But we can have that by definitely by next meeting. Probably by the end of next week. Thank you. The sooner the better. Yes. Okay. minutes. Regular executive meeting minutes. I'd like to make a motion to approve the
regular and executive meeting minutes of March 11th and regular meeting minutes of March 25th. Second. All in favor? I I I believe I have to abstain. I was at I was not at one of those two meetings. Okay. New business ordinance. We will have a
second reading on ordinance 202510. This ordinance amends certain provisions of the township code at chapters 12 and 35 to reflect certain conditions for the issuance of certificates of occupancy consistent
with the New Jersey Uniform Construction Code and updating the penalties for violations of the township's land use code. I'll make a motion to adopt ordinance 2025-10 as read by madame clerk with publication in the local source on May
22nd, 2025. Second. Open to the public on this. Anybody from the public want to come up speak on it? None. Close to the public. Roll call. Committeeman Kaiser. Yes. Deputy
Mayor Laugher. Yes. Committeeman Capid. Yes. Committeeman Weber. Yes. Mayor Yuber. Yes. Okay. Ordinance 202512. This ordinance of the Township of Springfield, County of Union, New Jersey, is to introduce the
redevelopment plan for 597 Mars Avenue identified as block 505, lot one within the township of Springfield. Alex, just consulting legal counsel. Uh uh uh I'll make a a motion to adopt ordinance
2025-12 as read by madam clerk with publication in the local source on May 22nd 2025. Second open the public. Anybody from the public I speak on? This is Scotty's I believe. Yeah. So everybody knows the massive
Yeah. presentation. Yeah. Right. So let me just give you some facts on this if I may. Here's the rendering what the building will look like. We're probably looking at probably
two years for completion. So what we have here is we have 38 age restricted units. This is 55 and older. Within this there is six units that are affordable. 18 one uh two-bedroom units are in
there. There's 20 onebedroom units. Uh 4,300 ft of amenity space. There's a dog park. There's 65 parking spaces inclusive of seven for electric vehicles. So we are all our parking is underneath. were fully parked. There's
no entrance or exit on Mars a street streetcape and landscaping improvements along Mars Avenue. The property is within our overlay zone. Uh this is for our third round that was done for in our affordable housing and the redevelopment
plan is consistent with the master plan and reexamination that we did. Are there any questions on the details as so far? No sir. meeting. Alan Paiser has some comments for for sure. Uh uh
uh this once again continues our uh uh work uh at trying to uh uh get a downtown uh redevelopment, continue to clean up lots, continue to make improvements to our our our our town uh
and be proud of properties that come in. Uh this is certainly a lot of work that goes into any redevelopment plan that comes before us and and starts with our our legal council, our our planner, Mike Mista, uh and of course our administrator, John uh uh who worked
tirelessly to come up with a a design of a building uh that meets and exceeds the expectations of not only the TC but uh of the entire community and that one can be proud of. This has been a
institution, right? Scotty's has been around for a long, long time and a lot of people have hung out there for a long time. And it was at one point a pride uh uh and a and a great location for uh our
community where lots of people hung out. Unfortunately, the economies have changed and uh it was no longer uh uh uh uh serving its it its its communal purpose and uh the the building over time and that corner has changed quite
dramatically and has uh uh for lack of a better term become run down. um this building and this opportunity of at 597 Morris Avenue uh uh certainly will be a building that uh as it welcomes in on
that corner of really the start of the Springfield downtown will be something that I think we can all be proud of. Um I I plan to vote yes and I encourage everybody to do that. But uh just before we do that, you know, the the TC worked on this uh uh a couple weeks ago. We
introduced a resolution and adopted a re redevelopment plan on April 22nd. Uh uh we referred it at that point to the planning board for review and the planning board reviewed it uh their redevelopment plan at the May 12th
meeting and issued its report on May 13th. We've all had that opportunity to review that up here. We've uh uh and instead I am going to move uh our ordinance that adopted a redevelopment plan as we introduced it on April 22nd,
2025 without any changes. Uh uh as the plan introduced satisfies all legal requirements and uh uh is consistent with the goal and objectives objectives of the township master plan and meeting its affordable housing obligations. with
that. I'm I'm very proud of the work that we all have done up here. Uh and thank you Chris. Um everything has been changed there. There there is there is nothing on the ground level except for parking at this point.
Right. Correct. Like and then a stairway or an elevator. Go up. Elevators. Excellent. Um, I'll say a couple things. Uh, Alex, first off, brilliantly presented. Uh, John, well done as well.
Um, as everybody up here knows, I'm not a fan of housing over there. Um, it is a massive upgrade from what is there. That is to be certain. Um, but I will be abstaining because I do not believe housing is the right fit
for that corner. I was again I was against it because of traffic that's going to cause. Hope I'm wrong. All I can say that's it. Also, since the public saw the first sign of that, does they have
anything to say about it? Can I just make one more comment? I'm going to just go on on what Harris said. You know, this piece of land was for sale for a few years, right? This thing started, if I remember right, I think it started at four four million, three million. It
just kept chill chill, you know, chiseling down and down. Starbucks looked at it. Everybody's looked at this piece of property. I I I'm not saying you're wrong that I wouldn't love to have something additional other than housing.
But when something is for sale for that length of time and not one retailer picks it up, I don't know what you think else is going to go there. Not not to hammer the point away, but we we we up here did have a per we had a proposal
presented to us, I think a number of years ago, a developer that came with an idea for I I I thought a daycare center and and and and even smaller housing obligations. That deal fell through. it just the economics didn't make sense. Um
uh there was a number of restaurants that I the the chain restaurants that looked at it that just uh fast casual I would say that looked at it that didn't meet its uh it couldn't make it work there. uh at a certain point and and I
don't think anybody has the desire to we want to see housing but at a certain point you either have an option of uh empty abandoned building andor uh uh making an improvement with housing and
and and and I think this is a building that will serve our older population 55 plus. It won't be a burden on our township uh uh schools. Uh, I agree. Uh, uh, I'm not a huge fan of first level
uh, apartments. We made those changes uh, uh, and the developer, you know, took its time, developed something. We originally, I think as planned, it didn't have as much green space, correct? Uh, uh, uh, on that land, right? There was limited. We pushed, we
got more green space. Uh uh uh so I I at the end of the day I I think this is a better project is than than when it first came to us. It's a better it's probably the best project we've had come to us in many years in this on this piece of land. So if if you're giving me
two options, there's no day that I'm not choosing. Hey, make the improvement now. Uh clean up a corner. uh uh that is certainly a welcome point to our community and and and allow it to help meet our obligations of affordable
housing and and and and so forth. So, I'm I'm proud to vote in yes. There's significantly more permeable surface than there was because that place was black topped from corner from lot to lot to lot. Um, it is 55 and
older and it's also unfair to the property owners at this point when they have a piece of property for sale for x amount of years and this is the only people that come around that want to um build on it. So, I'm also going to be voting yes.
Committeeman Kaiser, wait. We have to close the public hearing. Okay. Vote. Committeeman Kaiser. Yes. Deputy Mayor Laugher. Abstain. Committeeman Capidis. Yes. Committeeman Weber. Yes. Mayor Yup.
Yes. Okay. Ordinance 202513. This ordinance amends provisions in chapter 2 of the township code regarding the organization of the township's police department. Mr. Mayor, uh I move
ordinance 2025-13 um with publication in the local source May 22, 2025. I will second that. Anybody from the public want to talk about this? Seeing none close to the
public or anybody have any I we were going to have uh police department leadership kind of run through uh what this ordinance does and then I would invite anybody who has questions,
anybody here who has questions to uh after the presentation by our leadership to ask them. So, police leadership, can you come up committee and community? Um, when the
bid gave their presentation for the budget before, Mike kind of referred to it as a reset. That's kind of what we're doing with the police department is we're kind of looking at it and doing a reset on how we can provide the best services to the township and um maximize
the the public safety return on investment. Um the biggest change that you'll see on the table of organization is is kind of a restructuring of the command um the command structure of the police department. Uh as it was we had a lot of
lower level supervision and patrol and now we're kind of bringing back more upper management to kind of balance everything out and create a full functioning chain of command again which we we haven't had for for some time. Um, we're going to add positions such as
um a community policing unit, a dedicated traffic unit. We're going to expand the size of the detective bureau by adding criminal interdiction officers, um, professional standards officers. Um, now to do that, we're going to have to pull officers from patrol to bring these into these units.
But at the same time, some of the responsibilities of the patrols officers will be going to these other units. So, it's going to take some of the pressure off of what they have to do on their day-to-day um, operations. Um, also, you know, because of that, the officers that are assigned to these
special units will have to supplement patrol when necessary, back fill if there's shortages in patrol just to make sure the department stays functioning. But, uh, ultimately, again, we'll be able to provide the community with the a higher level of services, and you you'll be seeing us doing things that we
haven't done before. Do you want to go first? Yeah, I'll I'll go first. Um, this took a good amount of time to create and I am very happy with it. I I love the structure of
it from, you know, coming from my police background, this this almost mirrors something that my department when I was working would have done. um skirmishes, you know, if we go back a few months ago, skirmishes
between government and departments happen and that is just what it is. And I will tell you that um Deputy Mayor Laer and I have met with the PBA and the S SOA and we've talked and we're all on good terms and and and
and the fact of the matter is um sometimes you have to have some kind of change to reinvigorate the workforce or or spark up interest in
in an excitement in in the job because you do the same job over and over and over again sometimes. Um it it becomes a little monotonous and not as adventurous as you thought it
was going to be. What I appreciate about this chart is that this takes a lot of people out of standard patrol cars, right? It gives them a a chance to do different details and
opportunities. One of which is, you know, we're we're community service is is is the one that I I would say that the five of us are mostly interested in up here because that's the outreach that us as the government officials want to see the police department interact with
with the township. So, I'm very pleased with it. I love it. um great job on it and you'll you know thank you to the PBA and the S SOA for working with us on it
and uh looking forward to seeing it actually come to be. Um so everything that uh Committ Weber said it's thousand% spot on. Um, first
and foremost, I want to thank uh, Chief Cook, Captain Rachel, Lieutenant Westover. Um, you guys have have kind of um, served as resources on this. When we got together in January, both Chris and
myself said police we felt did not run in a modern way. Um, and I believe that this table of organization not only modernizes what we do currently, but also uh it will it'll save money. Uh,
and the reason it'll save money is because we have built in uh redundancies and allowed for people to backfill when uh we need people on the road. So, yeah, there's a lot of opportunity here to do
nonquote unquote patrol things. Uh, but we we've built this table of organization to make sure that the meat and potatoes policing, the everyday policing does not get ignored. Um, in
favor of the cool stuff, in favor of the ability to Rambo up. No matter what unit you're in, you're still a police officer and you know, correct to back up or supplement as needed. Correct. Let's be very clear. No lack of services or no loss of services, correct to the public.
As a matter of fact, we gain we're going to be gaining versatility as a department 100%. Um so I I absolutely want to thank you three. I want to I want to thank uh PBA, NS SOA for starting a dialogue on this. Um haven't
always agreed, but you know that's dialogue. Um and and I certainly appreciate it. Um I you know also I I mean this provides for uh a lot of our police officers to play to their
strengths and I think um and I think you know whether it is in government, whether it is in corporate life, whether it is in any professional setting you wish, you want your people playing to their strengths. Um, and I believe that this does this in
a huge way. And I think this is a a massive upgrade from uh where we were. So, I encourage everybody to take a look at the diagram on the screen before we vote. Captain, do you want to do you want to just review that? Do you want to
Yeah. Just give a quick summary of it real quick. Weber, can I just interrupt? Can you email that to me? I'll run down and print it out. So, you guys It's unprintable. It's just too large. Yeah. It's it's unless you've got like a unless you've got a ream of paper. I want to see that. I mean, I'm sorry.
Right now, if we voted, I abstain because I want to see I want a sheet of that. Actually, there's two sheets of paper. I want to see it and I want to look at it and like can then can we print it because I just email it to you and you can look at your own screens. I could do that right now. I mean, if you
want to look at it on my laptop, you're more than welcome to. I mean, yeah, but I want to try to look at it and study it. I mean, I don't know. Mr. Mr. Mayor, I Mr. Mayor, I have to agree with you. Um, we this is the second reading and we did have the information, but I've never seen it like that before and that I'm
I'm I'm a visual person and that would definitely help me to understand exactly what's going on. Well, I can fill a buster for a while. I always like um I heard that. Madame Click, we're uh uh did we get minutes today? Um, I mean,
I like to look at it and study and and see what it is before I vote on it. Um, it's on second reading, so I don't I don't disagree, but I I I just just I'll do my comments now. Uh uh uh I've talked at length with uh committeeman uh Lauer
who I know put extensive work in with uh uh uh Committeeman Weber who worked diligently over the past weeks uh with our of course police leadership who always worked hard uh uh uh and everybody took a a a holistic view and
an approach and and did some reflecting and and and saw that we could uh modernize our department and I'm always very deeply appreciative of everybody who who puts in time and works and you all did a uh
a a great job with this and and while I too would love to see the uh just cuz charts excite me. Um I will be voting in favor and uh uh appreciate everybody's time and effort into this. I I would
like to echo Committeeman Kaiser's comments. I do appreciate everyone's work on this and I certainly appreciate uh Deputy May Deputy Mayor Laer and and Commman Weber. Um and as it's written in this ordinance, I felt pretty good
about. But seeing that and realizing that there's a bit more to it, it's a bit more nuanced than has it's written. I would feel more comfortable if I understood exactly what was on that chart before I voted. I would I would It's on your way. It's on its way to
you. Can I ask a question? The point of clarification. Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Mayor, could I just clarify what the what's what's being voted on which is which is which will enable what's being the ordinance
purposes of authorization. The ordinance township's required to do is establish the number of maximum number of um individuals that can occupy each position. That's what the ordinance does.
changes. Um when when that is done that will that and other organizational speak sorry that and other organizational um determinations will give the police department the ability
to structure the bureaus uh in the way that's being depicted on the screen. Table of organization in the ordinance. The ordinance itself doesn't address the different bureaus. It only addresses the maximum
complement uh individuals that would occupy each position. Just they they go hand in hand. I just wanted to make just in terms of what we're voting. Greg, I I appreciate that. in your email and I and I appreciate that and I understand that and even if I
look at it now I I quite frankly don't think it's fair for me to make a decision right now looking at this right now in the moment obviously it doesn't sound like I have the vote like I everyone else's agreement with this you know respectfully and and again everyone hopefully knows how I feel about the
police and and and what we do for the community I'm going to have to respectfully abstain from this because I don't understand that chart in relation to what I'm voting for this evening and I hope my colleagues respect and understand that. I agree with him. Can can I ask a just a point of
clarification to to Captain Rachel? Sure. Fill in the boxes that does or does not increase the amount of officers we need to fill that chart. This chart it did is based on the three officers that we hired today. So there
will not be that was the start of getting this new table of organization into play. I just wanted to make the point that we're not we're not going to have to bring in more officers in order to get there. No, no, we're we're at that's what I was I just wanted to make sure the public understood that that was
clear. That would have been like the first step to to moving forward with this. Without that, this wouldn't be possible. So So, Captain, what what the implementation date is? We anticipated September. We're hoping September. So, so the the real this the real point of this is that if if we got to sit on this
for a meeting or two, this isn't taking place until September. So, if if you guys want to park this for, you know, to to review it for a meeting, it it's not going to matter. Why don't we just hold it? We're we're taking action later in the meeting. That gives you time to get
Yeah. Why don't we table it till next meeting? Why can't you hurt you? You got to repot. Will hurt you. Yeah. Because we would have to go back on to first reading. We would have to No, we won't have we won't have to do that, but we'll have to republish. We can table we can table second
reading. Still do second reading at another meeting, but we'll have to republish. What's the time frame of setback? Two one meeting. Is it one meeting or two meetings? Would you need June 11th? So, it's two meetings because yes, I
don't think I don't think again. I'm just my plan is just to abstain. I don't know if that affects your plans moving forward, Mr. Mayor. If you want to carry it through, but I'm not. Listen, I ant I anticipate we have the three to carry it through. We have three but through I I would say this. I don't
have a problem with letting it be reviewed. Uh it it doesn't again it's not coming through till September. We still have significant We still have a bunch of meeting left. We still have another ordinance. We still have multiple resolutions. We still have an executive session.
Uh oh. Oh, that was a good suggestion. There we go. Oh, that fits. Why don't we Why don't we Why don't we table it until the end of the meeting? Yeah, just hold Can we We can hold the And the ordinance will remain open. Hold
on. Before you table anything, we don't have to table anything. We've got the captain here. I I I think that everybody has a copy in front of them. You want to break it down for them at that point so yeah, they know what they're looking at. Chris, I think that's an excellent idea.
Why don't you break it down and and do a comparison of what we are now versus where we're going or what we're looking to go to. All while you're doing it in the microphone. So, from what I'm seeing on this, you're going to two
captains from one to two. Am I correct? Correct. You're going from four lieutenants to five. Correct. Hold on. We We We got to get him into the microphone cuz nobody can hear him. What? What's going on? Can we
pull this? No. We got We got We got it. We got it. We got it. Hold on. Let's do this the right way, guys. [Music] magic. It's hard to take my phone. This what's on the screen now. It's not
what you have printed in front of you. I can't blow it up any more than this. Maybe I can, but you you don't have to because honestly that's our current structure. That is our current structure. Everybody here should know what our current structure is. We're not really currently structured this way because with our lieutenant staffing, we
really only have one lieutenant that's assigned to the entire one lieutenant that's assigned to entire patrol division at this point. Um so even this is slightly inaccurate. This goes back to 2022 how we were um more or less we
had a very large patrol unit and you know we task our officers with doing many other things including going into the schools you know attending events when they were occurring um which you know is probably not the optimal way to utilize manpower.
So rethinking, you know, what the best course of action would be and also looking at the Ambrose report that was done, you know, they made some suggestions in there and there's different table of organizations they proposed. Um what we're doing here is kind of like
using a combination of that and establishing dedicated community policing units, traffic units, and expanding the detective bureau to actually have um detectives that we'll call them criminal interdiction officers that are
more proactive. They're out on the street um and they're, you know, actively looking for things and and you know, trying to um deter crime. And again, yes, those if you assign somebody to one of those boxes, does
that become permanent forever for that person? No. Okay. They would be temporary assignments. Um I don't think it would be appropriate to put a time limit on them because if somebody is, you know, doing a really good job, um I don't think it would be in the best
interest to to remove them right away just to give somebody else a chance. But there should be some kind of rotation so everybody gets a chance to so there's an opportunity for people to move within we don't want the positions to stay stagnant. Can can I add something to this? All
right. When you're hired as a police officer, your job is to answer calls and calls for service and do the functions of a police officer. Let's be clear on that. When you ask for a
community service unit or community relations unit or whatever you want to call it, certain police officers have different skill sets. That is just a fact. And the way it was structured
before, you you always tried to put the better person for the specific task at hand in there, but at times not everybody is is always geared for
um specific tasks. And the fact of the matter is you can't blame them because that was not on their list when they be hired as a police officer. your job as a police officer is to protect the public. So, I just wanted to add that
that there are very specialized units that require certain things. A traffic unit when I hire when I became a police officer, I I wasn't required to ride a motorcycle. got picked to ride a motorcycle and I
because I wanted to do it and I went and did it and then I didn't like it. I didn't want to do it anymore. But that's the point is that, you know, it's not for everybody. And and and that's why this chart is important when you're when you're breaking it down is that it's going to try
[Music] to pick people special points or or give people a chance to show what they may be good at. with the exception of just standard answering a patrol call for, you know, a robbery in progress or
whatever. So, I'm sorry. Continue. Yes. So in the past, you know, we had a very large patrol division and, you know, a smaller investigative division and our patrol officers were still tasked with certain things to do other than, you
know, your basic patrol work, answering calls and doing um, you know, the the regular police officer's duties. This is going to kind of reverse that and you'll have these specialized units where that's going to be the focus of those officers, but they could still be called
upon to supplement patrol to um you know fill gaps if we have manpower shortages. And ultimately with the way the schedule is going to be set up, we're going to have a lot of officers here during the daytime that you know we're all still pleased if something happens you know
that's we'll have a large response a lot of personnel available if we need them. Don't we have that now? No. No. No, we don't. Not at all. And and m uh M Mr. Mayor, and excuse me, I I don't mean to interrupt your presentation, but now I get this and now I appreciate this and
now I understand what's going on because, and I agree with you, when I got this the ordinance as written, I was completely content with that and I was completely on board with everything that was in here. But as our captain begin
began to give his presentation, I quickly realized that this ordinance is a bit more nuanced than I had first thought. And now having having received this and having it fully explained to me
how this increases our customer service, I am more comfortable in voting on this tonight. It was not until tonight, until I got this, until this presentation that I fully understand now what the
expectations are because up until this point, I had no idea it was this nuanced and it it was this being this revitalized. You know, you know, like I have been on public safety since I've been on here and and this is very passionate for me and very close to my
heart. And I did not realize the depth of this until it was presented by our captain, which I appreciate. And now seeing this, and I'm sorry for extending the meeting for 20 more minutes. I I needed to know what this was because I didn't know exactly all this entailed
until right now. But the thing is, right now we have one captain, correct? Yeah. Now you're two captains. So your budget's going up and up and up. That's not correct. How can because we are eliminating two sergeant spots which
are much larger overtime suckers than a captain. Where the sergeants going back to patrol? No, we're re we are reprogramming how we are utilizing the existing resources in the department. We
are removing a sergeant. And what is he he's taking a cut in pay? No. Well, how can you how can you tell me one is going when when we're going to with the promotional of a captain, you're going to see a promotion of a
lieutenant which will take two from the rank of sergeant which will take them from the That's cost us more money. We have 10 right now, but but what's happening with the sergeants we're finding is that because they are on patrol, they are the ones that are um taking the over taking most of the
overtime at a supervisor's rate at at a Yeah. Right. Sergeant is a supervisor. Correct. But so so why are we why if we have 10 sergeants right now, right? 10 sources. You're going down to eight. Then you're going to you're going up to
one lieutenant more money. Don't tell but he's not we don't anticipate it being an overtime position. It's not because you have on the higher ranks of the department. There is less overtime being used. Captain Rachel, for
instance, is not a large overtime. Not to single you out, does not occupy overtime. No, you could single him out. He He is zero. He doesn't occupy overtime. Lieutenants who are in charge of administrative services would not necessarily be a use for overtime unless
there's possible accreditation. The key of the the the rationale behind removing two sergeants and reprogramming those assets into different roles is to reduce the cost of overtime without
sacrificing people that are on the street. So at the same number of people will be on the street, people will just be used differently. And and with the the the more adaptability of the department, we need the ability to
supervise the new units which calls for the changes in supervisory staff. Well, you're the we're actually increasing um with the hire of three tonight. Y we're going from 27 to 30. So you'll actually have better services. Correct. out there
with the additional officers and and let's be clear the officers I don't know if I was late to the meeting apologize for my wardrobe. I was at a the Dayton softball game late. I don't know if it was discussed but the three that were
hired were simply replacing what we needed due to um loss of department members salaries. It's you're get more salary. I mean, black and white. I'm looking black and white.
It's more money. I don't Forget about the overtime and all that stuff. How can you forget you're going to guarantee me? But how can work over time? But Rich, how can you forget about the overtime when we have said meeting after meeting after meeting that the overtime is out
of control and you don't think it's going to be out of control with this? It it I'm not. You guarantee me? No. Overtime will go overtime will go down. I'm not saying it's gonna solve a problem, but in order to walk a football field, you first have to walk 10 yards.
Has this just a question. This I'm sure you didn't just draw this up out of uh out of the air, right? Are are we copying uh uh uh other municipalities, organizations have have there's no small
police department that I know that runs this way, but it's kind of like taking um a big scale police department like a city police department and condensing it to to a Springfield level that we could still have these units still function. Um again, but it's going to depend on officers that are in these units
backfilling and, you know, and backing up officers in patrol. That's going to be key. And again, that should help with any, you know, preventing overtime because the shortages will be covered by those officers. I mean, I back the police by 100%.
For what I'm looking at, it's grossing me more money. Until you prove to me in black and white, it's not going to cost me more money. I'm only one vote. So, I mean, that's the way I feel.
I'll let it out. And can we call the question? What? Can we call the vote? Unless people have more call the vote. Is it me? Uh I will m I will make a motion to adopt ordinance 2025-14 as
read by bam clerk with publication in the local source on May 22nd, 2025. I did that already, but second. Oh, yeah. And we were just roll calling now. Oh, we already did that. So, yeah, we did that. Deputy Mayor L. Yes. Mayor Lurer,
yes. Committeeman Kaiser. Uh, yes. Committeeman Capid. Yes. Committeeman Weber. Very happily. Yes. Mayor Yuber. Okay. Ordinance passes. Thank you. Okay.
Um, we will have the first reading on ordinance 202515. This ordinance amends the township code at chapter 7 to Oh, madam clerk, we still need 14. Oh, I'm sorry. I see. I think I read I think I made a
motion for 14. I'll be completely honest. And okay, no one uh no one caught me on that. Okay. Uh madame clerk. Oh, you got to read the ordinance. 202514. This ordinance amends chapter 2, administration of the township code to create an advisory
committee to review issues on redevelopment and the public school system. Madame clerk, I would like to move ordinance 2025-14 with publication in the local source May 22nd, 2025.
I will second. All right. Public hearing public. Anybody from public want to opinions about this. This is a result of meetings we've had with the board of education. The board of education is aware of this ordinance. Um I believe
they'll respond to it. Um and when the time comes, we'll name members to a committee and we can talk about how to negotiate pilot agreements should they come up. All right. Seeing none, public is closed.
Roll call. Deputy Mayor Laugher. Yes. Committeeman Kaiser. Yes. Committeeman Capid. Abstain. Committeeman Weber. Yes. Mayor Yuber. Yes. Okay. First reading. Ordinance
202515. This ordinance amends the township code at chapter 7 to modify and supplement the township's traffic regulations regarding streets where parking is prohibited at all times. I'll make a motion to adopt ordinance
2025-15 as read by Madame Clerk with publication in the local source on May 22nd, 2025 with a final hearing scheduled on June 11th, 2025. May I have a second? Second. Can we get a uh a short
explanation? Mr. Mayor, I can explain. So this is this ordinance um this is an update to parking prohibitions. This is in and around the exit and entrance the driveway to Meisel Park. So this creates
a no parking zone on 25 ft on either side of that driveway either side of it. Yeah. Great. Uh, it's to help and I think the police department can chime in if they they'd like to, but this is to help improve sight lines for people that are coming out and for cars that are traveling down Meiselle to be able to
see the cars that are getting ready to pull out onto much needed. Much needed. Anything else? I'm I'm just sorry that we only did 25 ft, but go ahead. Okay.
Roll call. Yep. Committeeman Kaiser, yes. Committeeman Weber, yes. Committeeman Capidis, yes. Deputy Mayor Laer, yes. Mayor Yuber, yes. Can can I just before we go on just one thing
because this ties into that? Unfortunately, the the crosswalk um question comes up to me all the time and why there's not a crosswalk there. There's not a crosswalk there because it doesn't lead to anything. There's nothing there but woods. So that's a
whole another conversation. It's also it would also be an incredibly bureaucratic process to put a crossing walk crosswalk there. You've got to create sidewalks. Correct. It
would be a lot. All right. [Music] Resolutions 20 25 30. We're going to pull that. Yep. We got to we got to pull that. We got to pull it to amend. and
136. Okay. Yep. All right. 137. Mhm. 138. Yep. 139. Yep. 140. 141. 142. Pull that one, please. 143.
144. Yep. 145. Yep. Have a motion. Uh, Mr. Mayor, I move resolutions 136 through
141 and then resolutions 143 and 144. I consent agenda 145 and 145. Second roll call. Deputy Mayor Laer. Yes. Minman Kaiser. Yes. Committeeman
Capes. Yes. Mini Weber. Yes. Mayor Huber. Yes. All right. 135. Okay. Resolution 2025135. This resolution adopts the 2025 budget for the Springfield Community
Partnership. Uh, Mr. Mayor, I move resolution 2025135 as amended given the $16.10 with the discount on Jay's phone. Second. Second. Okay. Deputy Mayor
Lauer. Yes. Committeeman Kaiser. Yes. Committeeman Capidis. Yes. Committeeman Weber. Yes. Mayor Yuber. Yes. Okay. Resolution 2025142. This resolution authorizes the execution
of a memorandum of agreement between the township of Springfield and ASME modifying certain terms of the parties collective negotiations agreement. I'll make a motion to adopt resolution 2025-142 as read by Madame Clerk.
Second. Um, the only reason I pulled this and and and certainly this organization how certainly knows how I feel about them in my heart of hearts, but I the only purpose I did is just to abstain. Roll call. Committeeman Kaiser. Yes. Deputy Mayor Laer. Yes. Committeeman
Capid. Abstain. Committeeman Weber. Yes. Mayor Yuber. Yes. All right. Finance report. No discussion and action items. Yep. Uh uh Mr. Mayor, I'll make a motion to accept the resignation of Marissa Rogerio from her
positions on the environmental commission and as the environmental commission's liaison to the planning board. I will second that. Sorry to see her go. All in favor? I agreed. She was regrettably very knowledgeable uh and
she will be missed. So, thank you for your service. Approve the request from Troy Hill Condo Association to use Chisum, excuse me, community center meeting room on Tuesday, May 25th, uh,
27th, 6 to9 association association meeting, old harmless and certificate of insurance provided. Robert. Uh, motion. Second. Second. Uh, Committeeman Capes. Okay.
Roll call. Deputy Mayor Laer. I. Yes. Committee Capidities. Yes. Committeeman Weber. Yes. Mayor Yuber. approve the request from uh New York Blood Center in New Jersey Blood
Service to hold a blood drive at Chisum Community Center on Wednesday, July 2nd from 30 to 9. I will I will make the insurance. Yeah, I'll make the motion, Mr. Mayor. Second.
Okay. No, it's a roll call. Uh Committeeman Kaiser, yes. Deputy Mayor Laer, yes. Committeeman Capides, yes. Weber. Yes. Mayor Huber. Um, finance. Uh, I will make a motion to adopt payroll and invoices for the
period of April 23rd, 2025 through May 13, 2025 in the amount of 16,553,12023. That 23 cents is going to kill you, but I second. Committeeman Kaiser. Yes. Deputy Mayor Laler. Yes. Committeeman Capid. Yes.
Mini Min Weber. Yes. Mayor Yuber. Yes. Correspondence public hearing going JCPNL BU do bucket ER 20 250 2000 uh 22
27 [Music] group McCarthy LLC bond council regarding bond participation note man John Allen appreciation for adopting resolutions in
support of assembly bill A4 696 New Jersey Climate Super Farm Act. Uh now public comment on any government
issue. None. I can I chime in for Mr. Bartosh? I know he had a question that he emailed in. I'm right here. Way to stay on top of it. Although it was answered early on in the meeting with our promotions. Um he
had asked, I believe, if we're up to full staff now. Uh which by what we did tonight, our ceremonial swearing in um not only meet what we had, but we are now excelled at and at a new at a new level. So an answer to his question that
is yes, we are at full staff. You also had one about the park. It's about Oakland Park and we kind of answered that. We're doing a survey next week. Once that is done, there will be public hearings in the committee meetings discussing Oakland Park as we
go along. We're looking at topography to be done, grading, drainage, all of that has to be rolled in before anything is done. So, that will be discussed in detail. And if anyone has any questions, you're welcome to come and and present them.
that will be discussed in public on recorded uh multiple times. Thank you. The next meeting I I I yeah I don't want anything on regarding Oakland Park. Same as we did with Ruby. We held it open to the township. Let them come in because
those closed door sessions don't work so well. All right. Hope that answers your question. All right, we have executive session. Okay. Resolution
51325. Whereas article 6 of the open public meetings act provides that a public body may hold a close session and whereas the township committee will during this meeting enter into discussion of the following matters. Attorney client privilege and personnel.
Whereas the matters to be discussed in close session are to remain in the strictest of confidence by all township committee members in furtherance of their fiduciary duties to the township. Now therefore, be it resolved matters discussed at this meeting will be released to the public when the reasons
for discussing and acting upon them in close session no longer exists. Motion I'll uh make the motion before we go into exact. I forgot to say something. Want to recognize uh Liz Fritzen. She was honored by the Union County Human
Relations Commission for her uh outstanding years of public service in Maplewood and most importantly in Springfield. Um we thank her. She is the human personification of public service and we are very appreciative of her
efforts. Have a second. Second and I co-sign everything he just said. Thank you, Liz. Agreed. Can I make a last minute acknowledgement? I know you reminded me of something. Uh we had several of our officers do the uh the police unity
tour. Um, however, one one of our class 2 officers, uh, officer Nachi, he was in he was the support team driver and from what I understand, I found out today he had
come across a vehicle fire that had a family trapped in the vehicle and he and a few others pulled over and he was instrumental in getting the family out of the car. So, I just wanted to I just wanted to acknowledge I just found that out a few hours ago and just wanted to
to mention that when you when you get the official details, please give them to us. But that's like right place at right time. Thank you. Yeah, absolutely. Yep. Thank you. Captain Mr. You had one? Yes. If I could please. Um I just want to take a moment to recognize uh the
fire department. We recently received the New Jersey State Valor Award. um we had an incident that occurred with a multi-jurisdictional department. You know, this award is is great to uh always show acknowledgement to what we do every day. Um this award is a small
fraction of what our job entails. You know, our guys every single day and they put their heart into it and they achieve greatness all the time. So, this award was was given on behalf of the NJ um FMBA to Captain Korea, firefighter Michael Santoro, firefighter Nicholas
Garciano, firefighter Michael Ridge, and firefighter Mike Venadia. Uh this recognition basically reflects how every role is vital in emergency operations and this award is a testament to their knowledge, their skills, and their professionalism. Exe it also exemplifies
the standards that we always try to uphold in our department. Um, this is something that I'm so proud of. You know, when when we get good news like this, it it makes our whole department um proud and uh joy about it. So, uh this was recognized by the Summit
Fire Department, which uh included us in this award, which is just a great thing for us. Captain Korea's smile was just tremendous. They'll work on smiling. Absolutely. Thank you. Congratulations. Yeah,
congratulations. Pretty great. Uh just um uh cuz I'm neurotic. I think we need to make that motion again. So I'm going to make that motion to go into executive session for another time just for the clean record. Do I have a second? Second. All in favor?
All in favor? I may be taking action after this meeting. After the close session. After the close session for a journment. Okay. I'm Rachel. He's got something next to me. Yeah, tomorrow the school Dayton
7:30 you have a police officer there. But also that's only freshmen are only going in at 7:30. 9:20 is when the rest of school is going in. They did it today. They didn't say anything to anybody. So we just have an extra police officer there at 9:20,
you know, for a half hour or whatever it is to make sure. All right. Going into session. You stuck her. She's I'm telling you,
you really have no life. I am. Yeah. Okay, I will. No. No, I wasn't. I wouldn't. All right, we're back. Someone making a motion. What's the resolution number?
What was the last one? 146. Right. Yeah. I'm going to make I'm going to make a motion to adopt resolution 2025-146. I second that. Resolution authorizes the promotion of Michael Mroni to the position of deputy fire
chief. Second. Roll call, please. Can I just note that uh Committeeman Capid got a call and he is not in session. Yeah, he he had an emergency he had to go to. Okay. Uh Committeeman
Kaiser. Yes. Deputy Mayor Laugher enthusiastically. Yes. Mini Weber. It's about time. Yes. Mayor Yuber. Sure. Congratulations, Mike. And we we will be doing a formal
ceremony here for you. Are you going to wait? We're all going out to dinner on you. Yeah. We're going to be doing a formal ceremony for you here when it's not 10:00 at night and everything else. Um but do I have a motion? Motion to adjurnn. Let's go. Second. All in favor?
I