##VIDEO ID:fbBpL-nGvPo## we're good we're good all right I will call please Kos here Mr here Mr here Mr Roose is online Mr Mayor here Mr Zina here notice of this meeting was provided to burs beles and Courier News file with the municipal clerk and posted on the municipal bulletin board on December 5th 2024 please stand [Music] thank welcome to the January 27th 2025 meeting of the bur Bor Council this meeting is being conducted in person in the council chambers in borrow Hall being broadcast Live on YouTube and on Zoom to make it as convenient as possible for residents to attend the meeting members of the public who are here in person and those attending remotely on Zoom will be given the opportunity to comment at appropriate times during the meeting in accordance with the following guidelines members of the public will be allowed to speak during the open sessions and during formal public hearings on the agenda including public hearings on ordinances comments will be limited to 3 minutes per speaker which will be monitored and enforced by the borrow clerk comments containing offensive profane or indecent language or language constituting hate speak will not be permitted the remote participants will be muted unless they're unmuted by the clerk and remote participants will not be able to unmute themselves the clerk will mute REO speakers at the expiration of their three minutes of a lot of time or if they make any inappropriate or offensive comments All speakers whether in person or on Zoom shall State their name and address before making their comments speakers on Zoom shall activate their cameras so that they can be seen by members of the governing body and audience failure of the governing body to provide a live broadcast of this meeting or technological problems encountered during the course of the meeting that affect remote viewing and or participation will not invalidate this meeting or any action taken including but not limited to the adoption of any ordinance resolution or motion okay and we have a special presentation tonight p and Seven Seals award so uh gentlemen if you would like to actually if you kind of stand on the so anyway I'm retired command Major Art mags I am the regional um chair for central New Jersey uh for the Department of defenses and foris Porter Garden Reserve okay we're here tonight because um P officer M petty officer meisy okay just so I get it right thank you course um put a number of people in for an awards that he works with here within the bur okay if I have it right it is a bur okay and that so what we're going to do is make some presentations I understand one person is not here tonight so I will leave it with you and you can get it to her um there's a document here that can be put into your bulletin board it just says you're a military friendly um burrow and you have military people that work within the bur and that's basically it's a non-binding article it stays with you uh you sign it do whatever you want to and then we have two other awards that we're doing out it was a another one that our vice chair um put into the mix of this that I didn't know about until I looked at it this afternoon and I said oh okay so we'll take you from there so may sure so just to give you the background of this whole thing several years ago I began this journey of joining the Coast Guard because I wanted to not just serve my community but my country and you as a group whether it was the council the chief the administrator have been so supportive of me throughout that process uh I was very lucky back in 2018 and was named the uh reserve and listed person of the year the entire Post Guard your your body ding body honored me with a proclamation years later when you found out that there was a discrepancy in pay when I was on active duty for more than 30 days you did the right thing and helped fix that discrepancy I appreciate that from the bottom of my heart it meant a lot to me and my family so this spring when I was uh deployed for the Francis Scott Key bridge collapse I was encouraged by uh commander who was in charge of my unit that this is a very nice way to honor you for your support of me throughout the years and I do appreciate that support and that's why we're here tonight okay so follow through on your protocol um we're based at for dicks New Jersey okay joint Faith McGuire dick sler and the only reason I say for dick is because when I say joint Fai McGuire dick sler everybody looks at me strange where is that place never heard of it so anyway we're at for we have an offer we have a fulltime person at manset office for us and all that stuff um I have the tired s major Greg Seer here he's the director for our hman that um talks with people that ask questions and resolves uh does mediation resolving uh issues between civilian employers and U the military personnel so it's nonbinding we don't get involved with lawyers nothing person but uh what we do is we inform educate and we immediate okay and that's basically it we want you to understand the federal law and we want the service member to understand the federal law but we encourage them you know if you have a question ask if you have a question you're BN well you go and ask questions to it's it's no deep dark secret this whole thing it's a federal law and designed by uh US Department of Labor to Military and employers so it's after so that's basically it U for that so we'll get into the awards so you can get on with their meeting here um we have a patri award for the chief of police okay um which uh Al okay picture we got to take pictures yeah only Reon is and I gotta prove we do something [Music] listen the men and the women in this country do the hard part we're just glad this one and do what we can do to assist keeping this country safe and the greatest country in the world than you okay so the next one sorry there Mary Jane okay get you in for a patriot employer award okay and it's a pen that goes with it that you can wear and and uh there you go come on stand in the center here you got to stand in the center nice about being push people already even if I'm retired appreciate and you know we're so happy that you do what you do I [Music] appreciate here okay what I was explaining to you before award this a seven SE award goes to the police department okay that he put you all in for to say thank you for all everybody in the police department for supporting him done that Comm anyway let's see I guess you got to come back up here again this is so this is the entire Council here so we'll let you hold it's an above and beyond award that you saying thank you to the whole burough Council for their support um when he's on active duty doing whatever the Coast Guard gives him as a mission to do his group and that so here didn't get didn't hear here this to [Music] thank you so much thanks all for your support appreciate it and if you forgive me and excuse me I'm getting this uniform [Music] all right as many of you know we had Chad has D from the council due to his exing work conditions and he's in Philadelphia more than he's in burville so uh we had an opening and we ask the Republican Committee in Burnsville to come up with three candidates that um the council will interview are going to give V some time to talk and then we will go in the backer uh make a decision come back out announce whoever they select and swear them in and they'll come up here and sit so we'll start with what I've been ask the three of you to do is um take a you know three or five minutes tell us a little about yourself and why you would like to be on the council and what you feel you can contribute and then I'll open it for the council to ask questions um so hopefully it didn't take too long um you know alphabetically that be there okay they're pretty close actually [Music] my is Mike swag I live in 24 da with my wife and Marie I've been resident in bille 12 years although I'm not a stranger to buril because I've been coming here since I was born in 1955 as my family has been in Vero for about over 100 years I go back for Generation Um I'm interested in being on the council because there's a lot of work that needs to be done you take care of the old stuff first and then you work on the hard stuff you do the easy stuff first and you work on the hard stuff next I walk around and I talk to a lot of people and they come up to me and they they tell me there are some problems that need to be addressed number one they always insist and everybody knows in Burn traffic speeding is a problem I have the time I'm retired I have the time so anything I can do with problems or any suggestions that people give to me I'll look into them and research and do the best I can to get back to the people I want the whole Community to be benef from any decision that I would make on the council because the quality of life in Burn is important to everybody and whether you're one month old or 110 years old you're still a resident in Burnsville and you need to be here and live here and enjoy what vernil can give to you as a citizen so that's why I'm interested in being on the council so I know you're going to have questions and my opinion about development and things like that so I'm ready to face the music questions are questions now the yeah any I'll start yeah so um obviously you talked about Redevelopment I would love to hear what you think are the top two issues fac in the community and then maybe your high level thoughts right now and what needs to be done to address them well number one I set up where I speeding is definitely a problem because they come off on Mount AR Road they're going they're going 30 miles hour they get on Dayton creson they're doing maybe 35 then they go down to Liberty they're doing 50 we have a lot of young kids up there one thing I think the town needs to do they and I think they did a study on Wesley by the high school but to me that's not an ER that needed to be studied they need to study the the speeding on like Liberty and Dayton Crescent and maybe put in track of cence when they can do it to slow down the speeding of these cars because somebody is going to get killed someday and I and I don't say that as in just somebody is going to get killed I mean two years ago what I did my wife and I we went to the town and we put in an application on Halloween to stop the traffic from coming up there and we did it last year too in 2023 we had 800 and some trick-or-treaters last year we had over 900 there was no inent and so with the year before cars were coming in and out they weren't going to slow down or stop and you know we're lucky nobody got hurt or killed but speeding not just in that area but other people tell me in other parts is definitely a problem in Burn number two redevelop it's nice to redevelop and develop property in verle however when you when a developer comes to you I know the Palmer project they offer a pilot program the pilot deal to the developer my opinion is if a developer wants to come in and he wants a pilot deal what he needs to do is he needs to say oh okay what does the town want from me and the town should say well instead of giving us money to the town which the town takes the whole residents all the residents don't benefit from that what what the town to say is here's what we want from you as part of a pilot deal we want either a new fire truck which costs over a million dollars uh a couple police cars ambulance or maybe if they're going to uh dig somewhere and and tear up the road maybe they can repave where they're where they're working however before a Redevelopment project is done they need to look at the infrastructure of the sewer and the and the areas around where they're going to be and they also need to keep their structure at a certain level and the style needs to be within the style of the town now because you don't want to have a 20 story building that's all fancy that sticks out like a sort of fun and you know I know you're working on the Palmer project I know it's been going on but the thing is you have to take the the people what they think what they think if they're going to build a a big structure next to me I want it to look like the structure that's next to them before it goes up I don't want anything fancy I want it to look the same because you know Verns was historic town you want to keep the history of burns alive when they build you don't want flashy lights and all this and that going on so that's my my my point with Redevelopment thank you um can I ask maybe you like normal work experience where from where you retired I started uh well if you wanted me to go way back my first job I worked in professional baseball with the Texas Rangers in the visiting Clubhouse for two years then I worked at AT&T for 16 and a half years and before they told me your downsize then I went to a law firm I worked there and unfortunately I got hurt and was on disability and they terminated me and then I went to the state and I was doing Financial work both at the law firm and AT&T in the state in the state I had another operation and I was on disability and again they terminated me when I was on disability so right now retired but I have background in finance Finance okay and one of the things that I like to do I was involved years ago in marown on the recreation committee for over 20 years so you know I like to get involved back with the recreation department because I have some ideas for birns though for the kids you know trips and functions that can be done for the kids so I've done that great that was going be my next question of what you were interested in thank you okay uh yeah any last points on like any Recreation ideas or like she was saying about you know just broadly like any committee You' prefer to be on well I like Recreation of it it's available because like I said I still have some friends from former players that from when I work with the Rangers and uh you know still have some connections so hopefully if I'm on the council we can arrange maybe uh contact like you know the new recreation director I can work with him maybe contact the Yankees or Mets or not just baseball or football have you know maybe a former player come out and give a mini clinic to the kids or maybe do like the old days where the town I don't know if bernel does it but they used to do it in other towns they buy a bunch of tickets for the bleachers at Yankee Stadium and take the whole little leag uh organization out to the stadium for a Day game something like that just to get the kids that play the little we have them go to a game and get the feel of seeing a real ey game because some of those kids don't have the opportunity and you have to open it up to everybody and and that's something I like to do great um I I noticed that you have a lot of volunteer experience in Mars can you tell us about other than rep like what did what do you think about how Mar was get in the when you live there now well like I said I was involved on the recreation committee for a long long time and I I did volunteer with um you know a lot of different candidates running for office and I did do uh volunteer work um I did a couple volunteer things one was my daughter she wanted to have to raise money for started out in the oak Winfrey founding but that panned out to the Children's Miracle Network we raised money on the internet getting items from celebrities and sports figures we raised over $4,000 then a couple years later a friend of mine who had U he was building a unit at marown Memorial leew unit in honor of his daughter who she was born in martown she got sick Maran didn't have a NQ unit She was transferred to New York Columbia and and she died because there was no NQ so he was going to have a fundraiser I volunteered to help him and I did the same thing and I think we raised over $220,000 so I have the time like I said I'm willing to get my hands dirty and do things I mean if you come by my yard in the spring and and summer you'll see me out there all dirty I don't mind getting dirty you good yes thank you okay thank you stot all right I'm Charles R Drive so uh Burnsville is just in my mind a really quential American community and it's the one that's dearest of my heart my wife are we got married here and they helped us out we was talking about before actually uh 14 years ago years ago and um we baptized two of our kids here and most importantly show to move here and raise all three of our kids here several years ago be from elsewhere in New Jersey it's just it's such a unique town There's a able compact Historic downtown there's architectural and natural beauty across all these buildings Mountain but most importantly there's a community that's both really tightly knit but also somehow welcoming the newcomers which for us as newcomers last few years has been really amazing it's it's just really amazing and it's hard to find a place like this I've lived in half do states I'm sure most people this room haven't been at all like this but this uh this perf this really ideal Community as Aus we have some challenges there's big S fronts downtown and they're increasing tenants are unsure whether to take on new nieces due to their future ex properties new families many of us prob have friends and families that want to move to town just simply can't find places to move to so this ideal commity one that my wife grandparents moved to in the 1960s hasn't Challenge from us but that's okay challenges and there's a path board and the path board started with devel and that starts with figuring out how can we figure out the solution that works for most of the people most of the time going around listening to everyone not get 100% of people happy 100% of the time most of the people most of the times what A4 and we have to in doing so we have to respect that people build their memories here when that hits while allowing space for people to create new memories through this generation Next Generation to create new memories it's not just there are other issues at play we have to keep affordable town as they're considering other options we have to keep it safe free free free from CRI and we have to make it fun place to live and Bre Yankees and this players um so all those things what we to do so but yeah how can I help when I was as consider like what can I possibly do here you all doing a great job but I thought back okay a couple things throughout my career where maybe I could be a assistance um as an executive at a large telecity ation company I spent a lot of my career bringing people together over complex difficult detail projects as senior director of corporate development um at this company and is's responsible for projects that affected billions of dollars and thousands of people require building consensus and create action for that I was an investor in New York investing hundreds of millions of dollars over time bringing investment communities together to create outcomes that matter in and getting a consens to that and I began my career as a at a public policy Research Institute in in Washington DC getting into the detail so I really think help on the development side is just bringing folks together and getting into the we data so that we know which LS to P folks um keep each side reasonably satisfi it's not just that just uh not just development I should say uh spend most my career Finance so have some in ability look at a qu and say hey there's some ways we can as a fresh creat some optimal value for the citizens um both safety spent um have had a productive and work relationship with Chief re who was here earlier actually the last time I addressed the council was that on that issue in 2023 so like to continue that and on Recreation has spent the last couple years in the board of su ball Club but we continue the great work that organizations to expanded other areas so look some we have a really great downtown we have to preserve our charm we have to do enough the to retain their character and we have to do a way that brings enough folks together to move forward and I just want to close thanks for everyone for their time here than serves for that's um it's amazing you than thank you start again um you already kind of addressed the issues um the might about two issues so I don't think that actually maybe as you then about building consensus I would just love to hear maybe ideas on how we can engage the community you know we talk a lot about um trying to use different Technologies or different ways to bring Community into conversations particular around issues so let the yourp have any ideas or how your strategy would be yeah my appr these big decisions it's get all the data first right and I think uh we're talking about maybe engaging a a a polling firm that can help consider the quantitative side of that to bring in what's the what all sa up and we need that as the base Foundation but data is kind of useless context so I would take that and go to folks have listening sessions me you know if you want hold Focus stre about many versions of that so that we can then say okay here are three or four key issues that came in survey what do you think about this and really what's that mean when we apply it to this thing I know you said you want uh you know slightly more development or not this but what's that mean when you choose from A or B because that's what we really got to take the quanti data still down put in the context and then create a way that actually creates a turn of opinion into decision um inut that's take data and then use it through the conversations we have uh yeah as far as committees I know you touched on finance I know you know you talk about you know being passionate about the Redevelopment issue any like committees or other areas you specifically want to be involved including Le you the leas on committees I think you know i' obiously want to listen from you all and hear where the needs most I know you all are on two those so we want to be helpful where I can get of help um on Lea on committees you things like wvly helpful s for my background with serson Hills uh S Sales ball Club um would be one of those that say Focus not sure the an there go but um but we would but that would be a good area to focus on I think on the standing within the council too obviously Finance would be front center I think for some my background and then an area like public works you know would be probably another to consider giv us importance to uh to our budget and the maintenance of our community [Music] [Laughter] awesome um look I'll say this you know when we we lived in in Branch before right and we love Branchburg um my wife brother her you here um one of the things that we miss a little bit about Branchburg was the lack of this really compact walkable downtown and and you know people say like why is that why is that valuable reason is because you know when you go to the coffee shop you run into somebody and you see them and you say hey that's why it's valuable you can't you can't avoid people which is good cuz then you have to work we have to work together as a community we aren't in little bubbles so that's what we love about the little town that you're just we're all here working together part of one team and that's what we the downtown you know big Community exactly like the right good right thank you thank you see I can do this without my notice but may have to cheat a little bit uh good evening thank you for your time Rich trainer out of that 95 ambar Place uh I've been a proud resident in Burnsville for 18 years uh my family actually goes way back though I think I had might beat by one generation know five generations back to my great great grandfather he immigrated to Ireland uh in the 1850s uh worked for the scis and then his son my great-grandfather was the first uh fire chief of the volunteer fire department all um so obviously you know I love Vernon so I grew up mum but spent a lot of time coming here as a kid um I've got my wife Amy who is a par professional at Bedwell she's been working there for about seven or eight years now and loves it and I've got three kids two uh two oldest boys are in college and my daughter is a junior at High School uh coincidentally she turned 17 today uh and I'm happy and really nervous to say that she pass driving test so just keep your eyes open um I'm an attorney by trade uh for the last 15 years uh I was inhouse in the Life Sciences industry working for Med device and pharmaceutical companies um before that I spent a little over a decade as a land use attorney in New Jersey so I have a really strong foundation in uh Municipal and land use law um let's see the um oh and then so when I left uh practicing land I always I always enjoyed it did a lot of work with developers I know a lot of we did a lot of redevelopments we did a lot of U affordable housing stuff uh working with municipalities working working on uh tax Improvement financing districts so uh you know obviously the the bread and butter Varian is all that um when I decided to go inhouse um I kind of felt a little bit of void that I I kind of missed doing some of that so I volunteered to be on the board of adjustment um so I've been on the board of adjustment now for I think 13 years don't quote me on that cuz I think it was around 2012 I kind of lost track um but I've loved being on the board job I'm I'm the vice chair of the board right now uh it's been a great experience I think I've added a lot of value but quite honestly I think I could I think I can give a lot more to Balian that U and there's only so many sidey variances that you can kind of sit through in your life before saying okay I think I can I think I can have a little bit more um so I always I always tell people there's two kinds of attorneys there's there's litigators and there's deal makers I was not a Ator litigators in my experience they tend to fight they tend to go you know butt heads and there's a winner and a loser I was always by Nature a deal orderer I look for compromise look for ways there could be a win-win solution and that always kind of defined me professionally in terms of how I approach my work um so I think as a as a board member as as as potentially as a council member uh I think go find I'm very collaborative uh I have a a very respectful even feel demeanor and that's kind want Power first things um in terms of like my thoughts about the town and and sort of what I would give to the council I think the council's done a really tremendous job the last you know in sort of the perceivable past um I you know I think the Redevelopment uh zones have been a great particularly quy Lane I thought that was just like I said to the the Republican committee it was it was Visionary and at the same time it was so obvious it was like how how do we not think about this 50 years ago that this should be the center of town um have sort of a pedestrian Center where we can have residential retail um parks open space all close to the train station I mean it just makes so much sense so I was ecstatic when I when I saw that go rail and I've been I will say I've been disappointed that it seems to have lost a little bit then uh and I know it's not the council's fall I know there's a lot of you know things that go into that um but I think personally that's something I would love to see reinvigorated and and and sort of put a lot of uh put a lot of commitment behind that um um I think the Palmer project I was very disappointed that the that the plane board I thought it was a great idea to have that as a Redevelopment Zone I know that it was sort of out of your hands and it went to the to the zoning board uh I was very disappointed in the zoning board's decision um well say maybe on the record I shouldn't say defaults um that I had with that both from a factual and legal standpoint um so I was a little disappointed in that and my fear is that again it's a lot of this stuff is momentum and and it's and you know you don't want potential redevelopers com to town thinking that the town is not a place where they can come and get a fair decent reception and work as partners so I think I think the town's going to have to little work a little bit um to make sure that we can get past that and hopefully get that that Redevelopment back on track as well as qu Lan um so I think that's that's kind of all I wanted to say thank you for your [Music] thank so first all thanks for being on your daughter 17 for pretty amazing trust me she's not even does noticed that I'm not um so obviously you have a lot of great expertise on Redevelopment talked about that I would love to just hear maybe a second issue that you really feel the buau needs to address or you know any other pressing is um you know I think I mean Recreation is always a big one everybody always talks about I think they t a really good job of of sort of slowly but surely improving I mean I can go back 18 years at least personally and see all the improvements that made especially on po grounds that's been great and so I've seen like sort of like good steady incremental progress on Redevelopment I still I know the lighting issue at the high school is a big deal um I'm all for that I think it's a great idea it's kind of amazing that we have temporary lights and like every other town probably you know in New Jersey has has permanent ones little concerned about the cost um so I get you know I I don't know all that goes into that so you know that that's sort of part of me is is also very fiscally responsible so I'm always going to say that's a great idea let's get lights but at the same time let's make sure we don't you know blow the budget on something and have some other part of town that goes um you know that goes on you know that we don't take care of I know behind the high school has been an issue for a long time um so there's still a lot to do in the recreational side of things but I'm encouraged by the town I think we're we don't have to do it all at once I think as long as we keep taking small bites at the Apple and keep making improvements I think that's the way to do that um and open space I think is another issue that you know comes up from time to time I just sat through the mebrook farm subdivision application and I think there's going to be an awesome opportunity I think that's I think the timing may be right to do something and and there may be some reception on their front to uh to doing something with a sort of an easement or selling that property so I think that could be something exciting that happens in the next couple years obviously it's not completely within the town's control um but you know I think I know the town has been sort of squirreling away money for years with their ey property so I think it's important that the town makes sure that we you know we really know that one so those are those are a couple isses that um yeah on on Redevelopment you already made you know a couple points there is there anything else we could be focusing along maybe as a town that's not like necessarily like Redevelopment that maybe furthers the whole like idea of revitalization anything else you want to add um W um well I was really happy to see the the the TR the going over the train track that I thought that M was awesome I think when I came here I think I kept putting that in as a suggestion I'm not getting credit I know a lot people have that same suggestion but even things like that simple little things that don't cost a lot of money that beautify the town and that you know that was sort of like the ugliest eyesore as you drove into town from one of the main entrances of the town and you just saw this like high voltage and it looked like a like a jail um and so that you know little things like that so you know looking for opportunities on those lines um traffic in the center of town has has been an issue forever I don't know if there's a simple solution for that um I H to I've always heard it's the dot issue and that we can't do anything because it's the do so part of me is like okay I guess you have to accept that and then part of me is like can't someone just go down and sit in Trenton and just bang on someone's door like you know just sit there like a you know right letters every day until they fix the timing on the light because a lot of it is just timing on the light it's not going to completely fix it but I think they should improve it so looking for simple basic things that don't cost a lot of money that can that can make big improvements to yes the same question that I asked get favorite thing about well I had a little bit of time to think about it so um um you know I love I love the fact that you know yes the downtown is great I love that although I do think it could be better I sort of when I think of the downtown I think about what it is and what it could be and so I'm really excited about what downtown vernil could be I love the fact that you know outside of the downtown it's such a beautiful area I mean the mountain and going to the um Aon Society I mean you know so Parks you know the sort of the path systems my kids have we've taken advantage of that taken paths through the woods but and and even just driving by metab so I love that sort of sense of you know downtown small community but with this beautiful col you know area around so I think that's why we love it here thank you for taking this time to be here and we are we have to adjourn to Executive do I have a motion favor you're welcome to stay visitors and whatever hopefully this will take to you e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e recording we're unmuted with video we're good okay um other than say this was not an easy decision um as you can tell I were gone for long um you know we had really it it's it's refreshing that we had three people come forward so quickly and be willing to serve their Community it's been um you know I know in the past it's we've been struggling to get volunteers and to have people helping the community so to see just three passionate qualified people willing to step up and help their town is really encouraging so that I think is worth and we hope that if you're not the one selected that you still will engag with us and we will find a place for you don't you there's always openings on on our boards and committees and and you know we'd love to see people help us out with uh there's a lot to do a lot to be done and it helps to have people involved thank you all [Music] right to appoint Rich trainer to the burrow Council to fill the unexpired term of Chad ending December 31st 2025 one second roll call please M MC yes and miss Mr R yes Mr Ru yes Mr yes Mr yes all right thank you thank you yeah I [Music] and then just repeat this iage trainer do Solly swear iage trainer do Solly swear I support the Constitution of the United States and the state of New Jersey that I'll support theit United States and the state of New Jersey true faith and allegiance to the same be true faith in allegiance to the same and to the government establish in the United States and in this state and to the government established in the United States and this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people and that faithfully and partially and justly and that faithfully and partially and justly perform all the duties of council member according to the best of my ability perform all the duties of council member according to the best of myability and I will not use my office to Grant preferential treatment and that I will not use my office to Grant preferential treatment to see personal game favor or Advantage not available to the general public me die to see personal game favor or Advantage not available to the general public thank you this is like my seat a lot of you want me to sit there right now or over there spoke to them um you know I spoke to D told that I was doing this and so he's aware of it and said that got a point in then understand all right fortunately thanks okay we have minutes to approve from January 6 minutes second um now have our first open session for any item that's are not listed for a public hearing so anyone in the public who like be heard please um either come to the ex raise your hand on zoom and sayate your name and your address John down 16th South Street I just wanted to uh surface something we've done way back when probably before co uh the multi family housing we actually inventory all them and we're going process of making sure they were compliant with the 197 I guess when there were just La so I wonder if you maybe I know personel changed you make might recall that but we did we can revisit that and revive that again I think that'd be that'd be helpful some the stacking and make sure the hous that are down there after committ yes thank you John and I did actually find the old file um with all the pictures and I P it on since Z because none of them were aware of it so uh they are having bill go through the list so thanks for bringing it back up yeah it just a conversation it was kind of D I think I lost in the Shole Co suppose but yeah thanks for volunteering congratulations thank you was great to have three people even colleages the other side anyone else sure Pat R 56 Anderson Hill Road unfortunately before I speak I have to let you know that the following statements are made in my capacity as a private citizen and not in my capacity as a board of education member these statements are also do not represent the board or its individual members and solely represent my own personal opinion I know that this is not necessarily a time when you as a council are obliged to respond to what I say so I really don't respect uh excuse me expect a response and the the 22 years that Paul Liam and I have lived here Bernardsville has always been a multicultural Community we have families who have been here multiple generations and those who have more recently settled here and we feel that verville is richer and stronger for it I've come here because of anxiety and concern in our community about the recent Federal changes in Immigration policy and en so that our community knows if we stand committed to protecting and serving all of its members including the many immigrants who chose to live live work and visit here I've come to ask some questions that I hope you will consider making public comment too so that the people who live here will understand that they are well welcome I've read the policies um that were forwarded to me and I know that some of them overlap with federal and state but this is what I wanted to ask do the police and Bernardsville and I know the answer to this but not everybody does ask about immigration status when they interact with the public do they also enforce immigration related laws or otherwise participate in Immigration related enforcement also have officers been trained in Immigration related law enforcement and does such enforcement fall within the authority granted to law enforcement in the state of New Jersey is our town doing anything to protect our citizens from those who might represent themselves fraud as federal law enforcement and who might indeed be malign actors finally I respectfully ask so that there'll be no question about it that the council and police make a verbal as well as written Assurance to the members of our community that they will protect their lawful rights under the fourth and fifth amendments to the United States Constitution regardless of their IM immigration status thank you very much hey um so I'm Mary FR and your librarian um and I just wanted to highlight some upcoming Library news one we have mini golf on Saturday it is a really fun day family day is I think $5 a person we have free crafts we have free snack and then we transition into adult night and those tickets are $40 per person but they have to drinks and wonderful food so we T have manyi golf holes 18 of them take over the entire Library we have a lot of great sponsors and allot great support our is doing this that's Friday you said Saturday Saturday all day then there's a break then there's an evening event and there's a great basket auction they have wonderful baskets I think they have close to 50 of them um lots of good stuff so I hope that you and your friends will come out um we also have a copy with a police officer on Wednesday morning that's always a very nice event they're coming doing some stories and they're doing some education and um safety awareness for our little ones and as well as their caregivers and the the big thing is also too that I understand you learned about our renovation more that it was a surprise last meeting I couldn't be here today to address questions then but um we've been working over the past year and a half on a strateg plan and capital plan and meeting with space planners and getting quotes for LED lighting that is recommended in the energy audit for cost savings as well as Energy Efficiency um to improve accessibility with a door button uh on our interior doors FL and Library which will also hopefully help our H back um to create those meeting rooms that people want for business for work for tutoring for their high school projects and to create a more magical children's area so we're shifting around some of our collection we are shrinking some of them a little bit um now that we belong to me we can get most materials very quickly so that we don't need to have one of that we used to so we'll be shrinking some of those collection putting in three big meeting rooms or one bigger meeting room two little meeting rooms um and flexing our space of doing softw Furnishing and recycling a lot of our our Shell B so we'll be keeping all of our powerder Co St so if you guys have any questions about that I ask mayor to present it soon um and yes is it um Polie off that this Wednesday or the following Wednesday I'm pretty sure it's this Wednesday yeah thank you the morning um yeah I think we um for February's meeting um FR is asked you to do a presentation on the Strategic plan so if you are up for that definitely yeah good good thanks the work session this yeah so we can yeah so the public can see I people get excited when they see and then when you close the library do it or whenever they'll know what it's for and be excited by the way I want to amend my answer my favorite thing about Burns awesome anyone else okay I will close the public session um then I have to open a public hearing on ordinance for 2025 2013 2025 salaries and weighted ordinance for non-contractual employees in the burrow of burners and this is really setting the salary ranges as not specific people positions um anyone like to be heard on this then I will close the public hearing um I move to pass ordinance 2025 2013 on a final reading and adop as published second pleas yes Mr yes Mr rth yes on these yes yes remove that ordinance 2025 2014 an ordinance repealing ordinance 2024 20101 entitled ordance vacating a portion of Bernard Z adjacent to block 114 blot one be introduced by title pass one first reading publish the law that a public hearing be scheduled for VD beginning at 7 p.m. Monday February 24th 2025 so all in favor I iOS andain one uh moving on to the resolutions we have 2525 through 2538 any question um again you we are required to have the uh resolution for accepting our for number by the end of this month yes and then the next thing is we have to have the plan done by the end of well actually next thing judgment Action poster cop on the website I've got a pilot will be on pilot the affordable housing the programs website all right but that doesn't mean this is we locked into this number because there are credits and other things right this is just our right then we get credits hope have cut yeah it's okay to getting brushed up on it but all I know that it's it's constantly revolving evolving and changing it's just is any other ones anybody wants to uh I think we've had we had these all last week so move I'll move the resolutions 25-25 to 25-38 adopted second call Mr Zar yes Mr yes Mr L yes yes yes right uh mayor's update um I did have a meeting in December with um a number of the business owners on CY and M Street regarding parking that's been an issue down there with the demand now that so many businesses are up and running so um we're working on that um and a lot of it is is trying to work out sharing agreements I attended the monora lighting at the Burnsville Center on December 29th um so I think that's the third year that they've done that there I had a meeting with Charlie I think he says kichi Casi from uh king of kings and that does our the Tuesday feeding program that we do over at the Fieldhouse and in the summer at the hour lot so they're looking for uh more ways to get involved with some of the other feeding programs so we were talking about trying to get a meeting together with some of the food bank people and the feeding programs and and see if we can't get a more unified feeding program for people that are improved and secure uh I attended a seminar on the mayor's Wellness campaign Community Hub they've now launched a a website that's got lots of resources and contacts so that um each town can talk to each other and share ideas so I think that'll be really helpful and I did uh submit the application for 2024 for our mayor's Wellness campaign hopefully we'll and we're not going to make a healthy town but hopefully we'll stay at a healthy town for watch so uh I think we get the results in March um I attended a New Jersey Conference of Mayors board meeting did a ribbon cutting for the new owner at The Bar Method over in the municipal center and I attended um somerson County Business Partnership of which we are a member they had a a business mixer at the um RW Johnson Somerset and that's where I met uh Ann who wants to do that program that I to bring about um this week is oh wait we did have a Don and lens retirement lunch after what was it how many years 30 41 41 for John John yeah I know which was a lovely lovely event and um Christine was there and Al was there so it was I think they were very pleased and we will miss them um we had another meeting of the summerson Hills Public Safety Committee meeting which are the mayors of the Somerset Hills um I think at our next meeting we're going to have presentation on the use of drones for First Responders that I guess there's uh they're out there now available they they're connected to dispatch so that they immediately get sent out when the call comes in and you get live um photos of the scene so before the First Responders even get there they can anticipate what they're going to need so um we're talking about if there's a way that somehow we could share something a program like that because it's spre expensive um we also talked about um an O issue with body cameras that evidently a lot of people are putting an open request for body camera footage that they then post to embarrass people you know when like somebody's drunk and fallen down and so I think it's actually gone to the Supreme Court now as to how they can control the use of request for Bobby CS something that's good and people put uh it is Restaurant Week in Myersville up until the 31st so um check out which restaurant you go to the main street um Main Street bville.org and see which restaurants are participating what their menus are I think there's seven that are participating so um and also a reminder about mini golf and uh Main Street is I think the title sponsor for the mini golf so need to do that and that's what I have uh we don't have the administrator report just still s hopefully on the men um I have a motion to accept the department monthly voice so all all in favor oppos obain the cross acceptance on it of business um I guess have to do a motion actually appointing the people yes you have to do a motion appointing the people and they want too person appointed and they want a letter from the B saying will participate in the acceptance process I so I we said um Denise F would be the con the point person sense and then um John Zabo would be on the committee and I've asked Bob Graham for someone from the plan I don't have I assume it'll probably be him but I don't know for sure so can we just say planning board representative yeah just do a motion say okay all right so um I move that we appoint Denise what's Bardo Bardo John Zabo and to be any board member to the count County yeah County cross also as the den is the point person for all in favor so you get to vote this is you the state is redoing the Statewide correspondence we did have the uh enironment commission report which I think was talked about at the last meeting but we had the actual copy of it and they did get filed done so we keep that think every year it's part of their charge to give us a a year end report um unfinished bus do we have anything I believe we have new business we do I received a telephone call from dge pal dur Municipal Court Municipal Court D and she's been subed in the case filed against the burrow which is very unusual judge yes really she's not happy about it she did speak to be assignment judge Shanahan who said that they could oppose her however she had to be represented by Council it can't be the municipal attorney and it can't be the J attorney he said have conference I'm just happy that he said that so in any of it uh we can ask the J to appoint another attorney but I doubt they will so my recommendation is that you authorize Nancy to retain somebody it should be matter of hours you know three hours maybe because she said she doesn't remember anything she handled hundreds of Domes to balance complaints since then and they all learn together what's the suit we can't disclose yeah it's a suit against the police department so as I say I think we should do that or I think we have to do it so I suggest that's how we deal with SE because I think the dep for February 12 don't so think the best thing to delate can answer the author toire somebody for $3,000 okay so move move second all in favor final chance to speak last Open session for the public no all right then I will close the public sessions um we do have I just have an update from that so I guess we could do that in close s yes um very quickly so it w be a good deal it take too long so um D have a motion to adjourn to Executive s yeah just to discuss um it's contracts and we will not come back or me okay yes all in favor yes thank you public