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 the 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 Lushi, may I have a roll call? >> Mayor Brindle, acting mayor Hood >> here. >> Council members Dardia >> here. >> Mala >> here. >> Kefir >> here. >> Saunders >> here.
>> Armentoto >> here. Contract >> here. >> Healey >> here. Please rise for the invocation which will be given by Councilman Kefir and then remain standing for the salute to the flag. >> As we gather here today, let us be
mindful of the diversity of beliefs represented in our community. Let us draw upon the values of respect, understanding, and unity. As we deliberate and make decisions for the betterment of our town, may wisdom guide our discussions and compassion govern
our actions. To the flag of the United States of America and to the stands, one nation under God, indivisible, liberty and justice for all. >> Mayor, acting mayor, I have uh not too
many comments tonight, but I do want to introduce um Mr. Walter Corfer, who's here tonight on behalf of the Rotary Club. uh and he'd like to make a uh maybe a couple remarks and a donation to the town. Uh Rotary Club has been a great partner to the town over the years. Uh
we've done a lot of uh things together, particularly recently some tree plantings over the a few areas where they choose areas or things to do in honor of somebody or something and uh we work with the DPW uh forestry division to do things together. So I'd like to introduce Walter to say a few words and
I think he has something for us. So thank you. Sure. Thank you, Jim. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. My name is Walter Kmacher. I'm here representing the Westfield Rotary Club and we're uh doing a special project with the DPW where they're planting 20 trees that they bought on
our behalf and they're planting uh soon. Uh this is we're calling it the Tony Leaporta Memorial Tree Project. So, we're memorializing a a former president of Westfield Rotary. So, former councilman.
>> Excuse me. >> And a former councilman. >> Oh, thank you. And a former council person. So, that probably helps, too. So, we brought a check for $4,000 to pay for the uh uh trees. And And who do I present it to?
>> I I will take this on behalf of someone. >> You got it. Thank you, Walter. Thank you for your time. >> And again, I just want to thank the Rotary Club and and the memory of Tony Leora, a former council member, but um also a Rotarian Rotarian for many years.
And um again, uh this is one of the nice things we get to do. Um uh trees are important to our our streetscape and uh the Rotary Club has had some great um projects with the town and I want to thank Rob Kosolic, our tree supervisor, forestry division supervisor, for working with Walter and his team. So,
thank you very much. >> Great. Thank you, Jim, and thank you, Walter. And to the Rotary Club. Uh, good evening, everyone, and thank you, uh, for joining us tonight, both in person and via live stream. I'm presiding over tonight's meeting in my role as acting
mayor as Mayor Brindle's out of town. As a reminder, public comment will be accepted in person only. We are streaming live on YouTube, and the replay will be available afterwards on Facebook, YouTube, and TV36. Okay, so just a few updates before we
get going. Our online auction is now live for the thousand street signs that were placed over the last year. So place your bids. So far, we've had 3,200 bids placed. Um, and in response to questions we received, the auction does not
include county roads as we're currently not authorized to sell county street signs. Um you can place your bids now through November 13th and the proceeds are going to be supporting the public arts commission leaf collection. Um our
leaf collection mailer is in the process of being sent to all households in the coming days. There are a few key points to keep in mind. Earlier collection in heaviest volume areas. So during the week of October 20th, leaf collection will start in the concentrated areas
with the heaviest leaf volume which are listed on our website. So check that out. Sequential zone pickup regular collection will begin the week of October 27th in zone 3 on the north side and in zone 8 on the south side. And the
conservation center fall hours. Um this conservation center began its fall hours today in order to allow for more leaf drop off hours earlier in the season. The center is open Monday through Friday, 9 through 2:30, and Saturday and
Sunday 9 to 3. Um, street sweepers will accompany collection crews each day to clean debris and clear storm water drains and then Saturday collection. Um, weekday pickup schedule is supplemented
by six Saturdays of collection. And often we try to um do extra pickups around schools so that's easier for pickup and drop off. And then there will be also be daily Nixl alerts to notify residents of pickup zones. Um and if you
have not yet signed up for NIXL alerts, please subscribe by texting 07090 to 888-777. If you still have questions because there's a lot of information, please um look for the details on the town website. They're all there.
Um today is the deadline to register to vote in the November 4th general election. Um and as a reminder, there are three ways to vote. Um vote by mail. You can request a mail and ballot application until Tuesday, October 28th
through the Union County Votes website. And if you regularly vote um by mail, you should already have your ballot. Um, all vote by mail ballots postmarked or returned to a secure dropbox or the board of elections office um by 800 PM
on election day will be counted. Early in-person voting um there's some new news there. Union County residents have the option to vote early at specified locations throughout the county, including at the Westfield Memorial Pool from Saturday, October
25th through Sunday, November 2nd. um inerson voting on election day. The polls will open at 6 am and stay open until 8 PM. A list of the Westfield wards and districts is available on the town website. Um and if you're
interested, we do need poll workers. The Union County Board of Elections is seeking poll workers for election day on Tuesday, November 4th. Uh so please visit their website for any details. Um and then I wanted to go through a bunch
of upcoming events. Um it is um Adam's Fest and Halloween coming up. So there's a lot of great events um on the docket. On October 27th, Lifelong Westfield will host their annual senior services fair
at the St. Helen's Church from 10 to 12. Um and then don't miss Apple Fest this Saturday at the Reev House from 12 to 4. Um, this is hosted by the Westfield Historical Society and I have the very difficult job on Saturday of being one
of the pie contest judges. So, wish me luck. Um, in addition, the Jacko'Lantern trail and trunk retreat will be held on October 25th in uh Brightwood Park and the Halloween family fun and parade will be in Mindowask Park on October 26th.
And as you can see around town, our 8th annual Adams Fest is well underway. Um, this weekend will feature the Lantern Cemetery Tour at the Presbyterian Church Burial Grounds, the Charles Adams Heritage Trail Tour, the Fam Fatal Art
Exhibit at the Rialto, Family Fun Day on Quimby Street, and of course, Charlie's Ale Garden is Saturday night at the Armory. In addition, uh the Wednesday night crawlers weekly cocktail specials continue downtown, so don't miss that. That's new this year. Um the wicked
windows are incredible and the votes can now be cast in your hauntyou house um contest. For full details, visit adamsfest.com. Um then I'd also like to highlight a couple of things from tonight's agenda. The finance policy committee has two
resolutions authorizing affordability assistant grants. assistance grants uh funded through our affordable housing trust fund. And we have a resolution authorizing the adoption of the personnel policies and procedure manual which is required to be completed every two years and ensures that we keep pace
with state and federal laws to assist them our administration and employees in managing human resource items that we remain eligible for deductible that we remain eligible for deductible incentives offered by the joint
insurance fund. Um, we also have a bond ordinance on second reading for $120,000 to authorize a replacement of the phone system across our town facilities. And perhaps most notably, we have a bond ordinance on second reading for $2,339,000
to authorize the undertaking of the Hulahan SIDF U fields parking lot, restroom, and multi-purpose facility improvement project, including a parking expansion from um 45 to 119 spaces, the
construction of a multi-use structure for storage and meetings, and the addition of permanent restrooms. We're very grateful to the Westfield Soccer Association and the Westfield Lacrosse Club for their generous contributions um to help in this effort of over $300,000
um over five years and $170,000 over five years respectfully. So $300,000 from the Westfield Soccer Association and $170,000 from Lacrosse. Um these funds are um to help these funds are
significant and will help um fund the benefits for all the athletic programs. And I'd also like to thank the rest the Westfield um recreation commission for their ongoing work to help bring this project to fruition. It's also worth noting that the cost of this project is
further offset by two additional revenue sources. um the $100,000 um that will come from the AT&T tower um agreement. That tower is going into the
um conservation center um and is part of the Westfield Crossing um pilot agreement. We negotiated a $300,000 park um donation and that will also go toward this effort. Um, we hope to have all these improvements to these fields in
place in 2026. Um, next for code review and town property committee, we'll vote on a resolution supporting an application for the affordable housing trust fund grant for the American Legion Veterans Housing Project. And on the public works
committee agenda, we have a resolution to submit an extension request for Elm Street and Broadway Avenue improvements to the New Jersey Department of Transportation. These are two state funded roof pating roof paving projects and this extension is a standard
practice to preserve our grant funding and timing deadlines as we look to have these projects completed before the weather gets bad this fall. Um so with that let's get to work. Um
Miss Liy, do we have any advertised hearings? >> Yes, acting mayor. We have three advertised hearings tonight. Starting with special ordinance 2025, bond ordinance to authorize the replacement of telephone system at town facilities in, by, and for the town of Westfield in the county of Union State
of New Jersey to appropriate the sum of $120,000 to pay the cost thereof to make a down payment to authorize the issuance of bonds to finance such appropriation and to provide for the issuance of bond anticipation notes in anticipation of the issuance of such bonds. Anyone
wishing to be heard on special ordinance 2025 05, 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. >> Next is special ordinance 20256, a bond
ordinance to authorize the undertaking of the Hulahan Sid Bay Fields parking lot, restroom, and multi-purpose facility improvements. approve project in, by, and for the town of Westfield and county of Union, state of New Jersey to appropriate the sum of $2,339,000
to pay the cost thereof to make a down payment to authorize the issuance of bonds to finance such appropriation and to provide for the issuance of bond anticipation notes in anticipation of the issuance of such bonds. Any motion to be heard on special ordinance 20256, please come to the microphone. State
your name and address for the record. Seeing no one act you may close the hearing. >> This hearing is closed. >> Last is general ordinance 20259 an ordinance to amend the code of the town of Westfield chapter 13. Anyone wishing to be heard on general ordinance 20259. Please come to the microphone. State
your name and address for record. Seeing no one may close the hearing. >> This hearing is closed. Councilman Contractor please move for the adoption of finance policy committee ordinances. Uh, thank you, acting mayor. I would like to move for the adoption of special
ordinance number 2025-05, bond ordinance to authorize the replacement of the telephone system at town facilities in by and for the town of Westfield and the county of union state of New Jersey to appropriate the sum of 120,000 to pay the cost thereof to make a down payment to authorize the issuance of bonds to finance such
appropriation and to provide for the issuance of bond anticipation notes and anticipation of the issu is issuance of such bonds. >> May I have a second? >> Second. Seconded by Councilman Damagala. Any discussion? Please call the role. >> Council member Darian.
>> Yes. >> Yes. >> Kefir. >> Yes. >> Saunders. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Contract. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Act. >> Yes. This motion is carried. >> Next, I'd like to move for the adoption of special ordinance number 2025-06.
a bond ordinance to authorize the undertaking of the Hulahan Sidfeay Fields parking lot, restroom, and multi-purpose facility improvement project in, by, and for the town of Westfield and the county of Union, state of New Jersey, to appropriate the sum of 2,339,000 to pay the cost thereof, to make a down
payment, to authorize the issuance of bonds, to finance such appropriation, and to provide for the issuance of bond anticipation notes in anticipation of the issuance of such bonds. >> I have a second. >> Second. Seconded by Councilman Armento.
Any discussion? >> Please call the role. >> Council member Zarter. >> Yes. >> Dumbella. >> Yes. >> Keeper. >> Yes. >> Saunders. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Contract. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Mayor. >> Yes. >> Mayor, acting mayor medicine make just
one comment if you don't mind. I just want to thank again. I think we have uh Rich Part here from soccer tonight and uh Sean Smith. I do not see not Ste Smith. Sean Smith is not is not here from Lacrosse, but I just want to thank them again. This is uh um no small thing
uh to have two organizations uh contributing significantly to a project not only going to benefit their organizations but the town as a whole. So this want to publicly bank soccer and lacrosse again for their contribution. Thank you. >> I second that. Thank you Jim. Thank you
Rich for being here. Um okay. Um this motion is carried. Councilman Dardia, please move for the adoption of general ordinance number 2025-9. >> Thank you, acting mayor. I would like to move for the adoption of general ordinance number 2025-9,
an ordinance to amend the code of the town of Westfield, chapter 13. >> May I have a second? >> Second. >> Seconded by Councilman Contract. Any discussion? >> Please call the role. >> Council member Zardian. >> Yes.
>> Yes. >> Yes. Saunders, >> yes. >> Arnto, >> yes. >> Contra, >> yes. >> Healey, >> yes. >> Acting mayor, >> yes. The motion is carried. >> May I have a motion to approve the minutes from the town council conference and regular meetings of September 30th,
2025? >> So moved. >> Um, second. >> Second. >> Second by Councilman Damagawa. The motion made 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 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 5
minutes. Hi, I'm Jessica Raldi, 150 Harrison Avenue in Westfield. And I'm coming tonight because um I'm a crossing guard at Franklin and I've been there, this is my 19th year, and I've observed this
year more than any other year how fast um the traffic is going. And I know we have a um some kind of a setup on Brightwood. I think it it indicates how fast you're going, but I don't think that it's it's adequate enough. I really
would like to see if you can figure out a way to lower the speed, say maybe to 15 miles an hour around the schools because I I don't think Franklin's the only school that has this situation. um my partner on Stanmore um really had
a a a terrible uh incident and there were children in the crosswalk and the and the car just wouldn't stop. It was insane. And then later on in the week I had my own incident with people going through my stop sign and I had to jump out of the way. So um I'm always mindful
of telling everybody to wait till I get out there and stop everybody before they can cross over. But um it's really getting crazy out there. And then we have the um added factor of those um bikes that speed and um scooters. So um
the kids are pretty good. The kids listen, they get off and they walk through with for me. But um it's the adults too that are that are So maybe you can discuss it and come up with the way because in the park there's 10 m an
hour, isn't there? 15 mph. So maybe we can figure out if we can do something. Maybe even put another um uh I don't know what they call so you can judge the speed you're going closer to the school. Okay. All right. Thank
you. >> Thank you. Anyone else? Um, before we move on to the rest of the meeting, um, Jessica, thank you for coming to the mic and, um, I know you sent a note to mentioning this last week. I've already referred it to
Councilman Dardia, who chairs the public safety committee, and we'll definitely have a conversation about it at our next public safety meeting. Um, it is a huge concern. Um, and I'm glad that you made a comment at the mic today so the public
can um, hear this. Um, and hopefully encourage everyone to um, slow down for the safety of everyone. So, and I'm sorry that happened to you and your
partner on Stanmore. So, if there are no other um comments at the mic tonight, um we will move on to bills and claims. >> Just one comment about this meeting. Can we You might have already shared it with
the police chief because maybe they can start to look into some data andor enforcement prior to the meeting. Yeah, actually that's a good it's a good point because um the radar that we have along streets, it appears to the naked eye
that it's just measuring right there, but actually has a lot of power to um measure speeds >> um in both directions and for a pretty um large swast. So >> just to comment on that, Councilman Hav, I meant set that to Councilman Dy and I.
So, we're going to um we don't I mean we'll wait till the meeting to discuss it as a committee, but we don't have to wait until then to take action. So, police department will look at it. Sergeant Pen will be out there to look at it and I know she knows Sergeant Penn as well and then we'll kind of get some assessment before the meeting. >> Since we're having a little dialogue
here, can I ask a question? You might know the answer to this, Jim, but it seems to me it's particularly egregious for someone to be flouting a stop sign or even getting invading a crosswalk near a school. Um, are there enhanced penalties for that if we can get even, you know, I would hope maybe a police
officer did write tickets in those instances, but in future, I mean, are there enhanced penalties if somebody does that for running a stop sign near a grade school for guard? There can be. And if there's not, can we do something like that? >> Yeah, there there are penalties that you can enhance in school zones. Um, and we can, you know, confirm that and see what
those can be what we already have. So, >> yeah. Great. Thanks. >> Okay. Okay. Thank you, acting mayor. Um, I'd like to move bills and claims in the amount of 363,50 94. >> May I have a second? >> Second.
>> Seconded by Councilman Saunders. Any discussion? All in favor? >> Yes. >> Opposed? This motion is carried. Now for reports of standing committees. >> All right. I have 14 resolutions to move
as a package. So bear with me. First is a resolution authorizing the CFO to refund recreation department fees. Second is a resolution authorizing the CFO to draw a warrant for board of adjustment escrow monies. Third is a resolution authorizing the CFO to draw a warrant for planning board escrow monies. Fourth is a resolution
authorizing the CFO to draw a warrant for unused parking permit fee. Fifth is a resolution authorizing the CFO to refund street opening cash bond. Sixth is a resolution authorizing the CFO to draw a warrant for dog licenses for September 20, 2025. Seventh is a resolution authorizing the CFO to draw a
warrant to the treasurer of state of New Jersey for marriage civil union licensing fees. Eighth is a resolution authorizing the CFO to draw a warrant for participant payment to the westward for the first annual me and my guy dance. Ninth is a resolution authorizing the CFO to draw a warrant for third
quarter construction official state permit fees. 10th is a resolution authorizing the tax collector to cancel disabled veteran taxes. 11th is a resolution authorizing the CFO to refund payment due to disabled veteran exemption. 12th is a resolution authorizing an affordability assistance
grant pursuant to the town of Westfield's affordable assistance program for a tenant of an affordable housing unit at 1212 Echol Lane, unit 1212. 13 is a resolution authorizing an affordable assistance grant pursuant to the town of Westfield's affordability assistance program for a tenant of an
affordable housing unit at 1301 Echolane, unit 1301. And lastly, a resolution authorizing the adoption of personnel policies and procedures manual. >> May I have a second? >> Second. >> Seconded by Councilman Dardia. Any
discussion? >> All in favor? >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Opposed? The motion is carried. Next up is code review and town property committee. Councilman contract. I would like to move a resolution supporting an application for affordable housing trust
fund grant for the American Legion Veterans Housing Project. >> May I have a second? >> Second. >> Seconded by Councilman Armentoto. >> All in favor? >> Yes. >> Opposed? The motion has carried. >> And then the public works committee,
Councilman Gil. >> Okay. Okay. I have a resolution I'd like to move uh allowing us to submit an extension request for improvements on Elm Street and Rowway Avenue to the Department of Transportation. >> May I have a second? >> Second. >> Seconded by Councilman Contract. Any
discussion? >> All in favor? >> Yes. >> Opposed? The motion has carried. So unless Councilman Healey has a story for us tonight. >> At the at the implied request of
Councilman Damagala and mayor candidate uh Jeremy Berman, I elected not to make any speeches tonight. >> Oh, >> I love your stories. >> Next time, think of one for next time.
So with that, may I have a motion to adjourn? Uh second >> second >> seconded by um Councilman Kefir. All in favor? >> Yes. >> Opposed? The motion is carried. This
meeting is adjourned.