Yes, I did. It seems just stand realize how I'm running out of There's a science to it. to it. >> Adequate notice of this meeting as required by the open public meetings act was provided through the posting,
mailing and filing of the annual notice of regularly scheduled meetings of the town council on December 10th, 2025. The notice was on that day posted on the bulletin board of the municipal building, provided to the Westfield leader and the star ledger and filed with the clerk of the town of Westfield. Miss Lowshi, may I have a roll call? Mayor Berman
>> here. >> Council members Gilman >> here. >> Dagala >> here. >> Pecker >> here. >> Kefir >> here. >> Saunders >> here. >> Adar >> here. >> Armentoto >> here. >> Ramen >> here. >> Please rise for the invocation which will be given by Councilman Damagawa. And then remain standing for the salute
to the flag. >> Receive blessings on the tasks before us. Bless our efforts with clear insight. Our deliber del deliberations with wisdom. Our work with clarity and accuracy. and our decisions with our community at top of >> mind
to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Good evening everyone and thank you to everyone who's joining us tonight both
here in person and via the live stream on town's YouTube channel. As always, the replay of the meeting will be available on Facebook, YouTube, and TV36. Public comment will be accepted in person only. We have a short agenda this evening and I'll just make a few brief remarks before we begin. First and
foremost, I'd like to thank the Westfield Police Department for their swift and thorough response to today's incident at Westfield High School involving the threat of a firearm, which was reported at 11:31 a.m. Upon arrival at the school, a search of the entire building and its occupants was conducted
by 16 Westfield police officers and detectives with the assistance from Garwood and Fanwood Police Departments, as well as detectives from the Union County Prosecutor's Office and canines from the Union County Sheriff's Office. No weapon or any other threat was located and the lockdown was lifted at
approximately 2:49 p.m. We are very grateful for this outcome and the source of the threat remains under investigation by detectives from the Westfield Police Department's Juvenile Bureau. Anyone with information is asked to contact the police. As a parent of two school-aged children, I know how
upsetting these incidents can be. Thank you to the Westfield Public Schools for their partnership to ensure that all appropriate public safety protocols were followed. And special thanks to the students, staff, and faculty at Westfield High School, as well as all parents of the high school students for
their patience and cooperation as this situation was brought to a safe resolution. I am pleased to report that the town's fourth round affordable housing plan, which was adopted by the previous town council in December, was formally approved yesterday by the program judge. As a result, we will introduce the
related ordinances at our February 24th meeting in anticipation of our mid-March compliance deadline. Uh we have some exciting uh upcoming events coming up with full details and registration on the town website. The DWC's downtown chocolate tour is underway through
February 15th. Participants can uh enjoy chocolate inspired treats, gifts, and Valentine specials at participating businesses. Lifelong Westfield will host its monthly lunch club for local seniors tomorrow at Lammani uh from 12:00 to 1:30. And for everyone thinking about
summertime, registration for summer playground camp and the renewal period for the Westfield Memorial Pool are now open on Civic Wreck. Uh submissions are now being accepted for this year's Westfield Veterans Banner Program, which recognizes our veterans and active duty
military personnel. These banners are displayed throughout downtown Westfield annually from Memorial Day through Veterans Day in a partnership between the town and the Westfield Veterans Fund, which is a locally established 501c3 organization. The submission deadline is March 31st. For additional
details and application or to make a donation, please visit the town's website. Tonight's agenda is brief, and I'll just take a a few moments to highlight a few key uh items. From the Finance Policy Committee, we have a resolution to approve the 2026 sewer fees. I'm pleased to report that the
committee is recommending no increase for the second consecutive year. We also have resolutions authorizing the 2026 FMA and CWA employees salaries retroactively effective to January 1st following the approval of the newly
settled contracts. Uh from the code review and town property committee, we have an ordinance on first reading tonight to designate the property at 625 Westfield Avenue as a historic landmark. I'd like to thank the Ogara family, the homeowners of this property, who reached out to the town requesting this
designation. The designation report for the property, which was prepared by the town's historic preservation officer, indicates that this home was built circa 1908 and embodies the freak classic style characteristic of the unique quality homes of the very early 20th
century within Westfield. If adopted, this will be the 18th property designated as a historic landmark in Westfield in recent years. And lastly, we will also conduct a required public hearing tonight regarding Westfield's phase 1 watershed inventory report,
commonly known as the New Jersey Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System Report. This report must be filed with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, in order to obtain the required permit regulating how municipalities design, collect, and maintain their storm water and their
storm water systems. This phase 1 report is posted in the storm water resource center of our town website and updated reporting will continue with sub subsequent phases later this year and in 2027. Let's begin. Um Mr. Gild Day.
>> Yes, mayor. >> Um let's talk about a lot of acronyms again. Uh so um again you mentioned that uh we have our phase one MS4 report. Uh it was filed uh by January 1st of this
year. Uh our town engineer Mike McNell is here. Uh he and his staff have been working on this along with our consultant um uh engineering firm Remington Bernick. Uh and uh as we said, you know, this is a really almost a two a little over two-year process. So um I
have this information here. What we're going to do now is we're going to conduct a public hearing uh for those that might want to come to the microphone and speak about it. But at least we're going to allow that to happen tonight. Before we do that, uh Mike and I have been working on uh with our uh third party engineer and there's some information we have to read into
the record here and then we'll open it up for any comments the public may have. If not, that will conclude this tonight. We'll have another meeting sometime in June or July and then uh Mike's office is working on um a lot of information internally. We have a very well-developed GIS system internally uh
for Westfield which is very good. uh and our staff is out collecting data on infrastructure we have in place and we'll have mapping that'll be added to the plan that is already on the website. So let me just go through quickly. Um so the town of Westfield and all New Jersey municipalities are permitted to manage and treat municipal storm water under
what is known as the NJMS4. talked about municipal separate storm storm sewer systems uh MS4 permits uh including but not limited to storm water system design collection treatment infrastructure and maintenance activities required per its permit and every town has the same MS4
permit that's required to meet our permit obligations Westfield along with all municipalities were required to prepare and file it MS4 report also known as a watershed inventory report uh with the NJ that's the new New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Lots of acronyms
Uh the internal interim draft report uh on this phase one assessment was completed with the assistance of Remington Vernick, our consultant engineering firm. Uh through also paid for partially through grant funds. We actually got awarded many towns were able to apply for grant funds. We got a $25,000 grant to go towards this project
which uh paid for the majority of this report to be done. And that report was filed prior to January 1st, 2026, which is the regulatory deadline for this report. So, as the mayor mentioned, our report is on our stormwater resource center on our website. You can also see past reports there. Other information is there as well. Uh, but this report was
up there uh as of uh January 1st. So, the current draft report will be modified to include additional storm water infrastructure data which is currently being compiled by engineering staff and we'll also have we'll also wait for any comments from the NJP they may have or any comments the public or staff may have that would change that
report. So, as part of this permit process, two semiannual public meetings are required to make public aware and to solicit questions or comments regarding the report and to expect to hold another hearing as we've said mid year this year. Um, so questions or comments about the report can be of course sent to the
engineering office or our third party engineering office which is will be on our website. Uh, our our assigned engineer is Terren Vo. How do you pronounce the last name? Voy. >> V. >> Vote. Okay. Voy. Um, vote. >> Vote. Okay. Terry. I know Terry. So um and his information will be on the his
email will be on the website and then uh so last lastly two future additional phases of whip reporting will be required. So the phase 2 watershed assessment report is due by January 1st 2027 and the phase three watershed improvement plan report uh is due
December 31st 2027. And additional information on both reports will be forwarded to us by NJD which will guide Mike and his staff and the town on the next steps. And last thing to mention here besides the stuff that's required for the record here is that um this is our storm water system. Uh we have two
sewer systems in town. Storm water and sanitary. So storm water as you know is the one that um we get a lot of complaints about during a heavy rain. So this is actually a perfect time for us to be going through this updating this plan uh identifying areas. Some we already know about, others we might
actually be revealed in the process and then come up with a plan of how we're going to address them going forward and identifying these things as part of this plan where things are um and so forth. So this is um again an excellent process. We've been through it before many years ago and I want to thank Mike and his staff for doing all the work so
far and a lot more to come. So I guess we'll open it now mayor to anyone in the public here that might have any public comments uh can come to the microphone and uh we'll see if anyone rushes to the microphone. Seeing there's no comments, mayor, you may close the hearing. >> This hearing is closed. Thank you. Thank
you, mayor. Thank you, town clerk. And again, um just thank you for uh having this opportunity tonight. Uh and then we'll be back mid year to have another hearing on this and we'll have more information. Uh the residents should go to our storm water resource center on our website. A lot of information there to to see and also some things you can
learn about how how to take care of your own storm water on your around your home. So, thank you very much. >> Great. Thank you, Jim. Uh, may I have a motion to approve the minutes from the town council conference, executive and regular meetings of January 27th, 2026?
>> Motion by Councilman Pecker. Second. >> Second. >> Second by Councilwoman uh Gilman. Any discussion? >> All in favor? >> Yes. >> Opposed? The motion is carried. Now it's time for open discussion by citizens. Anyone may come up to the microphone and
speak to the council on any subject on which the council has jurisdiction. Please state your name and address for the record and limit your comments to five minutes. I'm just presenting that for the public hearing.
>> Oh, okay. >> Supporting. That's all. >> All right. Great. Um, good evening, Mayor Verman and members of the town's council. Um, do I need to get sworn in? >> Okay, great. Um, on behalf of the uh historic preservation commission, it is my very great privilege this evening to
present 625 Westfield Avenue as a designated historic landmark. As Mayor Burman uh noted, the house was built in 1908 uh for Manoru Tanaka, who was an early uh importer of Japanese porcelain. Uh it
is in largely original condition and we are very grateful to the homeowners uh David Gordon and Kathy Ogara for submitting it for historic designation. Um and a full nomination report can be found on our uh HBC web page. Thank you.
>> Thank you Jennifer. Hearing no further comments, I close this portion of the meeting and move to bills and claims. Councilman Venetra. >> Thank you, Mayor. I'd like to move bills and claims in the amount to $551,392.38. >> May I have a second? >> Second. >> Seconded by Councilman Damaga. Any
discussion? >> Uh, all in favor? >> Opposed? The motion is carried. Next on the agenda is reports of standing committees beginning with finance policy. Councilman Venadan. >> Thank you, mayor. I have 11 resolutions, 10 of which I would like to move as a
package. resolution authorizing the chief financial officer to draw a warrant for dog licenses for January 2026. Two, a resolution authorizing the chief financial officer to refund the police department fees. Three, resolution authorizing the chief financial officer to refund recreation department fees. Four, resolution
authorizing the chief financial officer to draw warrants for participant payment to the Westwood for the annual me and my gal dance. Five, resolution authorizing the chief financial officer to draw warrants for overpaid taxes. Six, resolution to approve 2026 sewer fees. Seven, resolution authorizing the chief
financial officer to sign bi-weekly warrants for the 2026 FMBA employee salaries retroactively effective to January 1st, 2026. Eight, resolution authorizing the chief financial officer to sign bi-weekly warrants for the C.WA employee salaries retroactively
effective to January 1st, 2026. Nine, resolution authorizing the chief financial officer to issue warrants for special district taxes. and 10 resolution authorizing the chief financial officer to issue warrants for Union County taxes and open space taxes. >> May I have a second?
>> Second. >> Second by Councilwoman Adoir. Any discussion? All in favor? >> Yes. Opposed? The motion is carried. >> I would also like to move a resolution authorizing the chief financial officer to make a budget transfer. >> May I have a second? >> Second.
>> Second by Councilman Saunders. Any discussion? >> Please call the role. >> Council members Gilman. Yes. >> Dagala. >> Yes. >> Becker. >> Yes. >> Keeper. >> Yep. >> Saunders. >> Yes. >> Abar. >> Yes. >> Armeno. >> Yes. >> Yep. >> Mayor Burman.
>> Yes. The motion has carried. Councilman Pcker, please move the code review and town property ordinance. >> I'd like to move general ordinance number 2026-03 on the first reading. an ordinance designating 625 Westfield Avenue shown on the tax maps as block 4201 lot 35 as
a historic landmark and modifying the zoning map. >> May I have a second? >> Yes. >> Seconded by Councilman Venadrama. Any discussion? Please call the role. >> Council members Gilman. >> Yes. >> Dadala, >> yes. >> Becker, >> yes. >> Kefir, >> yes. >> Saunders, >> yes. >> Adoir,
>> yes. >> Armentoto, >> yes. >> Yep. >> Mayor, >> yes. The motion has carried. Councilwoman Adoir, please move the public works committee resolution. >> Thank you, Mayor. I would like to move a resolution to amend the contract for the 2025 leaf collection program.
>> May I have a second? >> Second. >> Second. >> Second by Councilman Norto. Any discussion? All in favor? >> Yes. >> Opposed? The motion is carried. May I have a motion to adjurnn? >> Uh motion by Councilman Damagala. Second. >> Second.
>> Second by Councilman Saunders. Any discussion? All in favor? >> Opposed? The motion is carried. The meeting is adjourned. Thank you all.