welcome to the township of Springfield County of union state of New Jersey meeting for March 26 2024 this meeting is being held in accordance with public laws of 1975 chapter 231 and adequate notice of this meeting has been provided by a notice sent to Star Ledger the local source and post in the main lobby of the municipal building and on the township website please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance led by American Legion Post 228 Commander Vice Commander David pan I to the flag the United States ofer America to the stand indivisible andice all please remain standing for a moment of silence for our soldiers overseas and at home thank you roll call Mayor Weber here Deputy Mayor laer here committee man capid here committee man Huber pres committee Kaiser here okay all municipal offices are closed on Good Friday March 29th spring cleanup during the month of April DPW Crews will canvas the town in the garbage truck for vegetative waste branches 4 in in diameter and smaller leaves and grass will be collected please note material must be placed in paper recyclable bags or cans loose debris in the roadway will not be picked up can they uh twine it up if they have to I will ask our DPW director immediately thanks thank you just trying to see if they can twine up sticks and stuff uh mobile paper mobile paper shredding event will be Saturday April 6th at the pool 44 Morrison Road from 9:00 a.m. to 1: p.m. and now we have the proclamation for Arbor Day which is Friday April 26th and mark your calendars for the celebration at Veterans Park uh with the environmental commission they'll be uh they'll be out there it'll be a very nice event I'm going to read the proclamation I want to make sure I don't have anything else on actual Arbor Day and I do not whereas in 197 2 J Sterling Morton proposed to the Nebraska Board of Agriculture that a special day be set aside for the planting of trees and whereas this holiday called Arbor Day was first observed with the planting of more than a million trees in Nebraska and whereas Arbor Day is now observed throughout the nation and the world and whereas trees can reduce the erosion of our press ious top soil by wind and water cut Heating and Cooling costs moderate the temp moderate the temperature clean the air produce oxygen and provide habitat for wildlife and whereas trees are renewable resource giving us paper wood for our homes fuel for our fires and countless other wood products and whereas in our Township in increase property values enhance the economic Vitality of businesses areas and beautify our community and whereas trees wherever they are planted are a source of joy and spiritual renewal now therefore I Chris Weber mayor of the township of Springfield on behalf of the township committee do hereby Proclaim April 26 2024 as Arbor Day in the township of Springfield and encourage all Springfield residents to support our efforts to to protect our trees and woodlands in support of the Township's Urban foresty program and to plant trees to gladen hearts and promote the well-being of present and future generations and I will sign that and there is our Proclamation for Arbor Day on April 26 2024 we have a new date for the egg hunt and kite Fest it is Saturday March 30th from 2:00 to 4: bring kites to fly there'll be photos with the Easter Bunny DJ music and more but the new date is March 30th it's been postponed Chism Park 2 to 4 so that will also be on the uh website Township um re website also all right so now we will go to public comment on agenda items only public comment on agenda items only do we have anything that was a a email in we don't have anything okay so we have no emails in anybody out there on public comment on agenda items only which mik this one here black one yeah I have to hit a button or anything anything or oh you're good no it's good okay all right all right Jerry Fernandez 393 Hillside Avenue wondering if you can speak a little bit about um um do you guys want to get into it now or you want to postpone it I mean this is I can give a I can give a quick overview I'm bringing it up just because this is the only time I can before you vote for it right okay so let's bring it up now then uh you have any other questions because I'm not going to go back and forth well yeah I I do but I mean um you're going to have to give me the questions now then because what what's going to end up happening is members of the public get minutes I got five Okay so so question is why we need the the the group what and perhaps we do need it but what they would be doing um and also coming to light the fact that there's been an incident where this person evidently had shot himself in the foot and there's going to be an investigation done just like it would be in any Town any in the state of New Jersey my recommendation would be to table this until the investigation is done and then once the investigation is done and everything is fine if it's everything comes out fine then bring it back to vote here um you don't need to I don't believe unless there's some other information again that I'm not aware of that you need this right away um but the fact that this has come to light I think it's in the best interest this person evidently will be dealing with the morale of our fire our police or OEM and everything else you want to make sure everything is clear before you start the process in my opinion but yes you can tell me now what they may be doing you done for now okay I mean this then you can take a seat if you're done with your questions then that's it that's stand here and here can I go ahead I still have five minutes and to listen so use up your time brother I'm I'm done with this portion but I have the right to Stand Here stand there I I do have the right to stand here then I guess we're going to going to do this that way because it's going to result in a back and forth between you and I like going to answer you back I just you should have thought of that before you posted something on social media I have the right to this is the time for me to speak here before vote on it I can speak at the end of the meeting but it'll be too late yeah you're getting you're taking it too personal good I'm good he's good you you were going to as you thank you for your comments okay all right any other comments I get before the vote uh I don't I'm going to reserve any comments uh and and questions that I have for when we pull that resolution I don't know if anybody else wants to comment mayor correct me if I'm wrong before we vote on it we we're planning on having a discussion up here that that's correct as and as of right now the way this works is um we don't even know if we have the votes to make this thing pass so we're you're going to find out today right here in front of everybody if we have it but there's a there's things that everybody wants to say up here and they'll be said thank you if there's no other public comment on agenda items only we'll go to reports with the administrator's report if I may just one second Mr Fernandez in the resolution um you know it it is very explicit and says the organization uh and Staffing of the Township's police fire and OEM there is a descriptor in the resolution um that does answer your question and sorry mayor nope all good we'll go to the administrator's Report with uh our administrator Mr John basico thank you Mr Mayor I'd like to start with the resurfacing of the pool I asked our engineer Mike disco to come in because I wanted to explain what's entailed with this resurfacing because I think some people might think that it's some people might think that it's you know it's more of a uh just a coating or a painting type of thing and it's actually very detailed and it takes a a lot of time and effort to get this done we're looking at 13,000 Square F feet in the pool so Mike if you would join join me on this so we yeah it's it's it's quite big so we're looking at starting other Mike Mike we're looking at starting within the next two weeks and I I asked Mike we could go through the steps that it takes to get this replastering done so yeah we had a pre-construction meeting with the contractor on Monday of this week I think we were pleasantly surprised that they indicated they would be starting within potentially next week worst case weather permitting um be a week and a half or the week the following Monday uh they got a three-week process to complete the pool from start to finish one week for the all the demos and removals and preparation uh a second week for the bond cating that's going to be there before the resurfacing material and then the third week which is the actual resurfacing and I'll point out that when they do that resurfacing work they're coming with 25 people to be working on that pool at the same time um this is a major pool contractor they starting four uh pools in New Jersey this week they their goal is to get in and out and we're very happy that we've got a contractor that can staff the project unlike um your historic contractors that work on the pool they come with um certainly not 25 people you'd be lucky to get the secondhand of people so um their intent is to Blitz it and we permitting it would be uh completed in three weeks time so what what what's involved in the pool it's not just a painting So a painting is what the recreation department does approximately every two years and in some cases based upon the condition of the pool they have to paint the pool uh yearly that's done in-house by quotes or whatever process the recreation department does the last time the pool was done in a significant way I believe was 2013 that's 11 years ago and what happens they have over time you build up those those paint coatings on the the shell of the pool and they don't necessarily adhere as as much as you would like to uh based upon the desire of council the pool is is being changed from a regular I think it's chlorinated rubber paint to a actual cemus recating material um so that requires you have to strip all of the paint surfaces off the concrete shell this pool was built in the mid 1960s it's a concrete pool reinforced concrete traditional at that that was the standard at that time um so all of the paint materials get off all of the uh tile that is below the coping will be replaced all of the lane lines and the targets for the in the dive tank will get replaced um miscellaneous coping if there's loose coping that's the the top concrete thing will get off and then you will then they will acid wash and um they will they will basically either water blast or sand blast the whole um shell of the pool um to get that down as as as much bare Bon to the concrete as possible then they go in with what's called an acid washed to remove any particles that are uh lingering on after that after you know they they dry the pool out and kid it they're going to put a bond coat on and then they build up with a basically a thin uh cementious layer rather than a traditional paint layer the goal of this is to have the pool last a long time without the need to do remedial uh painting um the contractor indicated based upon the material selected by the architect that it would be about a 15year life before you have to do it there are some potential bid upgrades that we took for um materials that would be more expensive that would last longer we're working through that we applied for a grant for those materials and we should hear from Union County within uh within less than 30 days I think on that it's also the desire to add a cover to the pool which will protect the pool keep those geese out prevent the staining of your uh new resurfacing material um all of the expansion joints on the bottom of the pool and the walls get redone um that's an epoxy um joint between two adjac and concrete sections of the pool you rake that out you put a backer rod in there you put the epoxy coating on so no water can leave the pool or enter the pool we're going to look at the hydrostatic valves we're going to look at the main drain that drains from the pool to the filter house uh again all of the um um tiles uh the um the band under the coping will be replaced there's also some miscellaneous concrete repairs over time the pool like any anything else that's 60 years old it's not going to function like it did when it first went we've got one section in the dive tank where the wall is a little wavy we're going to explore that and try to fix that and there's a piece or two in the floor that has to get some work done uh on the steps going into the pool they're going to add a um a band of tile there which is good for Aesthetics and also it's as practical reason to prevent anti-slipping um adjacent to each of the joints they're going to put a a a small band of tile as well so that they can butt the new resurfacing material without touching the elastomeric joint that we're going to put in have I covered everything or what am I missing I'm not oh you you should go you should go longer the only thing I wanted to add to that is that you mentioned the Gees we have the company coming for an application this week the first application after the pool is is the plaster is done they will be out again and then every month they come out and treat the grounds so we keep the geese away so I just wanted everybody to understand it is a very complicated and tedious project it's not just slapping pain on this is much much deeper and and I I think we're going to be rewarded with a job that lasts you know 12 to 15 years I think the key is once the contractor shows up I don't think they're going to leave till they're done and so to me the most important date is when they physically get on the site I think once they're there we're talking about the three weeks that they said so weather permitting subject to any uh and projected start is the first week of April yes okay potentially next week which would be the first cover the pool going forward yeah goal we're end of the season it'll be drained you you leave the water in leave the water in and then oh cuz that keeps then from Buckle right in the the water I mean when you have the water in the pool it prevents the lifting of the pool bottom remember that that when the diving tank that that's very deep so if you take all the water out of that the groundw so so powerful would actually push up on that you'd you'd either have heaving of the bottom or cracking of the bottom so water in the pools should remain it'll stop all the leaves from falling in going in there we the pool is down now to a pretty shallow at the deep end but once they get down there's probably a good foot of mck that's got to be cleaned out so we're going to cover that and hopefully avoid that next year be easier to open cleaner when we open so that's the goal any questions on the we're surf we're anticipating a 12 to 15 year lifespan of this yes okay great I think this is exactly what we promised offer a better uh pool experience for everybody who is there every 100 yeah I I gotta tell you now the why is running our pool we have talked to the why um they are experts in in in this field and uh people online can say whatever they want but the fact is when the Y tells us we have one of the best pools in Union County we have one of the best pools in Union County it's a fantastic facility I am hoping that we are going to see a large number of new families joining we are committed to our partnership with the Y and and getting what we need to get done to make this an enjoyable season and make it an enjoyable you know SE every season going forward so um plenty of room plenty of Green Space there playgrounds everything else so please look forward to joining our summer pool um I think brought to up one time before what I like to do before the pool opens like a week before that Friday night open the pool free you know let people go in show them the improvements that we did so they can say holy it's a great idea yeah an open house I I want people to do it and I think we gave him hot do we pay for the hot do I think great idea we can see you know I know the why I think we did that like six years ago so was six when when we we did the whole thing we did that the pool house yeah pool house and people came in and people were amazed at what they saw this way they can see what the pool's going to look like look there's no more crack at you know here there's no more this I mean I think that if we can afford it you know years ago there was a there was a A question put forward to the residents of the town and the residents of the Town had a choice and it was um the committee up here had to choose do you do a pool house or do you do a pool now I am of the generation where my kids sat on the floor in the bathrooms when it rained so I understood that the township at the time only had enough money for a pool house did now not have money for both so you cannot sit up here and fault other administrations for doing what was needed at the point and at that point the proper thing to do was to do the pool house so we are are we playing catchup on the pool sure we are but there's only enough money to go around for for some things at a time and now we're getting this done so I think it's a great project and we're looking to Grant we're looking at grant opportunities from the county of Union um which which I think is critical um so and we will be up there every step of the way to make sure that we're on schedule we you said something about a splash park no no she didn't say I heard her say splash park she didn't say that it was no it she was did I heard it no she didn't say that I heard it so when can we have a splash park there okay we we are we are trying for a splash park talking about Splash parking did we correct the leak in the little kids pool yes we did okay we did that last year that was done last year yeah we did that last year I just want to make sure they tunneled that out they fixed the leak they tunneled the slide out they put extra water to the slide yep everything is working now okay thank you Mr disco further questions for Mr disco thank you if not running to my 7:30 thank you you're dismissed thank you Michael all right continuing on I want to touch on our our Infamous telephone polls through our Su line up on Mars Avenue by TD Bank uh jcpnl finally came out uh last Friday removed or put in two new polls on the other side of the sidewalk which we had to dig the sidewalk out by the way you know order to do this they moveed their wires over and Verizon was out today they did not finish they're going to come back tomorrow they've got to move their wires off the Old Poles to the new ones once that's done they're going to cut both poles down to about 2 feet we've got our contractor who's going to come out and replace the sewer line so he'll be out we're going to pull the two poles out of the pipe and then we'll go ahead and replace the line so that should be done hopefully very shortly so we can stop running up there every weekend it's really become a hassle for us the Joanna way pumping station we were there we're going to have to go out to bid to get that done um we've reviewed the plans pumping Services who was in the co-op notified us that they were not going to bid the job so now we have to advertise and go out and that'll be sometime in April DPW Crews have started cleaning our parks and working on the ball fields preparing for spring The netting at Ruby has been installed on the ball field we had a sewer backup the other night in the North feew Drive area and I bring this up because when we went in there it took us several hours we took out a five gallon palale of wipes we've asked residents time after time please they are not flushable I don't care what they advertise they do not disintegrate they get stuck in the pipe and it turns into Solid Rock we had a very difficult time getting it out and and the frustrating part is the the that's going to back up in somebody's house I guarantee is not the guy to put the wipes in there but he's going to be the beneficiary of the sewer backup so if you're doing it please don't it does cause us huge issues um other than that the pool is the big thing I think that's the main topics for the moment unless somebody has I touch on our our Redevelopment sorry um if anybody has been up by Gomes they see that he's making very good progress actually we've got a meeting with them on April 2nd again um I talked to Patriot Way today which is garden homes down at the end of church mall they had a hold up as we all know because of New Jersey American Water Brett's going to send me a schedule a construction schedule in the next day or two they think they're pretty much pass within the next few weeks New Jersey American water should be out of there and then they're ready to get going so he will give us a detailed construction schedule shortly um if we look at I think we discussed last time we discussed the Scotty's property Mike mustre and I went back to the developer there and said we'd like to see that building get a little more pop because we feel that it's it's critical it's at the beginning of the town it's a critical building we want to make sure that when you come in the town you see that building right away we don't what he presented to us we felt look too residential it didn't fit on Mars and the developers agreed he's going to have new drawings for us in the next couple of days and on the April 9th meeting we should be back to you with uh with those drawings so that's kind of where we are in those developments uh saxs is going to be starting to rent the apartments very shortly they come in for some more permits uh on some work to do on Van Winkles Creek so probably within the next month or two you're going to see those apartments start to rent so we're in pretty good shape there actually are there any other questions or comments I like to thank whoever got the bridge cleaned out I mean last Friday the last I was worried about that CU I could see 2 Ines of rain well if you saw the pictures yes the last opening is totally blocked we can't reach it it's on Union's side it's not on ours we can't even reach it so we cleaned out what we could get to which was the middle and the one on depending on where you're standing closest to Springfield in in our side of the creek so that continues to be an issue now we do have a meeting tomorrow Thursday Thursday sorry we have a meeting Thursday with the state on replacing that bridge so we're we're back to that once again needs to happen that was a long time ago what about Ag and time that thing needs to be updated so that water can flow through so well we've had that we've had that meeting as you know probably six years ago and then before that it was one about 10 years ago at least 10 10 years ago they said within five years it would be done and no has anybody been in touch with Union trying to get that un CL case God forbid we get another rain like we I will talk to their ba but their I know Robbie I believe talked to their DPW there was not a lot of interest in cleaning out the woods that that end up falling down into the creek and blocking it up is what happens I know it floods over there very easy yeah I agree but you know the frustrating part is and I don't want anybody to take this wrong our DPW really it's not their job to clean that Creek and and we're kind of getting strapped with that we're there more than we really probably should be people do appreciate I get it and that's why we do it thank you we don't have the equipment and we don't have the Manpower and you got to get the state involved because if you're working from the road it's a highway it's a state highway it it's a it's a project so thank you or thank Robbie hopefully the brid brid gets replaced and that'll eliminate this situation app cuz that's what's really causing it it's those openings are just too small everything it's blocked in them not y yeah the other bridge that they're proposing is just one opening so hopefully everything will flow through so yeah that would be ideal we'll let you know after Thursday any other questions or comments thank you guys meetings and reports uh Mr mayor I would like to move the adoption of the meeting minutes of January 1 2024 as emailed a second we're backed up all in favor I I I we have a uh ordinance for first reading ordinance 20245 this ordinance is to establish a cap bank for the calendar year 2020 4 presuming to njsa 48 col 4- 4514 uh I will make a motion to adopt ordinance 2024 uh -05 read by Madame clerk with the publication in the local Source on April 4th 2024 with a final hearing scheduled for April 30th 2024 I will second that motion all right uh any discussion on this can we get a a little breakdown of what's Happening Here um Craig I am includ a splash [Music] park and it's some we do every year correct yeah okay uh any discuss any other discussion up here no all right let's go to a roll call vote committee man Kaiser yes Deputy Mayor laer yes M capes yes M Huber yes mayor Weber yes uh let's go to resolutions I'm going to request that resolution 20248 be pulled I will read the other resolutions uh for approval by consent agenda resolution 202 24-9 2024 d91 2024-25 202 24-9 and [Music] 2024-25 to 94 95 second committee man Huber yes Deputy Mayor laer yes committee man capes yes committee man Kaiser yes mayor Weber yes resolution 20 2489 this resolution authorizes an award of contract to the Ambrose Group LLC to perform professional consulting services for the town Township in connection with the organization and Staffing of the Township's police and fire departments and office of emergency management Mr Mayor was read by mam clerk position 20 2489 second so um if you're watching take a seat this is going to be a few minutes cuz I got a lot to say on it one and the first thing I'm going to start out with because I was wondering how I was going to start out with this but luckily social media took care of that with me and and it's interesting because I'm going to call I'm going to address you right here because you're a former mayor who sat up here just like I acknowledged you had a decision when the pool house was was made and you had a decision to make a pool or you or or do a pool house you did what was the best one all right well you were up here at one point so the fact that on social media it's it's put up there by a former mayor that says we're giving a no bid contract to a political friend of the mayor let's let's address a few things first number one when when Anthony Ambrose was a a chief and a director of the nework police department I was a I was a cop and my ID number was 7820 he had no idea who I was I've never even been in the same room with this guy when you're a director and you're a chief in a in a big city Department that has thousands of employees I'm a guy that was rocking a patrol car have nothing to do with that not a friend at all okay that's number one number two he's probably one of the most intelligent powerful people in the state of New Jersey Law Enforcement who who was between norc the County the prosecutor's office he has done almost every form of law enforcement possible okay we we put out several requests and and I'll tell you why the requests were put out because there is a lot of lot of lot of um a lot of stuff [Music] so the last audit for Public Safety was done in 2004 if I'm correct that's 20 years ago now things change people's circumstances change and and and people's life situations change we had a fire chief who was here and um decided he um wanted to retire and whatever the reason was you can't stop somebody from retiring when it's their time to go that left a vacuum Gap in the fire department now if you ask the unions the unions will tell you all day long that they are 1020 people underst staffed they are 1020 promotions behind and um that's not always accurate now I admittedly have become friendly with a lot of these people I've become friends with the chief of police and the officer in charge who's a captain um of the of the fire department I've be you know we've all become friendly with these people so what happens when something like this goes on and and you have this power vacuum um and I'll be clear on it because um Captain mron has been the officer in charge there Captain stron has been the one who has been who was under Chief Palumbo for at least six years how long eight years groomed to to take over as the officer in charge but what ends up happening is that um when other people see that this is going on everybody suddenly wants to become a chief that's straight up your unions right now your unions are I don't even know what to tell you I'm fed up with both of them at times because too much doesn't matter how much you give them it's never enough and that goes for for police also and um so we need an independent analysis on this now what we are looking for is we are looking for any kind of potential cost savings to the township and what I mean by that is um Fire Chiefs and police Chiefs aren't cheap they have a lot of responsibility on their hands they they they take care of um they take care of this Township's Public Safety so they don't come cheap now there is also different structures different promotions there are different ways to to handle all of these departments um there's a chief stop style there's a director style there's several positions that that you know have been done away within this Township such as deputy chief positions we do not have any Deputy Chiefs currently in police or fire all right um when you're doing things like this it's not always in your best interest to just go out there and just promote right away without an analysis of what is happening and that is what we are looking for um it is also very hard to find someone who is not um I don't want to say friendly but who has not come across the paths of a man who has done 35 36 years long time around here all right so what what you look for is you look for somebody who is hopefully going to give an impartial unbiased analysis of what is actually needed are we short staffed are we heavy here are we are we light there uh there is nothing nefarious going on about a contract being issued because and I made sure of this because I knew this was going to happen our business administrator reached out to three other places three other places to make make sure that um the bids that other people had a chance to bid on this and our guy actually came in the cheapest we only got one other the other two did not refuse to bid on it actually okay so with that I'm going to um let the other one speak let the other Council speak on this the other committee speak on this because I would like to hear their opinion if they feel that this is a a need for the Departments I I personally do I will tell you that right now we're in the middle of a a a switch over from Mountain Valley Dispatch over to County dispatch and it is is going over 90% it's going over a little it's going over well but there's some issues with it and nothing's ever perfect but we up here understand what has gone through and what happened with the budget the last year and we're trying to avoid that happening again and we are looking to save money in any possible way we can whether it take comes with a restructuring or reorganization or or or any um advice put forward to a a what I consider a small consulting fee that can result in hundreds of thousands of dollars of savings to the township I'll start over here to Rich um I agree with some of things that Deary said um the last time this happened was before I got on here right before I got on here um I remember years ago when the when the TX committee I don't know if they got a consultant got rid of all lieutenants am I corre I could be wrong I think it was lieutenants on the police department and may Sergeant the officer in charge um I'm just saying for what happened over the weekend or before the weekend I think we should just hold off on you know giving this gentleman the contractor I'd like to know more about them um it's to me would save us the money which we been hurting for money um i' just like to wait before we award this contract I mean do I think we need it yes we do need it but at this time right now the she and I'm not don't get mad at me Chief the chief's not going anywhere an officer in charge I mean I think you're doing a great job I just want to wait and see before we appoint somebody to to come in and and go through your departments you know what it was like Chief they tore apart Police Department last time and then they promoted I don't know how many sergeants were at one meeting they you know you guys did you you did you're keep addressing me oh all right I won I won address you all right the old no old old Township committee my fault it was a all right it was a it was a Township committee before I started they appointed a lot of Sergeants I would just like I think just we should table it and within two weeks if if everything's clear with this gentleman I have no problem but I just want to make sure before I I vote on this on his my op um I started on the township Committee in 2018 I say that because I believe I have been or served on the Public Safety Committee since that time this is the first year that I have not been on it but I bring that up because ever since we've started I have discussed with our fire department our Police Department uh our office of emergency management and our first aid Squad staffing needs equipment needs training needs you know and wants of those departments not that they're underutilized ized but the things that would make them that much better um we have an opportunity right now because we are not playing a fire chief's salary we have an opportunity right now to take Applause perhaps a pivot and re-evaluate some things that are going on with all of our First Responders and I hope that this company you know in addition to office of emergency management in addition to police in addition to fire also look at our first aid Squad to give us recommendations suggestions not mandates for us to come back and us to follow Police Department have staffing needs fire department has staffing needs um our office of emergency management first aid Squad needs like radios and things of that nature we have an opportunity now to have an outside company come in and evaluate us and tell us what would best perhaps serve the community with the system we have now um as as committee man Huber said you know our Chiefs aren't going anywhere our officer in charge is more than qualified to do the job he's doing right now now um these guys are all in um and I S and I hope and I know that they'll be cooperative with uh any type of audit so to speak that we do and this is to make our First Responders the best that they can be and if there's an opportunity that we can take those recommendations and those recommendations perhaps would provide us some more cost saving opportunities then I think this resolution is a no-brainer investment to do so so I know Anthony Ambrose on paper um his resume is unquestioned I know communities in which the Ambrose group has come in and they have provided invaluable recommendations to the performance to the Staffing of various Public Safety apparatuses um I think this is the very definition of keeping the public trust in how we allocate Town resources I can't tell the future I have no complaints at all about Chief cook about Captain mro no complaints this is not a reflection on performance this is simply as committee man Capi said we're at a touch point right now and we need a pulse check from I'm using a lot of consultant speak but we need a we need a temperature check on where we're at maybe we're doing a great job but we as a Township committee need to understand that we know enough to know what we don't know and this I believe will provide us with a blueprint for how to succession plan because right now we don't have a fire chief this will give us a blueprint for succession planning this will give us a blueprint for possible savings this will give us a blueprint for um how we run Public Safety in Springfield hopefully for another 20 years um and my final thought is this this is done because we as a Township as committee M Huber said are under very real Financial circumstances and these circumstances they're never going to get better because everything gets more expensive if this provides us with a staffing outline that makes sense for a Township of 18,000 people that is the best money we can ever spend so I have zero doubts in the man's competency I have zero doubts in the man's professional acument I have zero doubts in the man's resume the man's been chief of police the man's been Police director the man's been director of Public Safety the man's been chief of detectives and a prosecutor's office office the man he's he's done a lot and there are and by the way we're hiring a firm we're not hiring one person so I think that's also important so we're getting a variety of experience here so I will be casting my vote in favor because I believe there is a ton of upside that can come from this Professional Services agreement or Consulting Services agreement uh you're up uh question to our Council uh is there a is there a time frame for the completion of of said report or we're looking at three Monon I think a three-month uh outlay and and for us right now um again you know we we would like to get things straightened out within the fire department um we would we we would like to know where we stand and and you know we have a budget coming up and not the the budget's going to get passed in less than two four weeks right uh the question is do we have in this contract is there a time frame that we have Greg the resolution professional servic the resolution right now goes to one year for professional cont but he advises that this was a microphone sorry there wasn't a specific sorry there there's not a specific time frame given within the proposal and you know I I'm not I don't work within that sphere necessarily but that might be because come in don't necessarily know how much time you need to come in I'm just so so hey there's not a specific time frame there uh uh I'm imagining it would take some time for any consultant to kind of come in and and and do their do their analysis you're not going to come in with a two weeks and get a report no uh uh I think this is longterm planning I don't think this is uh uh necessarily it's March right so it's already flying so we're probably looking for something at the end of the year uh uh I would you know generally be supportive in the sense that I don't think there's been a a report commissioned in a long time I don't think there's been a study I'm generally always in favor of getting an outside analysis and perspective uh uh if you don't like his recommendations we don't have to make them right if you do like his recommendations you can make them that's that's the the the point of a study um I'm generally in favor of that and giving us a Playbook uh but I would be just as happy as supporting rich in your effort if you want to postpone it uh uh I I don't know if it's one way or the other if kicking it off tonight gives us any further further time if one of our members feels comfortable pushing it off I would be in favor I'm also generally in favor if we move forward tonight uh I'm never opposed to studying it uh I would be interested to see what uh somebody with a different perspective and certainly has some breath of knowledge uh giving me a different perspective than then would I already have so I I'll generally support the group uh but if we want to postpone and and that makes people feel more comfortable I don't think that's the worst okay do we call the role yeah committee man Uber no committee man laer yes committee man capes yes committee M Kaiser looks like it's going to be the majority yes mayor Weber abstain Okay resolution passes yeses paying some bills now or we are going to now discussion and action discussion and action items Mr Mayor I would like to request approval by New York Blood Center New Jersey Blood Services to hold a blood drive at Schism community center on Wednesday March 27th from noon to 10 p.m. hold harmless and Certificate of Insurance provided I will second that all in favor I okay uh also Mr Mayor I would like to approve a request by Jonathan Dayton High School Diamond Club to hang varsity team sponsor banners on Ruby Park left fence field no banners on right field fence that borders Rose Avenue backyards I will second that for the baseball season by the way they'll be taken down once the season's over I still second that all in favor I can we uh just one thing on Ruby real quick uh scoreboard is working y Ruby has turned out fantastic over the last three years four years I don't even know anymore how long it's been but it's been work every year we've chipped away at something and it was you know cleaning up the Outfield then it was uh the poles with the netting along the first Bas line doing the the electric the dugouts not going to even acknowledge that one uh the dugouts the electric uh the grading uh we we we Reid some of the Outfield because we had a lot of divots out there we did a fence topper all the way around now the scoreboard it's it's the real high school field looks fantastic so thanks to everybody involved I will be that mess with you on that let's go to finance and pay some bills please I'm going to make a motion to adopt payroll invoices for the period of March 13 2024 through March 26 2024 in the amount of 5,423 47577 I will second that committee man Kaiser yes Deputy Mayor laer yes capes Yes committe Man Huber yes mayor Weber yes uh oh everybody should have received the February budget report the February pool budget report the February revenue report and the February uh pool revenue report okay and file away accordingly y correspondence we have the Westfield historic preservation element hearing planning board April 1st at 7:30 p.m. 425 East Broad Street then we have New Jersey American Water Public hearing April 10th 4:30 and 5:30 proposed rate increased visit website for further information um public comment on any governmental issue so if anybody from the audience would like to come up for public comment on governmental issue would love to hear from you Scott Haro it's 74 Q Drive um I just have a few questions about the Jitney which I ride a couple days a week I know we got a new one and the current one doesn't have air conditioning so I'm wondering when the new one will be available to go that's the first question the second thing is it gets tedious trying to remember to bring a check every month especially now that they're like making us be a little more responsible for lack a better term has anyone ever looked into like an online payment system to pay for it because I know you can say you pay the whole year up front but I get like the money from my pre-tax every month and it just it becomes tedious if it cost a t moneyy I know it's not worth it but I thought would be something to look into we if we have to take and this is only a question if we have to take a credit card whatever it is then who has is going to pay that 4% that you're getting charged everywhere you go lately I that's one thing I that's I you want you to realize that if we're going to take it we have to see if it's going to charge us 4% more or whatever 3% we'll look into that being in service I don't know if it's back from being lettered and all the other things that have to be done find out for you shortly can we can we even like biggy back it off of maybe like Community pass or something like that maybe that can yeah could we know by next meeting yeah we don't have all theer back on as soon as that comes in it'll be thank you too cold for see anyway okay any other public comment governmental issue Jerry Fernandez 393 Hillside Avenue I think you um made a mistake here you know you H you you put this person in you went six months without a chief right now few years ago you hired I don't know three four firemen you didn't think it was necessary to do this to hire somebody the to evaluate the Staffing then but now you decide to do it you have one of the best men who should be Chief right now sitting right there for the fire department you had an employee who you made a new position for because you don't want to lose them you should definitely put him in that position now um Rich you bring up or you brought up the pool you brought up the pool again that I voted to get that to start getting money for that I was not on there in 2017 when they decided whether to do the pool of the building if I had to do it I would have fixed the bathrooms put a little repair on the building and spend the rest of the money on the pool and put that Splash Pool I would have done that I have you no let me finish I got my five minutes you want to back and forth or you don't so you're making a mistake and the fact that you've gone six months and now you hire a consultant who shot himself in the foot is an under under investigation it's not oh well it's a big deal anytime a gun goes off all right he's not a police officer anymore he's a civilian two civilians were in a room a gun went off and he shot himself in the foot it's under investigation you were right to wait a couple more weeks what the hell would have been the difference you're made a mistake if you want to back and forth let me know if you you don't answer my emails you don't answer my phone calls because of nonstop what because you lied no I do not lie you don't you can't you don't like to be challenged and you're not always right you're not right you're not always right don't tell me you didn't know him we all know him I knew him and I had the restaurant we all knew him he's not just some Fly by Night you ever see me at your restaurant could have waited a couple more weeks did you ever see me at your restaurant you want to back and forth well let's meet anytime you want you never want to meet you never want to talk you represent me like it or not you have nothing credible to say you're yeah evidently you bring my name up quite a bit you made a mistake you try to a fire on everything I don't lie a fire I have debate with you I respect your seat and I respect the positions of everybody I do do anything to try to win an election no no you're wrong you're wrong I respect the seat but you have to understand that you're not always right okay and in this situation rich is right it's my opinion I mean it's your op opinion I mean so let's let's be before we go on any further because the comment also we had an uh I want to address another comment that was made by Mr Fernandez about zoning laws and how they haven't been enforced adequately because we've left a critical position in the engineers office vacant for a year I'm going to turn that one over to my business administrator have we left a critical position vacant for a year can we can we finish public comment sure any other public comment Drew Stern five Berkeley Road this won't be as controversial um two things uh the the Springfield DPW is magnificent I've called the Union County DPW five or six times and John probably knows that uh on a corner I live I live we we border a small piece of l a land on uh on myel and it's turning into a garbage stump and the county will not come the county will not clean it up I mean it's their job you know you're talking about the even the the Springfield DPW even made a call on my behalf and they will not come that's uh I I believe because it's myel Park I believe it's County parks in no no no not it's not myel it's near the Basin across the street from the Basin that oh I know it's turning into a garbage let your kids play there go God forbid it's always crowded too it's always what are you just seeing a lot of debris in there h a tons of debris and it's growing and growing and growing and growing all right and the leaves they didn't even bother to clean up the leaves as fall I don't want to let anybody down but but you're exactly right we call the county if they don't come out does it is that another thing that gets added then to our DPW to go over there and and we can but again artless just keeps they won't allow it's difficult to get everything done and then start adding things that aren't ours technically we we could check in again with the county we we we were successful I think somebody had the I don't know if it's the same lot when I was mayor but we were successful in getting them out so we we'll we'll I would appreciate take R again be an eyesore and one one other quick thing on the corner of uh Lyndon and Berkeley one of the telephone polls is now no longer Brown it's gray and looks like people have taken shots at it they've chopped at it with a hatchet I think they should take a look at it before it comes down next storm it it more and more comes down thank you very much give me your name and number Robbie will call you tomorrow from DPW okay do it privately I don't want anybody from town calling me and can I just say one thing yes when the Pool opened after the renovation I was the mayor oh I was I I was the mayor and I I don't know any everybody was on the committee at that time I don't know but I know I was the mayor I know you wouldn't vote for me for the mayor but no but I I mean I was the mayor when it opened and but I mean I that's straighten down people but you know what Rich there were certain things that this that every TC probably since 1794 when Springfield was incorporated that is almost a no- win situation yeah and that was one of them all right because there's only so much money to do one project or another project so what you do you do is you don't throw stones that's what you do we're worried about the kids at the pool correct getting in other words having a place in a pool if it rained or you know any type of storm or that b WEA we got a big enough room I think it can fit 200 kids or 150 kids I don't know what it is but I mean that was a biggest thing that we as a child who spent time in the bathrooms yeah I and that was it question all right any other public comment can can there's no other public comment right now can we talk we'll close public comment or we'll close public comment can can we uh can you give us some information on what's happening with our zoning situation yeah let me touch on that if I may um first of all the position that was open was secretary had nothing to do with zoning or code enforcement that was not that woman's job the reason that position was left open as as long as it was is because if you looked at our previous DPW contract if somebody comes in to replace an existing employee and in this instance we had somebody that was here and a half years no how long was n 35 36 so we had a 36y year employee who got raises and everything over those 36 years under the old DPW contract if I brought somebody in that had absolutely no experience they started at where that person left we did not want to do that trying to be physically responsible we wanted to get that taken out of the contract so that when we brought somebody in we could bring them in at a more reasonable level so that's really what the holdup was why that position remained open because we just had didn't have the contract settled so that was really the Crux of it but at no time did that have any impact on zoning or code enforcement because that was a secretary not the zoning or code enforcement officer the out fulltime there there we've had no laps in anything on correct and anything that the secretary wasn't doing was picked up by the other people in the office okay thank you for clarification on that you're welcome C Captain I hear our fire truck is in finally or close to being R in yeah so the new fire truck um was delivered about 3 weeks ago um the shifts have been working tirelessly to try to get this in service you know when this truck comes it comes as a shell and we have to incorporate all our equipment on it and they fabricate a lot of things these guys are extremely um handy when it comes to it they have good talents that they use in this situation the truck should be in service hopefully by next week um we're waiting on some radio installations and testing out our new radio channels unfortunately the truck will be going tomorrow out for a motor service after doing some driver training and familiarization with the new truck the new engine uh we noticed that one of the jake brakes settings aren't working well so they got right on top of it um we notified the motor company we're going to be dropping it off at their Factory in Carney tomorrow it should be back to us in two days it's in Carney it's going to be going to Carney tomorrow morning yeah the the reason I ask is are are we going to do a a a ceremony where all the other want to ring the bell yes b b b basically uh uh I thought I was going to get the uh pleasure of getting the fire truck delivered on my uh mayoral shift and that was how many years go two years so we have certainly been waiting you can do a ceremonial drive around town with you like can we do one thing yes wait maybe next year I'll be mayor we could do wait till next year so the bad news is if we order that fire truck today and this is no exaggeration it's a almost a 5year weit yeah no did so that truck was ordered over two years ago and we got it yeah if if anybody noticed there was an article I think it was the Camden Fire Department that they they didn't have resources to make purchases years ago they delayed that but now that they have money to purchase fire trucks who are now at the end of their life stage they're not getting them in time and the union is crying that there's a safety hazard so it it speaks to we have a program in place year after year where we put money away and slowly uh but Surly replace our trucks uh at a lad stage so that uh uh we're making the right Right Moves but thank you so it was ordered under your watch no I it was actually ordered I thought your year I don't remember and and I thought it was going to come in your under my year and it got delayed because of uh uh the co and the the co delays and then um we had the the the supply chain uh uh so uh just imagine how many years ago that's so long yeah may I have some additional information on the poll yep what they actually do is they do go out with a hatchet and they chip away to see if that pole is good or bad and that poll is going to be replaced so it's already taken care of uh nice job I want to talk about another thing about uh our neighbors um Melbourne there's an interesting article out right now a lot of people always think the grass is greener somewhere else okay and there's a nice article out there right now about Milbourne residents not so happy about Main Street being closed down the restaurants and everything else uh it just goes to show you that um you know there there's we hear it all the time what with you know what can we do here like Milburn and as it turns out there is a large number of Milburn residents right now who find it is a hassle to have a Main Street closed yeah and they have to go around and they're finding it there's there's safe there's safety delays there there's ambulance delays police delays you would know about this a little bit more no no no no I was going to I was going to comment and say uh uh as a neighboring Community I I want a resolution to keep that street close uh as somebody that lives on the border of Milburn and frequents uh uh uh Milburn standard quite a lot if you ever need me you can find me at the standard uh uh I love the outside dining so I hope they do keep it but uh it it does speak that there's two sides of every story yeah not you really just can't please everybody and uh right now you know they're signing the petitions and getting the names together to try to reopen Main Street know that they they they are there is a complaint that First Responders cannot get through and it is almost a 5 to 10 minute delay on them at times because they have to go around no the theyy the other side of that there's a lot of residents that like it are doing a counter uh uh petition so um does anybody have anything else before we close out I just like to say um my prayers go out to the people in Baltimore oh I did a lot of work in Baltimore years ago and six people are still missing it was yeah six people still missing it was a oh I mean I'm in construction and I know it's a rough thing my out to the family and everything else yeah it it was the only people left on the bridge at the time of the Collision was the pothole crew it was eight people two have been found so six or did you see the film where it showed um a truck going across and as it was going you could see it going that where last one's over and the bridge coming down right after I mean it was unbelievable I mean the guy who was driving a boat did you know I you know I I I don't know if he screwed up or what but he did a fabulous job saving people because that you know people would have been driving off third largest trust build trust bridge in the in the world I think it was so I I yes we they say millions of doll go out for all of them really make a motion you know uh with that being said I'll make a motion to close second all in favor I adjourned