all right good evening everybody thanks for coming out in this treacherous weather um 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 12 2023 the notice was on that date posted on the bulletin board the municipal building provided to the Westfield leader in the Star Ledger and filed with the clerk of the town of Westfield Miss l m roll call Mayor brindle here council members hood here dardia here here keeper here Saunders here armento here contract here ma please rise for the indication given by councilman ha good and remain standing may be gathered tonight with Open Hearts and Minds seeking unity and understanding grant us wisdom to make Fair decisions serving our community with compassion guide us to build a better inclusive place mindful of everyone's needs in kindness unity and purpose May our work be fruitful uned States One Nation God indivisible with liy and justice for all Jim do you have any comments tonight um well we will go to opening remarks and employment is that good um so good evening thank you to everyone who's joining us both in person online tonight as a reminder public comment yes sorry you want to do the proclamations first uh up to you what would you want to do we going do the proclamations first we'll do proclamations first yeah if you don't mind that sounds great we'll do proclamations first all right see Jim keeping us in line okay we have two proclamations this evening um the first one was requested by residents I'm wondering I don't know if they're here this is um uh for Muslim heritage month was naita and Omar oh hi I just wanted to say um she reached out to me and asked if we would acknowledge Muslim heritage month and I want to say thank you for bringing this to our attention it was first um it was an act of the legislature in the state I think the first time ever we've declared January Muslim Heritage months so we are thrilled to honor this Proclamation this evening and thank you for reaching out and for the request so with that I'm just going to read it from here if that's okay um whereas the town of Westfield is proud to recognize the contributions of the Muslim Community and declare the month of January as Muslim heritage month and whereas on April 29th 2023 Governor Phil Murphy signed joint resolution number six by the Senate and the general assembly of the state of New Jersey designated the month of January of each year as Muslim heritage month and whereas Muslims are the world's second largest religious group practicing the Islamic faith with 1.9 billion followers representing approximately 25% of the world's population and whereas there are over 300,000 Muslim Americans in New Jersey representing one of the largest Muslim American communities in the United States and whereas Muslims have made significant contributions throughout history including notable achievements in philosophy mathematics chem chemistry physics astronomy medicine music architecture literature and the Arts in their philanthropy humanitarianism civic responsibility and culture which helped to enrich the United States socially economically and historically and whereas the town of Westfield supports the rights of all its residents and calls Upon Our Community to eliminate Prejudice and bigotry everywhere we celebrate the great diversity of all of our citizens and extend the promise of our country to all now therefore be it proclaimed that I may May Shelley brindle along with the members of the Town Council do hereby recognize the month of January as Muslim Heritage Month in the town of Westfield thank you again for and we're thrilled to do this for you I don't know if you have any comments you want to make or just so no I just wanted to thank you and the council for taking my request and strongly considering it and also for your confirmation me so much I'm a very new resident of westv I just moved here from Jersey City a few months ago um and one of the reasons we chose Westfield our obviously for the diversity the Great Schools um but just want to highlight that you know diversity and inclusion and heing Happ marks as well I truly feel that Westfield is inclusive by your thank you so much well and thrilled thank you for making Westfield your home we hope you feel welcome here thank you so next I'll come up for this one right and where is m Mr Greg on' all right so tonight is a sad and happy occasion as we did an official to our Public Works director Greg O'Neal n years and um and we're thrilled Focus and uh I know you're you have left incredible impression Mark here in You' been beneficiary of all your experience whereas began his career in public works in Princeton New Jersey 1998 and whereas on December 1st 20 4 Greg was hired as the Director of public works for the town of Westfield and has worked constantly for the veter of the community and whereas Greg Prides himself not only in his work but the work of the entire team in the public works department who Greg proudly refers to as the production staff and whereas the town of Westfield has been fortunate to have read not only as director of Public Works but as a New Jersey certified tree expert bringing aable knowledge to the tal and the Westville tree preservation commission and whereas during his years in Westfield Greg has been a professional and a leader who prioritized the safety of his staff or work hard to provide the residents of the town of Westfield with the vital Services of the public works department and whereas Greg has been instrumental contributing to the beautification of public spaces and parks in the town of Westfield including overseeing and planting of over 5,000 trees and de2 reoun Coles longal [Applause] thank you ladies Wonder wonderful to be here um in my tenure I must say as it ended I was very conflicted and I still am this very moment the reason why our some of the most important on I'm to get on those see a little over 9 years ago I received a phone call only about 57 minutes at that time frame I was extremely conflicted and concerned because I spent 17 years of in uh Princeton and my wife and I also had a sophore in college in a sophomore in high school so if I made this move and it didn't work out things would not have ended well for me at all so after that pH conversation it felt a great I said wow this is going to work and it was amazing to me if someone could do that take emotions out feelings turn around such a short time frame as tell you Council you have hands down Head and Shoulders above every other business administrator in state of New Jersey and arua number one in theate area [Applause] my 10 here I went through two councils two administrations and I must say one of the brightest spots that I had in my 9year time frame was dealing with the councils both saw the value of the public works department and it was amazing what gave to us in order to enable us to do our jobs more effectively more efficiently and for that we are all truly grateful and look forward to many more years under the guidance of Gibson and continuing that great relationship thank you so [Applause] much department heads never seen a greater willingness in department heads working together in municipality iist I've dealt with do and do municipality it just doesn't exist there there's always controversy in all nonsense really needs to be pushed away in order to complete the task at hand each and every time I dealt with a different par head they would bend over backwards to find the answer for me if they couldn't then they would turn around and go to somebody else and then get back to I think that that's a great great example of leadership and it come straight from our business administrator Jim G day and that is truly exemplary of any other community in the state so thank you to all the dep it was been a pleasure ser like there's the administrative assistance there's the assistance there's the assistance the administrators the Assistance Department has all these different things that are out there and everybody's working together and I've always said if you don't just simply keep the Daily Grind going it comes to a screeching Hal your efforts might be behind the scenes you might not be get your name in the newsp but without you it fails and it fails miserably so thanks so much to everybody who comes in and puts their to Stone every single day and gets their job done thank now to my favorite folks out there the Department of Public Works I said my very first day there I said two things I said wholesale change are never a good thing great said that and stop said yeah wholesale change is never a good thing well I came from the outside guess what I wholesale change nobody knows who I am nobody knows what I'm about but conversely I didn't know them either I didn't know you either and one thing I said if we give one another a chance just give us a chance two-way stream here this will succeed otherwise it's going F that will end in Failure left and right and that's not what we want to do we want to make this the best Department Public Works in the state of New Jersey and I can tell you one the greatest examples is our involvement with office of emergency management she's found dos and welcome with open arms because they saw the Val they saw what we could help with that process and today we had MERS on swi Rescue Team we have drilled with Le fire and rescue and that pattern will continue and I don't know a single public works department in this state didn't say that they're involved that as a matter of fact most towns see us show up they say doing here and she got a they're here because we want them here so that's a big deal in this St I'd like to say congratulations to everyone because if you're not using your unique talents and if you're not using in the proper fashion we wouldn't be able to have that type of opportunity it creates different duties and responsibility more responsibility and because of that that opportunity we have had great success and that has one place to go and that is up so congratulations on that thank you for your integrity thank you for all the pride You' done in the work and just keep on doing your job because [Applause] that's the most important people in my life 40 years ago I met a young lady named and I got to tell you after her being my wife for 32 years I will not be the person I am today she pushed me she drove me sometimes K break Dan you something I deserve it guess what because of her I became a better person I became more and I thank God every day for us being together that fa dayly 198 met so to our sons Conor and you I guess the number one thing parent wants in their life is for their child to grow up as a good person into a good person and be a conductive member of society I got to tell you Mar and I can be very very proud of that fact that yes they are members of society that are good and producing for the good we couldn't be proud of them and we are forever grateful and blessed to have them as our and I would be Miss if I did not mention our 8 younger I've always said I'm sure you would agree with this there's nothing quite like coming home to a wagon tail and sure enough every day you come in no matter how bad it's been bad howly it's gone guess what that wagon tail that pretty face just makes it all go away and makes you just feel better and in our family this is all by a belief in that which is greater than ourselves a genuine Jesus Christ is our Lord and savior mother Mary is our guid for without them we are nothing God bless you all God bless this beautiful beautiful Town westfi God Bless America much love bless you much love thank you never fails I feel like I want to SL the flag or [Applause] something [Applause] so I just wanted to uh take this thank you as usual again exceptional discussion speech um again thank you dedica your service to the to West more pleased with you what you did here for us um take the opportunity now to just formally announce and and have our new public director meet the public uh Craig Gibson as was mentioned before last year at the end of December uh we actually like to have a transition between department when we can that so the new director out recor have a data download which would happen the last two weeks of December um but talk about for a minute so Happ publicly announced craigson new director Public Works Craig is appointed to the director's role last month transition before departure uh Craig was hired by the dep Department in 2002 um as a labor was then subsequently promoted Su downtown division 2015 uh cigs various certifications including class a njal driver license his new New Jersey Certified Public Works manager license and his New Jersey public BRS manag certificate is to Craig demonstrated over the years he has a vision commitment motivation and skills to serve the resid of this town uh and I know that his experience still to dat uh and going forward is going to Ser this to very well Town Council those who don't know wellon please and [Applause] say spech I won't take too much time I couple things I very necessary Share Group [Music] I want to take a moment to person thank mentioned uh Mr um Mr has and I'm will continue to be unbelievable resource assisted sohip patience will Ava most minor questions I've always been extremely helpful and I appreciate so much time takes to explain each and every expit detail and thank you o for recognizing qualities in me years ago which to a supervis role and ultimately for this opportunity thank you sir I respect youire professional and I'm proud to my work with fresh exciting new ideas at the time that simply beyond our vision we saw a lot of was extremely clear about one things open door this policy made very easy to gain advice to problem solve and better decisions along way I want to thank you with recogniz ands super you gave me theity creative in my roer services W offer before you us and mostly ability your support for this next thank you touch be very CLE I want to thank Chief Christopher police depart Chief the en Department chief we do work very closely as I want to express my right on of department for your trust for your confidence within us to be called upon to assist whenever we are needed and look forward to continue our work together and Rel so I ioke people say I but I after 2 years actually family Liv in thank you it's very important I my wife Sonia has made all of my opportunities of advancing with this department possible so many um storms power outages blizzards floods Corona virus all of it sometimes she was home for 2 or 3 days alone with our boys in the dark and in the cold she would shovel the driveway take care of my kids our kids check on the sub pump and call me only to ask if it was possible for me to swing home so she can give me something all of this allow my dedication to Westfield and focus on my work to try to help my department in any way I could without her support I am certain that I would not be standing up here today so thank you all of you love you very much truth be told I'd be really nothing at all without the entire team of DPW I am lucky and fortunate unlike Mr O'Neal to be the product of an eternal devotion uh but it is truly incredible to be accepted by my peers um whom I have worked with for many many years I know firsthand uh as we all know um that the staff there really is uh the most dedicated talented hardworking Public Works in the state of New Jersey uh I know many of these folks uh from north to south and nobody comes close to what we produce here in in westv so knowing this having the luxury of knowing this made the decision to take on uh such a big responsibility uh pretty easy the comfort and confidence that I have and that you should all have in them is very welld deserved um I can embrace the title of theor or be the team leader that's what's needed but quite frankly I would be nothing at all without the production Set uh I understand these men and women are not technically Uniform service uh but they all wear a uniform and I also understand the Public Works employees are not technically considered First Responders however this staff is often the first ones on scene in many critical situations in fact at times our partner emergency Personnel agencies cannot gain access to certain locations without Public Works successfully completing some of our functions first functions such as snow pling and removal treatment of icy roadways the removal of down trees and responding to floods are just a few and I am so proud to be part of a team and I'm excited to continue to work with them and continue to provide these important services to West finally I hope it's okay I'm going to borrow a welld deserved title um from New York City Road cruise and Department of Sanitation so alongside of Westfield's finest uh police department and Westfield's bravest fire department it would be my honor and pleasure to reintroduce the Westfield's strongest Department of Public [Applause] Works [Music] that thank you mayor and councel for indulging us and thank you Greg O'Neal and Craig Gibson as you can see we have very dedicated employees and uh uh we all should be very proud of the work they do so thanks again thank you everybody thank you that was it was really nice that was remarkable thank you it's also a really good reminder of how good we have it here thanks to all of you so okay so now back to where I was right Jim yes so um yes and by the way you all don't have to stay here for the meeting and if you walk out we don't think you're rude I just want everybody to know but feel free um okay so back to where I was started I was just want to mention a few things I uh speaking of Public Works I do want to thank uh Craig Gibson and his crew um for doing a great job where we pre-treated the roads ahead of the ice and snow that accumulated today um I I thought it was a good time to remind everybody that our town code requires residents and business owners to clear all sidewalks within 24 hours at the end of the snowfall so hopefully by tomorrow you have cleared your sidewalks um it's uh the temperature is dropping rapidly so it's going to be fairly dangerous out there um so please make sure you shovel your sidewalks salt your sidewalks especially with kids going to school and so forth um I also just many of us spent yesterday um at uh the Dr Martin Luther King Jr service interface service service I want to thank everybody from the council that attended as well as all the residents that participated in this great really one of my favorite Services honoring The Life and Legacy of Dr Martin Luther King um I also want to congratulate all the students who were uh Award winners in the essay poetry and art contests that were also recognized yesterday um and it was also a very busy morning because uh we also attended the um deployment ceremony for the first Squadron 107 Calvary regiment at the Armory uh thank you to everyone who submitted posters they surrounded the Armory which was terrific um this regiment it's based out of Westfield but it's from all over the state they are preparing to deploy to Iraq and Syria for a year um and I think a constant theme and I think it's really important for our community to realize and recognize that the not every Community shows the support for their arm for their um National Guard in a way that Westfield does and I heard over and over again uh thank you and how much the support from our community means to all these folks so um just want to say thanks and to the Union County Commissioners who played a big role in in getting the ceremony off today including our Westfield's own chairman chairwoman C Kim Paul Mar mudad um so Daniel brco and the bonds of Courage do an incredible job of leading that event and being there for our service men and women um I do want to talk about police activity for a bit because I know that's a Hot Topic but um I think it was important I just want to also recognize that our Police Department yesterday um they hosted a successful onsite assessment by the New Jersey State Association of the chiefs of police um in order to receive their state accreditation um if you remember um Westfield was accredited for the first time was it three years ago Chief or three years ago first time ever in the history of the Town um yesterday a team of assessors um from this chief of police organization um examined all aspects of the Westfield Police Department's policies and procedures management operations and support services in order to verify that our Westfield PD continues to meet accreditation best practi standards while we have not received official word of the results Chief Bor was informed on site that the department score is on track to be exemplary and qualifies for extension of their accreditation which is incredible it's a highly prized recognition of law enforcement professional Excellence that is achieved by only a very small percentage of Department Statewide so I just think it's important for our residents to know the caliber of staff department that we have working on our behalf of our residents every day day but I also think that news of this accreditation is very timely I know a lot of concerns we've been Fielding particularly from some W one residents regarding recent break-ins and attempted break-ins um in recent weeks from criminals attempting to retrieve key fobs to Steel cars uh the state accreditation should provide comfort and affirmation to the public that we have a topnotch police department working for us and their professionalism is a main reason why this Council has entrusted uh chief bord with the increased staff equipment and resources that he has requested for the Department to keep our community safe and I just to remind people that over the past two years we have added officers to the Westfield PD which is currently at its highest Staffing level in town history as I mentioned I know uh at at our reorg meeting we are accelerating the immediate purchase of 10 additional license plate readers to supplement the 15 lprs we installed in 2023 which have proven to be a critically important tool in deterring auto theft these new lprs will be placed along interior roads in some of the very neighborhoods that have experienced the highest rate of Auto thefts including around Lawrence Avenue um in addition uh I along with several Union County Mayors led the effort to Cola support for State legislation that was passed last year to impose stiffer penalties related to car thefts it is a pervasive problem throughout the entire State I speak regularly with the Union County prosecutor I just spoke to him today I spoke to him on Sunday to ensure that his office is charging criminals accordingly and that our courts hold these repeat criminals accountable with the appropriate consequences Chief Bor and I are meeting with him next week and some of his detectives to get an update on their progress countywide and while these are very important steps I also recognize that many of our residents are legitimately scared and concerned um and I want you to know that immediate action steps have already been taken including increased patrolling in the recently affected area around Lawrence Avenue um many I don't know if you if the residents are aware of it but many police officers are in unmarked cars so it's important for residents to know just because you don't see police it doesn't mean they are not there um and while these Auto thefts and break-ins are very frightening the unfortunate reality is that they are happening in every surrounding municipality and across the state in the absence of Statewide legislation that addresses the juveniles who are committing the majority of these crimes our goal remains as sheep Bor has always said to push these criminals out of Westfield by making it difficult for them to commit crimes so the first meeting of the Public Safety Committee takes place in two weeks this year's members including councilman Dy as the chair as well as council members hap good Saunders and domagala and they'll continue the conversation about these issues so the role just to be clear the role of the P Public Safety Committee is to raise issues brought forth by residents and discuss them with the police that look at potential Solutions without undermining the expertise of our law enforcement professionals by as people telling them how to do their jobs and so we will get recommendations out of those Public Safety committees which then they'll be shared with the public um I'm actually going to ask chap at Laura to come up and say a few words about recent crime statistics and the Department's current tactics to increase police presence I always think um context sometimes is very helpful uh and the V Chief thank you mayor I uh appreciate the opportunity to address you and the council this evening first off I would like to report that the Westfield Police Department was just subject to a comprehensive re accreditation assessment over the last two days a team assessors from the New Jersey State Association of chiefs of police were present on site to examine every single aspect of our operations at the exit interview I was advised by the assessment team leader that we had achieved a perfect assessment score the Westfield police department will be recommended for re accreditation at the commission's next schedule Hearing in March at which time we will be awarded our second such three-year accreditation the Westfield Police Department takes great pride in this accomplishment I was told by the assessment team leader that accreditation standards represent what is minimally acceptable I was told that there are those agencies that meet minimum standards there are those that exceed them and then there was Westfield which is set what they called the Westfield standard one that far exceeds the standards please know that the Westfield Police Department of today is a professional law enforcement agency and this assessment report only once again proves that it is just one of a handful of law agencies law enfor enforement agencies in the state of New Jersey to maintain both an accredited agency and an accredited Public Safety answering and dispatch point at my last count there were some 550 law enforcement agencies in the state of New Jersey um to maintain both an accredited agency um and uh to maintain um there's 550 law enforcement agencies in the state of New Jersey only six that can make such a statement that they maintain both a an accredited agency and a public safety answering point so that is is quite an achievement anyway now on to our vehicle theft problem and make no no mistake there is a problem not just here in Westfield but in Union County and Statewide there were 16,600 vehicle uh 605 vehicle thefts reported uh Vehicles reported stolen in in the state of New Jersey in 2023 that is an approximate 4.5% increase from 2023 when there were uh 2022 when there were 15898 Vehicles stolen thus far this year in New Jersey there were 610 Vehicles reported stolen including 36 in the last 24 hours for an average of 38 Vehicles stolen per day this marks a 7% increase in stolen vehicles thus far this year over 2023 in Westfield there were 24 Vehicles reported stolen in 2023 this is a 60% increase from the prior year in which 15 were reported stolen however it is still an approximate 177% decrease from 2021 when there was an all-time high of 28 Vehicles reported stolen no vehicles have been sto reported stolen thus far this year I'll share with you some 2023 statistical data about Westfield vehicle thefts on the north side of town there were a total of nine Vehicles reported stolen five in Ward one and four in ward two on the south side of town there were a total of 15 vehicles reported stolen five in Ward three and 10 in Ward 4 there were twice as many vehicles reported stolen on the souths side this included five of the last six vehicle thefts reported in the month of December and twice as many in Ward four than any other Ward eight vehicles or 33% yes onethird of them were left running unattended or were left unlocked with their key fobs in them at the time of their reported thefts 13 Vehicles were 54% were the result of burglaries to structures such as residences or garages two vehicles or 8% were the result of a burglary to a single BMW vehicle repair facility and one vehicle or 4% of the total was the result of an UNR returned rental vehicle from Avis Car Rental also make no mistake our officers continue to aggressively combat this vehicle theft problem in 2023 our officers engaged in 27 vehicle Pursuits that marks a 70% increase in vehicle Pursuits from the prior year when there were 13 25 of those vehicle Pursuits were with stolen vehicles or suspected stolen vehicles 21 of them the direct result of real-time alerts provided to us by our network of LPR cameras in all in 2023 our officers responded to 20 88 realtime alerts from LPR cameras for stolen vehicles or Vehicles displaying stolen license plates I have reviewed statistical data provided to me by the uni County prosecutor's office Major Crimes unit vehicle theft is absolutely rampant in this area according to that statistical data in 2022 there were over 800 reported vehicle thefts in Elizabeth and over 100 reported vehicle thefts in Union Lyndon and Hillside there were 60 plus vehicle thefts in Rosel and planfield in 2022 there were also twice as many vehicle thefts reported in nearby Springfield and Summit than there were in Westfield there is no municipality in Union County where vehicle theft was not reported there were even vehicle thefts reported in Winfield Park the problem should be a very big concern to all of us and one that I have said for causes us demand to demand changes from our state lawmakers until that happens the Westfield police department will do its very best to ensure your safety we already have one of the largest police departments in the area and we are fully staffed and fully funded our officers continue to aggressively Patrol this town not a particular neighborhood because as our data has clearly indicated all neighborhoods are being Target our efforts will not cease there is no neighborhood that deserves any more or any less of a police presence there are over 10,000 households in this town and we have a responsibility to ensure that they all receive our attention we have adjusted Patrol shift start and end times and are running with higher Staffing During certain hours of the day than we normally do and we are implementing measures to make our officers even more visible during hours of dark when most of these vehicle thefts occur this by utilizing Cruise lights when patrolling residential neighborhoods we continue to supplement Mark police patrols with plane Clos officers in undercover Vehicles as circumstances warrant we routinely contribute manpower to a countywide task force recently created by the uni County prosecutor one that deploys large numbers of officers to certain municipalities to include Westfield on those days days and times when collected data suggests vehicle thefts will likely occur a concept commonly referred to as intelligence Le pleasing our network of LPR cameras has proven particularly helpful by providing real-time alerts for stolen vehicles and vehicles displaying stolen license plates we continue to dis deploy resources in flood areas based on this real-time information they provide each stolen vehicle we locate and pursue likely represents a crime prevented these LPR cameras have been so helpful that mayor brindle has ordered the immediate implementation of 10 more this will bring our total to 25 once implemented only the cities of Elizabeth and Lynden which currently rank number one and number two in vehicle thefts will have more LPR cameras in service in uni County than Westfield however no law enforcement agency around is using them more effectively than us whether it be on the front end reacting to real-time crime alerts or on the back end building and furthering criminal investigations our officers will continue to aggressively seek out these thieves and when we find them we will drive them out but we will do it in full accordance with the law attorney general law enforcement directives and our own self-imposed Professional Standards while these criminals do not recognize and have no regard whatsoever for those laws guidelines and standards or for the safety of others we will not compromise our integrity nor our professionalism there is no doubt that vehicle Pursuits are inherently dangerous and the safety of officers and that of the general public must always be of Paramount concern in recognition of such we continue to place an overarching emphasis on subsequent investigations rather than vehicle Pursuits to identify and charge fleeing suspects recognizing the inherent dangers presented by vehicular Pursuits far outway the need for immediate apprehension the Westfield Police devot Department devotes a vast amount of resources towards investigating vehicle thefts since 2020 we have assigned a detective full-time to the New Jersey State Police auto theft task force we have also assigned additional Personnel to the task force for various lengths of time to support the units overall operations in general and to focus on Westfield's persistent vehicle theft problem in particular our detective assigned to the New Jersey State Police auto theft task force has a very simple but not always achievable goal to identify arrest and charge vehicle theft offenders elsewhere this before they can ever get the chance to come to Westfield when a vehicle does get stolen from Westfield he has assigned the case and his authority will assign to the New Jersey state police gives him Statewide jurisdiction and full access to the extensive investigative resources of that agency he notably within days identified the subject responsible for the Christmas Day theft of a Mercedes-Benz from Cumberland Street that subject was a 17-year-old male from Newark and he was mailed a summons charging him with motor vehicle theft yes he was mailed a summons there was no custodial arrest ever made because that is how matters are handled nowadays most adults once charged are simply released from custody after service of a summons as well and they then return to their criminal Behavior the recidivism of offenders is so very well documented in their extensive criminal histories but this is the state of our current Criminal Justice System we need your support and coop Co operation in our efforts you are the eyes and ears out there I strongly encourage you to be neighborly to look out for one another and to report any and all suspicious persons Vehicles Andor activities immediately via 911 if we are not already in your neighborhood I assure you we are not far away and once again I strongly encourage you to demand changes from our state lawmakers thank you [Applause] great thank you mayor um I do I would like to mention a couple of things that are on the agenda tonight relate to the finance policy commit committee um two ordinances in particular that are related to the public works one that amends the existing ordinance to properly create the position of an assistant director of Public Works and one that amends the existing ordinance to amend a few DPW salary ranges these ordinances are intended to prepare for the reorganization of the DPW under our new uh director Craig Gibson and so um stay tuned for that but I just wanted to give you a little um heads up there and as the mayor mentioned in her state of the Town address um part of our continued focus is on fields um and so part of the changes are to um help us to implement a more dedicated set of resources for the maintenance of parks and Fields um with the talent that we have in the DPW already there are several opportunities to better leverage our resources and these ordinances will allow us to start that process um I'd also like to quickly say before we get on to the rest of our agenda that it's budget time in Westfield so for me as the chair of the finance policy committee it's like the Super Bowl um and so next Tuesday we will I know it's a long Super Bowl it's like the playoffs and it all of it all wrapped up into um a period of time that starts next Tuesday um when we will meet with our town auditor to um see how the um town did against its budget for 2023 and then next Thursday night um I invite everyone in the public of Westfield to join us here in this room at 7M it's um the way that we kick off the budget season with the public and it also gives um Jim Guild and I an opportunity to um let you see as the town how we performed against the budget these are your hard-earned taxpayer dollars and um we always want to make sure that we're not only delivering a budget to you in the springtime but at the end of the year we're reporting back to you um how we did against that budget um so that's next Thursday night at 7 pm in this room um and then there are sequence of meetings that happen over the next couple of months as we prepare to deliver a budget to you all but the other part of Thursday's meeting is to give all of you an opportunity to let us know your feedback and your dreams and desires for the 2024 budget um since part of that will also involve us looking at Capital planning and um you know how all the department budgets are going to set up so I encourage you to come if you're not able to make that meeting it's okay um we will set up a email address as we do every year that's typically Westfield a budget at Westfield nj.gov feel free to send emails to us and let us know things that you would like us to consider as we go through the budget process thank you mayor years and um as I said andg did a great and you heard it and I know many many it's 30 fulltime and six Summers as a lifegard sorry I do sorry thank you Linda I don't know if you all understand how unusual it is to have an administrator with the tenure that we have in Westfield when I talk to other Mayors um it's unheard of and it is a big reason why was Jim was talking earlier why people want to come live here and why people want to come work here it's because of Jim and if you took his salary and broke it out hourly I'm convinced he's making below minimum wage and he literally Spends His weekends driving around town inspecting um if residents complains about whether it's flooding or said Jim knows every inch of this town his poor children I know are subjected to driving around and seeing What's happen but I just we could spend all night talking about Jim's dedication as a true public servant for Westfield but um I just want to say thank you Jim it is a pleasure and privilege to support your reappointment and uh once again we're very lucky that you are willing to to stay with us for another three years so with that may I have a motion to appoint Jim Jim gz Town Administrator I make a motion so move by councilman armento second a second the motion second by Council dagala any discussion all in favor yes [Applause] opposed is this the time to ask for a raise and and you Jim hates to be the center of attention he hates to have his picture taken and uh and my running joke at Jim now that I've worked with him long enough his Jim will tell you could give him whatever news you want he'll say no big deal no big deal I'm convinced the day Jim says it's a big deal we all got to pack it up and go home because nothing is ever a big deal for him um and the second appointment of the night is reappointing our judge frag Patel as municipal judge through term of January 31st 2027 may I have a motion to appoint PR Patel as municipal judge so move by councilman Macky second second by councilman contract any discussion all in favor yes opposed this motion is carried um okay may I have a motion to approve the minutes from the Town Council conference and regular meetings of December 12 2023 and the organization meeting of January 2nd 2024 uh second Council Council haid any discussion all in favor yes oppose this motion is carried now it's time for open discussion by citizens anyone may come up to the mic and speak to the coun on any subject on which we have jurisdiction please state your name and address for the record and limit your comments to five minutes please okay hi everybody uh Rob galano 939 Boulevard hello first of all I would like to congratulate the town for prevailing in the Sophia lawsuit of course everything was done by the book and within the law as we all knew a local Civic group raised and uh I assume spent nearly $20,000 in an attempt to stop the project what I'd like to know mayor brindle is how much of our tax dollars did the town spend to defend itself from this lawsuit secondly we were all Witnesses at the last meeting to the attempt to fire Town attorney Tom Jardine mayor brindle if you would could you please explain the following in as much detail as you like regarding vacancies for for the positions of town attorney un call Traffic consultant Redevelopment traffic consultant and Redevelopment parking consultant can you tell me what are the risks of having vacancies especially unplanned ones at any of these positions how difficult is it to fill these positions and how long would it take to fill them if a vacancy arises I don't think I've ever heard anything about it before so I'd like to know I think a lot of people would like to know for the new councilman I also have a question for you in the interest of full transparency can you please produce tonight any lists created on or before January 2nd 2024 that list any and all of your alternate candidates for Town attorney and why they were chosen any and all of your alternate candidates for on call Traffic consultant and why they were chosen any and all alternate candidates for redevelopment traffic consultant and why they were chosen all of your alternate candidates for redevelopment parking consultant and why they were chosen because if you went into the January 2nd meeting intending to end these contracts without a plan in place that's irresponsible if you went to that meeting knowing you didn't have the votes but you were just intending to Grand stand that's just cynical I was led to believe somehow in New Day was going to be ushered in with all this transparency and moderate thinking what I got was four men voting the exact same way on firing Town employees and Consultants I was led to believe the era of government by rubber stamp was over what I got was a new kind of rubber stamp on behalf of that previously mentioned local civil group Ward thank you anyone else okay hearing um none I close this portion of the meeting um thank you Mr galado I can't really speak to the the question about I mean I think the risk of vacancy of these positions is quite obvious and I think Mr dogale talked about that um uh I do know related to the Sophia lawsuit I think it we spent about $20,000 of taxpayer dollars defending that lawsuit so um is that does that sound is that accurate that's right um so yes um but uh but glad to know that all our professionals were reappointed um you know I think it's obviously uh thrilled to have Mr jardim I didn't want to get into it before when that was position was being challenged and felt I left Mr Jardine but just did a disservice by not defending um him but I do think that um people do have differences of legal opinions we feel really confident in the opinion I think that it was being challenged related to um a referendum and we obviously consulted lots of professionals and I did think that was an unfortunate uh circumstance of what happened on the council especially in deference to the fact that Mr charim is a former mayor and it also to discredit I think all of the great work that he's done for the town including winning us $3.65 million in terms of a senior housing lawsuit so um to compensate for my lack of defense for you and trying to keep the peace at the YG meeting I do want to reaffirm our full confidence and gratitude for the great work that Tom has done for the town not only as an attorney but quite FR but as a previous mayor as well so thank [Applause] you thank you for the defense not at all uh needed at all just on the issue of the vacancy so there there are certain statutory positions in New Jersey that uh in municipalities that are required the town clerk the tax collector and it turns out a town attorney is a required position statutorily by the state of New Jersey under the uh municipalities and counties section of the State uh State Legislative code and what would happen if one uh municipality is not able to agree on a Town attorney as a town attorney holds over until an appointment is made so you can't go without a town attorney I suppose that's good news for us lawyers but thank you for com thank you for that [Applause] clarification if I may I think a question was asked of me rather directly if I may respond thank you uh to the resident who who came and commented um just a couple points for your appication um obviously we didn't have any lists of uh attorneys to uh consider before we got brought into the council because we didn't even know that that was going to be voted on until about 36 hour hours before the first meeting um the reality is even though we weren't part of the RFP process we were asked to vote on that matter I and I'm not speaking for anyone else here will always vote my conscience when asked to vote while I am on this days period full stop and you might also take note when we do vote that goes something like this and I just learned this too we you have a motion someone seconds it and then we have discussion if I'm asked to discuss something and speak my mind I shall do that at the people of word for elected me to do that and I'll keep doing it now what I will say just so you think that we're not that I'm bitter or that we need to relitigate this I I shook Mr jardim's Hand after we did that is nothing personal to him Mr jardim and I are attorneys both of us I've argued in court vociferously against adversaries and still can go and have a cup of coffee or a beer with them afterwards so I will work Mr Jardine as to the to the utmost ability of my ability and and I'm sure he will too uh for the town of Westfield because when he succeeds the town succeeds and I look forward to that thank you um okay so moving on to bills and cleans councilman have good we already closed it I'm sorry thank you mayor um I'd like to move bills and claims in the amount of 1,51 19,994 63 may I have a second so by Council and contract any discussion all in favor yes oppos yes this motion is carried next on the agenda is reports of standing committees beginning with the finance policy committee councilman ha thank you mayor um I have 11 resolutions 10 of which I'd like to move as a package the first a resolution authorizing the CFO to refund a dumpster security to payment two a resolution authorizing the CFO to draw a warrant to the treasur state of New Jersey for the marriage civil union licenses fees three a resolution authorizing the CFO to refund the recreation department fees four resolution authorizing the CFO to refund construction Department fees Five resolution authorizing the CFO to refund Police Department fees six a resolution authorizing the CFO to refund dog licens fees seven a resolution authorizing the CFO to prepare warrants for postage payment in connection with the tax assessment notices to Property Owners eight a resolution authorizing the CFO to draw a warrant for the fourth quarter construction officials State permit fees nine a resolution to appoint the fire protection subcode official and inspector 10 a resolution to amend the 2024 Westfield Memorial Pool membership rate that's just for um one mistake that went out in the brochure yeah I have a second second second by councilman contract all any discussion all in favor yes yes yes oppos this motion has carried and next I'd like to move a resolution authorizing the CFO to make a budget transfer may I have a second my councilman Mackie any discussion please call the RO council members have yes nardia yes D yes keeper yes Saunders yes armento yes contract yes Mackie yes mayor ble yes this motion has carried and I'd also like to move General ordinance number 2024 20 24-1 on first reading an ordinance to amend the town the code of town of Westfield code chapter 2 Section 89.1 I have a second second my council is that you sorry don't have the voices yet good um any discussion please call the role council members H good yes dardia yesal yes keeper yes Saunders yes armento yes contract yes ma yes may yes this motion has carried and lastly I'd like to move General ordinance number 20 24-02 on first reading an ordinance to amend the code of the town of Westfield chapter 2 Administration Article 2 town officers and employees divion 3 Personnel positions and salaries schedule section 21228 schedule I have the second second my councilman dardia any discussion please call the all council members H good yes dardia yesal yes keeper yes Saunders yes armento yes contract yes Mackie mayor bundle yes this motion has carried next up is code review councilman contract thank you mayor I have two resolutions to move as a package the first is a resolution to approve open air lot licenses for two car dealerships or car mechanic uh places uh the second is a resolution authorizing the mayor to sign an access agreement and just for a little bit of background basically this is to allow a new egress along the entrance to lot four that is part of a new construction that was approved by the planning board the town will end up with a nice sidewalk which will facilitate access to the sidewalk and it's it's just allowing the mayor to sign this agreement with the developer may I have a second second by Council mardia any discussion all in favor yes yes yesos this motion has carried Council Macky please move Public Works resolutions thank you mayor I have two resolutions I would like to move resol to rush that's very exciting resolution authoring change number one for 2023 Road Improvement may I have a second second goodbye Council who said that was that you contract sorry any discussion well residents should know why we do brush and log grinding this is where your mulch comes from maybe we should have Craig come up and explain it this is a free amenity to Residents because we sell all the all the trees and stuff that get ground up residents get it for free and we sell it to landscapers it's a nice Revenue stream can I just make another comment the reason why it's rejected is because the bid was too high so the Town Council ensures that we get proper bids and uh spend your your money wisely so that's why it's rejected but they we'll be looking for other bids so you get your motion right all in favor definitely oppos this motion has carried may I have a motion to adourn Mo by Council Mackie second by Council all in favor yep that car good night [Applause] everybody