Okay, here we Adequate notice of this meeting is 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 17th, 2024. The
notice was on that date posted on the bulletin board in the municipal building provided to the Westfield leader and the star ledger and filed with the clerk of the town of Westfield. Miss Lashi, may I have a roll call? Mayor Rindle, acting mayor here.
Council member Dardia here. Domagalo here. Keeper here. Saunders here. Armentoto here. Contract key here. Please rise for the invocation which will be given by Councilman Saunders and then remain standing for the salute to
the flag. Today, may we be open to others ideas and beliefs, respectful of our differences, not threatened by them. May we grow in understanding of one another. strength. Real strength can always find compromise. Working together may may be we find a common ground enable us to
move forward with a shared purpose. May we see what is truly important and unites us focusing on that to banish roadblocks of ego and fear. Today, may we be open to others ideas and beliefs to the flag
of America and to the republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Uh thank you, acting mayor. Um nothing too uh lengthy tonight. Um, we have no
road paving starting just yet, so nothing to report on and any progress there. Sign program is going along. We'll have another update on that next meeting. Um, and just again want to mention, I know you'll mention some, uh, comments tonight, acting mayor. Um, but again, uh, you know, very significant
storm in big parts of New Jersey, including Westfield last night. Uh I'll let you go through the details that um uh you'll go through tonight uh acting mayor, but I just want to thank the police, fire, public works, uh rescue squad, and the residents who were out there uh helping the volunteers. Um we
had a pop-up shelter here at town hall last night with some residents who were brought here from the from the car vehicle rescues. Um and uh again, it was um you know, tough tough life for many people here. Uh we Heather and I met 20 plus people in the pop-up shelter. all
had different various uh tough stories. Uh but thanks to the police department, fire, public works, rescue squad, and the police particularly who uh ended up having to drive some of those residents back to their homes, they did not have ability to get back home for various reasons. Many of the residents who were here did um or residents in New Jersey
that were here uh did have people pick them up. But again, just another good night uh for public safety services last night in town of Westfield. So, thank you. Thank you, Jim. And thank you for keeping all of us updated last night as well. So, thanks to everyone who's joining us
both in person and online tonight. I will be presiding over tonight's meeting in my role as acting mayor while Mayor Brindle is out of town. Um, as a reminder, public comment will be accepted in person only. We're streaming live on YouTube live and as always, the
replay will be available afterwards on Facebook, YouTube, and TV36. The storm information. Um Jim just gave us some of the highlights, but on behalf of the entire council, I'd like to extend our gratitude to our incredible
team of first responders from the Westfield Police Department, the Westfield Fire Department, the West Westfield Volunteer Rescue Squad, and the Department of Public Works, and a lot of people here in town hall who also played a role. Um, everyone displayed
tremendous professionalism, dedication, and resourcefulness during last night's storm. Thankfully, no significant injuries were sustained by the public or town staff, and initial assessments indicate that no major damage um was uh
experienced to any public infrastructure in Westfield. According to the data from the United States Geological Survey, Westfield received approximately 6.34 inches of rain, most of which came in a three-hour span. That's roughly 135%
of the 30-year regional rainfall average for July, which the average is 4.72 in. During the heaviest rainfall, 3.87 ines fell in just 45 minutes between 5:15 and
6:00, representing 82% of the expected monthly rainfall um for this for July. And by comparison, during this storm last night, tropical storm Ida, Westfield received 7.18 inches of rain.
So a very significant storm. All streets and roads are presently open with the exception of Springfield Avenue between East Broad and Mill Lane where a tree, utility pole, street lamp, and wires are still down. Um, and also requires some further remediation by PSENG and police
are on the scene there. But just a place to avoid additional noteworthy details about last night. The police department fielded more than 300 storm related calls to its non-emergency and 911 lines. Um this includes 34 calls for
service related to disabled and destroyed abandoned vehicles. The Westfield Police and Fire departments responded to and conducted numerous rescues of people trapped in submerged vehicles on streets and roadways throughout town. The town's office of emergency management activated and
deployed its rapid storm response team, a multidisciplined unit comprised of select police officers, firefighters, and DPW employees who have been trained, certified, and equipped as water rescue technicians following the unprecedented flooding caused by tropical storm Ida in
2021. Last evening, they entered waist high flood waters in some areas with their inflatable emergency rescue boats and removed approximately 20 people from vehicles submerged in uh flood waters around town. Many of those rescued were transported to a temporary shelter that
was um housed here in the town hall community room. Three of those individuals were treated immediately upon their arrival by the rescue squad for exposure and one also sustained a knee injury during the fall. During a fall, all individuals at the shelter were provided with blankets and dry
clothing and water. Um, and those who didn't have transportation home, as Jim mentioned, were offered transportation. Um, when the roads were safe, the Westfield Fire Department responded to approximately 40 storm related emergencies, some of which were caused by lightning strikes to residential
structures and fixed objects like trees and utility poles. Two confirmed residential fires in the 1100 block of Ty Place and the 700 block of Forest Avenue were successfully extinguished by the Westfield Police Department, the Westfield Fire Department members on
Monday evening with no reported injuries and minimal property damage due to the swift response and additional recall personnel. Four additional residential structures were reported to sustain damage by light lightning in addition to trees and wires across roadways making
streets impassible and active downed electrical primary wires caused fires and roadways. The fire department also assisted with the overflow of reported victims submerged in flood waters and helped residences um with water removal from flooded
basement. The Department of Public Works was instrumental not only in assisting with the efforts of police and fire, but also in responding to numerous requests to clear storm drains and help mitigate water levels. Townwide street sweeping is now underway to resolve any remaining
debris from the storm. And in addition, a recent technological upgrade to our sanitary um sewer systems with new digital sensors provide the DPW with critical alert about sanitary sewer pump levels in the end of in the area of
trails and court. This technology enabled the team to respond in a timely fashion and prevent overflow to surrounding homes. Thank you again to all of our residents for your patience and cooperation and to all of our um departments who participated. And as a reminder, you can
call 9087894000 for ongoing non-emergency requests related to the storm. And as always, immediately call 911 for emergency assistance. Okay. Thank you, Mayor. I just want to add one thing I forgot to mention. Um we
are going to open up the conservation center tomorrow. Uh normally the hours are Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Uh but people might need the services a day early because of the storm. So it will be open tomorrow. Normal hours 9 to 2:30 uh for anyone that needs it. So again, contra center will be open tomorrow. Great. Thank you for doing that. I'm
sure that'll be appreciated. Um and so in terms of tonight's um legislative agenda, I'd like to cover a few things before we get going with the official meeting. Um, from the finance policy committee, we have several resolutions that include three resolutions
authorizing affordability assistance grants funded through our affordable housing trust fund. A resolution to approve the insertion of a special item of revenue from the what we call the Nacho infrastructure program which adds $24,951
to continue to offset salaries for health professionals, health services professionals in the health department here in Westfield. From the public safety committee, we have several items. A resolution authorizing an award of contract for cancer screening services
for the Westfield Fire Department, which fulfills a new state requirement for all municipalities that do not participate in the New Jersey state health benefits program to provide cancer screening services once every three years to firefighters. This was completed through
a competitive publicly advertised RFP process. a resolution authorizing award of contract for the purchase and installation of two additional LED LCD digital display monitors for the Westfield Police Department, which has just undergone a big renovation.
A resolution authorizing payment to Axon Enterprise for the Westfield Police Department's bodywn cameras. An ordinance on first reading that provides for an additional handicap space in front of Franklin School due to the needs of an incoming student in September. An ordinance on second
reading making minor changes to the bicycle advisory board which includes adding a pedestrian component to the scope of work and adding the adding and amending the voting member structure. an ordinance on second reading to ban the
use of motorized scooters and bicycles on all park pathways and trails. As a reminder, this ordinance was reviewed and recommended by the recreation commission in response to a rapidly growing number of concerns being reported by the residents and our police
department. We also have an ordinance on second reading that in that increases the maximum not to exceed price for a daily parking pass to $25. The not to exceed pricing does not reflect the actual pricing that will be set for this year,
but provides the council with flexibility to make additional changes in subsequent years as needed. This online permitting permitting capability will provide greater convenience for our commuters. It will also allow us to increase the number of daily permits available by selling them in the
underutilized Wat Street lot for the first time and to adapt the number of daily passes based upon demand with more daily passes being available on Mondays and Fridays, for example. The current $5 daily rate has been in place for more
than 20 years, believe it or not, and has never been raised since its inception. We anticipate reviewing the pricing as part of a larger review of our townwide parking and pricing strategy later this summer. Our goal is to ensure we're maximizing the utility of all of our parking lots to serve as
many residents as possible as conveniently as possible and to introduce smarter parking strategies as commuting patterns evolve. And then from our code review and town property committee, we have a resolution authorizing the mayor and clerk to
execute an agreement with the county of union to modify the cooperative agreement that allows us to qualify for annual community development block grant funds. We have an ordinance on second reading that establishes an administrative process for veteran tax
exemptions. This action is standard practice and formalizing it will assist our tax assessor with implementation of any applications. And then lastly, we also have an ordinance on second reading that revisits the solar ordinance that was tabled and sent back to the committee several months ago for further
review. The new ordinance removes the requirement that streetf facing solar panels match the color of adjacent roofing materials while also preserving other existing regulations. And so with that introduction, let's get to work.
Um, I am going to start with a motion to accept the following appointment to the board of health. Denise Rzolo um will be filling an unexpired term expire expiring december 31st, 2028. Motion second.
Motion by Councilman Healey, second by Councilman Armento. Any discussion? All in favor? Yes. Opposed? The motion is carried. Then we go to presentations and
advertised hearings. Miss Lashi, are there any advertised hearings? Yes, acting mayor. We have five advertised hearings tonight. The first is for general ordinance 2025 12, an ordinance amending the town of Westfield School Board. Anyone wishing to be heard on general ordinance 202512, please come
to the microphone, state your name and address for the record. Seeing no one, may you may close the hearing. This hearing is closed. Next is general ordinance 202513, an ordinance amending the town code chapter 16 to ban low speed electric bicycles
and low speed electric scooters on bicycle paths and to ban motorized bicycles and motorized scooters in parks. Anyone wishing to be heard on general or 2025, please come to the microphone, state your name and address for the record.
May close. This hearing is closed. Next is general orange 202514 an ordinance amending the code in town of Westfield, New Jersey regarding parking in certain municipal lots. Anyone wishing to be heard on general orders 2020 2025.
Please come to the microphone to state your name and address for the record. Seeing no one This hearing is closed. Next is general ordinance 202515, an ordinance of the town of Westfield, County of Union, state of New Jersey,
amending chapter 2, article B, article 5, finance and taxation of the code to establish 100% disabled veteran tax refunds. Anyone wishing to be heard on general ordinance 202515, please come to the microphone, state your name and address for the record.
Seeing no one, mayor, you may close the hearing. This hearing is closed. Last is general or 202516, an ordinance amending the land use ordinance of the town of Westfield relating to the installation of solar energy systems. Anyone wishing to be heard on general or
2516, please come to the microphone, state your address for the record. See no one. Mayor, you may close the hearing. This hearing is closed. Councilman Dardia, please move for the
adoption of public safety, transportation, and parking committee ordinances. Thank you, acting mayor. I would like to move for the adoption of general ordinance number 20 25-12, an ordinance amending the town of Westfield bicycle board. May I have a second?
Second. Second by Councilman Damagala. Any discussion? Please call the role. Council members Dardia. Yes. Damaga. Yes. Kefir. Yes. Saunders. Yes. Yes. Haley. Yes. Acting Mayor Hack.
Yes. Next, I would like to move for the adoption of general ordinance number 2025-13, an ordinance amending the town of code chapter 16 to ban low-speed electric bicycles and low-speed electric scooters
on bicycle paths and to ban motorized bicycles and motorized scooters in parks. Second. Seconded by Councilman Armento. Any discussion? I would like to make a comment on
uh this is the these motorized uh ebikes are a real phenomenon. It's grown tremendously in the last few years. Uh
they can be very dangerous. I I do a lot of bicycling myself and we also own an ebike that you pedal and then that can boost the speed and the difference in speed between my just normal pedaling
and what the ebike can do is about goes from about 10 miles an hour normally for a bike to about 20 miles an hour for for when you're pedaling the boost. I'm sure our police department and our
chief chief battle are well aware of the dangers that we're now seeing. And so this ordinance uh is just the tip of the iceberg of what I'm sure will be at a state level and perhaps a local level. And I will
add that Westfield was a instigator of one of the great revolutions in bicycle history. The first bicycle helmet ordinance was passed in Westfield uh in the 1990s that
tipped off the uh movement to have a statewide law that copied the Westfield ordinance and then that numerous states, the majority of states have copied the New Jersey law. So, we're we're pioneers in this field and we'll be keeping our
eyes on this and uh we'll take all the input we can. This this is just this ordinance is just regulating or uh uh making making unlawful to ride an a a po
powered bike on paths within the parks. It's just the first step. We have so much more to do on this. Thank you. Please call the council member. Yes. Yes. Keeper. Yes. Yes. Yes.
Yes. Yes. Okay. Last I would like to move for the adoption of general ordinance number 2025-14, an ordinance amending and supplementing the code the town of Westfield, New Jersey, regarding parking in certain
municipal lots. May I have a second? Second. Seconded by Councilman Saunders. Any discussion? Council goer. All right. By the way, I knew this is my time. I was just seeing if you were on your feet, Charlene. And u you passed the
test. Good job. Um so, uh I just wanted to say that some of the feedback I heard on this um since it was introduced was people wondering why do we need to up the ability to uh for the permit up to $25 if we're not going to make it $25.
In other words, it seems like the town council was sort of abdicating its duty or delegating wholesale to maybe the town administrator to just bump it up to $24.99 whenever the they felt like it. Um, and so I just and and just to note that that's really not what's going on. If you take a close look at the
ordinance, it says that the daily parking permit shall be available for a daily fee up to $25 as such amount may be set by the mayor and town council by resolution. So my understanding in voting yes for this is that if it were to go to $24.99 there
would be a resolution uh for us to vote on. So so there's some comfort there for people if you're concerned about that. Thanks. Anyone else? I think that's an important point that town council has to vote on it and it can't the increase cannot occur without our vote but by resolution not
ordinance. So I think that's important. Okay, please call the role. Council members Daria, yes. John Bell, yes. Kefir, yes. Saunders, yes. Yes. Healey, yes. Mayor, yes.
This motion is carried. Councilman Healey, please move for the adoption of code review and town property committee ordinances. Yes. I'll move this ordinance uh that uh allows for uh a special tax uh treatment
for 100% disabled veteran tax refunds. May I have a second? Second. Second by Councilman Dardia. Any discussion? Please call the role. Council members Dardia. Yes. Yes. Kefir,
yes. Sanders, yes. Yes. Yes. Yes, this motion is carried. I would like to also move uh for the adoption of general uh ordinance
amending the land use ordinance with respect to solar energy placements on roofs. May I have a second? Second. Second by Councilman Damagala. Any discussion? Uh yes, I'll I will have a little
discussion. You know, this might be seen as trivial. And this is a good example of council members discussing, investigating, working together to try to find a solution to a problem that's
been identified. This this uh I could say liberalizes a little bit the requirements to place a a solar panel on the front of your house. Uh but it was hard hardly analyzed and I commend uh
councilwoman acting mayor Hapg good for working with councilman contract to try to find common ground and uh it wasn't that easy to do. This looks like it puts it to rest. Great. Thank you, Councilman. Anyone
else? Okay. Please call the role. Council member Dardia. Yes. Delaw. Yes. Keeper. Yes. Saunders. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.
May I have a motion to approve the minutes of the town council conference and regular meetings of June 24th, 2025? So moved. Second. Second. Seconded by Councilman Saunders and uh
first moved by Councilman Dardia. 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. Okay. Um, looks like we don't have any participants for tonight. So, I'll close this portion of the meeting and move to
bills and claims. Uh, Councilman Damagawa. Thank you, acting mayor. I'd like to move to bills and claims in the amount of $1,788.25. May I have a second? Second. Second by Councilman Saunders. Any discussion?
All in favor? Yes. Opposed? The motion is carried. Next on the agenda is reports of standing committees beginning with the finance policy committee. Councilman Damagala. Thank you, acting mayor. I have 11 resolutions which I would like to move
as a package. One, resolution authorizing the chief financial officer to refund recreation department fees. Two, resolution authorizing the chief financial officer to draw a warrant for dog licenses for June 2025. Three, resolution authorizing the chief financial officer to draw a warrant to
treasurer state of New Jersey for marriage and civil union license fees. Number four, resolution authorizing the chief financial officer to draw a warrant for unused parking permit fees. Five, resolution authorizing the chief financial officer to draw warrant
pursuant to tax court of New Jersey. Six, resolution authorizing the chief financial officer refund right-of-way improvement cash bond. Seven, resolution authorizing the chief financial officer to draw a warrant for the second quarter construction official state permit fees.
Eight, resolution authorizing an affordability affordability assistance grant pursuant to the town of Westfield's affordability assistance program for tenant of an affordable housing unit 1202 East Grove Street, unit 1202. Number nine, resolution authorizing an
affordability assistance grant pursuant to the town of Westfield's affordability assistance program for a tenant of an affordable housing unit 1302 Echolane, unit 1302. Number 10, resolution authorizing an affordability assistance grant pursuant
to the town of Westfield's affordability assistance program for the tenant of an affordable housing unit at 214 East Grove Street, unit 211. And number 11 to approve the insertion of a special item of revenue, the NJ Nacho we spoke about
earlier, the infrastructure program. May I have a second? Second. Second by Councilman Healey. Any discussion? Thank you for filling in for me while I fill in for the mayor. Absolutely. So those were tongue twisters.
Uh this motion is carried. Next is public safety, transportation, and parking committee. Councilman Dardia. Thank you, acting mayor. Uh, I have three resolutions which I would like to move as a package. Resolution number one, authorizing an award of contract for cancer screening services for the
Westfield Fire Department. Two, resolution authorizing an award of contract for the purchase and installation of LED LCD digital display monitors for the Westfield Police Department. Three, resolution authorizing payment to Axon Enterprise
for the Westfield Police Department. May I have a second? Second. Second by Councilman Armentoto. Any discussion? Do I have a question? Do I have this right? These are the speed monitors or is that is that not correct? No. What are these?
The LED LCD. Those are the monitors within the police station that displays for all of the where the cars are and all the different just upgraded that whole system. Thank you. That takes all the 911 911 calls. Um,
so all in favor? Yes. Yes. Any opposed? The motion is carried. Um, lastly, I would like to move general ordinance number 2025-17 on first reading, an ordinance to amend the code of the town of Westfield,
chapter 13. May I have a second? Second. Seconded by Councilman Damagawa. Any discussion? Make one comment. Not the mayor, if you don't mind. Just want to just reiterate what this is. This is a just an additional handicap spot in front of Franklin School. I just want to thank uh
Principal Paul Duncan. Um very easy to work with. Um and uh this is now um being installed an extra spot there for another child in need that's coming in into September. So again, thank you for considering this and if it does get done by August, we'll be able to install it before school starts.
Thank you, Jim. Any other discussion? Please call the role. Council member Zardian. Yes. Yes. Keeper. Yes. Sanders. Yes. Armentoto. Yes. Healey. Yes. Mayor. Yes.
The motion is carried. Next is code review and town property committee. Councilman Healey. Yes. I'd like to move the resolution uh authorizing us to execute uh agreement with the county of union having to do with block grants. It's an
annual requirement that we update it. May I have a second? Second. Seconded by Councilman Dardia. Any discussion? All in favor? Yes. Opposed? The motion is carried. Um and before I ask for a motion to
adjurnn, I did want to just let everyone know that I got a call um earlier today from Senator Andy Kim's office. The senator is going to be in Westfield on Sat this coming Saturday morning at 10 a.m. at Edison School in the auditorium
to hold an in-person town hall. Um, and the office wanted to make sure that I invited everyone in the town of Westfield and even friends that might be from surrounding towns to um to join him. He'd like to come and report out um happenings in Washington. Um so 10:00
Saturday morning, Edison Middle School. Um, may I have a motion to adjurnn? Councilman Armentoto. Thank you. Um, seconded. Second. Second by Councilman Saunders. All in favor? Yes. Opposed?
The motion is carried and this meeting is adjourned. Thank you everyone. Thank you.