they got it welcome everybody adequate notice of this meeting was provided to the UN County Park advertised on January 4th 2024 notification was sent to the Star Ledger and is posted on the municipal website the municipal public voting board and filed in the office are conforming the public of the time and place according to the provisions of the open public meeting Law chapter 231 P 1975 call here woman here here and I have roll call of staff and professional schol here yes thank you our first order of buness as you can see we have um a lot a lot of people in our audience tonight and that is because we are uh swearing in a new patrolman to our Police Department Officer Eric Mendez so um I would just like to take a minute to say a few words about officer Melendez so officer Eric Melendez was born in norc and raised in Belleville he received his associate degree in criminal justice from Bergen Community College and he then attended the John H stamler Academy where it just so happens that officer sug was his instructor in 2022 and he served the East Orange Police Department for 15 months officer melendes who is very proud of his Puerto Rican Heritage comes from a law enforcement family his father Eric has been been serving the New Jersey State Department of Corrections for 23 years he is supported by his father his mother Melinda who is a bilingual High School teacher his girlfriend Kimberly who is also studying to be a teacher and His Two Brothers Two Step Brothers and one sister and many friends here as well while in East Orange officer Melendez received an award for bravery while for saving a seizing man in a working carire we are Beyond thrilled that he is joining the gar department and I know he will be a huge asset to our team so it is with great pleasure that I asked him to come forward along with Chief ster and we will'll do the oath of office your left hand on the Bible and raise your right and repeat after me I Eric Melendez I do solemnly affirm do Solly affirm that I will uphold the Constitution of the United States uphold the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the of New Jersey that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same that'll bear true Faith to the same and to the government established establish in the United States United States and in this state and under the authority of the people that I will Faithfully I will faithfully impartially impartially and justly perform and justly perform all of the duties of follman for the burrow of gwood according to the best of my ability according to the best of my abil congratulations thank would you like to take a few pictures Chief you want to take a picture sorry I'll let you go we'll take that piure would you like to take pictures you want me to take one of the whole family we we made do before you took a crunch up [Music] you want just Mom and Dad or any other on this is this is your chance now Mom and Dad ready everybody everybody here Department oh he has are phone welcome yeah you don't want to be in that back with so at this point um we are going to move into a presentation from the rvsa um we have our on here Steve as well as our engineer uh Mike disc has graciously come on his day off so that you could be here for this um in case there's questions um in the council or just provide a medic voice for this um because as we know there is a large increase unfortunately this year um from the rbsa for to our budet so um I wanted to give the opportunity for rbsa to to come forward speak to the council there so I'll turn it over to you then we can see question by way of introduction John is John is brand new um he's the new director the thank you my name is John some of you may here couple years as here recently our executive director retired so I'm only forgive me with me I've got J she is our manager of Regulatory Compliance as well as Karen who is our Chief Financial Officer so hopefully between the three of us we should you answer any of the questions that you have may have um I want to start out obviously barwood has seen a fair significant increase in their assessment this year um I think everybody had Authority understands the hardship that that brings on the towns we're very cognizant of the impact that our assessment has on member municipalities for all 11 members in some of the smaller towns in particular I know it's harder to absorb some of in we are [Music] very um it's also you all aware sure unprecedented times with inflation um so unfortunately the rbsa operating budget this year had to go up 9% and just operating budget which was a pretty good hit I think that might have been the largest increase we've had in 10 12 years and a lot of that was due to things that are beyond our control we had a 40% increase in our electricity cost that's a million a half dollars right off the bat uh to our budget that is a hit um chemical prices that triple so the polymer that we use for watering chemical that we use for our processes all of those prices have triple um maintenance costs equipment that we purchased few years ago is now twice the price maybe sometimes three times the price of what it is and the lead time is a year we've had pumps that have been or actuators pumps that have taken a year for us to get so in the past where we've been able to sit back and not order spare parts because we knew we could get them quickly we're now forced to keep things on the Shelf a little bit more so that's also increased our operating I'm sure that's a pain that we're all feeling well so I know kind of crying um so that being said uh we have done everything we can to keep that budget as low as possible uh we started out 10 and a half% increase and we were able to work down and and make some adjustments and get it down to below 9 you're 8.8 increase um and then we're doing things as well to try and bring in additional Revenue in the future that is going to be able to help offset some of the cost the numbers are in some of those we're doing now we bring in le8 from landfill M County we get paid to take that waste and treat that we're looking to expand that as well um we take in food waste and we discussed a food waste program that we have here where we bring in food waste from Waste Management we get paid to take that and then we get the benefit of the Dig G that that produces which helps offset our electric I do know your name we also recently connection program allowed us to start a connection the program that also help bring in some revenue from outside sources so it's not being filed with the r those are all things that we're doing now we are also looking into the future we are very close to finalizing a deal with a vendor for an RNG renewable natural gas project where we will be taking our digust gas cleaning it to pipeline follow standards and injecting that directly into the natural gas that has the potential to BR also significant so that's what we've been doing to try and keep the overall budget down From garwood's perspective there has been a pretty significant increase in flow over the last four years or so uh it's not significantly off from your average over the last 10 years or so uh in 2010 you had a sorry in 2020 you had a very low number it's probably one of the lowest you've had in 15 years and so now last year was one of your highest numbers and so the the spread is very drastic but when you look at it from an average basis it's actually in line so I have some information here uh one thing I want to point out I know we mentioned this every year the way our bilding works we have a PT right we have our operating budget our debt service budget uh combined into one pot of money that gets divided up among 11 pounds based on their percentage share of flow so flow B and TSS B is how strong of waste water is how much organic matter is in that waste water and then TSS is just how dirty is it how much sand gravel dirt things like that um you get build on your percentage share of the total so if your flow goes up and everyone else's flow go down your percentage is and sometimes their flow has stayed the same but because else has gone down the percentage has gone unfortunately we don't build on a straight gallon per basis it's hard to make B mixed correlation but that is how anybody has any question John just just maybe as a clarification um just simply describe how our flows are measured with the three in input in flow and one outow sure so we use uh what are known as area velocity meters so we have a outside contractor that we hire on a three-year basis so we do a three-year contractor and in each pipe at every one of our meter locations there's a sensor that measures the depth of the Flo and a measure a sensor that measures the velocity of the FL and populations you can then figure out how much flow is going through that pipe they're in the pipe 24 hours a day seven days a week we get a reading every 15 minutes all of those meters I believe there's 26 meters in our system um because each Town doesn't have a specific connection to our pipe we measure the flow coming into the town and the flow leaving the town so for garwood's situation there's one meter it's meter three it's on Lincoln Avenue right by where Lincoln Burnside uh intersect and we measure all of the flow leaving we then have three meters coming in from West so there's one met 6 which is over on Myrtle and there's two meters four and five which are on Fourth at Fourth Street and on the north side of town uh where it comes in from West so we measure what's going out of West of and we measure what's coming in and the difference is what we build to and we build on an average Val measure that 24 hours a day seven days a week and then take that average over CL a year and that's what goes into your calculation compar to thank you Trump um you know I have a couple of questions but I will bring this up and Steve if you want to add to it because and Mr disco because there was something that you looked at and you found um when you um analyze the different numbers going on um for this year because the rate was so so much higher um and you did find a particular where have uh some some weird numbers gener way saying it right some weird numbers um on one of the meters on meter six for about five months and I know that was something that you looked into and you talked with John um can you give a little bit about that um and that you know for the public so I think um and correct me if i m say in our 2023 measuring year truncated in septe at the end of September the measuring year goes from October 1 to September 30 so everybody understands the the about half of the 2023 measuring year we had very high numbers so high in fact that when we looked at it we hadn't seen these numbers except for the occurrence of Ida in September of whatever that was 2021 and nothing before that for the previous three four five years so and I see data like that it it's got to be a reason so and then we looked at the four meters the one exiting and the three coming in and what I thought I saw was three of those meters behaving in a similar fashion and one going counter to that in other words if the flows went up why wouldn't they all go up and one of them seemed to be going down and the others were going up and vice versa so I pointed that out to the rbsa staff and they basically and we we thought maybe there was something an obstruction in the meter that could be given a false reading um you know there it's a velocity meter and you've got something blocking the velocity the velocity may come in um lower or higher depending upon how it's measured so I think the response we got back was that the meters are checked very periodically I don't want to specify the exact timing of that um obvious they would know better than me and that seemed to elay that concerned potentially if they're actually looking at the meter and presumably it's free flowing and been sagged on the meter equipment and that would um amarate the the obvious concern I had the second was you know could we put a camera in the line I don't know if we certainly I don't think have done that I'm not sure if rbsa have done that probably not so John do you mind speaking to this um Stephen IFCO brought me into com about that um particular meter and you know was looking at that and um and I do understand your uh point of view about what that is that you get the the meter readings and nothing seems to be wrong with it can you speak a little bit to why perhaps you see that and then maybe to the address the camera issue sure um so this very strange flow yeah um I not sure what going on in West field that would cause that flow to drop and then go back up again seems to be somewhat rain dependent but goes up but then doesn't Trail off the way you normally see a in Rain dependent inii um however like said we do go out and check the meters one of the reasons we do a three-year contract is we want to make sure that we have the most accurate most upto-date technology available to us so as part of our contract uh even if it is the same contractor gets the next gets awarded that same contract again they still have to come in and replace all 32 meters so some of them are um so they have to come in and replace all of the meters whether it's the same contractor or not so all of our meters are brand new at most also as part of that every month the contractor comes out and does a physical entrance into the manual to confirm what the me reading in depth and velocity is what they're physically so when Mike pointed out that question on that meter 6 we went back and looked at the daily or monthly reports that the vendor provides for it and it showings for the four or five months prior to the event the flow in that pipe was 4 inches deep and roughly a foot and a half per second velocity the following month they went out and they physically measured 8 in the flow in 2 and a half per second so it is very strange flow I me there's no question about that it's probably worth exploring with Westfield to see what is going on in that area but it is really flow that's coming in and therefore we're subtracting that flow from your fil um so I feel confident that our meters are accurate um it isn't you know a difficult situation you're not working clean water and full pipe you got r and grit everything else so we do everything we can to try and make sure those meters are as representative of the real flow as possible is there something is it coming is there something happening in gwood that would cause it I know we're talking about Westfield um comes from my SP through to is there something happening is there could it be a leak could it be something going on that would cause something like that I wouldn't think so we've also had part of you not only did Mike and I look at the data I had CSL who is our metering company go back and also look at the data well they're they're the metering experts um if there was something Downstream like a blockage or root root intrusion that was causing a blockage or extra flow what you would tend to see is that the veloc the depth would increase because it's got a blockage Downstream but the velocity would go down so the fact that the velocity is increasing as the depth is increasing means that it's correctly operating pip that the flow characteristics are what you normally expect to see in a sewer pipe that's increasing flow the depth and the velocity we both increase at the same I don't think it's something that's going on inside inside you want to yeah my my my question would be Mike um oh John right we talked about the inii infl and infiltration and um there may be and again maybe um an incident uh in one of our one of our developments that may have um allowed some more some additional inii to come in which means that's going to increase your outflow obviously now if that if that's the case um how would that affect our our building it would it would vastly depend on what type of ion um if it's a crack pip in a high ground odor area you're where you're getting infiltration all the time time that can impact your daily average uh if it's a rain where a roof gutter or a catch Bas that connected you'll see the high Spike during a rain event but it would normally then paper off and shouldn't have a huge impact on your average scaling flow but it will in not as much as ground certain certain of our towns that have much higher groundwater levels Cranford Springfield those leaky pipes if they're below the groundwater table are essentially a French drain we have unfortunately there's nothing do we are tving garw we kind of put Myrtle at one of our primary points this this year so we will be tving that line but yeah I and I will play in so if you had just theoretically if you had a steady flow and I'm not saying it's um caused by rain necessarily but if you have a steady flow of I from another source of rain you might not see a spike particularly but you might see an increase enough to be able to over time um significantly or or um could impact our our budgetary process on things like uh illegal connection from some point or leaky or some kind of a leak um work s yeah we've seen that where and water companies have a water leak and generally those pipes tend to run near RS as well and it'll just make its way through the ground and discharge could be possibility yes that's what I will one thing we do uh three years ago our Consulting engineer CDM Smith did a we had them perform a model study on system so they took our sewer system brought into a modeling software and used that against our flow data but they can then run tests and see where some of the more leaky systems are one of the things that they try to do in there is look at low flow conditions like you know late at night early morning and see does that flow make sense with the population and service area that and sometimes that will help inl some of those areas that might have more I you know normal I not r right because at night when you would expect the flow to drop it's not dropping at much that study was performed that was performed a couple years ago they're actually right now updating it every couple it's not something you want every year expensive um but this year we're having SE that study I think I was looking at that and rwood is pretty high up there on the I and I right I we're the second highest side of the town so that is something to think about you don't want you don't want to say that I know it's not a good thing um but that's an issue we have to deal with just as in addition to possibility of what you know the constant flow that maybe that we don't know about um the inii increase in pipes that may have been disrupted by Road Works um is another potential source yeah a lot of these systems our system about 100 years old some of the system in the town are even older and yeah you're grinding you know you're million fo roadway above it that vibration could easily shift one the joints and you can start getting joints of CAC syst so okay thank you um Mike you have you have any questions well I would I would say and I don't want to get into numbers and confuse people but I'm going to cherry pick here from 2017 forward 2017 our average flow rate 0.73 MGD press 2019 which is the wetest year we had in the last seven 0.75 consistent uh jumping ahead in 2021 0.66 MGD in 2023 were 0.93 so that's where this monster jump is now if you break down 2023 into the five months where we had the very high value they a 1.17 Eng tremendous again we have not seen that certainly in my tenure in the seven years but the other seven months we were at 0.78 right in line with everything so that's why it led me to think something was happening in these five months because it seemed to I want to say equilibrate or normalize and I'd be very curious whether uh October November December maybe January data if you have that if that's showing similar to 0.7 range then whatever happened is not happening hasn't happened since uh I guess April the April 2023 measuring so um and and we looked at the rainfall it wasn't excessive rainfall during that period in fact we you know the February we only had 1.25 inches of rain that's that's nothing and yet we had a over 1.0 MGD again no no Rhyme or Reason can't relate it to I and I from rainfall induc stuff so when I look at the data there was this blip for five months seemed to self-correct the next four before and after and hopefully it's normalized the first couple of months in 2024 measuring year I haven't studied the 2024 measuring there's always a lag what um gets published so I don't know maybe rbsa could help us with that so so that's why you know when I see that it's that blip of 5 months it wasn't that it's been constant over the entire measuring year you had you had two half measuring years that one was high and one was normal when you average it you're still very much higher compared to the previous seven years that's what I zeroed in on right still can't explain it that would perhaps contradict what we just said that maybe there was some sort of leak going on because it corrected itself so yeah unless it was a leak and somebody without us knowing it the problem sorry can we have a copy of that I print out okay um I'm gonna open it up to the council if anybody have any questions yeah um thank you for the presentation and for explaining in detail how the funding it's it's helpful to be reminded of that um if you could and I apologize you're repeating but I'm just like trying to process this information and so um you know and our engineer talking about this 5 month flip I'm still really trying to Grapple and understand I guess um why we have this five month like is there an explanation that you have as to why you think given the fact that the rainfall was not abnormal for those 5 months but then we went back down to a normal MGD is that what it's called normal MGD yeah is there is there any explanation that you have for that because it just to me as I'm just hearing this information it just sounds like the technology is not working like that's that's what I'm thinking and I know you say you have everyone checking but like this is an enormous amount of money we're talking about to our budget so I I guess are you sure like I mean [Laughter] um I I understand the frustration and I like I said we we do everything we can um it's unusual for a sewage Authority the check meters monthly usually quarterly would be a more normal routine so the fact that we do this have them go out check these meters every month gives us a pretty good level of confidence that the measurement is representative of the flow in f um what it could be I have to go spend some time looking at what the previous month rain fall was so maybe you didn't have a lot of rain that particular month but if you had a lot of rain the months before the ground was just that saturated I don't know um unfortunately we only operate trunks so we have small section pipe about 18 miles long comes out from our collections our treatment PL and out to 11 towns we're not involved in the individual municipalities collection systems I really don't have a good answer I'm sorry wish I be industry I did try looking in Google Earth to see if there was a construction project going on that maybe would be watering at that time and illegally connected into a system but yeah are you are have you seen this in other municipalities where there has been like a femon period where there is a blip and then there's it returns back to normal every time a Town's flow mysteriously goes up we get called we never get called when FL goes down but yes we do see abnormal flows do you know what the reason was in the other towns why it went up and there have been situations we did find a couple areas where a sink pole a sink pole opened up and they found a with a water weak that had G on for a long time that had created this giant SLE um some of the towns have had significant inii problems where they've instituted programs to go in and inspect houses during turnover every time there's a sale as part of the CFO they go in and check foral connections pound um but there's never there's never one reason uh just a couple of quick questions um I know in 2023 the water company was doing a significant amount of work really all throughout North Jersey but specifically in this area there was a lot of work being done in Westfield uh we doing lines and such um you said that that those systems run very close to each other more often do not right you ever in your experience seen where water company work has impacted your system St not that we have seen but again we don't have that many pipes in there unless it wasin one of the major streets we we generally tend to run more THS I think it was every street in Westfield some I know I live in way the traffic went last year but um because I'm just I was curious because I what I do from my from my day job um lot of the guys I work with work those jobs when the water companies out and there was a lot of times in the last year where guys were getting stuck because they open up the ground and it was a bigger problem than they thought it was going to be and a lot of that stuff is on the main drivs so I'm just curious if this is the way you see your data and how it's based of got your entry points that you described and youve got your one exit Point like are you seeing it Spike from within Garwood or was it was already there on your on our entry meter the higher volume both obviously like I said garwood's flow has gone up as our our data um so there has been an increase of flow being generated with but we all we have seen an increase of FL coming in like I said that that meter did did um so that as come in but any any flow that is being that is being measured from the in is being subtracted okay uh and then just is there any possibility that it could be uh any kind of seasonal issue related to temperature um obviously Rainier seasons have more eye and eye colder this month isn't really a good example but in the winter as the ground gets colder and freezes some of that water doesn't migrate as easily under the Seas anything with trees root systems stuff like that absolutely we're constantly working on treating our own system for root intrusion so combination of cutting out roots as well as um chemical addition trying to kill any Roots which is a double if you that now that's leaving an opening for I in leave the route so there are some sections some of them which in will be slip line so I think you're probably getting the sense that it's just this council is kind of searching for rationale just because of the amount of the increase um I certainly know that's your Council Lazaro said but it is a significant increase and it is not an insignificant portion of a budget in a Municipality of this size so just as much understanding as we can get out of this that we can pass on to everyone else that's I think also um I'm not sure if it was mentioned but rvsa a rolling fiveyear average right yes so ask me to explain that and and that's I designed to mute any um significant Peaks and valleys in the billing uh proc I'm that probably was instituted I'm guessing 10 12 years ago maybe part 95 okay and so as you could imagine you could have severe um increases or drops which would reflect directly to the bill for the next year and it was very difficult to anticipate budget for increases so and it was a very prudent thing I think that they they averaged that over five years so whatever changes you had are more gentle than a a 60 or 80% Spike um so that's worth mentioning um the second thing I think the the graph that rvsa brought I mean there's three colors on there just just to you look at the blue though because bod and the solids are probably going to follow it if you look at I guess 99 to 06 you could almost see there's a certain average there around one MGD and then something happened presumably your industry um left or disappeared at that point and then if you look you know if you want to pick a number anywhere 2008 9 10 and you carry it through 2022 you can almost see a straight line there on an average so I think if you if you negate the 0.93 in 2023 your 76 is in line with 2019 2017 lower than 2014 2012 I'll read it upside down 2011 so it's not that's not so inconsistent if you looking at it a long term it's just that 2023 really jumped up and you do see as John mentioned the last four years you've got an increase in the last four years without any up and down like you typically see in that graph so again that's interesting to me but you're without the 0.93 in 2023 you are fairly consistent over the last 10 plus years um whereas when the industry was here prior you had more flow the I want to point out on the calculation though we have the outgoing meter and then we subtract meters coming in when I looked at that data though again obviously if the outgoing meter is up higher for whatever reason what I saw was two other of the two of the incoming meters follow that Trend whereas one seemed to Buck the trend which to me didn't make sense and again that's why if the meters are being checked rvsa has has a swage that concern if the velocity depth didn't have debris in it that checks that box but it's really what's incoming from one three Westfield meters which is what I thought was the um inconsistent data with for the five Monon period again I it seems to have U normalized after that and hopefully it normalized in the in the first couple months of 2024 and and if that's the case then it really is a blip and a spike and I'm not sure anybody's going to be able to identify why we had that five month blip and whether it something happened in Westfield or not or or the meter even though it was inspected just was reading wrong I don't know I can't nobody can put we've had a lot of smart people looking at this and again the fact that it it it went down normalized to me um the only thing I would ask rbsa again is if they could somehow adjust those numbers out on a temporary basis but prob say [Music] respon so we tried how high does it have to go before some significant and special investigation is to occur by the rsba 2.0 [Music] 3.0 there's no real number um I said we we we look at the data we check the meters every day um I don't know if it's our we have the ability to do an investigation into towns collection system uh there's some towns like Springfield Westfield Scotch Plains our pipe doesn't even run through there so we would have no ability to do any kind of Investigation in some of those TS G we do run through so we we do check our pip said we we're actually going to be doing some maintenance this year and coming years on some of the sections um we we've had times where we've called some of the towns and say hey your flow's going up what's going on but I said unless I we can compare it to building and building permits that we've seen pwa applications we are very limited in what data we have that we can try and in point where and if there is a substantial increase and happens again and goes to higher levels um is there anything that can be done to put in place saying okay these these numbers are abnormal they're getting more abnormal we're not sure where it's coming from is there is some sort of mechanism a sort of cross collaboration between other entities to kind of see what the issue is I would say that's what we do every month so every month like said they're going out and checking it yeah um as part of that they're also then one every month when they get the data the company is to do a qaqc so when I when I was explaining the meters the actual meters have two velocity sensors and two depth sensors so not only are they physically measuring it once a month but they're comparing those two sensors so and they're checking those every at least every week if not more often than that um so if they see one meter One One sensor reading significantly different than different the other sensor they'll go out and check that meter as well so we got of do it proactively I don't think we do it not reactive nature to it it's really more proactive keeping making sure has there been ever with the with the meters a a significant um uh malfunction so to speak and where you found it months later and how to resolve it that's causing maybe the influx are incorrectly reporting the numbers not I can't recall any any time we have that um we have had situations where particularly when we switch out meters part of the benefit is you're getting a new meter the difference is sometimes the meters different technology maybe their algorithms a little different and so you'll see a little bit of a change in flow so there have been times where we've hired a third party to come out and put another meter in Downstream and try and compare it but again this is s this is not clean water in a pipe that's pressurized in a full pipes so you can have 2 meters 10 feet down the pipe from each other you're never going to get exactly the same but they've always beenin the two or 3% out accy do you currently feel that the increase is is due to a special or some sort of investigation with the blit and what isn't matching up do I think do two something or do four one I do I think mean I think Mike did a great job in in finding that and then we we've looked at like I said I've looked at the data had CSL look at the data as well I think it'd probably be worth having a conversation with Westfield to see what's going on in that area of Town um I don't think there's a lot of industry in that area it's more residential but there might be something going so you mean talk with Westfield to continue and yeah thank you again just just the clarification BR that meter from Westfield even though it may be erratic it's still getting subtracted out from from our flow from my total so the danger would be if the meter was reading say four inches of FL right and our guys went out and measured eight right that would be a significant problem you guys would be taking that flow but not getting that subtracted from that isn't what we yes so um I know you said that you replace the meters every 3 years yes um do we have the date when this particular meter in question was replaced 202 sep so it's reaching the end of its now the meters are good for much longer than in fact some of the vendors have requested that they be allowed to leave them in to save us money and we've always said it's it's worth having the fresh meters I wouldn't say it's not reaching the end of their useful life when they get pulled out they get put into studies and they they still Ed them for many years but we part of our futility to sure sorry so um you talked about some of the Investments that you're planning on doing to help reduce costs in the future um when do you anticipate some of these um future endeavors to actually hopefully reduce the costs uh operational Etc do you see that happening in the near future sure do you to see that happening in the long term like what are we talking about here some of that is happening as we speak so we are bringing in Le currently we've uh in fact increased over the last month or two um but we are bringing in bringing in for a couple years that varies between know better 300 to $700,000 of Revenue to bring in uh we have our food waste program where we're bringing in food waste we're getting $200,000 in TI fees from waste management for that plus then uh the benefit of that gas if we use that gas to then generate electricity the Keat are digestors and so that then reduces the load uh the connection Fe program we just instituted it in September um so that's hasn't returned much revenue yet but it's only been a month um that has the potential to generate significant Revenue the R project I would probably say we're 18 months 24 months away from that actually being operational that's a little bit longer they're still negotiating contracts and then not permanent it's going to be significant Steve or do you have anything I don't think so no I think U thank you John thank you I appreciate you coming in and if anyone has any other questions thank you not you have another meeting or anything you need to attend thank you thank you I think you can get the sense that um obious say did respond to the concern it's still a frustrating issue right now and it's just again to me the numbers normalized so I my hunches something was going on that impacted the one meter coming from Westfield we may never know what Happ but um again fiveyear moving average if 2024 normalizes then you won't have an increase next year may ask one more question I also I also one just one addition and that's that's the fact that even though we may not we I and I that maybe aarish at a lower rate from um a leakage of some type where we know uh the possibility is um our town uh that could increase over time and not be recognized as as such until is and that's that's why I think we that's got to be a little more investigated I I agree and I'm waiting on some response backward you see emplo the public uh benefit there um at the paper Board site um you'll see that the the stacks of dirt have are still there um that is because they had cleaned up as we had talked about the cleanup had finished but they had are not able to back fill them yet um American water has found a leak and trying to figure out so I'm unsure of the timeline of that um trying to get some more information uh and hopefully that will be put very quickly um again not sure if that has any it because things did normalize but it regardless of that it's an issue for us on another end so we need to ensure that it's taken care of so yep that's where we stand okay thank you thank you okay we'll move along regular business um report from our bar attorney uh Victoria is graciously filling in for Adam tonight have thank you a report from our B administrator Mr Harris yes good evening mayor council I'm just going to review the ordinances on the agenda for introduction tonight uh ordinance 24- year3 is increasing the annual administrative fee from $250 for the registration of insurance TI certificates that are not filed by March 1 so the certificates filed prior to March 1st will remain remain at a $25 fee it also adds a fee for amending the registration and changes ownership these fees are necessary du the unfunded State mandates inol rental properties in New Jersey ordinance 2404 R the new structure of the police department they will now have one Captain one lieutenant and four sergeants going for this ordinance uh changes those numbers uh ordinance 24-5 is the creation of P Street parking in the central business district there will be two feed structures for on street parking will be 50 cents per hour for the first two hours hours three and four will be $1 per hour and hours five and six will be $150 per hour in the low parking lot the fee will be 50 cents per hour up to 10 hours uh ordinance 24-6 is changing existing parking uh restrictions to compet is 24-6 so I on in the central business district on Center Street between South and Will it's 1 hour parking now but with the new meter parking you could park up to six hours uh ordinance 247 is restructuring of the is due to the restructuring his duties with G rinsky's retirement at the end of the month uh the municipal clerk will take on the register and Licensing official duties the recreation director will take on on the senior director in clean communities uh we will then be hiring a part-time clerical staff this creates a $50,000 savings over hiring another fullon employee Additionally the ranges of two other positions have been increased if and the increase for those positions if we decide to add a sewer Fe later this year and that concludes my report thank you I have a a little bit of a report tonight just a couple things um so first off I um want to take a minute to talk social media once again um sometimes feel like I'm screaming into the void about this but I'm very persistent as you all know um so I urge everyone again to please remember that our employees and our volunteers are people who are working hard to give their time to the betterment of the burrow it's very easy to ruin someone's livelihood or reputation by posting something on Facebook especially without knowing all of the facts if there's something going on in the burrow that you want to see addressed or want to know how we're addressing it uh please I ask that you come to me or the burrow administrator to discuss it rather than just going on the attack online because I assure you any incident that occurs in our department is something we are aware of and we will remedy properly I support all of garwood's First Responders and yes some are PID employees and some are volunteers but they are all taking risks to protect our residents and it doesn't relieve anybody of accountability but I hope it means that before you press the post button you can take a minute to reflect on the outcome of that public post which might be criticizing or shaming someone um as we see all too often the consequences of that quick post can just be far-reaching and impact many lives there are a lot of great things happening in Garwood uh and in terms of our First Responders there are many accolades that they deserve and I love seeing all those commenting on the positive experiences they have had with our First Responders it's important that our community remembers those and come together around those rather than tearing each other down so Switching gears um I want to take a minute to address another topic that Mr Harris uh actually brought up in his report um with the different fees for the um mandates that are coming down with the rentals so last year uh the council passed an ordinance regarding rental properties specifically the registration of these residential rental properties and the mandatory submission of liability insurance for those rental properties now we discussed this over many me meetings and held public hearings and answered many questions but of course with this new year as the letters for the collection of the insurance paperwork are mailed out I've been seeing and receiving a lot of questions about it so I just thought I'd re clarify what this is all about um so in August 2022 the state legislature passed a bill requiring each municipality to submit to the state liability insurance for each residential rental rental property in that municipality so in order to comply we first had to figure out what properties in Garwood are actually rentals um which led to last year's rental property registration properties that were believed to be rentals got a letter to register the property uh and if our information wasn't accurate the owner simply had to let us know so that registration P paperwork did include a fe uh which we would use to offset the costs to an employee to collect these and work on them submit them hunt down who we haven't heard from um and all rentals including verela and any future Redevelopment are required to comply I also want to note that it was always the case that landlords were supposed to register rental properties with the burrow and some of you may even recall seeing the registration form before that on our website however it was not truly enforced because we we had no submission mandates from the state but now that this mandate has come down uh we needed to begin that enforcement and now that we have a refined list of rental properties in Garwood and though there are still some outstanding we are definitely in better shap um so now that we have that initial step completed we now have in this current year move forward to collecting the liability in papw uh so this is something we are mandated to do each year um and there is a small fee involved to cover the administrative costs none of this the initial registration or the yearly Insurance collections are covered by the state in terms of cost for so I do understand this is all new to gwood and it's may seem like it's one thing after another coming at you and I think we all up here understand that because it really does feel like there's one law after another coming at us from the state um but I've seen a lot of like misinformation about the reasoning Behind these laws as well as the various details involved as to what landlords need to do or hand in I've seen all of that um at different places online so I just ask that everyone please contact B Hall if you have any questions just to get the information directly from the source um and unfortunately this will not be the last mandate concerning rentals that g would will need to adhere to we've spoken at length about the lead inspection program that we will need to roll out involving rental apartments older than 1978 and not already certified lead free the state gave municipalities a little bit more time to begin doing those but not much uh as the date set by the state is actually July 2024 so as we move closer to that we will keep you up updated on that front um so again any questions please feel free to um email me call me office hours or call B Hall we have a lot of great employees who are um taking care of this we have CBA is our mental code en Forman who can answer all of your questions and of course Mr Harris is there as well so we will move on to comments from the council Council woman Bodo thank you mayor I would like to congratulate and welcome patran londes to Garwood um I also would like to share that this weekend I completed orientation for newly elected members and it was a very very interesting um um session um a lot of information was given um the most point set was communication um open communication Trust of all the bar administrator the clerk department heads and most importantly to work together you know separate parties and just work together so um that's really it than councilman Poley thank you mayor um I want to First congratulate officer Mendes um I want to just kind of bounce off what um stock said um a lot of noise happens on the online and um you know it's not a forum designed to resolve it's a form designed for combat and conflict isn't combat conflict is resolu and it is vital that we try to tune out that once um there's a big saying I have empty barrels Mak the most noise and I think it's imperative where we look to not focus on the issues in the digital frame but face to face um nothing will get resolved there and shaming and having online sorts of harassment about people does not resolve it um if anything it only exacerbates the conflict secondly I wanted to bring up today the issues with um vermel and the fall salons and I wanted to ask Council and mayor today uh what options we have to mitigate some of those issues we're see having which are jamming up our Town's resources and and jamming up resources for residents who may be in uh need and crisis and um The False Alarm calls are frequent they've been happening too too often so so I asked Council if they have any questions or comments or statements regarding that yes thank you Council May um I have spoken to their legal councel um Russa developments legal council Chris Ms about that um he assures me they are working on it um I think it's something that is going to require a lot of followup from us to ensure that that is taken care of and I F intend to do that um because it is it's it's a resource issue but it's also um I worry when you have so many false alarms that the residents start to get used to it and then you worry that they they won't evacuate and if there's a real reason to um that's a that's a problem so we they still do not have their final Co over at um rmel one or two um the so that is something where we can be in discussion because I do know that they obviously want to move along and get that um that if these are not resolved then we don't move forward on that step um I talked to them about um multiple items over at vermel including the signage for the parking deck that is supposed to be up um and then I as well as the lighting um where we had spoken to um then previously with uh the members of the planning board about uh help write the lighting in on certain areas um in terms of the signage along with the false alarms he assures me they are working on it uh in terms of the lighting um there are some parts that are back order that would require they are required for to change it over to dimmers um so they are working on those um so that is the information I have but you know I I want you to know and and the residents there to know that it's on my my list of constant and also um the Fire Department fire committee we met um with the buau administrator and we did discuss um it hasn't yet been finalized although I think we are are getting close to finalizing the idea of uh the fee associated with these false alarm situations um I don't know U Mr Harris if you wanted to add where we are with that process I we did discuss and I think there was General consensus of moving forward with it yeah it's uh we can probably have that ready for introduction the next meeting looks like our false alarm fire uh finds you know I off top of my head like the first three false alarms in the calendar year there's no charge but like for you know uh false alarm number four you might have a $25 charge and then goes to a $50 charge 7500 and work works it way up and there so you know these properties that are having many many false alarms it's it's incentive for them to get their alarm system fixed because there is a cost you know burrow you know fire fiters respond you know that not only you know is it the time you know that the volunteers put in but you have all this equipment out there idling so there is you know actual dollar and cents at the end of the day that the burrow is losing because of false alarm so we should have that like I said ready for the next meeting okay that would be great and pal in regards to those fines can we for for that prop for larger Properties or can we increase the f as it's a very small M maybe that would be something Victoria youing on are we allowed to have different fees for residential vers need to look into it a little but I know that you know most things amongst issuing fines we can look into you know there's there's so many fines how much we can increase it to or if it's you know within a certain period of time that we what's our option yeah and all the fee structures that I compare to it was it's all a a standard fee regardless of if it's a you know a 200 unit apartment building or a single family home the fine is still the same imagine it would have to be Equitable similar to what we talked about at and I want to just mentioned one more thing uh any discussion regarding retail over there over B um there is Poss I remember when I was given the information that there might be a signed contract coming up um but I actually do not know if the the business is um I know that they were in talks with um there's a company you know there's one in Westfield where they they do the freezing for the body for rehabilitation whatever I don't know my daughter's actually done it for her ankles you know you go to hot yeah there you go I know that they were in talks I don't know where that is there was a couple other things in talks I don't have anything and finally just remember the online world like Facebook is not a Public Square it is a combat Arena okay um it is designed to for outrage and anger um and so for residents who are watching and listening um it is not going to resolve issues it is only going to exacerbate them it is not designed to do that it's designed to get you angry I know myself I've made mistakes I've gotten angry I've gotten passionate um I regretfully have done that in the past we we all have um it's not going to resolve things nothing's ever been resolved in Facebook so thank you counc laar nothing for me thank you Council Council woman sammon no comments tonight council president Cary thank you mayor just a few quick things tonight uh echoing few of my colleagues I just want to begin with a official and warm welcome to the family after the official squaring in before of our newest Garwood police officer Eric Melendez uh congratulations sir and uh please be safe uh I also want to State my support for all the men and women of both the garw with fire department and police department uh both departments are beinging an excellent overall job for this town uh while the council serves an important oversight and policy making role the day-to-day operations of our first resp responders are as they should be in the hands of their respective professional command staffs and our burrow administrator changing gears uh I've done some followup work on the skip the stuff initiative uh which was discussed with the Small Business Association board and I reported on at our last council meeting uh a representative from clean water action will be joining us at the next council meeting on February 22nd to give a brief presentation uh and prior to that I've researched a few towns which have already adopted this uh to model our own ordinance and burrow code from uh so I'll ask to have it circulated to the uh attorney and the council prior to our next meeting uh so then we can hopefully discuss any points of interest with the uh uh representative uh from clean water action here and then uh hopefully move this for introduction in March um speaking of introductions uh we had a number of ordinances up tonight I'm requesting full Council support for the adoption of ordinance 24-02 and the introduction of ordinances 24-4 05 and 06 which all originated from the police committee and I just want to close with what several others have touched on here tonight um leading with my full agreement with mayor bloomen stock statements tonight regarding social media um and following on to what's already been said by by councilman Foley um I think there's an incredible and frankly escalating lack of judgment being shown on uh some of these local Facebook groups which all bear the name Garwood well I believe most people know that these are not official sites of the burrow of Garwood things said there are often seen by many people in our area and they can reflect upon the entire town I urge caution when using social media especially when choosing to name names when we get rushes to judgment uh where all the facts could not possibly be known uh mixed in with personal attacks and personal agendas it really becomes a toxic brew and that can spill over and affect the lives of people in the real world very easily um as a community we absolutely need the ability to come together and discuss the issues of the day but I do not believe the best way to do that is behind a keyboard so uh going forward I urge everyone to please engage respectfully responsibly and most importantly with all the facts thank you thank you um before we move on to the minutes I did forget a part of my report that I wanted to do fun thing um it's become sort of a tradition and unfortunately these were not ready for when councilwoman Bodo and councilman Foley join joins uh in January but they are ready now so your Polo awaits you you're welcome okay now you're ready for the summer when I allow it like all right moving on to the minutes Miss hamon and I have a motion to accept the regular amends as presented so moved okay all in favor I okay Communications M chairman municipalities file F uh ad ordinances we have one up for adoption Mr P can you read ordinance 24-2 by Ted has an ordinance provided for the police offic of the do we have any correspondents does anyone present wish to be heard concerning ordinance 24-02 johard I'm in favor of 2402 because our police officers are out there every day day and night yes try to protect your name John Bill Bill same thing with the firefighters as well we must back them up in every way thanks and I'll repeat that later on during the [Music] regular thank you is there anybody else who wish you had concern good evening mayor L gentlemen Council question the contract that know 234 56 it's what are the perc going forward on that and I got the PBA 117 of course covers only a certain level I think it's up I'm just wondering how the lieutenant is there anybody online to be yes hello okay you can state your name and address stepka 5502 half um my question is about the fire truck the ladder truck being damaged is that that if that's gonna be out of service for a yearor that's stated on Facebook are we GNA be suffering as citizens without having this piece of equipment okay sir um I didn't quite get your um name and address I apologize the mic didn't kiick in in time um I can write that question down this question this hearing is just in terms of the ordinance uh 24-02 public comment comes later on in the meeting um but I will take note of your comment of your question I appreciate it um and could you just repeat your name and address please defa 50 second half your first name please Stefan Stan okay thank you apologize for that okay thank you Mr um we handle that during public comment I appreciate it um Mr Patterson the sergeant lieutenant and Captain are covered under the PBA contract um and in terms of percentages exact percent Mr Harris you have I don't think there's an exact percentage was you know the numbers were equiz so we would have to I would ask Mr Patterson that needs this electronically he can we can provide that and he can put that into Excel and calculate percentages for himself you go okay thank you very much do I oh I was supposed to close it up there I am out of order can I have a a motion to close the public hearing move second okay do I have any discuss ction um from Council Members okay can I have a motion to adopt the ordinance so second second roll call please counc I Council ioun laar I councilwoman I councilwoman salmon hi council president I okay we have a bunch of ordinances for introduction tonight miss Camy can you read 24-3 by title or do I have a motion to introduce that ordinance so I'll be recusing myself council president hi can I have a uh I'm Sorry Miss Cameron can you read 24-4 by title on yes in the chapter 34 in Department establishment organization and administration do I have a motion to introduce the ordinance I'll make that motion second second uh V call please counc voto hi hi ioun I counc salmon I counc president Cy I Cameron can you read 24-5 by title only yes an ordinance amending the B code of the B Follow by creating chapter 21 entitled vehicles and traffic article one traffic parking new section 21 is have motion to introduce this ordinance second V call please Council voto I counc I Council Lazaro I councilwoman I councilwoman salmon I counc president Cy I okay um coule more miss Cameron can uh you please read ordinance 24-6 by title only yes ordinance amending the B of the B by amending chapter 2 entitled vles traffic a one traffic and parking Section 21-7 1 hour parking 7 a.m. 7M 2182 hour can I have a motion to introduce this audience councilwoman vodo I Council Foley ioun laar councilwoman hi hi hi and 24-7 can you read that by title only do I have a motion second call councilwoman BTO hi hi Lao hicom HIC hi be a heck of a meeting next meeting with Vis all right Council standing committee reports Finance counc you the finance the finance committee of Garwood has decided to go forward updating the radio equipment for both the police department and fire dep Department with bonding as the way to fund this initiative the current Radio Systems being almost three decades old have become increasingly incompatible with today's technological standards this not only poses a risk to the safety of our First Responders but also hinders their ability to communicate effectively during emergency situations by updating our radio equipment we will close these critical gaps ensuring the proper communication standards and most importantly safeguarding the lives of both our residents and our emergency Personnel the finance committee also reviewed multiple quotes and assess of various options ultimately choosing morola as a provider the choice was made based on mola's proven track record for delivering Superior safety Fe features exceptional communication quality and cost Effectiveness over the long term this strategic in investment reaffirms our commitment to keeping Garwood safe and underscores the vital role of modern and reliable communication systems in achieving this goal as we move forward the finance committee remains dedicated to transparent and responsible fiscal management ensuring that this project not only meets our current needs but also positions gwood for a safer future we strongly believe that upgrading these systems is a necessary step and meaning high standards of living our residents deserve finally Kathleen who has been employe here for The Bu of Garwood for many hardworking years is being set to retire and due to this we are restructuring her role to a part-time employee and her responsibilities will also be rolled into the duy into the duties of our buroughs current employees in the days ahead which will save our town $50,000 money that will be used to limit the tax impact for the upcoming budget we look forward to the council's support on these initiatives and are available to provide any further information or clarification needed to facilitate a decision thank you thank you councilman fire and OEM councilman Lao thank you mayor the fire department in the month of January reported 22 incidences consisting of 13 day calls and night nine Night Calls most of the calls were alarm activations 20 hours were dedicated to Mutual a calls and a total of 160 firefighter hours were utilized this included CPR training also in February 19 of our firefighters participated in right to know bloodborne pathogen training last I attended the fire department's monthly meeting thank you to all of the volunteers in this department for their welcoming Embrace of me as their new commissioner it's also um just on a personal note really you know I knew that these members of the department were there before but there's two uh former students that are part of the fire department so it's always a real nice uh place for to connect with former students so that was it's a nice thing to see that so uh I discussed with the Department the progress of considering new radios that Council M poy just brought up in his Finance report I'm also thrilled to share that at a special meeting held on January 29th 2024 with the Quorum present the membership of Liberty Hose Company number one Garwood fire department accepted the membership application from from Shan kak Sean is a Garwood resident and I'm happy to welcome him to this group of dedicated volunteers and that's all for my report thank you I actually want to um just piggy back off of both of your reports um about the radios because I do know I spoke with you st earlier um and he will he is going to be reaching out to the gwood first aid Squad and bringing them in so that they are in loop as to what our radios are what we're looking to do um how we move forward with the first aid Squad from there as well so I I do know that that is uh coming up so thank you ch um okay moving along Community Development councilwoman salmon thank you mayor mayor blumock and I met with the developer of garden homes this past week along with Victor vegra and our Redevelopment attorney he has informed us that he does not wish to proceed with his original plan of a storage unit facility at the paper Board site stating that it is not a lucrative business at this point he has proposed a new plan with 20 additional units as well as the possibility of an additional senior housing development in place of the storage facility at the conclusion of the meeting we requested that he look into other options that did not include additional housing he agreed to look into other avenues Mr vegra advised him to look at a possibility for a pad site for example a freestanding structure whether it be food or retail based as well as medical office space the conversation for senior housing at this location is still ongoing he will return to us with a revised plan at our next meeting the mayor and I do have have a zoom meeting tomorrow regarding an update on affordable housing requirements in the next coming year and that's all from my report thank you counc woman and yes unfortunately we hopefully we'll have an update on the affordable housing legislation but that may play a role in some of these negotiations that are ongoing so we'll keep you up to date thank you um Public Works councilwoman BTO thank you mayor I have a two-part report tonight um in addition to the reoccurring activities the Department of Public Work continue to assist the recreation director with the bou inspections of Harmon Park and the sports complex perform preventative maintenance on miscellaneous public work trucks and Equipment set up and Tak down tables and chairs of the sports complex for numerous recreation activities and events cleaned up the common areas around the municipal complex wash and licated all the ice and equipment and vehicles within the department completed the annual residential Christmas F pickup program disposed of the trees at the fway recycling center assemble I continue to install Department parking SPS in various locations of the B install new oneway signs and posts at the intersection of Willow Avenue on West Street and perform painting operations of the administrative offices the second part of my report includes um our meeting the Public Works committee met on Monday January 29th um in attendance were council president KY councilman FY for administrator Mr Harris and me we discussed four items presented by Mr disco at our January 18th council meeting the first one was 502 Express Avenue drainage um we agreed to decide what work will be performed the spring since it has been previously authorized Mr disco provided quotes uh received from Midwest Construction this afternoon but the committee has not had a chance to discuss once we do we will provide an update uh we also discussed Corner BMP bump PS um mayor basak and Mr disco requested a list of intersections which could benefit and we propos The Following on the North side second on Walnut third on Walnut third on Cedar third and Oak we agreed that third and Oak should be our trial intersection since there has been a lot of concern from the residents regarding traffic and since the 2022 pavement Grant currently exists on the south side we discuss East and West streets we also discuss Center Street in addition to the bom we talked about the possibility of bike lanes and the narrowing of the street to slow down traffic and increase safety we will discuss further after Gathering more feedback uh the drainage issue on North Avenue and Center Sho by the Mobile gas station and train tracks it has to be determined if it may be involved in Jersey Transit or if it requires honor Property Maintenance a response from the an do is spending once the response is receive we will also discuss further uh the last were are some eyes complaints um having received residents complaints regarding eyes as a result of some pump discharge into the street Mr Harris recommended an ordiance requiring new construction TI to storm sore and a future Ro projects have the bar engineer TI in existence of Wes when there is a storm sore pop in front of the property we support Mr Harris's recommendation thank you thank you um Mr will we uh have that ordinance um over to our attorney uh shortly or in terms of tying into that'll invol Mr disco and attorney so now if the C if the council's in favor of this we can okay what that that ordinance is is that um for new construction at that point they can we would require them to tie into the system so just to prevent the some pump coming um discharge coming out as you know if um if you have beon Street that's even slightly tilted a little or um angled they it can cause a lot of ice you know coming out into the street um various areas around town have that issue um some worse than others but we can we can legislate something that would help in the future at least um is the council would the council be in full agreement of moving forward do that okay right back okay um police council president Carney thank you mayor the Garwood police department has recorded 1,863 calls for service during the month of January 2024 uh these calls include 103 motor vehicle stops 25 parking complaints 95 fixed traffic posts including radar stop sign and distracted driving details uh 172 building and property checks 40 medical assists 83 community policing posts 43 walking posts and 22 criminal investigations the Garwood Police Department is participating in the special needs registry through the Union County prosecutor's office this program aims to enhance communication and understanding between law enforcement officers and individuals with disabilities and special Health needs including those with autism spectrum disorder Down syndrome developmental disabilities physical disabilities Alzheimer's disease and dementia the special needs registry will allow individuals and family members to voluntarily register providing details such as name contact information nature of the person's needs and emergency contact information the special needs registry is part of the ongoing process of equipping officers with critical information to to support effective and respectful interactions with citizens who have special needs uh please contact detective chazar rowski at Garwood police headquarters for more information uh the Garwood Police Department would also like to make everyone aware that there are a variety of aggressive frauds going around that you may encounter during tax season fraudsters may use email text phone and regular mail if you get one of these messages do not reply or click any links and please report it to the police department uh remember the IRS and the state of New Jersey will never call to demand immediate payment using a specific payment method such as a prepaid debit card gift card or wire transfer uh generally the IRS will first mail a bill to anyone who owes the money uh they will not threatened to immediately bring in the local police or some other law enforcement agency to have the tax pay payer arrested for not paying uh they will never demand taxes be paid without giving the taxpayer the opportunity to question or appeal the amount owed and uh there should be no unexpected calls about tax refunds so uh please keep all that in mind during tax season and that's all for my report thank you council president Community engagement Council woman no yes thank you mayor uh the gar partnership for arts and culture would like to encourage everyone to check got the um celebration of new art by Garwood artist before the end of the month uh the show is ongoing in several locations around the town including everall Cozy Corner alonso's Cafe Alice Del Crossroads and the garlic Public Library our next meeting for gpac is Monday February 12th historical committee met on January 22nd to discuss their upcoming presentation on their Grant from Union County to the Council on February 22nd for recreation we we have a couple of important things coming up we have special event Garwood family skate night which is Saturday March 16th from 6:00 to 8:00 pm at waren Ino Sports Center this event is free and open to Garwood residents of all ages free registration is required to sign up for this free event please visit Garwood w.com skates are available for rent on site for $4 a pair we have a number of youth programs coming up that I would like to encourage people to um register for uh we have a kitties Junior robotics uh which is open the registration until Friday this new program is run by kitties kaleidoscope and is open to prepaid through third graders this begins on Monday February 12th and continues for four Mondays from 4:30 to 5:30 pm. also um in for science there's uh another program that is open also for registration until Friday this program will incorporate new projects and experiments which are different from the fall program examples of the projects include digging for fossils creating a solar system making a lava lamp and crystals and gems so this program is also run by pitties kaleidoscopes and is open to prek through third graders this begins on Wednesday February 14th and takes place on four Wednesdays from 4:30 to 5:30 we also have uh youth python coding this program is run by Rema data and analytics and will take place during spring break so Wednesday Thursday and Friday um April 3rd through 5th from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm. it is open to 3rd through 8th graders um some of the projects include analyzing Pokemon C cards using python creating a moris code translator in Python encrypting and decrypting messages in Morris code uh venturing into Data analysis with teenage mut Ninja Turtles it's all sounds very interesting an intro to recommendation algorithms exploring Pizza preferences of the turtles and visualization techniques leveraging python laptops are provided so again that's during the Spring Break um there's also a couple of parent um assist soccer programs for ages two and a half to three and this will start April 13th on Saturday mornings and goes until May 18th um that one is for children and parents um there's also soccer squirts this program for ages three and four is run by us Sports Institute and runs on Saturday mornings also um from April 13th until May 18th um soccer squirts is for ages 4 to 5 also run by us Sports institutes and runs on Saturday mornings from 10:40 um to 11:25 also from April 13th until May 18th um then we have a number of adult programs coming up as well adult Ceramics the first class is tomorrow registration is still open for the March April and May classes um there's a free self-defense for adults uh coming up on Saturday at February 10th registration will close this Friday um and that will be focusing on learning the basics of self-defense um as well Garwood is a proud member of the trian collaboration trian and coordinates inclusive Recreation and social programs for children with special needs this spring some of their interesting um new offerings include a hipop dance class for ages 10 and older as well as taekwondo for two groups of students ages five through 11 and ages 11 and up these Program help keep Sports and life skills while focusing on building individual skills teamwork and fun um click on our quick links on our burough website uh that's uh quick link is Summit Community um or you can contact David grea at the city of summit um so thank you well a lot of good stuff going on um Library May's represented Council thank you mayor just a few um events coming up at the library so tomorrow uh from 10: a.m. to noon the ask kiosk aging service will be available this is the Union County division of Aging staff um they'll be on hand to assist seniors ages 60 and over or their caregivers with information on services such as meal delivery reate care adult daycare and support services for caregivers on February 13th at 3M there'll be a virtual adult craft you can pick up your craft supplies from the library watch the Facebook tutorial at 3 pm registration is required for C kits and is limited to 10 participants you can sign up on the library's website events calendar or by phone on February 20th and 27th at 6:30 p.m. they'll be informal chess games for adults no registration required and on February 21st and 28th at 3 p.m. the Lego Club will be happening that's where you can be inspired by the month's theme or bill whatever comes to mind some of the uh constructions will be displayed at the in the library showcase registration is required and there's a limit of 12 and just a reminder the library will be closed for President's Day on Monday February 19th that's all for my report thank you School Board leison CC president Carney uh thank you mayor the gar Board of Education met on January 23rd action taken at the meeting relevant to the burrow was the board agreeing to withdraw the policy regarding the reservation of school facilities uh from its scheduled second reading the policy was referred back to the relevant subcommittee for additional work after feedback provided by the buau and the public uh superintendent Kenny also provided an extensive report covering the district goals uh strategic iic Plan update and quite a bit of school news uh in addition to these reports being presented at the monthly board meeting uh the full superintendence report is posted on the GW school's website each month uh just click on the administration link from the main page and then follow the link under Mr Kenny's name for the most current report uh I encourage everyone in Garwood not just current parents uh with children in the schools to check out these excellent and detailed reports about what's going on our school district uh mayor bock and I attended our February monthly meeting with the superintendent and board president uh actually yesterday uh these meetings are going well happy to report uh progress a uh reminder to all that superintendent Kenny has requested assistance from the mayor and Council to recruit volunteers for a new program called Mustang Mentor I mentioned this in my last report as well uh again the concept is just to put people from our community who have a skill trade or talent in front of our students to share their knowledge and experience and perhaps Inspire the students for future careers or Hobbies uh these can be oneof talks or something with multiple sessions if the volunteer is willing and there's interest from the students so for more information uh on this program or to sign up as a Mustang Mentor please email Mr Kenny that is c k i n NE y Garwood schools.org uh and find the board's next regular meeting is Tuesday February 20th all the thank you council president I have the senior citizen report at our last meeting on February 1st we got a treat from line dancing instructor SAR L who got us all up and dancing the cupid shule thought it was fun to end the meeting before we sett it down for Lun um our next meeting is February 15th at 12 pm at the MS of Columbus uh I also o encourage our seniors to sign up for the next round of senior classes which includes SAR blind dancing class uh you can get a calendar of all our senior classes with sign up instructions mailed to you just by calling burrow Hall um Small Business advis Council holdy thank you mayor uh Garwood Wellness month is fully underway uh please see the Burrow's social media feeds or check out b.org small buus for a list of participating Garland businesses and the various promotional offers uh one could note tonight for the council and the public uh hot works will be having an official grand opening which will be on Saturday March 2nd at 11:00 a.m. uh and finally our next Small Business Association board meeting is scheduled for Monday February 26th and that's all for the support thank you board ofon councilman F nothing to report at this time thank you uh planning board is on Council woman thank you mayor the January 24th meeting of the planning board was canceled and the next meeting will be held on February 28 and that's all for my report thank you um at this point um second could have motion for a quick recess gonna get there for you um if we could take a quick break can I have a motion Mo second second all in favor five minutes and we'll come on back [Music] that really askle about nope you know they don't keep it real like you I to see why then I'm try thinking there something like up there yeah it was like very muted okay I'll ask Kyle I'm being nosy I think he about to leave is he leaving I'm being Noy I thought she asked when's your last day I don't know okay okay okay is leaving too his oh who's gonna take his job all I know I know you know I know no I I'm sticking to security where I'm at right and and then I saw Mercy I'm [Music] and I made they also retire I got Tex said they can hear here I don't know if like need to be they hear but they can't hear out there I think they're hearing but they're also hearing when people are kind of side chat really yeah that's what I she said she can hear me right now okay okay motion to resume all in favor um officer reports M Cameron zoning Enforcement Officers report for January 2024 Property Maintenance officers report for 2024 do I have a motion to accept the officer's report so second all in favor public comment um if there's anyone who wishes to address the mayor council please step to the microphone and state your full name and address and please limit your comments to five minutes Johnny P 4010 Bruce Garwin early this evening I witness a s of Officer Mendez I believe he'll be a met tell and like the police officer for all of us years and years to come and we need to back not only him but every officer the GU Police Department as every firefighter in the go with fire department too abolishing police departments abolishing fire department anding R squats is not the answer and Mark world to say ladies and gentlemen should never be the answer we need them because they're the people who can can on when it going gets rough and there's St when Nature threatens us there the people you can count on they're the I'll be there NE kind of guys and gals we need to back them up every week and also we need to back up our soldiers Sailors Marines Coast Guards and Airmen just recently we lost three soldiers in the Middle East just some ago we need to back them up and don't listen to those anti-g LEF di that they they hate our military they hate our GIS we need to back them up we can't do so during the war in Vietnam during which time three of garw sons lost their lives fighting for us they the every day way they told us honesty infection they told us St they love the every day way they show the with royalty and bravery they show so there are Defenders and they kept us free they took it off the Gess and F [Music] for they Lo the S and we should [Music] know for we love so and lastly we need to pressure the state legislature in Trenton to order the reopening of some closed hospitals such as mberg because we'll need them we'll need them badly what attack occurs because we're talking about many people's lives the soon some mber the better will be don't fa and also as an afterthought we need to have that the timer outside fixed because it's about more than one hour behind soon that's done the off we all it will be thank you is there anybody else who wishes to address the man Council Mr good evening mayor ladies and gentlemen of the council Bruce Patterson 35 Avenue um at the end of last year unfortunately I wanted to keep I wanted to mention this but um out of time so I'll start I did L that ethics complaint I mentioned um near the end of the year and it got got kicked back uh by the uh authorities local Finance board and they actually denied it I appealed and they reviewed it and denied it a second time and he there saying as the negotiations are between the board event and the library about the library cont it is unclear how you believe the elected officials would access inside information or you said information elected officials not the right comment on matters affecting the municipalities simply because they are elected they went on to say they referenced njsa 48 9- 22.5 if I wanted to anything further and and then looking at it I mean there was one section no no officer shall attemp to use his official capacity to secure unwanted privileges or advant for himself others and you know I thought about it I said okay I was told it was denied another thing you know you guys wanted to bad mouth the garw Facebook called the barwood New Jersey community and happens I'm sure you know I'm one of the admins and and I'll tell you what we need instead of bad mouthing it you should welcome it because it's a it's a public necessity because it actually offers public scrutiny of what's going around town and and I'll tell you a perfect example is obviously this latest issue which I'm not too fond of but because it's a fre speech Forum it goes on about the lad truck and here we have a report from a commissioner about um the fire department and not a single mention of of whatever accident it was whatever backing in a pickup truck it was not a single mention so here it is it's now on the Facebook page you may not like it but this is called public scrutiny and it's also free of speech of course and I did internally I did talk to the other admin and I said you know maybe we really should have a uh rule added that's ask and answer and that way probably put the kach on all the baging away at the fire department what happened because I got tired of it myself you don't and if anything the odd thing is none of you really belong to it but yet you know all about it so but you're welcome to join I would know now commission what happened to the previous Fire Commission Al let's see oh yeah 24 I'll talk about that later the and just uh possibly something could answer I'm looking forward to council Cary maybe but you know we're going to update radi it's going to cost some money later if we ever do merge uh our services dispatch services with the county is that going to be a lot easier I mean or are we going to have to start paying some extra money not that I want to merge you know my stance on that but I'm just wondering at least we'll be up to stuck with whatever equipment they have ver what we would have Al one minute oh wow that's no the list of false alarms or the list that you're were talking about rmo and these reports I didn't really hear any list of false alarm I did hear what was it about 172 building checks which could be but if you're really concerned about F La you probably should be reporting on it so the public is aware that yeah who buys those po sh that and I guess just lastly thank you is there anybody else who wishes to best count Rachel 61 Fourth Avenue um thank you Council Foley for your comments on faceb regarding Facebook um but I am here to actually ask question about the fire department as you all know I was a councilwoman and I was um part of the fire committee that put together ordinance 2328 and and part of imposing that was a time sensitive issue that we had it put forth so that the fire department could do their officer nominations in November and then have their elections in December um and then have the officers come to have a resolution have the officers come and so so in that ordinance uh section B number 7 it um states that the uh depart Department officers the department shall request that the mayor and Council to appoint and confirm the SE by resolution which appoints appointment shall be made by January 7th um and then in number seven it also states that the requirement for the officer positions citing New Jersey certification levels appropriate to njac 5736 so I'm asked the mayor and councel why that has not occurred why do we have not have a res res solution and I did email the VA in reference is our fire department certified all of the current officers from last year I still in office at this moment um and I was told it was Personnel at you and I could not know the answer to that question and I think that is really not transparent for the community we should know if the people who are volunteering and I am all four volunteers but there are standards and there's an ordinance in place so we do need to make sure and hold people accountable so that is my question why have we not um had an a resolution brought forth and have swearing in of the new officers thank you thank you is there anybody else who wishes to address the mayor council is there anybody online believe one person hello hi Hi it's Jill Paul 54 Third Avenue um welcome officer melindas to the Garwood police department and thank you to the police department and to those who give their time to serve our community in the first aid Squad and fire department as volunteers leaving whatever they're doing including sleeping spending time with their loved ones Etc to respond when a call comes in despite the danger they might face or that they might not come home again I think it's always important to reflect on the sacrifices Chief stoer I'm not sure if you're in there but thank you for bringing the Garwood first aid Squad into the communication system conversation I'm sure um well I'm not sure if you're aware but the all- weather outdoor climate controlled AED that we have at the sports and Rec complex is still the first in New Jersey though I do believe this will change the first half of this year According to some of the Mayors um that I've had conversations with and also the county but we wanted to do more and we really wanted to um to see these in Outdoor Rec spaces throughout New Jersey and Beyond in the last meeting I quickly mentioned about the Aliva Foundation um and we're just waiting for our status to come in and then we're fully launched um but we're really really excited about this our mission is to raise awareness and funds to install all weather aeds in outdoor recreation spaces while also providing crucial resources and educational opportunities to individuals and communities basically the goal is simple we want to save lives and we want to help hearts and we're going to do this by increasing the number of all- weather climate controlled aeds that are in outdoor recreation spaces as you all know my cardiac arrest happened at echol Lake Park and there was no AED there so we were really at the mercy of you know um the paramedics getting there with one um we're going to create access to educational opportunities like CPR and AED training and providing resources and support to sudden Cardiac Arrest survivors and their loved ones this was really something that I struggled with and had to Google around and it was really really difficult um and I don't even know from the loved one side and then also circulating messaging about the difference between cardiac arrest and heart attacks as well as CPR and um a usage I'm really excited about the potential of hopefully working with the mayor and Council the police department the fire department and the first aid Squad to create really important life-saving Community initiatives in partnership with local businesses here in Garwood um but I do see us really working in New York New Jersey and Pennsylvania so I just wanted to dig a little bit further into that and just say how um how excited I am and how excited I am to kind of see how excited everybody else has been so that's all I have um but thank you thank you we have one more anybody else online yes one more person you state your name and address hi it's Colleen hay 516 uh 4th Avenue I just had a quick question question tonight regarding ordinance number 246 regarding the paid parking I noticed in the ordinance that you'll be able to pay for parking through a parking app however I don't see any mention of central meters as most of our surrounding towns have the option between the parking app and the parking meters my concern is that not everybody has a smartphone I mean I know it's 2024 but the fact remains that not everybody has a smartphone there's a lot of seniors that don't even have phones and those who may want to just show up and park and they're not aware of the app they may see the sign are they going to get penalized if they can't download the app or pay for the parking or God forbid they don't have enough money on their credit card will there be Central meter boxes to um kind of fix that problem if that makes sense so that would be my concern about the uh the fee parking not even so much the fees because everybody other other town does it but will there be other options other than the app okay thank you I'm sorry is that it thank you thank you there anybody else says one more person okay can you state your name and address please hi it's John Bley L 231 Hemlock Avenue I was going to wait till the next meeting to uh mention what the previous speaker just mentioned um this was a uh a comment that I had made to the parking committee probably a year ago when this concept was first proposed I think it's a pretty uh it's a bad decision to go forward with a a requirement to have to create another download another app with where you're going to have to store credit card information personal information uh or as I understand it there's some kind of a VRU a voice unit you can call into type in your 12-digit credit card number your six-digit license plate number your Zone just to spend 50 cents uh to park your car for a little bit I hear a lot of uh comparisons to other communities I and like the previous speaker I don't have any qualms about having to pay for parking but the mix of public parking to private parking for retail in our neighboring communities is totally different from what we have in Garwood in Garwood this this minuscule number of spaces that we have is a fraction of what are available at the malls the strip malls garage mall at vermella which means that you're going to put those few uh retail stores on Center Street at a great disadvantage uh because if we start to enforce uh this uh parking uh uh requirement with this limitation pretty soon people are going to vote with their feet and they're just going to go somewhere else uh so I agree wholeheartedly with the previous uh speaker that um unless we have some kind of a central location this is a terrible idea and it's not a matter of do we pay for parking or not uh so um I understand that the ordinance will be uh voted on and discussed further at the next meeting but I just want to say right now you go ahead with this um you know it you're going to we will regret this and um you will be hurting that District rather than helping it so thank you for that thank you for allowing me to speak on that thank you there anybody else am M no um can I have a motion to close public comment so move second all in favor I um okay um actually councilman lro I'm G to turn it to you for a quick second to answer Mr todisco Question um about the fire engine before um yeah so um as of right now there is uh the damage to the fire truck is still going out um for quote am I correct Mr Harris and there has not been a report back as to how much that is but we do we are insured so I don't know if you want to give more yes we had the the vendor was out yesterday the estimate quote will take two to three weeks to generate and at that point we'll have an answer on that it will be covered by Insurance we'll just have to pay deductible on that and there was the question regarding you know not having lad truck come back on and I know the fire chief is getting a quote for a rental on that as well that hopefully our insurance will cover as well um and just to thinky back on something Mr Patterson said about why it wasn't reported these are some some of the things are what happens in our day-to-day of our department workings and are taken care of by our our administrator and the department heads it's not simply something that has happened in the fire department it's happened in our other departments with trucks and cars and we take care of it properly so it's not always just something that um I know this one happened to make the rounds on yeah and I just want to I just want to comment on that also you know so I I think of course that you know public secy is absolutely uh I agree with that but I also think that we also need to remember that all of these employees whether they be volunteer or paid you know you know if we highlight every single thing that happen happens uh we're destroying the morale of those individuals and to what purpose I mean what what what are we doing by just doing that you know obviously half we're happy to share any information um but you know to basically highlight every single thing that's going to happen which we can't there's just not enough time to you know I think that's important to recognize that these people especially fire department put in a lot of time and you know I I I that it's important for us to keep up the morale of these individuals as well and I just wanted to say that comment I think that goes with all departments DPW police that things happen in the dayto day that our borrow staff take care of with the department head so um in terms of what Mr patteron in terms of what happened to our former fire commissioner he's right here he's now um Police Commissioner sometimes we change every year just to switch it up if people have other interest so we think it might you know things are happening that maybe somebody's knowledge base might work better so that was the case this this year um false alarms we do have a record of the different false alarms that again is a part of the day-to-day workings of the burrow and and the fire department does have records of that and they have been distributed to uh Mr Harris um and who buys the polos I buy the polos so you don't have to worry about that I followed only tredition of May to disco who purchased the polos for myself and other council members as we came along and I purchased one for councilwoman hers there our new Council people when I became mayor um for anybody that comes in while I become mayor um and I hope that tradition continues after me I just think it's a nice thing to did but don't have to worry that bill came to me um Miss H the fire department certification um Mr H do you want to speak to that because it it's been discussed in fire committee yes uh memo was sent to the fire chief earlier this week after the fire committee met requiring that all firefighters that do not have the proper certification they have until February 16th to acquire the certification if not they will be demoted to the next the lowest or the next rank that they're qualified for so you might have several firefighters that are no longer permitted to be firefighters in town and you your fire officers might be demoted to firefighter so we will know more at that at the meeting of the 22nd thank you um the outdoor a on just an update on the outdoor AED um from Hartman because I did Sergeant right and he has applied for the the grant that we used for the a grant that we also got the first one from a grant and then apply for the grant this year so we're going to wait for the outcome of that and hopefully that comes shortly and we can get that in the spring um Miss hey and Mr bartl um yes uh Miss hay there is another way to pay um not just through the app you I see Mr Harris ready to go yes you can pay by text uh website phone call and when we spoke with local businesses last year today we're going to also assist uh patrons of those businesses pay so there won't be multiple options correct and I know our Police Department with our our dispatchers there have offered to help anybody who comes in um if they need help doing that if we have a senior who needs some help doesn't have the app um but again you can call in and do it I see your hand I'm just going to say one more thing um and here's the deal that because of first off meters actually would not be cost effective in Garwood actual standing meters um the amount of we don't have as was said a large amount of spots um and the maintenance that we would have to incur over time with that would make it would not be very cost effective uh Mr Harris you look yes uh I was involved in meter installation of like electronic pce stations about six seven years ago at that time they were running 15 to $16,000 a piece so I'd imagine they're well over 20 25 at this point so and so this is something by the way the phone numbers will be on the signs um this is something it's you know I understand Mr Bartle that you don't want another app and and information stored unfortunately is the way the world is moving um there are many other towns I already have it on my phone because other towns that I go to are they use Park Mobile as well um and so now I just have to add Garwood um it is the Way of the World um and because we don't have as many spots this is the best way to go about it for Garwood and in terms of losing business um and I have a feeling Council mccar wants to jump in on this but I've actually been just spoke to two different business owners on Center this past week um and actually three and they are actually really looking forward I informed them that this was coming down for introduction um and possible adoption at the end of the month um and they've been waiting for it um because right now we have one hour parking even if we increased it to two hours some go out and move their car let's say they want to get their hair done we all know that costs that that takes a little bit more than an hour sometimes more than two hours um they want to eat a meal uh at lorenzos we've had issues where um these business owners have come to us and this was a part of the discussion at the forums that they just their customers um don't have enough time or that there's other people who come in and just park there and hang out hoping that nobody gives them the ticket so because we we don't really have that system we have the part-time parking enforcement now this is a system that really allows us to uh see who's parking there and who's over their time limit um but it also gives their customers the ability to decide if they're running more than two hours they can put in more money into the app and stay another hour um it really actually the the business owners the feedback that I have gotten is that this will actually help um rather than running out and trying to move a car rather than risking a ticket in the one hour to try to finish that meal really quickly or get their hair done really quickly to have this flexibility um is something that they actually their customers will appreciate especially as these customers go to places in other towns and are quite used to it so um you know we do have the the longer parking in the the uh parking deck on will at the parking lot of Willow but they feel this will help turnover it will also help those who want to stay a little longer there's some good aspects to this that I I hope that you're you're seeing and hearing and taking in tonight councilman Carney thank you mayor [Music] um if we were going to talk about salons we probably should have gotten retired Council and Grand on the line he's the expert um in reference to the the center businesses um this has been a topic that we've discussed through the Small Business board uh for over two years I've been on the police committee for couple years now the the chair of it this the stuff that link Mr Harris had some metrics for the cost effectiveness of of even one of these freestanding meters and what we pushed back out through the business owners in the area and also police desk is that someone could just come in and they will facilitate that transaction if there's no other way to do it like say you forgot your phone um you know regarding the security of of the app I mean it's I believe this many surrounding communities keep the same app um and my only other comment is and I don't want to start an entirely different type of political divide in council tonight but if you have an iPhone Apple pay has encryption that's basically unbeatable if you have an Android sorry um you know there's or again if you do it over the phone or be a text messages there's nothing being stored on your device unless you don't delete your text messages so it was definitely something that was I don't want anyone to think that wasn't a consideration and I do feel like we discussed this in public session at least once about why we ended up where we did but the starting point of this conversation was business owners approaching then council president bock and myself through the Small Business board to say hey we need to drive turnover I see the same cars parked out here every day and it's costing me customers so I believe that businesses are willing to be better off from this system and again um speaking with the the current police committee what we had discussed was we will have data coming in from this point forward and rather than basing a decision on anec will actually have some hard numbers to analyze and then if we need to tweak times fees uh add spaces remove spaces from from requiring the fee we'll have something to look at and make them inform this same um and just I'm not usually a respond guy but uh Mr Patterson had said one thing about um radios um the the radio system uh is it's called Kick Public Safety interoperability communication is what those letters stand for it's a Statewide New Jersey system the radios will be operating on that and it would be seamless if you were to change the dispatch point it's just a different person answering on the other end of it thank you um Mr you didn't have anything right else to add okay um yeah I am just in regards to the gentleman's concerns about um the meters and data taken from his phone uh that is an issue larger than us I would recommend maybe speaking to the state legislator um assemblymen or state senator um if you ever concerned about data and how data our data is extracted that is something that's beyond our you know expertise or what we can do um but if that is concerned I definitely Rec you know they're working on various things Ai and various bills in Works um um okay I believe we hit it all I hope that answered your question we will talk more about the paid parking um we have to stop talking I know I have to stop saying meters because it won't paid parking um but we also just to let the public know we'll be flyering one if if this is adopted at the um next meeting we will be flyering cars in the area for a couple of weeks just to let everybody know that it's coming up we still have to get everything the signs installed and that sort of thing and and everything numbered so um it's not going to be right away but during that time period while we're getting ready to implement we'll do our best to a let businesses know but also like customers various you know if you're a regular you're get on parking on the street you're going to get a flyer about it um just to let everybody know that it is in the work before we actually begin the process um okay moving on to consent agenda is there any um any uh resolutions you wish anybody wishes to remove okay I get a motion to adopt the consent agenda some second V call please V Council Foy hi Council La councilwoman icoman salm hi council president Hi payment of claims m following claims as approved verified and the of is listed can I have a motion to adopt payment of claims so second second call please ioun okay the regular meeting of the mayor and Council will be held on Thursday February 22nd 2024 CH Ste council chambers information for meetings is posted on the bar Bor website I have a motion to all in favor all right how are you not bad up