e for okay uh let me do that real quick e e e e e e e e so I'll I'll tell George you have anybody outside that you want to bring in hi everybody hello welcome I know it's a full house it's great to see everybody here thank you all for coming we're going to start the meeting off if you can rise for a moment of silence and salute to the flag iance to of the United States of America to the IT stand one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all adequate notice of this meeting was provided to the Union County Hawk and advertised on January 4th 2024 notification was sent to the Star Ledger and is posted on the municipal website the municipal public bulletin board and filed in the office of the municipal clerk informing the public of the time and place according to the provisions of the open public meeting Law chapter 231 pl1 1975 roll call please miss Cameron mayor bloom here councilwoman Bodo here councilman Foley here councilman Lazaro councilwoman ndi here councilwoman salmon here council president Carney a roll call of staff and professionals please John Arthur borrow administrator here Adam Abramson burrow attorney Sandy Brun CFO here Doug stoer chief of police okay well it's a very special night and we will start it off with our promotions uh for our captain s and two sergeants so I'm going to come down there and use the mic um and we will begin to administer the oath to our three officers okay hi everybody okay we're on um I just wanted to give a little background for about Captain Roco um who I've gotten to know very well through the years and um I'm just really proud of of him and I'm really proud that and honored that I get to do this tonight with you so thank you so Captain Sam Roco born in Garwood has some strong ties to our burrow his father as some of you may know was a mailman for over 30 years here and his grandfather worked as a bartender his entire career in Garwood Captain Roco proudly served in the US Marine Corps Reserves from 1993 to 1999 and he cites his Marine Corps training background and experience as providing him with strong leadership abilities and confidence he then attended Rucker University norc from 1995 to 1998 where he earned his bachelor's of Science degree in criminal justice and graduated with honors Captain Roco was then accepted into the John H stamler Police Academy 99th recruit class in 1999 and hired here in Garwood as a police officer on January 15 2000 he was assigned to the Patrol Division juvenile burrow and was involved in a joint investigation with the Union County prosecutor's office narcotic stri Strike Force and gang task force in April 2008 uh and involving in multiple arrests of gang members Captain Rock also responded to new uh to New York City on Thursday September 11 2001 to be a part of the uh New Jersey state PBA relief site representing the Garwood PBA in the initial efforts of maintaining support to First Responders and volunteers as well as assisting with efforts in locating survivors and personal effects Captain Rocco's career in Garwood has seen him promoted to Sergeant in 2011 lieutenant in 2013 and then acting Captain last year in 20 2023 he has served as a division commander in Patrol supervised the juvenile Bureau and assisted the detective Bureau with multiple investigations and he is also a certified dare great instructor as well as a crisis intervention team certified officer where he is currently assigned as lead arrive liaison and coordinator for the Garwood PD he currently oversees the day-to-day operations of the department as well as being the accreditation manager and I know how much work that is uh and of course and most importantly he is supported by his wife Jennifer who he married in 2010 and his seven children Emma Jack Anna Carmela Franklin Tabitha and Lola come on up Captain Rock you want to come up to or we yeah can you raise your right hand put your left hand on the Bible and repeat after me I Samuel Roco do solemnly affirm that I will uphold the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constition the constitution of the state of New Jersey that I will bear truth faith and allegiance to the same or bear truth to Allegiance and Faith to the same to the government's established and to the government's established in United States in the United States and in this state and in this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people that I will Faithfully that I will faithfully impartially and partially and justly perform and justly perform all the duties all all the duties of police captain police captain for the bur of Garwood for the burrow of Garwood ACC according to the best of my congratulations Captain did you want to say a few words before you take some pictures up to you you're very good at this sort I I just want to I'm not I'm not gonna talk a lot a lot but um I just want to thank you for everybody that's in this room that came out to support us mayor and councel thank you for this opportunity Chief stoer thank you sergeants um John Pry and George Suggs congratulations I'm looking forward to working with you and you know as Frontline supervisors bringing gar PD the tip of the spear and um my lovely wife who surprised me was able to make it here from Myrtle Beach she arrived today and um get to see some of her friends and um I couldn't have done without her support like uh many times even when she was here missing meals all those you know children's events this one here she keeps everything together and she I don't know how she does it with the four the two sets of twins but she actually she's got to leave if you notice she's representing iconic her cheer or daughter's cheer so she's got to go to um so she got a cheer cheer competition this weekend yes I know I'm embarrassed sorry but again I'm gonna end it but thank you I'm looking forward to working with Chief stoer and our Command Staff and the rest of the men and women of the Guard Police Department we we have another presentation here my name is what I like to do present Captain with the distinguished civilian award and behalf of a Grateful Nation United States morning Corps everything you do for us sir just like to say thank you very much and thank you for your service sir the phot piesome he Sergeant George Suggs you have a really big fan club wow that is awesome Sergeant George sugs was raised in Lyndon New Jersey he received his Bachelor of Arts degree in criminal justice from Kane University Sergeant sugs attended the John H stamler Police Academy as an alternate root recruit in 2009 and then he joined the Garwood Police Department in July of 2011 Sergeant sugs who comes from a law enforcement family was inspired by his uncle Gregory to become a police officer as well as a physical training officer at the John H stamler Police Academy there he has assisted in training over 1,000 police recruits throughout the state of New Jersey including Garwood officers shukai and Melendez Sergeant sugs who is also a fire Firearms instructor has received three life saving awards for performing CPR as well as police officer of the year in 2021 and every year sergeant sugs participates in Our Youth Academy program led by Sergeant Wright giving garwood's youth a firsthand experience on being a police officer and I can say firsthand with my girls how important that program is and you do a wonderful job there Sergeant sugs most importantly of course is supported by his wife Roxy his daughters Gia and Aaliyah his parents Anthony and Patricia his uncle Gregory and his brother Antoine a lynon police office officer come on up Sergeant says I George SS I George sugs solir do solidly affirm that I will uphold the Constitution of the United States that I will uphold the Constitution of the United States Constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey that I bear true faith that I bear true faith and ALG to the Saint and allegiance to the same and to the government established and to the governments established United States and the United States and the St and in the state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people that I will Faithfully that I will Faithfully partially and partially justly performed and justly performed of Poli all the duties of police Sergeant for the B of Garwood according to the best of my ability spe for [Music] next rounds Sergeant Jonathan pridey Sergeant Jonathan pridey who was born and raised in New Jersey has been with the burrow of the Garwood police department since 2016 prior to joining garwood's department and after graduating from the Jersey City police academy in7 he spent 10 years serving the Hudson County Sheriff's Office Sergeant pridey has extensive training and certifications in alcohol and drug impaired driving and in 2016 he received the Mothers Against Drunk Driving award in 2018 he was the recipient of the honorable service award an exceptional service award and the Garwood Knights of Columbus also awarded him the officer of the year award in 2019 Sergeant pridey will also receive the Union County 200 clubs Valor award in May for an incredible recent save here at garwood's vermella Sergeant pridey receives unconditional love and support from his wife lean daughter Isabella and Son Jeremy and Sergeant I just want to thank you for all you do for the community because you do go above and beyond when there's a something going on and and our community needs it such as food drives and if um residents are displaced you and your family have really stepped up and I appreciate that thank you it's gonna hold it okay I Jonathan pring I Jonathan pridey do solemnly affirm do solemnly affirm that I will uph unit states that will uphold the Constitution of the United States of the state and the constitution of the state of New Jersey that I will bear true faith that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same the government established and to the governments established in United States in the United States and in this state and in this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people that I will Faithfully that I will Faithfully partially and partially perform and justly perform all of the duties of police Sergeant for the burrow of Garwin according to the best of my ability the for I [Music] spe for e dep be guys I me y for thank you Captain Roco sergeant pridey and Sergeant sugs it was a real honor to do this with you uh and congratulations um you're we'll give everybody a five minute break because I know some of you might want to scoot out not not stay for the whole meeting I mean you're welcome to but really conratulations J he got my for that spe no but it feels good my dad up watch I don't think I've ever shown you picture three and months okay let me grab some [Music] CH what's up you aica can you can you mind closing the door thank you nice cool here tonight okay oh all right we're almost there we're waiting for everybody to file in so we can just close the door okay thank you everybody for your patience but it's a fun night when this stuff happens uh you know so it's it's good to celebrate these things good things for our borrow um we will move along to the report from our burrow attorney okay report from our bur administrator hello everyone um if I haven't met you yet I'm John Arthur I'm the new bur administrator I'm in day nine here um but I've been jumping right in meeting with all of our elected officials meeting with uh DPW today with our fire chief and deputy chief reading with the bwood engineer and school superintendent tomorrow um met with a bunch of the neighboring administrators from Union County yesterday so I really just want to get to know everybody um which I invite you as well if you ever need to call me it's 98789 0170 extension 105 or email me at j- Arthur garwood.nj [Music] it's been fantastic getting to know you and uh you came at a really great time right in the middle of budget season so you're jumping right into it but thank you I appreciate it um I have a short report uh this past weekend council president Carney and I made our way around to various food establishments in Garwood to discuss with them the new skip the stuff ordinance uh we have a few more to stop into and we'll hopefully catch up with those owners over the coming few days but we were happy to hear that most of of the establishments had already been following these procedures as it helps them reduce their costs uh we also heard from some of their C that their customers had already been making requests to them that they stop using certain plastic takeout items so they had already made the switch to some uh natural materials uh so it's good to hear that as a whole our community is getting more educated on topics like this uh and just making these little changes that can really make a difference I just want to make a quick note that straws were not included in this ordinance as it has been a part of the state law since 2021 that food establishments not provide straws unless upon request so that has been in place Statewide for a few years now so there was no need to Encompass it in the skip the stuff ordinance um and I know that there are other important items that the council is focusing on including the budget uh and to Su the skip the stuff ordinance may seem trit um but to me uh this to me sustainability is just as important um and in addition I think that the council is really good at walking and chewing gum at the same time um we can tackle many things at once both big and small Switching gears I just want to thank the recreation committee for a really fun Easter holiday they put in so much time decorating the float for the bunny ride and the Easter Bunny Hunt at the rec complex went off without a hitch uh due to their hard work the rec committee gave out hundreds of eggs and had a lot of raffle prizes and pictures with the Easter Bunny uh arts and crafts and a DJ that that just added to the day so I want to send a big thank you to all our volunteers and to the PBA who also came to celebrate and handed out goodie bags for the kids thank you also to the fire department for the bun for helping with the bunny ride around I was able to go around with the fire department during the ride this year and I can say it was definitely a highlight of my year watching the kids jump up and down as the bunny came by waving it was fantastic so all around a great way to get into spring uh and also just a reminder to everyone to get their tickets for the efg's annual dinner where the EFG will be celebrating 20 years of supporting teachers and students at Lincoln School the dinner will be on April 25th from 5:30 to 8:30 and we will be honoring teacher Matthew Burke and paraprofessional imperio morm tickets are $40 and include Buffet beer wine and soda and there's also a 50/50 raffle that evening and you can buy your tickets ahead of that now for $10 each uh you don't need to be present for the drawing so make sure to buy your raffle tickets today you can contact me or any other EFG member to purchase both tickets and Raffles or you can go online to purchase uh on Facebook uh just one last note I will be meeting with the raway river mayor's Coalition tomorrow as well as meeting with the ridan valley rail mayor's Coalition in a few weeks so I'll have updates on both of those uh coming up in future meetings uh now we'll go to uh comments from the council councilwoman Bodo thank you mayor it was nice to see a full house um I'd like to congratulate Captain Rocco sergeant sugs and Sergeant pretty thank you for all you do I also I'm very excited to announce the launch of the adopted dream program I think we can all agree on the importance of doing all we can to mitigate flooding and keep our storm Journey drinks clear as we see more and more quick moving storms that come on suddenly keeping the storm drams clear from debris becomes something we must spend even more time on this is a community effort and with the collaboration of the DPW superintendent and foran We Gather a list of intersections that would benefit from the extra attention residents can adopt one of these drains to regularly check on and maintain this program does not replace the work the DPW is already performing it simply supplements it and offers them a support they do of course continue to Monitor and regularly sweep the drains the community's efforts will help maintain them between cleanings the link to adopt the drain will be found on the Burrow's website under the DPW there you will find information tips and the sign up link residents will be able to select from the current intersections and if they prefer they can include their own by selecting another drains can be adopted by individuals age 14 and over we discuss drained adoption by groups like The Girl Scouts and as long as there is adequate adult supervision it can definitely be done once the drain is adopted you will get a confirmation some instructions and tips as well as a certificate of adoption we are asking residents to keep a log of what has been collected obviously clean up frequency will vary depending on the season and drain conditions I I hope that together we can contribute to keep our environment safe and work to mitigate flooding if you have any questions please feel free to contact me lastly I would like to thank our public information officer for her help in putting these materials together to post on the bar's website and assistent with the coordination and tracking our DPW superintendent and foran for taking the time to provide this information the Public Works committee and of course the mayor for her support in getting this off the ground thank you mayor thank you I'm very excited to see this starting um I think it'll be a great help it's just a a good way for the community to come together and and help each other out um and and hopefully uh keep some of that debris from from the drain so thank you for getting this started um looking forward to seeing how it goes as we move along thank you councilman Foley thank you mayor and congrats again to Captain Roco Sergeant shrugs and Sergeant pretty I know you do great things for this town first I want to take a second to correct the record uh there was some discussion on Tuesday night about the request and allotments for the first aid Squad uh sometimes with all the many meetings and discussions and with all the Departments it's hard to in the moment remember certain specifics discuss that what could be a few months ago but in no way I want it to seem as though the first aid Squad made a request and then came back and asked for more so I just want to let everyone know that the Garwood first aid Squad was transparent about their need for 22,000 to underrate their insurance cost and requested that the finance committee did have a few discussions following that and settled on the 9,000 I just want to clear that up again and thank the Garwood first aid Squad and all the Departments for their advocacy and the work they do for Garwood also beginning this weekend I will be starting the initiative walking Garwood a direct response to the voices of our community which will occur each weekend until May 19th here I will knock on every door and talk to every citizen here in Garwood to get to know their residents and listen to their thoughts and concerns this initiative is not only about promoting Civic mindedness it is about adapting our approach to governance to meet the needs and realities of our residents it recognizes that if people can't come to us then we must go to them walking gwood is about recognizing the value and dignity of every resident's voice and ensuring that the demands of work and family life do not silence it um and reflects a commitment to not only hearing but also understanding the needs concerns and aspirations of all our residents I ask that all our council members and mayor join me on one of my walks and I also want to extend a special personal invite to councilman sammon as I believe a p bipartisan walk will be beneficial to the people in the buau as a whole finally the emergence of Highly sophisticated online scams significantly bolstered by advancements and Ai and other Tech Technologies presents a critical threat to our CI senior citizens these scams exploit the vulnerabilities of seniors many of whom are not as digitally Savvy as younger Generations giving the severity of this issue there is a pro profound need for collaborative approach to protect our senior community I hope in the days ahead to collaborate with our local law enforcement to initiate CommunityWide education programs focusing on enhancing educating seniors about the natures of these scams and how to identify them provide resources and support to help seniors navigate online platform forms secur and securely and look to establish reporting mechanisms that seniors can use confidently when they suspect fraudulent activities I look forward to discussing this further and exploring effective strategies that can be swiftly put into action to defend our community senior citizens and all citizens from these highly Advanced predatory online scams thank you that's all thank you councilman uh often the police department does meet with our senior Club to talk about various scams um obviously they're getting much more um intricate and detailed and better at scamming um with AI and and everything so um I think that's a great idea I think you're exactly the person for IT um to talk with uh our chief and um see what what we can do to get more of the word out um councilman Lazaro thank you also want to extend my congratulations to the officers uh tonight uh it's very well deserved um I just also want to direct everyone's attention to the introduction of ordinance 24-11 this ordinance is basically making some minor tweaks at the recommendation of the State Fire Marshall this allows our fire department to be in compliance with the language used by the state and will protect the burrow from having to make additional changes if the state decides to clarify specific language for fire protocols that's all for me uh councilwoman ndi uh yes so I would just like to Echo um your thank you to the recreation committee um and our Recreation director for all the planning and preparation that went into the Easter egg hunt um and I would also like to thank especially the committee members for decorating the float and for the Garwood fire department for the Easter Bunny drive around that that's a very special event thank you very much thank you councilwoman salmon thank you mayor um I would like to discuss ordinance 24- Leb and that's up for introduction for tonight as a member of the fire committee I was a little disappointed that I didn't re receive a copy prior to receiving our meeting packet I couldn't offer any feedback on the ordinance or the changes that were being made so I just want to draw attention to section 7 letter A it says serving at least one year as deputy chief this should read deputy chief assistant chief since our current chief has never held the rank of deputy chief I just ask councilwoman salmon to just repeat what she's section 7 letter A it says serving at least one year as deputy Chief as a requirement but our current chief has never served as deputy chief we should be deputy chief slash assist assistant chief in order for it to make sense but I don't know why we passed through the committee without sending this out prior to we had spoken about the fact that this ordinance would have some changes to it and they were very minimal and you did get it earlier so called you could have spoken to um the chair so because they're minimal we ignore the form of government that we have um Mr Abramson do you want to do you think that that requires some sort of uh Amendment are we able to amend it as we speak okay so um table it mayor mayor if I may I I do not support that Amendment this ordinance is fine as it stands that's not what the attorney just said well I didn't so I just have a question I don't really know if we need to so I so I don't really know the exact answer so you're saying that the deputy chief or the current chief has not served tile the titles were the titles were changed it doesn't have anything to do with what the assignments were all I'm saying this is the second time we've done this so let's just make sure it's right well it did we did put it through the DC OB it's not right if I just found an error it's not an error and we did put it through the DCA um the Fire Marshall did take a look at it and get back to Mr Abramson that everything was fine with it so if the state's saying it's fine if we're saying that this is a requirement that you're at least a deputy chief for a year that now doesn't apply listen if you think that it applies and it's not an error then he's already been the chief for three years okay it's semantics if this would have went through the correct process I would have said there often is intro there's often introductions to ordinances that get put on that don't always go through I will happily take the blame I was away the previous week when this kind of was worked down the pipeline and I was away so I apologize I should have called a meeting and we should have had this in committee so it's I I will take the blame for this um that's all there is to it I I just didn't say that when I saw it there wasn't that many changes so I didn't think there was any serious concern so um but I apologize for not having the time to have a meeting whatever the decision is amongst everybody is fine it's just error I'm fine with it going through but I was gonna say mayor we can handle this very simply if councilwoman salmon wants to make a motion to table she can and if she gets a second we'll vote on that motion otherwise we can make a motion to adopt or sorry introduce well let me um streamline it a little bit it just by straw polling is everybody who are are you okay with it going through or tabling going through okay anything else councilwoman salmon so I did just want to touch on the first aid Squad um I was never made aware about a $22,000 request on finance we never talked about that it came in we were on our budget sheets it said $5,000 then we increased it after councilman Foley came back and said that he did have a conversation with that we were all in agreement to increasing the line item to the original $9,000 and then that was the end of the discussion so I'm not sure where the $22,000 came from but it did not come up in committee we were giving P when the department uh president met with us we were given paperwork with their budget on it and I think councilman poy has that if you would if you're have it if you're in disagreement then you're in disagree my only my only my only recollection of that particular conversation I don't know the exact amount was mentioned I think essentially what was said by our finance Chief was that there was a you know an ask for a significant increase it wasn't specifically mentioned the exact amount so of of 22,000 not for I think when you say significant significant increase it wasn't a increase from five I don't want to get the semantics wrong again it was from from nothing to to the the amount for the insurance and look and uh I'll take the blame for this I was confused when I saw the 5,000 on the budget line because I spoke with them before initial meeting um and there was confusion there and that's where I corrected it they they asked for the 22 whatever discussions went on in finance went on in finance and you settled on the nine and that's fine and that that is fine I'm just saying that it was never presented like that anything else councilwoman salmon okay council president Carney thank you mayor um we do have a lot going on tonight so I'll try to be as brief as is possible for me uh I want to start off tonight with congratulations again to Captain Roco Sergeant Suggs and Sergeant pridey uh it was really great to see so much support here uh both from their families and uh from the community uh both for them and for the leadership of the Garwood Police Department so again congratulations gentlemen uh on the topic of the police Department uh and its Staffing I need to address comments that were made at Tuesday night's special budget meeting by members of the public uh police staffing has been a topic of conversation for every budget since I've been on this Council and for many years prior to that uh as with all things our jobs here as council members involve balance and also prioritization because we work in an environment with financial resources which are limited by many factors most of which are beyond the council's ability to influence uh my time on this Council clearly demonstrates I place a high priority on the financial support of our First Responders which includes funding sufficient resources and staff to accomplish the job uh what I do not support is alarmist dog whistles tying new Garwood residents to an imaginary crime wave that is apparently localized to us this type of rhetoric is irresponsible inaccurate and if perpetuated Will damage the ongoing Community engagement initiatives of our officers the Garwood Police Department is doing a good job and I know this because we have a safe town by measurable standards such as state and federal crime reporting for the past several years the police committee has worked with our new police chief and our prior police chief on quality of life issues expressed by residents such as Traffic Safety pedestrian safety and parking our police officers have the time and the means to address these things due to their diligent work on the basics of law enforcement this is work that I see on a daily basis in Garwood with my two plus Decades of service as an officer informing me on the topic the number of officers in the department is a topic of ongoing discussion in the police committee but I will point out that we recently added one new officer position to the roster this is the first increase to the table of organization that anyone I've spoken with can recall possibly in more than two decades additional increases to the total number of officers may be forthcoming but that is a discussion to have with data and facts on our side not with anecdotes or people passing by and noticing the location of patrol cars uh finally addressing the staffing needs of any burrow department or function as a member of this Council should not be done in a vacuum or with a motion overriding common sense I have further comments on this topic but I'm going to save them for what I assume will be additional budget discussion later on thank you thank you council president moving on to the minutes miss Cameron minutes of the mayor and Council held on March 21st 2024 do I have a motion to accept the regular minutes moved second all in favor I opposed okay um Communications miss Cameron New Jersey state League of municipalities received and fil um raway raway Valley sewage Authority regarding minutes received and filed gwood planning board regarding minutes received and filed okay we have one ordinance up for adoption tonight miss Cameron can you read ordinance 24-10 by title only yes an ordinance amending the borrow code of the burrow of Garwood by amending chapter 134 entitled SU doers Article 5 industrial wasting fees subsection 13416 rate schedule do we have any correspondence concerning this ordinance we do not mayor does anyone present wish to be heard concerning ordinance number 24-10 okay can I have a motion to close public hearing on ordinance 24-10 so moved second uh any discussion do I have a motion to adopt or 24-10 so move to Second a roll call please miss Cameron councilwoman Bodo hi councilman Foley I councilman Lazaro I councilwoman ndi I councilwoman salmon I council president Carney I okay we have an ordinance up for introduction tonight miss Cameron can you read ordinance 24-11 by title only yes an ordinance amending the burrow code of the burrow of Garwood by amending chapter 27 entitled Fire Department Article 1 General Provisions subsection 27-2 organization and election of officers and subsection 27-6 Chief to be fire marshal fire inspector fire prevention officer do I have a motion to introduce this ordinance some moved second uh roll call please councilwoman Bodo I councilman Foley I councilman Lazaro I councilwoman ndi I councilwoman salmon no council president Carney I one more ordinance up for introduction tonight do uh miss Cameron can you read ordinance 24-12 by title only yes calendar year 2024 ordinance to establish a c bank njsa 48-4 4- 45.4 do I have a motion to introduce this ordinance some moved second second uh roll call please councilwoman Bodo I councilman Foley I councilman Lazaro I councilwoman oldi I councilwoman salmon no council president Carney I okay moving right along to council standing committee reports finance and Personnel councilman Foley thank you mayor Tuesday's special budget meeting provided a platform for open dialogue about the upcoming fiscal budget allowing council members and residents to voice their opinions and suggestions tonight's session focuses on the formal introduction of the budget outling its key components and anticipating impacts one of the budget's critical features is the allocation of additional funds to the Police Department this investment will support Advanced Training better equipment and enhanced safety measures that are essential for the Department to continue effectively safeguarding our community I can proudly say that this budget prioritizes our Town's overall Welfare by supporting various programs aimed at promoting Community cohesion and health these initiatives are designed to uplift and provide for the populace ensuring that every resident benefits from the town's resources these initiatives include upgrading our 9 uh 911 system so if a person has a cell phone or a landline and calls 911 they can pinpoint the individual more efficiently and ensure better response time I also want to thank again police chief stoer whose leadership resulted in an almost $70,000 reduction in overtime pay thus freeing up our budget and reducing the burning on the taxpayers to help the committee make these crucial Investments yours and the hard work of your police officers do not go unnoticed on behalf of the committee in the town we thank you for that much can get done when we are willing to work together collaborate in this town your work is a testament to that the finance committee has strategically balanced increased spending on safety and Welfare with overall fiscal responsibility the budget reflects careful planning considerations to ensure Financial stability and sustainability without compromising on essential Services thank you and that's all thank you uh fire and OEM councilman lra thank you in the month of March a total of 17 calls were received with 12 during the day and 5 at night they included seven alarm activations two Kitchen barbecue grill fires one furnace malfunction one smoke condition to name a few the squad performed 12 hours of mutual Aid Service to both rawe and Cranford all these activities totaled 130 hours other activities included 829 hours that were devoted to house duties cleanups trainings work details and community service on Saturday April 6th deputy chief Gregory lieutenant linski and lieutenant guier attended a RIT supervisor lecture at Union County Fire Academy RIT stands for Rapid intervention team a rapid intervention team as defined by the International Association of Fire Chiefs is a designated team that will serve as a standby Rescue Team for personnel and be available for the immediate search and rescue of any missing trapped injured or unaccounted for firefighters an RIT is a rescue team that stands at the ready and will immediately step in should a firefighter go down on a scene or need help on Sunday April 7th deputy chief Gregory and Lieutenant linski attended a cane fire class hosted at middle sex fire academy instructed by State Fire Marshall CA titled fire incident report writing incident reports are a instrumental part of the fire service as these reports document everything from an incident and can be used in legal proceedings at a later date it is imperative that reports are filled out quickly and accurately this class went into great detail about the items that are often overlooked when being filled out and how to properly fill out reports as well as how to properly submit these reports to the government database deputy chief Gregory and Lieutenant linski are already preparing additional policies on what is required when filling out and submitting reports and they will be conducting refresher training for the other Garwood Department uh fire department members in November of 2023 Garwood fire department had undergone an ISO inspection protetion iso's public protection classification program is used by most us insurers as part of their decision-making process on coverage and to establish Fair premiums for policy holders for both personnel and Commercial Insurance ISO analyzes relevant data and assigns a PPC grade 1 to 10 one being an exemplary fire suppression program which is best and 10 being a fire suppression program that does not meet iso's minimum criteria or worst when a community's PPC improves both residential and commercial insurance premiums May decrease in 2017 Garwood fire department received a PPC rating of four and I'm proud to announce that the Garwood fire department's PPC rating has risen to a three with the help of our officers the department collectively devoted hundreds of hours in order to prepare for this inspection in the months prior based off of 2023 statistics receiving a final Community classification of three puts Garwood fire department among the top 20% of departments inspected Nationwide this is outstanding news and the fire department should be commended for this phenomenal achievement thank you thank you fantastic news and much appreciated by the burrow um councilwoman salmon thank you mayor on tonight's agenda you'll see resolution 24- 075 this resolution was created by a Redevelopment attorney it is a resolution for certification of completion of phase one at verela one with additional signage for the parking garage as well as Valley parking for any future restaurants um I received this email that was forwarded to me from the mayor and that I was able to scroll down and read the corresponding emails underneath if I could only make one request mayor can we please request that I'm actually added to these emails when they're happening instead of getting them after the fact forwarded to me that email was given to me those emails were sent to me by the Redevelopment attorney but if of the department could he add me on to his emails to using theel you certainly welcome to have emailed him and asked to be added these conversations were happening and you could have asked okay so that would be great thanks did you by it any chance I had forwarded it to you to have a committee meeting you told me to have the committee look at it if you want to reread your email you can and I did forward it over to the committee nobody responded with any questions when did you forward it yesterday today actually today I sent it April 1 I understand that you did just like I didn't get the fire committee meeting I didn't think that we were well that's what I I wanted to know whether the committee had a recommendation they don't have a recommendation just like I wasn't allowed to have a recommendation for the fire ordinance okay moving right along Public Works councilwoman Bodo thank you mayor in addition to the requiring activities the DPW workers cleaned up the common areas around the municipal complex and the fire department assemble and continue to install the permit parking signs in various locations of the Barrow continued interior painting operations in various locations at the municipal complex performed street sweeping operations in various locations of the burough due to warm weather conditions remove the weeds along the perimeter of the turf field at the sports complex prepared the sports complex for the Easter Eon and provideed Public Works assistance during the event replace the damaged ceiling tiles in council chambers prune the vegetation along the Myrtle Avenue walking path and along the Brook at the municipal parking weeded and clean the vegetative waste from the burrow owned pots in various locations drag the infield of the Little League field at the sports complex for school functions inspected oera own buildings and grounds for potential damage after the earthquake um additionally council president Kerney was kind enough to cover a call last night with uh Lisa Lee director of sustainability programs I will have more details after our April 17th committee meeting that's all for my report thank you councilwoman police and Public Safety Council president Carney the Garwood police department has recorded 1,729 CAD entries during the month of March 2024 these calls include 92 motor vehicle stops 25 parking complaints 62 fixed traffic posts which include uh radar stop sign and distracted driving uh 15 motor vehicle crash investigations 195 building and property checks 40 medical assists 85 community policing posts 25 walking posts and 21 criminal investigation Pati uh the Garwood Police Department would like to remind everyone that it is extremely important to always file a police report when a package that was delivered is missing reporting these incidents allows the police to be aware of what areas are being affected and will help them develop patterns and suspects the Garwood Police Department would also like to remind everyone that thefts increase this time of year thieves may not be targeting a residence in particular but steal things that can be easily taken when no one is around we encourage residents to do what they can to reduce vulnerabilities this spring uh some examples are to close and lock garages sheds and gates to lock up ladders and other items that can be used to reach vulnerable windows and access points uh secure tools equipments and bicycles around your property and also please look out for your neighbors let them know if they leave equipment out or if they forget get to close their garage door and last and always If You observe suspicious activity please call 911 thank you thank you uh Community engagement councilwoman NY thank you um so we have several um Recreation programs I would like to highlight this evening uh gpack discover series uh discover the art of collage with Leona suert which is uh Saturday May 4th at 5:00 pm this program is for adults it is free learn how to add threedimensional items such as lace and fabrics to your collage and also digital collage which is altering photographs and superimposing images registration is open at Garwood w.com there are several youth programs I would like to highlight tonight um registration is still open for the soccer programs which begin this weekend there are three different um soccer programs for ages two and a half to three and a half this program is uh for uh helping with um young children learn how to play soccer through skill through fun games and activities and Mom or Dad assists um there's also soccer squirts for ages three to four and a half um these um Pro this program is a little bit more complicated for the children they learn fundamental skills of soccer including dribbling passing shooting and defending um the ages five to four to five and a half um also includes um structured activities such as scrimmages uh which are adapted to ensure everyone achieves success so all these programs are still open and they begin this um April 13th and go until May 18th uh summer camp is from June 24th to August 9th from 9:00 a.m to 12:00 p.m. grades K through 8 the early bird price is $110 per child until May 24th also anyone interested in becoming a camp counselor or a counselor in training please email Recreation garwood.nj Wednesday evenings starting at 6:30 p.m. at the Lincoln School this is also completely free um adult open play soccer is um starting up again and taking place on Friday evening starting at 8:00 pm at the Garwood Sports and Rec complex and again to register please uh go to Garwood rec.com um I'm going to highlight some of the new programs that are uh being um offered uh through trian which is uh Summit at the Summit Community Center these programs are for special needs populations um grades um there's a trian social hangout um social skills reading programs there's baseball which is on Wednesdays uh between April 10th and May 29th Taekwondo trian tennis trian Pilates um and you just have to go to um either the the um you go to some Community Center um and the trian programs all the spring open uh programs are open for registration um and I I have my final uh Garwood partnership for arts and culture and historical gpac is is excited to announce that we are hosting our first Garwood poetry Festival to be held on April 20th and 21st the Garwood Library presentation on Saturday at 11:30 will include reading by six local poets on Sunday the crossroads is hosting a reading by 12 New Jersey poets a full listing of poets and their VI and their bios are available on the Garwood website under quick links you would click on Garwood poetry Festival program the historical committee uh met on March 25th and they are starting a new initiative every two weeks the historical committee is sharing an interesting fun historical fact which is being sent to Lincoln School and the students are um um being treated to a fun historical fact along with a photograph that accompanies it um also discussed at the meeting was the timeline for the use of their Grant and that's all I have for my report plenty thank you Library uh councilman lazro thank you mayor just a few programming uh programs to report on April 15th uh the library will host a book Discussion Group at 1 pm. join the library for a lively discussion of this month's book Finding darthy by Elizabeth lets on April 17th at 10:00 a.m. to noon the ask kiosk aging service kiosk program will be in place again Union County division of Aging staff will be on hand to assist seniors ages 60 and over or their caregivers with information on services such as meal delivery reic care adult daycare and support services for caregivers and finally on April 24th at 3M the Lego Club will have meeting be inspired by the month's theme or bill whatever comes to mind some will be displayed in the library showcase registered is required and there's a limit of 12 and that's all for my report thank you School Board liaison council president Carney uh thank you mayor there hasn't been a Schoolboard meeting since my last report uh but I do have a quick update on our continued meetings with the board uh since our last council meeting mayor blumenstock and I have met several times with superintendent Kenny and board members we've Advanced discussions on a number of issues which affect both the burrow and the district and I'm happy to report again uh We've made substantial progress across the board uh in our budget meeting on Tuesday night we discussed the inclusion of a $50,000 transfer to the district from the vermel pilot agreement this is included in the budget budget introduction on tonight's consent agenda uh as we spoke about on Tuesday night this transfer is a show of good faith that our council is willing to work as partners in all areas of shared interest with the board moving forward while we will continue our general monthly meetings going forward for the rest of this year I'm also specifically committing myself and this Council to sitting down in a more formal process in the last quarter of 2024 to work on short and long-term plans and goals of the burrow and the district including a multi-year pilot transfer agreement and a collaborative matter this will be much easier to accomplish in the last quarter since we will have a better idea of the Burrow's financial position approaching 2025 uh again as I said the other night I'm very much looking forward to working on this I've appreciated the mayor's support on it and uh I've really enjoyed the opportunity to get to know and work with some of the board members and the superintendent this year and uh finally the board of education's next regular meeting is scheduled for Tuesday April 16 so I'll have a report from that at our next meeting okay I have a quick senior report on April 4th the senior Club welcomed Union County surrogate Chris Hudak to speak about his work and the services he can offer the residents of Garwood these include not just probating a will but certifying administrators of Estates guardians of adults and miners as well as adoptions the Union County surrogates office is now using an online appointment based system though you can also call for an appointment as well and even better news is that the surrogate now has opened a branch in Westfield uh just down the street at Union County's Colleen Frasier building on North Avenue so thank you to the surrogate for an informative presentation um and at our next meeting on April 18th the builders Club from Lincoln School will be joining us for some bingo so looking forward to that uh small business advisory council president Carney thank you mayor the Small Business board is scheduled to meet next week to finalize our upcoming Taste of Garwood event uh board members have been working with our public officer on the social media aspect of this event uh we expect to have all the advertising finalized at this meeting uh with an eye to the initial roll outs of the restaurants within the next two weeks uh other topics of discussion will be our skip the stuff roll out uh updates to the burrow code regarding signage for businesses and events for the second half of the Year I'll have more to report at our next meeting and uh the the uh first date for Taste of Garwood is May 17th for whatever reason I had wrote wrote May here and I never put a number after it so 17th yes okay and that's all all right Board of Health liaison councilman Foley nothing to report at this time thank you planning board leis on councilwoman salmon thank you mayor the planning board met on March 27th they heard an application for a sun room addition on Oak Street this application was approved with some modifications made by the board to set back requirements the conversation did get reintroduced for dricks regarding their renovation they were previously granted a use variance they have now Pro proposed a staging plan to the board at this past meeting they will begin stage one shortly resolutions will be passed regarding drix on at the April 24th meeting the me next meeting of the planning board will be held on April 24th there is no application at that time but the board will be discussing a new checklist for applicants that's all for my report thank you um mayor U before we go on that can we take a two minute break sure sorry everyone okay we'll suspend order of business for two minutes okay yeah there's only one it wouldn't take would take more than two minutes for anyone to use the bathroom oh i h I'm pulling it yeah I'm pulling it friendly friendly way it's okay we'll make it I don't know I don't know I know know no okay um we will move along to officers reports miss Cameron yes zoning enforcement officers report for March 2024 Property Maintenance officer report for March 2024 uh can I have a motion to accept the officer's reports so moved second second uh all in favor I opposed okay before we move along to public comment I am going to suspend the order of business um I have said before um that I didn't think it was necessary for our um fire chief to come up and and speak about some of the things that have been going on in terms of all of the online chatter because that's what it is it's online chatter and we up here have done our due diligence um as well as the state coming in and doing their due diligence and to me the the matter is put to bed however um Chief scal adona and Union County Mutual Aid coordinator did come to me and ask if they could speak at this meeting and so of course I would allow I would like to allow them to come and um make whatever statement they would like to make uh into the record um so Chief scal adona um Mr Scania if you you're welcome to come up and sit if you'd like to sit and deputy chief Brent Gregory is joining as well um you just have to push the button and keep it kind of close to you okay the floor is yours okay thank you um I'm not here to address all the online chatter and all the posts and everything what I'm here to address is the outright lies that are being told about the gwood fire department and to set the record straight so the public knows exactly what's going on first off there're saying that we are not certified that is totally untrue we are all certified uh to do all firematic issues where the sticking point is coming in is with Hazmat on scene Incident Commander it's a certification that you have to have but it's a certification that the state oversees it's their state was the only one that was giving the class they have since uh let theems are are going to be able to be giving the classes now they're they're working on training the trainer what what you are what you are not being told is it's it sounds really good to go online or to get up here and say that we're not certified we are all certified to a hmat level one the entire department Hazmat Incident Commander is for a level two or above and you are also not being told that we do have three officers in the fire department that do have that certification but guess what that gets omitted from all of this stuff that's being put out there because it doesn't fit into the narrative okay so we have the three officers that are certified in that and it's also being said that County Mutual Aid is going to provide a coordinator for all calls in Garwood again not true and they're not going to provide a coordinator for all Hazmat calls in Garwood again we are certified to a level one I have a print out here what level one entails a car accident if if there's oil spill if there's a substance in the brook something to to that level if you get into a level two which you need a Hazmat on scen Incident Commander if one of the three officers in Garwood in the Garwood fire department that are certified to that level are not available the county will provide uh a coordinator that has that certification and again just to be clear if you go to a level two Hazmat situation whether we had that certification or not which like like I said three of our officers have and when it becomes available the rest of us will get it the county is going to be there anyway there's not a department in the county that can handle a level two or level three Hazmat situation on their own but again you don't hear any of that and again Mutual Aid responding on all calls it's just not true and I know what I say is not going to matter so I have Chief scano here Mike scano he's Mac one mutual Aid coordinator for Union County he's the county OEM director also a retired Fire Chief from Union so I'd just like to have him make a few comments e e before they actually had a curriculum they didn't know how anybody was going to actually teain so there was quite a few in the state that were able to have their resumés and certificates sent to the division of fire safety they were grandfathered into the Hazmat I others have to take the class to get Hazmat I unfortunately there's very far and Fe between fire cies that offer the Hazmat IC class we are in the process of sending instructors I am also the director of the fire academy of new County so we are in the process of sending some of our instructors to become train the trainer obviously the division of fire safety cannot Supply the manpower to certify and teach classes every single week become Hazmat in command I can tell you this issue with Hazmat IC is not unique to Gar maybe some of the stuff that you're dealing with is unique to Garwood hazardous material incident Commander is not a unique problem to the Bur of Garwood nor is it unique to the the county of Union there are many many departments trying to scramble figure out how they're going to do this it will be offered in county in a timely manner as soon as I get the proper instructor ratio because once I offer this curriculum my building is not big enough to house all the students that will come to this class thank you Chief thanks Chief um just cannot we don't have the time to go through all the lies that are being told and some of them quite frankly we can't discuss because the aliases that they're using deorum wouldn't permit using them in this in this building so I'm not even going to to comment on those but on March 9th we had a kitchen fire on Spruce we responded the deputy chief Gregory was first on scene and then I arrived uh we were dispatched for a kitchen fire uh I believe it came over the radio and then again I don't know if you were told when you got fully involved kitchen uh the deputy went up and determined that yes it you know it was a working fire um engine 3 was first on scene and engine 5 responded and it was engine three and engine five only again the lies that are being told online I have it right here I have the post right here let's pray for the safety of the firefighters and residents on Spruce with a kitchen fire I am disappointed not seeing the Garwood fire department ladder truck there but glad Westfield was able to send one I can tell you I was there Chief was there I called for a cover assignment Mac one came to the scene and again Chief was it just the two gwood engines that were there and not the Westfield ladder that's your mic's not on Chief there you go so contrary to popular belief I do not sit at home hour when my phone I the pag pagers phone the application come through going for I only live in um so we came right over came to the fire scene face to face with the chief there were only two units on the scene um they had a good handle on it I then picked myself up and told them that I was going to go to the Firehouse to the cover um there was a cover assignment in place from surrounding communities it was a Westfield engine it was a Rosel engine it was a granford ladder along with myself what the cover assignment does it protects the rest of the burrow of gwood while they're operating at their scene whatever that scene may be Chief calls for it and that is a cheap that diligence not just this chap any cheap should be always looking at you know I know a lot of people don't believe two things happens at once but it happens all the time so that's what a good sheep would do fall that that Protection cover some came in and I sat your Firehouse probably half hour 45 minutes unit cleared up on spr Street that's pretty much the standards so again thank you so when we got back some of our guys posted you know engine three engine five were dispatched to a working kitchen fire um then another post Westfield was on scene don't misinform the public if you don't believe me you don't believe the chief you don't believe the chief just so happens the Westfield Chief is sitting here tonight Chief was your ladder there thank you was your engine at our cover assignment thank you so again they're posting that we are lying about that I don't know what else I can do uh also they are posting that um it's possible through my lack of certifications only being the Hazmat on scen Incident Commander that I possibly got an officer hurt at that fire disgusting disgusting to say something like that the the officer slipped and fell if you guys remember that night it was an extremely rainy night he slipped and fell on something that was on the floor and and banged his knee on the floor he went to EMS and was returned back to service that night so again just put stuff out there don't don't uh go and try and vet anything or look and see what the facts are let's just throw stuff out there and see if it sticks and they're they're saying that we're not able to handle fire calls I I don't know what else they want I don't know what else to do they went to the County prosecutor they've gone to the county three times they've gone to the division of fire safety three times and all three times all six times they were told that the Garwood fire department is certified the Garwood fire department is certified to a Hazmat level one and another post is that we need a new ladder truck because of the accident that the ladder truck was in the mayor gave a report on the ladder truck the the ladder truck it's not like if you buy a Ford you can go to any Ford dealership to try and get it fixed there is a long and arduous process to go through to get these things fixed and when there is the mayor said when there's something to report we will report it not anything being hidden there's there's it's it's in with the insurance company there's there's all kinds of Hoops that we have to jump through like I said it's just not like you take it to any Ford dealership to get it fixed and as far as I I know the question's going to be asked about why did it get into an accident and this and that what's the training it's already been asked uh the deputy just so happened to inform me that the insurance company has uh grants out there so we contacted the insurance company I spoke to John we contacted the insurance company they do have a grant that they are very interested in giving us to help us offset the cost of of the sio training um I believe they have to talk to John one more time I don't know if you have anything else to report on that but they they said they were going to call you just to double check on with it they haven't called me yet but we just I spoke to someone two days I'll call them tomorrow okay because let's get it going but again the deputy uh came up with a good idea the the insurance company seems very interested in in uh giving us a grant for that and again just these these things training debacle is my fault and that we are lowering the bar by the by this ordinance that that is up for adoption or whatever you guys want to call it it's for fire offic offer one and Fire officer 2 again it was it's out there that I asked for you guys to lower the bar that is again so incorrect it was not in the burrow ordinance prior to the changes it got put in there it was an oversight it got put in there one of our officers noticed it brought it to my attention and then we brought it back to you guys That Fire officer one and Fire officer 2 is not a required certification for us to have it is about 198 to 200h hour course that we have to take and there's nothing that's saying when you take it out of the ordinance that we won't go get it it's just saying that we're not required to have it and the state says we're not required to have it and we all also made a decision or I made a decision that we were going to work on the CTS that we are required to have not the search that we are not required to have uh we also made a decision that it would be beneficial to uh look at this ISO inspection that we had coming it was reported to you guys that we put in hundreds and hundreds of hours I think you can all agree by the commissioner's report that it was well worth it that we made the right decision to do that to get to go from a four to a three to be in the top 20% of fire departments in the country is no small undertaking and nothing that should be uh minimized the uh also it was stated that I put in the this new ordinance that I am not required to give you a monthly f report I'd like to show you I'd like you to show me where it says that I believe what it says is that I am not required to come to every meeting you have three Commissioners fire Commissioners here I'd like any one of them to stand up and say that we don't give a monthly fire report you can ask any one of them if you'd like and let let me finish by saying the mayor has said it and so have I if you have any questions about your fire department stop by and ask me it was stated that that won't work it was stated in this room that coming and talking to me won't work the only reason it won't work is because you will get the proper answers that you don't want to hear and you won't be able to have the political theater in here if you come to the firehouse that's why it won't work to this date no one has reached out to me no one and I just want everybody that's listening everybody that's here this is the last thing I'm going to say remember the two PS This is political and it's personal it has nothing to do with your fire department's ability to handle any incidents in town nothing how come none of this was brought up until after the ordinance was changed to to do away with the term limits that's when this was all brought up not prior how come how come it wasn't brought up prior only after the ordinance was changed to to do away with the term limits for the chief and again please just remember those two PS thank thank Chief SC Chief scano and uh deputy chief Gregory I want to say I appreciate you coming here and setting some of the record straight again I didn't feel it's necessary due to the fact that we up here have done our due diligence and know what the truth was and we presented the truth to the town um and the state then confirmed the truth to the town but I understand um you wanting to set the record straight uh yourself and I I do appreciate it um and I don't I will ask if any council members have any question questions for either of the Chiefs and then we'll move along I have a pretty basic one and uh do you mind Chief going um I'm sure Chief Scout I don't I hope you can answer this uh do you know of a of a level two Hazmat Incident That's occurred in Garwood in well ever I do not but but again mark my words whatever I say here tonight whatever the chief said tonight it's going to be social media is going to be on fire tomorrow they're going to turn our words around I do not remember a level two can I tell you for sure that there's never been one no I don't remember one I mean that that's going back a decent number of years and that's it's say I'm old indirectly um no Chief you're absolutely right uh I I've already arrived at the conclusion it didn't matter what I said from up here as the mayor said we've all done our due diligence uh when I served as your your commissioner this is something that we worked on together it's something that I passed off to the uh to the next commissioner um thank you for coming tonight anybody else sorry Chief I just have two small questions um when did you set up coming to the meeting today excuse me when did you decide that you guys were going to all come to the meeting today probably today today okay and who are the three officers that have the other certification that you were talking about Lieutenant linski uh assistant chief smina and assistant chief thoron okay perfect thank you so much councilwoman I was asked today if they could attend so um I just want to add um we thank you for everything you do um look it's it's very frustrating these this sort of local propaganda that gets spewed on these sites and I think as a council and as a governing body we really want to focus on so the damages this propaganda and this noise does to our town and how it puts us at risk you know what it's it's not fair to them it's not fair to them they put their lives on the line for the people with his Sparrow it's not fair to them and these aren't just concerns this is outrage these are defamation this is defamation these are attacks personal attacks on people um and you know I think we got to start looking at the virtual world and how it affects our real world because there will be consequences physically thank you I'll just be a short you know I just want to say how um you know proud I am to be Commissioner of a fire department that has devoted incredible amount of time to education to Growing to the iso rating to additional training to seeking grants um that's a kind of Department that I'm proud to have in our town and I don't really care what anyone else says thank you I am part of the fire committee this year and I just want you want to thank you for all you're doing is a volunteer fire department and please know that you are appreciated um so thank you thank you we will resume our regular agenda at this point um with public comment so if there is anyone in the audience who wishes to add the me address the mayor and Council please step to the mic State your full name and address and please limit your comment to five minutes hi Jill Paul 54 Third Avenue so I'm going to flip this around a little bit um so I it says lastly but it's not lastly I've been floored by what I'm seeing online about our volunteer fire department defamation of these people's char you guys know most of you that I come from a fire department family my grandfather was a volunteer on Long Island and died in 1981 after smoke inhalation being kept overnight um for observation and never came home so I'm also a 9911 family and I have countless family and friends who serve as volunteer firefighters stop slandering people and defaming the character of those who volunteer their time while you sit at home typing horrible things from your nice cozy home as I've previously said they should really Sue they need to start suing and I'm looking at one particular person you need to start suing these people pro bono attorneys will take this on you will not have to pay for it my advisory Council attorney from my foundation will take this on once you start suing these people they will stop and the moderators of the groups that allow this because it's freedom of speech you are just as guilty as people posting those comments and I'm looking at somebody else over there it is disgusting what is going on in this town so having said that hopefully I have time left um so yeah I came here really upset on Tuesday to give some context for people who didn't really understand the whole situation I was listening to that budget meeting on my couch and just floored that while councilman's Foley's remarks about the Garwood first aid Squad were very appreciated the perception that we did not have our ducks in a row and came back asking for more money was really upsetting since that was very far from what actually transpired so thank you for clearing that up tonight though I'm still confused as to why the request of 22,000 was never even mentioned to the finance committee that should have been really important for context in my opinion as somebody who does budget for a living um more nice stuff congrats to our Police Department um for those promotions all three are so well earned I you know see those guys every day and they are amazing um on Tuesday somebody mentioned in public comment that there should be some training for interpersonal Communications or something like that for council members and I really agree with this but again I also still believe that there should be a social media policy in place for Council Members the nonsense is going to get worse as the election approaches please consider this I am so sick of seeing this stuff on social media for me social media is supposed to be like the bright spot in my day and it makes me want to throw up every night so really cool stuff um I'm excited is he here he's not here I'm excited because I know a secret that I don't think is really a secret but it's a secret so um I I know before all of you so our second all- weather climate control tamper proof AED enclosure and device has arrived to be installed at Hartman Park yay everybody yay Sergeant right um so I am looking forward to working on that unveiling and making it into a really really great Community event with the olivra foundation and really focusing on how easy CPR is how easy it is to use an AED and we'll also have a meet and greet with the first aid Squad right next door so um we have the first and second in the state of New Jersey um I actually spoke with Westfield um police chief today he was here before and was impressed um at their Police Department's protocols for aeds and we talked about how Westfield has all these aeds outside but guess what they're all broken because they've all been out all winter because they're not heat controlled so um we are going to be working with parks to get them to follow suit of our lovely Town um and yeah I think that that is it um but yeah just everybody in this town needs to really think about like what they're posting and just maybe even you know do it to like you know only me like private so nobody can see it sit on it a day before you hit send I mean I put stuff in notes because I can't remember stuff ever anymore but like maybe do that like public I'm not really talking to you guys but like public people stop this and you all need to sue serious thank you Richard McCormack 1014 avue gwood I'm glad the chap stuck around and I'm glad the firefighter stuck around and the reason why they're here is because gar made the front page that's why they're here he was just notified today you sat there and you sat there and you said Facebook is nothing good to the fire department why they're here tonight is because of an accident of a fir truck wasn't intentional it was an accident somebody on Facebook took a personal intive to two PS political and personal against the chief this whole thing started about an accident then he went on and on pulling out YouTube names then they included my name as a p fire commissioner I had enough and I answered it's not the job of a fire commissioner to check for certifications but you guys were silent and we're in this paper today because you guys weren't truthful I asked both of you three weeks ago to have this Chief come and put this to bed because if it wasn't put to bed each time he comes forward to this microphone and asks for more equipment you will hear more chatter on Facebook you don't want to hear it but that's the truth and he is right this is a punishment to all of them you are responsible you could have put this to bed and you didn't that's done with the fire department the next thing is that I want to mention is Tuesday night it was a spectacle as a past councilman and the only Republican that sat up there at that time and as a contractor with only a high school education I was gabbled my microphone was was silenced because I spoke out on what I believed but what I saw Tuesday was a whole football team tackling a kicker she's only asking questions you should all be embarrassed every one of you no matter what party you want you should be embarrassed you're representing us whether we voted for you or not and I got to I'm going to end it with this there's a political season coming up there's going to be new candidates two of which we heard from the Democratic party if you guys keep this up please do me a favor don't walk up the five steps to my house and knock on my door because I'm not going to answer I hope this is a wake up call for everybody thank you thank you is there anybody else who wishes to address the mayor and counsel please come up we're ready good evening mayor ladies and gentlemen of the council Bruce Patterson 325 will Avenue I I guess um I'm the moderator of that Facebook page as everybody knows I'm one of them anyway but I do appreciate that it all started probably from the accident no actually it did start from the re revision of the uh ordinance which which which the chief mentioned um for some reason you know there's three whistleblowers I guess I can call them on the Facebook page and they started bringing out items such as the non-transparency of the accident where a major ladder truck that we paid $1.3 million for is now out of service for a long lengthy repair uh program which he mentions is long and lengthy which uh you know maybe we didn't know that but now we do so you know thanks to these these whistle blow owers that that you know you're accusing of outright lies and maybe they didn't tell the truth on occasional items I guess I'm I'm not a firefighter or at the scenes of of the fires but to tell you the truth they brought out serious issues that needed to be addressed they did not lie about the certification they came through with some proof to show that you know the instant command and and the Hazmat I I guess that's arguable but what came out of that ordinance that was revised back in September actually is now being revised again ordinances usually don't get revised within a short amount of time but this one's being revised now and it's taking out the fire officer one and the Fire officer two which at this point before it really is adopted means that the the officers are not according to that ordinance are not uh certified they weren't certified some are some aren't some were replaced I mean obviously there was no lying the Facebook had no lying you guys lied by saying they're certified they're certified they're certified when they weren't certified we you know the the whistleblowers had to put up a uh Matrix which hopefully the chief now can actually create and track the certification of upand cominging officers because actually in that ordinance it says the chief will review all nominated members and determine those members eligible to seek office so I mean right there was a possible failure that the chief wasn't even checking certifications because I think by the early March two had to be replaced because they weren't certified so so there's flaws these whistleblowers brought out flaws in the system and the sad part is when I heard Chief Scania what' he say he said something about it's not unique to Gar with the the issues this whole system obviously has flaws hopefully it doesn't create such a liability because I mean you as the governing body obviously is concerned about the public interests and liability and whatever this messes this ball rolling along here hopefully things are now being cleaned up you know the ordinance is going to be revised there's letters out there saying that yes they have a minimal certification some about the IC and the Hazmat program has to be I guess developed I mean it it can't have to be a mess and and I actually have to thank these three whistleblowers on my Facebook page that brought all this up you call it chatter call it outright lies but obviously they were right they they started this ball rolling down the hill to where we are now and I appreciate the chief finally showing up I wish he showed up to answer those questions that they had sent in where I had sent in with my name on it so but any that while I'm here who who is Judy Zas um I saw a resolution back in November about that lady what is she doing and and are the taxpayers covering something that you know she's performing some service and and I guess just the last thing back on the budget and I'm I'm sure I'll talk a lot about the budget but anyway the the uh and I mentioned this before the pilot monies we have $650,000 extra money 20 seconds and yet we're still raising taxes by by about $300,000 and we're dipping into our cap Bank another $24,000 this is a lot of money I mean I'm talking about a black hole here I'm talking about a disaster last year was a disaster this year is even the worst Mr Patterson your time is up okay could you just answer about no Mr Patterson your time is up you have public comment is still going on thank you very much thank you uh Lucien 315 South Avenue I would like to thank the council for clarifying the the budget situation of the gar for State Department um and I also thank the officers congratulate the officers for their promotions good evening Rachel her 614th Avenue um I want to thank Chief Scout Dona for coming tonight um I think that if Chief Scout Dona was came to a meeting before a lot of this stuff that uh Facebook stuff might have been put to bed when I served on Council and I was on the fire committee we worked that ordinance at length and we had multiple discussions about it about the certifications and the language and all of that stuff and it was imperative as councilman Carney you had spoke to me and said that we had to get it on the agenda because it had to be you know potentially adopted so that the fire department could hold their nominations in November and have their elections in December so it was a time sensitive thing which obviously if if the chief had just come and you guys had said look we only needed them to have the state standards which is all the fire department needs to have and there are certain people in roles that don't have this Hazmat 2 and but they do have hasmat one if you had just been transparent and said that probably this Facebook stuff I don't know wouldn't happened I don't know who those people are but one would have said that okay they are qualified they have the basic level of state requirements what they don't have is an additional layer of certifications and I just think that you could have put this to bed if if you were transparent instead the ba sat here and said on the 16th of February anyone who doesn't have a certification is going to be demot then they have a meeting with the you know New Jersey state people after that in March then Mr McCormack comes ask for the fire department uh Chief to come and speak nothing's done it's like quiet it's transparent all you had to do was say they are certified to the state level but they don't have the additional certifications and there's no class available so therefore when the class is available they will take it they will get trained it could have all been put to bed but you didn't do it you weren't honest with the public it's not their fault do anybody else wish to address the mayor and councel yeah John bck 231 Hemlock uh I have two fill-in theblank questions about the budget uh when will we get an opportunity to see the capital plan and um there looked like three reductions in full-time staff from last year uh can we just have a brief overview of what positions were eliminated from the last budget I think I know a couple of them and were any added so I know it's a net of three so uh if you could give that I'd appreciate it uh just one other uh or two other things about the budget meeting the other night uh in the in the overview presentation it was emphasized that uh the vast majority of spending is uh non-discretionary or mandatory this second year in a row I I've made this comment it's very deceptive uh I've heard salaries and benefits for example being lumped into mandatory non-discretionary spending that's not accurate as a matter of public policy we add positions take positions away sometimes but it's a choice it's not by government mandate that we need to add these positions and when you add the positions yes now you have to pay the people and pay their benefits but that's a discretionary change and we went through this with the uh rental inspections and everything else last year what's what's mandated and what's not so to say that um by the graphics almost the entire budget is mandatory non-discretionary is misleading and inaccurate and if you don't believe me Google the Federal budget you'll see entitlements Social Security by uh legislation must be paid that's that's non-discretionary how the Social Security Administration staffs their Department that's up to the uh the cabinet secretaries and the other people who operate that that's discretionary spending that's the difference you'll I know we have a lot of uh mandatory spending but uh it I think was blown way out of proportion and you abdicate the responsibility for the staffing decision so that you make when you say it's it's uh not mandatory want to speak one last thing about process uh I was a bit of a victim of this these references to people who are not in the room and quotes that they uh that they make and how that drives the budget process I spoke about it on Tuesday probably not as eloquently it's not about rice notifications or anything else this is about the proper way to to not talk about people when they're not here and give them the opportunity to speak accurately and on the record I fell a little bit of a victim of this one of the highlights of uh Council former councilman Graham's uh fabulous farewell speech uh was that the seven members of the governing body are the only people who have all the information to make decisions I think we saw on Tuesday that the level of consistency of information was far from complete people on committees that don't have information relevant to their committee um the finance team doesn't isn't really sure about the whole chain of custody of budget recommendations so on in my own case I'm not here tonight to advocate for the circulation element I'll come back another time in fact I'll probably send an email I won't I won't bore the public with this but I was a solid citizen on this one I read the uh uh master plan uh reevaluation I don't know how many of our elected officials have read the entire thing I suffered through the entire document I went to the planning board meeting made a recommendation everybody nodded agreed they forwarded that recommendation over to the council one minute thank you the council acknowledged it everybody's great I don't see anything in the budget about it so I asked and I'm told oh yeah but I was actually told two things In fairness one was that we're going to try and get a grant for it I think that's fabulous that's cool and I'm good with that but oh the planner said you know we really don't need to do that or or we shouldn't do it in some private disc discuss well the planner was there the night I I brought this up and didn't say anything so this is what I'm talking about with you know I I couldn't have followed the process any any better and we talk about participative government but participative government doesn't end when the last vote is cast it's part of this process where we come here and this is why people get frustrated and say you know my my voice isn't heard I had to come and ask about you know where where this thing was my voice isn't heard this is why they go on social media and rant R and you know all this other stuff uh so uh your time is up thank you thank you there anybody else who wishes to address the mayor and Council okay miss Cameron I think we have a couple things to read into the record yes mayor we do uh Colleen hay 516 4th Avenue I typically zoom in but unfortunately can't be here tonight and had to leave the the budget meeting abruptly due to a family emergency the first is a budget question question regarding the $62,000 budget for the Westfield Regional Board of Health contract what exactly does this cover as I never see anything advertised in our community how many inspections are done here in Garwood and how many complaints are received do they collect grease trap reports quarterly does Garwood get a breakdown of how this money is spent also so why were our police officers dispatched to distribute the save the stuffed Flyers when they are there to protect and serve not deliver Flyers shouldn't this have been done by the SBA which originated the concept and has their logos on the flyer okay thank you is there there's another one we have one more uh from Michelle kappab biano 404 Avenue what one why was onepage budget document for residents not posted on the burrow website and not available to all residents prior to Tuesday's April 9th 2024 budget meeting there was only a paper copy on the desk at the meeting for residents that attended the budget meeting in person this did not give the public any opportunity to have time to review the document to be able to comment SL ask questions at Tuesday's budget meeting with the CFO and Auditor in attendance number two as of today April 11 2024 at 2:45 p.m. when I am emailing the clerk this document the one-page budget meeting handout document available to those that attended Tuesday is still not posted on the borrows website for all residents to review number three at Tuesday's budget meeting during public comment I asked about several specific items listed on the budget document handout one item I asked about was the rvsa sewer charges of $889,000 of over 16% the mayor's reply back to me was that I should go back and watch a previous non-budget meeting video that is not an acceptable answer to me nor to any of the public Tuesday was a budget meeting I asked specifically about a very large budget item with a significant increase listed on the budget document handout I was not given an answer and should have received an answer for such a large budget item increase why wasn't my increase why wasn't my question answered so I am asking my question again from the resident budget document we received at Tuesday's budget meeting why was there over a 16% increase in the rvsa sewer charges this year number four next the unbelievably unprofessional behavior displayed by some council members at Tuesday night's budget meeting was outrageous and a disgrace to all residents that attended in person or watched on a video so my question to the borrow attorney is this all council members in a public meeting allowed to throw out personal Jabs SL accusations publicly state employee names along with supposed disparaging information about them that was allegedly set in private committee meetings does this violate some kind of elected officials rules or put the burrow at risk of a lawsuit by an employee or others my final comment is that there was a full audience of residents in attendance at Tuesday night's budget meeting I as well as other residents were there to hear about the budget and ask questions or comment during public comment the fact that we were subjected to witnessing the budget meeting turned into a complete Circus by the mayor and members of the council is appalling so let me be clear and remind all of you you were there to conduct the business of the borrow period everyone will not always agree on everything but the mayor and Council should never make personal Jabs snoy remarks excuse me snoy comments state employee names or disparaging remarks in a public setting grow up and stop behaving in a professional manner during public meetings or resign your position thank you Michelle capab biano okay thank you miss Cameron can I have a motion to close public comment move second second okay okay uh mayor could I make a motion for a five minute recess sure bathroom want yeah no listen I'm just uh e e how are you get start get me exit okay we're gonna we're gonna come back from our bathroom break if everybody could have a seat um first there was some that good news on the outdoor AED I always hear the bad news I never hear the good news Chief say say thank you and thank you for uh to Sergeant Wright and to Chief stoer uh and and to miss Paul for putting uh everything together to get the outdoor AED I can't wait till we can get that up and and going so good news um before I say anything further uh let's answer some questions um Chief do you want to come up and and just answer with Miss Isa so you can say it the proper way of what her position is she's a member of the auxiliary fire department and her main role is uh right now clerical support because as I stated there's just more and more paperwork and now with the you know all that stuff we did for ISO all the certifications all the crosschecking and everything else it's a lot so right now her main focus is clerical support but that does not mean that it's limited to that okay thank you um Miss Bruns do you have the three uh answering Mr Bart's question of the three employees I have that actually you have that thank you councilman that s should have gone right to you um we have a retirement in the administrator's office the court administrator is now a shared service with Fanwood and there's been turnover in the police department um and there hasn't been any additional employees as far as I the um we will now be having a part-time um admin in the office replacing a full-time um who had multiple roles but now we that has turned into a part-time so that was a savings as well um okay I I really don't know what to say to some of this about the fire department that it's our fault for not being transparent um I I don't know how many more times we all could have said what we said that they were certified that they were able to work the fires I you're going to find you're going to poke holes and at everything and and keep digging it's it I don't know I really I I'm kind of speechless to be honest I am I'm speechless we had we've talked about it multiple times that then we reported that the state came in and now you you heard it from from them themselves and saying exactly what we said though they said exactly what we said um so it kind and let me just say could this have been cleared up if Chief scal adona came in first I don't think it would have mattered because obviously what's going on online is not about the actual truth of the matter there it's like uh Chief SC Dona said it's personal there's obviously some sort of Vendetta we've talked about it before it wouldn't have stopped and no I do not think it's right for me to ask a department head to come and be interrogated by things that just aren't true that we've just said aren't true up here so no that's a no please no talking please there is there is no reason first it's the fire department then what then if somebody put something online about the police department that that's not true I have to make them come and and answer to to that to some online Lies We do not govern by Facebook so I did not think that I should ask again if he ever came to me and said he wanted to do it like he did today he is welcome to but there is no reason if we have if we were up here talking about it and telling the public that they are certified that the borrow administrator said they were certified that the state says they were certified why would I have him come up and answer to some of that those lies I I think that I mean I feel honestly bad that he feels that he needed to come and do that because he shouldn't have to and mayor I just want to add no one did come to him no one called him or talk to him as he mentioned before so the the lines of communication were open towards him but no one spoke to him as he stated before I know councilman you said to me that you council president that you wanted to speak to that so something to to this effect about this topic because I I I am I'm I'm speechless about this at this point yeah I honestly mayor I'm gonna lead with I just can't overstate my disappointment in uh in Mr McCormack's comments towards you tonight uh I don't know if you had occasion to speak speak to him on this topic or not but I did on multiple occasions and I explained to him how I felt about the fire chief coming into a meeting and I knew the chief would probably be happy to do it and that in concept yeah it's it's something that you could consider but in reality as you just said I was not interested in setting a precedent that the council is going to produce a department head whenever a mob forms on social media with torches and pitchforks um as you pointed out the council did its job and perhaps the one thing I can agree with Mr McCormack on tonight is that he said it's not the council's job to check certifications I agree with that um but you know in doing I I mayor I I can't speak when people are talking over me from the audience could I please ask the audience not to speak can I please Mr McCormick I'm going to have to ask the chief to lead you out if you don't talk all right I think uh we have beaten the fire department issue to death um but I I do want to talk about it's related to this and a number of the people here approached the microphone tonight to talk about this we have now received letters about it um what happened at Tuesday night's meeting was nothing short of an open manipulation and it was an attempt to bully this Council into making rash decisions in the face of a claimed crisis which just didn't exist and uh you know I'm talking about the DPW Staffing with that reference which I will again point out was not an issue raised anytime in the four years I've been on this Council uh but what I'm saying could just as easily apply to what we just witnessed here about the fire department or any number of issues during what appears to be a never ending spin cycle in this town of exaggerations and lies and we just had another example of it tonight in real time right here right after the fire chief and the County Mutual Aid coordinator spoke where someone was basically putting words in their mouth about the certifications and saying things that they didn't say um this is on video we are live streaming right um you know enough is enough with this the people of Garwood did not vote any of us onto this Council to act like the buffoons that are currently running the House of Representatives into the ground uh you know here in the comments blaming this entire body for a lack of decorum when the simple truth of the matter here is that it is not the entire body's fault or responsibility um was there another question I missed I got I got distracted I I think we covered everything I think we covered everything with fire and I will say I I will say uh and perhaps I misunderstood what Mr McCormack said I'm going to play the video back and see what he said I thought he said it wasn't the council's responsibility um it was my responsibility to handle fire matters when I was the chair of the fire committee for the last two years and that's what we were doing and that's the reference that I made of work that started when my predecessor held that position and I held the position for under two Mayors and you assigned it to councilman Lazaro this year um we did our job and we updated that ordinance to where it needed to be apparently there was something in there it was not our intent in that committee to impose additional standards and I don't believe I heard Council or former councilman her say anything different we did speak about certifications for an extended period of time in that committee and there were a lot of changes made in that committee um trying to get it out unanimous there was a lot of concessions made to get it into that form that it was so I I don't really know what else to say about it other than when the the State Fire Marshall tells you hey you could write this better and this is what it should say I I think we have an obligation to to listen to that and to put it into effect well I'm sorry I just have to jump in because I feel like what Mr McCormick was saying is that they are lacking the one certification now Mike scano did come in and say that there is mutual Aid that will cover that what I hear Rachel saying and Mr McCormack saying is that we never said that and that's what's missing so technically speaking there is 100% one certification that is a state requirement that is lacking that is the Hat mat level two only three officers in the department have it the chief does not have it which in turn on whatever March 11th there was a meeting where it was set up that we will then go out for Mutual Aid that is the truth Mutual Aid was always there I understand Mutual Aid's always there but what the public from what I hear was looking for was for us to say that does that instead of saying you're all certified we're done we're not talking about it anymore and and the fire committee discussed this I'm pretty sure along with the burrow administrator and was comfortable with what certifications the officers had because nobody's saying they were uncomfortable what they're saying is we were not transparent that's all they're both saying is that we did not say yes technically it is correct that they do not have every single certification but the one is lacking which he just said tonight is common throughout yion County and that until they achieve that certification we have mutual Aid that's the facts the only thing I just want to say is that you know so I did make a statement about this and I did say in Fairly lengthy process that there obviously that there was a class that they were going to be taking but as far as the certifications that they need to to do their jobs they had those certifications so I mean like yes if you want to be technical about every little single detail but we do have three I mean like this took almost like a half hour for them to explain every single detail of every single aspect of the fire department and to get into the weeds of every single piece and component of the fire department protocols I think is tough for people to be able to fully understand all of the actual Logistics that go into it so I thought that this was one of our jobs I think as Council people is to try to be make sure that we are communicating effectively and sometimes like when you give too much information things get lost in the weeds and so I felt like this information as far as what we what the public in terms of knowing that their Department was certified to provide the services that they need is accurate so that's kind of how my my Approach was and mayor I just I want to add it took two chiefs with probably 40 years each of experience in the fire service to give a dissertation on explaining this to a bunch of lay people which is what we all are there are no firefighters sitting up here or still in this room that I see um you know again I go back to the due diligence was done the information that was available was was given and the work moves on and this has really become an unfortunate distraction there's a half dozen things that multiple council members up here are working on that we we didn't have time to discuss tonight and they're going to have to get kicked to the next meeting because now it's 9:30 and we have a budget to introduce and a bunch of other business to handle tonight um I I don't see how getting that overly Technical and I've had disagreements with several of the people sitting in the office about the of granularity in in even our reports it it's not relevant to to what we're doing as council members if that's something that you want to know reach out to the department heads but yeah I I I do generally agree that look what's going to be the next thing there's something that a police officer does that somebody doesn't like there's something that a public works employee does that somebody likes are we supposed to haul that that department head in here a and um you know just in real time seeing people right here twist words of something that was said right in front of us 20 minutes ago what are they twisting I don't I I understand you want to speak but I I if I'm gonna let council president speak and then you can jump in the the fire chiefs clearly spoke about this certification and just the hyperbole coming back that the certification is lacking look that that seems to play well on Facebook but it's not really holding up here in real time they clearly said what they said 20 minutes ago in front of us um it's it's honestly it's not worth any more time but I did hear one other inaccuracy at the microphone here I just want to point out M uh I wasn't on the council when this happen but I used to sit right over there and live stream the meetings I believe the price tag for the latter truck was 1.125 million had to get that in I did yes okay so I just I really want to understand what B all right I'm gonna give you a minute to do that and then I think we why you always rush me and never him I'm not rushing you I said I'm gonna give you a chance see I just don't understand why I'm just asking a question I'm not if I if I can speak I was going to say I'm GNA give you a chance to speak and then I think I'm going to end the conversation about this because there's other questions that I need to answer okay so what I said was there are a list of requirements of what they need right from the state we all have a copy Mark sent me a copy they are lacking one class Mr scano came in and said that the class is not being held right now that they are behind and until they complete the course there will be mutual Aid is that correct no that is not correct okay so please tell me he did not say they made it a point to say say that Mutual Aid was not responding to every call in Garwood what he said is that if there was a level two or higher right ASM incident and one of the certified officers was not available a Coordinator would respond the simple fact is that a Coordinator would be responding anyway at that point because any level two incident would automatically be either a second or third alarm and again I'm weighing the weeds here it took me two years as fire commissioner to learn about a lot of this stuff all the things I just said are going to make no sense to 90% of the public unless they have fire service experience do you know what a second and third alarm is on a fire that's what the public was looking for when they kept coming back and asking the same question over and over and over they wanted to hear us say that they were missing one certification but we made other arrangements and that is what happened I don't understand why that's so hard to say okay thank you we're going to move on um yes it does it has always existed right but we still had a meeting about it we addressed it I just don't understand why we didn't say it the public knows that Mutual Aid has always existed I'm going to move on there were some other questions um Miss hay asked about the Board of Health councilman fol your I'm sorry sorry mayor uh we do have a breakdown of the items uh budget items you requested for the Board of Health uh Kathy I don't know if you can can email that that to her or to Colleen for the Board of Health yeah budget items yeah for clarification sure um the Board of Health is a shared service through Westfield uh which we contract contract with and um you mentioned gree traps I believe we they inspect that twice a year yes they um unless of course they get a call that there is a a reason to go and check one out did you want me I'm sorry did you want me to take the SBA or do you you got it one other thing I just wanted to let um Miss Haye know I think she asked about um and just so everybody knows each municipality is required to have a board of health so we have to have one obviously we're a small town and most towns anyway do Share Board of Health to save costs um they oversee an adopt code and then uh you know anything having to do with health and sanitation but they do a lot of things for us they uh do inspections of food establishments they provide vaccinations you talked about some of this with the covid at the your last report they go to the senior club for blood PR pressure uh checks um and of course they respond to environmental concerns like noise and rodents and insects so there is a a long list of things that are Board of Health does for the burrow um yes and I will respond to the police officers handing out the uh Flyers our our uh Department goes around each year just to get updated contact information from um the business owners and so of course they were kind enough to as they go around um anyway to hand out the Flyers but of course as you as I mentioned earlier council president and I um did go around ourselves as well to talk to them and and get their um any questions or any concerns that they had um but it is a part of our code so it is O you know I do think it's it's fitting that our police department does uh talk to our business owners about it since it is a part of our code now did you have anything else to add or oh yeah just um I had asked the chief a couple of meetings back I W up doing it in Open Session here I was going to bring it up in a in a either an email or police committee meeting just I knew the officers were about to go out to do this update anyway I just figured kind of a carp ADM Moment Like would it would it be okay and you're okay with it wasn't like it was they were specifically dispatched like a call for service yes we do appreciate it I just saw an opportunity to get it done a little more quickly than just with volunteers or you and I alone and it appears everyone got it so yeah Chief I just want to thank you for always being at every single council meeting because we do tend to put you on the spot a lot so I appreciate that um couple more questions were asked the budget um sheet wasn't posted that was just a a sheet that uh Miss Bruns creates just to help out during the special budget meeting the actual budget can't be posted until it's introduced so sometime next week the userfriendly budget and the budget document will be on the website and of course you have then plenty of time for questions through email and then of course the adoption uh to ask questions um and there is another meeting in between so there's still plenty of time to look at it and um so that you can review it um rvsa the reason I I referred you um Miss Kappa Bianco back to the video was because we had a lengthy discussion about the increase on 16% of the rvsa so that number was already known going into it um and I know uh Miss cap biano was at that meeting and or online and and did ask some questions about it so we knew beforehand uh going into the budget season that we had a 16% increase and the rvsa went through a lengthy explanation as to why um and so it's I think it's sort of better to hear it from The Source from them but I mean short answers is that the increase was due to inflationary costs and repairs from the rvsa but also the way it's allocated through the different towns but again if you go back to the meeting where they um came to speak with us um they obviously go through it much more in depth um and I think that's really the end of questions I believe Michelle um put in a question for our burough attorney could we reference back the letter Mrs Cameron so so look committee disc committee discussions are aren't priv private or privileged or anything and we can discuss what what was said or decided upon in committee meetings that said I think we do often make it a um we do try not to make it about our employees directly um because we do understand even though they are public employees I do think it's better not to always name them in certain ways but it it is a tough line because when we're up here justifying as I said before what we you know how or why we're making our decisions some of the reasoning is because of what our employees or dep department heads have said to us or recommend to us but I do think we have to be careful in our phrasing and I think that sometimes In the Heat of the Moment we can get it wrong and I think probably everybody up here at some point has gotten it wrong at some point but but I think um look as a community it's better we just stick to the issues um and as we move forward on the budget or anything else this year we should aim for that okay mayor may I may I say something sure um I realized that using an employees name was not proper procedure I just like to say that I'm learning I hope that you can understand that um rest assured that I will be very mindful going forward um I pride myself in getting along well with people and I really hope you know it's early in my term and I really hope that Council woman someone and I can develop a cultural relationship it was not my intention you know I realized that going back and forth um it was not malicious it was not you know um it really wasn't um you know I read something that says we can always control our feelings but we can always control our behavior and again I will be very Mindful and I hope that going forward you know know we can get along in a cordial manner thank you thank you okay I think we answered it all so we will move along to consent agenda um is there any items in the consent agenda anyone wishes to remove there's one item that I would like to remove Okay resolution 24- 075 okay anybody else yes I would like to remove 24- 079 and 24-8 okay anybody else okay can I have a motion to adopt the consent agenda as amended so moved second a roll call please miss Cameron councilwoman Bodo hi councilman Foley I councilman Lazaro I councilwoman ndi I councilwoman I council president Carney I okay our resolutions that were removed we have resolution number 24- 075 um do we have uh can I have a motion to adopt this resolution I'll make that motion second can can we have discussion yeah I was going to do discussion do I need to do discussion uh should I motion it first yeah I was going to motion it for but I should discuss it first okay I'll withdraw my motion okay discussion okay so I guess the I just really um I just really wanted to have an opportunity to discuss this resolution because we just really just got a look at it very uh you know just a couple of days ago um and I just kind of wanted to understand why it's so important to pass it number one and number two um what is the measure of confidence that we have that um the conditions that remain to be completed like the signage in the parking lot and the valet parking what is what measure of confidence do you have um councilwoman salmon that these these conditions will be met I have zero confidence in the representation at verela this came across it was drafted by a Redevelopment attorney I do I have met him I do have confidence in him this is what he drafted to put forth because we have been talking about them needing their certificate of completion um I'm happy if you want to hold off and we can open everything back up and relook at it I will definitely support that is that what you're looking to do I'm not I'm not looking to hold the hold it up if it's important to pass it you know I would like to understand just better what the what the reason for the you know why we need to pass it I mean we don't need to pass it they just added in that they were doing valet parking and signage to get in the parking garage which I know has been a Hot Topic so if we're not comfortable moving forward with their certificate of completion with these two additions I think we can open it up and relook at everything we can maybe have the Redevelopment attorney come in and talk to us all see here's the problem I have that when I sent this over to you and asked you to send it to the others and to get there see what they said I don't know why that didn't happen and I also don't know if you don't have the confidence in this or the background why you didn't reach out to the Redevelopment attorney or VI because I said it was created by them right so I mean this is such a political move it's great I love every second of itly what all of this is great you don't allow me in you allow me in nothing so let's vote no let's have them come in and let's go from there no you I would love more than anything to say no to chair hold on so just just to I mean show is such a joke no why can't we just have a conversation about it right now I don't understand why Prof first of all I have I I dictator but I don't dictator wow yes wow so I'm just gonna ask my original question what what what do we know about the parking signage that's really the question that I had what do we know about the parking signage and the progress that's being made to complete these items these last few items before we sign off on the completion of the project okay I can I can give you that information um they have ordered the signage they have temporary signage of out there um and they have it is in the process of coming in so I do know that everything has been taken care of uh in in terms of the signage with the valet the valet and it was in the the emails as well um the valet was just sort of a a double uh protection by putting it in here um it is in our site plan we obviously do not have a restaurant there but it was a sort of uh our Redevelopment attorney felt it was prudent to just put it in here to make sure that when the time comes he knows we we have to have that so look again I don't I don't have any significant disagreements with this you know however what I would say is just in the fact that I apologize for not having a committee meeting for the fire because you complained about the fire issue I think it would have been nice for us to have that committee meeting to have those conversations I don't have an issue with this resolution I just think it would obviously be and again I apologize for not having the fire committee meeting for having that conversation for ask to have it but I don't see foresee this I don't have any issues that I think need to be discussed further to to amend this personally but the only reason why I mentioned the fire committee meeting was because I did see an error that's it if there was no error I would have voted yes to introduction I would have mentioned nothing and I would have moved forward so I'm happy to vote so we can I could have also called that political theater if you wanted to go there so but we didn't so I think that my point was I I want to make it clear I do not keep you from anything you are the chair of a committee you have as much access to everything I don't know what to tell you that you you could certainly and I know you have spoken with our planner and our Redevelopment attorney you know separate from me so you could have with this and that's what we'll say so if I may I didn't feel a pressing issue that I had to to be honest within this okay but obviously there are some type of um I know it's political I'm not the one that pulled it so I'm happy to completely vote no let's turn it down and let's have the Redevelopment attorney and come and talk to us all I don't think that that's that's a bad idea I have given some background to it not pay for the Redevelopment attorney to come in and give you the same lines that you know say the for nothing mayor if I may I I intend to make a motion as soon as I'm done speaking okay um I I've visited vermello recently and councilman Foley lives there this temporary signage some of it has gone up right sir it has it has they've done the temporary signage and signs all over the parking garage which be liit and everything and I've spoken with the Michelle the manager and their signs are coming in um for retail parking so they they're in good standing and they have I for somehow some reason I got the email when you asked the question but they they did order the retail signage as well right they did yes and they in that email they had uh information about the orders where it's going to be and visuals of where the signs will be placed on the outside and inside of the parking garage all right so despite the fact that I now have processed concerns because I just heard the chair of this committee say she doesn't report the support the resolution I'm going to motion to adopt it because those were the concerns that I understood we were waiting to address so my motion is to adopt okay do I have a second second uh roll call please councilwoman Bodo I councilman Foley I councilman Lazaro I councilwoman no I councilwoman salmon no council president Carney I all right resolution 24-9 discussion any discussion did I what did I say n whoops 079 okay can I have a motion so moved second roll call please councilwoman Bodo I councilman Foley I councilman Lazaro I councilwoman ndi I councilwoman salmon no council president caring I Okay resolution number 24-8 can I do you want discussion any discussion okay can I have a motion to adopt I'll make that motion second second uh roll call please councilwoman Bodo I councilman Foley I councilman Lazaro I councilwoman ndi hi councilwoman salmon no council president Corney I under new business welcoming Debbie Deborah bosi to our Board of Health we had a resignation and so Deborah has graciously decided to step up and join um councilman Foley at On The Board of Health so thank you very much payment of claims and refunds Miss uh miss Cameron be it resolved that the following claims as approved B and the same are hereby ordered paid when properly signed and verified and the payment of payrolls as listed is hereby confirmed and ratified can I have a motion to adopt payment of claims Mo second uh roll call please councilwoman Bodo I councilman Foley I councilman Lazaro I Council woman ndi I councilwoman salmon I council president Carney I the regular meeting of the mayor and Council will be held Tuesday April 23rd 2024 at 7M in council chambers information for meetings is posted on the Barrow website can I have a motion so moved second uh all in favor I opposed okay good night everybody long one have